Interesting training runs

There are a few things that I learned about this area.

1. There are awesome trails around- but you have a bit of a drive to get to them.

2. What is considered a "flat" course is not really flat- it is just not mountainous.

3. People here call paved bike paths "trails"--- these are not trails in my book.

4. It gets dark so unbelievably early (before 5 pm).

5. Some of the best runs are when you have no idea where you are going or where you will end up.

My daily runs are usually less than interesting.  I run on the streets in a busy (Midtown-ish) area of Arlington.  There was a great bike path only 1/2 mile away, but now it is dark too early to use it. Morning running?  Fugget-abowt-it!  Too freaking cold (and dark).

However, when Bruce has been in town, we have headed into DC for some really great runs.  (I admit it-he did all of the route planning.) We ran the National Mall one night- around the Capital, Washington Monument, WWII Monument, and Lincoln Memorial.  Running along and seeing our national monuments  lighted and running to the top of the stairs at the Lincoln to pay your respects.....priceless.   It was about 5.25 miles and it was great!

For our next running adventure, Bruce found a set of stairs in Georgetown that was used in the movie "The Exorcist."  It was the scene where the priest fell out a window and down a huge staircase to "get the demon out of him." All I remember about that movie is that is scared the crap out of me and I wanted to forget everything in it. We ran there, made it to the top, and back down- conquered "the demon." Then we got a little lost, I almost got run over by a truck (my fault), crossed a highway, went over a grassy hill and ended up at the Lincoln Memorial.  We ran along the National Mall again to the Metro and boarded a train for home.  Total 5.72 miles @ a 9:30 average pace- not too shabby.

When Bruce is here on the weekends, we head down to Prince William Forest for our  long runs.  We did  a few 10 or-so- mile runs there.  It is an awesome park and we have the trail system down pat- almost.  We usually run, change our clothes and go grab a bite in Stafford before heading back.  It is amazing that you can run 10+ miles, change out of wet clothes - do some minor "clean up" and go out and not be offensive smelling. The temps and lack of humidity are nice!   

I have also run along the aforementioned bike path,  to the Potomac and  past the Memorials on the Arlington side of the river.  It was an incredibly nice day when I did this run, the sun was out and it was in the 40s - 50s, with low humidity.  It was so nice and beautiful that I was originally going for 8, then 10, and finally 11 miles. Thank God there was construction or who knows how far I would have gone. I was just so pretty to look out over the river and see the monuments in the distance.