DCRRC SLR Reports

March 11th

We ran one of my favorite courses today, the 13 mile Panda Route pushing north through Glover-Archbold Park and then coming back to Virginia via a short trip through the hilly zoo and down Rock Creek Parkway. Joe was kind enough to point out to me that I was crazy doing my run through Glover-Archbold as he refers to it as the "sprained ankle widowmaker". Eh, the damage was already done to me and the weather was too nice to pass up a trail run. I'm still slowly working my ankle back into shape so I had to turn back early, if anyone has any stories or what have you that we should post for this run let me know and we'll get it up. Thanks to Patrick Heaney for providing our post-run refreshments today!

March 4th

It was cold and windy today as we gathered for the 12 mile Pentagon Army Navy run. Those arriving at the regular SLR time were forced into the neighborhood streets early to look for parking as numerous SLR regulars were out early for a stealth run in preparation for Boston. I tried to get through all of the announcements quickly today as people were visibly shaking from cold. Once under way, the weather was actually pretty nice and felt good. Unfortunately, my injury still prevents me from doing the full SLR routes and getting all the juicy gossip and stories from the day's run, but it definitely sounded as though a lot of people added distance onto today's route. Thanks to Grace Chan for providing our post-run refreshments for the month of February and another thank you to Patrick Heaney for taking over the responsibility for the month of March.

February 25th

This report from Joe Racine:
On a rather brisk Februray morning, about 25 runners assembled at Iwo Jima
for simple out and back on the C&O Canal. Many of the regulars were absent
as they were resting up for the following day's 10 Mile Challenge in
Columbia, MD. We had two newcomers on hand. Not sure if they made it to
Whilow's, as this reporter went home to get downtown for the G'town-Syracuse
b-ball game (Incidentally, the Hoyas took down the Orangemen 68-53.).

February 18

Calling for rain agan, it once again looks like we got our run finished before the weather moved in this morning. Unfortunately, my sprained ankle only allowed me to come start the run and I missed out on the infamous 12 mile Upton Hill route today. We had a good 60+ show up for today's run. And while everyone else was hitting the Custis Trail and Upton Hill Regional Park, I was left behind to walk the dog.

February 11th

Out of commission with a sprained ankle I thank you to Max Reid for filling in for me to start the run this morning. We were fortunate to be able to get our run in today before the heavy rain started today (which eventually turned into blizzard like conditions). With expectations that the snow was going to hit us hard and early we still had a great turnout of 65+ runners. The DC Sightseer Loop was today's course (mainly because if the snow did hit, I figured the DC streets would be the first ones plowed for us to run on). Max reported that he was surprised how much he liked the course considering how much street running the course entails. But that it was nice to be able to run through the nation's capital and see all of the sights that so many of us take for granted on a daily basis. Grace Chan was nice enough to volunteer to bring the post run refreshments to Iwo Jima for all to enjoy once again. Thanks Grace!

February 4, 2006

45+ runners showed up today even with the Custis 12K taking place concurrently. The Washington Post sent a photographer out for the start of SLR today to get some pictures for a story they're running on the club in the February 10 th edition. We hit the streets of DC and Rock Creek Trail for the Piney Branch today. Unfortunately, North America's largest cascading waterfall was turned off today as the fountains in the city are turned off during the winter. But we were still amused by watching Kerry's imitation of the "he's a dork dance." A good number of newcomers joined us today. I didn't hang around too much after the run as I took off for the race to watch the finish of the 12K.

January 28, 2006

At the request of Megan Smirti, a former club member who recently ran off to San Francisco for grad school, we ran the extremely hilly 15+ miler Cleveland Park + Cathedral + Clintons route. Heather, Liz, and myself learned the hard way that Tenleytown is not the ideal location to add on to your run, unless you absolutely LOVE running hilly streets. Anyway, we had a great mix of paved trail, dirt trail, and streets today. And the weather once again got everyone out of bed.

Today's Alternative Run saw its biggest group since being formed just a few weeks ago. Word is spreading fast!

January 21, 2006

A favorite course for many in our group, the Loops of Battery Kemble with a finish through Georgetown was once again par for the day. Personally, I decided to switch up my route once I got to Battery Kemble Park and did the loops backwards. It was a nice change pounding up the dirt trail instead of Chain Bridge Road . Having modified the original 10 mile course to a 16 miler, Jessie Sackett was seen thoroughly enjoying her course by adding numerous loops to the cue sheet (rumor has it she's still doing loops). The weather was once again unseasonably mild and provided for a great turnout 70+!

January 14, 2006

Well, in the middle of our run our amazing January temperatures topped out around 62 degrees. Unfortunately, by 10am we were closer to 40 degrees. With wind gusts from 25 to 35 mph I was afraid that Liz was going to get blown off of the 14th street bridge as she and I extended our run this morning. SLR had a great turnout this morning (probably because of the warm weather last night and early this morning). But 60-70 runners showed up for today's Chain Bridge Loop. The cue sheet estimates the course distance around 10 miles, but runners could easily extend their runs by coming back via the Memorial or the 14th Street Bridges. We had a nice mix of paved trail and streets today with a lot of hills. We'll have everyone in shape for Cherry Blossom and Boston's Heartbreak Hill in no time!