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!
On Thursday night it was off to Bristol, Rhode Island to run in the Narragansett Summer Nights 5K. Bristol is about a 55 minute drive and the race takes place on the beautiful grounds of Mt. Hope Farm.
The race kicks off at 7:30 PM and the farm area is the ideal spot for an evening road race. A nice breeze coming off the ocean helped take a bit out of the sting of the heat yesterday and the venue provides a nice, family-friendly start and finish line. The course is a moderately challenging one with some rolling hills mixed in, some part of the run being done on grass, crushed stone and other stretches on paved trails through the grounds. The heat certainly took a toll yesterday but thankfully there were two water stops on the course that came in handy. The finishing stretch is a nice, gradual uphill into the chute that definitely pushes you to get up the hill as fast as you can!
For a good duration of the race, I didn’t feel my best and had a deep pain running across my stomach. It wasn’t clear if it was muscular in nature or something else but the pain was sharp and definitely impacted my ability to run well. These things happen; you can’t run your best every day. But still, I was a bit disappointed with my running yesterday.
I finished the race with a time of 29:12, good for 9:23/miles. Certainly not my best racing of late but finishing another 5K is never anything to frown upon.
The post-race vibes are absolutely dynamite at this race. I don’t drink so the two free beer tickets weren’t for me (Pssst, Narragansett. Please come out with a non-alcoholic option) so it was more water and free pizza for me. Shoutout to Piezonis for putting out some delicious pizza that hit the spot post-run. A little live music being played as dusk was setting in; truly a perfect summer night out there!
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:
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!
Love it when you can walk down the street to get to the starting line of a race and today was a great morning for running. We walked about a mile to our neighborhood brewery Black Hat Brew Works for the first running of the Black Hat Brew 5K held in conjunction with GetFit.
For the first annual running of the race, a really nice crowd assembled at the starting line as the race was about to kick off. Awesome to see a good group of runners and walkers ready to tackle the course and help raise funds for the Fire for Effect Foundation. Fire for Effect Foundation’s mission is to honor and empower veterans, first responders, and their families by providing essential resources, support, and community-building initiatives that foster resilience, restore hope, and strengthen the fabric of the community.
The race took place in the industrial park where both Black Hat and GetFit are located and it can’t get much more local than this. The race took runners through three loops of the industrial park which was tougher than one might think as the course featured a good amount of hills mixed in which, of course, needed to be tackled three times. There was a water stop out on the course which came in handy as the hills and a sun certainly warmed you up out on the course.
The only hiccup with the race was that the course was a touch long clocking in at 3.6 miles but the race directors did well to work with the timing company and ensure the official results were based upon the 3.6 miles ran rather than the 3.1 mile, 5K distance. These things happen and for a first annual run it’s something that can be rectified next year. Based upon the 3.6 mile distance, I finished the race with a time of 31:34, good for 8:46/miles. Not bad for a back-to-back race weekend!
Post-run, all runners were given a ticket for a free drink inside the brewery. As many of you know, I gave up drinking almost three years ago but Black Hat let the ticket be used for one of the non-alcoholic beers they offer at the brewery from Go Brewing. Awesome! After the run plenty of runners and walkers stuck around, enjoyed the outside area of the brewery, hit up the offerings of the brewery and took advantage of the Just the Dip food truck on site, too.
We walked back home from the race which provided some extra steps on the running watch.
The Running Griffin 