This was my 8th time doing this race because I love it. Such great energy, love the soldier support, and a lot of inspiring wounded warriors are on the course. Easy to get to because they open the Metro early for it. The course is gorgeous because you run through downtown D.C. and start and end at the Pentagon. Plus there are para-troopers dropping out of the sky while you wait to start - how do you top that?!

This is another one of my favorites in D.C. It runs through downtown D.C., past the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery, and ends at the inspiring Iwo Jima memorial. The course ends the same place the full marathon ends so you get to feel all the same excitement and spirit. Plus it's motivating to see the wounded warriors and others racing on hand-bikes and all the Marines along the course are super supportive.

The race is very well organized and I love the UPS trucks they use to take your bags from the start to the finish line so everything is nice and convenient. Their end of race goodies booths are the BEST. Dunkin Donuts, free food, ice cream, free swag -- and it's conveniently along the route you walk to hop on the metro and head home.

The only thing I don't like is both years I've done it, they ran out of smaller shirts so I end up with this AWESOME cool-weather running shirt that is 2-3 sizes too big for me :\

I ran the first race they did in 2014 and I wasn't sure what to expect. A lot of my friends wouldn't run it because they were scared of the height/length of the bridge but honestly I think it's more scary to drive across the bridge than run across it. I was afraid the elevation would be brutal but I ended up possibly having a PR because it felt fairly flat after the initial ramp up onto the bridge, then you feel like you are flying as you descend back down off the bridge on the other side.

Since I live in D.C., it's a bit of a logistical nightmare to do this one because you drive to one point, walk to the start, then have to take a shuttle bus back to your car after, but it wasn't terrible. And the buses ran pretty often.

The view is great and like I said, I felt like I was flying so all in all it was fun. They give you a medal that is also a puzzle piece so I'm not sure how that will work if you skip a year, but it's still cool.