This is the first time that I have ever clicked the "no" button on whether I would recommend a race. First, the good things - for $50, you get a decent medal and a very good quality t-shirt, albeit one that is a little heavy for summer running. Second, I got to run a race for the first time with my brother and my first cousin. The logistics of the race are tough - if you have read my previous reviews, I am from Maryland and my brother and I drove in from New Jersey and parking is a nightmare - you would have to take public transportation, which is challenging for an early morning race in an outer borough. We got there at 5 something and parking was insane.

The race itself was meh for me. It is a double out and back so you know going in that there will be some monotony, but something was missing. The races that I run in Maryland and Virginia - there is a communal spirit - people are friendly and encourage each other on the course. Here, everyone had headphones on and a "don't bother me" mentality. There was a severely disabled person wearing a race number with a walker, walking one step at a time with a helper. Everyone should have been shouting encouragement as I did when they passed by, but I never heard a word from the other runners.

The race was a 2 1/2 mile out and back followed by a four plus mile out and back (the race actually measured 13.3 miles - a pet peeve when the distance is not right). It is on a path between the Belt Parkway and the water. At certain points, the water smells putrid and the race was light on scenery. Also, there is no shade, so when the sun comes out, there is no place to hide. The aid stations were kind of basic and not so well staffed and people just didn't seem to understand that you don't plant yourself right by the first possible spot at the table so nobody else can take a cup of water on the go.

My personal race was not the easiest - this is the first half that I ran when things were starting to heat up a bit and even though it was mid 60s, the sun was pretty intense. I managed to soldier the first 10 miles, running a little slower than usual. One thing to note that, at a certain point, the path is in pretty bad shape and you have to do some zig zagging to avoid really bad potholes. As usual, my splits for the last three miles were not pretty, but I was powered through knowing that I had never managed more than 10 miles when it was hotter than 65 degrees. Also because it was a double out and back, I was able to see my brother a few times on the course (he runs faster than me).

I finished the race in 2:19:11 - which would have been around a 2:17 if this was a true half marathon. I did have an unfortunate encounter at bag check - I had never checked a bag before and when I went to get my bag, I didn't realize that I had to wait for a volunteer to give it to me - call it being a slow dimwitted person from south of the Mason Dixon Line who had just run for over two hours. The volunteer made an extremely rude comment and made a gesture to my brother as if to ask "what is his problem?" - never had that happen to me at a race. Not sure if it is the company or the area, but just didn't get a good vibe. If you live in NYC, maybe this is a better race for you. If not, I wouldn't do this race.

I must say I was a little surprised at how many people ran a race that is an hour away from Baltimore and DC. This race was essentially taking a large scale city race and transporting it to a small town which had its plusses and minuses.

First off, I want to start with the absolute best thing about this race - the swag was top notch and on point. I absolutely love the Maryland flag fleece pullover, it is absolutely perfect. The medal is also the best medal I have gotten so far. The premium was given out after the race and pickup was very well organized. The post-race festival was also excellent (although I didn't really stay for it).

The logistics of this race were a little challenging. I heard that there were 5500 runners (not sure if that was just the half or for both the half and the 5k). That is a lot for a race in Frederick. It took a solid two miles to get any kind of running room and I burned a lot of energy weaving early on so I wouldn't get stuck behind someone slower. After two miles it got a little easier, but water stations were a little challenging too because I like to take my Gatorade on the run and it just wasn't possible with people stopped at the tables. While I love the sound of feet hitting the ground, the course was just too crowded at many points. I liked the course itself. Miles 1-4 go through Frederick, which is a quaint and wonderful place. The suburban areas are nice too and we ran through those as well - saw some really nice houses. The scenery dissipates around mile 10, when the course leaves town to make its way back to the fairgrounds. That is right around when it starts to get hard because miles 10-12 have some hills. Although the elevation chart reads pretty flat, it never really felt like flat ground, just enough climb or drop where it was hard to establish a rhythm. The best thing about the course is Frederick itself, plenty of people out there cheering on the runners which helps when you don't have your best game.

My race was hard. I had crushed my last half marathon and got off to a pretty good start this time. I was running my usual 9:35 - 9:45 splits for the first four miles, even with the crowded course. I was tracking a little behind my behind time but feeling pretty good. There was a light drizzle which felt pretty food from the ankles up, my feet were just soaked which sucked. Somewhere around mile 9, the wheels just came off. Nothing in particular happened, but my energy just drained all at once and my splits feel off a cliff. I went from running 9:45 miles to 11:30 miles and I lost a ton of time. I am just glad I kept running because every fiber of me just wanted to quit. I did have an issue with the course itself - my GPS measured it at 13.35 miles, my friend measured it at 13.31 - on a hard day when you want to be done, the extra time is difficult. I finished in 2:18:27, which would have been a 2:16 if the course was a true 13.1 miles. But the finish is really neat, finishing at the fairgrounds and running around the track with all of the people in the grandstand. Plus, there were downloadable race pictures which is appreciated.

I did have a problem getting out of the parking lot - they tell you to arrive early, but exit from the parking lot is very dicey. The earlier you are, the harder it is to get out. I had to pull a slick move to get out of the parking lot because if I didn't, it would have taken an hour. It's just difficult to get that amount of traffic in and out in any kind of timely manner - that's why they should probably cap the size of the race in the future. I will run this race again, maybe not next year, but I will be back.

I finished this race 3 days ago and I am still on a high. What an incredible race in every single facet! I live over two hours away, but when I saw about the Road Apple Award that they give out for finishing both this race and the Bird-in-hand Half, I just had to run. The Race Director starts sending motivational emails in January, which adds a nice touch and helps inspire training. This was my fourth half of the season, but I had this one circled on the calendar because of the hills and the difficulty and I ran on hills all winter just to get ready for this one. I confess to being nervous about this race since I had just gotten back from the Caribbean and had not had a long run in a while.

The race day experience was as smooth as smooth can be. Parking was easy and close. They gave out not one, but two t-shirts, which was very much appreciated. When the race t-shirt says "I Own the Hill" all you can do is buckle up and hope for the best. The actual race itself was difficult but really good. It took about a mile for the scenic stuff to start and sure enough, we were running down farm roads after about 10 minutes. The hills started around mile 2 1/2, the first one was a gradual, but lengthy climb. Cow methane was frequently smelled on the course. There was another decent climb at mile 4 which was just the appetizer for what was to climb. The tough part was that we went down "the hill" first, so we had a solid mile and half to ponder what was to come. The hill itself started with a gradual climb, followed by what was virtually climbing a wall - most people walked up, I can't stop to walk and start up again so I just kept the legs moving, albeit slowly. After the steep climb was more gradual climb. Miles 4-6 and 9-11 were through more residential areas and there were Amish on their front lawns cheering us on. There was more great scenery around mile 11, but there is another climb waiting around mile 12 which was into a wind tunnel - not appreciated at all.

The medals were great, creative and substantial. The post-race spread was phenominal and they let you use the showers there, which helps when you want to stay up in Dutch Country and don't want to tour the area in a haze of funk. Everything about this race evidences the fact that they want the runners to have a great experience. There were frequent hydration stops with Gatorade too which I like - the only problem was an overeager volunteer stepping right in front of me to distribute a cup and regrettably I snapped at him a bit. But a really great experience that I will definitely repeat at some point.

This was my fifth half of the year and my first time running Columbia. I had read the previous review so I was prepared for the hills, but I did not find them unbearable. All in all, I liked the race, the course was good, the organization was very good and I ran my best race ever.

The race was very easy to reach - there was ample parking in a garage right across the street and it was easy to go back to the car to put my t-shirt there. The race packets are on the minimal side and the t-shirt was not the most inspiring (although I suppose white is a smart choice, much smarter than black technical tees, which are the epitome of useless), but the organization of the race was very good. The weather was perfect running weather - sunny and not too hot. The race did start about 10 minutes late, I am presuming they had to shut the streets.

The course itself was decent, moderately challenging and through mostly residential areas. I didn't really notice the hills early - to me, they picked up around mile five and there were a bunch of medium size climbs between miles five and seven. A lot of the running is on the side of not closed off street so running room is at a premium at points, especially on the hills when two people are "running together" and are really walking, blocking the entire running lane - happened several times and was frustrating. Having said that, the hilly area was very pretty and was good running. The hills picked up again about mile 8 through about mile 10 before settling down with a last shot of hill during mile 12. Columbia in general is a great place to run and this run showcased Columbia well. The volunteers and police officers on the route were super encouraging which motivated me.

My personal race was beyond excellent - I'm not sure what the cause was (perhaps because I switched to Stinger chews) but I had so much more energy than usual. I ran the first mile in 9:30 and was afraid I was going too fast, but the great splits continued and I knew by about mile eight that I was headed for a huge PR. The mile markers were a bit off during the race - I hit the mile markers on my GPS almost .2 before the actual mile markers, but then between miles 11 and 12 everything caught up. I didn't hit the late race dread until about mile 12 (I usually hit it at mile 10), this was just one of those good days. Had I known I was so close to breaking 2:10, I would have sprinted to the finish. Even still, I finished in 2:10:26, over seven minutes faster than my old PR. I loved it that my name was announced as I crossed the finish line - it added a great touch.

The finisher medals are still to be distributed. The race director emailed the day before the race that there was a problem with the supplier and the medals may not be ready. He emailed yesterday that they will be mailed next week - the communication was good and it was beyond his control so I will definitely be running this race and St. Mary's next year. Really, the race director was excellent with communications and it shows that he knows what he is doing. I will make this race a staple on my schedule - it is close to me, very well organized, accesible and easy to navigate. I prefer it to the large scale races that get to be a production. Next up - Frederick in two weeks.

First, let's get the best thing about this race out there first, it only cost $30 and it had a t-shirt (cotton) and finisher medal (generic with some race insignia on it). The rest of it....I suppose when I finish a half marathon I should be happy and focus on that.

The race started at 9 AM and it was a brisk day with cold that went straight to the bones. The biggest source of my frustration was the disorganization at the start - I had asked many different volunteers at packet pickup where the starting line for the half marathon was and nobody could tell me. I finally found someone who could give me a general idea where the starting line was, but there was nothing set up. When I located the race director and asked him, he seemed annoyed that I would ask him that question. 15 minutes before the scheduled start there was a group of about a dozen runners walking up and down the street trying to find the starting line, if it wasn't so stressful, it would have been funny. The short of it was that the starting line was not set up yet because the roads were not closed. I was very thrown off and did not have time to stretch as much as I wanted or mentally prepare myself.

The race itself was so-so. The first couple of miles were through Hagerstown before spending several miles on the shoulder of a busy road with cones set up. This was followed by a run through a high school parking lot and more running on busy roads, this time with no road closures and no cones. There was a mile through a park around mile 6 which was nicer before the course proceeded through residential areas for a bit followed by more running on the side of a busy road. After the course went back through Hagerstown was where it got hard. Right by Hagerstown City Park, there were some very exuberant volunteers cheering and then I looked right and saw a very steep hill that I did not know was coming because I could only see the first six miles of the elevation profile online. One tip for the organizers would be to have some more running in Hagerstown City Park and less on the less scenic parts - the park itself looked nice even though it was on the hilly side. Miles 11.5 though the end had some tough hills after a largely flattish earlier segment.

As far as my race, it was great despite being out of sorts because of the starting line issue. I clocked 9:55 splits for the first four miles which is great for me. I was feeling good, even as it started to warm up and my compression shirt started to become perhaps a bit too toasty. I had my usual mile 10 regret, when running was not as fun anymore, but was woken up by the challenge of the last two miles of hills. My finish time was 2:17:42 which was my fastest time yet - can't really use the PR word for this because it is only my fourth half marathon.

Would I run this race again? Maybe, you can't beat getting a half in for that price, but I think Rock n Roll DC is the same weekend next year so I'm going to run that. Also, there aren't too many March races in the area. But the organization needs to improve and the volunteers should actually be able to help rather than say "I don't know" in response to every question.