Overall the race weekend was good and pretty well put together. The expo was a fair size and had great and long hours. Parking for the expo was available in some of the M&T Bank Stadium(Baltimore Raven’s) Parking Lots which were about .75 mile away from the expo. I chose to walk but there was also the option of Light Rail to get there. There are 3 different races: a 5K at 7:30, Marathon/ Relay at 8, and Half Marathon at 9:45 with all of them starting within what’s probably a .5 mile from each other. Like the expo parking was at the stadium lots with the lots opening at 5:30am. Since I was running the half marathon my race started at 9:45. Because of this late start time and the marathon starting much earlier the roads would already be closed so Half marathoners had to either take light rail to the start line or arrive and park much earlier than the race start times otherwise you would not make it to the race. Since I was staying in northern Baltimore city my only option was to arrive way earlier than the race start time which was a little bit of a pain. The actual start of the race was supposed to be in waves but there was no stopping people from being in earlier waves. The course was fairly hilly and harder than I expected and being in the middle of the city did not have great views other than Lake Montebello about halfway through. There were a few residents out cheering but most of them were on the second half of the course. The finish was right by Inner Harbor and served as a perfect place for the Celebration Village. The medal was in the shape of the crab with Run 13.1 on the front and it opened up to a view of the Inner Harbor which is really nice. The shirt was a blue long sleeve under armour shirt. I ran this race as the final part of the King Crab Challenge (Running the Frederick Running Festival, Baltimore 10-Miler, and Baltimore Running Festival in the same year) and got 2 additional medals which make the race even more worth it

The race was very well put together. There was a fear of cancellation because of possible thunderstorms all the way up through Race morning (ended up with no rain at all). The race was very communicative and helpful in describing the plans of what would happen if it was thunder storming and the race was cancelled. Bib pickup was really easy although there was no expo. At the race, parking was very easy although there was a fair amount of traffic but it moved quickly. The race then gave you the choice to walk to the start or hop on a shuttle. The walk to the start was at least a half mile and I am pretty sure nearly every runner chose to walk to the start. They started the race in 3 waves with each starting a few mins after the one ahead of it. The course was challenging. The first half seemed to be mostly downhill although you don’t notice it much. The second half seemed to be mostly uphill which made it very difficult. They had a fair amount of water stops spread over the course with a total of 5 or 6. At the finish line they had lots of snacks, Gatorade, water, and cold towels( which were amazing). They handed you the finishers medal (which is ok- it has a picture of a polar bear on it to represent the MD Zoo which I understand but why go with a polar bear which you think of as a wintery animal but the race is in June.) then had you go pick up the amazing premiums which were a beach towel and a nice shirt.

The race had a small expo but was very easy to find your way around. I do wish the expo was open a little later the day prior(Saturday). The race started early in the morning at 7AM on Sunday but they recommended arriving by 5:45 to avoid road closures. At the start they had race pace signs so that slower runners did not get in the way of faster runners and it worked great. There were about 4000 people in the race ensuring that there were always people around you. They had water stops about every two miles except for the last 3 miles where they had one every mile. There were also a lot of locals outside cheering on the runners with some offering water and one household even offering strawberries. The course was scenic although mostly through the beutiful city of Frederick. The course was fairly flat and although the elevation shows a few hills they are mostly small and I actually only remember 2 of them with the one being fairly early in the race and the second being around mile 12. The medal was fairly big and the design was the Maryland flag which should speak for itself with how awesome it is. The medal also has a spot on the back to place a wallet sized picture. The shirt is also very nice. The race finished on the track at the Frederick Fairgrounds giving plenty of room for spectators at the end of the race. The race also gave out free race photos taken by multiple photographers at the start, in the middle of the race in various points, and the finish. The race also offered race tracking where you could have the race post or text your time, pace in 3 areas into Facebook which is a great feature. I signed my parents up for the texting and they loved it allowing my mom to know when to go to the track to watch me finish and my dad to keep up to date on how I was doing despite being unable to make it to the race. This feature also sent a picture of you finishing the race. Overall, it’s a very well organized race and is very worthwhile to run. I highly recommend running this race sometime.

The 200 mile Relay begins in Gettysburg, PA and snakes down to Washington, D.C. Typical teams consist of 12 people with 2 vans and each person running 3 legs each for a total of 36 legs. Yes you will be running in the middle of the night and will not get much sleep but if you are like me you won’t notice how tired you really are until after you get home from the Relay and have downtime to relax. The Relay has a staggered start depending on your teams expected time so my team started the Relay at 10:30AM on Friday and was one of the last teams to start. The legs range from dead flat to a 1200 ft climb in about 4 miles(leg 6 where you actually get a free glass for finishing it). Course difficulty just depends upon what legs you run. I ran 17.5 miles total but some ran up to 19 and some ran as little as 13. Some runners had a longest run about 5 miles while some had a longest of 9 miles(like me).
I was runner 9 so I ran leg 9, leg 21, and leg 33. I started Leg 9 around 5:30PM and was 5.5 miles with the first 3 miles climbing 700ft and the last 2.5 descending almost the same amount. Leg 21 I started around 12:15 AM on Saturday and was 3 miles and nearly dead flat. I started Leg 33 around 10:30 AM on Saturday and it was 9 miles and all on the C&O Canal so it was dead flat. I had a lot of fun running this race that I have wanted to run for a while now.
Although it was fun running it and experiencing it there were a few logistical things that should be corrected. First, some of the van directions were wrong and at times needed to rely on GPS and since I live along part of the Relay course my personal knowledge of the area.
Second, some transitions were small and not very good points to have a transition. I can understand a few of these as you get closer to D.C. but it was pointless I feel to have them around rural areas of the course when there are much better areas to have them.
Third, which was new for this year they removed a part of the course called the Boonsboro Oasis (key side note: I know about this part from previous years volunteering here) which served as a central point of it. The Boonsboro Oasis would have locker rooms to shower in and change clothes, massages, food, and a dark gym to sleep in. This was perfect as it served as the midpoint of the Relay and provided all the amenities runners cared about especially since vans came through in the evening through very early in the morning. It also served as a transition zone for 3 legs all in the same small area so the vans could stay put for longer. The Relay tried to make up for it by doing this type of thing with Shepardstown, WV but they only had food and portapots. They also had it so the van would have to drive there then leave to a part of the canal( with very limited parking) and come right back for another transition which made for a nightmare. Also two runners because of this had to run two legs all on the C&O Canal which although may be scenic at some points(it’s not where they ran) is boring! Those two runners were not too happy with that. The race directors(new for this year) claimed it was because runners got tired of Boonsboro year after year, but every runner I talked to missed the Boonsboro Oasis including all my team members most of whom have run the race 4 or more times and a few who have run it every single year.
Fourth,the only place open to shower was a school in Poolesville which opened at 7:00AM. This transition point was the end of leg 30 and thus close to the end of the Relay and a point where van 1 handed off to van 2. As such and since it would be very early in the morning after van 2 would finish our second legs many vans chose to drive down the school and wait for van 1 to arrive sometime after 8AM. So vans probably started to arrive at the school around 3:30AM or so. This made it so that van 1 could relax and shower(great for them) but van 2 still had another leg so it was pointless for us to shower. The main issue was there was no portapots and the school was closed. This led to a near riot by many female runners who needed to use the bathroom. The janitor finally let them in around 6:30AM but only after a Relay official urged him to. I realize volunteers may be limited but the could have opened the school up for very limited use (such as sleeping in the gym so we did not have to in the vans, and for bathrooms) earlier than 7AM.
Fifth, and this would be harder to fix would be parking in D.C. they offered discounted parking at a parking garage but as is common with parking garages they are limited in space and so fifteen passenger vans are a nightmare to navigate them.
Sixth, and this is not a huge deal but I know at least two canal legs included detours(mine included) that was never mentioned. Although very short, barely adding any mileage it was more of an annoyance when we got there especially while running on little sleep and tired legs. The Relay should have been aware of them and let the teams know of these detours somehow, and I know that this could not have been an unexpected thing that happened literally last minute because of the extent of the repairs that caused the detours.
Overall the Relay was a lot of fun and you get a nice shirt and medal for finishing. The scenery can change from a nice wooded area to a small town to civil war battlefields(Antietam National Battlefield- which you run in the middle of the night) to the C&O Canal so it really just depends on the legs you run but all runners get to run at least 1 leg with great scenery. Although some parts I feel were not very thought out it was one of the most fun races that I have ever run and I highly recommend running it.

The course is difficult but fair, it wont kill you but it is challenging. Great race if you are looking for a small town race with great scenery. There were around 200 finishers, and the competition was not world-class, as to be expected with a small race like this but there are some very good competitors. The course is not closed to traffic, but there was barely any traffic to deal with. The race support were very nice and supportive of you cheering you on as you ran.