~23 miles @ ~11.5 min/mi

The obelisk occults the sun midway through a breezy Sunday solo loop to downtown DC and back. After the first hour chills come and the windbreaker goes on. The cellphone chirps — comrade Stephanie Fonda checking in from Albany NY — and I immediately trip and fall at mile 19 in Takoma Park. Result: minor scrapes to hands, elbow, knee. The dentist then phones to set up an appointment to replace the temporary crown I broke on a bagel after yesterday's 2014-01-11 - MCRRC Shooting Starr 6k Race Plus. I ponder pausing at the Silver Spring fire station to let a medic look at my bleeding finger, but decide to let them work on more serious injuries.

Down 16th St to the White House, where a guard sends runners roundabout barriers at a closed road. Pause to photograph a pair of lovebirds sitting in a tree. Flag-dangling cranes constructing the National Museum of African American History pose in front of the Washington Monument.

Take Constitution Av to Union Station, photographing the bizarre-allegorical General Meade Memorial sculpture at 3rd and Pennsylvania Av NW. Refuel, then trek home via the Metropolitan Branch Trail and Georgia Av. Divert slightly in the endgame to add a little bonus distance. GPS track files from Runtastic and Garmin provide details of route and pace.

^z - 2014-02-13