I ran the half, and it began drizzling around 6 a.m. and continued to do so throughout the morning. This was my first half and I thought the rain would suck. LOL! It didn't! It was in the high 50s when I started (around 6:30), but it was very humid that day. The light rain kept runners from getting overheated as the temperature rose. The race was well-organized, despite the permit problems with NPS. Packet pick-up was easy, the classes were informative, and the carb-loading dinner was good. The course was REALLY nice and, despite what a previous poster wrote, the hills were MINIMAL (though doing them twice, as the full marathoners did) would have been a bit daunting)! All in all, I really enjoyed the race. It was a REALLY good one for a first-timer. I hope I can do it again next year! :)

This race traditionally has bad weather. Last year's race was cold and extremely windy. This year's race featured a very heavy downpour of rain, which was constant. Granted, no one can control the weather, but if you are taking your hard-earned marathon training to a race, you might want to pick one that gives you a better shot at decent weather.

The real problem this year was the "open start," which permitted runners to start whenever they wanted to, within a 90-minute window from 5:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. I'm guessing that the race was forced into this to comply with its permit from the National Park Service (the race is on federal land) and thus have a lower impact on the trail and its "regular" users.

What makes this an "AVOID" is that this race was already small. Staggering the runners over a 90-minute start period virtually guaranteed that you'll be running all by yourself with absolutely no other runner in sight.

I guess if you like lonely, solitary training runs, then this would be the marathon for you. Add the somewhat difficult course (hills, sharp turns, etc.) and you are certainly not going to run a PR on this course or, if you did, you could have done five minutes faster somewhere else.

Bottom line: this marathon is best suited for a certain runner - a loner who: (1) does not need to see other runners; (2) does not need any spectator support; (3) is willing to take a substantial risk on horrible weather; and (4) excels on a difficult course. If that's you, then this race is well-organized and a perfect match. If not, look elsewhere.

I've only run in large races (Marine Corps, Chicago), so this was a very different experience. The out-and-back-and-out-and-back course was kind of nice - you knew what was coming up next! The race director and support staff were fantastic - very informative and organized. The downside is that the course is lonely - although I managed to catch up with a runner from Kansas City and chatted with him for several miles, which helped me through those tough mid-miles. There were a few long slopes, which made the course a bit of a challenge, but the scenery did make up for it. Overall, a great experience!

Despite personally crashing, I have great praise for this event especially RD Jay. His emails were plentiful, informative, and motivating and the organization was quite solid. Packet pick-up, parking, aid stations, getting results, etc. weren't additional challenges. (OK, there were long lines for bathrooms!) As always, God bless all the volunteers! Yes, the course IS a bit tedious with the double back-and-forth and the inclines do add up, but... the size of the field and the course design make it possible for family/friends to *personally* cheer you on at multiple places. That's worth a million! And, locals can conveniently train on the actual course. There was a little bit of congestion at the first turn-around with all the half-marathoners (and, en route, with some of the Early Bird-ers and non-competitors), but I never felt impeded like you can in the mega races. If you don't mind 'missing out' on bumping elbows with a few thousand of your fellow marathoners, this might be a great race to try.

'The marathon can humble you.'
~ Bill Rodgers

This was first Potomac River Run Marathon and wow it was awesome! I love the smaller race crowd and how the race organization was very personable. This marathon was my slowest, yet it was the most scenic and friendliest of all. I have another marathon in 3 weeks, so slow was fine with me.

I think my time slowed a bit more than usual as I at the scenic beauty. I was truly pleased with everything that this marathon offered. Even though the host hotel was not prepared for the pasta horde, the race director had extra pizza to share with everyone.

I met two runners (Chet & Mark) in the morning while waiting for the shuttle and saw them throughout the course. Great job you guys!

Thank you to all the volunteers and race staff for one of the best marathon running experiences.

This is a lovely, low stress (as much as one can apply that term to long distance running) race with friendly folks, beautiful views, and just enough challenging hills to make it interesting. The course is a multi-use bike trail which runs along the Potomac River from Alexandria to just before Mt. Vernon. I did the half which does this course out and back; the full marathon does the out and back twice which I would think to be very challenging mentally. Race morning dawned sunny and cold. The headwinds really picked up during the 'back' portion of my run. By the time I finished, there were white caps on the Potomac and I was very glad I wasn't doing the full marathon. In fact several events scheduled for that same day in the D.C./Maryland area including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Walk were cancelled due to the high winds. The race only has about 600 total participants and fills up early, so plan ahead. The race director Jay Wind was very helpful and accessible. What other race do you know where the race director will actually post his personal number on the website and then answer his cell phone during warmups to give some poor lost runner directions to the start!? (Yes, this actually happened.) Parking is convenient to the site- no logistically nightmares here. Good course support along the way - no spectators except for the volunteer crews, but they were plentiful and encouraging. Only a couple of things I would mark the race down on - very few mile markers on the course - I have a GPS which will give me my distance, but for those without, there aren't too many clues. Also not too many portapotties, but since the number of runners was low, the lines were short. Shirt and medal were average. Overall, this was a good race experience which I would look forward to doing again.

I've done 5 Marine Corps and I thought the 14th street bridge was murder until now. This Potomac marathon takes the cake with all the little hills and frigid cold. The random non-racers coming up behind me were aggravating since I thought they were competitive runners. The constant little hills just beat the heck out of me. All in all it was a brutal marathon and a great challenge which is why we do this in the first place.

This was my first marathon and I loved it. Beautiful scenery and everyone was so friendly and cheering everyone on. I would recommend it to anyone.

This is a very beautiful course that parallels the river. There are not many flat parts, and the hills (not huge) will wear you down. The double out-and-back is VERY mentally difficult. The only spectators are at the finish. The finisher medal is on the crappy side. This marathon was fairly well organized, but I would not run it again. It felt like I woke up, and decided to run 26.2 miles by myself.

I thought this was a great event for a first-time marathon runner. I liked the fact that there were not thousands of people running it. Although the event wasn't huge, I certainly didn't feel like I was running alone.

I thought the course struck a good balance as far as hills are concerned. It certainly wasn't flat, but the hills weren't too steep; however, if your training for this includes NO hills, I think you will notice the difference that even a slight hill can make.

Each break station had water and a Gatorade-type drink and I thought there were plenty of them. There were not "throngs" of people cheering; however, as a first-time runner I wasn't really looking for that. There were some people here and there that were very friendly and cheered as I ran by.

Jay Jacob Wind is the race director and he was very friendly and helpful. I contacted him several months before the race and he was always very prompt with responses to my questions.

The course includes many shady sections and a couple times you are running right along the water. You go into the woods a couple times but you are always on a paved path. There are a couple of wooden bridges which were a nice change from the asphalt. I didn't think the views were amazing, but it was a pleasant course overall. If I lived nearby I would probably choose that location as my jogging route.

I ran this race with five of my best friends and I really can't emphasize enough what a great time we had. The race was small enough that we saw each other as we made the various turns and the park was a nice place for us to hang out after. I think this race is a great alternative to a "monster sized" marathon like Boston or New York. It kind of had a small-town feel to it, which I really liked (this was largely thanks to the interest Jay Wind clearly has in making this race a success). Despite the small-town feel the race was well organized. The race instructions were very clear about where to meet and where to park. The only improvement item for the next year would be the mile markers. I found out after that there were mile markers; however, I don't remember hearing about them before the race started and I was a little confused as to which numbers were for our race. It wasn't a huge deal because the course is broken into four 6.4-mile sections (you run over the same ground four times). I liked this set-up because it allowed me to mentally attack each "section." It also made the mile marker issue not that big of a deal. I think this is something that is easily fixable and I imagine Jay will have this ironed out next year.

One of my friends did the race in a wheelchair. I will warn any wheelchair runners that the wooden bridges make this a much tougher race for those in a wheelchair. There were two people in wheelchairs running the race. Both of them finished, but they both commented that the bridges were a challenge (there are little gaps between the wooden boards which aren't an issue if you are running over them, but they are a challenge for wheelchair tires).

I ran the course in three hours and 32 minutes. Since it was my first marathon, I have no idea how that will stack up to my future times. Overall I really enjoyed this event and I would definitely run it again.