Doing an Independence Day race isn’t a tradition for me. We’re always* in Guttenberg, Iowa for the holiday, and the neighboring town of Garnavillo has been putting on this race for 28 years, but this is only my third time running it! I ran it for the first time in 2009 (and it was my PR for a few years!) and last year with my dad, and that’s it! Oops!

Do you usually do an Independence Day race?

This year, my epic plan for the race was to ride our bikes to and from it. Which doesn’t seem like a big deal since it’s just over 12 miles each way. But then you consider that the race starts at 7:00 am and you need to leave the house at 5:30 am, and, oh yeah, go up this big hill to get out of town:

150704mapouttatown

Ha! That was fun! I actually didn’t have to switch out to my smaller gear until I stopped to take this photo at the overlook:

150704Guttenbergoverlook

Then realized, duh, it’s really hard to clip back in and get going UP A HILL on your bike. Lesson learned – don’t stop on a hill!

But the rest of the ride went great. It was early in the morning so there was hardly any traffic, and the highway had a very wide, smooth shoulder for us to ride on! There was no wind and it was in the high 50s! Great riding temps!

When we got to the race I told my dad I’d be happy to run it in 25 or 26 minutes. I was still having breathing issues because of my cold, and the course is kind of hilly. And… I just biked 12 miles to get there. Ha.

150704firecracker5K2

This race is SMALL! Maybe 40 participants?

When we started though, I didn’t feel like that pace was possible.

150704firecracker5K3

It wasn’t my legs that felt trashed, but yeah, my lungs. I watched quite a few people get ahead of me and felt dumb for starting in the front!

But something crazy happened. As I focused on running the tangents, having good form, and pumping my arms, my pace started to get faster. My watch said I was running 8:30s at the start but my first mile clicked off in 7:58. I was surprised to see a split under 8 minutes!

There was a lady in front of me for the first mile, and I managed to pass her and two other people in the beginning of mile two. Not wanting to get passed again, I tried to keep the pace going, even on the uphills, and ran my second mile in 7:47!

After that, I had my eyes on the only other woman I could see. She had been quite a bit ahead of me for most of the race, but I was gaining on her. I didn’t think I had a chance of passing her though – this course has a loop in it you run twice, and the end of the loop is an uphill I was sure would slow me down. But I caught up to her on the uphill, and passed her on the last downhill, running the third mile in 7:37.

150704firecracker5K4

The last bit of the course is uphill. After passing that lady I didn’t want to look like a total idiot and get passed in the last tenth of a mile, so I booked it and ran the last tenth at a 6:47 pace.

150704firecracker5K5

I finished in 24:02 (which is a course PR for me!) and she finished right behind me in 24:03! Eek! After the race, I thanked her for being my rabbit and keeping me on pace**. The lady I passed at the beginning of mile 2 came up to me and said something similar when she finished.

Ha, immediately when I finished though, I stopped and went over to my dad, gasping for air. He laughed and said “Why’d you run so fast?!” I told him I really didn’t know. I never know how competitive I am going to feel at a 5K! Since I could see that woman in front of me for most of the race, and knew the race was so small, I wanted to see if I could pass her.

Passing her didn’t really mean much though (since we are in different age groups… this year). They only do age group awards*** for this race (not, overall awards) and the age groups are kind of big – mine was 19-30! And I was first of four in the group. Small, small race. That lady was first in the 31-45 age group. I was second overall (a 10 year-old girl ran it in 22:54)!

150704firecracker5K6

They put the names on the wrong certificates – ha ha

I was truthfully very surprised to run the race in this overall time, and ESPECIALLY with negative splits. I am not someone who negative splits 5Ks. EVER. My first mile is usually the fastest, and my last, the slowest.

Dad and I hung around after the race, talking to other runners, then listening to the awards ceremony. I think it’s so fantastic they use the money that this race brings in for the Sheriff’s K9 program! The race shirt logo reflected that:

150704firecracker5Kshirt

We had an easy ride back. Riding in the beautiful Iowa countryside got me really stoked for the two days we are doing of RAGBRAI this year! And we had a blast going down that huge hill to get back to town. We were going 30 mph… and that was with using the brakes! Crazy!

150704kimanddadbikes

I really cherish this time I get to spend with my dad… and am happy he goes along with my crazy ideas!

*Except those two summers I missed it and it felt so very wrong
**Which sounds like a jerky thing to say, but I didn’t mean it like that – she was hundreds of feet ahead of me for most of the race – I wasn’t using her as a rabbit to block the wind
***The awards are a free pancake breakfast. Three other people gave me their awards cause they didn’t plan on using them, so we gave them to our family and they used them when they went to Garnavillo for the parade at 10:00 am.