BBB

Tuesday night was the half-marathon group's Bridges, Beer & Burritos run, minus the beer and burritos this week because nobody had time to go for social hour afterwards. Usually Emily, at least, is good for this part but she couldn't come this week.

The BBB is a mid-week four and a half mile evening run created by Rachel for the HM Program. It leaves at 7:15 every Tuesday evening from Iwo Jima and runs past Arlington Cemetery, across Memorial Bridge, past the Kennedy Center, along the Georgetown waterfront, over Key Bridge and back into Rosslyn. Then, usually, it's off to Chipolte for a Dos Equis and burrito. Come join us sometime.

I wanted a good, hard run because recently I have been accommodating back-of-the-packers in training runs, which I am happy to do, but I had a hankering to air it out. When I arrived, there were four trainees and two other coaches, Katie and John, so with such a favorable pupil to coach ratio, I felt free to do my own thing . K was there, who I knew had run sub-eights in the Turkey Trot 5-miler I recently worked the finish line at, by finishing that race in 39 minutes. So I said Let's Go to her and off we went at a good clip ahead of everyone else.

It felt great, rapidly traversing those big chunks of waterside real estate with reflections of the bright multi-colored holiday lights often dancing off the waters of the Potomac alongside or underneath us. K was game, breathing hard as we went but never falling off the swift pace. She said she was glad I came because usually she runs alone ahead of the pack. We were back at Iwo in 37 minutes (8:14), panting and sweating but feeling fulfilled. The rest of the group came up a few minutes later.

A good, hard run by gorgeous scenery with good friends is great for the soul.