As the year winds down, there are fewer races available. Next weekend I may even have to stay home. This weekend there were only four races in the region. Sunday is the RASAC Holiday 5K. Today's (December 21, 2002) choices were a Jingle Bell 5K in Boyce, VA (SVR) and the Christmas Caper 8K at Belle Haven (PVTC). Both are good economic choices at $4 and $5. Boyce was the farthest at 70 miles to 30 miles. I have run at Belle Haven many times and enjoyed the mostly flat out and back course and the food age group awards.

Door number three was The Celtic Solstice 5 Mile at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. Jim Adams of the Falls Road Running Store, former BRRC president and RRCA State Representative, suggested I might like to give it a try. Early fees were $10 and race day was $15. Unlike the other two races, this one provided a long sleeve Nike Dri-Fit shirt valued at $36.00. Say no more, I hauled myself up Route 95 to Baltimore.

Thanks to the generous folks at the Stieff Silver Building, we had indoor facilities and lots of parking right next to the starting line for the nearly five hundred runners. I spoke with race management professional Dave Cooley of the Finished Product and we agreed this third year race could easily double in size. I asked about the course while querying him about the upcoming inaugural Frederick Marathon. He smiled that smile that told me that "gently rolling terrain" may be literally "breath taking." He did tell me that the marathon was mostly flat, though Frederick is up "in them there hills." He cautioned race brochure photographers to point and click away from the Catoctin Mountains in the background.

So, today winter arrived. The day was a beautiful windless forty- five degrees. We lined up at the edge of the bridge over the Jones Falls Expressway. The road turned up sharply just across the bridge. I remembered that the brochure pronounced the first 1K flat. Race director Jim Adams plied us with the good news that last half-mile was downhill. Now I was confused. No time to think, Cooley had just shouted, "Go!" I darted across the bridge in the lead, ready to turn the corner, looking for downhill or at least flat. Oops! The next mile was a serpentine ladder of up followed by up. It was not steep but it was up. Even watching my shoes, I could not help noticing that lots of runners were moving past me.

The course was very easy to follow, even though there were three cul de sacs. As we entered each one, the lead bicycles warned us to move over to the right. Each time the eventual winner Greg Cauller of Manchester, PA was pushing further ahead. Many runners were later heard to comment, "Did you see that guy running so effortlessly?" "He should have at least tried to look as if he were struggling when he came past us."

I had another problem. Those rolling hills were taking a serious bite out of any potential kick that I might have. Finally, about three and a half miles into the race we moved away from the zoo and headed down toward the reservoir. Mile four was an unmanned [turned off] clock but it was a welcome sight. I allowed my momentum to carry me across the flat area to the final half- mile, which was blissfully all downhill.

There was much last second changing of places because the finish was so sharply down hill. Veteran finishers hustled quickly back to the Stieff Silver and the food. Those first inside lined up at the massage table. I brushed past that and headed for the chow line. There was tons of everything, all the old standards of bananas, apples, bagels, and Gatorade. A chorus of pastry, cookies, dozens of doughnuts, hot chocolate, coffee, and plenty of fruit juices followed them up.

Soon the masses changed the already warm building into a sauna. We herded ourselves outside to find bowls of steaming hot chili. After we cooled off some, we could not refrain from more goodies inside, including some decorative cakes. There was plenty of food and drink for every runner with the excess going to a local shelter.

The results were up in less than an hour. I made the cardinal mistake of standing right next to Jim Adams as he announced the winners. He deputized me into making up the random numbers. When asked to pick a number, he said, "What is your marathon PR?" I first tried my own bib number of 445 but he was not buying. He interspersed the randoms with the age groups. The prizes were sporting goods from his store, such as hats, fanny packs, running lights, body glides, and even some pepper spray.

The age group awards were based on pre-registered quantities, so that the larger divisions went deeper. Also, we would all be receiving a special extra bonus. A local artist took photos of the award winners to use in producing individual drawings for us.

For the women, Vicki Cauller made it a husband (Greg) and wife winner's circle, upsetting Denise Knickman of Baltimore. Knickman is a winner of twenty-one of the thirty-five races she has done this year, including a 2:59:19 Marathon in the Parks last month. Matthew Hahn (20) of Pennsylvania was second for the men. Another couple, Connie Buckwalter of Lancaster, PA was third and her husband Marc was an age group winner, making a nearly Pennsylvania sweep. The third man was Justin Scott (21). We were also treated to the return of racing legend Laura Dewald of Monkton, MD. Laura, often a sub-2:40 marathoner, won the Marine Corps Marathon in 1990 in 2:45. In 1993, she won the last Fritzbe's race in 35:10 before heading up to blitz the Philadelphia Half Marathon in 74:00. She says she prefers trail running these days. Winning her age group easily today, she noted that motivation is the key to producing fast times.

See complete results of the Celtic Solstice 5 Mile race.