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SLR: 22 Miles North Anacostia

Hello Saturday Long Runners!

Good luck to everyone running the Club Challenge 10 Miler tomorrow! Remember, the hills come at the end of the race, so make it a strategic positive split and save something for miles 6 and 8. If you are running the Club Challenge and don't want to run 22 miles the day before, fear not, we've got options! Now let's get into it:

The Route: Tomorrow brings us the longest of the long runs along the North Anacostia (strava, pdf, gpx). This will take us to new and exciting parts of the city (hello Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens) and along old familiar areas (did someone say MBT part two?!). We'll begin our journey across the Mall via the Memorial bridge before continuing past the Capitol and up North Carolina Ave and C Street until we cross the Benning Road bridge. From here, we'll snake our way all the way up the Anacostia Riverwalk to Bladensburg, Maryland before crossing Cottage City via Bunker Hill Road, Rhode Island Ave, and Monroe Street. This will lead us to the ever-familiar Metropolitan Branch Trail and we'll follow that down to the Mall and back to the park for a nice 22 miles.

Want Something Shorter? My favorite way to cut this route to an easy 14 miles is to hop on the metro at Brookland - CUA and ride down the MBT and across the city on WMATA. If you want a couple more miles there are plenty other metro stops along the way that can get you pretty much anything from 14-18 miles!

Want Something Even Shorter? We've got a Club Challenge Shakeout route for anyone racing Sunday! Join us for 6 miles as we stratagize on how to most effectively split the race, figure out which other clubs we really need to keep an eye out for, and select the perfect pump up playlist for the bus ride up in the morning.

Thirsty? There are a few water fountains along the MBT that are generally safe bets, but as usual in the winter those are few and far between. It's a long route tomorrow and staying hydrated is imperative for staying fresh and strong through those last miles!

Need a Bathroom? The ones at Bladensburg were open the last time I ran by, but that's not to say they will be tomorrow. Other options include Union Station and The Washington Monument, both of which are pretty consistent!

The next club race is the Burke Lake 12K on March 3rd! We're still in need of volunteers for the event as well, so sign up and get those snowball series credits out of the way early! Signups for the Banquet on March 10th are also open! Come out and hang out with your best running friends, eat some delicious Italian food, and still get back in time for an early night before work on Monday.

Happy Running!
Anna

SLR: 18 Miles Rock Creek MBT

Hello Saturday Long Runners!

Snow in the forecast again?! Looks like we're supposed to get somewhere between zero and six inches, depending on your confidence levels and preferred weather channel. The one thing they can agree on is some form of precipitation falling overnight tonight, which means if we do get some snow it likely won't be cleared by the time SLR begins tomorrow. For now, we'll still plan on Rock Creek MBT, but depending on the conditions may have a last minute change. As always, stay safe tomorrow and make the best decisions for you and your upcoming races, remember missing a long run or a workout is a blip on the radar, but slipping on ice can completely derail your training. As another aside if it is a snowy wonderland tomorrow, remember that you use different muscles when running on snow and ice than you do on dry pavement, and those muscles may not be up for 18 in the morning or may be weirdly sore afterwards. Enough about the weather, now let's get into it:

The Route:I know I say very often that the route we're doing is my favorite (getting people excited is kind of my job after all), but if you really made me choose Rock Creek MBT(strava, gps, pdf) takes the cake. We'll head up Rock Creek Park to Beach Drive then turn right onto Blagden Ave up a long hill (with a strava segment or two on it ;) before making our way to Gallatin Street. We'll cross the city via Gallatin (be mindful that although Gallatin is a relatively low-trafficked road we will cross some major throughways like Georgia and New Hampshire Ave) then head down the Metropolitan Branch Trail to the Capitol. From here we'll complete our perfect loop of DC by running across the Mall to the Memorial Bridge and back to the park via the cemetery.

Want Something Shorter? Another favorite route of mine (and seemingly everyone else as well) is Ross Drive, which will allow you to stay with the group for the first sixish miles before continuing up Beach Drive and coming back down Ross Drive and Ridge Road for a 14 mile lollipop loop. Funny enough, we missed Ross Drive earlier this year for snow, so maybe we'll luck out this time. There are also a plethora of metro stops down the MBT and along the Mall that makes bailing after 9 miles easy enough!

Need a Longer Route? If 18 isn't enough for you, returning across the 14th Street Bridge and coming up the Mount Vernon Trail to Rosslyn will add another two miles for an even 20. For even more, add on an out and back or a loop of Ross Drive in Rock Creek Park for some extra miles and some extra hills.

Thirsty? There are water fountains at Peirce Mill (mile 5) that claim they're freeze-proof that we can put to the test tomorrow. Otherwise there are some options along the MBT that I believe are open year round, but with the impending weather you really never know. What is for certain is that the fountains along the Mall are off and the ones inside of Union Station are on. The safest bet, of course, is to bring water, or risk eating some snow!

Need a Bathroom? Peirce Mill around mile 5 and Union Station around mile 14 are my two go-tos along this route. There are also usually some portopotties outside of the Dew Drop Inn, which can be a gamechanger in a pinch!

Signups for the Club Challenge closed yesterday, but signups for the bus are still open if you haven't yet! Registration for the Club Banquet is also open! Come celebrate the club's achievements from the past year and hear from an excellent lineup of club members who had exceptional achievements in 2023. If you know of someone who would give a good 5-10 minute speech on their past year, reach out to me! We could still use one or two more people to fill out our already stellar lineup! The next club race is the Burke Lake 12K! Signups are open!

Happy Running!

Anna