Yesterday it was down to Portsmouth, Rhode Island for my fourth Common Fence Point 5 Miler. This race was part of the Thirsty Irish Runners Grand Prix series therefore it was a must do race for me to stay in good standing with my running peeps.

The Common Fence Point 5 Miler is a race that most runners have a love/hate relationship with. The course itself takes part in a rather idyllic beach neighborhood and twists and turns through residential beachfront streets. That said, a couple of noticeable inclines (including on the appropriately named Summit Road) forces you to really challenge yourself along the way. This year the sun added an additional element to contend with as the overcast clouds sort of broke away just prior to race time.

For past reviews of the Common Fence 5 Miler, you can click here for 2013, click here for 2012 and click here for 2011.

Yesterday was not my best running of the Common Fence 5 Miler and I finished with a time of 41:52, good for an 8:23/mile split. This is a race you know you are not going to run your best at so for next year, hang back a little and try pacing yourself to a bit slower than normal and the hills might not be as bad.

The Running Griffin encourages runners to sign up for City Strides today. CityStrides keeps track of which streets you run, and can help you reach the goal of running every street in your city.

I have been running with City Strides for a while now and have been thoroughly impressed with the functionality. The program links to my RunKeeper therefore the integration allows me to run normally but track the streets that I have run in a variety of cities and towns where I have either raced or run leisurely. City Strides also allows you to track the mileage you have run in each pair of sneakers ensuring that your sneakers are accurately tracked relative to when they need to be replaced. Another great benefit of the application is that each run has a detailed weather forecast automatically linked to it leaving no question as to why your pace may have been slightly off on a hot/humid summer day.

City Strides also operates with the MapMyRun or Strava applications therefore runners have a variety of integrated running apps to use in coordination with City Strides.

For more information about City Strides, please click here to visit their website. You can also check them out on Facebook by clicking here and follow them on Twitter @citystrides.

Located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Blessed Sacrament School has served as an amazing kindergarten, elementary school and middle school for generations. My family alone has had three generations attend the school and today the school continues to serve as a tremendous educational facility.

Registration is now open for the Blessed Sacrament Back to School Run/Walk which will take place on Saturday, August 23 at 11AM. The race will kick off from the Holyoke Elks and will offer runners a different style of race with a 2 mile course serving as the race route. This race distance will allow racers to kick themselves a little bit more and will also ensure that for those looking to get back into running have a distance that they can be proud of completing.

The Blessed Sacrament Back to School Run/Walk will seek to bring alumni, students and others from the community to the race in support of the education that Blessed Sacrament School provides.

To register for the race, please click here. Please also be sure to RSVP on the Facebook event page by clicking here.

Monday night this week was a pretty muggy night but the heat wasn’t overly oppressive. The summer always has the joy of variation mixed into the running equation and the humidity for this Monday’s Dewpie Dash was perhaps most noticeable post-race as the race shirt was all but pasted to my skin.

The race directors from the Colonial Road Runners set up water at the midway point of the course this week which was a nice addition to the evening. We packed the SUV full of the children and a babysitter to watch them as we ran therefore we had some built in fans clapping away and cheering as we made our way into the finish line.

I finished this week’s Dewpie Dash 3.25 mile road race with a time of 24:20, good for 7:29/miles. The next two weeks I won’t be able to attend the Monday night series but look forward to getting back to Raynham shortly for some more good racing.