Two Races, Two Cities, One Day

Today Kathleen raced in two races, a 5 Mile race in Washington DC, and then a 5K race here in Baltimore. So at the crack of dawn (blast you daylight savings time) we headed down to DC to go to the first race. The start was right a Freedom Plaza so I parked on the other side of the ellipse and rode over to the start. Passed by the White House (crappy picture, I didn't stop for this).

Then I swung over to Pennsylvania Ave to catch the start of the race, I was right across from the Old Post Office Pavillion, now a food court and offices, but at one time was the main post office for Washington DC.
Right across from where I was waiting, the lone bagpiper waited to serenade the runners as they passed by.


Here is the start, somehow I missed Kathleen going by in the pack.
So I shot on ahead of the group and caught up with Kathleen right near the near where they turned off of Pennsylvania Ave.
I caught up with her again right at the turnaround by the Capitol making a bold move around the outside at the turn.

After that I cut around the Capitol building itself, the streets were completely clear of cars, so it was a snap to zip around, despite all of the anti terrorism barriers.
I caught up with her again at the turnaround in front of the Air & Space Museum.
Then I cut across the Mall to the finish, one end the capitol,
and the other the Washington Monument.
Then it was off to the finish line for Kathleen's finish.
I then loaded up the bike on the Subaru and picked Kathleen up and back to B'more we went for the 5K Race downtown. On the way back up, it was pouring, so I had decided to bail on riding around the race. I dropped of Kathleen, then realized on my way down to the finish that today was also the St Patricks Day parade, so parking was non-existant, plus it had stopped raining, so I zipped back to the house and dumped the car, changed back into my cycling clothes, and pedaled over to the start line. On my way over I passed through the staging area for the parade. The bands and cars were all getting ready for the big show.


How often do you see a stretched '57 Chevy?This was my view of the start, the runners are up the hill behind the police car.
And here is where they will be headed down Charles Street towards the Inner Harbor
Here come the fast guys at the beginning, if you look really hard, one of them is dressed as Borat.
Here is Kathleen, (Black Hat, grey shirt, red sleeves). I just didn't have my usual mojo going on for this race, I didn't spot her until she was almost past.
I caught up with her (almost) again a little later in the race (once again late :( )
On my way over to the finish area I had my own little tribute to the cobblestone Spring classic bike races in europe, I have no idea how those guys do it for miles, one block was enough to rattle my fillings.
Sadly I managed to miss her finish, but we met up in the finishing area where they were having a big party. The finish was at a complex called Power Plant Live, there are several restaurants and nightclubs there, for today they had a band outside in the courtyard, being the closest weekend day to St Pat's and all.