Latest reviews by Tom

(2014)
"Tougher than it looks but a lot of fun!"
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The Rock n Roll Virginia Beach Mile on the Sand is part of the Rock n Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon weekend. I'll write a separate review for the half marathon. I wanted to specifically write about the Mile on the Sand race that was held the morning before though since it technically is it's own separate race.

The Mile on the Sand was the most recent installation of Competitor Group's Remix Challenge where runners do a shorter race on Saturday, followed by a longer race on Sunday and get three race medals (one for each race, and a third Heavy Medal for doing both). Typically the Saturday race is a 5K (the first one was in Chicago in July), but with this being Virginia Beach, the race organizers decided to put together a 1 mile run on the actual beach itself instead.

The race was held at 8am on Saturday morning and runners had the option to either go to the fitness expo on Friday to pick up their race numbers or just pick them up the morning of the race. I got in early enough that I was able to pick mine up on Friday, but things were really well organized at the start line and I don't think that anyone who did opt for race day packet pickup would have had any difficulties with it.

The race started early enough that it wasn't too warm outside yet and the beach also wasn't very crowded (it remained open to the public throughout the race). The start line was organized into corrals, but there were no official corral assignments. There were pacers holding up signs with the number of minutes they were planning on completing the mile in and it was up to the runners to group themselves based on how fast they thought they'd be able to finish. For the smaller number of runners who signed up and the fact that most people had to make adjustments to their pace to be able to run on the beach, this worked out fine.

As far as the race itself goes, besides not being very long, the course was really straightforward - the start and finish lines were in the same place and runners basically went a half mile out, turned around and ran a half mile back. Sounds simple, right? Yeah I would agree that a single mile out and back definitely doesn't sound like much.... until you actually try to run that mile on loosely packed sand. Yes, this was a very short race (in fact, it was the shortest race I've ever received a medal for doing), but that one mile was also the toughest mile that I've ever run and I think that most of the other 2000 or so runners who signed up for it would agree with me.

The thing about running on the sand is that your feet sink into it and you never feel like you're getting any traction while you're running even though you're exerting exponentially more effort than you would if you were running on solid ground. Not to mention that your shoes start to fill with sand, making your feet feel awkward when you step down. There were some runners who did the race barefoot. I'm not sure if this helped or not but if I do it again, I might have to give that a shot. I've done my share of mud runs and trail runs and I've also run on snow and ice when I've gone out for runs during the winter and none of those things compared to this. By the first quarter mile, I started to notice some other runners starting to walk to catch their breaths. Keep in mind that most, if not all, of these people were also signed up to run the half marathon the following day, so they were in good shape - good enough to run more than a quarter mile without having to slow down or stop.

Most of the runners seemed to find their legs by the second half though, and I also noticed that lifting my knees up higher while I kicked seemed to propel me a little further. For as tough as the run was, in the end, I finished with a fairly respectable time of just over 11 minutes, and I almost felt like I had run a 5K instead of just a mile. I loved every minute of it though!

After the race, medals were handed out and there was a post race concert on the beach that was organized just as well as most Competitor Group events. Besides the finisher's medals, runners also got special Mile on the Sand beach towels (along with the extra heavy medal if they did the half marathon the next day). Nice swag for a one mile race!

This was definitely a different experience from any of the other races I've done. I really enjoyed it though and I thought it was a perfect choice given the location. This was the inaugural Mile on the Sand and I'm hoping that the race organizers will want to do it again next year. I'd also like to see other races like this in some other locations where a unique local twist can be added. Kudos to the race organizers for putting together such a cool event!

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(2014)
"Almost didn't sign up this year.... I was glad I did!"
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2014 was my third year in a row doing the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon.... which made this the first time I've done the same race more than twice. And to be honest, during the last few weeks leading up to the race, I found myself wondering why I even signed up for it in the first place. I'm always up for a race, but what I really like to do is travel and go running in places that I've never been to before.... and not only that, but the first two times I did this race were miserable experiences:

2012 was my own fault - The Chicago Blackhawks Convention is the same weekend as the race every year and that particular year, I decided to do both since the convention is held at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue, which is walking distance from the start and finish lines, and since hockey is my second sports passion after running... This would have been perfect except for the fact that I spent the entire day before the race walking around the Hilton checking out hockey memorabilia and hydrating myself with copious amounts of beer, so I was really in no shape to run a half marathon the next day.... the extreme heat and humidity didn't help, but in the end I knew that I really didn't have anyone to blame for my horrible finishing time but myself so I decided to give the race another shot the next year.

In 2013, I was a lot more prepared for the race, but it was so hot and humid outside on race day that I don't think anyone who ran it had a particularly enjoyable experience. The middle of July in Chicago is usually brutally hot and humid and the race starts at 6:30am so that most of the runners can finish before the temperatures get too high... This particular year, the early start time wasn't much of a help since it was already 78 degrees outside when the race started and quickly warmed up to the mid 90's without a single cloud to be seen anywhere. By the time I got to mile 8, I was sweating so much that the sweat had run down my legs and soaked through my shoes and socks to the point where my feet would make a squish noise whenever they hit the ground. When I finally hobbled across the finish line an hour or so later, I was completely worn out and dehydrated, probably with a touch of heat stroke from the sun beating down on me, and I told myself that I would never do this race again....

I really, genuinely planned on not signing up for it this year too - a couple friends signed up and asked me if I was doing it..... I said "nope".... a couple more friends signed up and asked if I was doing it..... I was starting to get a little more interested by this point but I still said "nope".... and I kept ignoring all of the email reminders to sign up and the ads that I saw in running magazines, etc.... until I got the email that contained a picture of the finisher's medal. I took one look and decided that this was easily one of the top 5 coolest looking race medals I had ever seen and knew right then and there that I had to have one.... so forget the heat, the humidity, the harsh sun, the squishy shoes.... nothing was going to stop me from getting a medal in this race....

A few weeks before the race I got another email that said that Competitor Group had added another 5K to the schedule for the weekend. They already have one on Sunday at the same time as the half marathon but now there was one on Saturday and you could get an extra medal if you did both. So I figured that if I was going to do a race in Chicago in the middle of July, I might as well go all out and I signed up for the 5K too....

The 5K on Saturday turned out to be a lot of fun - it wasn't too crowded and it started in Monroe Harbor and went up along the lakefront path, then headed west at the museum campus and did a little loop through the south side of Grant Park before heading back North up the lakefront path and finishing back at Monroe Harbor. The only downside to this course is that the race organizers aren't allowed to block off the lakefront path to the public during the race, so there are other runners, walkers, bikers, etc. on the trail at the same time and people doing the race have to work their way around them. This isn't specific to this particular race though - I've done other 5Ks on the lakefront path that are the same way and really, I can see the city's point of view on this - the path is supposed to be for everyone, and if race organizers were allowed to close it down, then it wouldn't take long before there would be some kind of race or other event shutting down the trail every weekend and nobody else would ever get to use it. I heard a few runners complaining about this but it really didn't bother me much and the views made it totally worth it anyway. The Mackinac Island Boat race is the same weekend, so not only were the views of Lake Michigan absolutely beautiful, but there were even more sailboats out on the water than usual.

I also got to take a picture with Shalane Flanagan before the race... and there was even a post race party in Grant Park that was a little smaller than the one after the half marathon the next day but still bigger than the party at any other 5K I've ever done, which made the whole experience nothing short of excellent.

I was fully expecting to have to endure brutally hot temperatures and air so thick that it felt like I was running through a bowl of soup during the half marathon..... but amazingly, it wasn't that bad at all.... The weather on race weekend was extremely mild for the middle of July. It was still humid, but the temperatures were easily 20 degrees cooler than they had been during the two previous years and there was a ton of cloud cover for almost the entire race. Both races were the most pleasant running experiences I've had at that time of year in Chicago in almost as long as I remember.

The course itself was a little bit different from previous years - I think they had to change it because of some construction that's being done on the Van Buren Street Bridge this year, but to be honest, I wouldn't mind if they left it that way for future races. Instead of circling around the edges of the loop like it did in the past (and like a lot of other races in downtown Chicago do), it kinda zig-zagged up and down some of the streets within the city. It was a nice change of scenery. There was some pretty good crowd support in the usual places, especially right after mile 6 when the course turns onto Michigan Avenue.

Even in the past years when the heat was bad, I've still always enjoyed this course. Besides running through downtown Chicago for the first 6 miles, the last three miles head north alongside Lake Michigan where there are beautiful views of the skyline (not to mention that the cool breeze coming off of the lake tends to help with the heat) and then through McCormick Place and finally underneath Lake Shore Drive and up Columbus towards the finish line which is right next to Grant Park.... and right after Roosevelt Road, the crowds on either side of Columbus are nice and thick and all the cheering helps to give the runners a nice little boost for the last quarter mile or so....

There's only one thing I would change about the course, which is miles 7 and 8 - runners head south on Michigan Avenue away from downtown.... and there's a fairly long stretch where there aren't any crowds and there really isn't anything interesting to look at besides some beat up old buildings.... The drummers on the bridge right before the mile 8 marker are pretty cool but other than that, this two mile stretch is pretty challenging. That being said though, I don't want it to sound like I'm complaining too much because I really don't have any ideas for how to make it any better - besides a couple small hills here and there, the course is nice and flat and it offers runners an opportunity to run both through downtown Chicago and up along Lake Michigan.... and since you have a way to get everyone from one of those places to the other, there's bound to be a mile or two here and there that just aren't as exciting as the rest - every race has them.

Everything else about the race was great - there was plenty of water and Gatorade at all the water tables along the course, there was a table at mile 11 where people were handing out wet sponges, which always feel amazing by that point, and they even made an improvement over last year in the big tunnel near McCormick place by adding some neon lights. The post race concert festivities were good too - I got to meet up with some friends and listen to some good music.... and I also got an extra medal for doing both the 5K and the Half Marathon.... and did I mention how much I like the half marathon finisher's medal?

So in the end.... for a race that I had spent months swearing that I would never sign up for again, this actually turned out to be a great experience.... and I've already added it to my list of races that I want to do again next year....

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(2014)
"Wind, Rain, Mud, and a Moose"
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For the last several years I've been working on a goal of finishing a half marathon in all 50 states and a full marathon on every continent. In April I passed the halfway point for states with a race in Oklahoma City and decided that I wanted to find a place that I had never been to before to kick off the second half, so the timing of Mayor's Midnight Sun Half Marathon in Anchorage Alaska couldn't have been better. A friend of mine who I had done a few races with in the past was interested in doing this one as well, so we made our travel arrangements and put together a plan to meet up in Anchorage a couple days before the race so that we'd also have time to check out some of the local attractions and scenery in the area. The race is held on a Saturday morning during the Summer Solstice festival every year in Anchorage, so in addition to 24 hours of straight daylight, there's always a lot going on both downtown and in the surrounding areas during rest of the weekend.

When I arrived in Anchorage, the weather was perfect - sunny, but with enough clouds to keep the sun from being unbearable and temperatures in the low 50s early and warming up to the high 60s later in the day. I went for a walk on the day before the race to loosen up my leg muscles and the conditions seemed so mild that I couldn't help but think to myself that the race was going to be a cakewalk.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Later that evening, storm clouds started to roll in over the mountains to the south of downtown Anchorage and by 11:30 pm, there was a line of severe thunderstorms moving through the area. The thunder and lightning didn't last very long, but the rain continued all night and well into the next morning. By the time the race started, my feet were already soaked from standing in wet grass at Delaney Park near the start line. The temperatures had also dropped significantly from the previous day as well. I’m not sure what the exact temperature was but to say it was in the low 40’s would be generous. A bunch of runners took shelter under an unoccupied tent in the park and we could all see each others’ breath when we talked to each other. Everyone was cold and wet right up until the gun went off to start the race.

The first mile wasn't much of a help because the beginning of the course is pretty much straight downhill, which is usually not a bad way to start a race but in this case, all the rain water had been streaming down the hill and forming large puddles at the bottom which were next to impossible to avoid. By the time I reached the first mile marker, any remaining spots on my shoes that hadn't already been soaked before the race started were taken care of. By the third mile, the course started to go uphill fairly rapidly, which was challenging, but didn't compare to mile 6, where not only was I running uphill at about a 7% grade for pretty much the entire mile, but the raindrops had gotten bigger and there were massive headwinds blowing the rain right at the runners which such force that after a while it started to feel like my face was being pelted repeatedly with handfuls of small pebbles instead of rain drops.

The seventh mile was where things got even crazier. The course turned off of the paved roads that it had been following and onto a dirt trail that wound through a forest. On one hand, this was nice because the dense trees blocked the wind, but on the other hand, after soaking up rain water for the previous 10 hours, the dirt trails had turned to slippery mud and with all the steep hills that countless runners ended up sliding down on their backsides, the race began to feel more like a Tough Mudder than a half marathon. There were several points along this part of the course where people had to walk to keep from slipping and the pace had slowed to such a crawl that I think most of the other runners around me had pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that no PRs were going to be set on this particular day.

Just before the eighth mile marker, I did something that I will most likely never do during a race again: I stopped running to take a picture of a moose that was standing alongside the course watching the runners. A big crowd of people had gathered to take pictures until a runner who lived in the area and was familiar with the various physical cues given off by the local wildlife mentioned that everyone needed to be extremely careful since moose are not very friendly animals and that based on the way this one (which was a female) was standing, she looked to be extremely agitated and most likely had some babies close by that she was protecting. At that point, having finished taking my picture and not wanting to get stomped by an angry moose, I decided that it was probably best to move on.

The rest of the course was actually fairly easy and uneventful. Most of the final five miles were downhill and while there were a few windy spots, the wind wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been a couple miles earlier and the rain even started to let up. Not only that, but this particular part of the run was right next to the Cook Inlet coastline where we were treated to some breathtaking views of the Anchorage skyline and the surrounding mountains. I was even able to make up some of the time I lost in the first half of the race over the last few miles. The final mile was mostly uphill but at the top of the last (and steepest) hill was the finish line. I definitely felt like I earned my race medal in this race and the I can’t remember the last time a beer tasted as refreshing as the one I got after I crossed the finish line.

Now, if you've made it this far (and I’d like to thank you if you did), reading the last few paragraphs may have given you the impression that the combination of cold temperatures, hills, wind, rain, mud, and an encounter with an angry moose made this race an unenjoyable experience.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I loved every minute of this race and would even rank it in the top two or three that I've ever done. Here’s why: a while back I started to notice that when I think about the races I've done, the ones that really stand out in my mind also happen to be the ones that were the most physically challenging. I've done plenty of races with nice flat, easy courses and mild weather but other than maybe getting a PR here and there, I don’t really remember much else about the courses. The most challenging courses are the ones that show me what my body is capable of and remind me that as long as I stay focused and keep moving forward, I can eventually accomplish anything I set my mind to. Tough courses also remind me that it’s best to face challenges head on, no matter how daunting they may seem and they help to remind me of importance of being flexible and willing to make the necessary adjustments when conditions change. The most challenging races are also what I look back on when new challenges arise and I need to rely on my previous experiences to determine the best way to handle them.

With my current schedule and list of upcoming races, I’m not sure when I’ll have a chance to do Mayor’s Half Marathon again, but whenever the opportunity presents itself, I will definitely jump at the chance.

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(2014)
"Fast Cars, Storms, and a Run to Remember"
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A few years back, I spent a couple weeks just outside of Oklahoma City for a business trip and at one point when we had some extra time, some co-workers and I went to see the Oklahoma City Memorial. Whether you do this race or not, if you're ever in Oklahoma City, make sure you take the time to stop at the memorial. It's beautiful and touching and the museum has a lot of great information about the victims and their families as well as the events leading up to and after the bombing.

While we were there, I found out that there's a marathon held every year to remember the victims and whose proceeds go towards maintaining memorial. Since I hadn't done a race in Oklahoma yet, I knew right away that this was going to be the one I wanted to do. It wasn't until this past April that I finally got a chance to sign up and do it, but I had been looking forward to it for quite a while.....

For reasons that aren't necessarily important here, instead of flying directly into Oklahoma City, I flew into Dallas a couple days earlier, and needed a rental car so I could drive to Oklahoma. Throughout my years of traveling for work, races, and just for a general love of checking out different places that I've never been to before, I've picked up a few pretty good travel tips.... one of which I'll share here, which is the fact that you can haggle with rental car agents.... and here's the best way to do it: when you're planning your trip, go online and book the cheapest possible car that's offered at whatever airport you're flying into - $15 per day economy car that looks like a go-cart? Perfect! Next, when you get to the rental car agency, they'll give you the option to upgrade and give you a whole speech about how driving conditions in the area really warrant a bigger car (no matter where you are, there's always some reason why a bigger car is more suitable). At this point you should take them up on the upgrade offer, but in exchange, make them throw in free gas.... or free insurance... or make them knock some money off of the price of the upgrade.... if you're a good enough negotiator and you happen to get an agent who can't do calculations in their head quickly enough, you might be able to get more than one of those things or maybe even all three. On this particular trip, I was able to talk the agent into letting me rent a brand new black Camaro for four days with free gas and insurance for a grand total of $81 (read on and you'll see where this comes in handy later).

The drive from Dallas to OKC takes about 3 1/2 hours and the scenery consists mostly of open farmland and cows. You have to be careful not to fall asleep on this drive - luckily the rental car also had satellite radio.

Race weekend is a pretty big deal in Oklahoma City - since the race is associated with the memorial, a lot of the bombing victims' families and friends come out and so do local police officers and firemen and other public servants. Some participate in the race and some line up alongside the course to cheer the runners on. Besides the fitness expo and race, there's also a big art fair in the middle of the city and the crowds were actually a lot bigger than I was expecting. The weather was beautiful too - a little on the warm side in the afternoon but it looked like the next morning would be nice and mild for the race....

It seems like every time I think the weather is going to work out in my favor for a race, it does the exact opposite and this one was no exception. The race was scheduled to start at 6:30am, so I got up at about 5am, put on my running gear, hopped on the shuttle bus and headed towards the start line.... that's when the lightning started. As soon as I got off the bus, I was already hearing murmurings from other runners about the starting time of the race being delayed because of the weather. By 6:00, the race announcers were telling everyone to leave their corrals and seek shelter in the nearby parking garages. By 6:15, anyone who didn't take cover in a parking garage (me) was being pelted with rain and by 6:30, the rain had turned to hail. Every time it seemed like the weather was starting to clear up, the sky would get dark again and the wind would kick back up....

Finally, just before 8:30, almost two hours after the scheduled start time for the race, the race announcers told the runners that it was safe to return to the start corrals. Apparently if the race was delayed any longer, it would have had to be canceled because the roads around the city could only be shut down for so long....

Weather aside, this race was a lot of fun. It starts and finishes at the memorial and the course goes past the Oklahoma City Capitol Building and a few other points of interest around the city and I felt a great sense of pride while running it too because at various points along the course I was running next to some of the first responders from the bombing and I also saw some of the people who were actually there when it happened being cheered on by their friends while they ran and I knew that by doing the race I was supporting a great cause. There's one huge hill around mile 6 but the rest of the course isn't too bad as far as elevation is concerned. The hardest part about the race was that after the weather finally cleared up, the clouds went away too and it got really sunny, really hot, and really humid (this is why the start time is usually so early - even in April, it can get pretty hot in OKC).

My only real concern with the delayed start time was that I had a 5pm flight out of Dallas that I had to catch. I was lucky I scheduled the flight as late as I did - my original plan was to hang out at the memorial for a while and then have lunch and take my time heading back to the airport.... but by the time I finished the race, got on the shuttle bus, made it back to the hotel, showered, checked out, and got on the highway, I had 4 hours before my flight and a 3 1/2 hour drive back to the airport....

This is where having a sports car came in handy..... not only was it a Camaro, but it was also a rental car with full coverage insurance that I didn't have to pay for. The nice thing about heading Southbound on I-35 through Oklahoma is that the highway is pretty much wide open..... So after I got a decent distance away from the city, I turned up the stereo, hopped on the gas, and decided to see just how fast this car would go (I got up to about 120mph before finally deciding to ease off a little). I eventually made it to the airport just in the nick of time and it turned out that my flight was delayed anyway....

In the end, it was a great weekend. The weather wasn't ideal on race day but the race itself was great and I got a good story to write about. I definitely won't complain about that....

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(2014)
"Great Race in Nation's Capital"
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Rock n Roll DC is by no means the biggest or most popular race in Washington, DC. That honor would go to the Marine Corps Marathon, which is a race that's on a lot of runners' bucket lists, including mine. I still have plans to go back to DC and do the MCM at some point, but the Rock n Roll Half happened to fit into my schedule a little bit better and truthfully I wasn't disappointed by it. This is a fun race that gives runners the ability to see a lot of the museums, monuments and government buildings that they grew up reading about in their history books, and being a history geek, I was pretty much in heaven throughout the entire trip.

Getting There / Where to Stay

For obvious reasons, there are a ton of flights in and out of Washington, DC from pretty much every major city around the world. There are three major airports in or around the city, all of which have a constant stream of incoming and outgoing flights, so even if you don't live close enough to drive, you'll still have plenty of options.

I rented a car for my trip to DC, but I ended up wishing that I hadn't. There are a number of public transportation options, and parking in downtown Washington, DC is ridiculously expensive (assuming you can find parking at all). My rental car didn't leave the hotel parking garage from the time I got there until the last day because I found that the subway was a faster and cheaper option to get me anywhere I needed to go around the city (including the race expo, start line, and finish line) and for the one or two times when I wanted to go eat at an out of the way restaurant that wasn't easily accessible by public transportation, there were plenty of cabs available.

Hotels in downtown Washington, DC are pretty pricey. They're definitely closer to most of the attractions, but like I mentioned earlier, the subways are so convenient that as long as you stay at a hotel that's close to any of the subway lines, you shouldn't have any problem getting around the city. I stayed at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Pentagon City, saved several hundred dollars on my hotel room over the course of my stay vs a room in downtown DC, and it never took me more than 20 minutes or so to get downtown whenever I wanted to.

Race Expo and Organization

This is a Rock n Roll Marathon race so the expo is pretty standard... but in 2014, it was a lot smaller than most of the other Rock n Roll Marathon Expos I've been to. The process of picking up a race number was still the same (sign a waiver, stand in line based on your race number, get your bib, t-shirt, and goodie bag and then head out through the merchandise area) but there were only a few rows of vendors which isn't a lot. I know that as of 2015 the expo location has been moved from its old location at the DC Armory to the Walter E Washington Convention Center, which is a bigger venue so the expo may be bigger and have more vendors in future years.

The overall organization of the race was pretty good too. Both the half and full marathon courses start near the Smithsonian with a nice view of the Washington Monument from the start line. The start line is organized into a number of corrals and there's plenty of snacks, water, and porta-potties available. Gear check is pretty easy to get to at both the start and finish lines as well.

The start line, finish line, and race expo are all easy to get to by subway. Since the course is point-to-point, if you do want to drive, you'll have to either park at the finish line and take the subway to the start line or park at the start line and take the subway back after the race (so one way or another, you're most likely going have to take the subway, which is why it's easier to just find a hotel that has easy access and take the subway directly from your hotel instead of driving).

I have one suggestion for after the race: the finish line is at Anacostia Park, and right outside of the park, there's a subway station where you can get on the orange line, which is the train that most of the runners will be taking to head back towards downtown. Unless you happen to be an elite runner, chances are that by the time you finish the race, the line to get into this station will be very long as a number of runners will be trying to leave at the same time. If you walk about two blocks Northeast on Minnesota Avenue, there's another entrance for the same subway line that's virtually empty where you'll be able to walk right down to the platform and hop onto the next train without waiting.

Course

The course is a point-to-point course that starts near the Smithsonian and heads west down Constitution Avenue past a number of monuments. Within the first few miles of the course, runners will see the Washington Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. The course then heads over the Potomac River and does a small loop around the entrance to Arlington Cemetery before heading back across the river and then northwest down Potomac Parkway. For the next few miles the course follows the river and then it branches off and follows Rock Creek for a couple more miles, passing by some nice wooded areas and a number of foreign embassies. It eventually heads through the Howard University campus and then down Capitol Street (you never actually run past the Capitol Building but there's about a 2 mile stretch where it's easily visible). The last few miles of the course go through a few residential areas and then head into Anacostia Park and finishes near the soccer fields.

As far as hills go, the first six miles of the course are relatively flat, but then right at mile 6 there's a massive hill that's only a half mile long but the incline is about an 8-10% grade. A lot of runners walk this part of the course. After that hill though, the majority of the second half of the course is downhill. There are a couple small hills between mile 7 and 8 and another one at mile 12 but none of them are as challenging as the one at mile 6, so other than the one big hill, I would say that overall the course is about medium difficulty.

Crowd Support
There's really not a lot of crowd support in this race. There's a pretty decent sized group of spectators at the start and finish lines and there are a few spots along the course with small groups of people cheering on the runners, but the lack of spectators is actually not a very big deal in this case. The course is laid out in a way that isn't always easy for spectators to find places to line up, but it allows runners to see a lot of the monuments and other historical and government sites that the city is known for.... which is why most people visit Washington, DC in the first place. So I wouldn't necessarily say that the lack of crowd support is a bad thing in this case.

Bling
If you've done any of the Rock n Roll Marathon series races, you'll be pretty familiar with what the medals look like. The one for Washington, DC is no different - it has highlights of various things that the city is known for (the White House, the Potomac River, the Washington Monument, cherry trees, etc...) along with the race name on both the medal and the neck band and the medal itself is nice and solid. Rock n Roll Marathon medals tend to change from year to year but I thought that this particular one was really nicely designed.

Overall
Overall, I really enjoyed this race. Like I said, I have plans to go back to DC and do the MCM at some point, but I really don't have any complaints about this race and I would definitely recommend it.

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