Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Washington, D.C.

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Miles and Monuments!



Wow! This was my first experience with the Rock 'n' Roll race series, and it did not disappoint! It was, by far, the biggest race I have done to date, with 18,000 registered runners and walkers! While technically not one of the 50 states, and not required for the official challenge, I liked the idea of completing all "50 States + DC."

 


The Rock 'n' Roll race series is huge, and opinions seem somewhat divided over whether people enjoy them or avoid them. I appreciate that they reveal the shirt and medal very early on their website, so when I saw the beautiful DC medal and it worked with my schedule, I decided this was the year to get my "+ DC."
 

 
 
It is a Saturday race, which is logistically a little bit more challenging for me. Especially considering this race is too huge to offer race morning packet pick-up, so I needed to make it to the Expo by 7:00 PM on Friday evening! It should be about a 4-hour drive from Pittsburgh, and I had smooth sailing until I got to just outside of DC. Then, I sat next to the Pentagon for about an hour. That wasn't very much fun. I watched the airplanes come in over my head and wondered if I should have flown instead. 

Hello, Pentagon!


Should I have tried to fly instead?


I just need to get over there...



I enjoyed the extra time with my audiobook, "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" by TJ Klune, and eventually I made it to the Holiday Inn Washington Capitol/National Mall. I chose this hotel for proximity to the start and finish. It was an excellent location, an easy 20-minute walk to the start and 10-minute walk from the finish! I was able to park my car for the weekend and walk everywhere. I checked in and used the Metro to travel 3 stops to the convention center where the Expo was being held.




I made a Metro friend, Cindy from Long Island, who had the "runner trying to find the Expo" look about her. We had a nice visit and it was great to have some company while finding our way to the Expo. The convention center was enormous, and the Expo was buried deep in a back hall, so it kind of felt like we walked forever, but it was well-organized and packet pick-up went smoothly.






The Expo was big! Lots of fun merch and photo ops. I got momentarily distracted by some fun visors, but moved pretty quickly through everything because my friend Laura and her daughter had arrived at the Expo ahead of me and were waiting to greet me. We took a 13.1 picture, and then Laura drove us back to the hotel.




We decided to just stay close and eat dinner at at the restaurant in our hotel, 21st Amendment Bar & Grill. I thought the food was pretty good, and it was nice to catch up for a bit and then head upstairs to get a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, my room was right next to the elevators and quite noisy. Also, my hotel room phone rang loudly at 12:40 AM when I was deep asleep, so that was jarring, to say the least. Nobody on the other end, so it must have just been a wrong number. I had trouble falling back to sleep.





 
I had mentally prepared for a congested start, we had heard that it sometimes takes 30 minutes to get to the start line. I actually found it to be a very pleasant race morning! Laura and I left our hotel around 7:00 AM and enjoyed a leisurely walk along the mall green space to the corrals. It wasn't crowded yet, so we just visited and enjoyed checking everything out.







Margaret and Debbe, who I had met in Mississippi, spotted my 50 States Half Marathon Club shirt and joined us. We took a group picture and visited. The race started at 8:00 AM, but we did not get to the start line until 8:30 AM. Honestly, it didn't feel like a terribly long wait. It was well-organized and they released the small corrals individually. I think it helped it not feel too crowded out on the course. 














Hi, Abe!


The course was fantastic! I really enjoyed running around DC. I had imagined us running around the monuments, but it was actually surrounding streets, bridges, and neighborhoods. It was interesting, and had great crowd support. True to the Rock 'n' Roll Race Series identity, there were fun rock bands every couple of miles that brought great energy.


Monster hill in mile 8, otherwise a pretty flat course with some nice shade and downhill stretches!


Uh, we have to run up there?


Made it to the top of the hill!


RBG


Awesome drum line!


Don't mind me crying in the St. Jude mile



I spot the Capitol, must be getting close to the finish line!



Finished!



Pretty sweet sparkly medal!



I enjoyed Strava's Pace vs. Elevation illustration,
Never quite recovered from that hill in mile 8!



After the race we took a few pictures and collected our bananas, water bottles, plus a few other fun snacks from the finish line festival. Then we headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up. We ventured out to find lunch and ended up at a restaurant called Milk & Honey Southern Inspired Kitchen in an area of DC called The Wharf. I tried a unique and tasty breaded deviled egg appetizer, and enjoyed some delicious hearty pancakes. The Wharf is a really nice area with a lot of restaurants and great views!


Interesting breaded deviled egg



Awesome hearty pancakes



Beautiful cherry blossoms!


While it wasn't peak cherry blossom season quite yet, there were still plenty of picturesque cherry blossoms to be found! After we ate we decided we should get a few more steps in, lol, so we set off to explore the monuments.





































All in all, this was a fantastic Washington, D. C. weekend with a great race, beautiful weather, fun exploration, and fantastic company. Despite typically preferring smaller races with fewer people, I thought this was well-organized and I'm glad to have experienced a Rock 'n' Roll race event. I would do one again, and am eyeing the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Las Vegas next February!


Washington, D.C. complete! Half #17

 Time: 3:14:32
Pace: 14:44
Date: 3/21/2026
Bib: 14418


Next up is the Hapalua Half Marathon in Honolulu, Hawaii in April!

 



Location: Washington, DC

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