When you think of the Cherry Blossom race in DC, most people think of the 10-miler, rightfully so. It does have the tagline "The Runner's Rite of Spring" on the website. I was lucky enough to get into the 10-miler through the lottery, but wasn't quite ready for the race after running the RnR DC Half a couple of weeks before and didn't want to risk injury, but I still wanted to run so I switched to the 5K distance.
I should say easily switched to the 5K distance with a click of a button on the Cherry Blossom website...the Friday before the race.
I decided to make a little weekend of it and spend the night in the city instead of making the 1+ hour drive in the morning of and trying to find parking. I hit the expo on Saturday afternoon, and while it was crowded I was in and out within 20 minutes (and that was with browsing around the expo after packet pickup).
I got up early on race day to meet up with my Coeur Sports teammates for a picture and to cheer them on as they took off on their 10-mile race.
The nice thing about the 5K starting much later than the 10-miler is that you get to see the winners of the 10-miler cross the finish line-which is something amazing to see (picture of the women's champ included in review). I hung around for that then made my way over to the 5K start line.
The one thing about the 5K is that since it's not necessarily competitive (and that's okay), the start line was a bit of a mess. Two corrals (from what I saw): 9 minute/mile and below and 9 minute/mile and above. I lined up in the appropriate corral, but many people did not. And that made for a very frustrating first mile. I blamed myself a little bit too though, for not having the confidence to line up toward the front.
Otherwise, the race was great. The course is a SUPER flat out-and back. Not really much to else to say about the course. It's also gorgeous because you get to see DC monuments and some of it is tree lined.
I didn't purchase the extra swag (tech tee/medal) so I can't speak for that, but I did receive a nice cotton t-shirt that I regularly wear as a pajamas top.
So, would I run this race again? YES! It's already on my 2018 schedule and I will be signing up as soon as it opens. Just need to remember to line up toward the front of the pack!

I loved everything about this race. This was the forth Rock n Roll brand race I have participated in and by far my favorite. Everything from the race communication to the expo (per my husband-I couldn't go to packet pickup due to work) to the actual race went smoothly.
I signed up for this race as a "confidence booster" before I started training for a half ironman, just to make sure I can run the 13.1 distance, so I went in without any expectations besides finishing. Check!
About the race:
1. I am the type of runner who reads every single race report I can find so I can learn about what race day may have in store for me. The one thing I was a bit nervous about was the hills. Well, I can tell you, it's not as hilly as I had read about. Yes, there is one giant hill around mile 5-6, but otherwise it's relatively flat. Maybe a couple of small hills here and there, but nothing significant or to be intimidated by.
2. Because it's a big race, I expected it to be crowded for a few miles into the start. The number of corrals and people (for the most part) lining up in the correct corral aided helping with that overcrowding. I think I was running around people for the first mile or so then it thinned out and I was able to stick with the 2:00 pacer for the duration of the race.
3. Weather. Oh DC weather, you can be so unpredictable. After a winter of spring-like weather (training runs in February in the 70s!!), the cold came back in time for race weekend. The RnR team sent out tips on running in the cold (like how to layer), which was great.
4. Back to the course. This half marathon course has fan support like no other I've been on. Streets were lined with spectators cheering, there were even some spectators through the quieter parts of the race like Rock Creek Parkway-which was gorgeous to run through.
5. Swag? Yes, a nice gender-specific tech t-shirt and a sweet medal (pictured).
So would I do this race again? 100% yes, when I decide to do a half marathon again.

Disclaimer #1: I received a complimentary entry from my employer Riverside Health System in exchange for signing up for this year's RRI 5K by the Bay.
I just ran the One City Marathon Relay on Sunday and I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it! There were several different relay options-2 person, 3 person and 4 person-all female, all male or mixed gender. The legs were 7.9 miles, 6.1 miles, 7.4 miles and 4.8 miles. I ran the 7.9 mile leg (the first leg), so this review is really only about that leg and the finish line area. My teammates did say they really enjoyed their parts of the course though.
The expo was at the Denbigh Community Center and was a decent size for a smaller race. Lots of booths from local vendors set up and packet pickup was quick. The relay runners recieved a black cotton t-shirt with the race logo on it.
Getting to the start line at the Newport News Park was really easy and there was plenty of parking. To ensure I was there before the road closures started my husband dropped me off around 6am. The air temperature was cool but not cold so waiting around outside for the race to start was no big deal. There were plenty of porta pots at the start line so there were no long waits to do your business if you had to. After warming up a bit, it was time to line up!
The race started promptly at 7am and took off in two waves. The first two miles were run through the Newport News Park driveway which provided nice scenery. Then the race headed out of the park toward the Denbigh area. Disclaimer #2: though I live in Newport News I wasn't really familiar with where I was running since it's not the best area to run in without road/intersection closures. There wasn't a ton of course support during the first leg because a lot of it took place along Warwick Blvd, which is primarily businesses. The crowd support picked up a little bit once we headed back through a residential neighborhood, but I will say personally during the first 8 miles is not where I need crowd support--it's the final miles/back half of the race is where I need it the most! There were slight hills, nothing too challenging. Before I knew it I was running into the exchange chute and passing off the timing chip to my teammate.
After my leg, I was directed to pickup my medal, water and a banana, as well as a hooded zip up paper/fabric jacket to keep warm while waiting on the shuttle the finish line.
The shuttle system was a bit of a mess...it took longer to get to the finish area than it did for me to run 8 miles! I think that's my one complaint about the relay race. Our shuttle driver was hilarious, which made for a fun ride down the finish line but she was given a route that had closed roads and ended up having to ask police officers at the different intersections how to get to the drop off (my teammates reported the same problem). Once we were dropped off I headed to the finish line celebration area and got my food.
Speaking of food, this race did something very interesting. You had a generic food ticket (you also received 2 beer tickets) so you could choose from different food trucks lined up-there was quite the variety-seafood, cupcakes etc. I chose the taco from STUFT, which was amazing and I probably could've eating 5 more :) After getting my food, I headed to the finish line to cheer on the marathon finishers and wait for my team so we could all cross together.
I would totally do the relay again!
Thank you OCM for being such a great first relay experience!

The Maui Oceanfront races included a marathon, a half marathon, a 15K, a 10K and a 5K---so basically a race for everyone!
There wasn't much of an expo, you just picked up your race # and t-shirt at a hotel.
The course was beautiful--mostly flat with some steady inclines and declines (nothing too steep), with mountains on one side and water on the other. The problem I found with the course was that for the half marathoners and the 10K runners it was an out and back-which is fine, but there wasn't really enough room on the side of the road for all of the runners (the course was open to traffic). There were a couple of water stops that offered both Gatorade and water and plenty of volunteers. It got hot and humid in a hurry, which was expected, but the breeze off of the water was nice to have. And seeing whales was the highlight of my race--a very common occurence in Maui in January! After crossing the finish line, you received a medal then walked over to the finisher area to get some water and snacks.

We stayed in Kula at the sweetest little AirBnB cottage, which was about 30-40 minutes away from Lahania, the start of the race. So early on race morning we woke up, quickly changed and ate some breakfast then headed to the race start to take advantage of free parking. Getting there so early, we went on the hunt for a cafe to get some good pre-race coffee. There was only one cafe open but the coffee wasn't so great, but the owners were very friendly. No biggie, just wish more businesses had opened for pre-race coffee!

My race:
Just as the sun was coming up we lined up at the start line. The half marathon and the 10K were both out and backs that started at the finish line in Lahaina. The half marathoners took off first then I'm pretty sure the 10K runners just took off at the same time, it didn't seem like there was any true start for the 10K--no big deal. We ran out of Lahaina and onto the main road. Coming up on mile 2, there were a group of runners flagging down a police car coming up behind us. There was a runner down, and CPR was being performed (a couple of days later the race director later let us know the man was a the local hospital and was doing well). Not exactly something you want to see-ever-it definitely shook me up a little bit.

The middle of the race was uneventful. I was running slower than usual-it was humid-and I was taking in all of the scenery, and you know, whale watching-no big deal ;)

Just after mile 5 my stomach gave me all sorts of trouble. I have never had to stop mid-race and use a portapot, but I finally had to. I don't think my stomach agreed with the milk in my coffee earlier in the morning. After, ahem, relieving myself, we continued running toward the finish line. My goal is always sub-60 minutes, but when that passed I went for a goal of sub 65 minutes. It was a close one but I finished (per Tyler's watch) in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 26 seconds. Officially, my race time was 1:06:24.

We got our medals (see picture), some snacks/water then headed to the car to leave--we had a plane to catch and were worried that traffic would be bad. Luckily, we sailed through traffic and had some time to stop at an overlook to do some whale watching--there were SO MANY WHALES!

Notes about my star ratings of this race:
1. I like a big expo-I like to walk around looking at different vendor's booths, learning about new products/races; the packet pickup folks weren't the friendliest (not mean, but just seemed like they'd rather be elsewhere)
2. Race management-holy email overload. I stopped counting how many times a week I would get an email from the race company-I actually started deleting them because there would be so many duplicates sent out. I only started saving/reading them the week before the race for packet pickup info/race day instructions. Otherwise the race was very nice, although as mentioned above, the course was a bit tight at times.

The Christmastown Dash 8K is an annual race that takes place through Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. Flat Out Events, a local race company, produces this race.

This is a race I’ve been wanting to do since I moved to the Hampton Roads area, it’s just that I would always forget about signing up for it until the registration fee was a bit too high and would just say “oh well, next year!” Well, throughout the year the health system sponsors several races in the area and actually offers a limited number of entries to their employees and this year, I finally got to do the Christmastown Dash! After donating $15 to the Riverside Foundation, I got a special code and registered.

Packet Pickup

There were actually a few packet pickup options in the area, making it easy for most everyone to conveniently pickup their bibs and shirts before race day (no race day packet pickup offered). There were two location/time options in Virginia Beach, one in Newport News on Friday and one in Williamsburg on Saturday. Packet pickup was a breeze-I was in and out within five minutes. Included in the race packet was: your race bib, a unisex long-sleeved tech shirt, a free one-day pass to Busch Gardens for spring 2016, a 50% off Christmastown admission coupon, a local holiday happenings magazine, a coupon for a grilled Chic-Fil-A sandwich, advertisements for upcoming races and a packet of instant cappuccino.

Race Day
You had to be inside the Busch Gardens parking lot by 8am and parking was free (which is great-there is a ton of it too!). We arrived around 730am and walked around the start area to warm up a bit, look at all the costumes and watch the kid’s run (a half mile run). There were plenty of porta-pots and a few booths set up to stop by to kill time.

By the time the start rolled around, I was ready to run! The 8K started at 830am. There were three different corrals so runners could line up according to their pace and they were supposed to take off in one minute intervals. I’m not sure what happened but it seemed like everyone just took off at once and boy was it crowded at first. The crowd did thin out between miles one and two and I settled into a comfortable pace. My one goal (pace-wise) was to run all of my miles sub-10 so I had to do some weaving at between runners and walkers at first but it wasn’t horrible.

The course was nice, though, the first part was so boring running through the parking lots. The real fun came once we entered the park where everything was decked out in Christmas decorations and holiday tunes were playing. I had never been to Busch Gardens before so I didn’t know what to expect, but it was hilly–but the scenery made for a good distraction. There were some bridges we had to cross that were slippery with what looked like rock salt, which seemed a bit dangerous to me, but there were volunteers out there reminding runners to be careful. One of the bridges was lined with smiling Marines giving high fives to all of the runners, which I thought was nice. Before I knew it, we were headed back out to the parking lot for last mile or so of the run, then ran downhill to the finish line.

I collected my cute little gingerbread medal (that is also an ornament), grabbed a banana, water and a bag of pretzels and headed back to the car.

A note on the elevation: it's not by any means difficult, however, if you are used to training on a flat/non hilly road/path, you will notice there are hills within Busch Gardens. Just an FYI.