Just moved here this week (from NYC). With work and moving, haven't gotten out to run yet. What's the scene like here? Based on the people I see walking around, I'm guessing there are quite a few bros in this city, which usually means dudes in basketball shorts doing HIIT on the sidewalk.
Live near Rock Creek Park, so most of my running will probably be done there, with track work at Cardozo HS.
What should I expect?
Rock Creek is a nice trail but can be a little busy.
Mount Vernon Trail is also nice, I prefer it to Rock Creek.
Running in the city itself should be avoided at all costs. The traffic (foot and car) is crazy and tourists will drive you nuts with their lack of spatial awareness and waddling around like the whole city is their personal amusement park. Traffic lights are also extremely long.
Best place for hilly workout - National Arboretum. Can do 5k loops where you are either going up or down, practically no flat. Guarantee a good workout if you do a few laps or more of this. Also wooded, great scenery.
rosshm16 wrote:
Rock Creek is a nice trail but can be a little busy.
Mount Vernon Trail is also nice, I prefer it to Rock Creek.
Running in the city itself should be avoided at all costs. The traffic (foot and car) is crazy and tourists will drive you nuts with their lack of spatial awareness and waddling around like the whole city is their personal amusement park. Traffic lights are also extremely long.
Really? What's wrong with running on the National Mall?
they're redoing a large segment RCP trail starting this Fall in multiple phases. Other than that, lots of fair weather runners between Memorial bridge and Connecticut Ave bridge.
New District Runner wrote:
Just moved here this week (from NYC). With work and moving, haven't gotten out to run yet. What's the scene like here? Based on the people I see walking around, I'm guessing there are quite a few bros in this city, which usually means dudes in basketball shorts doing HIIT on the sidewalk.
Live near Rock Creek Park, so most of my running will probably be done there, with track work at Cardozo HS.
What should I expect?
Forget Rock Creek. Cross the bridge after Lincoln and go south along the river. Takes you past the airport and a practically endless greenway system with minimal joggers/cyclists. Breeze from the river is nice when it's hot, can be chilly as temps drop though.
I've seen guys running straight 5:00 pace on the National Mall so there's at least a few serious runners.
You can also try Gallaudet University track if you're in that part of town, but be respectful of the athletes on their home track. It's usually empty on weekends.
disgraceful_admin wrote:
You can also try Gallaudet University track if you're in that part of town, but be respectful of the athletes on their home track. It's usually empty on weekends.
A running buddy of mine used to always complain that no one would move out of his lane when he yelled "TRACK!" at Gallaudet. Terrible joke...
OP, you need to stick to the C&O as much as possible. 180 miles of soft surface. It can get a bit boring, but great for training. I used to do hill repeats over in Battery Kemble.
So many good places to run in DC.
disgraceful_admin wrote:
rosshm16 wrote:Rock Creek is a nice trail but can be a little busy.
Mount Vernon Trail is also nice, I prefer it to Rock Creek.
Running in the city itself should be avoided at all costs. The traffic (foot and car) is crazy and tourists will drive you nuts with their lack of spatial awareness and waddling around like the whole city is their personal amusement park. Traffic lights are also extremely long.
Really? What's wrong with running on the National Mall?
rosshm16 wrote:
The traffic (foot and car) is crazy and tourists will drive you nuts with their lack of spatial awareness and waddling around like the whole city is their personal amusement park. Traffic lights are also extremely long.
I have worked in DC for 4 years and the best running is on the C&O canal. More space and you don't have the large amount of people like Rock Creek. Rock Creek is nice but people feel more entitled there. Big running groups take up the whole trail pushing you to the grass, and people aren't courteous if you politely yell track. As far as the trail goes Rock Creek is nice. I have only ridden a bike through the airport trail so I don't know much about it. From what I gathered that is a pure bike trail.
I'd say reach out to the Georgetown Running Company. They have a lot of solid runners, and are pretty personable. I assume they'd show you good routes/places to go in DC as well.
New District Runner, drop me a line if you want to talk about DC running.
Petpeeves1 wrote:
I have worked in DC for 4 years and the best running is on the C&O canal. More space and you don't have the large amount of people like Rock Creek. Rock Creek is nice but people feel more entitled there. Big running groups take up the whole trail pushing you to the grass, and people aren't courteous if you politely yell track. As far as the trail goes Rock Creek is nice. I have only ridden a bike through the airport trail so I don't know much about it. From what I gathered that is a pure bike trail.
Another vote for the C&O as long as the geese aren't out en force. When they are, they block the trail and hiss at you and try to bite you. I've had to kick one before, poor thing. I had no other choice as it had me cornered against the water with like 45 other geese behind it.
The so-called "airport trail" is really called the Mount Vernon Trail and it's decent for running but a bit crowded at times. It's also hard surface, which doesn't bother me but some may prefer the dirt of the C&O. I worked in Rosslyn for years and would run on the Mount Vernon Trail at lunch. I'd head out of my office, run to Gravelly Point and back and it was exactly 7 miles. Hotter than blazes during the summer with no shade and the glare from the water but it was still better than 99% of runs.
DC truly is a great running town, especially when you consider that it's a big, urban area. Stay in the District proper - or the immediately adjacent NOVA neighborhoods - if you want to keep running. I had a friend move to McLean and he basically gave up running b/c it was either jump in the car and sit in traffic to find a running spot or do 600 meter loops in his neighborhood.
I never really connected with one of the running stores b/c I trained with college teammates who also lived in the area, but Georgetown Running Company and Pacers are both good spots to meet other runners or join a track workout group.
New track at St. Alban's looked super nice last time I was in town. I wonder if any groups have access to that facility.
If you run through Georgetown's campus, watch out for Lax Bros who'll wing lax balls at your head.
I second the C&O as a great place to run. Unfortunately it is kind of a pain to get to if you don't have a bike or already live around Georgetown. I usually drive there and of course the traffic sucks after work. Also, canal road is one way which makes getting in or out a challenge depending on which way/time of day you are traveling from.
I often run around the mall and it is generally fine. A nice 8 mile loop from my house in capitol hill and I can extend it by running around the tidal basin or crossing the river and running the bikepath. The tourists are less of an annoyance to me than the crossroads where you can sometimes get stopped for up to a minute.
Overall though, there are some very good runners in the district, but races are generally expensive and not very fun. No post race party or anything, just a banana and a water. There are some very competitive races though depending on how good your are (Cherry Blossom for example).
East/West Potomac Park has a great flat 3mi loop with bathrooms and water fountains. A good alternative to Cardozo track is Howard University which is a 10 minute jog away.
DC runnerr wrote:
East/West Potomac Park has a great flat 3mi loop with bathrooms and water fountains. A good alternative to Cardozo track is Howard University which is a 10 minute jog away.
Is the Howard track open to the public?
I've never had any problem getting on to the Howard track.
From Columbia Heights this is your best bet for a 10-mile loop:
Head west on Florida and cross over Connecticut Ave. and continue until you reach Mass. Ave. Then catch up with Q St. take it to R St. You can duck into trails in Dumbarton Oaks Park and then cross over Wisconsin Ave. and catch up with the Rock Creek trails. From there you can create any number of loops. I usually head north on the Glover Archbold Trail and then come back down Mass. Ave. and duck back into Dumbarton. From Columbia Heights it's the best soft surface option.
Mount vernon trail RULES!!! (at least today it does). I saw TWO hot chicks out running today, that's a record.
You can go over to Roosevelt Island and run 5 meters behind someone.
rough ridin' ted wrote:
You can go over to Roosevelt Island and run 5 meters behind someone.
I had a guy chase me with a knife back there. It was in the evening and he came out from the woods on the far South side of the island. He looked like a drunk homeless guy. I just ran like hell on that wooden dock thing and got the f*** off the island as fast as I could. When I got home, I wasn't even sure it had really happened. I kept saying to myself, "it was probably just someone messing around or being funny."
I did end up calling the police though, but they didn't really seem to care. Took my name and description and I never heard anything else. One of the weirder things that has ever happened to me.
Anyhow...Roosevelt Island is a good place to run. Tree shaded dirt paths with river views, with an outer loop of about a mile and half. There are also wooded hilly trails further north in Rock Creek Park, not far from the Horse/Equestrian center (near the intersection of Broad Branch Rd. and Beach Dr.) that are good.