Washington DC

Today I got to run in Washington DC. Lots of people do that every day. Each day that we have been here I have seen people running everywhere we go. No big deal to them. It was a very big deal for me. Last year when I went on this trip I thought it would be amazing to be able to say I ran in Washington DC. Since my friend Dannielle is technically the program leader there was no issue about leaving the students without their group leader. We also have three parents along on the trip so she had help if there was a problem. 

I changed into my running stuff while we were at dinner. Then we headed over to the Pentagon Memorial. That was an incredibly moving memorial. Pictures do not do it justice. If you haven't seen it and you are going to be in the DC area I highly recommend you go. 

Then we headed to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The group took off to see the memorial and I took off for my run. I was uncertain how I would do. I hadn't run in a week. This was the third day of walking all over and I was pretty beat. It was about 80 degrees and humid. I don't like running in the heat at all. Running in the heat and humidity didn't sound fun at all. The first place I got to was the Lincoln Memorial. 

The sun was going down and it was beautiful peeking around the memorial. Looking the opposite direction I got this view:

The Washington Monument is under repair due to the earthquake damage it received a while back so it is covered with scaffolding. This is the first time I have see the reflecting pool up and running. They had just started upgrading the water system my first visit four years ago. Last year it was almost done but not quite so there was no water in it yet. 

Next stop was the Vietnam Memorial. Another amazing place. We saw it yesterday and they had long-stemmed roses all along the wall. It was in honor of Fathers Day for all the dads and sons who didn't come home. Red for the men who died. Yellow for those that are MIA and white with red tips for those who did come home. It was beautiful. 

I followed the trail and worked my way back up the way I had come, just on the opposite side. I was just following my nose. The goal was to finish at the Jefferson Memorial and meet up with my group there. I had about an hour to do that so I had plenty of time to make the run longer. The next stop was the World War II Memorial. 

Then I turned left and ran up to the base of the Washington Monument. 

This is the view from the Washington Monument looking down at the WWII Memorial and then the Lincoln Memorial past that. The weather had been trying have a thunderstorm that never quite happened but it made a spectacular sunset.

Are you jealous yet? Just wait, it gets even better. I then ran down and found a path that followed the tidal basin opposite of the Jefferson Memorial. I could see people all along the water to the memorial so I started down the path. 

I went over a bridge and the path continued around to the Jefferson Memorial. The group wasn't there yet and I was close to getting three miles so I kept going until I got to the FDR Memorial. I didn't stop to take pictures because there was a ton of tour groups and it was crowded. I turned around and headed back to the Jefferson Memorial.

I walked about a 1/2 mile to cool down and then I asked a very nice lady if she would take my picture. 

I think the smile says it all. I had so much fun! I had a great run in spite of the heat and humidity. I got to take amazing pictures along the way. I can't really explain why it was so important to me or why I got emotional when I was done. Other than I tend to get emotional about stuff so that really wasn't a surprise.  This run just was special and I'm very glad I could do it. 

Here's a map of the route:

And here are my splits. The first time I stopped to take pictures I forgot to pause it so I think the average pace was better than it showed. But either way it was a good run and wasn't as hard to do as I thought it would be. Here are my splits:

I'm still smiling. :) 

We head out for NYC in the morning. I wonder if I could get a run in Central Park? Hmmmmm :)

I'm posting this from my iPad so hopefully the formatting isn't funky. ;)