With a name like the Winter Warlock 10k, you can almost envision running in a couple of inches of snow, having the cold wind beat against your face and thinking stride after strive, “I can’t wait for this to be over.” However, the unseasonably beautiful New England winter running season stayed true to form for the Winter Warlock 10k in Plymouth, MA on Saturday.

The race was an amazingly scenic course that took runners along Old Sandwich Road, which is known to be the oldest public road in America. The course was a combination of pavement and compacted dirt and the race course was absolutely perfect. The race director announced at the start that the race would be moderately challenging and indeed there was a good deal of rolling hills throughout the course but the one thing that remained steady was the scenic course.

Running alongside protected open space preserved by Wildlands Trust at points, runners got the feel of being away from the hustle and bustle of more urban locales and really could focus on getting up and down the rolling hills that were made more enjoyable because of the scenery. There was great police support along the more heavily traveled road leading out of the start and into the finish but once off the main road, the traffic was scant which allowed for runners to own the road. The Winter Warlock 10k is one of a series of races that call Plymouth home so make sure you head to Plymouth if you see an upcoming race there as you will not be disappointed.

Great technical running shirts were given out at the race and post-race there was fruit, bagels, muffins, coffee and water available. Vita Coco, one of The Running Griffin’s sponsors, was also at the race handing out samples of their coconut water and I left with a tangerine coconut water which hit the spot on the ride home.

This was my first race back after having a minor surgery last Friday so I was still not in top running form and about 5 miles in started to feel the pain pretty good. Nonetheless, I finished the Winter Warlock 10k with a pretty respectable time of 53:32 good for 8:35/miles.