Hill Sprints

This morning I got up and downtown without any incidents of stupidity*.

The Rayburn Office Building is a House of Reps office building located just south and west of the Capitol across Independence Ave. Independence Ave right in front of the building is also the steepest hill around**. I ran to the bottom, which took about 15 minutes so I was good and warm. Then I ran as fast as I could up the hill. Turn around, jog down to the bottom, and repeat. Four times.

It was wonderful. First, I got my heart rate up to 189, which is pretty rare these days. Second, I know this will help me run longer and faster. It did make me feel my years, though - eight years ago I could have done that probably 10 times - today I don't think I could have gone 6 times.

Tomorrow I'm going to explore the beginning of the C&O canal.

*For example, leaving my clothes hanging on a hook by the door when I leave home. That's stupidity.

**Most of DC is pretty flat. There's a big hill at the State Dept and Constitution Ave, but the sidewalk is all chewed up and there's construction and State gatherings sometimes have queues that go out into the sidewalk, so I'm ignoring that hill.