Charlie Ban is the Editor-in-Chief of RunWashington, the runner's source for the DC area.
With the reopening of the federal government Thursday, the Marine Corps Marathon is back on for Sunday, Oct. 27.
The Marine Corps Marathon had announced, via Facebook, that the continued government shutdown imperiled the race. If the federal budget situation hadn’t been resolved by Saturday, Oct. 19, organizers would have had to postpone or cancel the race.
It was an exercise in resilience.
After three days of rain, things weren’t so much up in the air for the local cross country scene as they were under water. The Glory Days Invitational was called off, Bull Run Regional Park was flooded. The golf course at Georgetown Prep was too soft and slippery, but coach Greg Dunston was adamant about holding the meet. Teams were coming from Delaware and Chicago to race.
For the second week, the federal government shutdown is forcing relocations and and cancellations for races planned for National Parks Service property. No specifics have been made public about contingency planning for the Army Ten-Miler and Marine Corps Marathon, scheduled for Oct. 20 and 27, but both races declare they will be run on those days.
The Boo! Run For Life 10k Sunday will be cut to a 5k, starting at 7:30 a.m. and moved to the National Building Museum from its usual location in West Potomac Park, where it will be run concurrently with the Run to Remember.
Name: Dustin Renwick
Self-described age group: 30-34
The Marine Corps Marathon will debut a registration lottery in 2014, a year after frustrations with registration management service Active caused thousands difficulty while they tried to register.
As announced in this year’s race guide, the lottery will open Feb. 23 and close March 15, and runners selected for the race will be notified March 19. The marathon has agreed to a multi-year contract with Race IT to manage registration.
Everything is supposed to hurt during a marathon.
Right?
The federal government shutdown had been light on runners for two days, but Wednesday night saw a flurry of decisions that impacted weekend racing schedules, with the postponement of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon and the Run! Geek! Run! 8k. The Ragnar Relay will see a few legs altered, but the Army Ten-Miler and Marine Corps Marathon late this month claim they will not be affected, according to race officials who have not provided any details.
Though runners have largely had their run of National Park Service land since Tuesday morning, with vehicle traffic closed on Rock Creek Park’s Beach Drive and most of East Potomac Park’s Hains Point. The problem, however, is the provision in the shutdown the rescinds special events permits, necessary for holding races.
Cross country racing can be like living in a jungle, and nowhere is that more true than the Oatlands Invitational in Leesburg.
Along with the crowd of runners trying to get one foot in front of their competitors to make a slight but significant difference in team standings, those team races play out in several layers.
In the grand scheme of things, runners feeling misunderstood by friends and family members – -because they run for fun, go out in blizzards and rainstorms, etc. — isn’t the end of the world. They came together Sunday afternoon to help raise money to help another, more tragically misunderstood population — veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Run for Recovering Heros races Sunday afternoon in Carderock raised money for the Patton Veterans Project, an organization managed by the grandson of Gen. George S. Patton that helps veterans produce short films to better communication their mental and emotional struggles after returning from combat.
RunWashington convened a meeting of eight coaches to figure out who is poised for a big cross country season. The participating coaches represented a cross section of schools in the area and, by consensus, they selected the top 10 runners in the Washington, D.C. area, the ones we’d send to a battle royale-style race against other metropolitan areas. The best of the best around here.
They also selected top sevens remaining in each state- Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. These coaches also provided insight into what makes running in the D.C. area so special.