The Forth of July has never been one of those holiday's that I just love. Sure, I appreciate what the holiday stand for and I even enjoy getting the day off work, spending time with my family, and eating hot dogs & watermelon like every other American, but sitting around all day, stuffing my face, while waiting for the nightly fireworks show, has never been my favorite past-time. Don't get me wrong, I love a good fireworks show (especially a Disney one). Maybe it is because my families idea of a Forth of July fireworks show means my husband buying the most dangerous and expensive fireworks made, my boys so hyped up with excitement that they almost burn the place down with the punk to light them, me running after everyone to try to keep their fingers and toes from being blown off, all while we desperately try not to be carried off by Florida's state bird,
This year my family and I decided to do thing a little differently. Instead of sitting around, eating and being generally lazy, my day started with the Firecracker 5k! I headed off to the town of North Port as the sun was rising to run this 3.1 mile race. It was in a nice area of town and if it hadn't been so wet from all the rain we had the night before, I am sure the course would of been better. Never the less everyone was out in their red, white and blue and proudly displaying their patriotic spirit. I even was lucky enough to run into some new friends from a running group I just recently joined, Run For God, and it was very nice to get to spend some time before and after the race with them. Overall, it was a good way to start the day and a good run for me. I finished in 30 minutes 19 seconds, which was a new PR!
That afternoon my family and I adventured out to swim across our local harbor (about two miles) in the
Annual Charlotte Harbor Freedom Swim. It took almost two hours to get across and it was an adventure we will always remember.
You can imagine after spending a morning/afternoon burning off more than 1,500 calories, it was time to finally enjoy some All-American Forth of July food and the night wouldn't of been complete without a spectacular firework show, mosquitos included, put on by my favorite men who still have all ten fingers and toes (because of me)!
What did you do for the Forth of July? Did you run a race? If so, which one and how did you do?
