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As you might remember, one of the first things I did when I booked my trip with Florida with my cousin over Memorial Day was find a race to run together. We did a very HOT, HUMID, and sweaty 5k in Naples and loved it! It should come as no surprise, then, that when I booked a flight to visit them in Kansas over the fourth of July weekend, we immediately went in hunt of another race we could do.That brought us to Ward Parkway’s 4 on the 4th race, which is actually right across the state line in Missouri.
My morning started out at 5:30 when I hopped out of bed to eat and then run 3.1 miles for Nuun’s Run Race HydrateVirtual Race. I had 8 miles on my plan for the weekend, so I thought that running back to back races was the best way I could celebrate a holiday weekend! The air was cool when I set out, but my legs felt still from all the travel and peak week workouts I’ve done. The first 3.1 miles I did I couldn’t get my pace below a 13 minute per mile pace, which felt pretty frustrating.
I made it back to the house with 5 minutes to spare, and drank some nuun as I gathered up my handheld (with more nuun) and grabbed a banana. I don’t think I’ve ever run half my miles, then been in the car for almost half an hour, then waited for a race to start, and then keep running. It was definitely different, and made for a tough first mile of the actual race.
Hydrating with Nuun
The race was pretty well attended, and I loved seeing all the patriotic outfits. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any patriotic running clothes, and chose my lightest weight outfit for a good breeze since I had so many miles to run. The first mile of the race was packed and I did end up taking a single walk break since we were running so slowly that my heart rate was fine.
Mile two things spread out a bit more as we started to climb a very steady uphill section of the course. It felt rough, especially since I was actually at mile 5 of my long run. Luckily I was able to keep my pace faster since I was running with my cousins, both of whom are much faster than me (they also ran the race much slower than if they hadn’t been running with me).
Somewhere towards the end of mile two we started to turn around and we hit a nice gradual downhill slope for most of mile three. It felt nice after the steady climb of mile two. The last mile of the race flew by, and before we knew it we were racing towards the finish!
We crossed the finish line in about 50 minutes which is slower than I’d like for 4 miles, but I’m happy with it due to the heat and the fact that I was using this race as my long run.
We grabbed our medals and ran about 1.2 more miles so that I ended the day with 8.3 miles for my long run. While 8 milers are typically a bit more rough for me, this one felt pretty good once I shook my legs out. Of course it helped that I got in a good run with my cousins too!
After we finished we walked back to the race area where they were serving root beer, oranges, bananas, bagels, and water. The winners got to take home an apple pie. I guess they were serving very American-y types of foods. They had music playing at the atmosphere is great. I would definitely sign up for the race again!
On the way home we stopped to get patriotic donuts. The donut I got had what I thought were sprinkles on top, but once I started eating it I realized they were pop rocks. It was fun to add an extra little pop to the 4th!
The race was $30 and we got this medal and super comfortable shirt, which I ended up wearing for the 4th! We also got a free finish line picture (above), which was a great deal!
The rest of the 4th was spent going out to a big Mexican lunch, going to the pool, going to a parade (where we had a picnic), and of course enjoying the fireworks show!
Now it’s your turn to share! Did you race on the 4th? Do you have a food that you enjoy eating every 4th of July?
Way to go! I didn’t get to race on the Fourth this year but I usually love to!
Thanks! It was fun 🙂