Boyne City Independence Run 10k Race Recap

Pre-Race: This year's 4th of July found us running the Boyne City Independence Run again; we had previously run this in 2010 and like then, it was just as ridiculously hot and humid. We arrived up north early Tuesday morning, having pretty much the entire day to soak up the sun, eat ridiculous amounts of food, and snag the best camping spot in "tent town" where we also got to be up close and personal with the fireworks the neighbors were setting off until 3am. Needless to say the 6am wake-up for the race came way too early. After rounding up the bleary-eyed family members equipped in their custom "GFC" (the family nickname) race shirts, we convoyed down to Boyne City to get our 4th of July run on.

Proceeds from the race help fund the 4th of July fireworks so the joke is that "GFC" has enough runners that we actually help "sponsor" the fireworks. Get it? 

Start Corral: The "Start" continues to be an informal gathering on Lake Street in downtown Boyne City; only Spike, his cousin Kellie, and I braved the 10k distance, the rest of the fam opting for the 2 miler.

The Race: My plan of action was simple, find a comfortably hard pace and hang on for dear life, hopefully going sub-50. I was sweating buckets within the first half mile and was regretting not picking tanks for the family shirts, ugh. As I approached the turn around I got to cheer on Spike, and then Kellie heading the opposite direction, before rounding it myself. I made sure to grab water at each stop and throw some on myself to cool off, then in Mile 5 I was shoulder to shoulder with this dude who wouldn't let me shake him. Anytime I'd pull forward he'd push to catch up; his heavy breathing and sweat flying off on to me got to be too much that I backed off on purpose just to get away from him. I've never done that before but I just needed some space! We finally hit town again and I pushed it in with what little I had left to big cheers from the fam, finishing in 48 minutes and change, good for a 7+ minute course best. (Not PR)

via

Look at that great fitting shirt!
(When Spike and I volunteered for the race shirt production team we chose both men's AND women's fit tech shirts.)

Post-Race: We headed over to the village green to find some shade to collapse in and wait for the award ceremony; the GFC represented well, half of us walking away with AG bling! (Not me though, it seems the 30-34 AG women are a speedy bunch up north, 1st-3rd ran sub-7's!) I walked away in 5th, which is pretty darn good considering I wasn't racing and it was hot as ballz. Heh.

Post-Race Thoughts: The Boyne City Independence Run is a simple out and back on Lake Shore Dr.; flat as a pancake and with a 7:30 am start, doesn't offer much reprieve from the hot angry sun that beats down on you and reflects off the bay next to you. The view at least, is gorgeous! At the awards ceremony it was unanimously voted that a 7 am start would be enacted for next year so hopefully this will help us beat some of the heat. I really enjoy this race because it's such a family favorite, with everyone from grandma's to grandkids and everyone in between coming out and working up a sweat! I'm looking forward to next year's race already, if only because I want to be back up north at GFC... I'm totally lucking out marrying in to Spike's awesome family!