Charles Street 12 Race Review!

This past Saturday I ran the Charles Street 12 in Baltimore.  Last year I swore I wasn't going to do any long distance races.  Then seeing that this was the last race in the B3 race series and hearing so many good things about the race, I decided to sign up for it!  

First off, I was super impressed with the value of doing the whole race series.  Since I signed up for the Charles Street 12 last, all I had to do was send in an extra $25 for the extra medal and extra piece of race swag.  For the race itself, I got a long sleeve waffle knit shirt in purple and lime green with a screen printed logo for the race on the front and Charm City Run (the race store that runs the event) on the back by the lower seam.  Originally, the race series advertised that women participants would get a vest.  Once packet pickup came along though, we ended up with this bag in oxblood with the race series logo embroidered on the front.  I was a little disappointed that they changed the B3 premium, but the bag is just lovely!  How could I complain with such a nice bag that retails for $60 when I paid $25 for that AND a medal?

B3 premium above, Charles St 12 below

I ended up taking a chance on shoes.  I've worn Brooks Adrenalines basically since I started running.  The only problem was, my pair of 15's hit the 500 mile mark the week of the race.  Fortunately I had a pair of 14's new in the box sitting in my closet.  I ended up taking a chance wearing them for my shakeout run the day before, and since everything went well I decided to wear them for the race.  I got lucky and these worked out great! I don't know how well it would've worked out with the older pair, since I was already getting some aches and pains from them.  My husband had never taken a look at them until the morning of the race.  And he took one look at them and said "Are those your Pinkie Pie shoes?"  As in the My Little Pony.  For once, I didn't mind the comparison since she's one of my favorites.  (I had a blue chenille sweater once that my sister said made me look like cookie monster.  I never wore it again.)  For those of you who don't know the latest version My Little Pony, here's Pinkie Pie.

And these are my latest pair of adrenalines.

Pink and light blue...just like Pinkie Pie!

Race day started early:  5am, but my husband and I were out the door at 5:30 (I am quite slow that early in the morning.)  My husband dropped me at Power Plant Live and I hopped out of the car and onto a shuttle bus to the starting line.  I chatted with a pediatric cardiologist on the shuttle bus up, which was nice because he had done the race several times.  (He also tried to convince me to do a marathon.  It's on my bucket list, but I'm still looking for the right race.)  By this point, I had almost an hour to get mentally prepared for the race and use the bathroom a couple times.  (Added bonus:  They opened the mall so we had access to REAL bathrooms.  I still opted for the portajohns first thing, then used the sinks inside since naturally the line for the real bathroom was longer.)  I ended up participating a little bit in a warmup session by Sandra Gallagher-Mohler (a personal trainer, certified USATF coach and owner of IRunTons.)  Weather-wise, it was in the upper 60s/lower 70s and VERY humid so it didn't feel very cool.

Here's Sandra Gallagher-Mohler on a platform in the middle.

Afterwards I went to the starting area to wait the last few minutes before the race actually started.  I was a little further up than normal, but it didn't end up being a big deal.  I managed to get right next to somebody I did a course preview run with.  (I haven't run in Baltimore much other than around the harbor, so I made sure I was close to her to get back to the Charm City Run at Fort McHenry Row!)  We didn't chat much, but it was still nice to run into a semi-familiar face.

It was a nice morning, but definitely humid!

After the national anthem, we were off!  ...And the first 3-4 miles were all an incline.  Thankfully, the rest of it was generally downhill.  I got a few pictures of the major sights we ran past.

Like Towson University!

And Loyola!  (Which I had driven past before when I was lost in North Baltimore recently.)

Later in the race we ran through Baltimore proper.  I was excited to FINALLY get a close up look at the Washington Monument.  They decorate the monument with lights at Christmas and one of the things I would LOVE to do is see them light it.

The man and the legend on top of the monument!

Finally the last part of the race was completely flat.  By then, my legs were screaming so I did a lot of walking.  And there may or may not be photographic evidence of "faking it" as I "ran" past one of the photographers in a part of the harbor I've run at least a half dozen times now.

I remember thinking "Hi, work!  Hopefully I can walk when I see you again on Monday!" (I currently volunteer there.)

Soon afterwards I hit the finish line, which was a LOT closer than I was expecting--it was about 10 feet off of Pratt Street!  (At the St Patrick's Day race, it was close to a block away from Pratt!)  Once somebody was urging me on to run to the corner and that the finish was RIGHT THERE (and they weren't lying for once!) I got a last minute burst of energy and gunned it!  I finished the race in 2:22:20, with a pace of 11:52!  Definitely one of my better paces for a long distance race.  (Generally I'm between 12:00 and 12:15 for longer races, but can fluctuate anywhere between 10:30 and 11:15 for shorter distances.)  Afterwards I grabbed my medals, a bottle of water (CCR, pay attention:  Next year we need water stops in the city!) and a box lunch with an oatmeal raisin cookie, orange and a turkey wrap.  Soon after downing the cookie I caught sight of my husband who took this picture of me.

With my medals and brunch!

Totally worth it for the bling!

Overall, I thought the race was very well run.  Some of water stops weren't exactly 2 miles apart, but it worked out fine.  (If it were any hotter, it would've been questionable!)  Once we reached the city, I was totally impressed with the BPD.  They had getting people through the city down to an absolute science.  They would get the driver up as close to the race path as they could without blocking a runner's path.  Then once a gap opened up, they would let the cars shoot through until we got a little closer at which point they would hold traffic again.  (There was one police woman who managed to convince a couple semi's to slow down and let us through!  That takes much more confidence than I have, that's for sure!)

After the race I immediately got into the shower, then threw on some sweats and collapsed into bed for a nice nap.  The rest of the day was pretty laid back because I knew I would be sore (I was, but not as bad as after the Baltimore half!)  

I'm still fighting some soreness, but I'm back in training for my next race:  The Hokie Half in Blacksburg!!  I had to sign up for it.  My husband and I lived in the area for 6 years and part of the race is where I started running.  I miss that trail like crazy and I can't wait to run on it again.  I also ran the inaugural 5k in 2013 while in training for the Baltimore, and absolutely loved every second of it.  (It was my PR until the Freedom 5k this past July.)