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?