On December 7th you can join me at the Randolph Pack the Pantry 5K and help support stocking the shelves of a local food pantry while tackling a 5K road race!

This is the first annual running of the race but the Race Director has organized the nearby Dedham Food Pantry 5K for the past few years so the race will be a great time all while supporting a really good cause. Heading into the holidays and winter season here in New England, helping ensure those in need have food is critical and a race that raises funds to help stock the Randolph Food Pantry shelves is certainly worth supporting.

Here are the race details:

Date: Saturday, December 7th
Time: 10AM
Location: Randolph Intergenerational Community Center

Race registration includes a long sleeve shirt, as well as raffle opportunities and prizes for the top 3 men and women participants.

All proceeds will go to the Friendly Food Pantry of Randolph. Participants can earn additional raffle tickets by contributing to the food donation box on race day. Request donations include: cereal, peanut butter, jelly, canned soup, coffee (ground or instant), tuna fish and spaghetti sauce

To register for the race, please click here. 

Look forward to seeing you at the race! See you at the starting line!

The USATF-certified 19th annual Camy 5K Run & David 5K walk is being held on Saturday, November 9th at the Walpole Italian-American Club located at 109 Stone St in Walpole.

To register for the race, please click here.

This race helps support a number of important charities and raises funds for charitable organizations, which over the years has included Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Coach Bill Squires “Run Smart” Fund (for economically-challenged student-athletes); Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Invensys Foxboro YMCA; Matty Eappen Foundation (to prevent abusive child head trauma); One Fund Boston; Norwood Hospital Oncology/Hematology Clinic/Lab; Norwood Hospital Cancer Center at Foxboro oncology department (including a blanket warmer unit for chemotherapy patients; building improvements); Walpole Community Food Pantry; Walpole Italian-American Club (including the purchase of defibrillators); Walpole Italian-American Society; among others.

Held at the Walpole Italian-American Club, 109 Stone St., Walpole, Mass., on the second Saturday in November, the USATF-certified event was created in 2001 in honor of Camilio “Camy” Clerici and his grandson, David Clerici, Walpole I-A Society members who died nine months apart in 2000. The Rosina Fun Run for kids is named in honor of Camy’s widow and David’s grandmother, Rosina Clerici, who died in 2006. And the David 5K Walk top trophies are named in honor of his late parents (the Frank Clerici Sr. Award to the 1st male finisher; the Carol Hunt-Clerici Award to the 1st female finisher).

Be sure to register today for the Camy 5K and have a great run on race day!

Yesterday morning it was a quick trip over to Taunton, Massachusetts for the Rexel Energy Solutions 5K in support of Boston Children’s Hospital.

The race started and finished at the Holiday Inn in Taunton and took runners through the Myles Standish Industrial Park. There was a quick loop through the parking lot of the hotel before making our way out onto the main roads of the industrial park which provided for some nice, relatively quiet streets to run through on a Sunday morning. The Taunton Police Department did a great job patrolling the entire course on foot, motorcycle and in cars which ensured for good traffic control throughout the course.

The course was relatively flat throughout the majority of the race save a rather nice little uphill in the final half mile of the race. I was pleased with my pace from start to finish and left enough in the tank to make my way up the hill at pace before leveling back off for the final stretch into the finish line.

It warmed up a bit on the course from the 33 degree temperature early in the morning but there was a good crispness to the air that made for some good running. Even with the temperatures comfortable, one water stop on the course would have been nice. (I am a proponent of a water stop even on a 5K as a general rule of thumb.)

Making my way into the finishing chute, I knew I had a good pace going and knew that there were only three runners in front of me so I crossed the finish line in fourth place overall with a time of 22:31, good for 7:14/miles. Upon grabbing my medal and a water, the enticement of free food from the Burgundian Coffee and Waffles foodtruck was too good to pass up so I partook in a lemon curd, blueberry and whipped cream waffle as my post-race refueling. A really nice treat post-run!

All proceeds from the race went to benefit Boston Children’s Hospital.

Are you a runner looking for a fun event to bring your favorite four legged friend to?

Trails4Tails Fest   is a fundraiser benefiting It’s A Ruff Life Rescue (an all breed dog rescue) and  co-hosted by the Bucks County Triathlon Club.  The event takes place October 19, 2019 at the historic Washington Crossing Park, NJ.

Races include a 1 Mile Fun Run, 5k, 5K with Dogs, 15K, Double Dog (5K & 15K combined), 50K Ultra and the Triple Dog Ultra (5K, 15K, 50K).

All racers 21+ receive a free ticket to the beer & wine garden. The Fest itself includes a beer & wine garden, food trucks, vendors, adoptable dogs, dog agility course, dog costume contest,  K-9 Police Dog demos and more.

The Fest is open to the public! Folks can register at https://www.trails4tailsnjpa.org and thanks to the race organizer and our friends at Thirsty Irish Runners, you can use the discount code Irish5 to save $5 off your registration cost.

Be sure to RSVP on the Facebook event page by clicking here and give a “Like” to the race’s Facebook page by clicking here.

If you are in the Greater Boston area, you are not going to want to miss the upcoming Lawn on D 5K. The race will take place on September 28th and will start and finish at the beautiful urban Lawn on D grounds in the heart of Downtown Boston.

Sponsored by Citizens Bank, the Lawn on D 5K features an absolute bargain of a registration price of just $10! Registration includes your race bib and a long-sleeve runner shirt with food and beverage available to purchase at The Lawn On D at the conclusion of the race. In addition to the post-race food and drink, stick around for a great afternoon of live music from South Boston’s own Thomas Park and lawn games spread across the Lawn on D.

To learn more about The Lawn on D, please visit their website by clicking here.

To register for the race, please click here. You can also RSVP for the race on Facebook by clicking here.