I opted out of joining Blackbeard’s Challenge today. So did most of the 3,604 people who have become Facebook fans of the attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most pirates in one place.

Only 813 costumed pirates showed. That might seem like a lot, but they needed 5,353 more pirates to break the record.

So unreliable, those pirates.

Even though they didn’t reach their goal, I would have liked to say I made a go at a Guinness World Record. Hopefully, the organizer gives this another shot next year.

As for now, being a pirate probably wouldn’t have been good practice for the half marathon I’m running tomorrow. As I have no desire for this to morph into a blog about running, I promise that my report on the half marathon will be short and sweet. I wish I could apply the same adjectives to the actual run. Instead, I fear it will be long and freezing. Right now, Weather.com is forecasting a race time temperature of 34 degrees.

Shiver me timbers.