Saturday, September 4, 2021

2021 Under Armour Charles Street 12

The Under Armour Charles Street 12 is a 12-mile road race down Charles Street through the center of Baltimore. This year it was held on Saturday, September 4th, at 7:30 am. The weather was a bit chilly at starting time, about 63 degrees, but by about 9 am, it was warm and sunny, almost 80 degrees. 
      The race started at the Shops at Kenilworth in Towson, going west along Kenilworth Drive to Charles Street, and then south down Charles Street to the Inner Harbor, continuing down Light Street to Key Highway, and then onto the Key Highway Extension to TidePoint, finishing in front of Under Armour's Headquarters at Locust Point.
      The course had a fairly difficult uphill in the first mile, then another  uphill at miles two and three, but from there it was mostly downhill until the last three miles, which were mostly flat.
      The overall men's winner was Ryan Fan, age 24, from Baltimore, MD, who finished with a time of 1:07:15.0, for a pace of 5:36 per mile. The overall women's winner was Suzie Jakes, age 36, from White Hall, MD, who had a time of 1:09:48.3, for a pace of 5:49 per mile, in fourth place overall among 952 runners (473 male and 479 female).
      I finished with a time of 1:44:33.8, for a pace of 8:43 per mile, which was 2nd of 34 in my age group (60-69), and 284th out of 952 overall. I was very pleased. I had just been hoping to break 2 hours. The downhills really helped me. The men's winner in my division, Hank Reiser, from Edgewater, MD, finished in a time of 1:43:37.8, for a pace of 8:38 per mile.