The George Washington Parkway Classic is an amazing race in Alexandria, Virginia. Starting outside George Washington's Mount Vernon, and running along the Potomac River to Orononco Park in Downtown Old Alexandria. The course has just enough gentle rolling hills to keep you from getting stale and bored. But there aren't any "real" hills the entire way. And the views -- spectacular. You run on a tree lined road (so you can find shade!) with great views of the Potomac River. This race is also a great opportunity to look at some really nice houses that you'd normally be driving too fast to notice.

Getting to the start of the race is really easy, thanks to the buses the race provides. The lines for the buses got a little backed up, but nobody missed the start because of it. And the bag-drop system worked out really nicely too.

There were plenty (at least 4 or 5!) of well stocked aid stations with lots of very enthusiastic volunteers, and porta-potties!

Another thing I love about this race is the Expo -- or should I say "lack of Expo". There isn't one. Instead, you can pick up your bib at any of the Pacers Running Stores during the two weeks prior to the race. I'm not forced to drive to some crowded convention center to wait in lines and look at the exact same booths as every other race. I really wish more races would do this. And something else that neat is that they assign your bib number when you come in. That means that you can pick up your bibs as a group and know that you'll get sequential numbers. Pretty cool!!!

The race finishes at a big party in Oronoco Park! You get a Fitful box (a neat way to distribute post-race goodies), and water. They have great music playing along the water, a few vendors giving out samples, and lots of happy runners!!!

Everybody should run this race if possible!!!

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