Every Monday night in Raynham, Massachusetts the local running club Colonial Road Runners hosts a 3.25 mile fun run taking runners on the same course each week allowing runners to get out and enjoy a nice evening run after the workday comes to a close. With the race kicking off each week at 6:30 PM, the run takes runners along residential roads of Raynham and many familiar faces are seen each week while out on the run. It’s just $2 to run each week and you keep your number for the summer and with the race timed and there being water and sports drink post-run you simply can’t find a better running bargain around!

I have been on the road a bit this summer so haven’t been able to tackle the weekly series each week but two weeks ago it worked out that I could run the race so off to Raynham I went. It was a very hot night that evening with temperatures just short of 90 degrees at the start so it was going to be a sweat-it-out sort of run for sure. The course has a good amount of climbing in the third mile which also had some nice shade present which certainly helped take a little bit of the punch out of the heat that night.

I finished up the Raynham fun run with a time of 30:07, good for 9:16/miles. Not a bad result particularly given the heat and the fact I ran earlier that morning, as well, and definitely hope to make it back out to another fun run in the coming weeks!

85% of streets in Bridgewater, Massachusetts has been run! Picked off another group of streets this morning and looking to get to 100% soon.

There are some remaining streets that I have never heard of but thanks to CityStrides I’m able to track and map out the remaining streets to finish up.

Can’t wait to have every single street in town run!

Join me on July 5th for the 10th Annual Running Over MSA 5K! I’ll be running the virtual option from Bridgewater, Massachusetts and you’re welcome to join me there or you can run the virtual option wherever you call home. If you are local to the Chatsworth, Illinois area be sure to take in the event in-person; looks to be another amazing year of events.

Running Over MSA raises funds for Mission MSA, the non-profit working to find a cure for Multiple System Atrophy. My own father has been battling MSA for several years now and finding a cure is not just important to our family but something I am proud to support when I see others working hard to find a cure for MSA.

Mission MSA is devoted to improving quality of life and building hope for people affected by Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) through:

• Providing patients and care partners with trusted and compassionate emotional support.
• Educating patients, care partners, and healthcare professionals with credible, critically important, and relevant information.
• Building a sense of community by connecting and unifying people affected by MSA.
• Funding patient-centric collaborative research aimed at alleviating symptoms, slowing disease progression, and discovering a cure.
• Playing a leading role in raising awareness and advocating for those impacted by the disease.

Running Over MSA was founded by The Dan Cavanagh Memorial Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was started by the family of the late Dan Cavanagh. Dan was a beloved citizen of Chatsworth, IL from the day he was born, St. Patrick’s Day! He was a life-long fan of the Chicago White Sox and the Indy 500, a lifetime member of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, and a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Sons of the American Legion and Pheasants Forever – Livingston County.

Dan passed away from Multiple System Atrophy on October 11th, 2015 at the age of 65. Multiple System Atrophy, or MSA, is a terminal neurodegenerative disease that affects both men and women and strikes them in the prime of their life. It slowly and progressively takes away their abilities to walk, talk, swallow, and breathe. MSA is considered a type of parkinsonism but with more widespread effects on the brain and body.

We can all lace up our sneakers and go for a run or walk on July 5th; let’s raise a boatload of money to help find a cure for MSA. Please join with me in running on that day by registering for the race by clicking here.

We dropped our oldest daughter off at Logan Airport this morning at 4:45 AM as she is off to Jamaica for a mission trip with some of her high school classmates for the week. After we ensured she was off through the security line and ready to go, we decided since we were up so early why not go for a run through Boston and run off some of the emotions of seeing her head off to Jamaica.

We started off near South Station and made our way down the Rose Kennedy Greenway and toward the North End of Boston. While running, we both noted how different it is running in the city (even at the crack of dawn) as there is just so much to take in while out on the run. Plus, running along Boston Harbor is never a bad thing!

Passed by the TD Garden and then made our way toward Charles Street, hands down one of my favorite streets in Boston. The vibe, the shops, the brick sidewalks. That street is just amazing! After making our way down Charles Street it was through the iconic Boston Common before we made our way back through Downtown Crossing and back toward the Seaport where we wrapped up our run.

Post-run we had some time to kill before taking a train back home so we went to PopUp Bagels which I have been eyeing for a while. This spot is something else and the bagels were simply amazing. Hot, a good crunch on the outside and fluffy in the middle. Seriously, these were probably some of the finest bagels we have ever had. Next level good!

On our way toward South Station, we picked up coffees at the new Little Wolf Coffee Roasters. Having awoken at 3:20 AM to make our way to the airport, needless to say the coffee was beyond needed at that point but it also was a really amazing cup of coffee. Definitely will be hitting up this coffee shop again shortly!