~18 miles @ ~11.5 min/mi

The lissome-buxom young Asian girl in a snug scarlet shirt carries a rolled lavender mat diagonally on her back, like a quiver for arrows. "These yoga people are just all about their outfits!" comrade Gayatri Datta with me observes as we jog through downtown Bethesda. It's a humid cool morning and we're returning from a long trek together. Our path makes a pattern rather like a running deer, as the Garmin GPS trackfile illustrates.

My day begins hours earlier at home when I set out in near-darkness ~5am. The old back aches for the first mile (cf. Victim of Venus) but then loosens up. Three rabbits eye me from near the Capital Crescent Trail (Georgetown Branch). I pause to pick up a nickel lying on the ground. Gayatri and I meet at the Barnes & Noble corner and decide to loop around NIH via the Bethesda Trolley Trail to kill an hour or so before another group of runners is due to join us. The route is a bit longer than I expect, but pleasant enough. Back in Bethesda we take the CCT to Jones Mill Rd, proceed downstream to Meadowbrook Stables, then venture into DC before returning to Bethesda via hilly Leland St. Gayatri needs a little extra mileage to reach her goal of 14, so we take a final out-and-back along the CCT into Little Falls Park. Whew! |

My mile splits from the iPhone Runens app: 11:02 + 10:40 + 8:50 + 10:15 + 11:26 + 12:07 + 10:35 + 10:55 + 11:02 + 10:16 + 10:22 + 10:28 + 10:50 + 12:38 + 11:12 + 12:57 + 12:17 + 11:00 and a final 0.4 miles at ~10:26 min/mi. Total estimated ~18.4 miles, but by the Garmin it's a bit less, ~18.1 miles.

^z - 2012-07-03