Day 31: Paris-on-the-Potomac

Here I am in the Federal City, carrying out Crucial Government Business, and this afternoon I realized that I should take advantage of my schedule and run today rather than tomorrow, a rare three-day stretch of runs for me. So I did, in the early evening, 85 degrees and sunny and humid. I didn't mind the weather and my stomach was a lot calmer.

This is the first time I've run outdoors in DC, and it was a little weird, as I looped around the Mall (an estimated four miles, according to my incredibly detailed computations), to see the White House, the Capitol, the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, and the Lincoln Memorial. There were crowds of tourists and lots of traffic lights, which slowed me down considerably... don't know if I'd want to do this every day, but once was nice. Might be something to try in the wee hours of the morning, too.

A lot of activity: a movie showing on the Mall tonight (Dr. No), a guy on a recumbent bike with a full fabric cowling for maximum speed, and lots of softball games in progress. A ball rolled in front of me on the path at one point and, caught up in civic spirit, I actually stopped to stoop down and toss it back to its rightful place. To make up for this, about half a mile later I trampled some oblivious foreign tourists who were in my way. It all evens out.

Running in the later part of the day meant that today was a two-shower day, and I took full advantage of the hotel's ice machine to apply some precautionary cooling to the ol' leg-bones. On TV was the home run derby, and as Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers kept belting them out of the ballyard, one of the commentators said, "Josh must be feeling a little fatigue right around now." Yeah. Poor Josh!