As I write this I am sitting in my comfy chair next to the Christmas tree looking out at the lightly falling snow. It's just beautiful.

Today I ran the Mayor Higgins' Hot Chocolate Run to benefit Safe Passage, a 5k run that takes place in Northampton, Ma. This is a well organized race with over 4000 participants that I also ran last year. The money goes to Safe Passage an organization dedicated to assist victims of domestic violence. Working in law enforcement I see domestic violence first hand and the damage pain and fear it causes. To have the ability to run a race and help victims of domestic violence in a win win in my book.

I got up at about 6:30 to prepare to head out. I had about an hours drive to get there and according to the website I needed to arrive early because they were had over 4000 people registered. We headed out at about 7:30 and arrived in Northampton at about 8:45 am and parked in the parking garage. When we left the parking garage we were right at the Northampton Brewery which is where the race packets and timing chips were handed out. I had my packet and chip about 2 min later, absolutely no wait time, I was in and out. So much for getting there early.

We waited for Jen (Twitter @jenni75) and Adam (Twitter @adamm9 and http://runningspark.blogspot.com/) to arrive, they are both friends of ours and Adam and I have been running some races together lately. We all watched the walkers kick off and then took our places in the runners starting area. Adam went to the 8 min mile area I went further back in the 9:40 min mile area, Adams pace is much faster that mine at this time.

The raced started and it took about a minute or two to get to the starting line. I headed across the line and headed out to the cheers of all the people lining the streets. We immediately headed up hill towards Main Street. The first two miles were basically up and down hill over and over. This was a new route this year and the amount of hills surprised me. I missed the 1 mile sign but at the 2 mile marker my watch said 10:32 which was slower than I wanted to get a PR. Also I had forgotten to start my watch at the start and started it about 15-30 seconds after the start. I got to Smith College which I knew to be at the top of a hill and that it was all down hill to the finish. I tried to push and increased my pace. As I was about 3/4 of the way down the hill I saw Adam coming up the towards me, I waived to get his attention and he ran up beside me and pushed me to finish strong. Adam had finished in just over 26 min which is amazing.  Having him running with me was great, he picked up the pace and told me "it's all down hill from here your almost there" I turned the corner and saw my wife and son along with everyone else clapping and cheering. That’s always a great feeling and I pushed hard into a sprint. I finished the race and stopped my watch which showed 32:18 and once again I started it late so I'll have to wait for the official chip time to be posted. As of right now the official chip times have not been posted.  Chip time was 32:27 @ 10:28 min mile pace.

After the race all of us headed out to find a place to have breakfast. As I we walked in the center of Northampton which is a beautiful area anyways it was snowing lightly making it very festive. We had breakfast and Adam invited me to run a half marathon next June with him. I told him I would think about it and get back to him. To be honest I really want to run it and feel I can train well enough to be able to finish the race, but it also scares the crap out of me. I think if I don't at least try I will regret it. Will see, I am going to sleep on it and make my mind up in the next few days. It will make for an interesting blog to post about my half marathon training.

 All and all it was a great day with good friends. My next race is scheduled for New Years Day and is a 5 mile race called the Freezer 5. Once again as I sit here in my comfy chair, wood stove keeping me toasty warm, by the lit Christmas tree looking out at the falling snow. I can't help but think I am truly blessed.

"Everything Always Looks Better After a Run"
FishaDad