11+ miles, 137 minutes — A crisp-cool afternoon jog from home (via Dale, Colesville, and Sligo Creek) to Piney Branch Road and New Hampshire, where I join the Northwest Branch Trail and head upstream. Ocher-dun leaves blanket the path and make footing treacherous where they conceal rocks and crevices further north after the pavement ends. Signs say that the trail is closed for sewer repair (October-February) but the bright orange plastic fences are low and easy to climb over, and the route seems no more hazardous than usual. As I approach the Colesville Road crossing I meet three ladies, each walking big German shepherds. Sirens indicate police and ambulance activity, which backs up traffic and makes it impossible for me to cross Colesville, so I jog along the median to Four Corners and thence home via Forest Glen Road, arriving just before sunset.

(correlates: StaticActors, 2004-11-03 - Leaf Blower Day, MathAndSex, ...)