Fallen Soldiers Memorial 5K, 10K & Half Marathon
Potomac, MD
- Half Marathon, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Come enjoy a scenic 5k, 10K or half marathon that will run alongside the Potomac River and check out the waterfalls post race. Race registration does not include the park entrance fee. Walkers and strollers are welcome to attend this event. Fallen Soldiers Memorial 5K, 10K & Half Marathon runners … MORE
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Bambi Made an Appearance
This is a race produced by Bishop's Events that I've done before 2 years ago. That review has more details. Bishop's Events puts on low key, low frills races pretty … MORE
This is a race produced by Bishop’s Events that I’ve done before 2 years ago. That review has more details. Bishop’s Events puts on low key, low frills races pretty much every weekend in the DC area so their races are a convenient way to get MD, VA or DC. This year they had a fun challenge of having a different race in each location each day this weekend with a special challenge medal for participants who ran all 3 races. I really wanted to do the Buffalo half one more time before I move out of Western NY so I only did this one. My initial weekend plan was to do a half near Buffalo on both Saturday & Sunday but my Saturday race got cancelled and I wanted to do another half instead. I chose this one since it is on Monday and meant I could also do the Buffalo 5K. I also love this course. It is on a gorgeous part of the C&O towpath. These are pretty cheap races so production is adequate but not at the level of a big, expensive race. One negative is there was no pre-race email. The website was very updated and answered everything I needed but I was worried I wasn’t registered as I hadn’t heard any updates on the race. Luckily I was. It has race day packet pick-up. This morning was a bit a rainy which I didn’t mind and preferred to hot & humid which is a potential for late May in Maryland. One change Bishop’s Events has made is they now have time limits for their long races. I have heard you can request an early start if you ask a few days in advance if you think you will be over the time limit. The time limit for the half was 3:15. I knew I could make it and did not want to get up early since my plans had me arrive in MD pretty late Sunday night. But as a result of the time limit I had to take Buffalo a little easy to make sure I wasn’t too exhausted the next day. The race is an out and back on the towpath. It is gorgeous. You’ll want to see this scenery twice. There are 4 aid stations with 3 you pass twice so 7 total. The first and third had water and gatorade the second and fourth just water. No nutrition but I brought some extra stuff I picked up at the Buffalo expo. Very easy to follow and very flat but not perfectly flat. It’s trail but not technical. Only difficult is a few rocks and today some puddles. I did the same run walk intervals as Buffalo and had the exact same pace. I always see wildlife here. Tons of great blue herons. I was very excited that neat the end of the race I saw a deer on the side of the course. As I had banked enough time to not worry about the time limits I decided to get some pics and I saw she was with the cutest, sweetest little baby deer. I was one of the last finishers as I expected since I knew I would just be a bit under the time limit. I was happy to be a minute faster than yesterday and keep a slow but steady pace for 2 back to back half marathons. There was one runner behind me. The RD and race staff were on top of the runner count and cheered him on and gave a medal. He was under 3:15 so I am not sure how strict they are on time limits since everyone made it. The medals are okay. Same with race shirts. They are adequate but this is not a race to do for swag. This is also a small race so you’ll be by yourself a lot and there aren’t a ton of spectators. I do think this is a beautiful course and if you like smaller races and don’t care too much about swag I’d recommend this race or another race put on by Bishop’s that uses this course in MD.
So Much Wildlife!!
I initially signed up for this race as more of a checkbox race to get a half done in Maryland on a date when it was really the only half … MORE
I initially signed up for this race as more of a checkbox race to get a half done in Maryland on a date when it was really the only half marathon in driving distance. I didn’t have huge expectations. Basically just that it would be a 13.1 mile race (which apparently is too much to ask for sometimes) but this race surprised me and I actually really enjoyed it. This is also put on by Bishop’s Events. Bishop’s Events puts on cheap, low key, no frills races throughout the DC area. This race takes place on the C&O trail in Great Falls Park on the border between Maryland and Virginia on the Maryland side. Just an FYI they say the park requires for you to pay for parking but if you arrive early no one is there and you don’t have to pay. Bib pickup is morning of and is easy. The shirt was a nice purple color and had the logo of the charity which for this race was the Wounded Warriors in Action Foundation which was appropriate for Veterans day. I feel like Bishop’s upped their shirt game this weekend. Both shirts were nicer than the ones I got in March. Not amazing shirts but solid tech shirts that fit that I will wear. They also gave participants the name of a soldier who died in combat to honor their race with which was a nice memorial day touch. This was one of the larger Bishop’s Events with about 100 participants in the half. There were a good number of people from my half marathon clubs since it was one of the only halfs today which made it more fun than some smaller races. Half marathoners went off in 4 waves based on bib number with waves going off every couple minutes. I was in the last wave. The start went pretty smooth. I was expecting the course to be a boring but pleasant canal trail path but it was absolutely beautiful and amazing. It is on non-technical trail. No trail experience necessary but watch out for rocks. I was in such awe of the surroundings by the falls I may have tripped over a rock and bloodied my lower right leg. Very shallow cuts but scratched up a large area of my leg. Looked worse than it was. Along with beautiful views of the falls there were so many wild animals. Animal sightings is probably my #1 criteria for how much I like a course. I saw several deer, great blue herons, turtles, some ducklings, and lots of butterflies and song birds on the course. And of course I stopped to take pictures. When I put my headphones down I could hearing chirping birds and croaking frogs. It was so nice and pleasant. And also the weather was perfect! Also the half marathon turnaround point was where it was supposed to be to my relief. The course is quite easy with just gradual inclines and declines and only about 300 feet of elevation gain. I marked it 2 sneaker difficulty just to remind you to look out for the rocks! While the course was unexpectedly amazing, the rest of the aspects of the race were just okay. Again this is a cheap, local race that raises money for charity so okay is fine for a race like this. While there were no major production issues, this race is definitely lacking some production elements seen in larger races and this was more evident for a longer race like a half marathon than for the 5K and 10Ks I’ve done with Bishop’s. There were 3 aid stations you passed twice. The first and third had water and gatorade and second had just water. They had cups placed that were filled and also jugs you could get water from which works well. This race though was missing medical which I could have used to help cover my bloody leg. The volunteer at the first aid station was really nice and gave me some napkins to help clean it up but could have used bandages. I had to wait until I finished the race to clean up my leg properly but I did find a use for my Wine Country Shirt as I need a cloth item from my car to clean the dirt and dried blood from my leg. I also would have liked to see porta-potties and some kind of gel or chew on course. But again the basic production aspects were all there and the race was the correct distance and the timing was accurate. Another issue which isn’t really the race’s fault is since this was an open course and a beautiful day the last mile and a half were full of non-race participants and some had very poor trail etiquette so there was a lot of weaving around people but I did make up a fraction of the missing mile from Saturday with the extra weaving. At the finish line you get your medal. These races do not have the best medals. This one was at least a little larger and nicer than some of the other Bishop’s medals I have but one of my worst half marathon medals. It does have the date and race name/distance on the back. There is also some jugs of water and gatorade and usually a box of snacks but the snacks were very picked over today. There was just goldfish crackers which are okay. I thought my finishing time was very good for someone who ran 2 other races this weekend including an almost half marathon 2 days ago, injured themselves in the first half a mile of the race and took like a million pictures of wildlife. I actually ran about the entire course. I think I only walked for about 1 minute which is the least I’ve walked in a half marathon. Overall this isn’t the best produced or most exciting race but the course was gorgeous and the registration very cheap and you got exactly what you paid for. This was about half the price of the disastrous Virginia Wine Country half I did on Saturday and overall a much more positive experience and much more bang for your buck. I think even if the Virginia Wine Country Race was the correct distance, this still would have been a better race and was definitely more scenic. This isn’t the race to do for Maryland if you want a large, high energy race with great swag but if you want a convenient, cheap, no frills race that showcases a beautiful part of the state this turned out to actually be a pretty solid option and not just a checkbox race. I would definitely consider doing this race again or another Bishop’s event on this course.