4 Miler On The 4th Of July (& A New PR)!

Hello and happy Wednesday! I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July!

As I mentioned on Monday, I debated running the local 4th of July 4 Miler - it's one I've done several times but just wasn't sure if I really wanted to this year. The logical side of my brain kicked in on Monday afternoon once I realized that I was going to get up the following morning and go for a run anyway, so why not make it a fun one?

Since I hadn't preregistered, I knew I needed to get there with time to spare before the race began. Parking and logistics isn't hard, thankfully (it's a small town).

On the way there, I decided to look up information on my PR from this race/distance in years passed and after reading it to Jason, I knew that goal was NOT obtainable (I even said so to Jason). Three years ago on race morning, I woke up INCREDIBLY late and made it to the start line with moments to spare. I somehow PR'd that race at 35:04! The following year, I tried to beat my time and missed it by mere seconds (35:06). Of course this year, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wouldn't even come close to a PR.

Oh well - I decided that I would just have fun and take this one as a training run. No big deal!

I seem to always end up in the same outfit for this race every year! Haha whoops!

Registering for the race and stashing everything away in the vehicle was a breeze. I even had time to foam roll and make a potty stop! Bonus!

Off we go!

Shortly after starting this race, I saw a girl ahead of me that I recognized from other local races. She's in my age group and super fast, so I decided I would try and keep up with her for as long as possible. I managed to do so until a little after mile 3 when I lost her. 

Throughout the race, I kept checking my watch to see how my timing was going. Somehow, I noticed that I would be very close to a PR if I kept pushing myself...although my timing in my head told me that I would be off by just a bit. I wondered how in the world I was even close to a PR? I'm still not sure! Maybe pushing a jogging stroller for so many runs helped my leg strength? No telling...

I slowed down a bit at mile 3 because I didn't think I was going to get a PR and I seriously felt like I was about to fall over. Hello July heat and humidity in the south! Once I realized towards the end of mile 3 that I was actually going to PR by a good bit, I kicked it into as high of a gear I could muster and made it across the finish line.

My PR? It was by a whole 30 seconds!!

I couldn't believe it!

After crossing the finish line, I was handed a bottle of water which was so nice (vs having to bend down to pick one up) and I made a bee line to the closest shaded spot I could find.

Another noteworthy addition to this year's race (from the one I ran in 2015) was an adequate amount of water stops! This one had three vs the last time I ran where there was only one water stop. Thanks, guys!!

Jason and Brayden found me shortly thereafter and were excited about my PR, too!  (Well, Jason was excited...Brayden just wanted food!) Hah!

Jason also purchased a delicious and incredibly refreshing popsicle for me! These are made by a local company and they use all fresh ingredients and real fruit!

The popsicle flavor I tried after the race was a Mango Cherry one and it was so good!

I love my support crew so much! They are amazing!

The official race results were posted which showed that I placed 5th in my AG out of 29 women! I'll take it! 

After I cooled down, we stopped by a local diner for breakfast.

I so enjoyed my morning at the race and my time spent with two of my favorite guys! I am so glad I made the decision to get up and go run! :) Accomplishing something I thought was impossible was really fun, too!

How was your 4th of July? Did you run any races or eat any good food (or both)?