The past few years the Finish at the 50 has been an annual tradition that I have thoroughly enjoyed and this year when the race announcement was released I made the decision to sign up for both the 5K and 10K option. The 5K race kicks off at 6PM and the 10K followed at 7PM and thankfully this year the summer night was absolutely perfect with the race time temperatures far cooler than it has been in previous years.

The 5K race is a great run where runners make their way through the parking lot of Gillette Stadium before heading into the home of the New England Patriots. Once in the stadium, runners make their way all the way to the top of the stadium up the ramps and then get a great view running along the upper bowl and looking down onto the field. After making a lap around the stadium, runners then make their way down a different set of ramps and run one of the lower bowls of the stadium before then heading into the tunnel to make their way onto the field and finish the race at the fifty yard line. Running on the same field that some of the NFL greats have played on is a pretty cool experience and this year I was lucky enough to get a photo with Jerod Mayo post-run.

After finishing up the 5K race, I grabbed a bottle of water and then made my way to the starting line of the 10K race which started promptly at 7PM. The 10K course takes runners out of the Gillette Stadium/Patriots Place complex and brings runners into residential neighborhoods abutting the stadium for most of the race. The course is a very fair course with some nice straightaways mixed into some pretty decent rolling hills. The crowd support throughout the residential neighborhoods was great and the course was well marked and managed by volunteers and police alike. Unlike the 5K, runners do not run the ramps once making their way back into the stadium but still finish at the fifty yard line once making their way onto the field.

This year, I felt quite strong for each one of the races and improved my overall times from last year. I finished the 5K with a time of 24:06 or 7:46/miles as compared to a time of 24:44 last year and finished the 10K with a time of 53:43 or 8:39/miles; an improvement from last year’s time of 54:22. A great nice for racing and definitely a tradition potentially in the making!

Registration is now open for the HussDog Jog 5K and I encourage all my followers to head out to Pembroke, Massachusetts on July 30th for this 5K race that is one you will not want to miss.

The 6th Annual HUSSDOG JOG will commemorate the passing of Steven R. Hussey by bringing family, friends, and the town of Pembroke together in a celebratory 5k and 2 mile walk! Join us to help raise awareness and provide support to individuals and their families who have suffered from a stroke.

Proceeds to benefit the nonprofit Stroke Rehabilitation and Healing (SRH). SRH’s mission is to raise awareness regarding the challenges met by stroke patients and their families. We will work to increase the support and services that are offered to stroke patients and their families, and provide necessary equipment for in-home recovery/rehabilitation. We hope to increase the quality of life and longevity of those who suffer from a stroke.

I have participated in this race a couple times and the course is a fun and fair course and the organizers do a truly remarkable job putting on a great race.

To register for the race, please click here. Please also give a “Like” to the race on Facebook by clicking here.

It was an 8:30 AM race time kickoff this morning for the Sharon Timlin Memorial 5K Road Race to Cure ALS. For anyone from the Greater Boston area, the last name Timlin is a familiar one as Mike Timlin pitched several years for the Boston Red Sox and his family now organizes this annual race which raises funds to help find a cure for ALS. The race is held in memory of Sharon Timlin, Mike Timlin’s mother, who passed away from ALS.

The mission of this race is to raise public awareness regarding ALS and, more important, to finance critical research being conducted at the Cecil B. Day Laboratory for Neuromuscular Research at University of Massachusetts Hospital, under the direction of world renowned ALS expert Dr. Robert H. Brown. The Sharon Timlin Memorial 5K Race and Family Fun Day to Cure ALS is a major ALS fundraiser with over 2,500 participants and with this year’s event the race has raised $1.5 million to find a cure for ALS.

Today, I raced with my favorite four year old in tow and we took the running stroller out onto the course. Because I believe in runner ettiquete, we started at the back of the starting line packed with more than 1500 runners and made our way into the course. Thankfully the race was chip timed which helped ensure an accurate starting time.

The course is an absolutely perfect 5K course with some very nice stretches in the course that are through residential neighborhoods and through a school complex in Hopkinton. The first mile is a gradual downhill and the second mile has a slight incline but the course runs nice and fast and thankfully there are some nice, shady sections mixed into the course perfect for a warmer, sunny day like today.

My running buddy in the stroller helped lean into the turns and we made up some good time winding through the crows and finished with a time of 27:05, good for 8:43/minutes.

Special proud dad moment on Father’s Day weekend as my oldest daughter, 8 years old, completed her first 5K at the race today. She and Mrs. Running Griffin ran together the entire race and she finished with a very respectable time of 35:20, or 11:22/miles. I better keep on training as there is no doubt this kid will be blazing past me in a few years!

On Saturday morning I was heading out to Western Massachusetts for an event that evening so made the best of my two hour commute and stopped midway in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts for a 9AM road race. The 2nd Annual Duck Dash for Camp Wonder kicked made for the perfect stopping point along the drive out to Western Massachusetts and the race is definitely one runners will want to consider next year.

The race starts and finishes in front of a school and runs through residential streets in the neighborhood surrounding the school. The course for the most part is relatively flat with just a few minor hills mixed into the course from time to time. Each and every turn along the course had volunteers directing runners along and a water stop was available around the midpoint of the course immediately following a brief stretch through a paved path between different neighborhoods.

The course was a very scenic, residential run and the 9AM race time allowed runners to get a race in nice and early. At the end of the race, awards were handed out quickly upon completion of the race and I was able to take home the 2nd place medal in my age division!

I finished the race with a time of 23:29, good for 7:33/miles. I felt rather strong during the race and some of the recent health issues I have been dealing with did not seem to interfere much with my racing.

To learn more about the work that the Duck Dash supports, check out this article from last year noting the background information on the race.