Hubby and I had to get up early the morning of the Marine Corps 17.75K race, before sunrise, before the hot breakfast was available at our hotel. The U.S. Marines are master event planners; when they tell you to be at a shuttle location before 6:00 a.m., you get to a shuttle location before 6:00 a.m.

3,300 runners registered to run this race. Registration opens on February 20 at noon for the March 23 race and sells out in a matter of hours. It may seem surprising that thousands of runners wait by their computers to sign up to race this unusual distance, run entirely in Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia, but (1.) the race is sponsored by the Marine Corps and (2.) finishing the race in under three hours gives you guaranteed access to register for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. (You can read about my registration saga here.) Typically, you must take your chances in a lottery in order to run this very popular marathon.

At exactly 7:00:00, as the sun was just peeking over the horizon, the starting horn sounded and we were off.

After running for a very short time on a highway, we quickly transitioned to a narrow dirt and gravel park road. The road, rutted and full of potholes that had filled up with rain from the previous day, gave the race almost a trail race-like feel for the first four miles, which I liked. The gravel road had some pretty good rolling hills, some of them steep, but none very long.

To read the full race report, please go here:
https://meditationsinmotion.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/marine-corps-17-75k-race-report/