Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I don’t know about you – but the last couple of days have been pretty hot here in the Providence area.

Yesterday I went up to Gillette Stadium to pick up my bib number for the Harvard Pilgrim July 4th 10K. I was happy to see that some of the sponsors of the race were already setting up when I got there to get my bib and tee-shirt. I happily tried one of the new Stonyfield smoothies that was just released this week:

I really liked this smoothie. Even though it was marketed as ‘low in sugar’ it still had 24 grams of sugar, I think. 9 grams of protein which is higher than a lot of the other smoothies out there. I loved the taste of it, and it kept me full for a couple of hours – and I always love food that will do that.

Last night I had dinner with my friends Danielle, Nicole, Tim, and Jesse. I was planning on just coming over to say a quick hello – but dinner was already being prepared and it was especially appropriate for me and my pre-race dinner – Tim prepared an amazing pasta dish.

How beautiful is this:

With the fresh basil, parm and red sauce it was just the most lovely dish. Tim did a great job cooking and plating (for the camera!), as usual. It was a great dinner with friends. I did bow out early to go home, lay out my race clothes and hit the hay early.

I woke up today (race day) and had a glass of iced coffee, an Arnold’s sandwich thin with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 2 teaspoons of honey. I totally forgot to get bananas at the grocery store the other day – they are definitely on my shopping list for tomorrow. It turned out to be the perfect breakfast – even sans banana.

It was hot and humid when I left the house at 7:40 AM. The race did not start until 9 o’clock in the morning which seemed a little late to me… maybe an 8 o’clock start would have been better?

Regardless, my friend Nichole and I had a great time running the race. We encountered a lot of friends and Nichole’s wonderful family on the route – we had people cheering for us in five different locations – it was so helpful, especially on such a hot day.

The finish line of this race was the 50 yard line at Gillette Stadium – home to the one and only New England Patriots. It was quite an amazing finish – one I hope to always remember. Nichole was nice enough to snap a quick photo of me after we finished:

It was really neat to be on the field at Gillette. I was so happy to see that Larabar was a sponsor of the race today. I grabbed a couple of mini-Larabars, and that really made my day!

After the race, I came home, ate a bagel and a Greek yogurt and got ready for the rest of the day. There is nothing like a cold shower, a pretty dress and a family cookout after boiling in the sun and running 6.2 miles.

I definitely enjoyed the company of family and friends today – oh, and the food at the cookout, which went un-photographed! [For the record, I had a cheese burger, potato and egg salad, a cookie and some chips and salsa! So glad I exercised today! 🙂 ]

I hope you all had a great 4th of July. Stay cool and healthy – and I will see you tomorrow!