American 4-miler (Charlotte, NC)

This race has become a staple of my holiday morning and I loved kicking off the day by celebrating with all the new people I’ve met through the Run For Your Life (RFYL) run club. Leading up to this race, I had been feverishly packing up my house, so while I knew I had an American flag themed tank top, it was hidden in storage somewhere, so I made a quick stop at Target the weekend before to see if anything jumped out at me. One thing I’ve learned is that if you’re looking for a themed outfit, the men’s / boys section is always the way to go – there are just so many more options than what is offered in the women’s section (and there’s no way I’m fitting into anything in the girls section!). I was not disappointed! I ended up finding a red, white and blue Storm Trooper shirt and some crazy shorts. It’s certainly not an outfit to wear for long distances (way too much cotton), but it was really fun for this 4 mile race.

Last year I met up with Beth before the race and we ran from the RFYL store, so this year I had to do a little more planning to figure out where to park and then just met up with everyone near the start line. After our obligatory pre-race photo, we headed onto the course.

I don’t think anyone had big goals for this race, so we mostly stuck together and chatted while we ran. Since it was July in the south, it warmed up quite quickly, so I was very appreciative that it was a short race with lots of shade. After just under 40 minutes (39:21), I finished the race and joined up with the speedier kids to hang out at the finish line and cheer on the rest of the people we knew.

This is a fun holiday event and I’ve come back because of the other people I run the race with, but he medals and shirts the past two years have been pretty nice too – festive enough to continue to wear the rest of the day, but not too extreme that they can’t be worn the rest of the year too.

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