Hello Saturday Long Runners!
It’s Anna, masquerading as Nate, your faithful ersatz SLR leader who used working in office today as an excuse to not send this e-mail (newsflash Nate, some of us are always in office and manage to write these little quips). They’re bringing professional track to Franklin Field where it always belongs, so Anna’s up in Philly for the weekend watching people run to take her mind off not being able to do it herself. Tomorrow’s forecast continues our miracle of good weather this May (low 60s, hopefully no rain) and kicks off our first 7 AM SLR of the Summer (if you think you’re disappointed, imagine how I feel learning that after agreeing to lead this thing).
Where are we going this time? This week we’re doing Long Bridge Park (strava, gps, pdf), a route near and dear to my heart (and home! I live right off of it!). We’ll head by the Pentagon, which fun fact has a DC address after some interesting disputes on where the river actually ends in the 1930s, then head through Long Bridge Park. We’ll run down Crystal Drive to Potomac Ave. through Del Rey, the most underrated area in Northern Virginia. After appreciating the fact that they didn’t move the Capital One Arena here, we’ll cross over to the Mount Vernon Trail via Slater’s Lane and back up to the park.
Want Less? Hop on the Mount Vernon Trail at Crystal City for around 8 miles, jump down to the Four Mile Run Trail (not literally, please) for around 11, or make a classic out and back for your choice of mileage!
Want More? Head south on the Mount Vernon Trail instead of north to add on some mileage through Alexandria and beyond.
Parched? Bring some water! Or better yet bring enough for everyone and volunteer for mid- or post- run drinks this summer! There are some great fountains slightly off the route in Crystal City at Hayes Park and some less-great ones along the Mount Vernon Trail. Don’t depend on the ones near the Pentagon, they’re unreliable and taste weird.
Swimming Eyeballs? If you’re running with me and even a little bit nice about it I’d let you use my place (editor’s note: Nate has not actually agreed to this, but I’m sure he would). The Gravelly Point bathrooms are still standing, which is the nicest thing I can say about them. Hayes Park also has some nice facilities, but again are a bit off the beaten path.
If SLR is too long for ya, come check out our free mile time trials on Global Running Day (June 4th) at 7 PM at W&L High School with our friends at Wednesday Night Track. We’ll have pacers for all levels and great vibes!
Happy Running!
Nate (and Anna, who wrote this from the train)
