Today was Walter’s Run in West Roxbury, Massachusetts and who would have thought we’d be graced with temperatures in the mid 50’s for a race that hands out free gloves. This race is put on annually by the Parkway Running Club and is a fan favorite when it comes to 5K races in the Greater Boston area in December.

The course is a good, challenging 5K course that features a humdinger of a hill in the third mile that is not for the faint of heart. Today, my calves were tight the entire race and my shins had some interesting twinges of pain while running. Nothing too terrible, just more of an annoyance than anything.

I ran alright today but certainly not my best showing of 2015. I finished Walter’s Run today with a time of 25:05 or 8:05/miles.

Sunday morning started off as a rainy fall morning but as luck would have it the skies stopped raining just in time for the 11AM start time of the 5th Annual BSU Turkey Trot. The race takes place on the grounds of Bridgewater State University and features a 5k run and a 3k walk option and comes just in time for burning off some pre-Thanksgiving calories.

The race course is a 50/50 split of both paved roads and trail running through all within the Bridgewater State University campus. Though I have lived in Bridgewater for over a decade, I never have run the trails on campus. The trail system is a great running resource and even though it rained that morning the trails were in very good condition for the race. It was an interesting proposition to mix trail and road running for the race and the course forced you to really mix up your running style as you made your way up and down the section of campus known as Great Hill and then ran on dirt and dodged roots and rocks. After finishing up the trail system an then heading back up Great Hill, the last stretch of the race was a steep decline followed by a flat straightaway heading into the finish line.

This was my first race back since the New York City Marathon and I was pleased with my time of 24:25, good for 7:51/miles.

All proceeds from this race benefit the Old Colony YMCA’s Family Services division. For more information about this organization, please click here.

With the holidays quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to purchase a Paceband for the runner on your shopping list. These hugely helpful bands help runners track their pace against a predefined desired finish time and currently come in both marathon and half-marathon distance with paces varied for runners of all paces. Paceband is endorsed by star American marathoner Ryan Hall!

Pacebands are patent-pending silicone bands that runners of all levels can wear on their wrists to make sure they stay on pace during their race.

The bands include a target finish time for each distance (marathon, half marathon, etc.) and individual splits for each distance marker so athletes know what their cumulative time should be when they reach a certain number of miles or kilometers.

I have been training with the green half-marathon pace band and it is a useful tool to assist in pacing yourself while training. In a race, the Paceband will allow me to match my running pace as with the time on the band and the time on the mileage clock. The Paceband itself is lightweight and does not irritate the wrist in the slightest.

To order your Paceband or to order one for the runner you are holiday shopping for, please click here.

Registration is now open and will be closing soon for the MA FOP Lodge #28 Annual New Year’s Day Frozen Five Mile Run!

Where can you go on a New Year’s Day morning, take a five mile run, support the Fraternal Order of Police (a charity organization) and have an ALL YOU CAN EAT breakfast afterwards for only $25.00? Come join MA. FOP Lodge #28 for their 2016 Annual Frozen Five Mile Run. Trophy for first place overall Male and Female winner. Awards given to first and second place Male and Female in six (6) different age categories, 0-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60+. Water station and timing provided. T-Shirts will be provided to all PARTICIPANTS. Bring a guest for breakfast at no extra charge!!! (Just not the whole family!!!!)

I have run this race a couple of times and the race is a top-notch way to kick off the new year! The Running Griffin is proud to have partnered with the race and is offering readers a discounted race entry of $20. For information on how you can register for $20, please email therunninggriffin@gmail.com.