Dear Participant,

Thank you for entering Potomac River Run Marathon and Half
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In this week after the Boston Marathon bombings, we pause to remember those lost and injured last Monday, to offer our best wishes for the peace and promise that marathons represent, and to thank our first responders for their compassion and our nation's law enforcement team for their professionalism.

As you know, we closed registration on March 1. This past week, we received many requests from runners who were unable to complete the Boston Marathon and from others inspired to test themselves at the marathon distance. With great sadness, we declined those requests, but we do plan three more marathons in 2013:

o Grant-Pierce Indoor Marathon, Sunday, July 14, starting at 9 AM at Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington VA. See www.racepacket.com/tidalbasin/marathon.html. Note: Boston Athletic Association currently does not allow runners to qualify for Boston Marathon at indoor marathons, but we are working on that problem)

o We will add a full marathon option to the existing Abebe Bikila Day International Peace Half Marathon on Saturday, September 14, starting at 9 AM on the C&O Canal Towpath in Georgetown. This course includes about 5 miles of our May 5 course. Registration is not open yet, but we will open registration by this time next week at www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/bikila

o We host the 10½th annual Potomac River Run Marathon in memory of Dean Shulman, the late past president of Safety And Health Foundation, on Sunday, November 17, starting at 8 AM and 9 AM at Carderock Recreation Area, also on the C&O Canal Towpath. Registration is not open yet, but we hope to open registration by this time next week at www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/runfordean. You may view last year's web page at www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/marathon/20121118.php

For our upcoming marathon and half on Sunday, May 5, you may still register for the Red Top Cab taxi ride from Key Bridge Marriott, 1401 Lee Highway, Arlington VA, to Fletcher's Cove and to Lock 5. The first cabs depart at 6:00 AM, running till about 6:30 AM. Please see www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?event_id=2068061 to sign up for the cab ride. After you finish, many other runners will be driving back towards Key Bridge, and we'll provide signs "Need ride to Key Bridge" and "Offering ride to Key Bridge" and make frequent announcements over the PA system.

Parking at Fletcher's Cove is limited to about 20 cars near Canal Road and about 150 cars near the Potomac River. You enter the riverside parking area by descending through a one-lane tunnel on the right after you turn left from westbound Canal Road into Fletcher's Cove.

Note: the right turn into Fletcher's Cove from eastbound Canal Road is very difficult. We encourage you to come from Key Bridge westbound to get to Fletcher's, rather than from Chain Bridge eastbound.

We will have a volunteer monitoring the riverside parking area. When it's full, the volunteer will move to the entrance to Fletcher's Cove on Canal Road with a sign saying "Turn right on Reservoir Road for more parking." Intersecting Reservoir Road are three small streets: V Street NW, Bending Lane, and Hutchins Place. You may park on any of those streets or at The River School. Beyond those streets is MacArthur Boulevard, with hundreds of free parking spaces on the street and near various commercial buildings closed on Sundays. The walk from MacArthur Boulevard down Reservoir Road is about 0.5 miles. See this map.

If you want to avoid parking issues, please take the cab.

We have an open ride-share request on our Facebook page. James Sheesley (jpsheesley@hotmail.com, 202-290-6592) seeks a ride from Rockville / Gaithersburg. Please contact him directly. Please use our Facebook page to share transportation.

We talked with National Park Service about security concerns. We agreed to discourage the use of duffel bags or backpacks to store your personal belonging during the race. Please leave those at home or in your car. We agreed that you may bring warm-up clothing as needed, and we will provide plastic bags for storage. Mark your plastic bag with your bib number when you check it in at our bag-check table. Please don't check valuable items. We agreed to position our bag-check table away from our gathering area at the picnic tables at Fletcher's Cove.

We also agreed to position official trash boxes on both sides of each aid station at Fletcher's Cove, Lock 5, Lock 7, and Lock 10, and also 10 meters, 20 meters, and 30 meters away on each side of each aid station. Please dispose of all trash such as paper cups and banana peels -- and especially empty energy gel packets -- in those official trash boxes. We want to leave the campground cleaner than we found it.

We are grateful to our sponsors and vendors:

o Dan Kain Trophies for printing our medals

o SportScience for printing our t-shirts

o Don's Johns for delivering our portable toilets to Fletcher's Cove, Lock 5, Lock 7, and Lock 10

o Road Runner Sports and Georgetown Running Company for hosting our packet pick-up and providing awards

o Spira Footwear, Big Wheel Bikes, Metro 29 Diner, and Falls Road Running Store for providing more awards

o Cosi Restaurant for hosting our our Kentucky Derby watching party and our pre-race dinner

o Whole Foods Market, Honest Tea, PowerBar, and Mario's Pizza House for donating our post-race picnic

o Red Top Cab for providing race-day transportation -- If you are flying into Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA), we encourage you to use Red Top Cab to get to your destination. Call 703-522-3333 to have a Red Top Cab waiting for you upon arrival

o BuyABrickFoundation Team Africa.com, Capital Area Runners, DC Capital Striders, and Clean Air Partners for serving as volunteers

o Clean Air Partners (in honor of Air Quality Awareness Week) and Dr. Myles Schneider DPM (703-750-1124) for sponsoring our event

We have been working diligently to keep our registration data up-to-date when our entrants as for start time changes or distance changes. Please take a moment to confirm your registration status -- enter the e-mail address you used when you registered. Active.com automatically sends you a copy of your data as we currently store it. Please let us know any corrections or updates.

We hope for a lovely, safe, and enjoyable day on May 5, and we look forward to hosting you.

-- Jay Jacob Wind, director

-- Safety And Health Foundation