It’s official. I have found it. The most beautiful race course in all of Baltimore City. You can now finally put to rest your lifelong quest to discover which Baltimore road race has the best views and the most aesthetically pleasing experience, because I beat you to it. The Sole of the City 10k. It is exhilarating, it is gorgeous, and it is calling your name.
I have tried for three years in a row to run this race, but the timing has never been on my side. The first year I had just contracted a seemingly incurable case of peroneal tendonitis just weeks before the race and had to drop out after 2 miles. The next year I was recovering from my prolotherapy treatments to my knee, and wasn’t able to build my mileage up in time. This year I was determined. I refused to sit out for another 10k, and I was going to do it even if it killed me (or killed what was left of my knee cartilage and dignity).
This race is the second installment of the Baltimore B3 Challenge, a distance series consisting of three races, each one doubling in length. The St. Patrick’s Day 5k was fun, downhill, and a big celebration of green, beer, and Irishness, even though I guarantee you that most of those participants were not Irish. The Sole of the City 10k was a little bit less saturated with green bodies, and a little bit more of a challenge. There is literally no better way to welcome spring than running through the blossoms and around the harbor.
Course
The course, unlike most other Baltimore races, starts and ends in Locust Point. No cliché Inner Harbor nonsense with this 10k (although, I admit, I love the Inner Harbor, because I am still in awe of this city despite having lived in or near it most of my life, and despite the fact that most people get visibly nervous and frightened when they hear mention of the word “Baltimore”; it’s not that scary, I promise). We all lined up next to the firehouse in a relatively quiet neighborhood with cute little row houses. I had heard good things about this race, but I actually had no clue where the course would take us before the gun.
After starting on the south side of the harbor, the course winds northward up Key Highway, around the Inner Harbor, by the National Aquarium, up into Little Italy, down to Fells Point, and back to Locust Point. It hits all of Baltimore’s loveliest parts, spends a good bit of time by the water, and is sure to expose you to plenty of spring foliage along the way.
Race
The race went off at nine sharp, and off we went, my favorite mother and me, through the adorable Baltimore neighborhoods and up some unpleasant hills. It was a hot day, already nearing 70 degrees in the early hours of the morning, and already feeling uncomfortably warm by mile 2. The fact that it was warmer, a sharp contrast to the brisk, icy temperatures of Baltimore’s prolonged winter, made the entire race nothing short of brutal.
My legs were cramping up less than a mile in, I felt like I might fall over in heat exhaustion, and by the time I had finished, my normal face had been replaced by a bright red tomato face, shiny with sweat. It’s been so long since I’ve run in the heat (and so long since I’ve run much at all period) that I forgot how difficult it can be to transition your body on such short notice, and my time was painfully slow (but as a 3-time injured runner, I was happy to have gotten to run it at all).
If you can’t tell already I was a huge fan of this race, but my one complaint is that I didn’t see a single mile marker until mile four. My mother and I were heaving in pain and looking around frantically for even the simplest reassurance that, yes, we HAD covered some ground and weren’t just taking 30 minutes to run one mile. I like my mile markers to resemble myself: annoying and in your face. In the way, even. I’d rather there be a 10-foot high mile marker with flashing neon numbers than a discrete one off to the side where no one will trip over it. I am willing to have a few runners trip and fall over my obnoxious mile marker than not see one at all.
Other than that, though, I loved everything about this race, and am already looking forward to next year, when hopefully I won’t be shuffling at a snail’s pace and perishing of heat stroke.
Post-Race Party
Let me tell you, it was refreshing to not finish the race and pack into PowerPlant Live! like a couple thousand sweaty sardines (St. Patrick’s Day 5k, I’m looking at you). I love you, Charm City Run. You know how I feel about you, you delightfully wonderful little running store, you. But being squished into a pancake on every side while struggling to get my hands on a single bag of pretzels is not my ideal post-race party. Thankfully, the Sole of the City 10k starts and finishes right at McHenry Row, which is a breath of fresh air, both in the figurative and literal sense. The local live band was a nice touch, because CCR thinks of everything.
There is a food ticket and two beer tickets attached to each bib, which you exchange for your post-race goodies after finishing. I decided to forego the beers, as I had plans to get drinks with my sister later in DC, but I did snatch up a food box and a banana. Turns out that the food box was filled with nuts, seeds, dried blueberries, and tortilla chips. I appreciate this effort by CCR to promote a healthy recovery, but I was also thankful that the finish line was just steps away from a Dunkin Donuts.
Swag
Once again, the B3 is outdoing itself this year. The first race in the series offered a medal to finishers for the first time ever, and the Sole of the City 10k gave us a similarly themed medal after we crossed over the finish line. The premium, a light zip-up Under Armour jacket with the Sole of the City logo embroidered on the back, is a whopping $80 (I know because they left the price tag on. Do they get a discounted price in bulk? Or is $80 the discounted price??? Under Armour, you dirty dog).
However, entry into the race is only $75, for the race, post-race party, snacks and beer, and the premium. So that is a good deal. And these are some NICE premiums for a random-ass springtime 10k. Charm City Run does not mess around.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line, as always, is that this was a fantastic race put on by a fantastic organization. 10/10 would recommend. Just be sure to train like a normal person and avoid unnecessary pain and embarrassingly slow finishing times.
