The West Side

Of DC - though I thought about the West Side of New York while I was running.

Mainly because the two look so different.

After yesterday's cramping, I was nervous for today's run. But I was feeling better, and had organized the run, so I decided to go for it.

History and another person from Georgetown-an LLM student-joined me, though the LLM student had to turn back a bit over halfway to ensure that she was back to campus in time for a make-up class.

We ran down 1st Street NW to Independence, where we turned right and went by the Smithsonians.

After a bit of confusion, we managed to run around to the bridge just past the Lincoln Memorial that takes us onto the path running by the Watergate. From there, onto Rock Creek Park Trail.

Green on one side, almost highway on the other. Weird.

It meanders, then, through some more park-like places - and goes up some serious hills - before getting around to the Zoo.

From the Zoo, History and I decided to wend our way a bit after surviving the GINORMOUS hill on Harvard Street.

I've only ever run it the other way. I recommend running it TOWARDS the ZOO, and not away from it!

Sigh. Very rough.

So we ran down 16th Street to Meridian Park and through the park.
Luckily, we were able to avoid the massive sets of stairs that would make an awesome stair workout, were one so inclined. I am not!

After saying "Hi!" to Joan of Arc, minus her sword, we waved to Dante and Buchannan before exiting and crossing over to Florida Avenue.

Taking Florida Avenue over to 10th, we got to tour Howard's campus.

I love that campus: it's a real campus in the heart of a city.

Exiting the campus, we wended our way around to 1st Street NW, which we took down basically back to Georgetown Law campus, then turned right onto Massachussets.

History had to do some more miles to get her long run in, so she sped off to other locales.

Wonderful company and a good run.

She drinks almost no water and doesn't eat during a long run, though. I'll have to disabuse her of those habits!

And, the more someone else drinks, the more I get to stop for "water breaks". Heh

A Little Bit Faster

For me, anyway. The two guys I was running with were really "taking it easy". But I'll take faster where I can get it.

Who knows if we even broke 8/mile but I got my breathing and heart rate up, at least, which I havne't really been doing.

Humidity dripping, we sweated and chatted our way around the Lincoln Memorial.

Another former college track guy running today. Who knows how fast I might have been had I run track in high school instead of smoking?

Tough we didn't have a track. And I'd still have been slow. Hmmmm.

Might need to rethink that fantasy.

Cramping up a bit now, though, so I'll take it easy on the couch while doing some classwork.

Nice run.

ABCD's of Running

Awake, barely, I hit the snooze in the patchwork dark while my cat meowed in the background.
With a start, I jolted out of bed about 10 minutes later. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" I muttered to myself, swiping my cat with my leg as I stumble over to the kitchen.
Having to put a lot of lights on in the morning again.
Signs of fall.

Birds or bats - I don't know and don't care - swooped and clacked and chattered overhead in a whirling swirling fun ride upside-down apple turnover dizzy sort of way. It was still dark. But I made it. Just in time. I sweated quietly in the humidity as I waited for the others.

Conversation about running clubs commenced. Similar personalities seem to populate different running clubs. Lack of delegation schitzophrenically combined with too many time demands was leaving on of the board members of a DC running club confused and disallusioned. Oh, and conversation about Jenny Craig and diets. I learned a lot.

Downpour just after leaving History at Lincoln and R St NE. With so little mileage to go and feeling great after a slow run, I reveled in it. Rain licking over my shoelaces, slapping me on the butt and gushing through my skirt. Like running in North Carolina with Party Girl, laughing while the water filled our eyes, mouths and shorts.

There was a bit of lightning and thunder at the end but I was a big girl and braved it. I was almost home, anyway.

The rain stopped as I went through my front door.

About 8 1/2 miles.

Expanding

And not just in size! I added another run with the Wednesday group this morning.

After getting back late from Baltimore, it was hard to get up. In the dark.

Vivacious Redhead, where are you for motivation when I need it?!

But I did it. And barely made the meet-up in Stanton Park, over on E and 4th St. NE.

Some people I hadn't met were also there. That was neat. And we ran much more slowly than we have been when it is just History and Economics Geek with me.
A bit too slow but, then again, maybe that's good. I keep on forgetting how slowly I run now, which leads to some breathless runs-not the best idea!

Over to 2nd Street then left on N to arrive at the stairs for the MBT. Up that almost to the end and then a turn-around to go back.

Muggy muggy muggy.

More history discussions and some law discussions. One woman also goes to Georgetown while working on the Hill, while another is in politics.

Interesting. Then, after reaching the park, I turned around and joined History and another woman to run up to L, then left over to Florida Avenue and then right up Lincoln Rd to R.

Whew! Uphill! And History picked up the pace when it was just us!

A breather as I ran right onto R and dead-ended in the MBT again. Then down to N street, where I turned right and then left onto 1st Street NE.

People-watching near the train station got me through to Massachusetts Avenue and then home.

About 10 miles. I feel better than Saturday. Less hills and a lot less pace for most of the run.

How slow will I get?

Fitting One In

"Ok.....Two more pages......"

I was racing the train timetable yesterday while I tried to finish my Contracts homework: the only homework I managed to do all weekend.

I need to cut down on activities! And maybe sleep.

But not right now! I had a dinner to go to! With people I hadn't seen for a long time. In Baltimore.

So I managed to squeeze in a run down 1st Street NW to the Mall, then around the Mall and around the Washington Monument and over to the Lincoln Memorial.
Instead of running around the Memorial, I stopped and got water.
This humidity has really been bothering me of late. My body is all screwy here in D.C.
Back around and back down to 1st, then back up to Massachusetts Avenue and home.
A bit less than 6 miles.
Then, running, racing, last-call-all-aboard-no-ticket-yet whew! I'm on the train.
On the Mall, they've been having a lot of kickball games and softball games.
The softball games make me nervous: it looks like they are using actual softballs.
You'd think, in a city with this many lawyers, that would have been deemed a "bad idea".

Question of the week: what's the difference between a Monument and a Memorial? Ideas?

Pennsylvania the Delicious

Saturday was a banner day.

Sure, I didn't get homework done. So not in terms of responsibility or work ethic.

But it was in terms of food!

Xena and I got to go up to her mom's house for a family dinner. And the in-laws would be there. Which means that the extra-super-delicious food would be more extra-super-delicious and more plentiful.

I wore a caftan equivalent, just to make sure I could fit it all in.

In preparation, I knew I needed to do some running: otherwise, how would I ever manage to fit in that extra serving of soup after the cheese and olive tray and the veggies? Oh, and dessert. And candy.....
Yep. A run was a must.

So I got up early and drove to downtown Baltimore.

Parking on Charles at Friends School, I ran up Charles to Lake Avenue. Took a left on Lake, then left onto Roland Avenue. Up a steep incline before getting to bask in some downhill: I don't think I've gotten up the courage to do this part of the run the opposite way: so many hills!

Past my brothers' old school and Roland Park, then across Coldspring and down onto University, where I encountered some more uphills on the way to St. Paul's Street. Right onto St. Paul's and then down to 33rd, where I took a left to go to the Reservoir.

Then, the same thing happened that happened when the Vivacious Redhead and I were running in Baltimore: I started getting passed in the opposite direction by runners. A LOT of them.

And, just like last time, Baltimore runners have NO sense of other pedestrians - maybe they don't see enough of them? I had to keep jumping out of the way as people didn't look up or didn't think to move over to let someone else pass.
And they weren't going that fast. And it wasn't a race: it was a tune-up run for the Baltimore marathon.
I got peeved enough I told one of the water station volunteers about it when I got to Lake Montebello.
Not that it will likely make a difference, but it made me feel better.
Anyway, did a nice loop around the lake, though the humidity was really getting to me by this point.
Back up 33rd and then a right onto Charles Street.

Something new I learned: Charles turns into Charlecote for one block where I normally run on it. Charles, itself, is one block over. I've been around Baltimore all my life and didn't know that until this weekend!
I struggled a bit up the hill to Coldspring, and again up past Loyola and Notre Dame back to the car.

about 11 1/4 but slow.

Tired but ready for that delicious, delicious food.

Though I still hadn't recovered from the week before. Saturday night, Xena came down to my house and then had to fend for herself as I could barely drag myself through the door to bed.
Another almost 10 hours of sleep.
Why am I so dragg-y?!

In Excess

Too much.

Too much work, too many other commitments.

Too much.

Last week = too much.

Tuesday, I missed the group run, yet again, working against the clock to finish my homework for Wednesday. I think I'll have to put that group run in the dust pile. Sad because it was one I really enjoyed. But maybe it and the Saturday run can keep each other company until I get them out and wipe them off again.

Even after working until midnight and getting up at 4:30am to start again, I had to give up at about 9:00am.

First time I didn't get all my homework done. It wasn't a good feeling. And I was on call in class for the week!

But I got through that. Wednesday, after missing yet another group run in the morning, I squeezed in a Jillian workout with Xena later than I've worked out in years: about 8:45pm, before heading off for dinner and another late night after studying.

Thursday morning, I managed to drag myself awake for the Georgetown group run. First run since Monday.

That sort of time break makes me nervous: I feel like I'm at the point where, like lifting the ox, you need to go running every day or almost everyday, else you won't be able to do it anymore.

I'm the ox, in this analogy. Which means I'm lifting myself. Weird but possibly apt.

We did a great run: around the FDR Memorial and back around the Mall. I had been to the FDR Memorial without realizing it, with the Tuesday group. Now I know another way to get to the Iwo Jima Memorial, too!

It was a small group, with only two other people. But at least I got some company. I've been missing the company on runs a lot.

Here's where it all caught up to me, though. Thursday night found me asleep on the couch by 8:30pm.

Friday morning, bye bye run, cleaning and other chores: that got flushed along with my hearing, apparently. I slept through 3 alarms to finally rise at 8:30am, 12 hours later.

Too much. And this weekend seems like more of the same. Good too muches, this time, but too much everything nonetheless.

Moving somewhere where I know people has a lot of ups but it also leads to some overcommittments.

And I need to figure out how to do my homework faster. At this rate, I'll spend all my time doing that and no time doing fun stuff.

Plus, I need to keep lifting that ox.

Despite Amtrak

I managed to get a run in today! Yay!

The regular Amtrak, on the weekends, is like a bus with a snack car. It stops just about everywhere and the bathrooms smell about as bad.

I'm spoiled from having a job and, therefore, feeling justified in taking the Acela.

Now, jobless, I take the cheapest regular train I can find.

At least I get a chance to get work done. A LOT of work done.

Yesterday, I left Boston at 3:00pm. I got home at a quarter to midnight. After chores and such, it was 1:00am or so.

Not the best for feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning before class!

(By the way, I have no idea, really, why that saying is supposed to mean what it does. Suave says that my family has an odd set of Southern colloquialisms.)

And today was a doozy. Constitutional Law and Contracts, where I was on call, plus some extra Legal Writing homework and a meeting to go to in the afternoon. Add tired and it was not conducive to actually getting out there to run.

I've been having a lot of afternoon running motivational problems, actually. I fought with myself all the way home about running, giving myself deals and lying to myself about where I'd go.

Cloudy but cool as I strapped on my shoes. Funny, but my body temperature has gone haywire: the cool weather makes such a difference. I felt it on yesterday's slow run with Suave and I felt it again today - it was only about 72 and cloudy.

Plus, I didn't bring my water bottles. "Just go down H Street to 8th Street NE and see how it goes."

The run was broken up into motivational segments like that. "You can always just stop after the next one, if you feel like it."

White lies. I'm still not sure how I convince myself of the truth of them, even as I am conscious of the fact that I am lying to myself.

Anyway, I got to tour the cool houses of the revitalized NE and SE before turning right onto Pennsylvania Avenue, then right onto 1st St NE by the reflecting pool, around the pool to Madison and down the Mall, around the Washington Monument and around the Lincoln Memorial then back around the reflecting pool, up 1st Avenue NW and left onto Massachusetts and home.

A lot of people play softball on the lawn by the Washington Memorial. Fear of getting hit in the temple by a ball, which caused the only fatality during a game in baseball in the early 20th century, makes me skittish.

And now that I'm running more slowly, running without my headphones doesn't seem to be as big a deal. Interesting.

A tiny bit under 9 miles. Yay!

Plus, I had an awesome fairy find my lost phone and give it back to me today. What luck!

Tandem

I did two tandem workouts this weekend.

Well, I don't know that I can call the first a "workout". But Suave and I did walk to Mt. Auburn Cemetary and around it, then we walked down to MIT and back near Harvard.

That was enough for my sore butt.

This morning, though, I woke up in a cookie-guilt-fugue.

I had to run.

But I've barely gotten to see Suave! What to do?!

I persuaded him to bike/furiously try to balance so he didn't fall over while I jogged around the Charles River.

A loop around the Arsenal Bridge to the River Street Bridge and back to the dorms. About 6 miles.

It was really fun! I was going so slowly that it likely wasn't a cardio workout - I didn't even have to breathe hard. But it loosened up my butt and hamstrings from their eeky tightness from the workout video.
So the run wasn't a total waste.

Plus, I got to be out in the sun with some really good company.

And then I beat him terribly at the crossword.

Aaaaaaah

Ouch!

My rear end!

I was a BIT too enthusiastic about Jillian's "No More Trouble Zones" workout on Friday.

I should have known when my arms were trembling just from holding myself up.

That DVD is a bit deceptive, actually. There's not nearly as much cardio, so you think to yourself..."Oh, this isn't so bad......I can squat a bit more/lunges a bit lower.....Etc."

Then, you realize that you just did almost 10 minutes worth of ab work, you, whose idea of ab work is usually eating too many cheese fries.

Ow.

Interesting, too, how you can be in shape in one context and out of shape in another.

My rear hurt all weekend. Right under my gluts.

An Unexpected Solo

Well.....Not entirely unexpected. I had sent a message on Facebook to one of the guys who has been running on Thursday mornings and got no response.

But, always hopeful, I took myself over to campus to wait and see if anyone would join me this morning.

After the 5 minute rule expired, I ran off. No headphones today because I was expecting company.

Actually, the change of solo-run-with-no-headphones was nice.

Plus I passed two people.

And I got a chance to really get neurotic about this semester, with all the changes and the pressure to do well.

A girl needs some time for neuroses, after all! If you don't give them time, they just wither away and die.

Today was a good day. And it's still before 9:00am!

Down to the Mall, then around the Lincoln Memorial. About 6 miles?

Re-Enactments and the 4 Bodily Humors

That's what we talked about on the run this morning.

And someone got a joke I made about the hot, thin blood that Aristotle talks about in De Animae.

Heh. I love it when someone gets my joke! And I didn't even have to explain it!

I guess this is what you talk about when you have a right-wing leaning economics policy person running with a Medieval scholar with a philosophy person.

Nerd-dome was high. But it made the run go by pretty fast. And took my mind off of the paper I have to finish for tomorrow.

For school. I feel weird saying that.

But I ran to meet them at Staunton Park in NE, then we ran down to the Reflecting Pool and around the Mall and around the Washington Monument and then back through the Congressional park part.

And, I got to visit a new neighborhood! After that, I needed to tack on some more miles but didn't have the time or the inclination to do a whole 'nother loop.

So I ran with the Medievalist up to Bloomington, which is in NE near the line between NE and NW up past R street.

After running uptown and uphill with her there, I breathed a sigh of relief, slowed down, and ran East on R until I hit the MBT, then ran down 1st Street NE, turning on Mass Ave to go home.

About 10 miles. I'm getting slower. It's not just the water bottles.

Outdoors - the Real Stuff

Not sure that I always like the real outdoors for running.

You know, the real outdoors: not my usual urban chaos, not even a short oasis in the trees.

The real outdoors, where all there is around you is green. And biting insects.

I got to see my brother and my sister-in-law on Monday. My brother humored me with a run. My sister-in-law wisely declined and efficiently got work done.

Firstly, you usually have to drive to the real outdoors. In our case, we had to drive over to the B & O trail off of Ashland Road. (Ok: a rails-to-trails space might not qualify as the real outdoors but, in a state as small and as densly packed as Maryland, that's almost as close as we get.)

And the drive, during rushhour, took almost 40 minutes. For about three miles.

Me, in the car: We can just park at Mars. There's a parking lot. Then, we can just run up York Road and meet the trail.
My brother: Um, that would make us run up one of the most car-clogged roads in all of Baltimore county. We'd just see cars and breathe in smog. Oh, and don't forget the strip malls.
Me, swinging leg impatiently: but then we'd be running! Not sitting in the car.
Brother, speaking slowly as to a irrational child: Well, there's this thing called 'quality of run'. And we'd likely just run to the trail and have to turn back. And you're talking about parking my new car with boxes in the back in the middle of a parking lot in the Baltimore area.
Me: Thhhppt. You'll see!

Anyway, we got there. And the run itself was awesome because my brother humored me in going slowly. We had a lot to catch up on and running my mouth makes me not run as fast with my legs.

And it was great to run on loose gravel/dirt instead of concrete or asphalt.

But when you (or, at least, I) tend to think about the real outdoors, you think about cliffs showing a waterfall, or emerald lushness around a sparkling pond with a blue and white-wisped sky.

We had some greeny-brown stuff, a greeny-brown river that wasn't doing much of anything, a lot of bugs and murky skies. Bo-ring.

But, maybe that's part of the point. Why have so much eye stimulation, like I have in the city, or in one of those real outdoors areas I am always imagining?

The lack of eye stimulation certainly made me concentrate more on my brother's conversation. And on how my body felt, running.

Which was probably better, after all.

And that gravel/dirt was awefully nice on the old knees.

1 hour and 15 minutes so.....Hopefully, 8 miles.....

New Neighborhoods

Georgia Avenue, in parts of Petworth, is kinda sketchy. Interestingly, when you go just a few blocks over to 16th street, you see large houses, lawns, and at least 50% yuppies.

Reminds me of Baltimore.

Also makes me glad that I run. How else would I experience most of these neighborhoods, otherwise?

Along the way, I recognized where I crossed Georgia Avenue on Friday. Since I'm only jogging, I can see the buildings in enough detail to notice eccentricities.

If I were driving, I doubt I would have noticed that I had crossed paths with myself at all.

First, I ran down 3rd Street until I got to E St. SW. A quick jog over to 4th street and then down to M St, which turns into Maine.

Interesting mix of houses and businesses down by the waterfront.

Turning onto 7th, a long slog uptown. Through this part of the run, I wasn't feeling that great. Breathing problems and tiredness was dogging me.

"Should I bail the rest of the run?" "Maybe after I pass Howard. Then, I'll have run at least around 6."

I should have listened to myself Saturday. Bummed I had to bail on Lebanese food with my best friend, I consoled myself with some early nachos and Italian Ice. Both of which made me not feel very well.

So I didn't really eat anything past 5:00pm on Saturday.

Not enough if I'm going running in the morning!

For, as soon as I ate about 3/4 of a gu that I brought with me, I felt much better - even though I was going uphill.

7th Street, which turns into Georgia Avenue, is pretty much ALL uphill when you are heading North.

At Missouri Avenue, I cut to the left and then took a left again on 16th.

Exit the crackheads enter the yuppies. Weird.

Boy, was I tired once I got down to Massachusetts Avenue. I let myself slow down even more as I headed home.

A bit over 13 slow, warm miles

Sharp Left Turns

Some new territory was in order. Onto Mapmyrun I went, boldly outlining my route.

The theme: almost 360 degree left turns. There were 3 of them.

Now, as you all know, running in unfamiliar territory is exhilarating. It changes up your routine. It makes things different and makes you focus on your surroundings.

It also can make for some semi-unwelcome surprises. Like what I found out about North Capitol Street NW past Wisconsin.

It turns into a sort-of highway. At first, it wasn't so bad. There was a flat part on the side with some grass.

Then, it got slanted.

Then, there was only a small patch of shrubs next to a fence, with cars whizzing past. So I had to stop.......run-in-the-street-ooh-here-comes-a-car....STOP..........run......etc.

Very irritating. And the long grass was itchy.

I checked for ticks. No sign so far.

Here's the route: down H Street NE until just past 14th, where I took my first almost-360 turn onto Florida. I ran up Florida until I got to North Capitol. I took a right on North Capitol and everything went swimmingly for a while. Then the highway fiasco. Up past all the federal cemetaries, I took my second almost-360 left turn onto New Hampshire Avenue. Then, down New Hampshire, zigging and zagging, until it turned into Sherman Avenue. Taking another sharp left, Sherman somehow turned into 9th Street NW. I took that down to Massachusetts Avenue and then took that home-with a detour to the coffee shop on 5th and H.

You see, I deserved the coffee. And I likely needed some liquids. I didn't drink that much from my water bottles during the run: it's hard to feel thirsty when you are being innundated with water.

Shorts, shoes, shirt soaked. From multiple surges of sheeting water.

It looks like it's stopped now.

I am over rain. I've already decided that, if it is raining hard tomorrow morning, I'm skipping the group long run - even though I've skipped it two weeks in a row already.

No more rain! No more flooded intersections!!!!!!

I am anti. Though it could be worse: it could be cold rain.

About 11 miles

It's Always a Plus to Have a Girl on a Run

It happened again today. This particular run, the group was small: just me and two other guys due to the weather.

I wasn't going to miss, though! Rain and oversleeping couldn't bring me down - especially when I've only run on the treadmill, and only once this week, because of my lightning weenie-ness.

So, one of the guys did track work last night. Really intense track work, from what it sounds like. So he was happy to go a moderate pace and then cut off early to save his legs.

The other guy was clearly NOT thinking that we were going a moderate pace. But he was raring along the whole time the other guy was running with us.

Almost to the second that the other guy turned off, he turned to me.

"Hey, I'm feeling a bit tired. Mind if we slow down?"

And then we did, including taking a few walk breaks on the way back.

Now, I'm not training for anything, so I didn't mind. And it was great to be outside. And we weren't going terrapin-slow or anything.
And I got to chatter away.

So there were positives. I think it's funny, though, how guys are this way - even when they are not these macho men.

I've seen almost every guy I've run with do this, whether consciously or not.

They run with the other guys, maybe running faster than they would otherwise.

But I'm always the reason they can go slower if they want to.

No testosterone battle? More easygoing? Ladies, does this happen to you, as well?

Anyway. A fun, albeit wet, run around the Lincoln Memorial. About 6 miles-maybe a bit less.

Mileage is pathetic this week! But perhaps I will get Jillian's butt, what with all her workouts I've been doing.

There are certainly worse things.

Confused

A fitting description of both the weather and myself.

At least I had the satisfaction of seeing lightning while working out this morning. That made my decision to do the dreaded workout tape less confused: earlier, it seemed like a weird decision to have made.

I have said the wrong things, thought the wrong things and understood the wrong things at various parts of yesterday and today.

Especially exasperating is this weird extra mush-mouth phenomenon, where what I say comes out jumbled. Combined with me hearing things jumbledly, I have been quite something these past two days.

No, I am not on drugs, though some of my classmates might wonder, after some of what I have said.

Ok, I am on drugs, but only albuterol and singular, I swear!

I need some sleep! Hopefully, I will be able to get it tonight. I'm running in the morning.

Thinking "no too-tired-to-sleep" thoughts

The Weenie-fication of Me

Or, How I'm Afraid of Thunderstorms.

As I'm sitting here, typing this, I am looking out the window. Yes, I am doing both at the same time: I really embraced "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing".

And it is NOT raining. But I ate breakfast too late and, so really shouldn't run out to the 6:30am meetup in Staunton Park.

Grrrrr. Jillian again.

Last night, instead of an interesting chat with new people while stretching my legs, I looked at two things: the wall and the close-captioned T.V. I chatted to myself. People quickly got off the neighboring equipment.

5 torturous miles on the treadmill at a fairly slow speed and another 35 minutes on the recumbent bike. Which likely doesn't even DO anything, aerobically, for me.

Why?

Because I am afraid of thunderstorms.

After getting trapped outside in Alabama a few too many times, with no where to run, I have become a thunderstorm pansy.

The thing is, there are TALL BUILDINGS in DC. So why the excessive nervousness? It certainly makes me miss out on experiences.

Like last night. It only rained for part of the time. Not even sure if there was lightning.

There certainly isn't this morning. Sigh.

Suggestions for how to make me lose this phobia?

Grand Prix

RRRRRRRRROOOOW!!!!!!RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOW!!!!!RRRRRRROOOOW!

You could hear the cars from 25th Street. In the stands, they became a vibrating force, shaking the eardrums and re-arranging interior organs.

SOOOOO COOOOL!!!!!!!

I watched my first Indie Car and Le Mans action last night. They were racing around this crazy course in downtown Baltimore.....

Tight turns, obstacles, city streets all turned the 2.4 mile course into a serious challenge for the drivers.

Inspired, I made up my own Grand Prix course loop for this morning.

Instead of tight turns, mine involved hills. Lots of hills. If I ever start running them seriously, instead of slowing down to a trundle, I am going to become a hill master, just like the Vivacious Redhead or like LSE.

Uptown I ran until 33rd Street, when I faced the rolling hills towards the Reservoir. The flatness of the Reservoir gave me a chance to look up and enjoy the gorgeous Mashmallow Fluff clouds.

Then, a deep breath before heading up Hillen Road. This part always reminds me of running University Drive in Alabama. You pass high school fields as you run up and down these long, punishing hills. Ugh.
Then, I turned left onto Coldspring for some more rolling hills. Luckily, I had a chance to recharge at Loch Raven, when two very lost runners flagged me down.

Those who are making course diretions for a large group, make sure to ACTUALLY TELL THEM the turns!

After sorting them out, I ran onwards, dreading what was to come. The Hill. It's in capitals because it just keeps ramping up, the whole almost-mile of it.
At the top, I likely could have walked just as fast as I was running.

Then, over to Charles Street and some more long rolling hills. It's net uphill on the way uptown, so I was getting some serious hill exercise. Left onto Lake Avenue then a left onto Roland. Got to see my brothers' school as I enjoyed the downhill for the first part of that segment.
Then, down onto University, where I struggled up one last large hill and then down Charles to 25th and back inside.

Too bad I couldn't find coffee at the end.

More racing tonight. Whee!!!!!!

The DC Trash Trucks

smell a lot worse than the New York ones. Perhaps because the trash isn't picked up as frequently?

This was the fun fact I learned Friday. That, and Friday morning is trash pick-up for NE.
Both important facts but, together, infinitely more important than each singly.

Unless you embrace the aroma of rotting garbage and exhaust as part of a particular running challenge. I'll pass on that.

Super tired from my first week of classes, as well as being out late with the Verbal Rapier. So I did a slow loop around the Mall, then ran back up to Union Station and up 1st St NE to M, where I cut over to the MBT. Up there and over to Michigan, then around the reservoir and into Columbia Heights-ish area onto Harvard Street. Once I hit 13th, I was almost home free. Just had to run down past M street to Massachusetts and back home.

More hills. I've been trying for these. Looking at the hill by 13th and Harvard, which I run down, I'm wondering if I should try this route in the other direction.

Though that hill might be walked. It's steep enough that I have to slow down and my knees hurt when I run down it.

Happy I did It

I really had to argue with myself this morning about meeting other students for a run. I hadn't finished my homework, I was tired, my legs hurt.....Not to mention the horrible run I had yesterday.

But I'm glad that I did. I ran with two other guys who weren't trying to blaze - there were some that were and I let them to it - and did a nice, talkative run around the Lincoln Memorial.

I felt good enough at the end - my muscles having loosened up and everything - that I almost tacked on 4 more miles.

But I decided, with my homework and all, to just let it be on a high note.

Oh, did I mention I was running with 6 guys?

Heh.