They're here!!! And by they I mean the cherry blossoms. The sun is out, it feels like springtime, and this morning was a beautiful day for a run.
And I don't care how tourist-adverse or allergy-infected you are – if you're a runner in DC, you must brave the Tidal Basin and go on at least one cherry blossom run per year. Because it's a rule. Because I said so.
And this rule isn’t restricted to runners – cyclists can get in on the action too! Just do a few laps around Haines Point and call it a pink and flowery morning.
This morning, my 6:15 alarm didn’t feel quite as early as it could have (hooray for the sun rising at 6:38 am!). I ate a handful of jelly beans (the Easter kind, not the sports kind), and SpeedyKate and I headed out the door into the glorious 60-degrees morning, which felt even more dramatically awesome since this time last week we were wearing tights and fleece and gloves.
Stanton Park. Oh hey General Stanton! Good morning to you sir! |
We met Chris at Stanton Park and headed to the Mall, where the influx of extras in addition to the in the usual morning runners tells me that we weren’t the only ones with the cherry blossom run idea.
The Tidal Basin was a bit too crowded to run along the water the whole way around, but there’s grass around the outsides and multiple entrance and exit points, so it wasn’t too too bad. We ran clockwise around the basin then out through the Martin Luther King Memorial.
And the Tidal Basin isn’t the only place with cherry trees and/or other blossoming trees along our route. My dendrology knowledge is minimal, but the google tells me that we may be seeing flowers from dogwood, pink flowering magnolia, redbuds, and crabapple all over DC.
Pink Flowering Magnolia trees |
I don't carry a camera/phone running, so the pictures in this post are from my walk home last night and bike ride to work this morning.
Lincoln Park. |