Washington DC Monument Tour

I ran about 3 1/2 miles or so in Washington, DC this morning. (I say "about" because the Garmin was having trouble picking up the satellites and didn't start registering my distance until I rebooted it about 1/2 mile into the run). Washington is definitely one of my favorite places to run. There are always tons and tons of people out running day or night. I was staying at the Capitol Hilton, 3 blocks from the White House. I walked out in the morning and started stretching, and no fewer than 5 other guests walked out and did the same thing. It was a somewhat comical sight. It was a hot, muggy morning. I think I mind the heat less than the humidity. This was one of those mornings where you could almost drink the air. YUCK! I set out southbound along 16th St. I ran through the newly refurbished La Fayette Park and up to Pennsylvania Ave. I waved "Hi" to W, and continued along in front of the White House, and then down 17th St. where the executive office buildings are. I headed west when I got down to The Mall, passing the duck pond and the Vietnam Memorial (by far the most moving memorial I've seen) on my left. When I got to the Lincoln Memorial (my favorite one in Washington), I curved around and headed down along the Reflecting Pool. This is just an awesome place to run. As the sun comes up over the Capitol off in the distance, it lights up The Mall in beautiful colors. It makes me glad to be an American. I continued east along the reflecting pool, and had to go around a large area that's been fenced off. I guess The Mall is really in bad shape and they are planning a multi-billion dollar renovation. I continued past the D.C. War Memorial, and then the WWII memorial, which I don't "get". It's a bunch of columns in a circle with the name of a state on each one and then the names of the places our troops fought. Huh? I'm all about honoring The Greatest Generation, but this pales in comparison to the simple, stark Vietnam Memorial. I continued past the Washington Monument (simply awesome at 6:00 in the morning-- or any time really), and then north up 15th St. along the west side of the White House and Treasury Building. (The hill next to the Treasury Building is surprisingly steep!) I turned west, past the White House again and back to my hotel.It took a good 30 minutes to cool off. Good, fun run on a Tuesday! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Washington, DC Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/08/08 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 06:00 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.09 miles Time: 0:31:27 Speed: 5.9 mph Pace: 10' 11 /mi Calories: 498 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 55 -1' 16 6.7 +0.8 -- ft 2 9' 38 -0' 33 6.2 +0.3 -- ft 3 10' 07 -0' 04 5.9 +0.0 -- ft end 9' 44 -0' 27 6.2 +0.3 -- ft Versus average of 10' 11 min/mile

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