I love running a race as part of my training program! Today was the inaugural Charles Street 12 miler run. It was more humid than I expected, but I was so glad that it was overcast.

The race was organized by Charm City Run and I have to give them kudos for putting on a great race (THANK YOU CRR). The course was supposed to be downhill after mile 4, but don’t let that elevation chart fool ya…every downhill was preceded by a kick butt uphill. The course was very well supported with water stops and plenty of Baltimore’s finest cops blocking the course so that we could reek havoc from Baltimore County to Baltimore City (THANK YOU BCPD).

Bus transportation was arranged so that we could park our cars downtown, take the bus to the start line, and then run back downtown. I’d also like to give a shout out to Brett Clark, Charm City Run’s Physical Therapist who allowed us to use his facilities before the race so that we can…um…”go”…in a regular bathroom. I was SO grateful for that! Not sure what was up with my digestive track this morning, but it was working overtime! Anyway, I digress.

The premium was fantastic! We got an Under Armour hoodie sweatshirts along with our medals (LOVE THAT BLING!).

At the end of the race, they fed us with boxed lunches which consisted of a sandwich wrap, mine was turkey, fruit, and chips. AND, of course we had beer! Below are some pics from today’s race. Ok…so I’m not sure what’s going on with my face here, but I probably saw something that I shouldn’t have seen, or maybe it was when I realized that I had to “go!”

Would I do this race again next year? Definitely! It was a great way to add a little spice to our training runs and I really had a great time. Oh, by the way…see the Sweaty Band that I’m wearing? Well, I wore it today for product review. Be on the look out for the review aaaand (drum roll please)…a SWEATY BAND GIVEAWAY! Tell your friends, and tell your friends to tell their friends, and so on and so forth!

Hope ya’ll have successful runs this weekend!

Next run – Tomorrow, recovery run.