Cherry Blossoms 2024

[Scootin'By]

The Cherry Blossoms have started to bloom and that means race weekend is just around the corner. Here's a summary of the weekend:

- Friday, April 5 from 2pm to 8pm: Expo @National Building Museum

- Saturday, April 6 at 9:15am: 5k race starts @FREEDOM Plaza
- Saturday, April 6 from 9am to 5pm: Expo @National Building Museum

- Sunday, April 7 at 730am: 10 miler race starts @FREEDOM Plaza

I didn't get a lottery spot this year, but I know I bunch of others here on the boards did. I WILL however be handing out 5k T-shirts Saturday morning from 6 to 930am and then sticking around to cheer on the finish line. Come by and say hello. I'll be in my Mickey Cherry Blossom hat

Does anyone want to plan a mini meetup either Friday night or Saturday morning post-race or early afternoon? There's a bunch of Starbucks down in the area, as well as a ton of free museums.

 

[avondale]

Nice idea! I'm not running any of the races this year. I would stop by for a meet-up anyway but...I'm heading out of town for the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE on Monday! Yay!

I hope the race weekend goes well. Fingers crossed that we'll get out of this cycle of rainy weekends! (As I write this, we're forecast to get a couple inches of rain tomorrow - Saturday, of course.)

 

[accm]

We're going to be there! I'm kinda bummed that I read the cherry blossoms have already reached their peak, but I'm still excited for a short trip. I'd be down for a mini meetup. I'd just have to coordinate with my family, since we'll have our boys and my parents with us for the trip.

Does anyone have good restaurant recommendations around the Metro Center? I'm still trying to figure out where we're going to eat.

 

[Tiggerette]

Just saw the blossoms on Thursday. So gorgeous. Also went to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History. It was profound! Really well done museum; I highly recommend!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Does anyone have good restaurant recommendations around the Metro Center? I'm still trying to figure out where we're going to eat.

There's plenty of restaurants around Metro Center - José Andrés's are always a good choice.

After last year's bib pick-up fiasco, I refuse to do the cherry blossom races unless they improve things. But hopefully it will be better this year and everyone has a great race!

 

[accm]

After last year's bib pick-up fiasco, I refuse to do the cherry blossom races unless they improve things. But hopefully it will be better this year and everyone has a great race!

Do you mind expanding on this? Is there something I can do to make the pick up smoother?

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Last year I did the Double Blossom Challenge (5K Saturday, 10M Sunday), and bib pickup on Friday was a giant cluster. They didn't have enough people, space, or time for all of the 5K runners to pick up their bibs, and then if you were doing the challenge, you had to wait in line AGAIN to get your 10M bib. It took probably an hour to get both bibs, which I've never experienced at any race before.

They actually closed the 5K pickup line I think about an hour before the expo was supposed to end, and on race morning there was a VERY LONG line of people trying to get their bibs because they hadn't been able to at the expo and, again, definitely not enough volunteers to handle that much demand. I have no idea what happened with people who were still in line when the race started, because there's no way they got through everyone. (The line was probably a quarter of a mile long 20 minutes before the race started.)

It's not like they didn't know how many people had signed up and therefore had to pick up bibs, so there's really no excuse for that mess. We had a whole discussion about it here.

I'm not still salty about it or anything

 

[Scootin'By]

Does anyone have good restaurant recommendations around the Metro Center? I'm still trying to figure out where we're going to eat.

Lots of great food around there. Old Ebbits Grill is just up the street. I'm a big fan of Clyde's down in Chinatown. Those two are both your typical Americana. Carmine's is GREAT Italian food (definitely check out the desserts) and Hill Country Barbecue is solid!

If you're up for a mini meetup, let me know if there's a time Friday or Saturday that works for your schedule.