Hello Saturday Long Runners!
Happy New Year! Kick off your 2026 with a long run tomorrow morning for a nice tour of one of my favorite parts of DC. Bundle up, though, it's going to be brisk out there in the morning. Now let's get into it:
The Route: This week we'll be treated to a nice tour of the Wharf and the southern portion of the Anacostia Riverwalk as we take on Southeast DC (strava, gps, pdf). We'll head into the city via the Memorial Bridge, head down L'Enfant Plaza and through the Wharf to get to the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge (new and improved as of a few years ago), make our way up the Anacostia Riverwalk and across the Sousa Bridge (named for the inventor of the Sousaphone), before heading to the Capitol via Pennsylvania and back to North Meade Park via the Mall. The easiest way to make sure you take the right bridge is to look for the Pirate Ship Playground. That's your cue to turn and head over the bridge immediately after it!
Want Something Shorter? Coming back across the 11th Street Bridge (a severely underrated DC bridge in my humble opinion) and heading back via M Street will get you around 12.5 miles instead of the normal 14. There's also the option to take the metro back ($2.50 on weekends!) from a number of stations including Potomac Ave, Eastern Market, Capitol South, and Smithsonian!
Need a Longer Route? The Anacostia Riverwalk is great for adding additional mileage (and is super flat too if you need a workout)! For 18 miles, consider doing the full Anacostia Riverwalk Loop. Another option for around 16 miles is to take the East Capitol Street Bridge back across the river and continue down East Capitol Street all the way to the Capitol to head back.
Thirsty? As far as drinks along the route go, the freeze proof fountains on the Mall have shown some promise, but if you depend on them they will certainly be turned off. Other than that there is a fairly dependable fountain near the pirate ship playground at mile 7.7 that is a good bet.
Need a Bathroom? Along the Mall you'll find the usual selection at the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. There are also some very well-positioned ones also at 7.7 near the playground. Otherwise along Pennsylvania Ave. there are a lot of restaurants and shops that generally will let you use their restrooms if you ask nicely. My personal favorite restrooms are the ones in Capitol Hill Books in the law section (they moved the foreign language section out of the restroom).
The next club race is the ever-popular Al Lewis 10 Mile and 5 Mile on Hains Point next Sunday 1/11. If you hate running loops of Hains (and let's be honest, who doesn't?) we need a lot of volunteers to make sure this race goes smoothly, help out today!
Happy Running!
Anna
