Hello Saturday Long Runners!
It's Nate, your faithful ersatz SLR leader, writing to you this week...I heard there is this little race up in Boston this weekend! Good luck to all of our club members who are running and have a blast! If you're here, please note the weather because this is going to be our first Hot One(tm) of the season. Forecast is for the upper 60s at the start. You aren't heat-acclimated yet, so stay hydrated, listen to your ol' meatbag, and don't push yourself too hard!
Where Are We Going This Time? This week we'll be heading up Rock Creek Park and up (and up and up) Calvert and Cleveland to Cathedral Clintons (strava, gps, pdf). Your friendly neighborhood Episcopalian is always awed by the cathedral's majesty! (And really wants to go to a choral service soon!) After trudging uphill for seemingly the entire run, we'll be treated to the best downhill in DC (as voted by Anna, last time we did this) along Massachusetts Avenue, passing Embassy Row and the White House back to the park.
Want Less? From Mass Ave, take a right on 22nd Street and then another right on M Street to cut this down to 10 miles. If Metro is your thing like it is mine, we will pass Woodley Park at 5 miles, Dupont Circle at 7-3/4 and the Farragut Square stations at 8-1/4.
Want More? Heading down the Mall towards Capitol Hill will also get you a few more miles and a few water fountains along the way. Running along the Mount Vernon Trail to get back to the park instead of passing the cemetery will also tack on an extra mile.
Parched? There are not many options on this one. There is one fountain in Bryce Park, which is on the far (south) side of Mass Ave when you turn left off of Wisconsin. There is another along the short route at the corner of 23rd and P -- I have used this one and can vouch that it worked then -- but if you want the full length, it is easy to detour to it and then continue east on P over to Dupont Circle. Of course, there are always the usual ones on the Mall that my park ranger friends swear will actually work this time. In light of that vote of confidence I recommend carrying today.
Swimming Eyeballs? Unlike Anna, I do not condone using random port-o-potties in the yards of under-construction houses...but if you're desperate, you do you becuase there will probably be one. Open City, the Cathedral's cafe, opens at 7am and is another option in a pinch. (Or for a drinks break!)
Don't forget there is Happy Hour on Thursday at Carpool in Ballston, in partnership with the Capital Area Food Bank! Come on out and donate if you can!
Happy Running!
Nate
