This was the last year (so far) of the 8k (or 5ish miles) since the next year they switched to a 5k thanks to construction in DC. This race was great despite me being in the middle of physical therapy for my IT band syndrome, I still PR'd. I remember this was the year it was snowing for the race, which was TOTALLY appropriate for a Christmas race where costumes were encouraged. I took a more conservative route with the costume. I had bells on my bib and a gift ribbon hair clip attached to my hat. Despite it being SO cold (and the precip not helping that) I was totally psyched to be running a Christmas race in the snow. Case in point...
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I loved this race. It fit in well with my training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in DC, and followed a similar course. (For me, running part of the course beforehand helps with pre-race jitters.) It was a perfect day weather-wise for the race. I remember there was great crowd support and it was fun getting a different look at a lot of the monuments I hadn't seen during other races yet, like the Jefferson Memorial and fantastic views of the Washington Monument. I loved the portion around Hains Point, but be forewarned: It does get a little cramped because the race is HUGE despite there being a lottery for it for entry.
The lottery for this race is in early December, but you can get a guaranteed entry if you volunteer for the previous year's race.
This is a race that I still am not sure how it came together. It's a race in Bethany Beach, DE during Easter weekend that is put on by the Quiet Resorts Charitable Foundation to help raise money for the community. I registered my husband and I for the race within days of it opening in January and I always make it a point to ask if shirts are gendered if the website or registration does not specify it. I asked, and they said it would be unisex. Great! I registered us and we made arrangements to have a place to stay right on the beach and it was going to be a great weekend. The day of packet pickup, I was thankful we arrived there early because all of a sudden they had shirts donated and were gendered and there were not enough to go around. (I was surprised when the shirt size I ordered actually ended up fitting because they wouldn't allow for exchanges and were actually rude about it.) Okay, one fairly minor crisis averted. Then just after finishing the race, they ran out of medals and had to use leftovers from the previous year for finishers! (Granted, there weren't any years printed on the medals so it was also no big deal. But I do a lot of races for the bling involved.)
The course itself was kind of boring because it was the 5k course twice, but it was nice to run it once then enjoy the view the second time. It was totally flat and I PR'd on it and still haven't gotten anything close to it. I don't know if I would do it again though. It was nice to run in a race in an area that I had grown up in but never run, but with the minor crises that kept coming up it felt like it wasn't worth the special trip.
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