I am a Master... of being old.

Bubbles made me a cake with race bib on it.

I turned the big FOUR-O last week.
In the context of running, this means I have entered the "Masters" category.

Moving up into the next age bracket is supposed to be a nice consolation prize for getting older. You get to compete against a new set of older and ostensibly slower runners for age group awards.
But it turns out that I have actually entered a more competitive bracket.
If you look at the results of just about any race around here, 6 out of the top 10 will be guys in their 40's.
I will kind of miss placing in my age group.Oh, well.

Anyway, Shannon and Bubbles threw a very nice birthday party for me. It had everything you would want in a  birthday party:

• glow sticks
• sparklers
• a trampoline
• dogs
• haikus
• limericks
• a packed hot tub
• baby bats
• pink flamingos (plastic)
• prune juice
• running
• law breaking
• a piñata
• a cake with no cake in it
• lots of good friends
• a turkey baster

My new lawn ornaments

First, I was forced to hunt for my birthday gifts, given only clues written in verse. For example:

Gift #1 will keep you quite loose,
It's a tasty, nutritious, dark colored juice,
When you feel you can't poo,
Ho lookee in the loo,
This will help you drop a deuce

Gifts were age appropriate, such as a large print Readers Digest and a VHS tape of Matlock.

Bouncing Bubbles

"BABY BATS!"

Outside, we were showing off our pet bats, Bruce and friends, who live in a bat box on the garage. We discovered a new addition to the family, two baby bats! Unfortunately, it is hard to get a picture of them for illustration here. It was quite a surprise, though it explains the recent surge in guano production.

whacking the piñata, filled with Gu and Kashi bars

There was a drawing for some fabulous door prizes including canned meat and a turkey baster.
Next came the cake.
Bubbles made me a wonderful cake from a recipe that I had stuck to the fridge.
It was my failed recipe for healthy oatmeal raisin cookies, which contains no flour, sugar, or oil. It only has oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, crushed pineapple and lots of dried fruit and nuts. While it is a fails to make cookies, it surprisingly makes a wonderful cake. Though some people would instead describe it as an "fiber brick".

In the background Quincy eyes the "cake" skeptically, while Bart heroically tries to choke it down 

Somewhere behind the clouds was a full moon, so around 10pm some of us headed out for a full moon run. We may or may not have broken several rules, regulations, and laws in the process, but it was fun.
To cap off the evening, we all packed into the hot tub:

It was a great party. Thanks to Shannon and Bubbles for throwing it, and to everybody who came!

More pictures here