~20 miles @ ~12.3 min/mi

4 electrolyte capsules, 2 energy gels, 1 donut — with temps in the 80s & dew points in the 70s it's a soggy jog mainly along Rock Creek. The ramble begins at home, at 5:36am. Neighborhood streets lead to the Capital Crescent Trail, to Rock Creek Trail, and then Candy Cane City. Gayatri Datta and I trot together along Beach Dr to the restrooms just before Military Rd, where I draw my initials "MZ" in GPS-graffiti on the fields.

Then it's back upstream to Candy Cane again where at my mile ~10 we meet others in the gang. Most decide to turn back after half an hour or so, but Megan O'Rourke is training for an Ironman and wants extra today. I accompany her farther along RCT, but she's faster than me and needs more, so I turn back early. Rebecca Rosenberg meets me near Cedar Lane and we dither a bit until Megan reappears. We join her for the return journey.

Just inside the Beltway I branch off and, approaching the Forest Glen Annex, add a little distance by diverting the southern way along Ireland Drive in the woods. A sign marks a polluted stream. Nearby the remnants of an old stone building — kiln? oven? — remain. The gate at the top of the hill is closed and the fence there is distorted, as though someone climbed over or a tree fell on it. I turn back and take the usual path homeward.

Angles and colors in the roofline of "The Pagoda" at National Park Seminary catch my eye, so it's another pause for photography, and then a final dash. The Garmin wrist unit reads a quarter mile more than the Runkeeper iPhone GPS.

Splits from the Garmin: 10:49 + 10:29 + 15:47 (pause at CCT to meet friends) + 11:17 + 13:08 (including GPS graffiti) + 12:08 + 13:23 + 12:44 + 10:43 + 15:53 (another CCT pause to rendezvous with others) + 11:09 + 10:28 + 10:21 + 11:34 + 13:01 + 13:21 + 11:18 + 12:03 + 12:41 + 13:00 and a final half-mile fraction at about 10:11 min/mi pace.

^z - 2013-08-04