14+ miles @ ~12 min/mi

"I recognize you with your clothes on!" I tell Sara Crum when we meet at 8am in downtown Bethesda. (It's a twist on her comment when by chance she saw me in a McLean restaurant, not in running attire, and I didn't know her—cf. 2009-10-17 - Chilly CCT.) Barry Smith and Gayatri Datta are here too. I've been invited to meet some of their friends in the "Winter Maintenance" running group. Besides Sara, and Rebecca Rosenberg (2009-09-26 - CCT RCT Loop Plus), there are Amy and Ann and Casey. A subset of the crew are running next weekend at the Disneyworld marathon. Several are taking the "Goofy Challenge", a half-marathon the day before the full race.

Starting at 7am from home I jog via the Capital Crescent Trail, as the moon shines dimly through rapidly scudding clouds. Today there's a high wind alert. Temperatures hover in the 20's. Melting and refreezing makes slippery spots worse than a week ago (2009-12-27 - Icy CCT). The group heads back along that same route to Jones Mill Rd, where we turn south, then take East-West Hwy to the Meadowbrook Stables, and after a restroom break there proceed on Rock Creek Trail to Beach Dr and downstream to just past Bingham Rd. We turn back when Gayatri's new GPS says 6 miles. Half a mile north of the DC-MD line we veer from Beach onto Leland St and follow it back to our start.

Leland zigs and zags but generally trends parallel to East-West Hwy. Sara and Barry explain how to tell if you're off course: "If it's not hilly, it's not Leland!" There are challenging slopes that we charge up. Back at the parking lot Gayatri's GPS says 10.7 and I add ~4 miles for my pre-group run. Barry gives me a ride home, car heater set to max as we both attempt to thaw our frozen hands.

^z - 2010-01-07