The Paddy Kelly 10K is an iconic race held in Brockton, Massachusetts through the historic and beautiful park roads taking runs through a hidden gem of a course in the heart of an urban location. The race for years was held in February but after a slew of some challenging winters the race was moved to now be held in March. The race is organized by the Colonial Road Runners who do a great job with this annual favorite for many runners in the region.

This morning, we reminisced that the first time that I had ever run this race was when Mrs. Running Griffin was just about to give birth to our oldest daughter who is now 18 years old and ready to graduate high school. My does time fly!

The 10K race kicked off at 11AM and brings runners through D.W. Field Park which traverses through Brockton and nearby Avon, as well. It’s a really pretty park area with paved roads alongside various parks, water and even a historic tower that you get to after you make your way up a substantial uphill section just past the first mile marker. The course has some fair hills mixed into it and as 10K races go the overall feel of the race is moderately challenging but fair.

There were a couple of water stops out on the course which is always needed on a 10K route and at the stretches where you need to cross any roads with traffic to enter a separate part of the park system there is both volunteers and officers from the local police departments there to help you along the way.

My legs, namely my calves and then my shins, were ridiculously tight today despite me having on some compression socks. Sure, I have been out pounding the pavement a lot lately but the legs just felt like cinder blocks at certain parts of the run. In the final two miles they felt the best and seemed to loosen up some but I’m certainly going to be icing up the ol’ legs for the rest of the day today.

I finished up the Paddy Kelly 10K with a time of 59:16, good for 9:27/miles.