July 4th in Minnesota

I wake up early for a 10k in Excelsior. The weather is awful for running, 80’s with a dew point in the mid 70’s. I adjust my run/walk ratio and my pace from the start but its hell. In spite of the weather its a pretty race and I get a nice tour of Excelsior and the nearby town of Greenwood. Lovely neighborhoods, the cute downtown, views along Lake Minnetonka. Its hilly but I could have managed the hills ok if it wasn’t for the heat.

This is not just a 10k but a 1 mile and a 5k are taking place too. The 1 mile starts first. They have a saxophonist play the national anthem. They let the little kids line up at the front of the pack for the 1 mile. They almost get run over by the serious milers right behind them but its pretty cute. Then the 5k starts, and finally the 10k.

Around mile 4 it suddenly clouds over and we hear thunder. Not too much later it starts to rain and rain hard. The temperature drops and my time for the last mile improves accordingly.

At the end we get a little medal and a popsicle! That popsicle was heaven. 1:15:45 was my worst time ever for a 10k (except for Dopey but that was different), but honestly I did the best I could in that heat. I was somewhat dismayed to discover that I came in last of the 13 women in my age group, 60-69. But if there had been 5 year age groups (as there should be!) there would have been only two women in my group and I would have come in 2nd! I was the 2nd oldest woman in the race. 

I went home, cleaned up and around 1 we went over to Sarah and Erik’s for a 4th of July feast. Erik grilled pork chops, Suzanne made a delicious cole slaw, Kris brought a really good salad and Sarah grilled veggie kabobs. Lee brought beer and I brought a flag cake, of course.

Leo got to sit in a high chair for the very first time. He really liked being up with the big people. They gave him a little bit of avocado to taste, and mainly squish around with his fingers. He really mostly enjoyed chewing on a toy and sitting with us.

That evening I wanted to stay up to see the fireworks over Lake Waconia. Around 10 pm I was getting pretty tired and they still hadn’t started so I went upstairs to get ready for bed. Just then, boom boom boom, so I went into my office and the fireworks were right there. They set them off from Coney Island, right in the middle of the lake so I could see everything except for a little bit that was too low.

Next year this time we’ll be in Excelsior. There are probably fireworks lots of places around Lake Minnetonka so that’s where we’ll be!

The Sunrise in Suburbia is as Pretty as Any Fireworks!