Hello Saturday Long Runners!
The heat has broken and low 70s has never felt so good! We'll be kicking things off at 7 AM tomorrow and if I'm being honest I'm rooting for the light rain currently in the forecast. In the event of thunderstorms we will have to cancel (unfortunately), but that doesn't look like a possibility tomorrow. Now let's get into it:
The Route: This week we're doing a route I like to call Hains with a Capitol H (strava, gps, pdf) (get it? Because you go around Hains Point and the Capitol?). If you're running Marine Corps, this is also about as close to a 14 mile version of the marathon you can get (or at least, I could get when I designed the route). This gets you all the good parts (The Mall! Georgetown! Hains Point!) without less of the bad parts (The Rosslyn Hill! That Loop in Crystal City that everyone hates!!). We'll also pass by my all time favorite location on the Mall and my favorite view of the Washington Monument: Signer's Island (because I designed this route I also get to make it take slight detours that most people will skip, how fun!).
Want Something Shorter? The easiest way to cut off a little more than 3 miles of this route is to skip Hains Point and go directly to across the Fourteenth Street Bridge, giving you a nice loop of the Mall and 11 Miles. Going partially out and back on the Mall will also allow you to get even less mileage in, down to 7 miles if you just go up 15th street to the 14th street bridge (which even written out feels wrong to say).
Need a Longer Route? Hains Point and the Mount Vernon Trail are both great for adding onto runs. Any extra loop of Hains will get you three more miles (well, technically 3.2) and the Mount Vernon Trail makes for any distance of an out and back (and you can even check out the aforementioned loop of Crystal City to mentally prepare for what that feels like at Mile 22)!
Thisty? Thank you to Christie and Rodrigo for post run drinks this week! This route also has plentiful water fountains along the Mall, most of which are even functional! Instead of listing all of the ones that are on, I'll mention that my favorite water fountain in front of the Air and Space Museum was turned off on Monday, but the one in front of the carousel (or whatever's left of it) was turned on.
Need a Bathroom? The Mall also has plentiful bathrooms, though which ones are open honestly depends a lot on the day. The Lincoln Memorial Construction has brought new temporary bathrooms (and seemingly removed the ones from the Jefferson Memorial). The Washington Monument Lodge bathrooms on 15th street are usually open as are the ones at the tip of Hains Point. Along Hains Point there are a few different bathrooms that are hit or miss, same with the ones along the reflecting pool.
The next club race is tomorrow's Bastille Day Four Miler. We're still in need of a couple more volunteers for this one, so please, please help out if you can! Our next club happy hour will be Thursday, July 18 in the Cosgrove Room at the National Press Club (14th and F Sts, NW) from 5:30 to 8 pm. As usual, the club will pay for appetizers and there will be drinks for purchase.
Happy Running!
Anna
