Last weekend it was a back-to-back race weekend with the Spier Family Kindness for Kids 5K Saturday morning in Foxborough, Massachusetts followed by the Irish Cultural Centre 5K in Canton, Massachusetts on Sunday.

The Irish Cultural Centre 5K served as the September Grand Prix Race for my running club, Thirsty Irish Runners, so it was nice to see a bunch of fellow TIRs on the grounds of the Irish Cultural Centre of New England both before and after the race.

The race kicks off with both the Irish and American National Anthems and then runners make their way out onto the course. The course is relatively flat the whole way and there is nary a spot of shade on most of the course aside from a quick little stretch just before the two mile marker. The race takes runners generally through an industrial park adjacent to the Irish Cultural Centre so not exactly a race that screams aesthetic charm but a fun run nonetheless.

I finished this year’s Irish Cultural Centre 5K with a time of 25:33, good for 8:14/miles. Last year I ran 8:20/miles at this same race so never a bad thing to see some improvement!

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It’s a back-to-back race weekend this weekend with 5K runs booked for both today and tomorrow. This morning it was off to Foxboro, Massachusetts for the Spier Family Kindness for Kids 5K.

The race kicked off bright and early at 8AM the the YMCA in town and a nice crowd assembled for the 5K and a kids fun run that followed the race. The race raises funds for, amongst other things, food care packages for those in need and it was impressive to hear that since the race was founded hundreds of thousands of pounds of food have been donated to those in the local community.

The course had some familiar streets as some of the roads were part of the Foxboro Ten Miler course and other races that I have done in the area. It seemed like there was a fair amount of gradual climbing in the first two mils and a water stop graced runners right at the mile two marker just at the right time as it did get a little toasty even for a race kicking off at 8AM.

All in all, a nice course and a perfect morning for a run. Finished up the Spier Family Kindness for Kids 5K with a time of 25:21, good for 8:11/miles. Not too shabby!

Last Sunday morning it was over to Weymouth, Massachusetts to run the Barrel House Z 5K. This race served as the August Grand Prix race for my running club, Thirsty Irish Runners and it is always nice to see some running friends before, during and after the race.

This 5K course I have run a number of times before having done both this race and the Pre-Game 5K which is held the morning of the Super Bowl before. It is a tough, challenging 5K course with a nice climb mixed in just as you hit the one mile marker and then an uphill stretch in the final half-mile that is far more noticeably uphill coming in than it is downhill when you are heading out.

The course this year was very crowded at the start and for the first half-mile of the run it didn’t thin out much. There wasn’t much space to maneuver through the crowds so the first half-mile went a bit slower than I would have liked. Out on the course the morning heat and humidity certainly were a force to be reckoned with and thankfully there was a water stop about half-way through the run that was certainly needed given the conditions.

I finished up the Barrel House Z 5K with gun-time of 27:01, good for 8:42/miles. If there was chip timing it would have been a touch better but still not a bad overall time given the crowds, heat and hills.

After the race, I checked out Slow Coffee in Weymouth and the peanut butter iced latte with oat milk was the perfect post-run treat. Be sure to check them out if in the area!

It’s been a while since I have run one of the Monday Night Fun Runs hosted by the Colonial Road Runners in Raynham, Massachusetts but the calendar was open this past Monday evening so it was just a hop, skip and a jump over to the starting line for this week’s run. Hosted weekly, this 3.25 mile run kicks off at 6:30 PM and takes runners on the same course each week. The race is the best bargain around with just a $2 entry fee which comes complete with timing and post-run refreshments, as well!

This Monday was an intense night to pick to return to the course as the humidity and heat was something fierce and certainly something to be contended with. It was roughly 90 degrees and the humidity made things feel like you were running in a sauna for the race. The course has some nice hills mixed in for good measure and thankfully a water station was right around the halfway mark hosted by Dennis Gallagher for State Representative.

I’ll take the hot weather over the cold any day of the week and the sweat accumulation post-race was not for the faint of heart. I finished up the race with a time of 27:49, good for 8:33/miles. Hope to be able to make it back over to Raynham soon enough for another one of the Monday night runs!