No broken bones

I'm not sure how you would define dedication or commitment, but I say that waking up at 6:00 am to get on the first train into the city and running along snowy/icy trails along The National Mall in sub-freezing temps just might meet the definition.  What the hell am I doing?  More importantly --- what's wrong with all the other idiots who were there with me??? 

Oh my. What a run. I finally gave up at 7.5 miles. My right foot was not happy with the terrain and I decided it made sense to just stop. I changed into dry clothes and headed home.  I felt a bit guilty not completing the scheduled 10-12 miles today, but I decided  cutting it short was better than risking an injury.

All the marathon and half-marathon runners from all our locations met at the Smithsonian Information Center (aka The Cool Castle in the middle of The Mall) to get our routes. It really was more mayhem than anything else. Everyone was freezing while the coaches were standing around determining which routes would be the safest and open for running.  Surprisingly the other hardcore DC runners were also on The Mall in force.  I guess it's "the place to be" when snow/ice hits the city.

Our initial route was a 2-mile loop around part of The Mall that we were scheduled to do six times. After two laps, a number of us were done with that. Though relatively clear, it was painfully boring. We ventured off to do the longer Lincoln Memorial to the Supreme Court loop just to expand our distance.
Unfortunately the roads and paths were not consistently clear, so we skated part of the way and ran over the packed snow. No broken bones!  It was definitely an adventure.

Along the route, we were talking about taking on a triathlon next.   Apparently I agreed to think about it and review the registration information.  Uh oh.