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☰
Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon) Runner Comments
Back to Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon) Information & Reviews
Course 3.9 
Organization 3.5 
Spectators 3.4
Number of comments: 286 [displaying comments 231 to 241]
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Peirce M. from Baltimore
(3/26/2007)
"Great scenery; great course aid" (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was a beautiful course. Very scenic with the tourist sites, as well as the riverfront and the neighborhoods. Easy parking at the start. The best part was the number of water and Gatorade stations - and there were around 4 GU stations! What a help. Mile 19 - Calvert Climb - was brutal. Gives the race an identity, but that hill was tough. Loved the beer at the end, though I didn't feel like drinking. An okay number of spectators. A lot even knew who Mark Grace is! Great volunteers. Good job, organizers. | |
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E. M. from Washington, DC
(3/26/2007)
"Good course; bad organization" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Yeah, the course was tough with the Calvert Climb at mile 20, but every course has or needs a challenge. I loved running through the city. No race day instructions for the runners, small expo, no indicators for pace groups at the start, NO MUSIC anywhere, and less food than at most 10K's at the end. Seemed kind of rinky-dink for a race put on by a for-profit company. The shirt and the medals both have the sponsor's name much larger than the race name and no graphics of the city on either... so if I wore the shirt (which I won't) I'm sure everyone would ask what the heck Wirefly is. This is not exactly why I ran the race. But everything went well. Lots of GU! I loved that part of it. Water stops were all very well populated and plenty of fluid. Weather held out this year. I guess all in all it will get better with each year - this being the 2nd annual. But some basics were not done well. | |
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N. T. from Virginia
(3/25/2007)
"Bright future for this race!" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Right up front I want to say that I liked this race. I really liked this race a lot. It may be because it was a well-run event, or it may be because I felt good for every mile of the course. Either way, I think this race has a bright future. I recommend it highly and I'll definitely be back another year to run it again. Positives: Challenging course without being a killer. Huge decline by the capitol at mile 2; rolling hills from miles 8 through 12 (I only ran the half) - but all runnable, nothing too brutal. Excellent course layout through interesting neighborhoods and through the Mall. Several occasions to see front-runners on other side of road. Fantastic road closures - well-monitored. Plenty of room to run after the first mile. Frequent, well-stocked aid stations, including gel at Mile 9 of the half. Lots of parking close to the start. Ample bathrooms (and shelter from rain!) at start. Nice medals and finish area. One of few races requiring qualifying times - runners mostly knowledgeable. Fun atmosphere. Support from the DC Mayor (who ran it) is a big plus! Free beer! Negatives: Ugly, white, see-through t-shirt, although technical fabric. Few exhibitors at expo. Somewhat disorganized, corral-free, seeding-free start. Some aid stations were light on volunteers. Unpredictable weather at this time of year. Minimal food selection at finish area (bagels and bananas), although ample. Leading marathoners had to run through half-marathoners at the finish - could have been prevented with better coning in last mile. Half-marathon course is probably long. Proprietary timing chips with ankle straps. Few spectators; relatively little support from local residents. Incorrect timing data on the website after the race, and no email contact provided for corrections. Overall, though, a promising race. | |
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B. V. from Slidell, LA
(3/25/2007)
"Challenging but scenic course" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I am a flat-lander, so the hills were very challenging, especially late in the race. But who could ask for a more beautiful place to run than our nation's capital?!?! Pros: The race organization was great. It was very easy to get to the race on the metro or by auto. The course was very scenic and traveled through all parts of the city. There were no really boring points but there were MANY interesting sights. The hills presented a formidable but fair challenge to one's running ability. (See the elevation chart on the website). The volunteers, though not great in numbers, were very enthusiastic. The police were also enthusiastic and some actually cheered the runners (never saw that before at any of my 10 marathons). There were an ample number of porto-johns at the start/finish Cons: There is in need of a few more porto-johns along the course. I hope the expo will grow (it was VERY small). I would definitely recommend this marathon to anyone looking for a good mid-sized event. But be forewarned. Train for hills. | |
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C. B. from Upstate NY
(3/25/2007)
"A Great Course to View DC" (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I was really looking forward to this marathon as a great opportunity to view the capitol. I was not disappointed in that regard. The only disappointing things were the lack of porta-johns (first one was not until mile 7.5 with a long line) and specators (there were not many places for spectators). However, the spectators that were there were excellent! Great people to brace the rain! Also, something unexpected: having a guy come up to me begging for money! Oh well! I would run this again. It made a big jump in from the 1st to the 2nd race, from what I understand. Kudos to the organizers, as I cannot imagine what a difficult thing it is to organize something like this in the middle of DC. | |
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D. E. from NY, NY
(3/25/2007)
"As spectacular as the District itself." (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Year #2, 2007. Keith Dowling and the DC Sports Alliance, you all ROCK!!! What a difference a year makes. You all did it. Wow!!! And the Mayor of DC running too. That is support. Where else can you see all of DC in 4 hours, or so? This is a great race. | |
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C. K. from Texas
(3/24/2007)
"Very disappointed in the route/course" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Everything about the half marathon has the makings of becoming a great race - however, marking the course exactly is critical and I was downright crushed to find out the last mile of the half was off by 1/4 of a mile when I traveled from Texas to run this course for a potential PR. What a total letdown.... I am still waiting to hear from the race director to find out how this possibly could have happened. | |
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Greg M. from NY, NY
(3/24/2007)
"Great little marathon in DC" (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Normally my girlfriend and I would have done the Marine Corps Marathon, but my girlfriend and I do the NYC Marathon each fall, so we decided to do this as a spring DC marathon, and we had a great time. You can sense the organizers are trying hard being that this was the second year. The course was nice, and while there weren't many spectactors, they were really great in spirit. The cherry on the cake, though, was at the end when we needed to get a cab to get back to our hotel; the head of the Greater Washington Sports Alliance insisted on driving us there himself - now that's Southern hospitality. :) | |
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Douglas Harpel from Arlington, VA
(3/24/2007)
"Great job! National Marathon is here to stay." (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 National Marathon race organizers took note of their inaugural year glitches and can be proud of their 2007 event. A better start/finish, amenities and improved course route (all in D.C.) made for a much better race - with about twice as many entrants as 2006. The steep "Calvert Climb" in beautiful Rock Creek Park, while advertised, was nonetheless most unwelcome between miles 19-20. Any way to work out this hill would be much appreciated. This said, the final few miles are generally downhill, which is nice. The medal and T-shirt feature the new sponsor a bit too prominently, but that's the price of having a sponsor for a race that deserves to continue. I'll be back next year! | |
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J. O. from Burke, VA
(3/24/2007)
"It was a long day." (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Well the day started very early. That happens with a 7 a.m. race start and us runners understand that, but the problem was that the website didn't explain well how to get to the event due to the road closers. Now other marathons in DC rectify this issue by encouraging their runner to use the metro; at the National Marathon, unless you live in DC or got a hotel room, the metro trip would have made you late for the start. Besides the website issues and silly logistical issues, the organizers also had a problem with the finishing results. I can forgive a lot, but after putting in the work to get (what I think was) a good time and you don't even get to see it except on your watch. It is just heart-breaking. Overall the course was a fun - and the people on the course worked hard, and I thank them - but the organization leaves a lot to be desired. I do not recommend this race. |
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