Even in the winter months, running outdoors and in the morning is a must in my book. I like getting a good, early morning run completed before the day kicks off but with the roads and sidewalks often quite dark this time of year it is important to think about proper illumination to stay safe while out on those early morning runs.

The Noxgear Tracer2 is a great options that provides both comfort and brightness while out on the run. The pack is bright and features several different solid and blended color options that you can toggle through to mix up your look on a daily basis. The battery life for this vest is remarkable and charges easily with a USB cord.

There’s a great discount on the Noxgear site right now where you can get the Tracer2 for $59.95.

Don’t delay and click here to order your Noxgear Tracer2 and keep safe while out on your runs!

Join me at the Narragansett Summer Nights 5K! Great evening run in Bristol, Rhode Island with a beautiful course and great post-run party!

Register by clicking here.

As runners, we all know the importance of ensuring your feet are taken care of. I recently had the opportunity to try insoles from Soul Insoles and would highly recommend you checking out these great insoles to help both your running form and to leverage for everyday walking use, as well.

Soul Insoles has a great lineup of products aimed at providing relief for arch pain, plantar fasciitis, flat feet and more. Some insoles that I have used before tend to become very clunky in the sneaker but the Soul Insoles offering provides cushion and support but leaves the sneaker not feeling weighed down by the insoles.

The customizable soft orthotic can be cut to fit your sneakers and provide remarkable cushion and support to the feet. I have used these both while running and while out walking and definitely would recommend checking them out for both purposes.

To shop the Soul Insoles products, click here to check out their website and purchase your set of insoles today!

When you head to Disney World for the Thanksgiving holiday, that doesn’t mean you get to skirt your responsibility to run a turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning. When looking for a race, the Ritz-Carlton Gobbler 5K was about a 20 minute Lyft from our hotel so we registered for the race and bright and early Thanksgiving morning made our way to the Ritz-Carlton for the run.

The race started right at the perfect Thanksgiving morning time of 7:30 AM and took runners on the cart paths of the back 9 of the golf course located at the hotel. There was nice scenery along the entire run as you would expect when running on a golf course.

The first stretch of the race was a bit crowded as runners made their way out onto the course as running over a cart bridge and narrow cart paths doesn’t allow a lot of wiggle room to get out from the crowd. About a half-mile in the race started to separate a bit and allowed for a bit more space on the course.

The race was a nice run on Thanksgiving morning but the $75 race registration fee per person was almost criminal. A long sleeve shirt that had the Ritz-Carlton logo on it but no mention of the race was given out and though medals were awarded to all runners the price just didn’t justify itself. Sure, small mimosas for those who drank were available and the post-run chair massage for five minutes was a nice treat but even simple things like water being in closed coolers on the course didn’t exactly live up to the expectations of what you would expect from a 5K race costing $75 per person. Plus, the course was about 3.3 miles long; not anything that I can’t tackle, of course, but another nit you would expect not to be the case for such an expensive 5K race. If proceeds were noted to go to a charity, maybe I’d feel differently about the cost of the race versus the experience but aside from that, no reason this race shouldn’t have been your standard $30 5K cost.

Mrs. Running Griffin and I ran the race together and cruised to a finishing time of 31:46, good for 10:14/miles against the advertised 5K distance.

If we end up back in Orlando for Thanksgiving, not sure we’d make this race the one we’d head unless they really rethink the cost structure of the race.

Knowing that the holidays are just ahead, a throng of runners made their way to Norwood, Massachusetts last Sunday for the 38th Annual Norwood Turkey Trot to ensure the four mile run gave everyone enough justification for another piece of pie. The Norwood Turkey Trot also served as the November Grand Prix Race for the Thirsty Irish Runners so it was nice to see some familiar faces before the race and out on the course.

The morning was a nice one for running, only thing to contend with was a good headwind at certain parts of the course. The race kicks off at 11AM from Norwood High School and then brings runners through a residential four mile course of Norwood. If you aren’t familiar with the run or the area, the course is a very challenging course with a good amount of climbing mixed into the course right up until the third mile marker where the hill work then becomes painstakingly difficult thanks to a massive climb up Nichols Street followed by another sharp uphill incline heading into the finish line.

Though I have been running pretty well lately the morning was a tough one to have tight calves and I could never really loosen up out on the course. Not the best race to have tight calves for given the amount of climbing but what can you do? Not every race is going to be awesome but crossing the finish line is a better end result than those who choose to do nothing athletic, right?

I finished up this year’s Norwood Turkey Trot with a time or 36:22, good for 9:06/miles.