Rock n Roll DC is by no means the biggest or most popular race in Washington, DC. That honor would go to the Marine Corps Marathon, which is a race that's on a lot of runners' bucket lists, including mine. I still have plans to go back to DC and do the MCM at some point, but the Rock n Roll Half happened to fit into my schedule a little bit better and truthfully I wasn't disappointed by it. This is a fun race that gives runners the ability to see a lot of the museums, monuments and government buildings that they grew up reading about in their history books, and being a history geek, I was pretty much in heaven throughout the entire trip.

Getting There / Where to Stay

For obvious reasons, there are a ton of flights in and out of Washington, DC from pretty much every major city around the world. There are three major airports in or around the city, all of which have a constant stream of incoming and outgoing flights, so even if you don't live close enough to drive, you'll still have plenty of options.

I rented a car for my trip to DC, but I ended up wishing that I hadn't. There are a number of public transportation options, and parking in downtown Washington, DC is ridiculously expensive (assuming you can find parking at all). My rental car didn't leave the hotel parking garage from the time I got there until the last day because I found that the subway was a faster and cheaper option to get me anywhere I needed to go around the city (including the race expo, start line, and finish line) and for the one or two times when I wanted to go eat at an out of the way restaurant that wasn't easily accessible by public transportation, there were plenty of cabs available.

Hotels in downtown Washington, DC are pretty pricey. They're definitely closer to most of the attractions, but like I mentioned earlier, the subways are so convenient that as long as you stay at a hotel that's close to any of the subway lines, you shouldn't have any problem getting around the city. I stayed at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Pentagon City, saved several hundred dollars on my hotel room over the course of my stay vs a room in downtown DC, and it never took me more than 20 minutes or so to get downtown whenever I wanted to.

Race Expo and Organization

This is a Rock n Roll Marathon race so the expo is pretty standard... but in 2014, it was a lot smaller than most of the other Rock n Roll Marathon Expos I've been to. The process of picking up a race number was still the same (sign a waiver, stand in line based on your race number, get your bib, t-shirt, and goodie bag and then head out through the merchandise area) but there were only a few rows of vendors which isn't a lot. I know that as of 2015 the expo location has been moved from its old location at the DC Armory to the Walter E Washington Convention Center, which is a bigger venue so the expo may be bigger and have more vendors in future years.

The overall organization of the race was pretty good too. Both the half and full marathon courses start near the Smithsonian with a nice view of the Washington Monument from the start line. The start line is organized into a number of corrals and there's plenty of snacks, water, and porta-potties available. Gear check is pretty easy to get to at both the start and finish lines as well.

The start line, finish line, and race expo are all easy to get to by subway. Since the course is point-to-point, if you do want to drive, you'll have to either park at the finish line and take the subway to the start line or park at the start line and take the subway back after the race (so one way or another, you're most likely going have to take the subway, which is why it's easier to just find a hotel that has easy access and take the subway directly from your hotel instead of driving).

I have one suggestion for after the race: the finish line is at Anacostia Park, and right outside of the park, there's a subway station where you can get on the orange line, which is the train that most of the runners will be taking to head back towards downtown. Unless you happen to be an elite runner, chances are that by the time you finish the race, the line to get into this station will be very long as a number of runners will be trying to leave at the same time. If you walk about two blocks Northeast on Minnesota Avenue, there's another entrance for the same subway line that's virtually empty where you'll be able to walk right down to the platform and hop onto the next train without waiting.

Course

The course is a point-to-point course that starts near the Smithsonian and heads west down Constitution Avenue past a number of monuments. Within the first few miles of the course, runners will see the Washington Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. The course then heads over the Potomac River and does a small loop around the entrance to Arlington Cemetery before heading back across the river and then northwest down Potomac Parkway. For the next few miles the course follows the river and then it branches off and follows Rock Creek for a couple more miles, passing by some nice wooded areas and a number of foreign embassies. It eventually heads through the Howard University campus and then down Capitol Street (you never actually run past the Capitol Building but there's about a 2 mile stretch where it's easily visible). The last few miles of the course go through a few residential areas and then head into Anacostia Park and finishes near the soccer fields.

As far as hills go, the first six miles of the course are relatively flat, but then right at mile 6 there's a massive hill that's only a half mile long but the incline is about an 8-10% grade. A lot of runners walk this part of the course. After that hill though, the majority of the second half of the course is downhill. There are a couple small hills between mile 7 and 8 and another one at mile 12 but none of them are as challenging as the one at mile 6, so other than the one big hill, I would say that overall the course is about medium difficulty.

Crowd Support
There's really not a lot of crowd support in this race. There's a pretty decent sized group of spectators at the start and finish lines and there are a few spots along the course with small groups of people cheering on the runners, but the lack of spectators is actually not a very big deal in this case. The course is laid out in a way that isn't always easy for spectators to find places to line up, but it allows runners to see a lot of the monuments and other historical and government sites that the city is known for.... which is why most people visit Washington, DC in the first place. So I wouldn't necessarily say that the lack of crowd support is a bad thing in this case.

Bling
If you've done any of the Rock n Roll Marathon series races, you'll be pretty familiar with what the medals look like. The one for Washington, DC is no different - it has highlights of various things that the city is known for (the White House, the Potomac River, the Washington Monument, cherry trees, etc...) along with the race name on both the medal and the neck band and the medal itself is nice and solid. Rock n Roll Marathon medals tend to change from year to year but I thought that this particular one was really nicely designed.

Overall
Overall, I really enjoyed this race. Like I said, I have plans to go back to DC and do the MCM at some point, but I really don't have any complaints about this race and I would definitely recommend it.