"Come On Boston, Go!"

I had a great time yesterday morning running the 5K WTC Run to Remember on Governors Island. The weather was perfect and there was a great crowd on hand.

Over 1,100 people took part, and I have done so for all three years that the race has been run. I'm not what you call a professional runner, and I didn't train much for the race, just working out on my treadmill. But it was for a good cause, and I raised some money for the 9/11 families.

On three different occasions, someone said "Go Red Sox" to me, so the Nation was represented well. (I was wearing both my Red Sox hat and shirt.) When the race started I did it at a rather leisurely pace, listening to my iPod. All I wanted to do was reach my time of 2010: 34:55.

5k is 3.1 miles, and by the midpoint of the run I was feeling it in my legs and back (and I'm really feeling it now as I write this). But I kept thinking of my late friend Joyce and the 9/11 victims, and that was motivation enough to keep pushing on. The volunteers handed me water, and most of it went over my head.

As the finish line came into view, I could see that I was near my 2010 time, as it was about 33 1/2 minutes. I pushed myself a bit, but then a guy off to my left yelled at me "Come on Boston, go!" and I really pushed forward, and crossed the finish line at 34:06, 49 seconds ahead of last year. (The overall winner finished at 16:08.)

As I hydrated myself and my wobbly legs at the finish, another guy saw me and said "Go Sox!" That made me feel good. But I am really proud to have taken part in the run and had some fun doing it. I'll never be a bigtime runner, but I'll always try to help out the 9/11 families anyway I can. And I'll be doing the Tunnel To Towers 5K on September 25 for the second time.

Let's see how many Red Sox fans I meet that day.