Grace and I got up without too much trouble at 6:45 and made it to the Quiet Corner of the state for the 9 a.m. start in Ashford. I pulled off the road into the Ashford Park entrance, next to another car but more importantly, right on top of a concrete culvert hidden from view. My left front tire went off the edge with a decisive thunk and was left floating above the ground. No amount of rocking back and forth was going to get us anywhere, and we didn’t have long before the start, so we headed to the pavilion and put our out of commission car out of our minds.

The first race was the longest, nearly a 5K at 2.6 miles, and it went well. I tried to see if we might get someone to push us out after the race, but we didn’t have the time or tools. We caught a ride from Alex and Alexis to the next race, the shortest of the three at under two miles. It was raining in Hampton, but we were all in at this point. Our new friends gave us another ride to Chaplin, and we finished strong, with the cumulative 10K now under our belts. We caught an Uber back to Ashford, and with the help of Megan, Bernie, and their son, who jacked up our car and pushed us out, we were on our way home. I was proud of Grace for sticking with it, and glad that even though our insurance provider found no one in the Quiet Corner of the state who could tow us out on a Sunday afternoon (now that I say it that way, I doesn’t sound that unlikely), we didn’t have to spend all day dealing with my bad luck.

Quiet Corner Challenge: Ashford | 2.6m | 6/12/21 | 25:25 | 117/169

Quiet Corner Challenge: Hampton | 1.6m | 6/12/21 | 15:37 | 118/169

Quiet Corner Challenge: Chaplin | 2m | 6/12/21 | 24:52 | 119/169