A few months after registering for the Marine Corps Marathon I saw the information on the MCM Runners bRUNch and thought it sounded like a great way to start of my Marine Corp Weekend!
From the Marine Corp Marathon website: “The bRUNch is a 5k warm up run led by MCM staff along the Mall concluding at the Marine Corps War Memorial, where tens of thousands of runners will pass under the iconic MCM finish arch the next day. bRUNch will be served adjacent to the finish line with a talk led by Bart Yasso, Chief Running Officer of Runner’s World.”
Saturday morning the 300 bRUNch attendees met at the National Mall where we checked in and were received a “race”/ event bib to wear (there was no timing, it was just to identify as part of the group)…
Event participants gathering and checking in.
…once everyone was checked in and ready to go we were given a quick overview of the event by the MCM staff (in the pink shirts, because real Marines are ok wearing pink!) and introduced to Bart Yasso.
We were told that the course we’d be running that morning was meant to not only give us a brief preview of what was to come tomorrow, but to inspire…and did it ever!
DC monuments passed during the 5k bRUNch run.
We started on the National Mall and ran by the Capitol, the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial and reflecting pool and then we headed over a bridge into Arlington…
…and towards where the marathon would finish the next day!
We even got the chance to run up the infamous Marine Corps Marathon finish line hill which makes up the last .2 miles of the race! (This was both good & bad – good because I knew what to expect at the end of tomorrow’s 26 miles. Bad because I now knew what to expect at the end of tomorrow’s 26 miles!)
At the end of the run we all went into the VIP tent that was set up near the soon-to-be finish line and helped ourselves to the bRUNch that was out.
There was oatmeal, bagels, fresh fruit and assorted pastries along with coffee, tea, water and juices. It sounded like some people were disappointed with the selection, but to be honest I wasn’t going for the food, I was going for the run and the speaker so I wasn’t too concerned.
While we were eating Bart Yasso got up and began to talk a bit about what to expect on the course and then he told a bunch of stories about his running career from running the Badwater 146 Ultra Marathon through Death Valley to the Bare Buns run (yup, at a nudist colony!).
Bart Yasso speaking at the MCM Runners bRUNch.
If you ever have the chance to see Bart Yasso speak, do it! He is incredibly entertaining and is so personable! He was happy to stay and chat and take pictures and he even said although he wasn’t running the next day to be sure to keep an eye out on the course because he’d be out cheering us on! (*My friend Christine spotted him around mile 25!)
On my way out of the event I stopped up at the Marine Corps Memorial for a quick picture and to take some time to read the plaques around the memorial – the Marines were the entire reason I was here after all!
I thought for $35 this event was well worth it and was the perfect way to start off my Marine Corps Marathon weekend – I’d definitely recommend it to anyone running MCM in the future!
Live, Run, Grow 
Sounds like fun, and I didn’t know the course finished on a hill. Why oh why? It’s like Disney sticking that overpass at mile 10. Why oh why?
Yup, ends with quite the hill, although to be honest after hearing so much about it, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
That looks like a fantastic course! Yet another marathon added to my running bucket list!
It really was an amazing race! Always something to look at along the way!
That seems like a good way to spend $35.00 AND you got to meet bart Yasso? Heck yeah! Can’t wait to read the recap!
Exactly! As far as I’m concerned it was well worth the cost!