4th of July + Independence Day 5K

I spent this past weekend with my family again, this time for the 4th of July.

The day started off with a 5K. Yes, I ran a 5K. If anyone had told me a year ago or even 6 months ago that I would be able to run one of these, I would have said they were nuts!

Darren asked to see my game face before the race, so this is it. Ferocious, aren't I?

I decided last minute to run with the iPod instead of without it, which turned out to be a great, great decision. Playlist for the run: "Numb," "New Divide," and "What I've Done" by Linkin Park; "Mea Culpa" and "Return to Innocence" by Enigma. I crossed the finish line while listening to "Caravanserai" by Loreena McKennitt.

Not sure what was going on while I was talking to Dad, but it looks like my nose was itchy.

30:33. My best time for a 5K, even in practice.

And then I was a little goofy with the big plastic purple dinosaur while waiting for the awards to start.

That last one was me being *really* goofy. I think I still had this stuck in my head from ICanHasCheesburger...

I was completely shocked when I won my division!!! I am soooo not a distance runner, so it felt really good to accomplish that.

Back home I dug into a fried pie from Apple Barn.

And then Dad started the grill. My Dad is, like, the grill master. The steaks were sooooooo good. And so were the hot dogs. And hamburgers. And chicken.

Okay, so it was all good. :)

Beth and J showed up- this is Beth with her armload of CSA goodies to share.

After lunch J took me out to see the property that he and Beth are thinking of buying- it's very pretty!! The cows aren't part of it, but when I saw them I just had to take some photos.

The weekend also involved an emergency trip to the camera store (yes, there is such a thing as a photographic emergency) to buy a remote shutter release for my D300. I didn't want to have to do the whole timer method of shooting fireworks this year- it's so much easier just to stand next to the tripod and press the button every once in a while.

After being pretty all morning and afternoon, it started to rain in the evening. The city's fireworks display was postponed by about an hour, but when it was still raining around 10pm, they just set them off anyway. Instead of photographing from the nearby cemetery like we'd planned, Dad and I ended up shooting photos off the front porch instead (hence the trees and power lines in the pictures).

I think I may have made a Mac convert out of Beth. This is her on Sunday morning playing with my old Powerbook G4 that she bought from me. As an aside, I may have converted my brother, too- Beth kept having to ask him to giver her the computer back!

J showing Dad how to play Lego Star Wars on the XBox 360.

And then some time in the garden and picking blackberries before I drove back home.