4 on the 4th and Festivities!

Over the years, a "staple" race for me has been our hometown 4th of July race. I've missed a year or two here and there due to injury or being out of town but for the most part, I've run this race every year. Despite my new hamstring injury this year, I still decided to do this race with a plan of "taking it slow". Besides, I had a Triple Crown medal at stake here and after having run the Athletes Corner 3 miler back in March and the Contraband Days 5 miler in May, I knew I HAD to do it, even if that meant walking the entire thing.

Somehow, a race recap from the Contraband Days 5 miler (from May) never made its way here, but during that race, I ran/walked the entire thing with a few friends due to our Relay for Life event the night before. Going into the 4 miler, I knew if I could just get to mile 3 by run/walking with my friends again, I would make it...and make it I did!

 

It was a hot one (as always) for the race, but the sun was hiding behind a cloud most of the time which made it bearable.

My dad was so generous to come out and watch Brayden while we ran. He used to come out to cheer me on by himself but now, he has a buddy to visit with!

Jason was working nights, so he sadly missed the entire day. Whomp whomp. 

This course took us down the lake, out and back. They also had PLENTY of water stops and gatorade, too!

The miles seemed to fly by for me as we chatted and before I knew it, we were almost finished. About .2 miles from the finish line, we passed Brayden and my dad. Brayden started crying because he wanted me, so we ran the remainder of the race together. He LOVES going for a run with mom! Sweet boy!

(Side note, I wouldn't have minded running this race with him but I'm super glad I didn't. After taking his stroller, I could really feel my hamstring pulling for just those last 0.2 miles.)

Triple Crown!

They've offered this option for the past several years and I've only done the full set twice so far. I'm glad they change the medal from year to year, too!

Kona Ice was out there for a frozen treat after the race. I wasn't going to get one, but when I saw "Lavender Lemonade" on the list, I knew I had to try it! The flavor of this one was amazing and reminded me of a Violet Lemonade from the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT. I love having little tastes of Disney at home!

After breakfast and showers, we headed over to my friend Kim's house for a lunch time BBQ! All of the food was delicious!

That evening, my community hosted its first ever "Red, White, & Boom" event, complete with fireworks. We had SO much fun! My parents came with us to enjoy the evening and we had a great time!

There were food trucks from vendors in our community which was fun as well as jump houses for the kids.

Side note, when I saw these matching shirts at Kohls in the spring, I knew I had to have them!

Brayden LOVED "driving" the firetruck and playing on the slide. He also really enjoyed the fireworks!

At last count, I heard over 4400 people were in attendance which is huge for my small-ish community. We usually go to the larger event located in the nearby town for the 4th, but wanted to support our community on its first year and I'm so glad we did! We were also home by 9:30 since we didn't have near as much traffic to fight. Score!

My friend Kim was there too and we had fun hanging out with them! In all, it was a great day!! Happy birthday, America!

What did you do for the 4th?

4 on the 4th 2018

Another 4 miler on the 4th of July has come and gone and yes, this was another one to remember for sure! For starters, rain was in the forecast all week for the 4th of July and I wasn't sure if this race would actually take place.

After I picked up my race packet on Tuesday afternoon, they told me that if the race was called due to rain, it would be a last minute decision. 

When we woke up on Wednesday morning, the skies were overcast but it wasn't raining at that moment which was a good sign. (Although it had been raining off and on all night)

We arrived at the race start location and met up with my dad who came out to cheer me on.

After a quick port-a-pottie stop, I made it to the start line with literally moments to spare!

Literally as soon as the national anthem ended, the rain started. It felt cool although the humidity level was through the roof. I also figured that this race could go one of two ways - either a lot of people would come out since it wasn't a sweltering 100 degrees at 7 a.m. or no one would come out due to the rain. Well, the first one won out - there were so many people at the race this year!

We began running and I felt amazing. Y'all, there's seriously something to this Orangetheory thing! I was keeping a steady 8:20 pace and knew I could PR this race once again.

There were two downfalls to this race for me and neither issue was the race's fault itself. For one, certain parts of the course were incredibly slick, so I was constantly having to watch my footing so I didn't fall. Thankfully that wasn't the case for the entire course. Second, if y'all remember from WAY back with the little heart issue I have? Occasionally my heart will jump into PSVT, and it doesn't happen often (probably not in the last year), but I felt it coming on with just about .25 miles to the finish line. Although I tried to will it away, I couldn't. At the same time, something that's never happened to me occurred as well - I felt as if a giant rubber band was around my lungs and I couldn't fully inhale or catch my breath. When my heart does its crazy thing, I usually have to squat for a second and hold my breath to get it to stop. Well, I couldn't do either because I couldn't inhale. Then, just as quickly as they came on, both issues passed. The whole thing seriously lasted about 45 seconds. As I began walking again, I passed an officer who asked if I was ok. My response? "I'm fine...I have a heart thing...and I'm a nurse...we're good..." hah!

At that point, I felt ok to run again so I did...and I crossed the finish line while running without any problems. After stopping my watch, I realized that I STILL managed a PR! Even though it was just about a three second PR, I'll take it anyway!

I'm going to mention the lung thing to my doctor at my next appointment. I've already been checked for asthma but not exercise induced. I wonder if that could be the case? We shall see what he has to say.

While cheering runners on at the finish line, I realized that I recognized someone - she was pushing a chair for an "Ainsley's Angels" athlete - it was Jennie Finch! If you follow sports at all, she's a local star around here - she was a part of the USA Olympic softball team who won a Gold and Silver at the games. She was also more recently on the Dancing With the Stars Athlete edition! How neat it was to be running the same race as her! I kinda geeked out a little I'm not going to lie. :)

My cheerleaders!

A local business was out there with gourmet popsicles after the race...mine was watermelon mint and it was delicious!

I screen shot this after we finished. The weather was perfect the entire race, although the 93% humidity made it a little difficult.

Oh yes, and compared to last year where I placed 5th in my AG, (just to show you the crowd levels this year), I placed 14th in my AG this year.  I'm glad they had such a great turnout, though!

After a 2 and a half hour nap (for both of us), we had a late lunch at my parent's house. My mom cooked one of my favorites - roast with rice and gravy and it was delicious!

After playing at my parent's house a while, we went to my friend Kim's house to swim in their pool, then we ended the evening while watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks via live stream!

It was beautiful as always!

In all, the day was perfect and more than I could have asked or hoped for! I loved spending time with friends and family and just simply relaxing and enjoying the day!

Thanks to Lake Area Runners for another great race and thanks to my friends and dad for coming out and supporting me while I ran!

Contraband Days 5 Miler 2018

On Saturday morning, I ran our area's annual 5 miler. This race usually falls on a weekend of our big hometown festival but due to scheduling conflicts, it didn't this year. Instead, it fell on the morning after our Relay for Life event. (Face palm) Since I'm on the event committee for our relay, that means that I was out at the event site from noon-midnight, setting up, participating, and tearing down the event.

Needless to say, when my alarm went off on Saturday morning after only 4 hours of sleep, I debated my first DNS race ever. Instead, something got ahold of my brain and I decided to drag myself out of bed and run the race anyway.

Everything about this race was totally unlike me, in a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of way. My outfit wasn't picked out the night before and I didn't even know if I was truly going to run the race until about 5 minutes before I left my house.

After arriving at the race site, I met up with my friend Mackenzie's husband and we lined up to start the race. It was not long into the first mile that I knew I could NOT keep up with him. My legs felt like concrete and it was all I could do to keep moving one foot in front of the other - my body had zero energy from all of the running around I'd done the day before in 90+ degree heat.

It wasn't long before I told him to go on ahead of me. I could tell I was holding him back and I hate that feeling!
 

His wife and her dad were waiting on us at mile 2 with the best and coldest water ever. It was heaven. I definitely appreciated the stop and took full advantage of it!

In the past, the water stops for this race have seemed few and far between (not this year, though), so it was nice to have them there as extra backup!

For the remaining miles, I ran until I hit the top of each mile, then I walked a couple of minutes, then began running again. It was all I could do to keep my heavy legs going.

When I knew the finish line was approaching, I somehow had a little bit of energy left in me, so I picked up the pace and ran hard in through the finish line. 

It's definitely not a PR for this race, but I don't think my overall time was half bad considering how horrible I felt!

After the race, I found my friends once again and took a few pictures!

Despite feeling like poo, it was great to spend the morning with my friends! 

Here's to the next one, which happens to be the 4th of July 4 miler. I plan to go into that race with a good night's rest and full of energy! 

Have you ever run a race on tired, dead legs?

It's the Tuesdays On The Run Linkup with Erika, Marcia and Patty. 

2015 4 Miler on the 4th Recap

This past weekend, I ran a 4th of July 4 Miler in my hometown! It's a yearly tradition that I've missed twice since I began running - once because I was recovering from IT Band issues and again because it fell on the weekend of my grandfather's funeral.

This time though, our area was offering a special medal for running their 3-race series which began in March and continued through July! All four of us began the journey together and we all completed it together!

The night before the race, I laid out all of my clothes and accessories - after last year's fiasco, I wanted to make sure i was prepared! (By the way, stay tuned this week for a special review/giveaway of non-slip headbands from KatieDid Productions!)

Thankfully, I woke up with my alarms and made it to the start of the race with plenty of time to spare! YAY!

As the race began, I felt great - I knew it was going to be a great morning and it felt as if everything just "clicked".......until my skirt began to give me fits. You see, this sparkle stars running skirt is a slip on - one that doesn't have bottoms attached. I'm dumb and forgot to pin the skirt to my compression shorts (like I ALWAYS DO). Therefore, the skirt kept riding up the entire race. I know it wasn't riding up terribly far, but it was enough to make me uncomfortable.

This course was out and back and on the two miles out, I felt great and my pace was on target. They had plenty of water stops and even included a few with gatorade.

On the mile back, I felt as if I gave this race everything I had in my tank - it was hot and humid, the sun was beating down with very little shade, and my legs felt very heavy. I kept asking myself, "are you SURE this is all you got?" and yes, I know without a shadow of a doubt that it was. I just couldn't give anymore.

My friend and his wife stood at the finish line and handed out high fives as runners came through...I loved it!

As I approached the finish line, I saw my PR slowly tick by. Four seconds off. FOUR.

I wasn't too upset about it, though. I mean, you seriously can't PR every single one. I went out, had fun, and got some miles in with friends on the 4th...what more could I have asked for?

My husband captured this picture of me after crossing the finish line...teeheee!

After a little recovery, I went out in search of my Triple Crown Medal!

Triple Crown complete - Athletes Corner 3 Miler, Contraband Days 5 Miler, and 4 on the 4th!

After my friends crossed the finish line, we had fun with the podiums! 

Then exhaustion took over!

After hanging around for a few minutes, we decided to have breakfast at a local diner! It was so good! The french toast was like powdered sugar overload!

I appreciate my husband and dad for coming out and cheering us on during the race! It was great having them there!

Following the race, we spent a little time at  a co-workers house for a 4th of July party!  I took to Pinterest for dessert ideas and I love the way it turned out! Thanks, Pinterest!

Love this patriotic Mickey flag from Walgreens!

On Saturday night, we had my parents over for BBQ. We also had Star Wars mac & cheese...just because. 

 After dinner, we drove downtown to see the fireworks. We also met up with Kenzie and her family again!

Such a fun end to a fun day!

Does your area have any 4th of July celebrations? Race/Parade/Fireworks, etc?