Happy Friday!

For this week’s Fit Five Friday I’m sharing my race recap from one of my favorite races – Boston’s Run to Remember!

Boston’s Run to Remember 5-Miler Race Recap

Boston’s Run to Remember is held annually on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend as a tribute to fallen 1st Responders. Proceeds from the race benefit local youth and community programs supported by our 1st Responders and several local charities, including the Alzheimer’s Association, Cops for Kids With Cancer, Muscular Dystrophy, the Boy’s and Girl’s Club, and Sole Train (a youth mentoring program). The race features both a half marathon and a 5-mile option. In fact, it was my first half marathon ever! It’s definitely a sentimental favorite 🙂

After being virtual for the past two years, I was happy to see this race return, even in a more scaled-down fashion. While Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center has always served as the host for the race expo, this year the Center is under a major renovation so there was no expo. I didn’t really miss the expo, and actually really appreciated the satellite locations they set up for bib pick up. It was nice to swing into a local running store and pick up my bib and t-shirt vs driving into downtown Boston on a holiday weekend! The one aspect of the expo I did miss, however, was seeing the memorial banners with the list of all of the names of fallen 1st responders and some photos that were always on display – a great reminder of what the race is about.

Race Day

With a 7 am start, I was up and out the door by 5:30. My husband J offered to come with me and was a real trooper getting up so early on a Sunday. The ride into the city was easy and we decided to park at the Seaport Hotel, which was right near the starting line. We had parked there for previous races – it’s a little pricey, but you can’t beat clean indoor bathrooms and the comfortable lounge where we could hang out until the start.

About 10 minutes before the start I said goodbye to J, passed through the security barriers, and worked my way up into the middle of the 2nd wave. Following the singing of Amazing Grace and the National Anthem, Wave 1 was off.

Ready to run!

A couple of minutes later, my wave followed. Unfortunately, there were none of the usual pace markers for runners to self-seed so the start was chaotic – I spent most of the first half mile dodging and weaving until I could finally find some open space to settle into my run. I had planned to use the run/walk intervals (6:30 run; 45 sec walk) I’ve been using for the past few months, but in trying to find space in that first mile I decided to just get past the first-mile marker before switching to the intervals.

The 5-mile course winds through the streets of Boston, starting and ending along Seaport Boulevard. The course runs out along the waterfront and then takes runners past Faneuil Hall, through Beacon Hill, then past the Public Garden before looping through the financial district and returning to the waterfront. It’s a great tour of the city and I was happy to be feeling really good so I could enjoy it. With the cluster of runners stretching out after the first mile, miles 2 – 4 seem to click along. I spent most of the race playing leap frog with a team of runners from a local high school and fed off of their energy.

As we made the left turn on Atlantic Ave heading back to the waterfront,  I made a final push over the bridge, putting some distance between me and the team. Just then I heard J call my name just as I hit the final stretch towards the finish line.

There were plenty of volunteers on hand to hand out medals and water. Runners were asked to continue down Seaport Blvd. towards a park a couple of blocks down where they could reunite with family. There were more volunteers handing out snack bags with a mix of granola bars, dried fruit snacks, and Oreos.

Overall this race is always really well done and it was a lot of fun to get back out on this course. As I have often said, if you ever plan to be in Boston on Memorial Day weekend, I highly encourage you to register for this one!

Do you have a favorite race?

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