Hello Saturday Long Runners!
Good luck to everyone racing Philly (or any other races, it's that time of year after all) this weekend! And congrats to everyone who ran Richmond (which I somehow missed last weekend). No snow in the forecast tomorrow and the rain should end overnight. Now let's get into it:
The Route: This week we'll be avoiding downtown and any bridges with a classic Bluemont L Loop ( strava, gps, pdf). We'll start by heading up to Ballston via Wilson Boulevard then heading down the Bluemont Trail to the W&OD. From here we'll head west until making a right onto the Custis trail, which we'll follow down to the Mount Vernon Trail, under the Memorial Bridge, and back to the park via the 110 Trail, making a bubble letter L if you squint your head the right way.
Want Something Shorter?Instead of heading onto the Bluemont Trail, take a right on Glebe Road and follow Custis back to the park for about 9 miles instead of 12. Another way to cut off some distance and miss some of the hills is to turn at Lynn Street back into Rosslyn instead of going on the Mount Vernon Trail. This will also net you a little over 9 miles.
Need a Longer Route?An out and back along the W&OD or Mount Vernon Trail makes it easy to get some more mileage. You can also make this a modified Arlington Loop, swapping Bluemont for Custis, which will get you some good mileage (though be careful along the bridges on the W&OD tomorrow morning, they get slick in the rain and slicker in the cold).
Thirsty?The water fountains along the W&OD and Custis generally stay on all winter and they're a dependable source for the morning. Check them out at the corner of the W&OD and Custis and along Custis right after Ballston!
Need a Bathroom? The ones along the W&OD should be closing momentarily (if anyone knows the date off the top of their head let me know! Usually it's mid-November to mid-March). Sometimes you can get lucky with a portopotty, but otherwise there are plenty of Starbucks along Wilson that I've used many times in a pinch.
The next club race is the Alexandria Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning! This one of my favorite races in the region and could be one of yours too! We also need a tremendous amount of volunteers to keep this race running smoothly, so please consider helping out either race morning or the week before with packet pickup if you're in the area for the holiday! DCRR Memberships expire on November 30th! Renew yours today, tell your friends to renew theirs, and have them tell their friends to renew theirs! The Book Club meets on December 8th and we're reading one of my favorite books of all time, Bravey by Alexi Pappas! Start turning those pages now and come out for good conversation and better desserts.
Happy Running!
Anna
