10+ miles @ ~10.5 min/mi

A chance to run home from a new location? Fun! At noon Paulette and I meet friend Amy at Community Forklift [1] in Edmonston MD, to browse "surplus, salvaged, and green building materials". It's directly across Northwest Branch from the trail I've jogged many times. At 1pm I'm heading home, trotting first across the Camden Line train tracks and then crossing Route 1 to circle the marker where Northeast Branch Trail and Northwest Branch Trail and the Anacostia River Trail intersect.

Today's journey is fun, fast (by my standards), and uneventful except near the beginning of the Northwest Branch Trail where some sewer construction work seems to be underway and I get scolded by an official for ignoring the "Danger! Do Not Cross!" streamers blocking the path. He does let me continue on, however, so all's well. From the Community Forklift start it takes me about 5 minutes to reach the trail junction. The first two miles on the NWBT average a few seconds under 10 minutes each, but I slow somewhat on Sligo Creek. On the whole, however, I feel great and don't need to take walk breaks — major progress for me in comparison to most longish runs in the past.