A couple of weeks ago I toed the line for the inaugural Western Mass 10 Miler. While I’m usually not a fan of “inaugural races” – I like to wait for some of the kinks to be worked out – I was excited to run this one because 1) I’ve made no secret of my love of the 10-mile distance and 2) this was an HMF event and they’ve got a reputation for putting on a great event.

For this week’s Fit FIve Friday I’m sharing a quick race recap — spoiler alert, this race did not disappoint!

Western MA 10 Mile Race Recap

The 10-mile course was a point-to-point route, starting on the UMass Amherst campus and ending in the town of Northampton. After a quick loop through Amherst (including an incline at the start), most of the race was spent on the Norwottuck Rail Trail – a beautiful trail for runners, walkers, and cyclists.

Isn’t this a beautiful spot to run?

After enjoying some cool fall mornings for my runs leading up to the race, Mother Nature threw us a big curve ball on race day with 78% humidity, which made the unseasonable 76-degree temps feel even warmer. Definitely not the November race temps I had been hoping for! As I had mentioned in some of my previous weekly run downs, my hip flexor had kept me guessing over the past couple of weeks – sometimes it was completely quiet and at other times quite irritable. Well, perhaps my hip flexor is affected by the weather because on race morning it was certainly crankier than it had been. I honestly had no goals for this race except to enjoy it and celebrate another finish line so that made it much easier to let go of concerns over the humidity or hip and just run.

Despite the hip flexor crankiness, I actually went out faster than I had planned for the first couple of miles. After the first mile, I settled into the 4:1 run-walk intervals that I’ve been using since the summer and overall felt pretty good through the first 6 miles. In mile 7, I started to slow as my hip region was just not happy. It took a few more walk breaks to get through the next few miles but I powered along and appreciated the encouragement of other runners, the volunteers, and the bike support crew (who did an excellent job of constantly patrolling the course since it was open to the public).

Thanks to Route 9 which runs from Amherst to Northampton parallel to the Trail, there are multiple spots where spectators could stop to cheer. It was great to have my husband J pop up in a few spots along the way!

The race finished at the Deck Bar at Union Station in Northampton. There post-race party with music, beer, and food, including vegetarian chili. I never have the stomach to eat right after a race so I didn’t partake beyond grabbing a banana and water.

There were so many pluses to this race — from the course, to the volunteers, to the swag (I love the color of the long sleeve tech shirt!). Race management did a great job of being in touch pre-race, and I appreciated that they mailed bibs if you registered up to a week before the race. I would definitely run this one again…and hopefully next time, we’ll get real November weather 🙂

Have you run an inaugural race?

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