A friend asked me to do this race because she wanted to run the Marine Corps marathon, and all finishers of the 17.75k can skip the lottery. I am always up for a trip, so we got our acts together and registered right when the race opened up. Apparently it sells out, so we were lucky to get in the group of 3000 runners.

We flew to Dulles and barely made through Friday afternoon traffic to packet pickup, but it was fun to go on the Quantico base. i have no experience with the military, so this was a first. Everything was super organized, of course. I missed my calling!

Race morning was easy because we stayed in a hotel across the street from the closest shuttle stop. So, we walked over and right onto the bus, and arrived at the start in about 5 minutes. Sadly it took 45 mins to get through the portapotty line, but what else would we do?

The race started right on time, of course... and we headed off. After a short jaunt on the road, you head into Prince William Forest. The first few miles are rolling dirt roads, then there is a paved loop (with bigger rollers) and then back on the dirt road. The scenery was quite lovely and other than the challenging uphills it was a good race for me. I did waste about 4 mins at a porta potty stop, but we (others in line) all agreed it was not an A race and what the heck. If I was really doing what I should, I wouldn't have drank so much that morning.

After the race we got in a very organized line for snacks, etc, and received what I assume is the same coverup they give at the marathon. Instead of a foil blanket it's the top half of a Hazmat suit. Pretty clever!

This whole thing gave me SO MUCH respect and admiration of the Marine Corps. We did visit the museum the next day, which was really interesting and impressive. We also visited a nearby winery, so it was a good day ;)

I'd recommend this event to anyone!

It's the Marines! They have their stuff together.