Start time: 11/5/11, 7:30am
Location: National Mall, Rock Creek Park, National Zoo, Connecticut Ave
Distance: 10.16 miles
Average pace: 10:32min/mile
Total Miles For November: 20 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 586 miles
Current Shoes: 127 miles

Tried out a new route that I’ve been meaning to for… well, 11 years now. Ran up the National Mall to Rock Creek, then took it all the way to the Zoo, ran through the Zoo and out the other side to Connecticut Avenue, then back down it to the Mall to finish up.

It sounds silly but I’ve been wanting to do a run through the Zoo ever since I started running, and while I’ve run past it on Rock Creek before, it’s taken this long to do so. It’s a nice long hill (about half a mile?) so it’s certainly good for training purposes. The group seemed a little divided at times on the new route, but I hope enough others enjoyed it enough that we can do it again. All in all I think it went pretty well. (Even with a really long gel followed by bathroom break around the halfway point.)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5160930

Start time: 10/1/11, 7:00am
Location: National Mall, Mt. Vernon Trail
Distance: 10.69 miles
Average pace: 10:16min/mile
Total Miles For October: 10 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 521 miles
Current Shoes: 62 miles

Ben, Jim, Michael, and Steve had their final weekend run before the Chicago Marathon on Saturday, so I joined them for it. It was, in part, a test run to see how the knee would do at the slightly longer distance. Thankfully, all was good. Yay for extra stretching!

The run ended up being a big loop; around the Capitol and down to the Waterfront, then over 14th St Bridge and up the Mt. Vernon Trail along the Potomac, then back over Roosevelt Bridge by the Kennedy Center and past the White House before concluding. We lost Jim and Michael around the Kennedy Center (they were a little ahead and went a different way back) but it was a good run despite the cold and gray sky and the occasional spitting of rain.

(10:23, 10:41, 10:41, 10:02, 10:37, 10:03, 9:51, 10:20, 11:09(?), 9:57, 6:06)

Start time: 7/9/11, 7:00am
Location: Mount Vernon Trail
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 10:25min/mile
Total Miles For July: 16 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 397 miles

Looking at the map, I remember this one vaguely. I ran two miles by myself, then met Stephanie and Rich to run down the Mt. Vernon Trail until we encoutered Steve, Ben, Jim, and Michael heading up it (off a long run) and finished it with them.

Start time: 6/11/11, 6:35am
Location: Waterfront, Hains Point
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 10:01min/mile
Total Miles For June: 33 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 340 miles

Saturday’s run was an odd one. Originally I thought I was going to miss it, but due to a change of plans it looked like it would fit.

The plan was that Ben would run to the school in Southwest where we’d meet Stephanie, Rich, and Bill at 7am for an 8-miler (and that way Ben would get in 10). Sounded like a good plan, so I got there early, ran two miles, and met up with everyone else.

The route was pretty simple — take the bridge to Hains Point, then go up Ohio Drive all the way to Independence, and take it and Jefferson back to 4th St and go back down to the school.

About two miles in, Bill was gasping and wheezing to the point that I thought he was going to keel over. Apparently while he hasn’t been running since his last run with us, he did “an intense leg workout” at the gym on Friday night. He started talking about heading back early, and by mile 3 he’d dropped make to take some more walk breaks and was a little dot behind us. It was already grossly hot though, so before we left Hains Point, Stephanie and Ben came up with a new plan. We’d skip Ohio and Independence and just head directly back to the cars, which would be around 6 miles. Stephanie was going to stop there, but Rich and Ben and I would run up to the horse’s butt and drop Ben off (who would run the rest of the way home — turns out it’s 2.5 miles each way so that’d actually add up to 11 miles) and Rich and I would head back. Bill was nowhere in sight by this point.

So, we went back to the cars, the three of us headed up to the horse, we waved goodbye to Ben, started running back (through a sea of children, yay) and on the other side of the Reflecting Pool… Jim and Michael showed up. They were off on their own run and looked a little boggled to see me and Rich with no one else in sight. We said hey, each headed our own way… and standing at 4th and Jefferson, looking incredibly lost, was Bill. He said he’d cut directly over and was trying to find us to head back. (On the bright side the rest had done him some good and he no longer sounded like he was going to die.)

Finally made it back to the cars, gulped down my drink that Stephanie had thoughtfully bought for me, and then went home and showered and changed so Charlie and I could go to an outdoor wedding. Phew.

(8:46, 8:50, 10:10, 10:06, 10:11, 10:30, 10:27, 10:22, 10:16, 10:22)

Start time: 5/7/11, 7:00am
Location: Belle Haven Park, National Harbor, Alexandria
Distance: 10.27 miles
Average pace: 10:01min/mile
Total Miles For May: 20 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 270 miles

Met up in Belle Haven Park this morning with the group, and we ran over Wilson Bridge into National Harbor for a loop, then back over and took a brief detour in Alexandria before finishing up. (Mile 5 ended up being crazy long due to everyone forgetting to check their watches on when the walk break was over. Oops.)

More importantly, gorgeous gorgeous weather for a run. Started with long sleeves on, then rolled them up about halfway through. Perfect spring morning.

(9:22, 10:11, 9:49, 10:34, 10:58, 9:43, 9:41, 10:17, 10:28, 9:24, 2:19)

Start time: 4/2/11, 7:30am
Location: Mount Vernon Trail
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 10:12min/mile
Total Miles For April: 10 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 181 miles

Just a small group this week; Ben and John are running the Cherry Blossom 10-miler tomorrow, so I met Steve, Michael, and Jim down at Belle Haven Park (to try and avoid the chaos of downtown entirely today) for our own 10-miler along the Mt. Vernon Trail. It alternated between drizzle and no rain the entire time, but never got to be too heavy. Another 10 degrees warmer and it would’ve been pretty awesome weather; instead it was just so-so. But great company, so no complaints.

(We also might have taken some longer-than-normal walk breaks early on. None of us seemed to mind.)

(10:08, 10:19, 10:37, 10:01, 10:30, 10:39, 10:17, 9:56, 9:47, 9:47)

Start time: 2/26/11, 7:30am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 10:10min/mile
Total Miles For February: 47 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 98 miles

Stupid cold. All things considered I’m happy to have finished, much less without dragging.

(10:18, 10:18, 10:30, 10:37, 9:48, 10:20, 10:04, 10:30, 10:24, 8:51)

Start time: 1/22/11, 7:15am
Location: Rosslyn, National Mall, Capitol
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 10:06min/mile
Total Miles For January: 43 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 43 miles

Met up with Jim, Michael, and Steve for a crack-of-dawn run (no really, the sun was just coming up). When we started, it was 18 degrees, but by the time it was over it’d gone up to a whopping… 19 degrees. Brrrr. Actually, after the first mile it really wasn’t too bad. I need a new balaclava, though; it’s not a technical fabric (or at least not a very good one) and ice actually formed on the part that goes over the mouth from me breathing through it. Ugh.

Other than that, not a bad run. Two of the guys needed a bathroom break right at the start of mile 8, and the extra walking there cooled me down a bit (which is not good) and the last half mile or so (as we went back up the hills around the Iwo Jima Memorial) my left quad was not pleased with me. I need to pick up the spinning classes to strengthen my quads back up.

(9:49, 10:13, 9:55, 10:25, 10:03, 9:53, 9:44, 10:31, 10:05, 10:14)

Start time: 10/16/10, 8:00am
Location: Washington DC
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 10:15min/mile
Total Miles For October: 23 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 540 miles

This was a fairly slack week; aside from spinning on Wednesday, no exercise at all. Combination of work plans, lethargy, and weather derailed me pretty badly. I finally declared it a wash and promised this Saturday would be the end of the mini “vacation.” It felt nice to get out there, and it was also good to see the gang again, some of whom I hadn’t seen in several weeks. (I will leave it to you as an exercise to determine which mile had the “can we walk for a little extra so I can eat something?” request, and at what point Jim and I ran ahead a bit.)

(10:07, 10:31, 10:01, 10:09, 11:05, 10:17, 10:35, 10:09, 9:51, 9:35)

Start time: 8/7/10, 6:00am
Location: All over Washington DC
Distance: 4.28 & 6 miles
Average pace: 10:33 & 10:21min/mile
Total Miles For August: 18 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 410 miles

Ran four miles with Steve, Jim, and Michael this morning, then we swung back around and picked up Stephanie and John for an additional six. Nothing terribly exciting; our pace was all over the place but it was a nice morning.