Firecracker 4K - 4th of July Weekend

I had an awesome 4th of July vacation weekend. My family and I were very fortunate to have been extended the use of a cabin near the town of Wellsboro in central northern Pennsylvania. The cabin is owned by my wife's maternal grandparents.

I awoke early Saturday July 4th morning at the cabin to travel to the Penn State University in State College for the Firecracker 4K road race. I arrived around 7:45 AM to register for the 9:00 am race. The fee was $18 and included a T-shirt.

Conditions were perfect for the race - sunny, low humidity and no wind. The race was well organized. There were 881 finishers for the race, many of them college and high school aged. I finished with a time of 21:18. 4K is about 2.5 miles. I finished 41st out of 90 in the aged 40-49 male group and exactly 300th overall.

One interesting feature at this race was a vendor stand which had a water based signing mechanism that dropped sheets of water shaped liked stars, stripes, and words. There was a radio station present for the race who conducted an on-air interview with the owner of the device. The owner mentioned it work on the same principle as a computer inkjet printer.

It was five years since the last time I had been to my alma mater. I am amazed at how much the university has grown in the last twenty years.