On Saturday morning I was heading out to Western Massachusetts for an event that evening so made the best of my two hour commute and stopped midway in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts for a 9AM road race. The 2nd Annual Duck Dash for Camp Wonder kicked made for the perfect stopping point along the drive out to Western Massachusetts and the race is definitely one runners will want to consider next year.

The race starts and finishes in front of a school and runs through residential streets in the neighborhood surrounding the school. The course for the most part is relatively flat with just a few minor hills mixed into the course from time to time. Each and every turn along the course had volunteers directing runners along and a water stop was available around the midpoint of the course immediately following a brief stretch through a paved path between different neighborhoods.

The course was a very scenic, residential run and the 9AM race time allowed runners to get a race in nice and early. At the end of the race, awards were handed out quickly upon completion of the race and I was able to take home the 2nd place medal in my age division!

I finished the race with a time of 23:29, good for 7:33/miles. I felt rather strong during the race and some of the recent health issues I have been dealing with did not seem to interfere much with my racing.

To learn more about the work that the Duck Dash supports, check out this article from last year noting the background information on the race.