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!