Washington, D.C. From 14th & Independence Ave.. SW., to 15th St., then along the Tidal Basin to the 14th St. Bridge, to the Mt. Vernon Trail, onto Roosevelt Island, onto the Roosevelt Bridge, along Constitution Ave. and past the pond to 17th St. up to the Washington Monument, to 14th St., SW, to Independence Ave. and to 12th St., SW. After my late afternoon meeting at work I rushed back to check on the weather and decided it best to run a loop from work. It was already getting cool with rainy skies. I opted to go out over the 14th St. bridge because I thought it advantageous with the winds that were picking up. As I waited for my GPS to track satellites, I saw one runner go by rather quicly. Later after getting going myself, I continued to see him ahead. I couldn't tell if I was going to catch him but as I neared the end of the bridge I could see that he had turned toward the airport on the other side. I kept up the good pace that I started but I didn't feel like I was working hard to do it. On the one measured mile along my overall route, I clocked 6:58 and was surprised. It was overall slightly downhill and the wind was either behind or neutral. I figured I'd extend what was going to be a 4.5 mile route by going to Roosevelt Island. I didn't expect it to be 6 miles before finishing. As I was doing this, the first rain drops sprinkled about. As I got onto the island, the winds shifted in my favor such that they ended up pushing me all the way back--they were basically in my favor the whole route. As I climbed my way onto the Roosevelt Bridge at a very unofficial access point, I moved along fast. I could see a storm cell in its entirety moving toward DC. I was trying to stay ahead of it but the leading edge clouds had already drawn even. They were billowing downward and a distinct green lighting resulted. Lots of tourist were getting some great pictures. I had some traffic intersections which resulted in some fartlek going back. After getting in the building dry, I looked out and less than 30 seconds along everything outside was wet.
