Our First Coronado 4th of July!

IMG_9944 (2) Happy 4th of July!

… a couple weeks late…

But it’s a quiet, rainy (!) Saturday and I just finished this lovely book and the kids are both still napping, so in the time I’ve got before they wake up, I’d love to share these photos with you. Our first 4th of July in Coronado (a place that is famous for its festivities on the 4th) was so much fun, and I broke out my real camera for the parade, so there are some worthwhile memories in here.

IMG_9957 To be honest, the best thing that happened all day was that my whole family ran the Crown City Classic 5K together. I’ll wax eloquent for a few minutes with a little story…

Once upon a time, I was a runner, one of those people who ran for the fun of it and signed up for races with my friends on the weekends. Although I never raced more than my town’s annual 10 Miler, it was still a part of my identity.

And then I had two kids in two years and lived in Italy for three years (which is a lovely place to live but a hard place to jog!), and I lost my running routine. When we moved to Coronado last year, I knew this was my chance to get back into it. Coronado is relatively flat, has perfect weather, and offers wide paths along the bay and the ocean… how could I not?

Yet despite living in such a runner’s dream world, I found it very hard to get outside and run. I told myself I would, but when my alarm rang in the morning, I turned it off. Then I told myself I needed new shoes, and then treated myself to my first piece of fancy running gear, and then bought a better headband — but none of it did me much good.

Finally, in May I signed up for Coronado’s 4th of July 5K. Now I had to train. This would be my first race after two kids! I was going to make this happen.

At first I planned to run this race on my own, but when I found out that jogging strollers were allowed, Elliott agreed to run with Lena and Gil in the jogging stroller too. My sister Emily would be in town, and she excitedly agreed to run with us as well. A family run on the 4th of July! How patriotic!

Having Elliott as a pacesetter and motivator really helped me to get out there and train. We spent many evenings in June jogging around Coronado with Lena and Gil in the stroller, stopping at playgrounds to let them play, and then running home as the sun sank low in the sky.

Finally, the 4th of July came. We all arrived at Tidelands Park and felt the adrenaline in the air. Lena delightedly pointed out women in red, white, and blue tutus and an especially enthusiastic couple in American flag bathing suits and body paint. A band played at the start of the course, and a cheerful announcer counted down the final minutes. We lined up at the back of the pack of runners, excited to race for the first time together.

And then we were off!

Well, sort of. We were behind all the racers, so it took a couple minutes for a thousand runners to begin ahead of us. At the starting line, we broke into a jog under a giant American flag held up over our heads.

The course went along the bay, under the Coronado Bridge, and down Glorietta Blvd by the golf course. It was a narrow course that doubles back on itself, which made it difficult to run quickly at the back of the pack, but also interesting because we could see all the faster racers coming back after we’d only just started running! Always motivating.

As we looped around and started running along the bay again, heading for the finish line, Elliott said, “This is it!” and I realized I was about to accomplish a huge goal. I’d told myself I wanted to do this, to run again, to finish a race, and finally we’d made it happen. We’d trained together, and now we were racing together as a family, along with hundreds of other Americans on the 239th birthday of our country in one of the most wonderful towns in the world. We rounded the final turn and heard the band playing, the cameras clicking, the families cheering.

And we smiled wide as we raced down the final stretch and over the finish line together. We did it! Such an amazing way to kick of the 4th of July together.

IMG_9965 After that, we went home for breakfast and showers and then walked up to Orange Ave (“Main Street”) for Coronado’s famous 4th of July parade. We joined some wonderful friends on their blankets, brought some picnic items to share, and then just parked ourselves on the curb for the next couple of hours.

Does your town have a 4th of July parade? This was definitely the best one I’d ever seen!

IMG_9968 becca-garber-fourth-july-2015-coronado-1.jpg IMG_0063 Thanks for sharing your blanket with us, Priscilla!

IMG_0033 IMG_0066 My dear friend Jeanna, fellow military wife and mom.

IMG_0074 IMG_0078 “Peace, ambulance driver!”

becca-garber-fourth-july-2015-coronado-2 IMG_0046 Poor Elliott, always getting his girls’ long hair in his eyes…

IMG_0038 Gil and Caroline… such chums!

IMG_0042 becca-garber-fourth-july-2015-coronado-3 IMG_0055 IMG_0098 becca-garber-fourth-july-2015-coronado-4 Love you, Jeanna! Also, Lena was inspired by the Irish dancers in the parade, and she’s been kicking her heels up and skipping around with her hands on her hips ever since. Maybe it’s time for some dance lessons…?

IMG_9979 That night we walked down to the bay for fireworks, which were spectacular! You can see the kids enjoyed it just a little bit. :)

IMG_9981 And that was all — such a full, thankful day. For all my American readers, what did you do for the 4th? Hope it was a joyous day for you as well!

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4 Responses to Our First Coronado 4th of July!

  1. Laura July 18, 2015 at 7:40 pm #

    What a great story! I’m totally inspired by you getting back on the running train and doing the 5K! Coronado is a really beautiful place and it looks like the perfect setting to celebrate the Fourth!

    I moved to Arizona from SoCal just a few days before the holiday so I spent the day indoors, since the temperature hovered around 107. But my roommate and I were able to see some fireworks that night, once it was “cooler!”

    • Becca July 19, 2015 at 3:02 pm #

      Yay for inspiring you, Laura! I still need some inspiration myself, as it is STILL hard to get out there and run even after the 5K. It’s definitely not natural for me.

      We are getting torrential downpour in San Diego this weekend. I love it, but it is so unusual! Hope you’re staying cool in AZ as well. :)

  2. Poppy July 20, 2015 at 4:17 am #

    Love seeing my girls together. Yay for the running!

  3. Abi July 20, 2015 at 11:48 am #

    Love this post! I’m so happy you’ve gotten back into running…do you remember that one time we went for a jog in the woods by the stadium during a downpour? I felt so…alive! Alas, my running days are over, doctor’s orders since I’ve only got about 15% of the cartilage left in my right knee! We celebrated the 4th in Chatham with a cookout at my cousin’s house and a soggy fireworks spectacle at the pond while the kids slept at my parents’ house. Simple, but fun family times. Sorry we missed you while you were back East! Big hugs~

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