2. U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo

Google maps walking distance: 2.4
Distance run: 2.6

First of all, this is DC, not the midwest. What is with this weather? There was a wind chill of 14 degrees as I made my way home this morning, on a route that unfortunately is largely uphill, because DC is weird like that.

So today, I explored that most misunderstood of metro lines, the green line. I don't have much to say about the green line yet, because I will be getting very acquainted with it over the next few months and will weigh in later.

I started my little journey at U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo. Yes, that is the official name of the stop...lots of DC's Metro stops are named after lots of points of interest or locations; it's a little city-level lobbying on the part of some of those locations. U Street has two exits, one at 13th and U, and the other on 10th Street below U. I may do this stop twice, because there are some things near the other exit that are worth discussing. Plus, it will give me the opportunity to run through Meridian Hill Park in the summer, but more on that later. So, here's my route, for those interested. (If you're not, then please check out after the jump.)

Has anyone seen my watch?

I have a LOT of watches. Dressy, casual, athletic, non-running...a LOT of watches. It's funny, because the only time I remember wearing a watch when I was younger was in middle school before cell phones were around (yes, in my middle school days they didn't have to ban cell phones because no one had them. But my god the enforcement of the beeper ban was INTENSE. Because obviously everyone who carries a beeper is a drug dealer. Apparently the many respectable positions in the mid-90s that required beepers escaped my school system. But I digress). In 7th grade I had this ridiculously large, black Timex Ironman watch, and I replaced the plastic band with a fabric, velcro dealy that wrapped around my wrist. And, along with several friendship bracelets fashioned during classes or after school while pouring over the latest Seventeen magazine, I never. took. it. off. Never. Showering, swimming, going out to a nice dinner for my birthday, you name it. I loved the awesome, faded, frayed look it adopted, which really complemented the color-coordinated bands on my braces and that spectacular t-shirt with the multicolored Friends logo paired with embroidered denim cut-offs and Timberland hiking boots.

1. Woodley Park

Shortest distance: 0.7
Distance run: 2.11

I'll say one thing about running from Woodley Park to Cleveland Park: It's easy. Google maps clearly suggests the shortest route in its walking directions, but let's face it - that's not always going to be the most interesting route or the most scenic, and in this case it definitely wouldn't have even counted as a run. Rather than running directly up Connecticut Avenue for three-quarters of a mile (as exciting as that section of the Conn Ave corridor is), I decided to make things a little more interesting.

How far are we talking?

The question I have been getting asked most often is "What's the farthest stop?" This is usually followed closely by "I bet it's Franconia-Springfield." That's actually correct...although I can't tell if that guess is coming from my friends' prejudice against Virginia or a general lack of knowledge about where all the other stops are... At any rate, I've been to the Franconia stop before, and it takes FOREVER to get down there from my little place in Cleveland Park.

For the sake of illustration, here (in map form) are the distances to the Cleveland Park metro station from all of the other stations. (For what should be obvious, personal safety-related reasons, I am using CP station as my "home" as far as the internet is concerned). I'll put this up somewhere on the blog eventually, and use it like a little checklist of where I've been.

First Post

Clever title, I know.

Today, January 3, 2011, marks the start of a potentially foolish but pretty ambitious endeavor. Before I explain it, let me give a little background. For the past five years, I've lived in the fair city of Washington, DC (My boyfriend will correct me here, so in the spirit of full disclosure, I should point out that for the first year and a half in the region I lived in Arlington, VA.).

In those five years, I've taken the Metro pretty much everywhere I've needed to go. As a kid from the suburbs, I was instantly enamored with the idea of public transportation, taking Metro and Metrobus everywhere, surviving car-less until a new job required it. Every move to a new apartment was influenced by the search for a location closer to a Metro stop. I've since landed within two blocks of the Cleveland Park station on the Red Line, among my finest achievements since I got here (Is that sad? I don't care.).

For the past decade or so, I've also been an endurance athlete. Running and cycling are my weapons of choice. There was a brief period during which I added swimming for extra fun, but a poorly timed fall off my bike while riding home from a happy hour (I no longer advise this as a legitimate means to get home after drinking) injured my shoulder and cut my triathlon career short.

I've run the National Marathon here in DC, and many other races in the area, leading me through neighborhoods in which I don't spend much time or money or attention. I've ridden Metro or Metrobus to locations far and near (the Target in Wheaton, MD; Tyson's Corner, VA; Silver Spring Stage for my local theater debut), not really thinking about the places in between my starting point and my destination.

So, how are these things related? Long ago (really not THAT long ago, but before magazines were widely accessible on the internet..maybe 2000? 2002?), I read a fascinating side item in Runner's World about a guy from Washington, DC, who had run home from EVERY METRO STATION. Eighty-six stations, comprising more than 100 miles of track (it's many more miles when you consider it's often impossible to run or walk along the Metro tracks). He took the Metro to a station on the map, and ran back to his house. It's a startlingly simple idea that has stuck with me for the better part of a decade, despite the fact that I no longer have that issue of Runner's World and I had no idea at the time that I would one day live in DC.

But I DO live here, and I've recently realized that though I've been here for more than five years, and have seen and done a lot of things in that time, I'm still lacking in knowledge about the geography, history and people of the area. I mean, looking at that Metro map, there are stations I've never even heard of (Morgan Boulevard?). Does that automatically mean a station is in an area full of history and scenery? Of course not. But, I've been looking for my newest challenge, (a challenge that doesn't involve watching an entire season of an HBO series from my bed...) my own personal Everest, if you will.

Eighty-six stations, ranging from 0.7 to 15.9 miles from my home station. Fifty-two weeks in one year of calculated madness. And in 362 days, I will hopefully not only gain dozens of miles under my feet, but a greater sense of the landscape and people of the DC metro area. I declare 2011 my year of taking the long way home.