Celtic Solstice 5 Miler recap

I love racing. I love free racing even more. A friend of mine was injured, so I found out Friday morning that I had a bib for Saturday's Celtic Solstice 5 Miler. 

Even better....Eric was already running the race. It still gets better though. Casi came over for a pre-race slumber party Friday night. And just when I thought life could not get any better, Eric brought us both frozen yogurt. 

Saturday morning, we headed down to the race. I'm so used to packing multiple bags, choosing Gu flavors, and agonizing over outfit decisions, that it actually seemed weird to be doing a race short enough that I could just show up....and run.

You totally can't even tell we took this picture after the race.

I had grand plans of lining up sort of near the front and warming up before the race started, but then I found my long lost friends Jill and Katherine and all I warmed up was my mouth.

Apparently the race started late, but we were so busy talking we didn't even notice. To make it even more similar to my recent Hot Chocolate 15k experience, it was annoyingly crowded. As in, on a hairpin turn, I actually found myself running in place. Enter the constant weaving and pushing through people who refuse to move. The race was on part of the same course as another race I'd done in June called the Dreaded Druid Hills, so I knew it would be somewhat hilly. What was killing me was I was able to get past people on the uphills, but it seemed to bottle neck on the downhills, so I couldn't make up for any lost time. On the bright side, apparently every runner I knew in Baltimore was there, so it seemed like I was constantly yelling hi to people or hearing people call my name.

Christmas themed races are the best. 

Here's my official results (Donnie Bassett was me).

Mike, I cannot believe you ran this race, finished one second after me, and didn't even say hi.

I don't normally pay much attention to age group place, but I was pretty excited to be 58/116 in men ages 20-29. I freaked out when I was almost at mile 2 and my average pace was over 9:00, but it thinned out a bit and I was able to pick it up more in the second half.


My splits:
9:06
8:32
7:46
7:40
7:22


Negative splits never looked better. I can thank the 3,500 runners for that. It's too bad, because I know I didn't push as hard as I could (well, until the last mile) and I know it must be getting old to hear race times blamed on crowded conditions, but, come on, a 9:06 first mile is a joke.


A post race photo shoot was required, even though we were freezing.

Casi, did you not get the memo to look as frightening as possible?

I could give lessons in making scary faces for pictures.

If only there had been an HGH tent.


 If the above pictures/observation don't make sense to you, watch this video, and thank me later. Warning - I didn't embed it because every other word is some sort of profanity. It's hilarious though, and I hate most youtube sensations. 

The race not only had our favorite cookies at the finish line tent, they also had hot samples of spiced wine. We excitedly got some, and then immediately threw them away. Turns out hot spiced wine at 9:30 am after a race doesn't taste too good.

Casi and I came back to our apartment, showered, and headed out to do some Christmas shopping. After that, I did the grocery shopping, and then got some stuff ready for a potluck ugly sweater party that we went to Saturday night.

I'm not saying Eric doesn't do his fair share, but sometimes, being a guy must be nice. Like when your reaction to that pesky little "please bring a dish to pass" requirement on a party invitation is this:

As opposed to my reaction, which was this:

I like to hit the extremes -  nice, healthy veggie and hummus tray....

...and red velvet whoopie pies that can cause the immediate onset of diabetes.

Everyone needs to be impressed with my awesome artistic food picture

As always, we don't go halfway with anything. Ugly sweaters included. Yes those are my same socks from the race, no I didn't wash them, and in my defense, the guy in the pj pants in the super blurry picture above wore the same pants to the party (and all day) without washing them.