Hello Saturday Long Runners!
We’ve got a new take on an old favorite this week and some normal weather for this time of year (sorry folks, looks like high 60s again this Saturday, we’ll get a nice weekend one of these weeks). Hydration is important all year, but especially as we start having cold and warm swings in weather it becomes even more important on the warmer days like this one. Now let’s get into it:
The Route: Love Ross Drive but always wish you could do a little more mileage for it? Well this week we’ve got you covered in Ross Drive (Extended Edition) (strava, gps, pdf)! We’ll head over the Key Bridge and up Rock Creek to do a nice Ross Drive loop, then repeat that same loop for more Ross Drive than ever. After this we'll head back down the trail to the Key Bridge for a double-lollipop route. As a reminder, for Ross Drive make a left immediately following the police station in Rock Creek Park onto Joyce Road, cross the little bridge, and take the next left onto Ross Drive up the hill! If you’re the kind of person to grab the route from the website before this email, I made a couple small tweaks (read: completely screwed this one up the first go around and got both the mileage and route incorrect, sorry about that)!
Want Something Shorter? A classic Ross Drive route will get you 15 miles (without the trail, and less if you take the trail) and almost as much Rock Creek Park action. For even less mileage, an out and back is your best bet! If you want somewhere between 15 and 20, doing a single loop of Ross Drive and then returning over Memorial Bridge instead of Key Bridge will get you around 18 miles.Â
Need a Longer Route? There’s a good contingent of folks planning a trek around the Big Loop tomorrow, which is the perfect way to tack on a couple miles to this 20 miler. Just keep heading up Rock Creek Park to Leland and follow the Capital Crescent Trail back down to the city.
Thirsty? The Peirce Mill water fountain has seen better days, but the new one (with a bottle filling station!!) next to the bathrooms makes up for it and more! Thanks to Don for post run drinks this week! We're in need of volunteers for any and all drinks from next week onward, consider helping out the club today and get your Bunion Derby volunteer credit taken care of!
Need a Bathroom? Peirce Mill also has you covered with two options (there are some at the actual Mill as well). We’ll pass those ones twice, which are by far your best bet to avoid the Rock-Creek-woods squat of shame.
The next club race is Le Quince Septembre aka the not so Bastille Day Four Miler. We’ve got registration and volunteers open, get your Bunion Derby credit in before 9/30! The book club will also be talking about “Do Hard Things” by Steve Magness this Sunday after we all do some hard things at SLR this week! Reach out to Eunja or Viriginia for more information.Â
Happy Running!
Anna
