Five miles

Yesterday I met a friend in the District for a 3 mile run around the Tidal Basin at noon, running from  Haines Point to L'Enfant Plaza for my meeting with her and then back to my car afterwards to add a couple of extra miles so I accomplished this week's LSD of five miles.  On Haines Point another friend of mine from my former workplace ran by so I spent a few minutes chatting with him, catching up on office goings-on.

The run at the Tidal Basin went past the Tulip Library so we spent a few moments drinking in the beauty of its floral beds.  Reds, whites, pinks, yellows and more colors rewarded our circumvention of the Tidal Basin.

My favorite sight is when a particular bed of one kind of tulips has an outlier or two in it of a tulip of another color.  Each bed seems to get encroached by another kind, maybe a wall, a big, beautiful see-through wall--not a fence--should be built around each bed to stop this kind of unlimited breeding and dangerous intermingling.

Taking the Francis Case Bridge back to my car afterwards, I looked down on the newly constructed Washington Waterfront and saw the old and the new side-by-side.  The modern waterfront seems to be killing the old, once-thriving fresh seafood business that it is encroaching upon.

A Few Faves

I have a few favorite pictures from running around the District in past years.  This shot I caught early one morning showing a striking reflection in the water under the Key Bridge.

This photo shows my all-time favorite flower, a delicate circular purple ball of blossoms in a flower bed  lining the Mall.

This picture was taken by a friend from atop the Washington Monument during Cherry Blossom time, looking past the Tidal Basin towards the Virginia shore.

 
Here's one of my favorite posed shot from a couple of years ago, eavesdropping outside one of the Smithsonian museums.

Cover

I changed my cover picture from a view of Crater Lake (OR) in 2012 to one of the highway bridge over the New River (WV) in 2013.

A Full Day

Yesterday was a full day at the track and on the trails. I ran the bridges with M during the noon hour, 7.7 miles, in about 68 minutes. Ha, I had M, eleven years younger and faster than me to boot, begging for mercy after five miles. He tried to wave me on to continue without him when we got back into the District via the 14th Street Bridge near the Jefferson Memorial after our foray into Virginia utilizing the Memorial Bride by the Lincoln Memorial. But running buddies don't do that so I slowed down til he recovered. I capped my run off with a run up Capitol Hill (M works in a different building than me).

At 6:30 pm I took Metro to the Washington & Lee High School in Arlington for my club's Wednesday evening track workout. We ran for 20 minutes at ten-mile race pace, which I figure is 7:37s these days, so I shot for 1:48 laps. It was harder than I thought. Here were my splits: 1:48, 1:46, 1:47, 1:48, (then like a dying Energizer Bunny) 1:49, 1:50, 1:51, 1:55, 1:59, (last lap) 1:48, (cool down lap) 1:47. We capped it off with 2X400 at 5K race pace, which I figured should be 1:44s, 1:44, 1:39. That last lap I was chasing a 65 Y.O. friend of mine who was burning 1:37s. He's faster than me, sometimes, especially whenever he does track work. Then he leaves me with my tongue hanging out.

We finished the workout in the gathering gloom of the evening. I hopped onto the Custis Trail which feeds into the W&OD Trail which takes me directly to my back yard line, 4.7 miles away. I was a little tired and it got dark so I couldn't see my footfalls clearly so I went slow. What do you think about when you're running down a darkened but familiar trail? I was thinking that I hoped I didn't step on a snake on the trail even though I have never seen a snake on the trail. Our worst fears, you know? Give me a mugger to steal my two quarters for a pay phone call any day.

I got home in about 45 minutes, very tired and very glad to have this full day of running behind me. In chopped up segments, I did 16.1 miles including warmup and recovery laps.

I woke up this morning and my injured foot was throbbing. I overdid it, obviously. I'll keep you all posted.

My antics yesterday put me over 40 miles for the week for the second straight week and over 137 miles for August as I get ready for Chicago on October 7th. I still haven't done a twenty yet.