I am always impressed when a race company offers transfers. It takes minimal work on there end, but it allows people the freedom of backing out if they get injured or life gets in the way. It is also great for people like me who have a semi-last minute opportunity to be in the area race day. So, thank you Marine Corps and to the nice guy from Seattle who offered me his bib. I checked off a bucket list race. I am glad I did it once, but I don't know if I will be back.

Expo: If you enter the expo center in the wrong spot it is a LONNNGGGG walk to the expo. I don't really know where the right spot to enter is, but I know we had a great opportunity to stretch out our legs to pick up our bibs. However, once inside the expo things went quickly. I have heard rumors of long lines, but I guess mid morning Saturday is the time to go. MCM had plenty of volunteers to handle the amount of people there.

SWAG: First let me say this, I don't race for the shirt. I don't generally care about the shirt. Sometimes I keep them sometimes I don't. This shirt, however left an impression on me. Probably because I was stuck in the mock neck for about 10 minutes trying to get it on! Anything that makes you feel like you are about to suffocate will leave an impression on you. Second, and this goes for all races that have Michelob Ultra as a sponsor, can we all agree to use the term "Beer-like Beverage" when talking about it. It isn't actually a free beer. Other than that swag was average. I would LOVE to see MCM do a virtual bag and save the paper waste.

Race Start: I admit it, I am a show up at the very last minute kind of gal when it comes to races. Too much standing around leaves me stressful. But, I heard that this was a different kind of race (with 30,000 non-corral assigned runners of course it was). So about 6:30am I popped out of the metro station and headed to what I thought was the only entrance to the runner's village at the start line. Only problem, I never actually saw an entrance. What I did see was a mob of people and two police officers looking extremely overwhelmed. And, for the next 90 minutes that is all I saw. More people, more stress showing on the faces of the cops and no moving. None. Nobody knew what was going on, but everyone knew this is where we were supposed to be. We saw the planes fly over to the start, we saw the parachuters (kind of) and we stood. A little after 8 the crowd started to move. I am still not sure where the official entrance was, and who opened up the gates. But, it looked like a natural disaster had just taken place. Discarded clothes everywhere, overflowing garbage bins (zero recycle bins in sight), knocked over tables and fencing and one lone marine waving a medal detector wand around like he had an old GPS watch and he was trying to find service. I am still not sure what his plan would have been if the thing had gone off.

Luckily I had no time goal, and no stress about when I started. It was a fun run for me. But, I felt for the runners who lost their BQs and PRs before they even hit the start line. Needless to stay the start was anti-climatic for me. It was impossible to weave around the slower runners and avoid getting hit by the faster runners trying to zip by. 30,000 is a lot of people, especially when they aren't in any sort of pace order. And, at that point I let it all go. The fans and volunteers are amazing, the people that run this race are inspiring and the scenery is one of a kind. Plus somewhere around mile 24 there is a beer stop! When your race fails, always stop for beer.

The finish line area is a little chaotic, but I found everything I needed. Receiving your medal from a marine is a unique experience and a reason alone to sign up. The food all came in prepackaged containers which creates a lot of waste. Do people actually eat Dole Fruit Cups? Too much sugar and too much plastic waste for me.

I wouldn't rate this as a well organized race, rumor has it they also ran out of water at the finish (HOW?!?). I wouldn't encourage you to do this race for a PR, but I would suggest you do this race because you have two strong legs that can. And, because Marines are all really good looking men and women. All in all I am glad I did it, but I don't think I would go back.

I would ask that the MCM take responsibility for their mess up. They should have sent staff out with a bull horn to communicate or posted on twitter/facebook/website about what was going on. Standing for 90+ minutes with zero communication is just not acceptable in today's world of social media. They owe an apology to the thousands that had to revise race plans, and maybe even more than an apology to some. I was running for a bit with a wheel chair participant trying to weave through the crowds because he had been caught in the mess. When you mess up you fess up and you right your wrong. I still haven't seen that from the MCM.