While I've run several of DC Timing's races, and several at Waverly Park, this was my first time running Hotter Than July. Because we're still in COVID times, they offered in-person and virtual. If you did in-person (I did), you picked a wave. My husband, my friends, and I all picked the 9am wave.

I was a little irritated at first because they sent an email a few days before the race saying that all participants had to be there before the first wave at 7am. I understand why - parking is extremely limited at the park, and the start/finish was right by the parking lot. However, I wasn't planning to show up two hours before my wave, so I emailed back to tell them I couldn't. Apparently they received a lot of feedback about that, because the email that went out the day before the race simply asked folks to carpool (we did) and remind them to be careful and watch for runners.

Packet pickup was the day of the race, and we were expecting it to be hard to find someone since we didn't start until 9am. However, as soon as we walked up to the picnic table, two volunteers met us and got us set up. I started to get irritated again because the volunteer who helped me saw that I ordered a small shirt, and she thought she had given away the last small, but she found one. One of my friends also ordered a small, and the volunteer ended up giving her her shirt. I'm guessing this happened because people wanted to trade shirt sizes, but I would assume they would wait until everyone had picked up their packet before they let anyone trade. I definitely would've been upset if they hadn't had my size that I specifically requested.

We were about 20 minutes early, and they told us we could start whenever we wanted, so we headed out. The trail was well marked with arrows, which I definitely appreciated. I get lost easily! My friends and I did the 1/4 marathon and there was also a 1/2 marathon option that was just a second loop, so several folks passed us doing their second loop. We encountered one aid station that had water and some fruit in little cups. I normally don't stop at aid stations but I loved having a chunk of watermelon mid race!

We definitely took our time on the trail so I wasn't expected there to be much fanfare when we finished, but several people had hung around and they clapped and cheered for us when we finished. Women from our running group were volunteering and handed us our medals. The last few DC Timing races, the shirts have been lesser quality, so I was happy to see that these shirts were their famously soft tee-shirts that I've gotten used to.

Overall it was a good race and a fun time!