Check out my blog for my full race recap at: http://thriftyrunner.blogspot.com/2015/12/celtic-solstice-5-miler-race-recap-or.html

The premium for running the race is probably the best part of the whole thing. It's always really nice with a celtic design--in 2015 it was a Brooks half zip pullover with a celtic dragon design on the back and the year before it was a Brooks jacket with a celtic bear embroidered on the back.

The course is pretty even in December, but the pathways are VERY narrow and it's hard to pass other runners for the majority of the course. (There are curbs, trees, bushes, fences etc. in the way that can make it treacherous if not impossible to try and pass others.) It's fairly hilly, starting with a fairly steep hill that is just lovely to fly down to the finish.

The logistics of the race leave something to be desired. The packet pickup is in the basement of Falls Road Running in the northern part of Baltimore and you only get your bib and the premium if you paid for one. The running store is very small and when people bring their entourages the store gets even smaller very quickly. Then on race morning you have to brave the crowds in the tent to get your timing chip. It's very difficult to navigate through the tent and even worse to try and find a place to crouch down and attach the chip to the top of your shoe.

Also, they don't seem to have a cutoff for the number of participants which they really seem to need at this point. Basically they allow people to register with or without the premium and once they're sold out of the premium people can keep registering at a discounted rate.

The pre-race "parade" is interesting--it has a bagpiper and a few people dressed in traditional Irish garments walking a couple of friendly Irish wolfhounds and the people who have run the race every year since it started follow behind.

I also liked having access to Zeke's coffee and mulled wine from Boordy Vineyards pre and post race to help keep warm. The post-race snacks are also pretty awesome--a nice selection of cookies from a local Italian bakery along with the usual pile of bananas.

I've run a lot of races more than once, but I don't know if I would do this one again. I felt like there were way too many runners for the course and it just wasn't worth the frustration of getting stuck behind people who were slower than me or walking.