A few weeks back Canadian* blogger Bruno from 70.3Challenge e-mailed me to let me know he’s going to be in town. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to take an ‘out of towner’ on a whirlwind tour of the city. But not with a car…nope – on foot, and running at that! This would be my third blog world meet up (I, II).
*This is officially my favorite song about Canada ever, and Robin Williams performance that year was amazingly memorable.
I often run a variant of this DC tour on the weekends by myself (or with a group of friends). And when relatives are in town, I do the same thing late at night (9-10PM) when all of the monuments are lit up (but usually via car). Sometime I’ll go out at night and take photos of them all. I’ve got some really nice ones I like that I took a few years back, but I want to refresh them.
I met up with Bruno in front of the White House after work yesterday. From there we made a big circle around the mall through and to all of the major monuments. It wasn’t a continuous run, we stopped at some of the monuments and took some photos as well. If only he was here two weeks later DC would be in brilliant bloom with Cherry Blossoms…but, alas – we got sprinkled on instead. En route tonight was (in order of appearance):
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White House
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Constitution Gardens (ponds near reflecting pool)
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Vietnam Memorial
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Lincoln Memorial
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Korean War Memorial
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Potomac river water front
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FDR Memorial
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Inner Tidal Basin
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Jefferson Memorial
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Past Bureau of Engraving and Printing & Holocaust Memorial
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Onto the mall and down in front of all of the Smithsonian’s
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Past the planets in front of the Smith’s
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Past the Botanic Gardens
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U.S. Capitol
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Past the National History Museum
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Up to the Washington Monument, and around it
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Down to the World War II Memorial
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And finally…back over to the White House
For the more visual learners in the group:
Bruno’s a pretty cool guy – he’s got his first 70.3 later this year that he’ll be kicking ass on. He’s definitely more than on track for that. Plus, he’s got some pretty cool posts on this blog that are really informative. Check him out!
Here’s a couple of photos I took along the way:
(Bruno at the Lincoln Memorial, with the reflecting pool and Washington Monument behind him)
(The first inklings of the Cherry Blossoms to the left, with a shot across the tidal basin)
(At the end of the 7 mile run – near the reflecting pool)
Thanks Bruno for going out for the run! I had a great time.
If anyone else plans to be in DC and wants to meet up – just let me know and I’d be happy to catch up, or take you on a tour!
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This is so cool! You def showed him the good stuff. I love the WWII memorial. [these pics donn’t help my DC-missingness though!]
You ought to start a runners’ sightseeing service, taking out of towners on tours of the monuments and memorials.
Can’t wait to take you up on that offer.
DC Rainmaker Running Tours…sign up at the Concierge Desk for this unique and waist slimming tour!
Sounds like a great way to see the sights!
I’ll be up sometime this summer visiting the folks! Though I lived in DC for half of my life… I want a running tour of the city from you!
i agree with donald…set up a little runners-tour thing…put an ad in runners world.
but save the really cheap (or free) rates for your homie bloggers.
nice pics…that sounds like fun…
i will have to check out brunos blog
Wow, nice run! Great pics!
You didn’t say how fast Bruno was. I’ll bet fast. You didn’t get the Washington Monument coming out of his head like you’re supposed to.
I’ll have to do a run like that the next time that I’m in town. I grew up in Northern Virginia but never spent much time in DC. My brothers still live there and I went out to watch one of ’em run the Marine Corps Marathon last year.
Sorry it took me so much time to post my comments. I am also late with my own post!
Thanks again for the great tour. Taking the time to spend the evening running with some one you don’t even know, while you could be doing your own stuff is the kind of thing you can only expect from the nicest type of people you rarely meet.
Yes, you should definitely start your triathlete/running tours in DC. Not only you knew where to go, but had all the lines prepared for each and every single monument.
You truly impersonate the camaraderie of triathletes.