Washington Monument Loop

This morning was just a quick 2 1/2 mile loop from my hotel in downtown Washington, DC around the Washington Monument and back. My goal for today was just to feel good and strong after running back-to-back days. My shins have been hurting too much for me to run back-to-back days. I will have to increase my mileage when I start training for the PF Chang's Marathon in Phoenix, so I'll need to be able to run on consecutive days. When I started out, my legs felt a little sore from the previous day, but they didn't feel painful, which was encouraging. I ran through La Fayette Park and past the White House ("S'up, George?!"). To mix it up a little today, I headed west along Pennsylvania Ave. toward the Treasury Building. I headed south down 15th St., and continued along until I got to the Washington Monument. As I looped around the monument, I noticed that the color of the stone used to build it changes about 1/3 the way up. "Curious," I thought. I just visited Wikipedia, where I learned that construction of the monument was suspended during the Civil War since the government was spending all its money on fightin' the rebels. When construction was resumed, the stone that was used was of a slightly different color. Neat! Also, the Washington Monument was the tallest structure in the world when it was completed, and is still the tallest structure in Washington, DC. There is a DC building code that limits the height of buildings in the city. On my first visits to D.C., several people told me that the regulation was passed to ensure that the Washington Monument always remained the tallest structure in DC. However, as this article explains, the law was passed in reaction to a gaudy apartment building that was built out of proportion to the scale of the surrounding buildings. The height of buildings is limited by the width of the street it faces-- the wider the street, the higher you can build. The result is a big city that never feels like it's going to topple on top of you like New York or Philadelphia. It has also led to the city sprawling outward, so the result isn't all positive. I headed north along 16th St., waving a Runner's Hi at a group of Army or Marine guys out for a run. The sidewalk on the east side of 16th St. is closed for construction, and I didn't feel like crossing to the other side, so I moved into the street and sprinted up the hill next to the Executive Office Buildings to avoid being run over from behind. Whew! I turned back onto Pennsylvania Ave., went back through La Fayette Park and back to my hotel. I walked around the block a few times, trying to cool down. Today was even muggier than the previous day, and I didn't stop sweating profusely until I took an ice cold shower. I can't wait to get back to the dry air of Arizona! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Washington, DC Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/09/08 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 06:07 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 2.50 miles Time: 0:23:39 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 28 /mi Calories: 363 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 29 +1' 01 5.7 -0.6 -- ft 2 9' 29 +0' 01 6.3 -0.0 -- ft end 8' 43 -0' 45 6.9 +0.5 -- ft Versus average of 9' 28 min/mile

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