Army Ten-Miler

Being an Army guy myself, I’ve heard about the Army Ten-​Miler for years and years. However, I had never run it or even had any intention to do so. Then I moved to the D.C. area and started my new passion (or obsession, whichever) for long-​distance running and racing, which then made it a «must do.»
As challenging as ten miles may seem, getting registered for this race will be your first real challenge months before you even step up to the starting line. This is because the ATM is one of the country’s most popular races and always sells out in a matter of hours. (For over 30,000 runners, that’s pretty insane). This year was no different as the website was jammed with traffic making a rather simple process take me over an hour to complete. In the end, I was just happy to secure a spot.
Fast forward months later to race day the the weather was cool, but beautiful and sunny. After parking in a garage in Crystal City and a completing a decent warm-​up walk, I found myself in the humongous Pentagon parking lot with thousands of other runners. I first found he bag drop near the subway entrance and checked my stuff in with no issue. Then I found my starting corral (of which there are MANY, broken down by color) and waited for the staggered start.
Eventually our corral made the slow walk up the start and we were off. First lesson learned: unless you’re an elite runner or lucky to be in one of the early corrals, this is not a race to even consider trying to set a Personal Record (PR). There are just WAY too many people crammed together the first couple of miles, sometimes even causing everyone to slow down and walk, if not stop entirely.
Aside from that, the course itself is well organized and does a nice job of winding around the streets of DC, around The Mall and back across the Potomac River to the finish line. Plus, the huge crowd support and hundreds of volunteers were all wonderful. I was a little disappointed with my own personal finish because of a minor injury, but had a great experience and love the finisher’s coin.
Happy 30^th Anniversary ATM! 4.5 Stars.

Hands down one of the best races in the country, if you’re looking for that not-​so-​competitive, super motivating, breath of fresh air kind of race. The participants and volunteers are amazing. And no matter how many wounded warriors I meet, see, or work with in my life, their resilience is amazingly apparent in this race. It makes you run faster, smile wider, and breathe deeper just because they’re running beside you. It’s my fourth race this year and as always, I had so much fun!
One disclaimer: this is not the race to set your PR. You will be going really slow for the first 3 – 4 miles if you’re not in the first two corrals.

I didn’t run the race. I was there to cheer on a friend. Great spectator locations. Runners seemed to be having a good time.
A coin is the finisher’s award. I, personally, would prefer a medal. But, coins are the Army’s way. LOL
Good job, runners! Maybe I’ll join you next year.

It really is an honor to run the Army 10 Miler. It’s hard to rate it less than 4 stars based on the fact that it’s the freaking Army 10 Miler! But there are a few things that I think bug me about it
1) Their whole «no headphones» rule. I know this is a huge debate among runners, but hey. I like my music. In fact, I wrote a paper in grad school on the effect of music on sports performance. The headphones rule is not enforced. I heard stories of people being asked to take them off, but I didn’t see anyone along the course being asked to take them off. Nor did I see anyone being patted down at the start. I used mine the whole way: I’ll say it. So did a lot of other people. What I found more annoying was people stopping along the course to take SELIFES with their phones. That’s a whole ‘nother story.
2) The finishers food was so awful in comparison to other races I’ve run. I mean, really.
3) WALKING BACK TO THE METRO AFTER THE RACE IS OVER! Like Sahar mentioned, it really is an extra mile or so back to the start. Lame
4) This is not the biggest 10 miler in the country. That belongs to the Broad Street 10 Miler in Philly, which I run every year (lottery permitting) I think I stayed up until 1am trying to register for this race. I wouldn’t be surprised if this race goes to a lottery in the future.
Those are my biggest negatives about the run. Still, it’s the army 10 miler and it was an honor to run. There were plenty of positives: plenty of port-​a-​potties, beautiful scenery, the feeling of accomplishment…

The Army Ten Miler takes my breath away.
Cue song (
).
Literally.
Yesterday was my second attempt at running the Army Ten Miler. My first attempt was in 2010, I had an asthma attack and found metro at mile 3 to go to urgent care. This year, I was determined to finish, although I had tight lungs and difficulties early on. I don’t know what it is about this race or the time of year, it’s weird cause I only have issues with asthma only twice in the last decade, so maybe I’m allergic to men in uniforms (in that case I’m jumping off a bridge now cause that makes me sad), or maybe unbeknownst to my knowledge the race course is filled with dust and cat dander (only two triggers I can think of).
Overall, I’m glad I at least finished and would have to say it’s well run and well organized race. But let’s break this down into the official rules, the good and the bad:
Rules:
–Mobile phones, mp3 players, ipods, and headphones are prohibited. No joke. There are security checks and you are subject to so they may find these items and make you check them in. I saw people stopped for headphones on the course too. I suggest you bring your own pedometer, because although they say they have mile markers for every mile, no one in my wave saw signs for the first three miles, I had to ask someone with a pedometer where I was. I felt so lost without my run keeper app on my iphone.
–Bag check in requires that you use the clear plastic bags they provide. You will need to dump out the contents of any purse or bag into the plastic bag.
–The race is organized by waves by pace, you can move down a wave to a slower pace but not move up.
The Good:
It’s just awe inspiring to run one of the world’s largest ten mile races along side wounded warriors, ROTC, and Santa Claus.
The course is as flat as can be.
The Army volunteers are amazing. Little do people know that many of them have been there since 1:30 am setting up, and by the time our wave rolled around they were getting a little loopy and hilarious on their megaphones. They joked about getting the water from the Potomac, warned against peeing off course etc. etc.
This race is loaded with spectators, with clever signs. The runners were actually thanking them for coming out, and then they were thanking us, it was just a race of shiny, happy people all around.
The bands along the way are even good (they never played Journey! YES!)
Tons of people who saw me running in a Red Sox cap shouted predictions about them winning the world series. I love you all.
My friend found me at the finish line, and didn’t cheer for the wrong person this year!!!
The Bad:
–The last two miles are a let down and utterly boring. I would have killed for some music or entertainment at this point other than a witnessing a road rage incident on the 14^th street bridge. There are no spectators, and it’s along side a highway. The finish line will not come into sight until you are few feet away.
–It’s a healthy twenty minute walk from the finish line to the start line, and there are no signs to tell how to get back to where you started. There are shuttles available though.
–Because this event is so popular, expect lines for everything, getting on the metro, getting off the metro, getting through security to go into the corrals, bag check, shuttles and food/​water at the end. I would recommend adding time to travel to accommodate.
–Although the packet picket at the Stadium Armory is pretty efficient and they offer free parking, I would recommend never driving there. The traffic is awful, the lots are often full and the DC parking enforcement is out in full force ticketing (just walking up to the stadium I saw an entire row of cars with pink tickets although the signs indicated it was ok to park at those hours). Metro is the right way to go.
I would say this is one of the must do DC races, I might need a lung transplant to do it again but Hooah!

Ever since the 11.3 mile debacle a number of years ago, the Army 10-​Miler team continues to look for ways to screw up a great race. Moving the start to the other side of the Pentagon was not an improvement and moving the finish around to the River Entrance instead of coming off of I395 is demoralizing (you can’t even see the finish until you are right on it). This year having to, again walk all the way around the Pentagon on busy Hwy 110 instead of fixing the problem and finding a way to allow finishers easy access to the N Parking lot from the finish is still a mess. Standing in line to sit down and ride a shuttle after a 10mile race is not the answer. I hope it isn’t going to take a runner or spectator getting hit on 110 for organizers to realize they have a problem. I keep running this race (10+ years) more out of fascination for what will be screwed up next than anything else. The Marines manage to do 26.2 miles every year without a hitch but the Army manages to screw up 10 miles almost without fail

My first time running the ATM and it was pretty fun. It was about 50 degrees in the morning but if you’re in two layers, you should be fine. The metro began running at 5 AM and was on time so I had no trouble getting in.
I loved the corrals because they really got the paces correct. Everyone was racing at a similar pace, which made running with 30k runners not too crowded (though you can definitely notice the size compared to other races).
Because ipods were strictly forbidden on the course — though some runners chanced it anyway — I could have been more bored but the changes in scenery (from the Pentagon to the national mall and the two highways) kept the boredom at bay. Also, awesome, upbeat band at mile 6 – 7.
Except for the slanted highway on mile 8, the course is great and pretty flat. This coupled with the slightly chilly but sunny weather allowed me to PR.
My only complaint is that there were no markers at the finish to guide the runners back to the metro. Because the start and finish were at different points of the Pentagon, I ended up walking about 25 minutes with other runners to go all the way around the Pentagon to find the metro, which was sort of a damper to the finish.
Nonetheless, thankful that the shutdown was over on time for us to run the original course.

The ATM is by far my favorite race (and has been since before I joined the Army, now maybe moreso). A great course through DC that starts and ends at the Pentagon, relatively flat and unquestionably patriotic. They also seem to learn from their mistakes and at this time they are also the gold standard for race organization that I have seen, starting things correctly, watering us well and overall just taking good care of the runners.
I do however wish they would revise the course and bring back the Capitol loop, it was the part I missed from the 2012 race…

You probably wouldn’t expect someone to be hella proud for coming in 13,947^th place, but man am I proud! Given it’s a race of 31,000 and I didn’t train *at all*, finishing without a broken knee was more than I expected, and having not walked at all and coming in at a respectable 10-​minute mile pace was icing, sprinkles and candles on the cake.
There’s always gotta be a little awkwardness to every race. When I ran the Honolulu Marathon, the runner finishing immediately in front of me was in a head-​to-​toe furry reindeer costume. Yes, I got beat by Rudolph. And during this race, my first Army Ten Miler, I got beat by a guy playing a flute… while he ran… the entire ten miles. But this flutist was my hero. He kept me going from mile three to mile six with his enthusiastic playing. The Army Song was my favorite number, though he mixed it up with other patriotic toons and some classics like It’s a Small World and If You’re Happy and You Know It. Had I kept up with him a little further, I’m sure he would have started serenading me:
Run, run, run, run
Oh runner, don’t you dare slow down
Go longer, you can last more miles
Push harder, you’re almost there now
So go runner, make this flutist proud
And when we’re done
You won’t be able to feel your legs
And when we’re done
You’re gonna need bengay all over you, lady
You can’t stop there
Finish line’s all the way at the Pentagon
And you’re almost there
You can do it, I believe in you, Soldier
So close from here
Runner, I’ma be your motivation
Run, run, run, run
Motivation
Run, run, run, run
At this point I suppose I would have turned into Lil’ Wayne but then the race probably would have ended quite differently. Instead, I did without my Motivation and endured the last four miles, passing the Washington Monument, circling the Department of Agriculture, and the final uphill mile, alone (albeit still surrounded by 30,999 of my best friends), before finishing the race back at the Pentagon where we started. Unfortunately, there was one thing worse than nearly turning into Lil’ Wayne: there were no bananas at the food tents. Packaged muffins and bagels were the only options, though sliced bananas and oranges would have been my preference.
Many thanks to all the volunteers, particularly the ones liberally handing out bottled water in the finish chute. Many congratulations to all of my fellow runners. And a special thank you to Justin, the best cheerleader and gear holder Brianna and I could ask for!

I like to run. I love the Army Ten-​Miler. My beaten up, old body isn’t up to running the Marine Corp Marathon, but the Army Ten-​Miler is the perfect distance for me. This was my third Ten-​Miler and, while there are still areas for improvement, each year event organizers have listened to participants’ feedback and the race has gotten better with regards to organization and execution.
The Good: The course is always amazing and, even with a couple of deviations from the previous two years’ courses, this year was no exception! For a run in an urban setting, nothing beats running through the streets of DC without fear of being run over by a crazy cabbie, disoriented tourist, or Presidential motorcade. Also good was the organization of the start corrals for each wave. Last year, it was a complete clusterf***. This time, it was easy to find and get to where you needed to be to start at your proper time. Finally, the race finish line was better placed this year, as well. Last year, the race ended in an odd choke point, which caused massive congestion at the finish line. They moved it back this year and it was much, much better.
The Bad: The placement of porta-​johns in the start corral area was horrible. I recognize that there were approx. 25,000 runners in a confined area. Many of them will have to or elect to relieve themselves prior to the start of the race. It sure beats making a quick exit off of the course and peeing behind a bush! Either the corrals for each wave were built too large, which resulted in there not being sufficient space for putting the long row of porta-​johns, or the porta-​johns simply needed to be sited elsewhere. Regardless, it was chaotic around the porta-​johns as people couldn’t form up in a organized line resulting in longer than expected waits.
The Ugly: I ran this year’s Ten-​Miler slower than last year’s although I trained more this year than last. Ugh!

Yea, this race is well develop and well organize; also, by any change no one knows where or from who I can get a bib for this year’s run?
Thanks!

What an emotional experience! This was my first year running the Army Ten-​Miler and I am already counting down until next year. This was the largest race I’ve participated in, and it was very well-​run and organized and so inspirational. The only cons were the bottleneck finish-​line and the fact that they ran out of all small and medium shirts on the second day when picked up my packet. Minor inconveniences for participating in this unique amazing event.

I’ve been running this race for years, and it is one of the most organized race I’ve ran (& this year’s race felt much better organized than my hometown NYRRC events!) and it has been improving every year.
2011 was different scene with new course, longer walk to start line & back from finish line. I liked that coral system was enforced better this year (less slower runners pilling up like driving behind grand-​ma driver on highway) and start wasn’t so crazy like years before.
Drawback was water station, especially after finish. Where’s water?! Eventually I got to water station but tad long jog.
Always sell out within hours, world largest 10miler event.
I find the event more civvies race than what it used to be army race, which is ok (I don’t see too many troops running with 40lbs pack, simply because race officials won’t allow)
Hooah.

I just ran this for the first time yesterday, and overall I thought it was a fun, well-​organized race. I loved that they offered packet pickup over the course of two days; I went Friday afternoon, and there were absolutely no lines, which made packet pickup extremely fast, and expo shopping easy.
As for the race itself, they did a good job of getting all 30,000 people started close to on time. They ran a few minutes behind, but I’ve definitely seen much smaller races run further behind schedule. The course was relatively flat, and went by a bunch of monuments. Unfortunately, we were packed pretty tight all through the race. Whenever the crowd seemed to spread out, the course would narrow, leading to us being packed in tight again. I did like the out and back on Independence though, as it gave you a chance to see friends who were either ahead of or behind you, since mile 5.5 to about 6.5 ran parallel to mile 6.5−7.5. It was definitely awesome to run alongside injured soldiers running on prosthetics… that’s incredibly impressive on their part, and anyone who isn’t inspired by that probably lacks a soul.
A couple complaints (other than the crowding, which is probably unavoidable). Several of the rest stops ran out of gatorade by the time I got there, and I was right around the middle, so they must not have planned for the sheer number of runners. They did have water available though. Also, the finish was an absolute mess. After crossing the finish line, it took about 20 minutes to get out of the finish chute, and being cramped in a tight place without water with a bunch of smelly sweaty people who just finished a 10 mile race isn’t exactly a fun way to finish. The finish festival wasn’t as fun as at other races, but you don’t really do the army 10 miler for the finish festivities. One last complaint… getting back to the metro was a bitch. It seemed the only way to get back without getting in the way of people still running was to climb over the highway dividing fence. Not a huge deal, but it seems like that could have been more well thought out. Overall, a fun race though, and I’d definitely consider doing it again next year.

The «ATM» is a great race. Well organized. Good pre– and post-​race support. Great course, starting and ending at the Pentagon and passing nearly every major downtown DC landmark. I’ve run it three of the last four years and had a great experience every time. If anything, it’s getting too popular since it sells out faster every year.

I have been running in races for five years now, starting with a 5k and working my way up to a half marathon. Yesterday was the third year in a row that I have participated in the Army Ten Miler. This is my favorite race to do and I love being a part of the largest ten mile race in the country.
It is very emotional to be surrounded by those that have served our country and to run with the soldiers that have prosthetic legs. I feel so proud to be a part of this country and running in this race is such a great experience. With 30,000 runners, you are never alone. While you are running the race you are SURROUNDED by runners and everyone keeps each other motivated to keep going and there are so many spectators along the way cheering everyone on.
The course is great, it’s not too hilly and there are amazing historic views along the way. My favorite parts are across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and the views of the Washington Monument. I also love miles 5 through 8 because you are passing other runners and I like to look for friends and family that I know are also running the race. It keeps me motivated to run faster so they don’t see me slacking!
Soldiers are at every water stop handing out water and Gatorade and it is so nice to see them along the whole course. This is a race I highly recommend to other runners. Registration is in April, but you need to do it right away. 30,000 spots filled up in less than 48 hours!

For me, the thing that sets the ATM apart from other races is the sense of camaraderie and purpose among the runners, organizers and volunteers. Since it’s organized and staffed by the Army, you almost feel more patriotic just taking part in it; plus, it’s nice to support good military causes. There are tons of military/​ROTC runners, some running in honor of fallen soldiers, and others running as wounded warriors themselves (including a large number with prosthetic legs, which is totally bad-​ass and unique among my experience with organized races), and plenty of civilians of all ages.
Even though the ATM is just a foot race, it serves as a reminder for everyone taking part that the men and women of our military sacrifice their lives every day protecting our country and that the wars we engage in have real consequences. We spend so much time focusing on stuff that doesn’t really matter, like celebrity gossip and political mudslinging that it’s nice to take some time to remember what is really important in life and to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy in this country thanks to the support from our troops.
From a runner’s standpoint, the course is excellent, offering very moderate graded hills, a wide open field and amazing and inspiring views of the Potomac and the Mall including Capitol Hill. There is also a pavilion set up at the end with exhibitors, food, live music, military demonstrations, and the like. Even with 30,000 runners, I thought the volunteers were very organized. Being in October, the weather can be hit and miss, but is usually pleasantly cool for most runners.

This race is HUGE!!! (Fun fact is that it is the largest 10 miler in the world) The only other race that I’ve been part of a race this big was the Marine Corps Marathon, but I never had a vantage point during MCM like I did at this one, and it’s truly a site to be at top of the on-​ramp looking down at thousands of anticipatory runners getting ready to cross that starting line. There is a lot of elbow knocking the fist couple of miles, but soon enough (after mile 3) you will find a crew of your own to unofficially run with at roughly the same pace. The packet pick up is great, and nicely organized. And the post race area is nice and roomy, perfect for any of those runners that feel the urge to sit down. What I loved about the race though was the fan friendly route. Lots of people, lots of cheering, lots of motivation to make myself push through it all. And if that wasn’t enough, the site of our amazing veterans running with prosthetic limbs will put a tear in your eye and that much more spring in your step.
This race is wonderful, the sentimental value alone of running side by side with some of America’s greatest men and women (our troops) makes it great, if only I didn’t have to step on so many toes to get up to my pace.

I’ve been a runner for years and this is by far one of the better organized races I have had the pleasure to run. This should be on any DC area runner’s «Must Run» list. It’s a great tune-​up race for Marine Corps Marathon. Usually held the first weekend of October — always has great weather, great volunteers and a cool military coin at the end.

The Army Ten-​Miler is an annual ten-​mile race beginning and ending at the Pentagon and sponsored by the US Army. It has a lot of good features, and a fabulous route through the District.
On Oct. 7, 2007, in conditions of heat and high humidity, the organizers ran out of water for the runners. However, on Oct 8 they told the AP and USA Today that they had supplied plenty of water to the runners.
NOW they’ve changed the story. Oct. 9 Washington Post says: «Yonts [the army spokesman] said that although race organizers anticipated a huge water demand for the record 26,000 runners registered for the annual event, water and Gatorade ran out at the six-​mile mark water station, and demand at the eight-​mile mark station at one point outpaced race workers’ ability to refill cups.»