The port town of New Bedford, Massachusetts will host the 15th Annual Day of Portugal 5K on Sunday, June 14th and this is one race you will not want to miss! This 5K race will take place in downtown New Bedford, Massachusetts and will  offer runners a great course followed by free refreshments, coffee, pastries and lots of Portuguese food following the race! All runners are automatically entered to win merchandise prizes along with their entry, as well!

The Day of Portugal, Camoes and the Portuguese Communities is a worldwide event and is a national holiday in Portugal, commemorating the life of Luis Vaz de Camoes—Portugal’s greatest poet and recognizes the valuable contributions of the many other Portuguese Communities worldwide. The history of the Portuguese in Massachusetts and especially New Bedford, makes up an integral part of the history of this State. Today, New Bedford has the largest percentage of Portuguese population in the United States—more than 59% of the population of New Bedford claims Portuguese ancestry.

Plan to join in the celebration and participate in the Day of Portugal 5K! To register for the race, please click here to register online. To learn more about the entire festival, please click here. You can also “Like” the Day of Portugal page on Facebook here.

It was a great day yesterday in Canton, Massachusetts for the Luce 5K and Fun Run. My seven year-old daughter participated in the half-mile fun run at the school and was an absolute competitor out there on the pavement. As she crossed the finish line, she grabbed a water and a Popsicle and then asked immediately when her next race is going to be. The running tradition continues and I couldn’t be a prouder dad!

The 5K kicked off at 11AM after the kids races and the course started at the base of a hill. After sprinting up the hill it was then a rather fast, downhill stretch for most of the first mile. At the 1 mile mark, the thoughts about all the joys of sprinting downhill slowly subsided as gradual climbing worked its way into the mix. The next 1.5 miles or so were relatively uphill, even if just at the slightest incline at times, but the calves could definitely feel the difference of the road after the first mile. Big shout out to the Canton Police Department who did a great job patrolling the course and coned off most of the main running road to ensure runner safety. Yesterday it was rather warm at race time so thankfully the race organizers had two water stops out on the course.

The last stretch of the race had runners run in front of the Luce School and past some fans cheering runners into the finish chute. The race directors had two bouncy houses on the front lawn of the school so both my runner daughter and three year old could be entertained by the babysitter as we ran but were also strategically placed to cheer us into the finish line.

I finished the Luce 5k with a time of 23:36, good for 7:36/miles. Not a bad racing time but the day was a huge win watching my daughter compete in her first official road race. Can’t wait for what the running future has in store!

After a long weekend running the Ragnar Relay Series on Cape Cod, yesterday morning it was down to Scituate, Massachusetts for the Scituate Firefighters 5K Road Race. Even though I ran 21.7 miles over 36 hours before the 5K race and slept about 3 hours in a van, heading to Scituate was a must to take part in the May Grand Prix race for the Thirsty Irish Runners.

The race started in the Minot Beach section of Scituate and featured a rather picturesque stretch of running first through a residential neighborhood that led to an amazing stretch along the ocean. Running past the sea wall, runners then made their way into a tough stretch of running on shells and stones that included some gradual hill work before making a loop back toward the finish line. Race time temperatures were rather warm and a little bit of a breeze was really only noticed at the finish line once the race was concluded.

Despite having logged some serious miles the previous two days, I still ran a rather strong race the Scituate Firefighters 5K road race and placed third in my age division with a time of 25:06, or 8:06/miles.