This morning it was about twenty minutes down the road to Fall River, Massachusetts for the Officer Thomas Giunta Memorial 5K. This was the 30th anniversary of the race held in memory of a Fall River police officer who was killed in the line of duty. To learn more about Officer Giunta, please click here.

Proceeds from the race go to the Fallen Officers Memorial Trust of the Fall River Police Department which, amongst other things, supports scholarships awarded to graduating seniors from Fall River each year. Being that the race is organized by the Fall River Police Department, there was a nice contingent of police officers running, motorcycle officers patrolling the course and other police officers staffing a couple of the more significant turns along the course.

Knowing where the starting line was as we got closer, I recognized that the course would be the same as the Fall River Salvation Army 5K that I ran back in 2015. The course, though in an industrial park, has some really solid hills mixed in with the most significant one being right as runners make their way to the Mile 2 marker. It would have been nice to have a water stop out on the course today as it warmed up while running but thankfully there was water at the finish line as runners finished up.

I finished up today’s Officer Thomas Giunta Memorial 5K with a time of 25:14, good for 8:07/miles. Not too shabby given this challenging course!