Myles Standish State Forest is a beautiful and massive state park situated in America’s Hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts and offers visitors a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and instead immerse themselves in nature. Myles Standish has quickly become an area well known to runners as a place that offers challenging road and trail options thanks to several races that now take place inside the confines of the state forest.

Yesterday morning it was off to Myles Standish for the Run for Conservation 5K, a race that helps to raise funds for Wildlands Trust. Wildlands Trust is a favorite local charity of mine and is dedicated to conserving land and preserving the natural heritage of Southeastern Massachusetts. They work to permanently protect and steward important habitats and landscapes, including woodlands and fields, ponds, coastal areas, agricultural lands, and river systems. With so much natural beauty across Southeastern Massachusetts, the work that Wildlands Trust does to ensure that residential and commercial sprawl does not eat into the natural heritage is something we all should get behind and support.

The race kicked off at 9AM and was a reverse course from when I last did the race two years ago. After making our way down a quick hill, runners then hit a sandy path for about a mile and a half. Running on beach-fine sand can be a challenge but I was able to maintain a nice pace as I made my way toward the water stop half-way through and then back out onto the pavement. Once back out onto the pavement, the final half of the course was a rolling stretch up and down some nice rolling hills and into the finish line.

I remember running this race rather well three years ago but this year I tackled the course with an even faster pace and finished the race with a time of 21:19 or 6:51/miles. Not bad for the last day of my 33rd year on earth and maybe a sign of good things to continue into 34.

For more information about Wildlands Trust, be sure to check out their Facebook page by clicking here.

Once back out on tto

To celebrate Fathers Day, it was off to the Easton Children’s Museum 10K in Easton, Massachusetts. Unfortunately ominous skies that quickly turned to rain kept the kids at home with a sitter but we were able to enjoy the day after the race. This year, the race served as the June Grand Prix race for the Thirsty Irish Runners and a huge contingent of green-clad runners hit the starting line and made their way out onto the course.

The race time temperatures were on the warm side with a healthy dose of humidity mixed into the air. The race took runners through a nice, rolling 10k course that had a couple of challenges mixed in. The race directors did a nice job having volunteers on the course handing out water, a commodity that was clearly needed given the weather. At just around mile 5.5 it started to open up in terms of the rain and the rain helped the shirt cling to the body even more.

Relative to the course, the rolling hills and mixture of neighborhoods that we ran through allowed runners to change things up in terms of running pace and some of my running pals helped the legs keep on kicking throughout the course. Post-race, there was a great award ceremony including cash for top winners and Children’s Museum mugs for age group winners and a plethora of food and drink provided by the race and by sponsors.

I finished the Easton Children’s Museum 10K with a time of 50:34 or 8:08/miles.

Once a year a group of my childhood friends and I head away for a long weekend to partake in some food, craft beer, baseball game and a little bit of culture. This year we made our way to Kentucky and took in the cities of Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky and ticked the state off our bucket list of states to visit. The past several trips, my buddy Matt and I have also completed a race while on the trip ranging from a 5K in Pittsburgh to the Flying Pig Half-Marathon in Cincinnati. This year, our trip coincided with the Bourbon Derby Half-Marathon in nearby Paris, Kentucky so Matt and I made our way to the starting line yesterday morning for the race.

The race started bright and early at 7:30 AM which was a blessing in disguise given the weather and rather hot racing conditions. Matt is a local Bluegrass Runners member and was chatting with some other runners who noted the race was hilly and in the sun for a good chunk of the race; and they were not kidding.

The course was one of the most beautiful half-marathons I have tackled running past miles of farmland, huge mansions and horse barns, horses running free and some of the most idyllic American countryside you can imagine. In the 8th mile you ran past a fountain with a massive, impressive horse barn off in the distance behind it which made for one of the finest backdrops I have seen. I’m not much of a horse enthusiast, but seeing horses running free behind acres of fencing really was quite a sight and made the race aesthetically quite appealing.

The sun shone bright overhead and at race time the temperatures hovered at 80 degrees. The whole course was a challenging mix of hills that simply put didn’t seem to ever stop. Just as soon as you climbed one rolling hill and made your way down the other side you were greeted with another hill. About half-way through the run I made the decision to dial back a bit having just come off another half-marathon preceded by a marathon three weeks ago and wanted to just enjoy the race and finish. I could feel I had little in the tank and the mixture of the heat and hills took a rather tough toll on me out on the course.

The race support was absolutely dynamite with all turns well marked and volunteers handing out water and a local energy drink Swords along the way. Even though, like the runners, the volunteers were baking in the heat they handled their duties at each stop with a smile and a push to keep chugging along. The people who partook in this race also were a great group and it was nice pairing up with runners up and down each of the hills encouraging each other along.

Coming into the finish line, a great crowd of locals cheered you into the finishing chute as you made your way past one more farm complete with cows and a barn. The supporters cheered each and every runner into the finish line and a post-race setup of water, fruit, granola bars and local goetta sliders helped runners refuel to their desire.
I finished the Bourbon Derby Half-Marathon with a time of 2:09:38 or 9:54/miles. It was a much slower than normal going for me but with the heat and hills coupled with muscle fatigue from all the recent long runs, I was glad to just hoof it into the finish line and grab my finisher’s medal. I have a couple weeks off until my next long run to allow for some recovery time and will be looking to race some shorter races soon.