Marine Corp Half Marathon

This is it! Almost race day.

This is going to be the "first annual" MCHM. I'm thinking "these Marine Corps guys and gals, they should really have their act together. After all, they run the Marine Corp Marathon each fall which is four times bigger and twice as long as this little 5,000 runner event.

Nonetheless, this is the first time the race has been run. Lots of opportunity for things to go awry, like water stops, traffic patterns, parking, police, "the locals", etc. Fredericksburg is not a particularly big town.

Take packet pickup for example. The expo is only open the Saturday before the race from 10am to 8pm. The place is at the southern-most tip of the greater DC metropolitan area, not exactly convenient for most runners - for example, it takes 1:20 to get down there from my house. Gee it would have been nice to have an alternative day.

I am planning to be at the race site at least 30 minutes before the starting time. Being able to sit down, stretch, and meditate and chill and veg and relax and all those other words which mean "don't worry, be happy" really puts my mind in a good place for a race.

Ideally I'd like to be there 1 hour before, but I'm going to try and coordinate with Dave and Michael and meet them near there, then travel together in one car the last leg. They value that extra 30 minutes of sleep more than I do.

Wish me luck!