Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

May 3, 2024

Washington's Birthday Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Washington's Birthday Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 3.6

Organization 3.8

Spectators 2.2

Number of comments: 56 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 > ]

p. w. from Virginia, USA (4/6/2011) "A great race" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 2 Washington's Birthday Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Rolling farmland hills, a leeward and windward side to the race, and Hot, Hard Times chili at the end. Watch out for that last hill - it will get you. An outstanding technical shirt. They ran out of medals this year - I'm only a little bummed because they let people like me just show up on race day and register and run, and a lot of people do, so they're never sure how many people will actually run.
R. C. from Reston, VA (3/8/2009) "Good winter marathon for the hardcore runner" (about: 2009) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 I ran this in 2009 as a training run for an ultra-marathon later in the spring. The small crowd of runners, informal atmosphere and challenging course are probably turn-offs for fans of the mega-marathon, but this is exactly the kind of early season training race a hardcore runner will want. Between the hills and the chills (February in DC can be chilly!), it's a tough event for tough runners.
August Sander from Greensburg, PA (2/22/2009) "I had fun" (about: 2009) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I ignored all of the comments that told me not to run, because it was my first marathon. But it really wasn't that bad. I had a bad first marathon, but I am not going to blame it on the course. I live in a hilly area, so the hills were not that bad at all (not even the one at 25). There were not many spectators there, but the ones that were could not have been more supportive. I probably will do this marathon again.
J. B. from Virginia (2/21/2009) "great volunteers, poor organization" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 A friend has done this marathon in previous years and has raved about the cheap price, the nice tech shirts, and the chili after. The price went up, the shirts are huge and all the chili, the peanut butter and bananas were gone when I finished. This starts late so you run through lunch; as a result, you are starving at the end. Don't bother with this one.
F. L. from NC (2/21/2009) "One to miss... but it could be much better!" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 If you are planning your 2010 marathon schedule, this is one to miss! Okay... if I had had a great run, maybe my view would be different. As it was, it wasn't one of my better days. Started out too fast and the course just didn't fit me very well. A few good things though: 1) I met some neat people. Three folks I ran with blew me away. One lady, Caroline Williamson, had run a trail 50K the DAY before!!! Two others ladies (Tammy and Tammy!!) had run the Rocky Raccoon 50-miler the weekend before! I felt totally inadequate running with these three ladies!! 2) Nice shirt. It wasn't cotton, but it was nice looking. 3) The race had an early start (9:30 a.m.) for us slow runners, and the real race started at 10:30. Better for volunteers and for us turtles. 5) One man... one boombox... out cheering by himself in 40 degree temps for all three laps! He rocks!! It always amazes me how someone cheering and shouting encouragement help! He was amazing! But the race negatives were major to me. 1) First, the course was not closed to traffic so we had to run on the left and the roads and the last two were very crowned. Not good... lots of stress on your left ankle and hip. My hip is fine, but my left ankle is killing me! Pain started at about mile 17 or so! Several times I considered quitting! I've never done that before! 2) The course was weird. You run about 2-3 miles to get to the loop, run three loops in a triangle (one leg was pretty, the other two... not so much!). The one leg was really nice - wooded, farmland, etc. on a very lightly traveled road - but the second leg had more traffic and way less to look at. The third leg was just BAD! Lots of traffic and no views. 3) The medal was not dated!! Just a sticker on the back with the date! I've got to admit, I really like getting a medal for either a marathon or ultra. I'm not much on giving medals for lessor distances except for kids. 4) Mixed feeling about the marathon relay. Added confusion but I do like to see ways of getting more people out there! At least the folks at the relay exchange point cheered some!!! Relay runners had different color sashes depending on the event they entered. Guess that make the race management easier, but I would have liked a different color sash for each leg - yellow for the first lap, green for the second lap runner and red for the last lap runner. 5) Everything was confusing! It was hard to find the race hotel, the check-in process seemed unplanned, race day packet pickup was the same, as was where to meet for the early start. There was pretty much nothing at the finish line. I believe with just a little more pre-planning all this could be fixed. Overall, a good race to miss unless they make some significant changes... especially with the course itself. Seems to me like perhaps they could make this a combo road run using the first leg on the road and a trail section looping back through the Goddard Space property. I know permissions might be hard to work out, but something needs to be done.
M. L. from DC (2/18/2009) "Race poorly run by elitists" (about: 2009) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 The course is very hilly and we ran into a headwind. The final mile or two are uphill. They shut the course down very early; it was impossible to get a hold of the race director, and when we found him, he was unsympathetic. It was clear that they ran the race for sub-10-minute milers, and if you were going to run slower, you didn't belong there, regardless of the supposed 6-hour time limit. There was zero crowd support, and no gels or anything. Skip it and find a quality event. There are plenty of inexpensive but higher quality races out there.
n. m. from washington, d.c. (2/18/2009) "Poorly organized, especially for relay runners" (about: 2009) 2 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 I ran this as part of a three-man team. The course is beautiful, but hilly, cold and windy. Run it if you are totally OK running alone, which I am. But watch out if you are on a relay team. Our third runner was set to go at 2:00 p.m. (yes we are slow), but was turned back by three course marshals and told the course was closed. This was at mile 17. The website says that the course is open until 4:30, so she definitely would have finished within the time limit. The worst part was the attitude of the race director and others associated. They told us we were given the wrong information by the race marshals (cold comfort at that point, as our race was over), that the course didn't in fact close at 2, and in any case, even if it had closed, they wouldn't stop someone from running (they would just not support that person any longer). Too bad they had such bad communication. I still have no idea why we were told the course was closed and I don't think the RD will ever bother finding out.
J. F. from York, PA USA (2/17/2009) "Quality Marathon - Not For First-Timers" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my fourth marathon in the past five months. Quality run for an excellent price. Three loops of moderate hills. Finish is a long, reasonable uphill onto an paved walking trail. The final mile could be improved by keeping it on the road rather than on a bumpy walking path. Great support team!
P. B. from Newark, Delaware (2/17/2009) "Tough Marathon!" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 What a great start to the year - though this marathon is a tough one. It was my 23rd marathon and the toughest one I've done to date. Great low price with a technical shirt. Maybe next year, though, they'll offer a small shirt!! (The medium shirt is huge.) We lucked out with great weather temperature-wise. I could have done without the strong headwinds, as I found the hills enough of a challenge.
J. J. from Washington, DC (2/16/2009) "Hilly but rewarding" (about: 2009) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Washington's Birthday Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Overall, a low-frill/low-key marathon with good organization and limited spectators. I wouldn't recommend this for your first marathon, as others have mentioned. Definitely bring GU for the last loop. The 25th mile has a nice, long hill, so if you haven't been training for hills then you might want to start or choose an easier marathon.

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 > ]

Quick Links

Marathon Search
Upcoming US Marathons
Upcoming International Marathons
Search Marathon Results
Latest Running News
Recent Newsletters
Race Director Tools

Become an Advertiser

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Become an Advertiser

© 2000-2024, All Rights Reserved by MarathonGuide.com LLC

Privacy Policy Refund Policy Terms of Use