This morning I woke up around 6am to get ready to meet DC Team Challenge @ Tidal Basin for our weekly long run. The weather forecast didn't have high winds or any terrible cold... sunny and in the 40s... but probably only in 30s when we met, but the sun felt good!!
There was about 10 or so of us who met this morning.... I ran with Elizabeth this time. We ran together a few other times and do great together. Our pace is about the same, too... and we also do a good job motivating each other. The team spirit definitely helps with long endurance runs. Kate didn't make it to this meeting, but I'm sure she'll be back running with us soon after her injury heals. Get Better, Kate!! :-)
We ran for a total of 2 HOURS!!! And here's a list of the places we covered during our run:
1.
the National Mall - this place will be covered with lots of ppl in a few wks for the Inaugural Day.
2.
Capitol Building - it's an awesome feeling running by the Botanical Garden and seeing the US Flag flying at the Capitol Bldg... the reflecting pool in front of Capitol Bldg was a bit frozen, but it didn't stop some birds, geese and ducks from being in there.
3.
Museums we ran by: the Smithsonian Museums (including the castle), the Air & Space Museum, Natural History Museum, National Gallery of Art, Holocaust Museum, Bureau of Engraving & Printing
4.
the Washington Monument - we ran around a couple times... last time was to finish off the last 15 mins of the run before we headed back to our meeting location near the Tidal Basin
5.
Tidal Basin including the Jefferson Memorial and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
6.
Lincoln Memorial7.
Arlington Cemetery - after crossing the Bridge behind Lincoln Memorial (Jeremy and I ran over the Bridge before during our lunch runs), we kept going... lol... all the way to the cemetery entrance!!
8.
WWII Memorial - it is such a great feeling to run past the Washington Monument and head for the Lincoln Memorial as you run by the WWII Memorial and by the Reflecting Pool.
I believe we had cheerleaders along the run today, too. Every so often, I noticed a flock of geese settled on the grass as we ran by or in the pools or in the Tidal Basin... sometimes they were noisy as tho they were cheering us on. :-)
The mention of the geese is important in this post because geese are known to be used to symbolize team building situations. Here's an interesting fact:
"As each goose flaps its wings in its place in the formation, it creates uplift for the goose following it. By flying in a “V” formation, scientists have calculated that the whole flock adds up to 71 % more flying range than if the geese flew separately."
So the Teambuilding Lesson: People who share a common direction and a sense of belonging to one another can go farther together than alone. Everyone in Team Challenge shares the common direction of preparing for a Half Marathon and raising awareness & money to find cures for horrible diseases!! Win- Win!! (we don't run in the V-formation tho lol)
Wow!! Running in downtown DC is really great and adds to the excitement of what we're running for. After running for 2 hours, I felt like I could have kept going... Elizabeth commented to me when we were running to the Arlington Cemetery (about an hour into our run), that she remembers it being a dig deal for us to get to 1 hour running... and now we're running 2 hours w/ no problem. So Miami is 2 hours closer now!!
120 mins of running means we probably ran about 12 miles today!!
Click here to see how you can help... donations are accepted up until about Jan 16th. And the
ING Half Marathon is January 25th in Miami!! (starts @ 6:15am - yeaa for morning runs lol)
