The MCM course

Off Route 110 between the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, heading out on Richmond Highway. The road tilts up from the first step and keeps tilting for another mile and three quarters, so let the fast starters go.

North on Langston Boulevard, then Wilson Boulevard and North Lynn Street into Rosslyn under 1812 North Moore. This is the steepest piece of the opening climb and it arrives before you are warm: run it by effort and ignore the watch.

Back along Langston and onto Spout Run Parkway, still grinding upward. The climb tops out three quarters of the way through this mile and the course finally starts handing something back.

Spout Run spills onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway and gives back everything you just climbed in a single mile. Free speed, but pounding it here is a bill that comes due at Hains Point.

Across the Francis Scott Key Bridge and into Georgetown on M Street Northwest. The bridge ramps up before it flattens, and the buildings tightening in make it easy to run that ramp harder than you meant to.

Down Wisconsin Avenue and K Street Northwest, then out onto Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. Georgetown is the busiest the course gets for a while and the road is falling, which is exactly when an honest pace feels too easy.

Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, tree cover overhead, level road underfoot. Settle in, because the next several miles are the flattest running of the day and they are yours to bank or waste.

Still on the parkway, another arch span underfoot, still nothing in the grade. A quiet stretch with few spectators, so bring your own rhythm to it.

One more arch bridge on the parkway, sheltered and shaded the whole way. The mile asks nothing of you, which is precisely its value.

The parkway swings out past the Watergate Complex and the city opens up around you. Double digits on flat ground: sort your fluids now, before the exposed miles begin.

Past the Lincoln Memorial onto Ohio Drive, with a bite of Independence Avenue Southwest. The parkway shade ends here and most of what remains is open sky.

West Basin Drive and Ohio Drive along the Potomac, dead level. This is the Blue Mile, photographs of the fallen and then a silent corridor of flags: run it as it deserves and pick the pace back up afterward.

Ohio Drive and West Basin Drive, pointed out toward Hains Point. Flat, exposed and honest, which means whatever pace you hold here is the pace you actually have.

Halfway arrives on Ohio Drive Southwest with water on both sides. Do the split math now, because the back half of this course is a different animal than the front.

Deeper into Hains Point on Ohio Drive, flat and wide, wind off the river and thin crowds. This is where the race goes quiet, so have something ready to tell yourself.

Ohio Drive gives way to 15th Street and Maine Avenue Southwest, and the road tips upward for the first time in ages. It is a small rise, but at this hour your legs will file a complaint about it.

Maine Avenue and 15th Street feed onto Independence Avenue Southwest, back among monuments and people. There is no grade to speak of, so spend the noise rather than the legs.

Up 15th Street and onto Madison Drive along the National Mall, past the Smithsonian Castle. Straight, wide and well watched, and the mile moves if you let the buildings pull you along.

Jefferson Drive, a slice of Pennsylvania Avenue and Maryland Avenue Southwest around the east end of the Mall. Essentially level, and the last unpressured mile before the day's real deadline.

Back down Jefferson Drive onto 14th Street Southwest, past the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This is Beat the Bridge, and the road leans very slightly downhill to help you make the cutoff.

Out onto the 14th Street bridge, the 395 express lanes and the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway back into Virginia. No shade, almost no spectators, and a long slow rise: pick off one runner at a time instead of staring at the far end.

Off the highway onto Army Navy Drive, 12th Street South and South Eads Street into Crystal City. Barely any grade, and you are back among buildings and crowds, which is worth real seconds this late.

Flat running on Crystal Drive and 12th Street South through Crystal City. It is loud and close in here, the best place left on the course to borrow energy you no longer have.

Crystal Drive turns onto Long Bridge Drive and the road leans downhill. Take every foot of it: two miles remain and this is the last free speed on offer.

North Boundary Drive and Long Bridge Drive onto the Pentagon Access Road, level and stark. Nothing much to look at, so break the mile into pieces and keep the cadence honest.

Richmond Highway again, then the access road ramp up to the Marine Corps War Memorial. The finish climbs and it is short, with a Marine at the top holding your medal: run the hill, sit down later.