On Wednesday, the whole family once again ventured out to Gillette Stadium to take part in the Harvard Pilgrim Finish at the 50. This was our second year doing this event – my oldest participated in the kids’ races and I ran the 10K. J and my youngest son played chief cheerleaders – which quiet honestly may have been the smarter choice!
OK so how to write this recap without it being a complete whine-fest about the heat?! Let me start by saying it was 88 degrees with a dewpoint of 70 – translation the heat and humidity combination was downright oppressive! Combined with the late day start time (6:30 p.m.), this morning runner was way out of my comfort zone!
The Good Stuff
- The kids races were a lot of fun and my oldest son did great!
getting a “Congrats!” from Pat the Patriot
- They changed the location of the 10K starting line so we started in the shade this year
- The 5K race started an hour before the 10K to help elevate the crowded start
- Several wonderful residents of Foxborough took pity on us runners and broke out their hoses for some impromptu misting stations – bless them!
- Enthusiastic volunteers did a great job at the water stops and generally just being really encouraging
- Challenging course with the first 4.5 miles on a rolling out and back through residential neighborhoods before coming back into the stadium for 1.5 miles of ramps before the final tunnel run to finish at the 50-yard line
The Ugly Stuff
- It was HOT people – just ugly, soul-sucking hot!
Running those ramps — surprisingly, going up the ramps wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was running down them that proved a lot more challenging, especially when you threw in the hairpin turns at each level. By this point my quads were just screaming to be done!
Post race was like one big tailgate party as runners and their families hang out and wait for the fireworks. We enjoyed a great picnic dinner and the fireworks display did not disappoint!
Overall this is a really well-run family event and a fun way to kick-off our 4th of July celebration! I did say to J shortly after finishing that I just don’t see myself running this again next year – at least not the 10K. J said he may try it and I think I’ll be happy to swap roles as chief cheerleader 🙂
Do you run a 4th of July race?
Ugh, heat like that is horrible, Way to push through and get er done though. Sounds like a fun event otherwise.
My BFF and I did the 5k and we whined about it for a solid hour after! Great experience and glad we did it but it was a slow tough run. My hat is off to you for doing the 10k!
My BFF (Jessica V, posted above) and I ran this race. We ran the 5k. And, yes, we whined about it afterward for much longer than it took us to actually run it 🙂 I have to admit that when I read your previous posts about how HOT is was going to be at this race I thought “Meh, whatever…”, because, I am used to running in heat and humidity in Georgia summers. I thought this was going to be a cake walk. But boy, was I humbled and proven terribly wrong! I am glad that I ran this race for the experience. It was a great challenge and a great location. However, that is certainly not something I would do again!!!
Brandy – I’m glad you and Jessica survived the 5K! Like you said a great challenge but I don’t know that I’ll be out there again 😉
Oh, wow, those ramps look brutal. How are your legs today? I’m not sure I could handle a summer evening run, but it sounds like you made the best of it. Love how your whole family is involved!
I was really surprised that the ramps didn’t seem so bad going up – but down was a whole different story! My calves were in knots the next day! Ouch!