For the longest time, I had been running a route that took me into suburban Virginia. The route was simple and straight forward with minimal traffic lights and not much to look at. It wound its way out of the sprawling city of Arlington and headed into an area that reminded me of where I grew up, only with more hills. A run can become familiar to you and when it becomes familiar it then becomes comfortable. Maybe too comfortable. You know where the sidewalk is cracked. You recognize (and now wave to) the dog in the yard of the house with the USMC flag. You expect the sunlight to hit your eyes after coming over a certain hill. You know when the run will hurt and when you’ll feel strong. You exist as part of the run. But as much as I know/enjoy this route, something was still missing for me.
When I moved to this city of politics, I always imagined it would be better; more grandiose and inspiring. Unfortunately for me, working in this town has been less fast paced than the West-Wing style experience I had been hoping for. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was starting to feel like even running (pretty much the most exciting part of my day) was too growing a tad boring. Luckily for me, I have a smart boyfriend. While he happened to be visiting, we decided to do a run together near where I work, since my building has a gym, showers, and is closer than my house to my climbing gym (Note: from now on my climbing gym refers to the indoor rock climbing gym I go to). So he got on Google and mapped out a run for us starting at the Iwo Jima US Marine Corps Memorial. His route took us from the memorial, past Arlington Cemetery, over the George Washington Memorial Bridge, a loop around the Lincoln Memorial, and then back. All in all, the route totals to about 3-4 miles. That run was step 1 in helping me rediscover what I liked about DC, the feeling of being in a place that has so much history; a place that humbles you when you think about the ideals about what our country was based on, what so many people have given their lives for.
The best part about that run was starting and finishing at the Iwo Jima Memorial (now that I think of it, just like the Marine Corps Marathon). Of all of the statues, dedications, monuments, and memorials, for me Iwo Jima evokes the most emotion. It is truly one of the most humbling and beautiful memorial I’ve yet to come across. Since I love this memorial so much, I’ve (for quite some time) been looking for a way to incorporate running past it on my running route. It’s only a mile and change from my work so it didn’t fit into my old longer-run plan and it’s at the bottom of a huge hill. So the desire to run back up said hill (the Hill of Death aka – the Rosslyn Hill) for the second half of a run was minimal. So while I longed to pass this beautiful memorial on my morning runs, I did not and instead stuck to the lazy suburbs of northern Virginia. That is, until a new friend and running buddy, Alexa, showed me the prefect route that would encompass running past my favorite spot in the DC metro area while still getting in some pretty decent morning mileage.
Alexa’s morning run route, which I now have adapted and made my own as well, takes you in a big 5.5-6mile circle through the edge of Virginia and the edge of DC. The route begins in Court House (a suburb of Arlington) and goes Down the Hill of Death into Rosslyn, which because it's downhill makes you feel like you have jet boosts. Then you head over the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which depending on what time it is in the morning (and day of the week) you may run smack into a plethora of Army service members in the middle of their morning PT session. Once you’re over the bridge and in Georgetown, you head down the main drag past the quaint shops and the now-closed bars. Though I’m not wild about the slightly pompous air some of the people who live in G-town have, I love the area itself. I love the way it looks and how it feels old timey like the south, but is still upscale. In the early morning, the lack of people and cars cluttering up the place, it is so desolate and thus beautiful. At some point or another you’ll turn right to run down a hill below the Whitehurst freeway in what I call “the underbelly of the beast" (I was really tempted to put “deep in the underbelly of the Omega 13, but didn’t due to cheese-factor). It’s under a freeway, it’s loud and noisy and kind of grimy; what do you want from me? You must turn down by 31st Street at the latest or you’ll miss the through bit. Once you navigate your way down, you come out against the Potomac River and from there the route links up with Rock Creek Parkway, headed south.
This is where the views get nicer and you realize how DC can, in a way, be beautiful. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m very much done with this town and ready to move on, out, and up. But at the same time, if I’m ever going to find the beauty in a place, I’m gonna find it on a run. At this point the sun has started its morning ascent and the light hitting the river is causing it to glisten (just don’t look at the sludgy-bits). Passing the Kennedy Center, I remember two of the races that took me past this spot and how I felt during them. During the Marine Corps Marathon, this point was a little after mile 10 and I had just hurt my ankle and was hobbling rather severely. I was feeling like someone kicked me in my gut and told me that I was the worst runner on the planet, but I was ready to give up either. The second race that comes to into my mind is the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler that I ran last year. At this point in that race, I was just past the halfway point and was feeling strong. I usually settle on those feelings of not giving up and being strong and continue on this new beautiful route. Past the Kennedy Center the road curves about and before you know it, you’re up behind the Lincoln memorial and about to cross the Memorial Bridge. It always amazes me how from far away these monuments looks small, tiny even. Then suddenly running past the gold-plated man on the Memorial Bridge, running in the shadow of the towering Lincoln memorial building, I realize how massive these structures are and how small I am. Just one little lone runner on her morning rounds.
Running over the Memorial Bridge is exhilarating. Not only is the noise from the cars swooshing by mildly deafening, but the wind is almost always gusting and howling on that bridge. I have to turn my iPod up several notches just to hear the faint glimmer of the songs at that point. As if that’s not enough, each time a plane landing or taking off from National swoops over head, the sky rattles. One of my favorite runs over this bridge included the view of a beautiful huge Boeing CH-47 Chinook soaring by. I had been running along everything relatively quiet and peaceful, when I heard the ‘duoonk, duoonk, duoonk, duoonk’ of the blades slicing through the air. I love that sound; don’t know why, but I’ve always loved that sound. I remember spinning around so fast so that I could spot it, that I almost fell over and ran into the on-coming traffic. I was fine, but I took a minute to stop and watch that big bird fly by. Those helicopters are mind-bogglingly awesome. If I ever get to ride in one, oh man, that’ll be the best day ever.
The Memorial Bridge drops you off on Virginia soil as you enter the home stretch of your run. You follow the gentle curves of the road until you are headed toward Arlington National Cemetery. At this point you’ll take the road that curves around the back of the cemetery along Route 50, until you’re at where the MCM ends, the USMC Iwo Jima Memorial. You then at least try to run up the hill there and head over to the front of the memorial. I always stop here for a moment, kneel down, and put my hand on the cold dark granite. Everything in those moments is still. The world gets quiet for a minute. I say a small thank you to all the men and women who have fought and died for this country and I ask that the ones who are fighting be kept safe. When I remove my hand, a dewy hand print remains on the granite as I stand up and run off to finish my run.
The last part of the route takes you back up the Hill of Death to Court House, totaling out at around 6 miles. Sometimes I’ll stretch out the route by running back down to Iwo Jima and back up again (Rosslyn Hill repeats) and getting to enjoy my memorial twice in one run. Other times I'll finish off a longer run by continuing the run through my old suburban route. While I have qualms with this city, it certainly has some nice places to run through. I was very grateful to my boyfriend for bringing me to run around the Iwo Jima Memorial and to Alexa for showing me this route that I now run 4Xs a week and love. There is always something new to see and something exciting to explore, running (and those I run with) helps me find those things.
Happy runs. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment