Well, it’s October and here in New England apparently summer just doesn’t want to quit. Yesterday it was off to Dedham, Massachusetts for the Dedham Education Foundation (DEF) Dash 5K and a blast of warmth graced the area with race time temps well in the 80s and the sun absolutely beating down on the course.

Being in New England, we all know that the weather around here can be quite fickle and the warmth of Sunday (and the entire weekend for that matter) was a welcome surprise because we all know what comes next. That said, it was a touch toasty for race time but still an absolutely perfect day for a run.

The DEF Dash 5K starts and finishes at a local park and raises funds for the Dedham Education Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises private funds to support, enhance and enrich public education in Dedham.

The race started off on a nice uphill climb and then took runners through some gorgeous neighborhoods in Dedham. Residential streets, neighbors out cheering for runners, a couple nice residential rolling hills mixed in for good measure. When you think about what you are looking for in a race, the DEF Dash 5K sort of checks all the boxes. After the race, there was a nice offering of post-race treats ranging from free beer from Jack’s Abby Brewing to smoothies from Tropical Smoothie Cafe and even grilled cheese samples from Melty. I’ll tell you what, those smoothies definitely were a magic post-race elixir especially given the heat!

I felt strong out there running despite the heat and ran a pretty good race. Thank to one of my Thirsty Irish Runners teammates for pushing me a bit on one of the residential rolling hills; always nice to have some support out there. I finished the race with a time of 25:59, good for 8:22/miles. Some of my better running of late; we’ll take it!