Saturday, February 12, 2011

Hains Point 2/5


Ah, there we are. Or, there's me, Kristen in her cool shades, and the terrifying, looming silhouette of Elizabeth's jaunty white cap - all of us ready for a leisurely, 3-mile run on our rest week.

(And don't we just look happy to have made it there? We may have had some bridge trouble that led to an impromptu trip to Virginia, but everyone survived, marveling all the while about what life must have been like for the cavemen before there was GPS.)

According to the Font-of-all-Knowledge, aka Wikipedia:

"Hains Point is located at the southern tip of East Potomac Park, between the main branch of the Potomac River and the Washington Channel in southwest Washington, D.C. The land on which the park is located is sometimes described as a peninsula, but is actually an island: the Washington Channel connects with the Tidal Basin north of the park and the Jefferson Memorial. The island is artificial: it was built up from Potomac dredging material from 1880 to 1892."

And yet! There was no evidence of dredging of any kind on that pleasant, almost-spring day. Hains Point is actually part of the official course for the 10-miler, and according to Elizabeth, it's the hardest part. Unlike the rest of the course, which is apparently full of cheering spectators and monumental grandeur, Hains Point is apparently rather boring and prone to problematic windiness.

Happily, I found that in my experience this man-made island of dredge is quite lovely, with a marina, playground, cherry trees, and a golf course for scenery. And really, if nothing else at least it's flat! Three miles done, and if that's the worst of it, I feel that I can hardly complain.



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