Garnavillo Firecracker 5K Race Report
Gah! What is with these bullpoo age groups?! 19-30? 31-45? 46-60?
Ha ha ha, just kiiiiiiding. Neither my dad or I thought we’d place in our age groups.
That’s right! My first race of the year with my dad! And my first race of the year in Iowa – the Garnavillo Firecracker 5K!
I ran this race five years ago and have wanted to run it again, ever since. What’s been holding me back? Ha. Not wanting to get out of bed early on the fourth to go do it! But this year my dad was in! Woo hoo!
The race was in a town that is really close to my parent’s cabin on the Mississippi River. We left just after 6:00 for a 7:00 am race start and had plenty of time to register (we got to pick our color of race tee!) and do a warm-up walk.
I absolutely love that the proceeds from this race go directly to helping the local K-9 unit. At the beginning of the race the organizers mentioned that they had just purchased a new German Shepherd with last year’s funds, and how thankful they were to see such a good turnout this year.
There were a lot more people at the race than I thought would be – which is great! I love seeing small town races grow. And this one is SUPER low frills – our bib was a note card we filled out ourselves, there was no timing, and one aid station on the course (that you actually passed twice).
Gotta love small towns!
We didn’t have a race time goal. Dad actually tweaked his knee earlier in the week, so we were both happy he felt good enough to run at all!
The course is mostly residential:
and some open field (it’s Iowa, of course) areas.
It was sunny and humid out, but only in the high 50s (!!!) so we were feeling pretty good. Oh, minus the annoyance of hills – uphills for me, downhills for dad (with his knee being stupid).
I’ll spare you from another elevation chart screen shot, but geesh, how the heck did I forget about those hills? And how did I ever run this thing in under 25:00? Ha, well, it was five years ago!
This year we finished in 30:50! Right on 10:00mm pace! Later, my dad thanked me for running with him and said he always runs faster when he runs with me. Aww. I am proud of my dad! He’s been running for a year now, and has been cycling quite a bit, too!
We walked a bit after the race, re-hydrated and listened to awards (there were some fasties there!) then headed back to get the rest of the crew… so we could come right back for the town parade at 10:00! We proudly wore our new race shirts (which really helped our families find us in the crowds – ha ha!).
Hopefully I don’t wait until five years to do this race again! I doubt my dad will let me!
Who else ran an Independence Day race?
Themocracy
It is so awesome that your dad runs now!
And wow those shirts are BRIGHT orange! What colours did you get to pick from?
I think it was yellow, orange and green, and they were all neon. 🙂
Wow! I’ve run some low key races, but never one where you wrote down your own bib number on a notecard! Though I guess that is a great way to save money. Sounds like you and your dad had a lovely time 🙂
This is so awesome – and your Dad is a badass!!! I love it.
Very cool that you got to run with your dad. Who knew that all of these out-of-town races we ran over the 4th would be so hilly? It’s also cool that your blog has been around at least 5 years so you can link back to your (at the time) PR way back when! 🙂
It’s so funny – people think IA is flat but it’s not, around the river. And apparently WI is not, along the lake! 🙂
Thanks! I thought that was fun, too. This blog turns 9 soon. NUTS!
I love the fact that your dad races with you!
Yay for racing with your dad again! Crazy that it took until July for you two to race together this year.
Yeah, I tried to find some races for us to do together when I was in town for wedding stuff, but it just didn’t make sense for me to be doing that. But we are already talking about a Labor Day race! 🙂
That’s awesome that you get to race with your dad! I’ve done one race with my mom and I loved it. Still trying to convince her to do another!
Ooo! I hope you do! It’s so fun with family 🙂
Yeah for orange shirts! So glad you had fun running with your dad and that he was still able to run despite his knee! I hope it feels better quickly.
Was it kind of crappy to have to do the loop twice? Was that a hilly part?
Thanks! I hope so, too!
The loop did have a huge hill in it! But it was okay. The town was so small, it’s kind of like, where else would be go? Hee hee. 🙂
I am so happy you got to run together, and that his knee behaved (mostly)! AND that you got orange shirts. It sounds like a really fun event…
But what is up with those AGs? I’ve never seen anything like that!
Thanks! 🙂
Ha ha ha. NO idea! Some quirky thing about this race! Made us LOL!
How fun to race with your dad! Love the orange shirts but yeah, what’s up with those AGs??
Very cool! So neat you got to run with your pops. I love running races for a good cause! I gotta say though, that one center firework on the shirt looks like a spider crawled on y’all! 😉 Way to go!
Buah ha ha! My husband was saying similar things about the shirt! 😉
I love these hometown races! And you are so lucky that you get to race with your father! Nice job!
Congrats to you and your Dad! Family races make me happy! And how cool you got to pick out the color of your shirts…not surprised you got orange 🙂
My dad was like “We’re getting orange, right?” Hee hee, OF COURSE!
I love that you run with your dad. I remember doing the same when I was a little girl – now, his knees aren’t so great, but I would love to be able to do it again. Congrats on an awesome race!
Congrats Kim! So cool that you got to run with my dad. My family is not into running so none of my sisters would run with me.
Oh, and I love the color of the shirts.
Congratulations to you and your dad (for sticking with the fitness pursuits! That picture of you two warms the cockles of my heart (ha ha, I just wanted to write that), and I haven’t even met him.
Man, I just felt a lot of nostalgia for the midwest looking at the course pictures. It’s just so green and tree-filled!
COCKLES! LOL. I had to google that phrase – that is a fun one!
COME VISIT!!!!
Ha ha. We need to come visit YOU!
I love that you and your dad run together 🙂 some of my favorite moments involve running with my Daad before his knee took him out 🙁
Congrats to you and your dad!
I would love to do a race with my dad or mom! They used to do the 5K in our hometown (the first 5K I ever did) but they mostly walked it (they claimed they ran the “downhills” not that our town is hilly at all). The race got cancelled a few years ago, and I think the only draw for them was supporting their town, and the only other race in town is in January (literally across the street for their house though), so I’m guessing it won’t be easy to talk them into another 5K. I might be able to get my dad to do the bike leg of a tri relay though. I gotta start nagging him more.
Bummer that it was canceled! Do you think they would want to do a race that supports another local community or the one you live in now? 🙂