The fifth annual Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon gets underway at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. It starts and finishes at the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center in Celebrate Virginia. The event will cause rolling closures on many local roads, some for more than an hour at a time. Fredericksburg Police will have several dozen officers on patrol and the Marines will assist them with traffic control. They do remind people, especially those heading to several churches along the route, to allow extra time or to take an alternate route and to pack their patience. The race will be completely over by 11:00 a.m., but the 8,000 runners, spectators and other visitors will keep traffic in the area bust throughout much of the weekend.
As part of the Historic Half, the Healthy Lifestyle Expo is also underway at the Expo Center. It runs until 8:00 p.m. Friday night and from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. It is there that all of the runners are required to register before the face and pick up their bib and other materials. The event is also open to the public and free to attend. A number of vendors will be on hand with information on running exercise, diet and a healthy lifestyle. Shuttles will run from there into downtown Fredericksburg throughout the day on Saturday, into the early evening hours.
For more on the race and events surrounding it around Fredericksburg this weekend, visit www.marinemarathon.com.
