Cherry Blossom Weekend Logistics

The team gears up for its first major race of 2011 this weekend!  There are a lot of moving parts, so use this post to coordinate your schedule with everyone else.  Here are the plans:

Saturday:

9:00am:  Easy pre-race run from the Georgetown Store.  Be sure to stop by the store for this shake out run as we'll be distributing our NEW warm up long sleeve t-shirts!  If you still need a GRC singlet, this is the time to get one.  Make sure you see Jake for both.

10:30am-ish: Packet Pick Up.  Maybe after grabbing a bite to eat, some of us will carpool/metro over to the National Building Museum for packet pickup.  This tends to be very crowded, so the organizers have changed the set up slightly.  Make sure you have a copy of your confirmation email (including your number) either on paper or on your smartphone, otherwise you'll be stuck in packet-pickup-purgatory.  There will be NO number look-up boards.  If you can't make it on your own before 5:15pm on Saturday, there is limited packet pick up at the race Sunday morning, or you can write a note and give your confirmation email to someone else so they can pick up your number.


Race Day:

5:00am:  Metro Opens Doors.  Parking is going to be very limited downtown, so either plan to get a ride, metro, or bike to the race.  There will be a bike valet at the start area.  If you plan to metro to the race, service starts as early as 5am.  The nearest stop to the race start is the Smithsonian station on the Blue/Orange Lines.  If you don't want to transfer, Archives is the closest station on the Green/Yellow Lines and Metro Center is the closest on the Red Line. 

6:30am:  Warm-up.  Plan to gather at the meet-up location on the map below at 6:30 for an optional team warm-up. 

7:40am:  Race Start.  Good luck!  Run fast, and look good while doing it.  The full GRC press corps will be on hand to document the race, including a film crew at miles 0.5, 5, and 10 orchestrated by Towpath Productions, and several photographers throughout the course.  Contact Towpath directly if you would like to help.

8:29-8:45am:  GRC runners finish.  Group up at the finish.  DO NOT WANDER OFF.

8:50am:  GRC Team Photo.  We need a team photo that includes all of our new faces for our new website.  Keep your GRC singlet or warm-up on and meet at the same location as for the warm-up (see map below).   Besides racing fast, this is the only "mandatory" thing we need everyone to do.  The faster everyone cooperates, the sooner this will be over.

9:00am-10:30am Cool down/Interviews:  You're free to do whatever you need to do post-race... cool down, see loved ones, etc.  Try to generally stick around the meet-up location as Towpath Productions will be conducting interviews.

11:00am Post-race festivities:  Klim will be leading a contingent to Elephant and Castle at 12th and Pennsylvania Ave. for post-race lunch and drinks.


RACE DAY MAP:

Questions?

Any general  race-related questions can probably be answered in this information packet.  If you have any team-specific questions, share them in the comments.