Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)

The 2019 DC Rock n Roll was by far the worst marathon course I've experienced. The course went through ugly parts of town and not past any of the monuments or sights. The course was point to point, mostly uphill. There was zero crowd support. Poor swag. Cheesy medal. 33f at start and zero warming stations. On the upside, plenty of water tables. RnR races are becoming money grabs - not worth the entry fee - save it for Marine Corp.

This race was my first marathon, and was a good experience overall. The expo was held the Thursday/Friday before and was a phenomenal experience. It was held at the D.C. Armory and was organized incredibly well. There were a lot of diverse booths selling march, gu, watches, etc. and it was very well done. The first 14 miles of the race were really cool to have on the course! Started out by the White House, and ran alongside a lot of D.C. staple sights (Lincoln Memorial, JFK Center, Watergate) before heading toward Rock Creek park. From there, runners start to run through the neighborhoods of D.C., which really gave me a cool perspective on the city I hadn't previously seen. The race itself was definitely geared more toward the half-marathon, as miles 15-23 of this race are pretty brutal. This section of the race was mostly run on the highway, essentially doing an out and back towards Maryland/National Harbor. Some more course support would have definitely been helpful here. On the back half of the out-and-back, there were some pretty gnarly hills between miles 21-24 that were a real gut check. I can't say enough about Rock and Roll's onsite medical staff. I was having some problems with my IT bands around Mile 24, and they wrapped my knees up quickly and carefully to get me back onto the course. They were super responsive and did a great job. The finisher area was great! There was a ton of support by the finish line, and they had a lot of great amenities at the finisher area, including a marathon recovery zone. Also, the gear they were selling at the merch tents were great. All in all, this was a positive experience running this race with a lot of great aspects, but I feel it could be improved with a bit more attention to the course by RNR. They should try to incorporate more of the staple D.C. sights like the Jefferson Memorial or some of the places along the Army 10 Miler course. Also, if you're running this race, train for hills! It was unexpectedly hilly, especially in the last hour of the race. Overall, this race was fun, but not without its flaws.

Overall, I am very disappointed with the race organization. It starts with a minimal to almost no swag packet pickup. They made everyone go thru several flight of stairs just to grab the race bib and then walk back up to the expo. This was probably the only marathon (of my 30+ big races) where there was zero swag. The full and half marathons had staggered start times and followed separate courses. I guess this kept the course to be less crowded and it would have been nicer if the half marathoners joined later in the course to provide a sense of motivation for the full marathoners. There were some steep hills around mile 23 and several of the marathoners were having hard time pushing thru at the end. The gels provided on the course were disgusting to say the least. I never tasted a gel that was that horrible and had to spit out right away with the disgusting taste. They had 'food' at mile 24 which was unripe green bananas... Seriously! At the finish line, there was so much confusion and no one to really usher finishers thru the runners village. It was windy and cold and I really wanted a mylar blanket and it took 10mins of asking around and finally sighting it at a distance. There was no food or any kind of indication of what was provided and it felt like for ever to sight a small food truck with Pizza that only provided a quarter slice of pizza. I was also planning on getting a massage but no one seemed to have a clue. All in all, this was my first Rock n Roll and will surely be my last one. I was expecting a great show put up by this organization and was shocked at how poorly they organized... TOO much HYPE...