Saturday the 20th was a HOT and MUGGY day. After a delicious carb-loading lunch at Antico Forno in the North End we hopped in the car and headed out to Westford, MA at the Puma headquarters. We checked-in under the tent and headed directly to the sample sale they were having across the parking lot. T's and shorts for $5, Pants for $10 and Sneakers for $25!!! Needless to say Lauren and I both walked away with a few items.
After our mini shopping spree we headed over to the car to get sneaked up and to commence some stretching. After work Lauren arrived we made a trip to the potties and then grabbed out spot in line.
Here are a few pre-run shots:
This was Puma's 1st Annual race, therefore my suggestions for them are many!
1. It's great that hint water sponsored your run, however plain ole water water is all that people want after running 5 miles in upper 80/lower 90 degree heat.
2. Are you serious with ONE water stop on the whole course? Dude, its August, you should have had a water stop at every single mile!
3. Pay a stipend to the two amazing women who stood in their front lawn and hosed us off as we ran by, your lack of water stops made those women my two favorite people that Saturday evening.
Those criticisms aside the race was a great time, the course was hilly but doable, challenging but enjoyable and the after party was a lot of fun, especially the conga line guy.
Lauren came in at a really impressive 54 minutes and something, I came in at a less impressive 58:49 (not even close to my May 5 Miler of 51:57) and work Lauren came in just after me. After we plopped ourselves on the ground for a few solid minutes of wheezing and sweat production we managed to get off our butts and snap a few post race shots to relay the level of exhaust we were feeling:
Then Lauren got a second wind:
After changing out of sneaks and into wonderful, amazing, beautiful flipflops we headed over to the beer tent. The announcement was made that the winner ran it in just over 24 minutes which I didn't even think was humanly possible! To celebrate his success we sauntered up to the beer tent and grabbed some brews to congratulate ourselves on making it in that heat!
With the 5 Miler behind me, crazy training time starts for the September Rugged Maniac. This race has not scared me in the least up until very recently. As of today I have exactly 30 days to whip my butt into shape to be able to scale a cargo net, climb barricades, army crawl through the mud under barbed wire and through tunnels and in the meantime be completing a 5K course. Should be interesting, I am forgoing putting a goal time on this one, just being able to finish is going to be my goal and finishing safely without injury at that!
Some housekeeping notes:
1. This Saturday is the Strike Out ALS Fundraiser in Boston at Papagayo on Summer Street from 1-5pm. Come out and enter to win some great raffle prizes. I'm getting it in just before Hurricane Irene terrorized the East Coast ... Bring it Irene!
2. I have officially signed up for my October race ... which has turned into race(s). I will be running on October 23rd in the Witch City 5K in Salem, MA. What would be my normal run is now become a training run because the following weekend I will be running the Devil's Chase in Salem, MA which is a 6.66 mile run along the Salem waterfront. Both should be a lot of fun!
3. In honor of the final month of my commitment, in honor of my Grandfather's 1 year passing and what would have been his next birthday and honor of my family who had been extremely supportive throughout this process; I have decided to run a race each weekend of the month up until Christmas Eve in December. This will be 3 races in 3 weeks all Christmas related runs in and around the area and if I could find a Christmas eve run I'd be doing that as well.
4. I am hovering at $2,400 in donations to date. After this weekend I hope to bump that up but at least $1,000 if not more. That being said that still puts me $1,600 away from my end goal. Between my fundraiser at home in October and the fundraising push over the next few months I hope to reach my goal of $5,000 by December 31st, please visit the fund page by clicking on the link to the right if you haven't donated already and would like to help me reach that goal on time.
Thanks for reading, be sure to check in after Labor Day for a training update and a preview of the course I'm looking at on September 24th!
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