Last Sunday it was down to New Bedford, Massachusetts for the Ireland 5K sponsored by Guinness. This 5K took place immediately in downtown New Bedford, an iconic fishing town on the Southeastern coast of Massachusetts. The course takes runners on a loop course through a fish-packing and rather industrial section of New Bedford but runners could not have asked for a better day of running.

The race course is remarkably flat and allows runners to loosen out the legs on the course. The road is mostly closed to traffic and volunteers and the New Bedford Police Department do a nice job patrolling the course and ensuring runners are safe along the way. There is a water stop at around mile marker 1.25 and allows runners to grab water on both the out and back stretch of the race.

After the race, runners make their way back to Slainte, a great Irish pub steps away from the finish line where a nice selection of craft beers allowed runners to rehydrate properly.

I finished the Ireland 5K with a time of 24:01, good for 7:44/miles.