11.8 miles, 1:39:57
My brother-in-law recently pointed out how he dislikes driving to the start of a run. I don’t much like it either so I decided to start seeking out runs that started or ended from my front door or with a metro ride. Today I wanted to attack the Capital Crescent Trail from the other direction. So I left with just my metro SmartTrip card and took the metro around to Foggy Bottom (which is the stop for my hated alma-mater). I bolted away from there and into Georgetown to start my run.
But, since I wasn’t too keen on riding the metro post-run I had planned to loop back home. I had hoped to depart from the C&O canal path and run through Glover Archibold or Battery Kemble park back to Rock Creek park and then home. As you can see from the map that didn’t turn out so well.
I knew I was in trouble when I saw signs for the Beltway. Really this turned out to be a brutal run not because I was lost but, because I am stubborn like a mule. I knew I had missed the bridge to go over the canal and Clara Barton Pkwy because I was running on the trail and not the pavement. Despite being able to see the bridge I had crossed under I stubbornly decided that going back just one mile was the wrong course to take and that surely I’d have another chance to cross.
That chance didn’t come until I had reached Glen Echo which is well into Maryland. My back-up plan had been to follow the Capital Crescent Trail to at the Bethesda metro and take that back to the Cleveland Park metro where I could run two more miles home. But the connecting trail had also long since passed me by and I knew Glen Echo was north of Bethesda by a few miles. I ended up stopping and asking for directions and eventually made my way back down Mass Ave and picked up the CC trail.
I did have the CC trail loaded into my forerunner. However, it doesn’t give you much detail and it certainly doesn’t tell you that the next chance to cross the canal is at least five miles north. It only gives a torturously giant arrow pointing back the way you came.
The entire run is captured for posterity and to remind me to pack a damn map next time (as well as water, a few dollars, etc.).