Celtic Solstice 5 Miler Race Recap or How I Learned that Yes, You CAN Oversell a Race!

I really wanted to like this race.  Honestly, I did.  When I found one of the premiums from 2013 that I had seen from various area running events and when I found one while out thrifting, I KNEW I had to do this race.  (I don't like wearing running swag from races I haven't actually run.)  

Front of the 2013 pullover

Back of the 2013 pullover

A closeup of the 2013 logo

I heard from many people that it's a fantastic race and they were sorry to miss out on it for whatever reason.  I may sound like a curmudgeon, a Scrooge, even.  I love Christmas races, but this one was WAY oversold and because of that this may be one of the few races I'm not sure I would consider running again.

The packet pickup was fairly easy.  It was held in the basement at the Falls Road Running Store in Baltimore.  It is probably the smallest running store I have ever been in, and people brought their small children with them.  So in addition to trying to squeeze through already fairly tight quarters to get to packet pickup, you had to dodge small children running around.  I grabbed my premium, my bib, and the extra jacket from last year's race that I bought for $20.  I was SO excited because the premium for the race was so pretty.  I love the color and the pattern on the back.  That alone made the $70 race fee worth it in my mind.  (The premium retails for about that much too!)  And although I went to the early packet pickup, they did not include the actual timing chip for the race itself--that had to be picked up on race morning.

The front of the 2015 pullover

The 2015 race pullover!  It's a Brooks Dash 1/2 zip.

Front of 2014 jacket

Back of the 2014 jacket

Closeup of the 2014 logo

I kept a close eye on the weather which had been beautiful all week.  (I even ran in a tank top and shorts comfortably on the day I picked up my packet!)  But as luck would have it, a cold front came in the day before the race so it was below freezing and windy on race morning.  

I also kept an eye out for the multiple emails from the race organizer.  Rather than having a website or a Facebook page, the organizer sent out multiple, verbose emails throughout the week.  They made it known that you should plan on getting there early since parking fills up quickly.  (And it did shortly after my husband and I got there at 7:25am for the 8:30am gun time.)  

We then followed the crowds and made our way to the starting area.  After a portajohn stop, I saw how crowded the tent was and sighed.  It was like trying to get through a crowded metro train after a Redskins game lets out:  Next to impossible and completely frustrating.  But after paying attention to the emails, I knew I had no choice because I had to get the timing chip for my shoe.  Which naturally, was in the furthest corner of the tent and getting through the crowd took and was incredibly difficult because people were trying to put on their bibs, get their premium and the put the timing chip on their shoe.  Somehow after getting the chip I found a space open enough that I could bend down and put the chip on.  Then the next order of business was to find some of Zeke's coffee.  After having to brave the crowds, we decided not to go back into the tents and drank our coffee outside then I made my way to the starting area in front of Stieff Silver.

About 15 minutes later they started the mini-parade of the Irish Wolfhounds, bagpiper and the people who have done the race every year since it started (signified by their single digit bib numbers.)  

Soon after the mini-parade, we were off.  The course starts out uphill for about the first quarter mile.  It can be steep to some, but it was manageable.  The hills for this race are definitely rolling until the very end when you go back down that first hill.  (They keep it this way since winter weather can be very unpredictable and this race is always held even if it snows.)  It was a very pretty course since it goes through Druid Hill Park and around Druid Lake.  However, it can also be VERY narrow at times.  

(Warning:  Here's where I start ranting!)

I've been in races where you have maybe a car lane width to pass through for a short period of time.  This one though squeezed down to less than that at times.  And with nearly 3,000 runners (2,711 finishers to be exact) it gets VERY tight at times.  I lost count of how many times I nearly got hit in the face, tripped over people or got boxed in by people running at a slower pace than me or simply walking.  Like I said before, I've heard wonderful things about this race and obviously many other people have too.  But there is such a thing as having too many runners, and this race obviously did.  The organizers began to sell out of race premiums in early November, and in my mind that is when they should've started cutting off registrations.  After they ran out of the race premiums, they allowed people to keep registering for $40 until race morning and you would have the option to buy the previous year's jacket and whatever was still left from this year's race.  I understand that race organizers want as many people as possible to be able to run a race--but there is also a benefit to saying "no" to people after a certain point.  There were just simply too many people for the size of the course.

(End of rant.)

The post-race food was awesome--perfectly ripe bananas, water, coffee, wassail and an incredible spread of cookies.  I grabbed one of each kind and almost all of them were gone by the time I made it back out of the tent.  I also stopped by the Brooks booth and grabbed a free lip balm on my way out.

All of that being said:  Would I run this race again?  Maybe, but with reservations.  The premium was fantastic and is something I know I'll wear often since it's lightweight and I love this year's logo for the race.  (The logo changes almost every year, and occasionally they bring back old ones.)  Despite the crowding on the course, I still had a decent time (according to my Garmin it was 54:01, pace of 10:31) and my pace was about 30 seconds faster than on my 5 mile training run the previous weekend.  It was very frustrating to have to dodge so many people on the course itself, so if I were to run this race again I would make it a point to run just to the side of it to have fewer people to go around (although at some points this can be difficult.)  I think I also have to go in with the mentality that going through the tent will be like going through the mosh pit at a popular concert.  If I like the design of the logo enough, I will definitely consider it.  But I will definitely not drag my husband along.  (He runs occasionally but not often and we made a deal after he skipped coming to the Jingle All the Way 5k that he had to come to this one.)

Have you run this race?  What are your thoughts on it?  I'm open to discussion about it.  What are your thoughts on races only allowing so many people run it?  Is there such a thing as too many runners?

Bib Holder Tutorial

Here is part 2 of my race swag display tutorials!  This tutorial will show you how I made my bib holder.

Materials:
4- 1 inch square bend screw hooks

9x12 Rectangle Pine Plaque

single hole punch
This template (not necessary, but if you're using the other parts of this tutorial it makes things easier!)

acrylic paint in your favorite color(s)
paint brushes (these aren't the ones I used, but would work well!)
Your favorite picture hanging product (you will need something to attach to the back.  You can use 1 sawtooth hanger, or 2 d-ring hangers and picture wire.)

First, you can paint the boards or jump right in with transferring the words onto the plaques.  I found transferring the words first went a lot faster since I didn't have to wait for the paint to be completely dry.

For both parts of the tutorial, I chose to transfer the letters first.

The bib plaque is similar to the medal plaque, but with an extra couple steps for putting in the hooks.

To install the hooks:

If you're using the same rectangular plaque I did with the lettering on the left you will want the smaller set of screw hooks to be .75'' from the top of the board, and one at 3.25'' from the left, and the second at the 10'' mark.  For the larger set, you want this to be 1.25'' from the top, with the third screw hook being at the 2.5'' mark, and the fourth at the 10.75'' mark.  

While measuring I used a pencil to make a mark.  I recommend erasing it as much as you can, but don't expect it to go away completely.  I was able to cover it up with the paint.

After checking my measurements pressed the screw hooks in to make an indentation for where I would install the screw hooks.  (The wood is soft enough that you shouldn't need any hardware to do this part.)  

Then once again I painted around the indentations.  Shortly after this I removed the bent screw hooks to make painting easier and to keep them clean.

I then checked to be sure my bibs fit.  This is where the hole puncher comes in handy, since not all bibs will fit perfectly.  Just use the hole puncher to make the holes slightly bigger or move them further out as needed.  Also note that for some bibs, you will need to remove larger timing chips.  To do this you can snip away at it using scissors.

I then transferred the smaller of the "Running" templates to the side of the plaque using a metal tipped pen similar to the medal holder tutorial.  

This is how it looked after painting the whole board.

I then filled in the border and the "Running" portions of the board and screwed the hooks back in.

And you're ALMOST done!

The next part is fairly easy, and it's attaching the hanging system for the plaque.  If you use the D-ring hanger and picture wire, you just have to screw the d-ring hangers on the left and right sides of the back of the plaque.  You don't have to worry about them being even because when you add the picture wire, it will help keep the plaque even when hanging.  You want to clip a little extra on each end of the wire to allow yourself some room to twist it around on itself like this...

Don't do like I did and allow yourself at least an inch on each side of the hangers so you have plenty to twist around on itself.

And now you're done!  Congrats :)  If you decide to try my tutorial let me know what you thought and I would love to see pictures of your work!  Also feel free to ask questions if I'm not clear about something. 

Medal Holder Tutorial

I know I kept saying that this tutorial is coming, but now that I've given one of the sets away as a birthday present to my Dad I can show what I did along with links to the specific products.  To break it up a little bit, here is the medal holder tutorial.  Tomorrow I will post the bib holder tutorial!

Here's what I used:

6x14 inch Innkeeper Signboard

acrylic paint in your favorite color(s)

paint brushes (these aren't the ones I used, but would work well!)

This template
1 cafe curtain rod
2 #8 Screw Hooks  (Note:  If you buy these in store you can buy 1 package of two for about $1.18.  The link is for a package of 25!)
Your favorite picture hanging product (you will need something to attach to the back.  You can use 1 sawtooth hanger, or 2 d-ring hangers and picture wire.)

First, you can paint the boards or jump right in with transferring the words onto the plaques.  I found transferring the words first went a lot faster since I didn't have to wait for the paint to be completely dry.

For this one, I transferred the letters first then started painting.

The top of the page for this one lines up perfectly.  
I had it about half an inch from the top of the board.  

I then used a metal tipped pen to trace the template while pressing into the wood to make an indentation.

This is what you should have afterwards (if you don't paint first.)

If you chose to transfer the letters first, now you should paint the background color around the indentations.

Here's how it looks after outlining the indentations.

Then paint the rest of the background color to fill it in.

Then paint the second color in the lettering.

It's not perfect, but still looks great!

Painting the border.

Painting is done for the medal plaque!

After I was done painting, my husband offered to drill holes to make the screw hooks go in cleaner.

The holes are approximately one inch from each bottom edge.

Then screw in each of the hooks.  I was able to start them by hand, but then used pliers to get them in further without hurting my fingers.

Once the screws were in, I attached the cafe curtain rod and it's almost done!

The last step is installing the d-ring hangers and attaching the wire between the two hangers.  You just need to screw in the hangers on the left and right sides of the plaque and then use the wire to attach the two.  (Be sure to allow yourself at least 2 extra inches so you can twist the wire on itself.)  When you're done, the back should look something like this...

And now you're done!  To add your medals just slip the cafe curtain rod off the hooks and thread the strap of the medal onto the rod.  And since the cafe curtain rod is expandable you should have no problem using this plaque for a long time.

Jingle All the Way 5k Race Recap and building a Christmas race costume...

 This is now the 4th year in a row I've run the Jingle All the Way (first 8k, now 5k) in DC.  Last year they shortened the race to a 5k that goes past Congress, which has its own Christmas tree.  (It makes the race seem more festive IMHO, but they did it because of construction.)   

Since the second time I ran it in 2013 I've been slowly adding to my costume.  The first year I didn't wear anything Christmasy because I didn't know any better and I was still new to racing.  The second year I added some ribbon hair clips and jingle bells to my bib.  

The third year (last year) I had started on my costume before Thanksgiving, and this is what I ended up coming up with in the end.

My Dad and I pre-race.  I was super excited, as always.

I had a sparkly Santa hat, a light up Christmas light necklace, a skirt I had made with little candy canes and peppermint swirls all over it, knee socks and a turtleneck with snowflakes all over it.  It was pretty tame compared to a lot of the other costumes, but I was super proud of it. 

This is the fabric I used for my skirt.  I even got fancy with the hemline!

 I entered the costume contest and had to go up against somebody who had made a Christmas tree costume made out of the egg crate padding and spraypainted green.  

I had no hope winning against them. 
Yes, they ran the race in the costume AND won the costume contest.

After that happened I was determined to make next year's costume bigger, better and more...everything!  This year I started planning everything a week before Thanksgiving and took pictures of various ideas, watched videos from other Christmas races and Christmas movies, and looked at store bought costumes and ornaments.  This year, I'm even more proud of myself.  For those of you who don't know, my name is Holly.  Christmas is kind of my thing.  It's the one time of year I can totally play up my name and it's somewhat socially acceptable.  
I started by buying some Christmas leggings in July.  I saw them while out thrifting for $2 and had to buy them even though they weren't the best fitting.  They were Christmas.  They were loud.  SOLD!
Next came the ornaments.  I saw stocking ornaments at World Market for $2.50 each.  It then occurred to me that I could probably find something similar while out thrift shopping.  Yup.  Paid 45 cents for two of them.  Done.
After that?  The lights.  With the stockings on my running belt to hold the battery packs and entirely too many safety pins to help attach the wiring I made sure they wouldn't fall off during the race.  A little too much?  Maybe.  But in this race, if you feel like you're out of your comfort zone then you are on the right track for a great costume.
Now to just add a few more bells to last year's skirt, in addition to everything from years past...and here's what I came up with!

I was FULL of the Christmas spirit!  Leggings, skirt with bells, belt with stockings, bells, ornaments and lights, wristbands with bells, bells on my shoes and sparkly santa hat, lights on my jacket and a Christmasy bondi band!

And this is how the whole thing looked when I actually put it on...

I was a little excited!

Overall I had a lot of fun putting the costume together, but I would do a few things different.  For one, I would put one or both battery packs in the small pocket in my leggings.  The stockings were a good idea, but no amount of pinning would keep it from bouncing.  They worked well for holding onto my phone though!  It made it SO much easier to take pictures.  I'd also use heavier thread for sewing the bells onto my skirt.  (I made it home with only 1 of the 4 I had sewn on...oops.)

That being said, the race this morning was a lot of fun.  My Dad and I took the Metro to the Federal Triangle stop and got there about 45 minutes before the gun went off.   We used that time to explore a little bit and check out everybody's costumes.

There were almost 4,500 runners and lots of them were in costume!

About 15 minutes before the gun was scheduled to go off, they told everybody to make their way to the corrals on Pennsylvania Avenue.  My Dad and I made our way to the 10:00-10:59 corral, and I made last minute adjustments to my costume, made sure my Garmin was ready to go and started my Christmas running playlist.
The course itself was pretty scenic and easy to follow because of all the signs and volunteers directing runners.

You run past the Newseum, the Canadian Embassy, the Air and Space Museum, the Old Post Office Pavilion, the Washington Monument...

and the United States Capital Building and the Congressional Christmas tree...

And finishing back where you started: Freedom Plaza.  The area in itself is surrounded by a couple of famous landmarks (the Warner theater and National theater.)  Afterwards it was a little difficult to find water bottles since they were to the left and I veered right when I finished.  The volunteers also seemed to have trouble keeping up with the demand for water as well since they seemed pretty frazzled.  

Overall, I would most likely do this race again.  The race was exactly as I expected, it was pretty well organized, I loved the course, and I had a lot of fun making my costume and seeing everyone's creativity with their own costumes.   I think my favorite this year were the 7 swans a swimming.

Seven swans a swimming!  They have inner tubes!!!

The race did have some hiccups, but nothing totally unusual--people walking/running 3+ people across, walking in the middle of the course, and a high demand for post-race refreshments made it a little difficult to access.  For a lot of people this was their first race, so it's understandable that not everybody knew basic race etiquette.  And naturally afterwards everybody's thinking about food and water, and after cooling off a hot drink was lovely.  (They had apple cider and coffee.)  I would suggest though larger cups for the hot drinks since they only offered dixie cups for them and possibly hot chocolate.  (I like to add a little bit to coffee when cream or milk and sugar aren't available or easily accessible.)

Winston Salem Turkey Strut 5k Race Recap

In 2012 my husband started a family tradition of doing a Thanksgiving race.  We started with the Drumstick Dash in Roanoke, then the Pilgrim Run in Kansas City, the Turkey Chase the Sunday before and this year just the two of us did the Turkey Strut in Winston-Salem, NC.  

Considering how I knew going into the race it would be small, I didn't have very high expectations for it.  I was excited to do it though since there was a finisher medal involved and I'm a sucker for race swag!  I also had never run in this part of North Carolina before, so I had no idea what to expect.

The race started at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.  I had been there once before several years ago for the Dixie Classic Fair, but didn't remember much of it other than cake decorating competitions, looking at a lot of livestock, and being surprised that they had tractor pulls.  

It was the perfect morning for a race.  Kind of chilly, but not too much so (it was in the upper 40s when the race started) and standing in the sun was all you needed to feel comfortably warm before the race.   I was wearing a light long-sleeved quarter zip jacket with a long sleeve shirt underneath, leggings and my usual Bondi Band headband.  It was a little much, but felt nice to have the layers before and after the race since a 5k is quick enough that I can deal with being a little extra warm.

My outfit laid out the night before the race

We got a great parking space close to the starting and finishing area, and right next to some nice, clean portajohns.  (And there wasn't even a line!!)  We scoped out the food area for when we finished, 

The race course itself was really nice--it started out downhill, and then afterwards it had mostly rolling hills (except for when you had to come back up that initial hill.)  I enjoyed seeing another part of Winston-Salem that I had never seen through running.  There was one water stop on the course after the one mile marker and it was hard to see when it was coming up.

So proud of this medal!

After finishing (my time was 31:17--even closer to the elusive sub-30 5k) volunteers handed out the medals and then I was super impressed with the post-race snacks!  They had goldfish crackers, several kinds of pretzels, fruit snacks, cookies, water and a wide variety of soda as well so there was a little something for everybody.  My only other complaint about this race would be the bananas--they were so green they were impossible to peel and I saw several people picking the peel away far longer than my own patience would allow.  

Some of the snacks offered.  I grabbed an extra fruit snack for my husband since they're his favorite!

Overall I would recommend this race if you're looking for one in the area.  It was well run and small enough that parking was great and there were plenty of portajohns for a pre or post race bathroom break.  The shirt is a nice wicking material and the logo for the race is also pretty cute!

After the race driving back to the hotel I insisted we stop at a Krispy Kreme.  I grew up about 10 minutes from one of the DC area factories, so whenever I see the "HOT DONUTS NOW" sign lit up I immediately start salivating.  (And we were in the area where Krispy Kreme started, and home of the Krispy Kreme challenge!)  I got my usual glazed and chocolate iced with sprinkles and I was SO happy for the treat.  

Had to get the hat too.

It was a fantastic way to start Thanksgiving--with a race on a great course, a new PR, and melt in your mouth DONUTS!