~27 miles @ ~13.5 min/mi

Amy Couch's long training run again overachieves, with 25+ instead of her goal distance of 24 miles, plus in this trackfile solo fractions from/to my home at start/end. We trot a bit too fast down 16th St to the Mall, dodging tourists and taking photos of each other at the White House, the Washington Monument, and elsewhere en route, returning via Rhode Island Av and Sligo Creek Trail on part of the route from 2014-02-23 - Sunday Morning Ramble with Amy and Gayatri.

We hit the wall at mile ~20 but trek onward to close the loop. My left hamstring feels weak the whole day, and Amy's left knee likewise is twingy. Amy trips and falls about mile 15, in a little park in Mt Ranier MD, the corner of Perry St and RI Av. She stumbles on a ground-inset drain cover that's sticking up — ouch! — and suffers bad scrapes on left knee and both hands. We sit for a minute to evaluate, walk a few blocks, and then start running again.

In this image, although apparently flying I'm actually perched on the edge of a fountain at Meridian Park.

A young Liz Taylor graces the side of a China Express at the corner of 7th and Q St NW. Statues in front of a restaurant/bar on 16th St depict a line of ladies semi-draped. "They look cold today!" Amy comments with a wink. That leads to further analysis of the gender-asymmetry common to sculptures featuring unclothed females and fully dressed males.

The funniest moment of the day happens at mile ~6. I'm holding a water bottle under one arm, trying to help Amy get her cellphone out of a pocket, and inadvertently squeeze down on the bottle, sending a big squirt of water onto her phone and leg in what to a Freudian might look like a rather, uh, male phenomenon. My face is red; Amy laughs.

Runtastic estimates ~27.5 miles @ ~13.3 min/mi but the Garmin GPS is more conservative at ~26.8 miles @ ~13.7 min/mi.

^z - 2014-04-13