~20 miles @ ~12 min/mi

Geese on the partially-frozen water stage a mass take-off and cruise in formation overhead, honking to get our attention. We stop to join a cluster of ladies staring up at a bare tree; they point out a big red-tailed hawk on an upper limb. Comrade Kate Abbott is testing her legs before deciding on what race to run in New Orleans next month, marathon vs. half-marathon. We meet in the dark at Burke Lake in northern Virginia and at 0640 start trotting along the park road, navigating by the glow of our flashlights.

When the sky brightens enough, ~7am, we branch onto the trail that follows the shore. Our first two almost-five-mile laps go clockwise, stopping each time at our cars to refuel. Then we reverse course and do the last two in the opposite direction for variety. Small world: marathoner colleague from work Linda, plus two of her friends, greet us as they walk the perimeter. See [1] for the trackfile map. At the end of our journey Kate's GPS has passed 20.00 miles but mine is a few feet short, so I run an extra tiny loop around the parking lot to reach the magic number.

^z - 2011-02-01