Forums >General Running>Running in DC
Any suggestions?
Paul
Feeling the growl again
Where will you be at?
I stayed up the river from the gov't center and found a nice trail system along some stream running down to the Potomac. From there it's very nice to run along the Potomac and see all the sights. I ran across the river to Arlington as well, and around the Pentagon, I'm not sure I'd do that again as it really isn't set up to run over there (we had a police car following us for a mile or more around the Pentagon).
Look at a map and there's parks etc right on the river near the Washington Monument, I found the whole area scenic and very runnable....more so if you go early before everyone is out.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
DC local here. Without knowing exactly where you're going to be, here are some general suggestions - some of which repeat spaniel's comments. Most of these trails have online maps, so once you find the trailhead, you can do long out/back runs quite easily - most have water fountains which are now running (Mount Vernon trail does not). Hains Point is more loop-y, as is "running around the mall."
Hope this helps.
DC proper:
1. anywhere along/around the National Mall and/or Tidal Basin
2. Hains Point/East Potomac Park
3. Rock Creek Park - Rock Creek is the "stream running down to the Potomac" spaniel mentions
4. Capital Crescent Trail - start at Georgetown waterfront park
5. C&O Canal towpath - start at Georgetown waterfront park, parallels Capital Crescent Trail, then branches off
Northern VA:
1. Washington & Old Dominion Trail - connects Shirlington, Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Leesburg, and beyond
2. Mount Vernon Trail - follows Potomac river from Rosslyn south to Alexandria
3. Sky Meadows State Park - OK...1+ hrs away from DC, but this is my favorite VA park, and connects with the Appalachian Trail
Maryland:
1. Capital Cresent Trail - start in Bethesda (near the Barnes & Noble) or in Chevy Chase (on Conn. Ave near the Starbucks/Einstein Bagels)
Thanks for the suggestions, I stayed in Old Town, running was interesting there.
Paul J
The Terminator
If you are staying in Old Town, take the Mt. Vernon Trail. It is on Union St through Old Town. Take it north to Gravelly Point and watch the planes landing and taking off at National Airport.
MTA: http://bikewashington.org/trails/vernon/index.php
Ah, I see I am a little late to the thread. Hope you enjoyed your trip!
"In the South, the cotillion of Machiavelli is played as a soft-shoe, in three-quarter time." - Pat Conroy
sincerely silly
If you are staying in Old Town, take the Mt. Vernon Trail. It is on Union St through Old Town. Take it north to Gravelly Point and watch the planes landing and taking off at National Airport. MTA: http://bikewashington.org/trails/vernon/index.php Ah, I see I am a little late to the thread. Hope you enjoyed your trip!
I second the gravelly point suggestion! It's a nice place to take a break.
I live in Arlington so when I'm up for my version of long runs, I like to take Memorial Bridge off of the Mt Vernon trail by Arlington Cemetery and take it to the Mall. Once you're across the bridge there's the long flight of steps that everyone seems to use for stair workouts and stretching that looks out onto the water and is absolutely divine around sunrise or sunset. And then continue around the stuff west of the Monument.
There's also the Custis trail in Arlington that runs along I-66 (it's walled off so it's really far more pleasant than it sounds). It connects to W&OD and leads to the Rosslyn Metro if you need an out. :-)
http://bikewashington.org/trails/wad/custis.htm
It's paved and technically lit 24/7 so you can try running it at night. I usually wear my rear bike light for visibility. Buuuut it is still pretty dark and isolated so maybe not the best idea. I haven't taken it too far.
shin splints are my nemesis
Paul, I hope you enjoyed your visit to DC.
I'm just replying to this thread because I wanted to share that I recently accomplished a goal that I've had for the past two years since moving to DC --- I found a way to get to the C&O towpath trail from my front door in Adams Morgan, running only about 1/2 mile of the distance on sidewalk and/or paved Rock Creek Park multipurpose trail. The rest is packed dirt through woods out of sight (if not hearing) of cars. Last Saturday I did 10 miles by going a short bit on the Rock Creek Park paved trail, then turning off to woods and continuing up to Dumbarton Oaks Park, then the Whitehaven Trail to Glover Archibald to C&O. So cool to be able to run on dirt trails in the middle of the city. Here's the route if anyone is interested.
Good Bad & The Monkey
Here's the route if anyone is interested.
"This workout does not have a corresponding map or the map is private."
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Oops --- didn't notice the "publically viewable map" checkbox. Should work now.
Just a quick note of thanks to the OP and Spaniel and Glyde for a well timed post.
I found myself in DC for work last week, and got several good runs in along Rock Creek Park and the Canal towpath. really nice as the last couple trips i ended up running on the mall and city streets, which was a bit choppy. BTW, in case someone stumbles upon this thread, its easy to pick up the rock creek park trail on P St just a few blocks west of Dupont Cir.
Also, fwiw, as I travel a lot, I find openstreetmap.org is a great site for bike trails and running paths, esp. in major cities or in Europe. Its usually more up to date and more detailed than google maps.
Oooh, I like that one. Nice.
Just a quick note of thanks to the OP and Spaniel and Glyde for a well timed post. I found myself in DC for work last week, and got several good runs in along Rock Creek Park and the Canal towpath. really nice as the last couple trips i ended up running on the mall and city streets, which was a bit choppy. BTW, in case someone stumbles upon this thread, its easy to pick up the rock creek park trail on P St just a few blocks west of Dupont Cir. Also, fwiw, as I travel a lot, I find openstreetmap.org is a great site for bike trails and running paths, esp. in major cities or in Europe. Its usually more up to date and more detailed than google maps.
Glad it worked out for you, and thanks in advance for the tip on openstreetmap.org. I've got two trips to Europe yet this year.