Kapnick Firecracker (Ann Arbor - 2021 - 5K)
66.9 Mile Drive
Registration:
Registration for the Kapnick Firecracker was detailed and throughout, a standard I’ve seen time and time again with Epic Races. The fourth of July 5K had a multitude of events and distances that included a 76 second hot dog eating contest, 200 meter kids dash and an American Flag carrying division. Epic Races have always been higher priced races since I started running. My third official race was the 2017 Epic Races Hot Cocoa Classic in Brighton. I don’t mind paying the higher registration fees for Epic Races because they always have amazing finisher medals, shirts, age group awards and post-race food. The thing I love the most about Epic Race swag are the medals. Epic Races have given me some of the best finisher medals. To give a pricing perspective the Kapnick Firecracker 5K is $40 if you register in January for the July fourth race. Epic Races has a very easy website to navigate around. I wish their COVID protocol had been clearer. I emailed and was told they used current CDC guidelines. I was hoping they would have their conditions (even if copied from the CDC) on their website at the time I registered for the Kapnick Firecracker and leading up to race day.
Course:
When I heard the 5K course start was at Briarwood Mall (A new
location from previous years due to the pandemic) I had a feeling we would be
running laps around the mall parking lot.
That’s exactly what we ended up doing.
The Kapnick Firecracker has a tradition of taking place before
the Ann Arbor Jaycees Fourth of July parade in the streets of downtown Ann
Arbor.
The new 2021 course was flat, constantly in a slight turn being
a giant circle, and very hot being totally shade-less. It was fun running around a mall but not one
of my favorite courses. We did one full
lap around the entire mall parking lot followed by a half loop through a
different section of the parking lot by PF Chang’s that took us back to the
finish. Only a small portion of the
course was run on twice. I imagine the
7.5K run did two full laps, but I didn’t confirm that. There were tons of cones on the course that
were very helpful in addition to all the volunteers for participants. I could always see what was coming up with
the flat parking lot roads.
It was a very hot July day. The parking lot had no shade until we crossed the finish line and walked up next to the mall entrance. The start and finish line were amazing with a great crowd, archway, music and MC that read aloud names and hometowns of runners as they crossed the finish line.
Swag:
We all got amazing blue tech t-shirts with the awesome popsicle race
mascot on it. I couldn’t believe the
kids got shirts. I was very surprised
that Ryan got a shirt and medal with his “free” kids 200 meter dash entry. It was so awesome. We got blue Epic Races reusable bags with
chap stick and a 15% off coupon to Tee’licious Dessert Creations. Our finisher medals had the awesome patriotic
popsicle with a face on them! They were
huge medals with a working compass! I was drawn to the medals when I registered
for the run and they exceeded my expectations.
The kids loved the finisher medals.
They were very kid friendly medals.
If you picked up your packet at PF Chang’s on July 1st you received an additional awesome race bluff and blue pair of sunglasses. The kids loved both. Jason was driving home from work on July 1st making it easy to stop in Ann Arbor and get our packets and bonus freebies.
Food:
Kids received red, white and blue firecracker “bomb” popsicles that were in a cool themed freezer. Participants were handed full size water bottles with their finisher medals at the finish. There was a table set up with bananas, twizzlers and pourable water with cups. Hot dog contest race participants were given four hot dogs and two 32oz glasses of water before they began their perspective races. Red Hots hot dog cart and Whiskey Jacks BBQ food truck were at the Kapnick Firecracker run. Red Hots is a local food cart from Ann Arbor. Whiskey Jacks is based out of Monroe, Michigan opening business in 2017. I loved the pulled pork BBQ sandwich I got from Whiskey Jacks but the macaroni and cheese was made with strong flavored cheeses and it was a tad too bold for us.
Awards:
Overall winners for the 5K and 7.5K received awesome foldable chairs! Age group winners (five-year increments) for the 5K and 7.5K got to choose from a very unique and colorful awards table that had red, white and blue and yellow frisbees, rocket shaped bubble containers or 12oz tumblers. All awards were personalized with “Kapnick Firecracker Award Winner” stickers. The male and female winners of the hot dog eating contest received amazing champion belts that resembled World Heavy Weight Championship belts. They were epic! I would have picked rocket bubbles had I placed in my age group. Luke said he would have taken a frisbee.
City Notes:
The Kapnick Firecracker 5K was my third official run in Ann
Arbor and the fourth running event I’ve signed up for in Ann Arbor. Jason and I are very familiar with Ann Arbor from
living in Metro Detroit for 30 years. Favorite
places of ours include: Pinball Pete’s, Insomnia Cookies, Oasis Hot Tub Gardens
and Vault of Midnight. I’ve never been a
fan of driving in downtown Ann Arbor. The
one-way streets and traffic bug me.
After the Firecracker 5K we went downtown and discovered unfamiliar shops
that included, Robot Supply and Repair, Real Irish and Cherry Republic. We learned that our favorite cookie shop, Insomnia
Cookies, has gluten free cookies now.
….and they are really good gluten free cookies. I couldn’t taste the difference.
Luke got some city skateboarding time and I found new murals in
Ann Arbor to add to my album. I love city
murals. I found an entire alley
dedicated to graffiti art that was really cool and a PacMan ghost on a dumpster.
Ryan loved the robot repair shop. Corky
got carried a good half mile because he’s old and couldn’t walk the longer
distance today. He enjoyed being carried
too much. We admired the Michigan
Theater in Ann Arbor for the first time.
Its architecture is amazing. I admired
so many cool window displays in Ann Arbor.
I found a better city sign for Ann Arbor while we were walking downtown
which I am going to update. The sign was
a painting on glass windows. I don’t
know how long the sign has been up. I
may not have missed it on our previous search.
As we were leaving Ann Arbor we saw an amazing rock formation by a railway over the Huron River. We stopped by Jason’s parents before we went home for a Fourth of July BBQ and games. Luke was really beat….and apparently so was Bean, but we still had a great time.
City Sign:
It has been a tad challenging finding a good Ann Arbor city sign. I had run in Ann Arbor three times prior to coming up with the Michigan City Challenge. About a year ago, we went back to Ann Arbor just for the city sign. It took a while to find and I wasn’t a huge fan of the one I settled on. I was really glad to find the “Welcome to Ann Arbor” mural downtown after the Kapnick Firecracker 5K. I wasn’t looking for a replacement city sign, but I did need one. I will use them both now. I have a feeling Ann Arbor has an amazing city permanent sign I haven’t found yet. I will stay on the lookout.
Other Awesomeness:
My mom surprised me by showing up to this race. She was there with my stepdad Sean when we
arrived. It was a great run for them to
come to being so close to their house and with Ryan and Luke running in two
different events. I only wish it hadn’t
been so hot. I got additional pictures
from her of everyone on the course. This
particular race had an amazing spectator advantage. Due to the loop around Briarwood Mall, my
parents got to see Luke and I on the course twice in addition to at the start
and finish. It’s a great feeling to have
family support at a run in addition to the kids and Jason. The kids were really excited having grandma
and grandpa there.
I had originally planned on being at the “In a Pickle 5K” in
Berrien Springs on Sunday July Fourth. I
was really excited about going to a Pickle Festival for the first time and to an
inaugural run. I’m a big fan of new runs
in the state. I was very sad when I got
an email from the Community Development Coordinator in Berrien Springs
informing registered participants that the 5K was being postponed due to low
numbers. The Pickle Festival was still
being held. The run was being removed
from the schedule of Pickle Festival events.
When I wrote Kelly back she told me she was hopeful for an October
Pickle Run and would keep me informed.
When I didn’t hear back I assumed the postponement of the run did not
work out. I really hope Berrien Springs attempts
to have another Pickle Run 5K in 2022. I
would love to be there. I used my Pickle
5K refund to help pay for the last-minute Kapnick Firecracker registration. As I stated in my Registration section, Epic
Races have higher registration fees. I
do not like registering late for any running event, especially Epic Race
Events. I am grateful Epic Races always
has shirts and finisher medals for all their participants no matter how late
they register. They are a company that
orders extra and takes care of ALL of their participants.
I LOVE THE FINISHER MEDALS!
Epic Races has officially given me the two cutest finisher medals of all
time. The tiny marshmallow man from my
third ever 5K at the Hot Cocoa Classic in Brighton and the Firecracker Popsical
Man are amazing. I love food with faces! I love glitter medals, colorful medals and
medals that have things attached or move, spin, dangle etc.
I loved how many different events were put into one big event at
the Kapnick Firecracker Run. I got to
watch the hot dog eating contest and kids 200 meter dash before Luke and I
started. I saw the flag carrying division
walk over and get into line. There were
even pacers for the 5K! Pacers are rare
to have at events under 10K distances unless it’s a very large event like the
Detroit Turkey Trot. This race was not
exceptionally large, but it was a good size.
I loved having the pacer. Pacers have
always help me run better. Unfortunately,
I did lose my 27:68 pacer after the first mile due to heat exhaustion. It was a very hot day. I feel that did still
run faster because of him. Aide stations
were great, but shade breaks were non-existent at the mall course. My pacer had an awesome festival Fourth of
July hat.
Now that we live in Marshall going to Metro Detroit for runs
gives us more opportunities to see family and visit favorite Metro Detroit
spots of ours. We did that after the
race and spent the day in Metro Detroit.
We were able to see my mom and stepdad, Jason’s parents and get Insomnia
Cookies as a snack. I liked getting to
see things in Ann Arbor I have not seen before.
Epic Races had an amazing backdrop with a camera that added
awesome Fourth of July hats, sunglasses and Statue of Liberty torches on
us. We were one of the last to use it
before they took it down. I love the
moving GIF picture we got in addition to the still shots.
I got to meet Eva Solomon for the first time at the Kapnick Firecracker. She was getting snacks for her hard-working staff at Whiskey Jacks. She was in line in front of me. Unfortunately, there had been an authorization issue due to a cancellation from a vendor and Whiskey Jacks ended up away from the race gathering area where Red Hots was. I had been looking for Whiskey Jacks after seeing that they would be a post-race food vendor on Facebook. They were hard to see across the parking lot in front of the Kapnick Insurance building. Eva was frustrated by it. I felt for her. It’s never a good situation when plans hit road blocks and traveling vendors don’t do as well. I was glad we found Whiskey Jacks and were able to get food. Their pulled pork was amazing. I enjoyed talking with Eva for a few minutes and getting a picture with her. I think Eva choose the best name for her racing company. Her races really are epic, especially with the swag given to participants. Epic Races is unmatched when it comes to swag. I would do more races with Epic but a lot of their events are triathlons.
Course Rating: 2.8 Stars
Post-Race Food Rating: 4.2
Star
Swag Rating: 5 Stars
Awards Rating: 5 Stars
Kapnick Firecracker 5K Quote:
“Cuteness Overload.” - Unknown
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