Hello Saturday Long Runners!
Happy Bastille Day and good luck to everyone running the Bastille Day Four Miler tonight! It's going to be a warm one tomorrow and I'll be honest I've been wracking my head all week trying to decide if we should start earlier. Because of the race tonight, however, I've decided to keep this one at a 7AM start time, but know that in the future this combination of humidity + distance + temperature will likely warrant a 6 AM start time. I've also been strongly considering just starting everything in July and August at 6 AM because finishing up runs after 9 is pretty miserable, feel free to shoot me an email with thoughts/opions/concerns about this (it wouldn't be implemented until next year, don't freak out too much Steve). However! With the high temperatures Marathon Training Program has decided to start all 10+ Minute Mile Groups at 6:15 tomorrow morning, if you normally run in these paces (or just want to start a little earlier and miss the worst of the heat), please attend! Now let's get into it:
The Route: This week we're debuting a brand new route I like to call Hains with a Capitol H (strava, cue sheet, gps) (get it? Because you go around Hains Point and the Capitol?). If you're running Marine Corps, this is also about as close to a 14 mile version of the marathon you can get (or at least, I could get when I designed the route). This gets you all the good parts (The Mall! Georgetown! Hains Point!) without less of the bad parts (The Rosslyn Hill! That Loop in Crystal City!). We'll also pass by my all time favorite location on the Mall and my favorite view of the Washington Monument: Signer's Island, so get excited for that!
Want Something Shorter? The easiest way to cut off a little more than 3 miles of this route is to skip Hains Point and go directly to across the Fourteenth Street Bridge, giving you a nice loop of the Mall and 11 Miles. Going partially out and back on the Mall will also allow you to get even less mileage in, down to 7 miles if you just go up 15th street to the 14th street bridge (which even written out feels wrong to say).
Need a Longer Route? Hains Point and the Mount Vernon Trail are both great for adding onto runs. Any extra loop of Hains will get you three more miles (well, technically 3.2) and the Mount Vernon Trail makes for any distance of an out and back!
Thisty? Thank you to Kate Marden for post run drinks this week! This route also has plentiful water fountains along the Mall, most of which are even functional! Instead of listing all of the ones that are on, I'll highlight that the fountain at the corner of Lincoln between 23rd Street and Henry Bacon Dr. is off as well as the fountain at the tip of Hains Point (at least as of earlier this week). My personal favorite fountains on this route are the ones in front of the Air and Space Museum and the fountain at the north gate of Hains Point (which is a life saver most workouts).
Need a Bathroom? The Mall also has plentiful bathrooms, though which ones are open honestly depends a lot on the day. The Washington Monument Lodge bathrooms on 15th street are usually open as are the ones at the tip of Hains Point. Along Hains Point there are a few different bathrooms thare are hit or miss, same with the ones along the reflecting pool.
The next club race (after tonight's French Fiasco of course), is the Bluemont 5K on July 26th. This is a fabulous event directed by DCRR's coolest Anna (Suhring, that is). If you can't race that night, volunteer!
Happy Running!
Anna
