This was my second year running the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler and every year, I’m surprised at how cold it is.\u00a0 It is the end of December.\u00a0 Of course it is cold!<\/p>\n
This race really loves it’s theming, and I love the race for it.\u00a0 The run is held at Druid Hill Park and is always run right around the time of the solstice.\u00a0 It felt a bit early this year, but I’m not complaining, as that meant it fit well in my schedule.<\/p>\n
I don’t know the director of the race, but he is a hilariously sarcastic man.\u00a0 The emails that go out before the race are a riot, and included things like “Please do not urinate on the building and scare the people inside.”\u00a0 At the race, there were even signs with an icon of a man peeing and then a big no symbol atop it.\u00a0 Ridiculously funny.\u00a0 And yes, the portapotties were plentiful, so no worries there.<\/p>\n
At the race start, there is a lovely tent setup with coffee inside, and food and other goodies afterward.\u00a0 Definitely a nice perk and a good way to get out of the cold.<\/p>\n
The race begins with a bagpiper leading a small parade through the crowd of runners, starting at the back of the pack.\u00a0 There is also a drummer (this year in a hybrid Bravehart\/Baltimore Ravens costume) and people with Irish Wolfhounds.\u00a0 They are then followed by the people who have run the race every year, a pack that shrank significantly after the race was all but snowed out – only people who could walk to the start were able to run.<\/p>\n
And then the run begins!\u00a0 It’s not the world’s easiest course – it’s definitely got hills.\u00a0 But what goes up must come down, right?\u00a0 Betsy and I ran this one together, and it wasn’t my fastest, but we did okay.\u00a0 She was coming off of a cold and I was coming off of a week of exhausting rehearsals, so neither of us was in top form.\u00a0 So we just ran and chatted and had fun.\u00a0 At least I had fun.\u00a0 I hope she did too.<\/p>\n
I have to admit, one of the big perks of this race is the shirt.\u00a0 This race always has the best shirt (or sometimes jacket, I believe).\u00a0 And the cost of the race is typically the retail cost of the shirt.\u00a0 So to get some great new running gear AND a great race experience makes for a worthwhile day.\u00a0 I hope the race fits into my schedule again next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was my second year running the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler and every year, I’m surprised at how cold it is.\u00a0 It is the end of December.\u00a0 Of course it is cold! This race really loves it’s theming, and I love the race for it.\u00a0 The run is held at Druid Hill Park and is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n