In the seven years I've lived in DC (four in college, three in for work) I have never once run along the National Mall and past all the museums and monuments.



So when Megan suggested we do an easy five mile fun run on Saturday morning I was all for it.

We headed downtown bright and early and parked outside my old office building.


What up GSA?

Then we headed out to explore the monuments.

We started our loop running past the White House


Traditional touristy pic

and the Washington Monument.



Then we headed down the National Mall to the Capitol Building.



By the time we got there I was so super hot I wanted to dive right into the water.



Megan and I stopped a lot along the route to take pictures and to chug down water. Megan had a long run planned for the next day, so our goal was to keep the pace nice and easy, which we did. I think we averaged between 9:45 and 9:50 for most of the run.



After our water break near the Capitol we headed back along the other side of the Mall, ran past the Monument again and headed toward the World War II and Lincoln Memorials.



We found Florida and Maryland pretty quickly, but PA was all the way on the other side of the monument and we were running out of time in the parking meter, so I missed getting a shot with my true home state.


Lots of MD love

We did however have time for a quick yoga break at the Lincoln Memorial before heading back to the car.




(Photo from Megan!)

I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning. This was a no pressure run, where we were just getting out there for the fun of it.

I love that I have friends whose idea of a good time is waking up super early on a Saturday morning to go for a run. Plus I really think there's no better way to see the monuments than by running the National Mall.