course guides runners down popular M Street in Georgetown. Runners turn on Wisconsin Avenue and then K Street before looping under K street onto Rock Creek Parkway. The course proceeds approximately 2.5 miles north on Rock Creek Parkway before turning back, then passing the Kennedy Center. Runners then pass the back of the Lincoln Memorial before continuing on Ohio Drive into Hains Point at the halfway point. Outside West Potomac Park, runners get a glimpse of the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin. On Independence Avenue, competitors run by the newly unveiled Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial and FDR Memorial. The runners loop back along Independence Avenue on the side closest to the National Mall and the Korean War Veterans Memorial and National World War II Memorial before making a left turn onto 15th Street at the Washington Monument. At Madison Drive, runners pass the north side of the National Mall, running by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art. After a loop around the reflecting pool in front of the U.S. Capitol, runners continue along the south side of the National Mall past the Smithsonian Castle. Runners move along Jefferson Drive and turn onto the 14th Street to marathon's "Beat the Bridge" checkpoint at mile 20 before returning to Virginia. For the last 10 kilometers, runners enjoy the color and energy of Crystal City. At the Pentagon, runners pass in close proximity to the Pentagon Memorial honoring the victims of 9/11. Finally, the course unfurls alongside the Arlington National Cemetery then offers a final, up-hill challenge to the finish at the Marine Corps War Memorial. This finish has remained unchanged since the inaugural running of the MCM in 1976. MCM Weekend MCM10K In 2006, the Marine Corps Marathon introduced the MCM10K, a run starting at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The MCM10K and MCM begin simultaneously with MCM10K runners joining the final leg of the marathon course, sharing in the iconic finish up the hill to the Marine Corps War Memorial. Since its inception, the MCM10K has steadily increased in popularity. In 2012, the event sold out with 10,000 registered runners. In 2011 a new MCM10K course record was set by Reuben Mwei, a native of the Kenya residing in Acworth, GA. His finishing time of 00:30:37 crushed the previous record of 00:32:54 set by Wyatt Boyd of Washington, DC, in