9+ miles @ ~11.8 min/mi

I'm not ready for summer — I'm not even ready for spring, apparently! In late afternoon I set out from home via back streets ... pass the little neighborhood church in Forest Glen designed by E. Francis Baldwin ca. 1893 ... zig-zag by a school, a pool, and a retirement home ... and slant through Kensington to the Post Office where at the 2.5 mile mark I check our P. O. Box. It's empty, so I cross Connecticut Ave. and go through the Ken-Gar neighborhood to the park at mile 7 of Rock Creek Trail. I witness three trains on the Metropolitan Branch of the C&O: a MARC commuter, an Amtrak bound for Chicago, and a slow freight heading toward DC.

By then I'm melting in the heat, and even dousing my head with cold water from the Ken-Gar Park fountain has no effect. I cover miles 7 to 3 on RCT at an average of 10:54 pace, but suffer. Coming back uphill through Walter Reed Annex I follow a leg of the Inner Purple Line trail, with a generous amount of walking. Maybe I'm still recovering from Saturday's 16 miler? If this is my performance on a slightly warm day, I fear to contemplate what the Washington area summer will do to me ...