Hello Saturday Long Runners!
Cooler temperatues seem here to stay, which is shocking. I've started fielding some "when do the clocks change" emails already, and fear not we'll all get our extra hour of sleep for 8 AM starts soon enough (probably sometime in early October once long runs start being closer to 15 miles instead of 20). Now let's get into it:
The Route: This week, we'll be venturing east of the river to what I always call the most underrated place to run in DC: The Anacostia Riverwalk Loop (strava, gps, pdf) -- this time with a bit of a twist. This route will take us down through the wharf, up the west side of the trail by the Congressional Cemetery, across the Bladensburg Bridge, and down the east side of the Anacostia River to the wonderful Frederick Douglass Bridge and back to Virginia! If you've been to this one in the past and hated bushwhacking through Heritage Island, fear not. The route this time DOES NOT go around the island, instead we're tweaking how we get to the wharf a bit to add that extra little bit of mileage, so don't worry about bringing your tick repellent and hiking boots for tomorrow morning.
Want Something Longer? The farther north you run on the west side of the Anacostia trail, the more magical it becomes! The Kenliworth Aquatic Gardens are especially wonderful in the summer if anyone's in need of 22 miles (2 out, 2 back).
Need a Shorter Route? A nice way to cut this route down to around 12 is to make a modified Southeast DC Loop (basically don't cross any bridges, just follow the route until the turn off for Pennsylvania Avenue). Otherwise taking a turn at RFK and following East Capitol Street back to the Mall will get you around 14.5 miles!
Thirsty? Thanks to Sean Hicks for post run drinks this week! We've also got mid run drinks courtesy of David Webber near the Pirate Ship Playground at mile 11.5! Other than that, Anacostia is fairly bare for water, so please bring some as we're going long tomorrow. There are also fountains along the Mall near Lincoln at mile 1.7 and 16.2 in a pinch!
Need a Bathroom? There are plenty of businesses along the wharf that are good in a pinch, including a couple of CVSes around the 5K point. There are also bathrooms at the pirate ship playground at mile 11 that have been lifesavers for me in the past.
The Bunion Derby wraps up this weekend with the Steve Thompson 8K and we could still use more volunteers for the event. Get your credit out of the way now!
Happy Running!
Anna
