~4+ miles @ ~ 13.5 min/mi

Temperature in the upper 60's, near-record heat for New Year's Day. With great ambition I set forth at noon, hoping to do a major circuit, but within a mile am reduced to walking and slow jogging. I'm probably not recovered yet from a longish loop two days ago.

So today is a slow tour of the so-called Purple Line trail, down one side of Rock Creek and back up the other. Three teenage girls are standing by the water, talking and tossing sticks; a turkey vulture orbits overhead; off-road cyclists leave deep ruts in the mud. A cloud of small gray birds (mourning doves?) scold me as they flee my approach. I pick up an abandoned plastic yogurt tub and carry it until I find a trash can near home.