~10.7 miles @ ~11.1 min/mi

Mid-day Wednesday: Daughter Gray has a rehearsal in downtown Rockville, and a quick poll of the masses (Cara Marie Manlandro, Emaad Burki, et al.) suggests the Millennium "Trail" — a 10.6+ mile asphalt bikepath loop, renamed recently to honor Carl Henn, local activist killed by a lightning strike during a freak storm last year. Mile Marker 5.0 is right in front of the car, at a drug store/strip mall near the corner of Rockville Pike and Wootton Parkway, but somehow it goes unnoticed until the end of the run. Sweat washes sunscreen into eyes for the first few miles.

A rabbit on the path first tries to look small, then suddenly becomes big as it scampers away into the brush near the trail's Mile Zero, Thomas Farm Community Center. To avoid swoonage by the staff I put my shirt on before venturing inside and filling my water bottle. After sunny Wootton Parkway the Gude Drive segment of the trail is partially shaded. Thank goodness for fiber optics and cable TV: where possible I run in the shadow of those lines along the sidewalk. At Mile Marker 1, deja vu: less than a month ago Cara Marie led me past here on our 2011-07-22 - Hot and Humid Loop with CM.

Then dehydration sets in. Without money I hesitate to invade pizza/sandwich shops, gas stations, and auto/motorcycle repair businesses to refill my bottle. Sunny stretches along Norbeck Rd reduce the pace to a walk again, as do the crosswalks at Veirs Mill Rd and Rockville Pike.

(cf. GPS trackfile, ...) - ^z - 2011-08-28