We are delighted you have chosen to participate in our event — our 10 miler is one of the top road races in the world and our 5K Run-Walk is designed to provide our gentle runners and walkers with an opportunity to participate as well. We are excited about returning to the staging area on the Washington Monument Grounds and our course, which features more cherry trees and less congestion than previous courses.

On Saturday, the race Expo takes place at the spectacular and historic National Building Museum in downtown Washington, DC. Sunday’s events start and finish on the Washington Monument Grounds. The staging area is nearest the corner of 15th and Constitution Aves., NW. The start and finish are at 15th St. and Jefferson Dr.

Our Greening Initiatives

You will notice — and we hope participate in – a number of “Greening Initiatives” this year as the race works toward certification as an environmentally-friendly event by the Council for Responsible Sport in future years. There will be four recycling locations on the Washington Monument Grounds with individual, clearly marked containers to separate compostable and recyclable items from general trash. In addition there will be containers on 15th St. near Constitution Ave. to deposit your disposable D-Tags, recyclable race numbers and reusable safety pins. We will select four individuals to receive a free, guaranteed entry into the 2011 race from among those who turn in their D-Tags at these stations.

To encourage use of bicycles, the organizing committee, in conjunction with the National Park Service, will provide valet bicycle parking on Independence Ave. between 14th and 15th Sts. Bicyclists will be able to “check” their bikes inside an enclosed, supervised area for the duration of the race. Individuals checking bikes will receive “claim checks”.

Strict Enforcement of 2 Hour and 20 Minute Time Limit: We are privileged to be able to use the Washington Monument Grounds on the National Mall, perhaps the highest-visibility venue in the world, during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, its busiest time of the year. Our part of the arrangement under which we receive our permit is that all our runners will be off the course by 10:30 A.M. This means we will seal off the starting line at 8:00 A.M. so no runners can start late, and any runner who is not maintaining a 14-minute per mile pace (calculated from the start of the final wave) will have to leave the course at the five-mile mark, which is located ¼ mile from the finish line area. We will place barricades across the roadway and entrants will not be allowed to continue. Runners who are under a 14-minute-per mile pace at half way but slow down during the second half of the race will be required to leave the course and board our sweep vehicle. The 10-Mile race is clearly a “run” and not a walk. Walkers are welcome in our 5K Run-Walk (which has a 65-minute time limit for 3.1 miles or about 20-minutes per mile pace). If you have entered the 10-Mile and are uncertain as to whether you can maintain a sub 14-minute per mile pace, you can switch yourself simply by completing the form at http://www.cherryblossom.org/switch_form.asp.

Full Service Staging Area for the 5K Run-Walk Participants in the 5K Run-Walk will find all of the pre-and post-race amenities including pre-and-post race water, porta-potties, post race food and bag check in the 5K staging area located adjacent to Independence Avenue near the Sylvan Theater. 

Wave Start

The 10-Mile will use a wave start once again this year. Runners will be assigned to one of six color-coded starting corrals based on previous race times. Colors on bib numbers will match starting corrals. It is the color on your bib, not the number, that  determines your starting corral.  After our elite, seeded, and sub-seeded runners, there will be five additional waves of approximately 2,500 to 3,000 runners each. The waves will start at three-minute intervals. This should ease crowding on the course. Runners outside the top 25 males and females will be scored on net times. The waves are as follows:

Yellow corral - The yellow corral will be broken into three sections: The Elite Section is for Elite runners with bib numbers from 1-100, Seeded Sub-section “A” is for seeded runners with yellow bib numbers containing the suffix “A” (101-A, etc.), and Seeded Sub-section B is for seeded runners with yellow bib numbers containing the suffix “B” (401-B, etc..). All three yellow sections will start at the same time.

Please note that for the following corrals, your corral is determined by the color of your bib number,  not the digits of your number.

Red corral - Runners with red bib numbers are in the second wave

Blue corral – Runners with blue bib numbers are in the third wave

Orange corral – Runners with orange bib numbers are in the fourth wave

Green corral - Runners with green bib numbers are in the fifth wave

Purple corral - Runners with purple bib numbers are in the sixth wave

Please cooperate with race officials by lining up in the proper corral. If you are running with friends or family members who are in different corrals, you may line up in the slowest corral of any member of the group.

Timeline

To accommodate the increased size of the field, the main race will start at 7:40 a.m., ten minutes earlier than last year. Here is the timeline.

  7:30 a.m. - Advance start for elite women. This start will be for approximately 30 of our elite and seeded women. This will enable us to showcase the elite women’s competition in a manner that is not possible in a “mixed” race.

  7:39 a.m. – Wheelchair competitors (push-rim only)

  7:40 a.m. - Elite men and first wave start for men and women (additional waves will depart at approximately 3 minute intervals)

  7:55 a.m  - Final wave starts

  8:00 a.m. - Start line is sealed off. No starters after this time.

  8:15 a.m. - 1 Kilometer Kids Run. This will start on the Washington Monument Grounds.

  8:40 a.m. - 5K Run-Walk start. 

No Age Group Awards Given Out on Race Day: Due to problems created by unauthorized number switching, we will not give out age-group awards at the race day awards ceremony. Age group awards will be mailed out 2-3 weeks after the race.