Celtic Solstice Recap & Season's Greetings

Saturday featured the last big local year of the calendar year...Celtic Solstice 5 Miler

From personal experience, this is the first year I've made it to the start line to participate between in climate weather and injuries.  The race has grown exponentially since it's debut in 2000 from around a hundred people to approximately 3,000 finishers in 2012.  Major props to Jim Adams and the Falls Road Running Store for putting on this great event!

As we rolled into the large tent to get our bib numbers, the feel of Old Man Winter was certainly in the air.  If you weren't wearing a hat and gloves, you were being looked at as a total idiot.

The starting 'shout-out' went off just past 8:30am and the large herd of runners headed up the 1/2 mile incline into Druid Hill Park.  It was pleasant to see some of the younger runners (high schoolers maybe?) shoot out to the front of the pack then immediately lose their stride as the real incline began.  Never fails to amuse!

We had some impressive performances to close out the 2012 racing season.  Carlos, the race's perennial bridesmaid as he's now known for five 2nd place finishes, led for a portion of the race but was outkicked going around the lake and had to settle for yet another, but ran a PR of 25:35 and solidified his MVR status.  Mark followed in the distance, dying around 3.5 miles due to stomach cramping, crossing the line in 26:26 for 7th.  Steve and Jason had a photo finish finishing 16th and 18th respectively, in 28:10 and 28:12.  Weems and John wrote another chapter in their rivalry with Weems taking the cake, 30:57 to 31:28.  Tunde followed in 31:51 for 56th and Bobby was 64th in 32:17.

The ladies cleaned house as well.  Robyn posted yet another top 5 finish in 32:38.  Caroline finished her breakout 2012 in 7th clocking a 33:12.  Dorothy took care of business in GM division in 34:41.

All in all, every Strider mentioned above took top honors in their respective age group (which was only one deep), with the exception of John and Bobby who are the same age at Weems.  AWESOME JOB EVERYONE!!!  Now for a few pics...

Carlos all alone in 2nd

Steve closing out an amazing 2012 comeback

Jason taking another Master's win...ROIDER??

Weems making it look easy after an 8 month injury layoff

Tunde's game face

Bobby in picture perfect stride

Caroline taking care of the boys per the usual

Just a few studs partaking in a studly postrace photoshoot

Lastly, for my dedicated (but quiet) readers, we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!  Can't wait to see what 2013 (if we can get past 12/21/12 alive)...

...A 2012 Year in Review will follow in the not so distant future...

Striders represent at Shamrock 5k

On a spring-like afternoon in Charm City, several members of the Striders Racing Team came out with hopes of a PR. As I stood with Issel just around the final turn near the finish line, I wondered who would shoot around the corner first. It was none other than the team captain, Carlos Renjifo, as he powered past a solid Falls Road pack in the last mile to win the race with a new PR in 15:04. Soon after, it was nonstop cheer time as several Striders came cruising in. Most notably, Seth Geoghegan kept his amazing 2012 campaign going with a 15 second PR of 16:20. Pat Wilkerson crushed her goal of sub 20 minutes with an incredible time of 19:38 and took home the women's masters title. She is getting faster with age! This race indicates that many are going to run very well at Cherry Blossom in a few weeks. A summary of the results are as follows:

Place Div/Tot Name S Ag Hometown Gun T Net T Pace
===== ======== ======================= = == ================ =====
1 1/317 Carlos Renjifo (PR) M 29 Columbia MD 15:05 15:04 4:51
13 7/530 Seth Geoghegan (PR) M 32 Columbia MD 16:22 16:21 5:16
14 6/317 Andrew Madison M 23 Baltimore MD 16:30 16:28 5:18
21 9/317 Craig Lebro M 26 Columbia MD 17:02 16:59 5:28
22 11/530 Keith Levasseur M 33 Columbia MD 17:10 17:08 5:31
25 14/530 Jason Tripp M 39 Ellicott City MD 17:14 17:12 5:32
31 3/253 Phil Lang M 44 Columbia MD 17:32 17:29 5:38
60 2/129 John Chall M 54 Crownsville MD 18:39 18:36 5:59
69 2/69 Bobby Gessler M 55 Ellicott City MD 19:02 19:00 6:07


79 1/146 Pat Wilkerson F 53 Columbia MD 19:40 19:38 6:19
111 1/321 Vicki Lang F 43 Columbia MD 20:26 20:21 6:33
175 8/968 Grace Tran F 34 Columbia MD 21:35 21:31 6:56

Great job everyone!!!

Full Results can be viewed here: http://charmcityrun.com/content/results/shamrock12.htm
Pictures from the race, courtesy of: Charm City, HCS
Videos of the race, courtesy of : Falls Rd, HCS

Post Race: All Smiles!