Will You #RaceToTheRow With Me? *Race Entry Giveaway*

AND THE WINNER IS.....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to everyone that entered! If you didn't win, I still hope you will register for the race!! :)

***

Amazing Race is coming back to Somerville.

Wait wait! That sounds misleading.

THE Amazing Race the show is not coming back to Somerville, but AN Amazing Race is.

The Somerville Road Runners are putting on the 2nd Annual Race To The Row 5kon August 24th at 9:30am!

photo (63)

YAY!! 

I had a BLAST at the inaugural race last year. If you didn't just click on "last year" and read the race recap, let me tell you it is the race where I set my current 5k PR of 21:59. Umm yeah so this race means A LOT to me. Plus it is less than a 5 minute walk from my house.

Since Assembly Row was under construction last year, I know the course will be even BETTER this year since Assembly Row is open and thriving. Here is a sneak peek at it.

row

The race is a run or walk and is open to runners and families of all ages and abilities.

Additionally, there will be a Children's Fun Run (age 9 and under) before the race with all kids getting a medal! Can I pretend to be an 8-year old? ;) I love a medal.

I will say the Fun Run was adorable to watch pre-race last year.

But more about the 5k:

The Race to the Row will run through the Assembly Square District and along the Mystic River, ending with a fun-filled post-race party with food and drinks served from the newest local restaurants and live music supplied by the IT Band! All proceeds will benefit the East Somerville Main Streets program (funding East Somerville business visibility and bolstering the community at large) as well as Somerville TrackPAC (provides college scholarships for Somerville High School students).

row2

Following last year's race I enjoyed free Harpoon beer and food courtesy of Burger Dive. I know they will be offering free food and drink to participants again this year, but details have yet to be released.

The Assembly Row and race area are easily accessible via public transportation and offer ample parking options for those choosing to drive.

***

Now that I have you all drooling over the fun ... it is time for the best part:

I have a FREE race entry to give away!

Lucky me!!

So here’s how to enter:

The giveaway will run from Monday July 28 (10am ET) through Friday August 1 (10am ET)!

The winner will be selected and announced on Friday!

Monday Musings: Sun, Fun And Of Course Training

This Summer ROCKS! Okay I am not sleeping as much as I would like or having as many lazy weekends or trips as my wife would like.

But we are definitely doing more than we did last summer.

Last summer on July 19, my wife had her ACL replaced, which led to a pretty uneventful summer.

Thankfully this year she is healed and we are taking advantage of it.

The weekends have been full of adventure and something I'm looking forward to recapping every Monday. :)

***

Friday kicked off with a phenomenal weigh-in, where I finally shed the weight I had gained during my temp job and I am feeling AMAZING.

After attending my Friday morning meeting, I subbed the Noon meeting for a coworker. I love meeting new groups and hearing about people's journeys.

When I got home from work I had a present from Misfit Wearables!!

I am wicked excited to try another activity monitor and report back all my thoughts. I am going to give it a couple of weeks before I write a post on it. It has the feature to track your swims so I already love that it is waterproof. :)

Once the work day was over, I had to turn my attention to the training plan. Which called for a 2 hour and 15 min bike ride. Now the weather was forecasted to be crappy and I was waiting for the wife to get home to enjoy dinner so I opted for a ride on the trainer.

But how could I be in my living room for that long without going crazy?!?! A movie would do the trick.

Yay Frozen to the rescue.

After a grueling training session - Hello Sweatfest - it was a low-key evening in our household: Zensah compression, pizza, wine and snuggling in bed. Success since I was getting up early Saturday morning.

***

I must've gotten up early for a training ride or run on Saturday? Nope! The alarm went off at 6am so I could sub two Weight Watchers meetings for my friend Heather. I had attended the 8am meeting as a member in the past and I knew it was a fun group. I was looking forward to see the good times that most Saturday groups convey. :)

Now I made sure to adjust my training plan accordingly so I could work and keep my afternoon free to spend with the wife.

So I wore my bathing suit underneath my work clothes to keep me accountable. I walked straight from the Weight Watchers Center to the gym, which was easy since it is on my way home. :P

The swim workout was easily laid out: 300 WU, 2000 meters and 300 CD. To my knowledge that would be my longest consistent swim.

2000 meters = 80 lengths of my pool = 1.242 miles

The Half Ironman swim distance is 1.2 miles and has a 1-hour cutoff.

The 2000 meters took me 40 minutes and 55 seconds. I was happy with the outcome. I felt strong and consistent the entire time. I knew I could've pushed it more, which made me happy. The plan wanted you to swim it at moderate pace and I think I kept it that way. Besides some bursts when I needed to change lane mid-swim and my lane mate wanted to chat briefly. Ha!

With work and the workout done, it was Date Afternoon time. For the wife's birthday, I gave her a Date Afternoon consisting of Stand Up Paddle Boarding and dinner at the Boston Burger Company in Davis Square (Somerville).

Neither of us had done Stand Up Paddle Boarding before so it would definitely be an experience for both of us.

I have seen the Charles River Canoe & Kayak kiosk on countless runs.

Finally time to step on up and try it!

After taking a brief quiz - of course we got 100% and a smiley face on it - we signed away our lives and hid our stuff in the car to keep it safe and dry. I had no idea how many times we would potentially end up in the water. :P

The SUP boards were $15/hr and we were figuring one hour would be a good starting off point for us.

We were fitted for our life vests before having the oars properly lengthened for our heights.

In order to shimmy on to the board, we headed down the dock where the dockhands were ready and waiting. Thankfully I trusted the 15 year old (if that) to hold the board steady, while I slid onto the board.

You start on your knees and work your way to standing up once 10 feet from the dock.

I don't have the best of balance so I was hoping for the best.

Success!!

We started our trip upstream. It was a beautifully sunny day in Boston and perfect to be out on the River. We were boarding among canoers, kayakers and even some boaters.

Now the boaters can be tricky as they leave wake behind ... which is why my love ended up in the water! ;) I wish I had pictures of it. :P

She did a great job quickly getting back on to the board and reclaiming her balance. Go babe!

After that little blip the rest of the hour was smooth sailing. It is a good upper body workout as well as a lower body workout to keep balanced.

Once we hit a boat house along the water, we decided to make the turn and head back to the dock.

We started upstream- against the current - which proved to be more of a workout than downstream. I know a Duh sort of moment. But both were fun.

We returned to the docks and the dockhands helped us shimmy back on to land and check out.

The service was great and the payment process quick. They did take credit cards, which was nice.

Now I will say I didn't bring the camera with me on the River. We actually went back to the dock so I could run to the car, retrieve my car and snap some action shots of us. :)

I kept the phone in a little pocket on the life vest in between pics.

It was nice to just enjoy time with my wife away from technology and the real world. I even said to her during the trek that I would've never imagined doing something like this when we first met. I am thankful for so much from this weight loss journey - including a more daring personality.

We actually finished up paddle boarding just before 4, but we ready for an early dinner so straight to Boston Burger Company we went.

This restaurant features my wife's favorite burger: The Killer Bee.

Can you tell how happy she is?

I am not a burger person so I opted for a Garden Salad with chicken and french fries.

We both cheered her birthday with our favorite Slumbrew beers on tap: Happy Sol for her (right) and Porter Square Porter for me (left).

What a delicious meal!

It was one perfect Summer Day in Boston. I could've asked for a better time or person to spend it with.

I was getting sleepy so we called it an early night to watch some Netflix, snuggle some pups and turn in early.

Okay I fell asleep before anyone else ... it happens!

***

Sunday I made sure to get up early to get my 5-mile training run in before the wife and I headed to New Hampshire for my friend's daughter's baptism.

It was great to catch up with college friends. The original party would've been outside, but with inclement weather coming down on us the festivities were moved inside. After some baby snuggling, we all headed home.

We caught a little bit of weekend vacation traffic, but thankfully not too much.

I was home, changed and on the bike trainer by 4pm. I could've ridden outside, but I wanted to spend more time with my little family so I hopped on the trainer for the 90 minute ride.

Luckily the trainer isn't so loud that it drowns out the conversation. :)

But if you haven't caught on with the pattern so far, the night was low-key and I tried to recover with my compression and bed.

***

Once again the weekend was superb (and I tracked every delicious bite of it), but ended on a tough note. I have signed up for something in 2015 (which I will reveal soon), but now I am nervous that it was a bad choice. I need to listen to my gut so instead of regretting the decision I am going to accept the challenges.

I spent a majority of Sunday also glued to my iPhone as I tracked seven people I knew attacking Iron Man Lake Placid. It was a phenomenally inspiring day. 6 of the 7 were able to Finish after battling tough weather conditions. But all 7 are winners in my book as they had the heart to sign up, train and show up on Race Day!

A DNF (Did Not Finish) is better than a DNS (Did Not Start)!

Now I must recollect myself and get back to my own training plan... six weeks until Pumpkinman Half Ironman. Eek!

***

PS. There is still time to sign up for my virtual fundraising 5k – F.A.S.T. (Fight Against Stroke Together) 5k/10k. You can click here to find more information about how you can help Fight Stroke AND get a sweet Finisher’s Medal.

Monday Musings: Tori's Birthday & Iron Girl Triathlon Weekend

The weekend started off just the way I wanted it to ... with a happy result on the scale.

Despite being in the negative with my Weight Watchers Points, I still shed 1.6 lbs. Woo!

Now I have been consistently going to the Friday 8am WW meeting since my temp job ended, but Friday I had to skip. Now know I had a good reason AND I had promised to go on Saturday at 8am instead.

Why did I have to meet my meeting?

For a nice long bike ride with my friend Darcie. I'm so glad Darcie and I could connect for another long bike ride. Since the ride began in the city, I had a lot of clipping practice (clipping my bike shoe in and out of the pedals) as well as biking with traffic (cars, changing lanes, etc). We also tackled some big hills, which at the time I didn't know how handy that would be for later in the weekend.

I am still pretty new to biking outside so I was proud of my improvement ... and fell off the bike for a second time. Again it happened while at a complete stop. The first fall was into mulch and this time into grass. So at least both falls had some cushion. ;)

It's crazy how long a long bik ride takes when you count travel time to the ride start, actual ride time, breaks while riding and then traveling home. I left at 7:15am and returned home just after Noon.

Once the bike ride was out of the way, I could focus on the real highlight of Friday ... the wife's birthday!

She turned 34 on Friday. We started the celebration early with a trip to Legoland Discovery Center Boston (which is actually located at Assembly Row in Somerville) on Wednesday night. There is an adult night once a month and July's ended up during Tori's Birthday week. Hello Birthday Gods! It was a BLAST. I will be sharing more details and pictures of the event in another blog post.

On her birthday itself, we met for a nice dinner at Pizzeria Regina at Station Landing in Medford before she used her new birthday gift cards at the Lego Store.

Not sure her smile could get any wider. And yes I was the mastermind behind the Birthday Message. It is pretty much the peak of my Lego skills.

We headed home after the Lego purchase to share a bottle of our favorite wine - Door County Peninsula Winery Sunset Splash - and watched Spaceballs.

It was a great low-key night.

***

I woke up Saturday and decided to walk to and from the Weight Watchers meeting. It was fun to sit in on a new group, especially since I would be subbing in as Leader for the very group next week. It should definitely be a fun time. Plus, my friend Heather is the Leader so I love checking out her meetings.

After walking home, I made sure to clean my bike up since I would be racking it that day - the day before the race rather than the day of. This would be the first time I would leave Roxie alone at a race set-up so I was nervous. But I knew Iron Girl would have the space secured.

The Iron Girl Webster Sprint Tri that I would be competing in with Got Chocolate Milk was just over an hour away from the Boston area so we started the trek West early. Thank goodness we did as there was bumper-to-bumper traffic all over the Mass Pike. But, my neurotic need to leave the house early paid off as we arrived at the Expo just in time. Phew! The last thing you want to do it be late to an Expo that you are speaking at.

That's right. I had the pleasure of taking part in a Q&A Panel with Chocolate Milk Captain Chrisann Dalton. She is one amazingly energetic, compassionate and fierce human and athlete. She completed Iron Man Kona last year with Hines Ward. Yeah, bad ass lady! :)

Following the panel, which was super fun, we hosted a mile Shake Out run. It was great to see so many ladies coming out to stretch, shake out the nerves and refuel with some low-fat chocolate milk with us.

I love meeting new people and hearing their stories. Many of these women were coming out for their first triathlon and hearing the excitement in their voices got me even MORE pumped up for the following day.

Once the Shake Out run was over, it was time to quickly rack my bike at the race site, which was less than a mile from the Expo, before making the trek back home.

I wish we could've stayed out in Webster, but we needed to take care of the pups. So our afternoon/evening was light with a quick lunch at a mall's food court (salad wrap from D'Angelos for me) and some wheat pasta/sauce for dinner.

At the Expo we learned that the water would be too warm to wear our wetsuits. I slightly freaked out as I hadn't raced in just my tri kit yet, but I was ready to give it a whirl. But first I needed to get more comfortable in it. So yes I put it on and wore it around the house for awhile. Just to get the feel.

It was hard to NOT be self-conscious in it as it is designed to be fitted, but I was trying to push those negative thoughts out of my head.

With a glass of red wine, my Zensah compression shorts and socks on, and some Netflix, I spent Saturday night relaxing and making sure I turned in early because...

***

... the alarm went off Sunday morning at 4am. Yes folks you read that right. The race began at 7am and we had about an hour drive ahead of us. So out the door by 4:45 was the game plan. Since it was so early in the morning, we thankfully hit little to no traffic and pulled into the parking lot at 5:52. Woo! We hopped on the shuttle and made our way to the Start area so I could get my stuff set up in transition.

I will share more details about the race itself in a separate recap post, but here are some pics to enjoy in the meantime.

The race was a great experience. There are plenty of things I need to improve on, but I am taking away how strong I felt, how much fun I had high-fiving and cheering on the other ladies during the race and the amazing feeling I had crossing that Finish Line.

After the race, we had to walk my bike the mile back to the car, which was a nice little cool down. But, when I got to the car it was only about 10:30am. Ha! I really thought it was 2pm by then. I guess that is what happens when one gets up at 4am.

We hit a Dunkins before getting back on the high way home.

How did the rest of Sunday go?

Lazy. 100% lazy.

I wore compression. I snuggled puppies. I lounged. I stretched. I watched Netflix. I celebrated with a delicious beer. I read comments from other Iron Girl Finishers. I smiled.

And it was awesome!!

***

Every Monday I say how I wish the weekends were longer, but it is true. The adventures are amazing and I wouldn't change anything I need to go through to make them happen.

So now I turn back to my training plan and write out the next week. No racing this week so all practice all the time.

***

How did you celebrate your weekend?

RACE RECAP: 2014 Old Port Half Marathon

FUN RUN with the BFF = 2014 Old Port Half Marathon

Buoys as division prizes ... so cool!

I was pumped when my BFF Sarah's dad bought her an entry into the Old Port Half for her bday present. Since Sarah and her family live in Portland, we would be making it a little weekend trip.

First stop on Saturday, June 12 was the Expo. The Expo may've been small, but it would outside on a pier with beer for purchase and live music. Hey-o!

I want to thank Old Port Half Race Director Erik Boucher for having me at the race. I do want to share that I was given complimentary race entry and swag, but all of my thoughts are honest and 100% mine!

After a quick Expo trip, we had a lovely afternoon birthday BBQ for my niece Joanna's 2nd birthday.

Since we had a 5am wake-up call, we all turned in early.

After some grumbling after the early wake-up call, I dragged myself off the guest futon and happily got ready for the race. I brought some instant oatmeal to have prior to the race. It is nice to have a kitchen at your disposal when prepping for a race while on the road. Plus, Sarah lives pretty close to downtown so we didn't have to leave the house until just after 6am.

There was ample parking available around the city. Okay, we just parked in any lot we found and hoped for the best. ;) We asked a cop to double check that we were okay and he basically said we are parking at our own risk. Eh, we took the chance.

We immediately headed to the lengthy port-o-potty lines. While in line, I brought up the article from the Boston Globe where Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray shared his race pet peeves. One included folks forming one line to cover multiple port-o-potties rather than one line per port-o-potty. Shortly after I brought this up in a line that seemed to be growing rather than moving, someone made an announcement over the loudspeaker to form one line per port-o-potty. Hallelujah! The lines immediately started moving more.

Wife & I proud to #SportTheFort for Slumbrew!

But we were already cutting it close to the race start. We had about 15 minutes before the Start and still had to drop my bag at the Blue Trailer Mobile Lockers. Thankfully Molly was running a smooth ship and the line moved swiftly. I got my key, locked up my gear and Sarah and I headed to the Start corral.

I sent Tori ahead so she could be in place and get settled before the race started. Since Sarah and I were doing it for fun, I wasn't worried about getting to the right corral.

I will commend Old Port for trying to keep a lane free to the right side of the Start Corral for folks to shimmy up to their correct pace group.

Oh when we came to the back of the Corral, we spotted additional port-o-potties. Would've been helpful to know about those earlier. :P

We did our best to sashay our way up to the 8:30-ish corral, but we got stopped around the 9 min/mile pace corral.

While in line, we went over our game plan again of having fun, taking pictures and keeping the run around a 9 min/mile pace. Our only time goal was to finish in sub-2. The rest of the goals were for fun. ;)

The Start corral was full of spectators and the folks running the 5k option which would be kicking off at 7:30. They were actually taking a shuttle to their Start Line. Cool idea.

The race started out on the main street of Commercial Street. With parts of the street still open to traffic, we were actually running in a roped off area in the middle of the street. It was a narrow shoot so there wasn't a whole lot of bobbing/weaving we could do without possibly rolling an ankle on the old streets. We did the best we could, but again didn't want to waste energy as there was a large hill happening around Mile 3.

Mile 1: 8:52 Mile 2: 8:05

Can you tell we got into a better groove around Mile 2? ;)

After Mile 2, the ever-loving hill began. It weaved, it climbed and it just kept going.

Mile 3: 9:05

I know the hill takes a little more toll on the injured left hammy so I made sure to stay smart and strong. I slowed it down and didn't get antsy when folks passed me. I had to run my own race.

Just after hitting the 5k mark, we saw race volunteers waving frantically and yelling "You are going the wrong way!"

Ummm what? Apparently the folks in front of us were being led in the wrong direction.

We were among the first 15 people to be directed the correct way on the course. As we turned right and had the cool feeling of being in the "front of the pack" on the race, we grumbled that those folks probably wouldn't have to run all 13.1 miles. In reality, I would've been angry if my race wasn't accurately 13.1.

***

Before I continue with the race recap, I want to share what race director Erik posted on the mix-up.

Thank you Erik for being honest and owning up to the mistake.

***

We celebrated being on the correct course with a downhill. :)

During the downhill, I was trying to fix my bun when I lost the hair elastic. Ahhh! Sparkly Soul headband to the rescue. Phew. I was about to start asking surrounding runners for help.

Mile 4: 8:47

Once the hill ended, we took a sharp left and returned to Commercial St. We were heading back towards the Start Area before heading out on the second loop of the race.

I was getting a ton of cheers for my gun metal Sparkle Athletic skirt. The girls around me were jealous of my cheers. I explained to them how awesome the Sparkle Athletic skirts are. It is an instant crowd pleaser.

Mile 5: 8:33

As we passed the Start area, we waved to the car that was still there (woo!) and headed up yet another hill. Sarah had told me that the hill at Mile 3 and an incline at Mile 11 would be it.

Well apparently she thought the course would be down by the water during Mile 6 rather than taking the hill side. Oh joy! ;) I tried to just put my head down and barrel up the hill.

Luckily the hill began by passing the Shipyard Brewery so I just kept thinking about the Shipyard beer we would enjoy at the end of the race.

Mile 6: 8:57

Best friends can be in sync about many things including bathroom breaks. Since we weren't trying to PR, we took a much-needed port-o-potty break during Mile 6. One great way to celebrate climbing to the top of the hill. ;)

Everything was better after the bathroom break.

Beautiful, right?

My Garmin was pretty spot on the whole race so I made sure we took a mid-run selfie at the halfway mark.

We didn't even plan to have such similar outfits, but it worked for us. ;)

My left hamstring was feeling a little tight, but nothing that I haven't gotten used to since the pain started in May. (Yes I am working on the problem ;))

Mile 7: 9:40 (bathroom break can really slow the pace :P)

During Mile 7, we took a left turn onto the running/bike trail that surrounds Back Cove. We would be spending the next 3-ish miles running along this lovely spot of Portland.

Somehow turned on the black-white filter on my phone

This is definitely the top running in Portland as we had a ton of folks out for a fun Saturday morning run pass us while we were running.

Mile 8: 8:42

I want to commend the race for having 10 water stops throughout the course, including a handful of misting tents.

While out on the trail along the Cove, the sun really starting beat down on us. There wasn't a ton of shade available so we made sure to take in water and gatorade whenever available.

Mile 9: 9:03

I've been focusing on walking through the water stops during my races. I've heard taking that 10-15 seconds is wicked helpful for the legs during a race.

Sarah and I were having a good time catching up and planning for her and her daughter to come see my Half Ironman in September. :)

Mile 10: 9:20

During the Mile 10 water stop, I had to peel off my KT Tape as it was rolling off. I rarely have that happen, but I guess I was sweating that much?

Mile 11 took place over Tukey's Bridge. It was an incline, but not nearly as steep as the previous two hills.

Mile 11: 9:20

Once over the bridge, we took a right on Sewage Plant Rd. You can only imagine what kind of facility is on that street and the smell that it let out. Gross! If nothing else, that smell made us run faster.

After a quick turn around point, we headed straight down Eastern Prom trail to the Finish.

We just kept saying "Beer! Beer! Beer!"

Not sure the people around us were as excited as we were. ;)

Mile 12: 8:55

The final mile offered a beatiful view of a dog park as well as some little up and down inclines. Thanks Portland. How sweet of you!

Mile 13: 8:28

The last mile gave us time to decide what we would do when we hit the Finish Line - holding hands and doing the SNL Superstar move it is!

Finish Time: 1:57:44 (8:58 min/mile pace)

Success! Half Marathon #19 was in the books!

We had a great time and felt awesome at the Finish.

We scooped up our medals and headed for the food. I got a nice bottle of free water, a KIND bar and a hot piece of pizza from Portland Pie Company. I applaud Portland Pie for offering a Gluten-Free option for Finishers. They also had cookies and swedish fish for refuel.

We recovered our stuff from Blue Trailer lockers before stalking the Shipyard Beer Garden.

Each Finisher was given two complimentary Shipyard beers. Since the line was ridiculously long that wrapped around the Beer Garden, we grabbed both of our beers at once to be safe.

I felt bad that they ran out of Blueberry beer before my wife finished. :/ It is her favorite.

Sarah and I settled in to stretch and enjoy our beverages, while we waited for Tori to finish and her husband to meet up with us.

The weather was great to sit out and enjoy the 90s cover band. I'm not sure if the band was amazing or if they were just playing every song we love. I think a little of both. :)

We finally met up with Sarah's husband Brandon and Joanna when we found out that babies weren't allowed in the Beer Garden ... but dogs were. Didn't make sense to us. But we found a barricade so we could still hang out with them while we enjoyed our beer.

Joanna was rocking Sarah's medal. While chatting, Joanna decided to break into the beer garden - a gutsy 2 year old - to start double fisting.

Down that water baby!

She is a rebel with a cause. To distract her from the doggies in the beer garden, Brandon and Joanna went to cheer Tori into the Finish! She did awesome finishing in 3:00:11. Amazing job. I was so proud of her especially since I know she hadn't been training for the hills.

We enjoyed some more pizza, while Tori had her celebratory beer.

It is hilarious that we were calling it a day shortly after 11am. We needed some low-fat chocolate milk and Dunkin Donuts coffee.

BYOCM - Bring Your Own Chocolate Milk

Overall, the race was amazing. I had a blast with my BFF and fellow very supported throughout the race. Besides the snafu with misdirection and not alerting folks earlier about the additional port-o-potties, Erik and crew did a great job.

Special thanks to all the volunteers and police officers out on the course.

Plus, it was one sweet sweet medal.

***

Did you run the Old Port Half or 5k?

My Fourth Of July Weekend

Hurricane Arthur rolled into town during the Fourth of July weekend here in Boston, which altered the non-existent plans I had for the weekend. Ha! This year the wife and I had zero invites for BBQs. Not sure if I need to take that personally or count it as a blessing.

For my little ego, I will go with the latter. ;)

The weekend started Thursday with the Finish At the 50 10k.

While the race wasn't what I expected, I still love starting a long weekend off with a run.

***

On July 4th itself, I met my friend Darcie for a long bike ride outside. It was my first 30+ mile bike ride and we had the pleasure of experiencing sun, cold and rain while out on the bike. But I made it through...

... even when we had to carry our bikes over trees that were down on the path.

The rest of the day was spent snuggling in bed with the wife and pups. It was raining, thundering and blistering outside so it was great to hide away inside catching up on Netflix. I needed a serious chill day and it was perfect.

***

Saturday proved to be a nicer day so the wife and I took the dogs for a little walk so that we could get coffee.

After attempting to tire the dogs out, the wife and I piled into the car and headed to Ogunquit for the day. It is one of our favorite places in Maine. Plus, it is a decent 80-90 min ride from Boston, which is doable for a day trip.

Once we parked the car, it was time to get some steps in before lunch.

Marginal Way spans about a mile from Ogunquit Beach to Perkins Cove and is a great way to see the ocean.

Plus it helps to work up an appetite. Even though I ate my grapes while on the walk, I was ready for pizza.

Every trip to Ogunquit includes a trip to Corner Stone Pizza, our favorite restaurant in town.

I mean YUMMM!!

And yes I tracked every single delicious bite of pizza and sangria. :)

Following lunch, we popped down to Ogunquit Beach to walk along the ocean. I mean is there anything better than walking along the ocean, hand-in-hand with the person you love?

The beach was full of families, friends playing games and of course the occasional seagull eating a dead fish. The wife attempted to skip rocks, while I opted to just dip my toes in the ocean.

Looking at the water made us wish we were there for a full vacation, but I will take an afternoon whenever I can.

When I arrived home from a perfect New England Saturday, I was met with a great gift from my cousin Jen - a wine glass asking me to be one of her bridesmaids. :)

Jen on the left & me on the right

How creative? But, she forgot to include the wine. Silly girl.

***

All weekend I was looking forward to Sunday.

"But Dani, why? Sunday just means Monday is the next day?"

I know I know. On this Sunday however, I would be running with my girl Sarah from Mom Running On Empty and her husband Rob. I picked them up from their hotel at 7:15am and we headed to the Charles River for a fun 10-mile run.

Thankfully I know the Charles River pretty well from endless training runs so I mapped out a two loop run so we could stash water at my car for a mid-run pitstop.

Oh hey, mid-run selfie masters

It was a great way to catch up with out-of-town friends and took care of the indulging I had done the day before. :)

I <3 balance!

The rest of Sunday was designated for meal prep, blog catch up and prepping the launch of the F.A.S.T. virtual 5k and 10k.

The F.A.S.T. virtual 5k and 10k is taking place July 27-August 3 to benefit Tedy's Team and the American Stroke Association.

If you want more info on the virtual race, please read more here.

***

All in all it was one amazing long weekend with my wife and friends. :)

How was your Fourth of July weekend?

Finish At The 50 10k Recap

The Finish Line of any race is a sweet and special spot... ... but imagine it was moved to the 50 yard line of your favorite Football team.

Yeah, exactly!

That would be freakin' sweet.

Well the Finish At The 50 race did just that.

The Finish Line was at the 50 yard line of Gillette Stadium, aka the home of the New England Patriots.

Sign me up.

Oh it's the 5th anniversary of the race so you are going to add a kick ass medal on top of it all.

Where do I hand over my $$$$???

:)

On July 3rd, the wife and I took the drive down to Foxboro. With it being the day before a holiday weekend we got wicked nervous about traffic and proceeded to leave Boston at 1pm. The wife's 5k was taking place at 5:30, while my 10k went off at 6:30. Expecting hours of traffic and bib pick-up, we hoped we had plenty of time to head South.

It took us about an hour. Well then...

I'd rather spend a few hours at the race site, which had stores, restaurants and Dunkin' than cutting it close to race time.

We quickly picked up our numbers and shirts and proceeded to find coffee and air conditioning. Other racers had the same idea we had and Patriot Place (the shopping area next to Gillette Stadium) was bumping. Especially with families as there was a Kids Race prior to the 5k-10k.

Now normally there are fireworks after the races, but with a Hurricane heading our way it was canceled. Boo, but understandable.

There were plenty of booths set up so we had enough to entertain us.

After finding the wife a place to change, having a few snacks, hiding in the Patriots Pro Shop for air-conditioning and catching up with Molly, CEO of Blue Trailer Mobile Lockers, it was time for the wife to stretch and line up for her 5k.

Molly, brains behind the operations, and I

The weather was hot so we both made sure to take the race easy. I was hoping to find lots of water on the course as the race had warned folks to stay hydrated. They also offered 10k runners the choice to drop to the 5k if they needed to due to temps.

I waved to the wife as she headed out and met up with Erin and Kelsey,who were both running the 10k as well. I dropped my stuff in my Blue Trailer locker and we all headed to the Start Line.

Thanks for the pic Erin!

(Note: if you squint, you can see the 5k runners running up and down the ramps behind us)

Thankfully the corrals were in the shade. I was trying to soak up as much shade as possible because I could only guess how hot and sunny the course would be.

While hanging out around the 9 min/mile pace, Cat and her fiance Chris joined us. Cat and I run on Tedy's Team together. :) She was the one that got me to sign up for this crazy race with a promise of sweet sweet bling. (This race doesn't normally have bling, but being the 5th anniversary they decided to have one.)

After some more chatting and stretching, it was finally time for everyone to squish forward to start the pre-race ceremonies. The wheelchair group went off a couple minutes before the rest of us. The announcer gave us a 30 second warning before the horn went off, which I sort of missed because I was only half listening. ;) Because all of a sudden the horn went off and we started the awkward pre-race run, jog, wog, walk to the actual Start Line. Everyone know what I am talking about?

As I crossed the Start Line, I clicked Start on my Garmin and we were off.

Tori had finished the 5k in 42:56 and had warned me that her course was lacking adequate water and to be careful.

Well too late for me to do anything about that so I just hoped for the best.

Less than half a mile into the race I spotted my friend John and fellow Team Chocolate Milk running mate. :) I love seeing familiar faces out on the course.

After passing John, I came up to the most inspirational duo in sports - the Hoyts.

If you don't know anything about the Hoyts please run to Google now and get yourself caught up. I'll wait.

Moved to tears? Yeah, I always get that way when thinking of this father-son team. It is an honor to run in races alongside them.

I had to grab a quick selfie.

Once I saw the Hoyts, I was motivated to keep moving myself forward to the best of my ability. If they would be giving it 100%, I would to.

Mile 1: 7:59

Umm yeah that first mile was on Team Hoyt high! I knew I wouldn't be keeping that for the whole race.

I was already feeling hot, sweaty and thirsty. This would be a looong 6.2 miles.

After the first water stop, we took a right and entered a quiet neighborhood where we would spend most of the race.

I want to thank the residents that stood outside with hoses trying to keep the racers cool. The ones out enjoying their evening cocktail cheering us on.

But they were few and far between. The course was unfortunately boring and for the most part quiet.

Mile 2: 8:23

The uphills started early and I learned would be constant. It felt as if we kept going up with very little down. Ha.

I thought the race committee would've added additional water stops due to the high temperature, but unfortunately that didn't happen. :/

I was happy to see at least one ambulance along the course.

Mile 3: 8:35

It was around the 5k mark that I focused my attention on smiling. I learned from Sarah Reinertsen at Heartbreak Hill Festival that when she is feeling down or any pain in a race, she smiles and it fakes her body into thinking everything is fine.

So I tried to put that motto into practice.

I could tell I needed new shoes - there was little to no support left in my sneakers - and I was thirsty. The entire time. There just needed to be a water stop per mile or some music out on the course somewhere. Just a little action to keep the spirits up. At least the spirits of the people around me. We all tried to cheer each other on in the moment.

Mile 4: 8:35

There was finally a decent downhill. I wanted it to last forever, but it felt like maybe 1/10th of a mile. Hehe. We had a decent flat leading back into the Gillette Stadium campus.

The spectator of the day went to the woman during Mile 4 offering a hose for relief and watermelon slices. While I didn't take a watermelon slice, I really did appreciate the creativity.

Just after seeing Ms. Watermelon we took a right to re-enter the Gillette Stadium campus. We would be wrapping around the outside of the Stadium before entering.

It was just before the Mile 5 marker that I took this sexy mid-run selfie and pleaded to my social media friends for an extra boost of support.

I was hot, tired and really felt exactly how I looked. :P I wondered if I would make it through the final mile. Granted the final mile is what I endured the whole race for ... to FINALLY be inside the Stadium.

Mile 5: 8:40

And there it was Gillette. Just after a water stop we headed to the ramps. In the 10k, we only had to go down ramps not up like the 5k. ;) We ran down two ramps, along the concourse, down two more ramps and back out of the Stadium ... to the parking lot. :/ Womp womp! We clearly had to make up some more distance so we did a zig zag through the parking lot before we headed back into the Stadium and onto the field.

Mile 6: 9:18

Not sure how the Garmin did in the Stadium since we were covered and satellite was lost briefly. But as soon as we re-entered the Stadium, I dug deep to finish strong!

I felt like I had endured really the first 6 miles of boring course for the final .2 on the field. It was a thrill running on the same field as so many Hall of Famers including Tedy Bruschi, the captain and founder of that very charity team I am honored to be a part of.

It was crazy to come to the Finish Line and see yourself on the large Jumbotrons in the Stadium.

Official Finish Time: 53:01 ... 267th out of 1,609 overall and 31st out of 304 in my division

The medal is soooo sweet. The football is made out of the same material as a real football. Amazing right?

It was great having the wife at the Finish Line. She had plenty of time to roam around and snap pics, while I was out sweating my booty off. ;)

Since the fireworks were canceled, we snapped some additional pics, grabbed extra water and headed back to the Lockers to pick up our bag.

Funny thing is Garmin said 53:03, first email from Granite State results said 53:02 and official website said 53:01. Haha. At least the time was getting faster. ;)

Since the fireworks were canceled, we got back in the car to head home and take care of the pups.

Oh and enjoy a celebratory drink of course.

***

Overall, the race was a huge disappointment and I don't think I will sign up for it again:

*90 percent of the 10k was out in the neighborhood, while about half of the 5k was on the ramps inside the Stadium.

*There wasn't enough water, especially for the weather. My wife said there were 2 water stops during the 5k, but 1) the first wasn't until halfway through the race and 2) they weren't ready with water. She actually had to wait for the volunteers to fill water up.

Now I know that they probably didn't expect as many 5k runners since people at the last minute dropped down, but still. It is a crucial aspect of the race to keep the runners hydrated.

*The shirt was cotton, which is tough because they aren't as useful as tech shirts.

*No one policed the corrals meaning there was chaos and it seemed no one lined up properly except the "elites," which caused for bottlenecking and tripping at the Start.

*The course really was pretty blah. It had rolling hills, but no entertainment outside of some scattered residents.

*The residents and volunteers ROCKED. They did the best they could with what they had.

*The medal is off the hook, but it isn't a yearly feature.

*I expected a flawless race as it was headed by DMSE, which is run by Dave McGillvray - who is the Race Director for the Boston Marathon and other great races.

***

Did you take part in the Finish At the 50 5k or 10k?

Race #2 in the Distance Medley: #BAA10k

Bring on the 2014 Distance Medley!

I love The Boston Athletic Association and all races associated with them. For the most part, they are the most well-organized races I participate in.

For those that don't know, the Distance Medley includes the BAA 5k in April (recap),  the 10k in June and the Half Marathon in October. If you complete all three races, you get an extra special medal. Pictured to above on the right. Due to conflicts, I couldn't participate in 2013, but did for the inaugural Distance Medley in 2013. With nothing in my way this year, I signed up immediately in January.

June 22nd brought race #2 of the Medley: the BAA 10k.

The race began at 8am in Boston Common so we left the house just after 7. The wife was kind enough to drop me off so I could eat my wheat toast with peanut butter on the way there.

I was hoping to make it to the race by 7:15 to make the Team Run Disney photo and chat with friends before the race.

Always fun to stand around and chat with these folks! While hanging out, I even bumped into Slumbrew teammate Amy.

Time once again slipped away from me and 10 minutes before the race starts, I realized I hadn't used the port-o-potties. Ahhh! I went to get in line and they were just all too long to wait in. I took a gamble to hold it.

I jogged my way over to the Start corrals. Let me just say WAAYYY less crowded than on the day of the 5k. Thank you for limiting the entrants for the 10k - allowed for more control.

I decided to line up around the 8 min/mile pace, but couldn't find a sign for that. There was an opening around the 7 min/mile pace so I hovered around there so I could jump in when I found a gap.

I happened to come up next to Kate - another Slumbrew teammate. I wish I had taken a photo, but we were too busy talking.

Before I knew it the National Anthem was over and we were shuffling up to the Start Line. I wished Kate good luck and we split ways.

With the sore hamstring and the Rock And Run obstacle run the day before, I wanted to run smart and enjoy myself.

The temperature was reported as 62 degrees, but on the streets it felt warmer for sure. Thankfully we had some shade while running through the streets of Boston towards Boston University at the beginning of the race.

Mile 1: 8:09

As we ran past the start of the Boston University campus - it spans two miles of Commonwealth Avenue - the course started to come back to me. Again I ran it in 2012 so maybe I had blocked out what was coming up for us.

Mile 2: 7:57

This second mile might have been faster than the first as I was trying to escape a woman who had a very odd breathing pattern going on, while talking to herself. I wasn't sure if she was really okay or not. Someone else asked her and she snapped at him. Glad I didn't decide to ask her. But the breathing and talking was getting into my head. I was once again running without headphones for practice. Here was a test. What do you do when the breathing and annoyances around you start playing with your game plan?

On that day - I ran away from them. I sped up to lose her in the crowd.

After making our way around the backside of the first BU dorm, we took the right onto Comm Ave in all its sunny glory. That is right. That part of the course I blocked out? Oh that would be the miles on Comm Ave, where you have zero shade and a whole helluva lot of sun.

Plus a little incline. But there is a great way here to distract yourself. This is where the down and out starts so you have the pleasure of watching the wheelchair and elite athletes come blazing past!

I love this. It is so motivating and inspiring. I will never be as fast as these people, but they make me want to push myself to the best that I can be.

Not a bad photo while I was on the move in the opposite direction.

I was yelling and clapping for them.

I played the game smart and made sure to stop and walk through every water stop.

Mile 3: 8:21

The incline isn't horrible heading up Comm Ave, but it seems to go on forever. But as you push up you see the folks on the left coming towards you so you KNOW there is a downhill coming your way. :)

5k Mark: 26:08 (8:25 min/mile)

After my mid-run selfie, I took the pleasure in scanning the crowd of runners coming towards me for familiar faces. And I saw a ton!! Not sure if runners thought I was just shouting out random names or what, but most of the people I cheered for were too in the zone to wave back. I probably looked like a nutcase. ;)

It is always amazing to see so many friends out dominating the streets of Boston so early on a Sunday morning.

But with the turnaround came a downhill. YAY! Celebrate the downhill. Embrace the downhill.

Mile 4: 8:27

More importantly celebrate the shade, which we finally got once we made it through Kenmore Square heading back to the Commons.

Just before we reached the shade a spectator yelled to me: "Number One costume award today goes to you!" Awww yeah! Sparkle Athletic skirt for the win! ;)

Mile 5: 8:06 8k Mark: 41:38 (8:19 min/mile)

As we pushed towards the Finish, I kept repeating "less than 1 mile over and over." While also forcing myself to relive the Boston Marathon and how I felt on that day when running or rather run/walking down this same stretch. It helped put a little extra pep in my step.

We took a right onto Arlington Street to start our two left turns into the Finish shoot. Just after I took the right, I saw a mom and her son. I heard the mom say: "Look she's a super hero." O.M.G. That lady made my day. WIN for the Wonder Woman socks!!

That totally made me dig deep and pull whatever out I had left.

Mile 6: 8:01

Just after passing the Mile 6 marker, I heard my friend Haley yell for me! Ahh I love extra and unexpected cheers. As we were coming down the shoot, the volunteers were directing us all to the right lane. I couldn't tell why. Then just before the Finish Line I saw the medics working on a man. I tried to send out as many good vibes as I could his way.

Arms up! Finish line crossed! Water me!

But first - medal me.

I was so happy to pick a volunteer that was excited to put the medal around my neck. Her smile was infectious. :)

After grabbing my water, I headed to the Marathon Sports tent so I could get my free BAA 10k bumper sticker. Yeah I am a sucker for those things even if I don't actually stick them anywhere.

I took a few minutes to stretch and compare race stories with some friends before heading to get my Dunkin Donuts fix.

Be Good was actually giving out a free burger to each participant, but I don't eat hamburgers so I passed on the offer. If only the wife was there, she would've gladly eaten it for me. ;) But instead she was on her way to pick me up. I'm spoiled I know.

Overall, the race was well-organized, the water stops seemed plenty stocked with water and the post-race meeting space was spacious. Unfortunately BAA cannot control the weather or the lack of shade on Comm Ave so that is something out of their control and something participants just have to remember when devising their race strategies.

Personally, I was not the biggest fan of my results. I was two minutes slower than when I did the BAA 10k in 2012 and 4 minutes slower than my 10k PR. Grrr... I wanted more. I did have to put it in perspective - I have a sore hammy and I did an obstacle race the day before. But, I also have gotten away from focusing on speed and time recently so maybe I need to. It is a decision I have been going back and forth about - what am I trying to get out of my races? Speed? Fun? Time? Consistency? It's an ongoing discussion in my head in case you are wondering. ;)

But I would recommend the BAA races to everyone. Maybe you will want to join me in October for the BAA Half? Be ready! These races sell out quickly.

Now, the BAA races do not offer post-race beer so I had to go out and find my own. I chose the Pretty Things Meadowlark IPA at Mystic Station. See Pretty Things loves me too??

***

Did you participate in the BAA 10k?

RACE RECAP: Rock And Run Boston

Obstacle courses scare the crap out of me! I have little to no upper body strength so whenever I have the opportunity to sign up for an obstacle run I go for it ... but with a lot of fear!

In July 2013, I completed the Urban RAID Boston obstacle race with these lovely ladies above. I was psyched after that race. We had a great time with lots of laughs and I managed to tackle each and every obstacle on the course. I was worried and shaky on a couple, but I pushed through and did it.

Now they weren't Tough Mudder or Spartan Race type obstacles, but for me they were nerve-wracking.

Flash forward to this past weekend and enter the Rock and Run Boston obstacle 5k at Assembly Row in Somerville.

This was actually put on by the same company that organized Urban RAID Boston.

Introducing Rock and Run, Presented by Radio 92.9! Rock and Run is a brand new event featuring an awesome 5K obstacle race, live music, views of the epic Boston skyline and okay…Beer (21+ only). Don’t miss out on the only race around that features unique challenges, live music checkpoints, urban and water views, and one kickin’ after party featuring a live performance that you won’t want to miss!

Racers can participate in the Rock and Run as a solo artist or grab some buds and start a band. Plus, in addition to the a soon to-be-announced national recording artist at the Finish Line, the Rock and Run will feature three bands along the course and is sure to be unlike anything you’ve competed in before!

When I was offered a complimentary entry for a friend and myself, I couldn't turn it down. The race was literally across the street from my neighborhood and I was ready for the challenge.

(Note: I did receive complimentary entry, but all thoughts are my own!)

Our wave was kicking off at 10:15am on June 21st so we left the house around 9:35 so the wife could stop at Dunkins. She needed some coffee to be the great spectator that she is. :)

We headed over to the pre-race area where Polar Springs and Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars were handing out samples.

The DJs from 92.9 were pumping up the crowd, while Kel and I tried to shake off the pre-race jitters. Remember obstacle course races freak me out!!

Why of course pre-race pictures help squash the nerves!

Plus a little eye black goes a looong way.

There were three waves ahead of ours. They were sending the first groups by gender and age. So 2 waves of guys then 2 waves of ladies before the teams would take off.

It was finally our time! The butterflies were coming out of my stomach and up through my throat. I just tried to focus on how much fun Kel and I would have together and push the fear out of the way. I had made it through all the obstacles the previous year - I would do it this time too.

The countdown started - 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1!

GO!

And we were off with our other Females 30-39.

Right out of the gate we saw our cheerleader! I had left my phone with my wife so this would be a race-free of action shots and mid-run selfies, which made me sad. But I didn't know what to expect and didn't want my phone to be injured at all. :P

I regret leaving my phone with the wife now. I could've tucked it into my shorts during the obstacles. Next time.

We started out on the course and got into a little running rhythm. I have done a 5k around Assembly Row before so I am used to the inclines and downhills. We came across our first obstacle - Cone Bar Hurdles, which was hopping or walking over a PVC pipe laid across traffic cones. An easy way to check off the first obstacle.

Once over that, we headed towards the Tractor Tires and Bridge. Kel and I opted to flip the tire together. You flipped it over then back and you could move on to the Bridge. The Bridge had two choices - either pull yourself up the rope like in gym class or up the rope ladder. Kel and I both opted for rope ladder. Once on top of the bridge you had to walk down the slanted wall backwards holding on to a rope. This obstacle froze me during the Urban RAID run so I tried to be rational this time. Thanks volunteer for calming me down. :)

Once over these hurdles, we encountered our first BAND stop. Nice little addition to the course.

After Kel and I conquered the first three obstacles, we came across the first Mile marker. Wow, that happened quickly.

We continued along Assembly Row to the Monkey Bars and Chainlink Crawl. I almost bit it on the Monkey Bars with one to go, but thankfully I took a deep breath and regained the flow. I wanted to say something to the woman behind me who couldn't wait a moment for me to finish and came up behind me when I stopped for a moment. Next time lady give the person in front of you space. It's not like we were all fighting to win the race.

But anyway, the Chainlink Crawl was made of chainlink fences attached to the top of traffic cones. Rock and Run was nice enough to put this crawling obstacle on a grassy part of the course. Much appreciated!

We had a break from the obstacles as we twisted our way through Assembly Row to the waterfront. It was a welcomed breeze and a much-needed water stop. It was hot and sunny so the water was refreshing.

This path along the water is part of my normal running path so I liked the familiarity of that. As we hit the turnaround point of this little out and back, there was the Mile 2 marker to greet us. 2/3 of the way there.... and the next obstacles.

We hit the Cargo Crawl and the Agility Tunnels. The hard part of the Cargo Crawl was my bun getting stuck. I said out loud: "This is built for men especially bald men" and BAM! Out of nowhere came this bald guy buzzing past me. Hello! Not fair. :P

The Agility Tunnel was a quick crawl through a big plastic pip cut in half. Easy peezy.

We had already tackled over two miles and 7 of the 11 obstacles.

The second band - a solo guy - was rocking some country tunes. A little Taylor Swift if memory served me correctly.

With a left hand turn we were on to the 8th obstacle: Slackline. This looked harder than it was. You walked across a wide strap that many use for moving companies, etc - while holding on to a rope above you to help with balance. If you angled your feet, it made the balancing a lot easier. Well that and probably my ripped core from my #plankaday. ;)

Once through the Slackline, we took another run through the Assembly Row shops. It was great to see so many folks out shopping and enjoying their Saturday morning. But since the course wasn't closed, we had the extra joy of bobbing and weaving through the families that had no idea what was going on. :P

We were instructed to meet a volunteer in a green shirt at the base of the parking garage. We were instructed to run up the five floors to the top of the garage where our next obstacle awaited us. It felt like Amazing Race a little.

We jogged up the stairs to reach the garage roof, where we put on a 35 lb fireman oxygen tank. Once we had the tank on we ran across and back on the roof top, where the third band was playing. They even complimented me on my skirt. :)

After dropping the pack, we went got to run back down the five floors to the street. Wow! We were just two obstacles away from the Finish.

We hit the Street and could see the Finish area. We had less than a 1/4 mile to go. As we entered the Finish Area, we spotted the Mile 3 marker.

What stood between us and the Finish? Oh just a Cargo Climb and the Finish Wall.

And just like that it was over. Kel and I finished hand in hand. Woo! I love a good Finish Line.

Now I didn't have any race photos, but the wife is the best and put together a little video of what she saw us accomplish during the race. Check it out!

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You know I finished and headed straight to the Sierra Nevada Beer Garden for my post-race brew.

I had been told each participant got two free beers, but I only had 1 tab on my race bib. Not sure what happened there? I am waiting on clarification from the race organizers. The post-race beer situation was messed up at the Urban RAID Boston race in 2013 too. Not good. I take that seriously. :P

But the crowd looked happy and enjoying the festivities.

I'm so proud of Kel for pushing through this race. I could tell she wasn't happy during points of it, but she didn't give up. She pushed a bad experience on the Monkey Bars behind her and powered through.

We didn't do too shabby in the rankings either.

Overall the race was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning and I love a race close to my house. :) It was well-organized with great volunteers. I wish the shirt was a tech shirt rather than a cotton t-shirt. Especially since folks were paying $65-70 for the race.

I know this was the first year it took place at Assembly Row so I think the organizers will take the feedback from the participants and improve for next year.

I would definitely recommend this course for all fitness levels. It really worked to make everyone feel comfortable and the volunteers at the obstacles were encouraging and ready to lend a helping hand if needed.

So yeah I rocked and ran through Boston Somerville!

***

Did you take part in this inaugural Rock and Run race?

Upcoming #Boston Area Races

Looking for a local 5k or obstacle course race in the Somerville or Cambridge area? Check out these two June races! ***

It's time to represent my hometown of Somerville for the inaugural Rock and Run Boston on June 21.

Yes I know the title says Boston, but technically it is Somerville - hey on a day with zero traffic I hit Fenway in about 7 minutes from my house. So close enough... :P

Introducing Rock and Run, Presented by Radio 92.9! Rock and Run is a brand new event featuring an awesome 5K obstacle race, live music, views of the epic Boston skyline and okay…Beer (21+ only). Don’t miss out on the only race around that features unique challenges, live music checkpoints, urban and water views, and one kickin’ after party featuring a live performance that you won’t want to miss!

Racers can participate in the Rock and Run as a solo artist or grab some buds and start a band. Plus, in addition to the a soon to-be-announced national recording artist at the Finish Line, the Rock and Run will feature three bands along the course and is sure to be unlike anything you’ve competed in before!

This 5k obstacle run is hitting the Assembly Row area on June 21 and will feature a post-race Sponsor Village, filled with activations, samples, demos, live music and Sierra Nevada Beer Garden (21+ only).

Each participant receives entry to the obstacle race, a shirt and two free beer tickets.

Care to join my girl Kelly and I at the race? Then register here!

***

Want to run through the historic Harvard Square in Cambridge? Then check out the Tory Row 5k on Sunday June 29th.

Race Director Josh put it best:

"It is a fun event for all - serious racing if you want it… or just a nice stroll through historic Cambridge. Afterwards plenty of adult beverages from local breweries and some good tunes. There is also a really fun Team Event which I think will make the race - friends, families, colleagues can be on your crew."

Can't pass up a race with fun, tunes and beer, right?

The Tory Row 5K isn't just a race, it's a full weekend of festivities. Your $40.00 registration fee guarantees you a spot in the race as well as admission to the pre- and post-race parties.

Pre-race number pick-up party is Friday June 27 : "Come pick up your number, meet other runners, and have a beer and snacks, on us! Tory Row will be closed to the public during The Pickup Party, so bring your teammates if you have them (the more the merrier!). Team members may also pick up full team packets."

The Race is Sunday June 29: "The whistle blows at 9:30 a.m. sharp, Sunday, June 29, on Church Street in Harvard Square. The race will be held rain or shine, so plan accordingly."

The Row Party (aka after-party): "Join us for The Row Party immediately following the race, with beverages provided by some of the best local breweries and light fare provided by yours truly. Your bib is your ticket. We'll be presenting laurel crowns to the overall make and female winners, as well as prizes to our top finishers, top teams and our first ever team spirit award. We hope you'll come out and join us!"

Your registration fee also includes a Tory Row 5K t-shirt and a drawstring backpack, as well as complimentary beverages and snacks at the Pickup Party and the Row Party.

The race also benefits the Cambridge Camping Association.

All of this for $40 sign me up ... if I wasn't going to be out of town.

But for you all I offer a 10% discount by using code: tr5kfiend10

***

Happy Running Friends!

Celebrating Mother's Day at M.O.M.'s Run

The M.O.M.'s Run in Somerville has quickly risen to one of my favorite local races.

I love it so much I have run it each of the last three years.

I love what the race stands for:

In November 2002 the Pilotte family lost our mother and grandmother to cancer, and for the past twelve years, we have hosted the Annual Mary O’Brien Memorial 5K for Cancer, known as M.O.M.’s RUN, held on Mother’s Day in her honor. Mary (Pilotte) O’Brien was a longtime Somerville resident and was involved in many local organizations throughout her life dedicating much of her time to helping others.

We continue Mary’s legacy by making this effort to help others and hopefully save lives. A full 100% of the funds raised by M.O.M.’s Run benefits the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, widely recognized as one of the largest and most successful programs of its kind. Not only does the event enforce the need for supporting cancer research, it brings family and friends together to promote awareness for the health and wellness benefits of walking and running.

The family has raised over $85,000 from the first 11 M.O.M.'s Runs.

This is another very family focused race. There is a .1 mile kids run (ages 9 and under) prior to the 5k. Which might be the cutest thing I ever watch. I seriously need these kids to teach me proper running form.

Due to road restrictions and timing, the walkers head out at 9:45 and the runners at 10:00. It is such a great inclusive vibe. All are truly welcome.

Plus I think it is the only 5k around that has Dunkins coffee and donuts and local fresh bread available right before the race. Mmmm carbs!

We lined up at 10am and got ready to rock.

The sun was shining bright and the humidity was picking up. I know the course has a lot of inclines so I tried to take that into account while devising my race strategy. I wasn't feeling confident so I wasn't sure what pace I would produce.

Since it is the same course every year, I at least knew when I would be able to enjoy the downhills.

It is a lovely Sunday morning tour of Somerville - passing the hospital, high school and City Hall.

Mile 1: 7:56

There was some clogging at the beginning of the run due to folks not lining up properly. I am all for people starting where they are comfortable, but it is usually by pace for the safety of the runners and walkers.

I was almost tripped a few times and I know a friend who did wipe out at the beginning due to being tripped by a fellow participant.

It comes with being in a local race, but something people should be aware of when lining up at the Start.

The race began on a slow gradual incline, but the legs felt strong. Thank you Spinning!

I turned my watch upside down so I wouldn't worry about pace and focus on taking in the scenery and the experience.

Oh but first let me take a selfie!

Mile 2: 7:45

The great thing about the walkers heading out first is you have a constant stream of cheerleaders! And they are moving right along with you. :) For safety, the runners are on one part of the street and the walkers are on the sidewalk.

Just before hitting the much-needed downhill, there was a water stop. Again I don't normally stop, but with the sun beating down I opted for hydration over time.

But don't let that downhill fool you, once it ends the next steady incline begins. It is a battle, but the thing to remember is you get to finish strong on a downhill.

As I was making my way - putting just one foot in front of the other - I came across an older gentleman. His stride was strong, but his breathing was labored. I was worried, but a friend of his came up alongside him. He was 80-plus years old and just out there dominating. He said that is how his breathing always is so I stopped worrying and just listened. The older man talked about how many races he has done and how strong he felt. Ah-may-zing! It put a little extra something in my step. Especially since I am a good 50 years his junior.

Mile 3: 7:49

I tried to leave a little in the tank so I could dominate the final stretch into the Finish. Plus, I knew an iced-cold Harpoon IPA waiting for me at the Finish.

The volunteers were handing out carnations at the Finish to all moms. Such a sweet touch.

I took a water, thanked the volunteers and headed straight to the beer.

After securing my delicious beer, I headed back to the course to cheer on the other participants and my wife. I love that the post-race party happens in a parking lot right next to the Finish shoot so you can cheer and party at the same time.

I chatted with my friend and fellow Slumbrew ambassador Frank while I waited. Between the two of us, we have shed over 150 lbs thanks to Weight Watchers.

Now I mentioned the awesome pre-race food, but the post-race can't be beat!!

All the local restaurants in Davis Square donate delicious food: Redbone's BBQ, Mike's Pizza, JP Lick's Ice Cream and more.

The wife rocked one of her first 5ks back from her ACL replacement and was ready to celebrate. We hung around to chat with friends and pretend to dance to the DJ's tunes.

I was able to easily enjoy the festivities and the race knowing that my stuff was secured in the Blue Trailer Mobile Lockers.

Molly and her crew do a great job. For just $5 you can rent one of these lockers, leave all your valuables inside and someone will watch it the entire race. Calms my nerves and I don't have to run with my car keys in my hand or pocket.

While the race is about running, food and family, we can't forget the reasons why we participate and help to raise money. The race directors help remind you with the touching memorial wall.

Hands down this is one of my favorite local races. The race directors do a wonderful job making everyone feel special, the volunteers are encouraging and the post-race spread - both food and beer - are rarely topped. Plus, it is cool to see so many families spending Mother's Day getting active or out supporting the mom they love so much.

Overall, I wasn't happy with my performance. I keep getting slower at this race somehow, but I had to remind myself. The first 5k I ever did was 38:21. How can I truly be angry with a 24:14? How? I can't. So I say that and move on because every race won't be a PR!