Pittsford Firecracker (Pittsford - 2021 - 5K)
Registration:
The Pittsford Firecracker had a
brief but very informative description that described the course, age group
awards and gave some history about the run.
It was a very cool fact that the Pittsford Firecracker 10K is the only
10K in Hillsdale County and 2021 was its sixth year. The Tri-County Series section of the
registration page was not updated from 2019.
I couldn’t find updated information on the Tri-County website. Their Facebook page seemed to be the best
source for current information but still left me with some questions. There was a nice PDF showing the 5K and 10K
course routes on the registration page.
Packet pick-up was under a nice blue and white pavilion next to a school playscape. Four overall trophies were sitting on a table. I thought I had registered Luke for the 5K but I had not. He kept debating registering before I started but ended up deciding against it. The small amount of staff that was at this race were all very helpful and kind. They were very encouraging when it came to Luke signing up to run on race day.
Course:
The Pittsford Firecracker 5K was a square and the 10K was the
same square with an additional 5K off shoot down Day Road 1.55 miles and
back. There were a lot of turns in the
first mile of the course. A large
portion of the 10K course were straight-aways down country roads. We started in Pittsford neighborhoods, which sadly,
had a lot of homes in disarray. We
passed Pittsford High School. It had a
very cool entrance that looked like old charm was kept current. When we got out of town the course scenery changed
into beautiful farm land. The first mile
and a half was very flat. I could see
for a great distance ahead. There were
spray markings on the ground for turns and mile markers. A few signs in the ground had the course name
and were spread about the course route.
When the 10K course broke away from the 5K route we had a more
wooded and muddy dirt road path. There
was a man near a car waiting at the turn-around point for us. I saw some very flooded farms in the last
mile of the course. It was very sad. Michigan
farmers have had a difficult year in 2021 dealing with a long Spring drought
followed by aerial flooding rains for weeks.
I passed a lot of beautiful farm homes, a Pittsford city sign and got to finish with Luke, Ryan and Will running with me on the other side of the playground fence to the finish line. It was a great finish for a hard 6.2 mile run. There was a lone aide station out on the course. It was an unmanned foldable table with mini water bottles on it.
Swag:
I got a great gray Pittsford Firecracker t-shirt for registering. It was a very patriotic shirt for the Fourth of July. There were no finisher medals for the 5K and 10K or sponsor freebies.
Food:
The post-race food was cooled full size water bottles in large plastic containers. There were no food items for participants.
Awards:
Overall awards were given out to the fastest male and female in both the 5K and 10K. There were first, second and third place age group medals for both races. A majority of participants ended up leaving with medals due to the race size and amount of age group awards they had. It was really nice that Pittsford had age group awards. Age group medals had American flag stickers on the front and clear stickers with run information on the back. I love it when runs engrave or use a sticker to list the run name and place on age group medals. I’ve taken my blank age group medals to engraving stores so I can more easily remember the runs they were from.
City Notes:
Pittsford was a very small town with limited stores. The Pittsford Post Office had a wood canopy
and a porch swing on the side of the building.
I instantly fell in love with “Vacuum Island” at the Pittsford Collison
Car Wash. The name was amazing. I will always remember it. There was a huge green farm in the middle of
downtown. Pittsford High School had an
awesome wildcat logo and viewing platform looking over their football
field. I loved the “P” in the rocks in
the school parking lot.
We found an awesome vintage store leaving town that had all kinds of gas pumps and signs. It looked like something out of American Pickers. Unfortunately, it had also been flooded which made the gas pumps look like they were in a small lake. I loved the “I Support Our Troops mural just a short distance down the street from the vintage gas pump shop. It was very well done.
City Sign:
Pittsford had a green standard city sign with state champion information that dated back to 2016. We thought the green sign would be it until we passed a “Welcome to Pittsford” sign in a corn field. It had amazing scenery with corn, a line of arborvitaes and a white fence. Instead of being made out of wood it was framed with wood with metal fencing. It was very tall.
Other Awesomeness:
I had fears the Pittsford Firecracker was going to be cancelled due
to rain like Albion had been the night before.
There was rain in the forecast for Saturday morning days leading up to
the weekend. It was a very wet week The race sent an email to participants Friday
night with an update on the situation. A
decision to cancel or keep the race on would be made by 9:30am. We were on the road at 9:30 on Saturday
morning. I didn’t know what would happen
before leaving the house. It was awesome
when I got the email that the run was on.
The course was muddy from the previous night’s rain, but it did not rain
on anyone during the events.
There was an unexpected pie raffle for all registered participants!! They had four pies with different flavors in white
boxes. They drew bib numbers from a
box. The last pie winner was a man still
finishing the 10K. A group of people went
over to the finish to cheer for him. It
was an amazing moment. The best part was when race staff immediately
handed him his pie after crossing the finish.
It was a great prize for completing a 10K. The timing worked out great.
Run staff asked our kids if they would like to do a short fun
run after the majority of participants had finished. Luke and Ryan wanted to do it. A cross country guy led them out and back
around the school. They were given extra
medals without lanyards for finishing. It
was a very nice thing for the run staff to do.
The kids loved the medals and it made Luke feel better about choosing
not to do the 5K.
I met some very special people at the Pittsford Firecracker run. I had run at two previous 2021 events with Ginny
Blake and Amber Gibbs before formally meeting the two in Pittsford. Ginny is in my age group and we currently run
at very close times. Ginny and I must
have been running near one another at the CAPA Glow Run and Cinco De Mayo
5K. Ginny and Amber recognized our kids because
we bring them along with us to almost every running event I go to. They
introduced themselves and I told the two about my city challenge. Ginny introduced me to Lisa Kulpa who is completing
a 5K in all 86 Michigan counties. She started
in 2019 and already has 39 counties down.
I’ve met people doing the same county challenge, but it has always been
a group of people working at it as a team.
Lisa was the first time I have heard of it being attempted by one sole
individual. I think it’s amazing. Lisa told me she had gotten a divorce and had
turned to 5Ks as a new hobby soon after.
She later came up with the goal to run in every Michigan county.
On our way home from Pittsford we stopped in Hillsdale. I wanted to make it back to the Marshall Farmer’s Market. When I knew we wouldn’t I told Jason Hillsdale was on the way and had a Farmer’s Market going on. It was small, probably due to the rain. We still found some great food. Will and I went through the butter lettuce we bought in two days. We needed more maple syrup. I can’t eat the fake syrups in grocery stores anymore. Jason got a heirloom tomato plant for the garden. Our inflatable boat had been delivered when we got home and that night it stormed real good. The Pittsford Firecracker had great timing between two storms in a 24 hour period.
Course Rating: 3.2 Stars
Post-Race Food Rating: 1 Star
Swag Rating: 3 Stars
Awards Rating: 3 Stars
Pittsford Firecracker Quote:
“The great difference between voyages rests not in ships but in
the people you meet on them.” - Amelia
Barr
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