This is a race put on by Bishop's Events. Bishop's Events puts on races most weekends throughout the DC area in various parks in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland. Their … MORE
This is a race put on by Bishop’s Events. Bishop’s Events puts on races most weekends throughout the DC area in various parks in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland. Their races are cheap, low key, on the smaller side and in parks so no traffic control or strict course time limits necessary so they are the perfect events to hold safely during the pandemic. I knew Bishop’s Events were holding just about all their races and I was curious how they are done and had no options closer to home so thought I would check out a couple of their races this weekend. This race is in Northern Virginia about 20 to 30 minutes outside DC. I chose the 10K because I didn’t want to push myself too hard with a half marathon after the marathon last week. I like 10Ks so much more than 5Ks for a shorter race distance so was happy this distance was offered as I feel most races just offer half marathon and 5K options. I stayed at the Holiday Express in Lorton which is about 1.5 miles from the race so very convenient. For the race you just pick up your packet the morning of the race. Along with the bib you also get a tech T-shirt. It is fine with the race name but not distance specific and I would prefer a color other than white but a decent shirt for the cost of the race. This race also raised money for a pet adoption group (yay!) and they had a booth next to packet pickup and were selling a few things. I wasn’t really sure what to expect for this race since there wasn’t a very good description of the course. I knew it would be rolling hills but I thought it would either be on paved trail or gravel trail since it was not advertised as a trail race. The race had wave starts with about 10ish people per wave with the half waves first, followed by 10K and last 5K with faster runners first. I was in the second 10K group. One of the staff members gave a quick introduction and explained the course before we went off. The course was 2 loops of the 5K course. It started with a quick out and back and then was a lollipop loop. He said to watch out because the half marathon loops had a slightly different course than the 5/10K loops but that there would be signs where the course diverged. The beginning of the race was as I expected with about 1/4 mile on paved road including the very short out and back with the turn around clearly marked though two runners in front of me missed it and we had to scream to let them know to turn around. Then there is about 1/4 mile that is dirt road then surprise! The rest of the course is single track trail. This was a very pleasant surprise for me since I love running on single track trail but wish I knew since I would have worn trail shoes and I also ran the first 1/2 mile a little too fast thinking the rest would be similar difficulty. The single track trail was really fun with lots of ups and downs but nothing too technical. I loved running on it but its a little slower and more challenging than pavement. There was nothing too technical about this trail. I was wearing road shoes and had no issues but I did see one runner fall. As someone who does quite a bit of trail running, I thought this was an easy, fun trail run but some of the road runners were not quite as excited about the surprise. You definitely don’t need trail experience or shoes for this race but it would be good to know ahead of time to temper expectations. I thought the trail was well marked and easy to follow but at one of the sections where the half and 5/10K diverged there was no volunteer. We were told this ahead of time and I easily saw the sign and went the right way but the runner ahead of me asked which way to go and as she said one of the other runners (one of the same ones who missed the turn around) went the other way so I guess it could have been marked better but at some point you have to blame the runner not the RD for getting lost. There were plenty of water stations with cups of water and a cooler to refill your own hydration if you were carrying a handheld water bottle or hydration pack. You then do the loop again. It was fun so I didn’t mind doing it twice. The hills were a lot of fun. A little over 300 feet of elevation gain total so about 150 feet per loop. All were gradual and runnable. I ran the entire first loop. I walked a few of the hillier sections the second half as I ran out of gas from starting a little too fast. At the finish line you get a medal. Medal is small with a plain ribbon and not the best but it does have a pawprint which is a cute reference to the charity and the back says the race name, distance and date. There was a table with water and bags of chips for post race refreshment. I thought this was a really fun course but I do think they should have described it better. I still would have definitely ran it and actually would have been more excited about it if I knew it was more trail, but I think I could have been a few minutes quicker if I paced myself appropriately and wore trail shoes. My finishing time was slow for a 10K but not bad for a trail run. My overall impression of these events is they are solid running events. I wouldn’t travel for one of these Bishop’s Events’ races alone during a year when I have more options but I will definitely look into them if I am ever in the DC area for a conference (if those ever happen again) or another race as they offer a race just about every Saturday and Sunday so are great for combining for two race weekends (or three race weekends as I have planned for Memorial day). If you are a 50 stater and care more about convenience than great swag and super exciting race experience (again you will get okay swag and a solid race experience), I would definitely recommend looking into these as you could easily add one of their races to another event to make a combined Maryland and Virginia double race weekend and some weekends they even offer both a Virginia and Maryland half. These events are also very back of the pack and walker friendly with no time limits and they even have a back of the pack series for locals who run them often.
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Luckily I love Single Track Trails
This is a race put on by Bishop's Events. Bishop's Events puts on races most weekends throughout the DC area in various parks in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland. Their … MORE
This is a race put on by Bishop’s Events. Bishop’s Events puts on races most weekends throughout the DC area in various parks in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland. Their races are cheap, low key, on the smaller side and in parks so no traffic control or strict course time limits necessary so they are the perfect events to hold safely during the pandemic. I knew Bishop’s Events were holding just about all their races and I was curious how they are done and had no options closer to home so thought I would check out a couple of their races this weekend. This race is in Northern Virginia about 20 to 30 minutes outside DC. I chose the 10K because I didn’t want to push myself too hard with a half marathon after the marathon last week. I like 10Ks so much more than 5Ks for a shorter race distance so was happy this distance was offered as I feel most races just offer half marathon and 5K options. I stayed at the Holiday Express in Lorton which is about 1.5 miles from the race so very convenient. For the race you just pick up your packet the morning of the race. Along with the bib you also get a tech T-shirt. It is fine with the race name but not distance specific and I would prefer a color other than white but a decent shirt for the cost of the race. This race also raised money for a pet adoption group (yay!) and they had a booth next to packet pickup and were selling a few things. I wasn’t really sure what to expect for this race since there wasn’t a very good description of the course. I knew it would be rolling hills but I thought it would either be on paved trail or gravel trail since it was not advertised as a trail race. The race had wave starts with about 10ish people per wave with the half waves first, followed by 10K and last 5K with faster runners first. I was in the second 10K group. One of the staff members gave a quick introduction and explained the course before we went off. The course was 2 loops of the 5K course. It started with a quick out and back and then was a lollipop loop. He said to watch out because the half marathon loops had a slightly different course than the 5/10K loops but that there would be signs where the course diverged. The beginning of the race was as I expected with about 1/4 mile on paved road including the very short out and back with the turn around clearly marked though two runners in front of me missed it and we had to scream to let them know to turn around. Then there is about 1/4 mile that is dirt road then surprise! The rest of the course is single track trail. This was a very pleasant surprise for me since I love running on single track trail but wish I knew since I would have worn trail shoes and I also ran the first 1/2 mile a little too fast thinking the rest would be similar difficulty. The single track trail was really fun with lots of ups and downs but nothing too technical. I loved running on it but its a little slower and more challenging than pavement. There was nothing too technical about this trail. I was wearing road shoes and had no issues but I did see one runner fall. As someone who does quite a bit of trail running, I thought this was an easy, fun trail run but some of the road runners were not quite as excited about the surprise. You definitely don’t need trail experience or shoes for this race but it would be good to know ahead of time to temper expectations. I thought the trail was well marked and easy to follow but at one of the sections where the half and 5/10K diverged there was no volunteer. We were told this ahead of time and I easily saw the sign and went the right way but the runner ahead of me asked which way to go and as she said one of the other runners (one of the same ones who missed the turn around) went the other way so I guess it could have been marked better but at some point you have to blame the runner not the RD for getting lost. There were plenty of water stations with cups of water and a cooler to refill your own hydration if you were carrying a handheld water bottle or hydration pack. You then do the loop again. It was fun so I didn’t mind doing it twice. The hills were a lot of fun. A little over 300 feet of elevation gain total so about 150 feet per loop. All were gradual and runnable. I ran the entire first loop. I walked a few of the hillier sections the second half as I ran out of gas from starting a little too fast. At the finish line you get a medal. Medal is small with a plain ribbon and not the best but it does have a pawprint which is a cute reference to the charity and the back says the race name, distance and date. There was a table with water and bags of chips for post race refreshment. I thought this was a really fun course but I do think they should have described it better. I still would have definitely ran it and actually would have been more excited about it if I knew it was more trail, but I think I could have been a few minutes quicker if I paced myself appropriately and wore trail shoes. My finishing time was slow for a 10K but not bad for a trail run. My overall impression of these events is they are solid running events. I wouldn’t travel for one of these Bishop’s Events’ races alone during a year when I have more options but I will definitely look into them if I am ever in the DC area for a conference (if those ever happen again) or another race as they offer a race just about every Saturday and Sunday so are great for combining for two race weekends (or three race weekends as I have planned for Memorial day). If you are a 50 stater and care more about convenience than great swag and super exciting race experience (again you will get okay swag and a solid race experience), I would definitely recommend looking into these as you could easily add one of their races to another event to make a combined Maryland and Virginia double race weekend and some weekends they even offer both a Virginia and Maryland half. These events are also very back of the pack and walker friendly with no time limits and they even have a back of the pack series for locals who run them often.