General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Crescent Trail? Rss Feed  
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2012-04-30 7:39 PM

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Subject: Crescent Trail?
I'm going to be in town later this week and through the weekend, and am looking to do a 16 mile run Sunday. I'm staying at the Embassy Suites near the convention center. It looks like I could run down M street and then pick up the Crescent Trail, then do a long out and back on that trail. Does that make sense? Any different routes I should consider? I'm assuming that the trail is marked with mileage markers, so I should have a good idea of distance?


2012-05-01 10:01 AM
in reply to: #4182374

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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?

The Capital Crescent Trail is very nice and you could definitely do that. There are mile markers every half mile -- the mile markers originate in Maryland, FYI, so you'll be seeing them in reverse.

There are bathrooms on the trail at Fletcher's Boathouse. There are also a couple of water fountains, but I don't know for sure if they've been turned on yet -- so I would carry your own water.

2012-05-01 4:50 PM
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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?
Sweet! Thanks for the info. I'll definitely bring my own water along.
2012-05-03 11:45 AM
in reply to: #4182374

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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?

As an option, you could also head south for a few blocks from your hotel and run along the Mall and grab the Rock Creek Park trail over by the Lincoln Memorial.

From there you could hook with the Crescent trail in the Georgetown waterfront.  You'd have to do a couple of little in/outs to connect between the two trails (not too tough) but you'd get to see a few monuments (Washington, WWII, Lincoln), museums, the Watergate, Kennedy Center and the Georgetown waterfront on your way out of the city.  Instead of the traffic and concrete jungle of M st following your original plan.

2012-05-04 7:42 PM
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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?
Thanks for the additional advice. Where exactly do you pick up the rock creek trail near the Lincoln Memorial? I walked by there yesterday, and ran several loops of the mall this morning, so I have a basic idea of the general area but am not sure where I could get the trail.
2012-05-06 7:45 AM
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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?

What a great run! I went down 12th to the mall, out to Lincoln, found the Rock Creek Trail, then worked my way through some really nicely landscaped parks parallel to K street in Georgetown. I thought I may have hit a dead end until I got under the Francis Scott Key Bridge and saw Jack's boathouse and the start of the Crescent Trail.  The trail was great - much more secluded than I had imagined, plus it was loaded with cardinals and honeysuckle blossoms.  Coming back, I came up K Street and then ran on Pennsylvania past the White House before cutting up New York back to my hotel.  About 16 miles total.

DC is a great running city - very cool that you can go from very urban running to feeling like you're in the middle of nowhere in a matter of minutes.

Thanks again for the advice!



2012-05-07 9:12 AM
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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?
Maine Rob - 2012-05-06 8:45 AM

What a great run! I went down 12th to the mall, out to Lincoln, found the Rock Creek Trail, then worked my way through some really nicely landscaped parks parallel to K street in Georgetown. I thought I may have hit a dead end until I got under the Francis Scott Key Bridge and saw Jack's boathouse and the start of the Crescent Trail.  The trail was great - much more secluded than I had imagined, plus it was loaded with cardinals and honeysuckle blossoms.  Coming back, I came up K Street and then ran on Pennsylvania past the White House before cutting up New York back to my hotel.  About 16 miles total.

DC is a great running city - very cool that you can go from very urban running to feeling like you're in the middle of nowhere in a matter of minutes.

Thanks again for the advice!

Awesome, glad you have a good run... sorry I missed your last question.  I had a wedding Friday night and went out of town the next morning... glad you found the hook up between the Mall and Rock Creek. 

DC is a great running town and with all the network of trails you can go for some really nice long runs w/o having to be in traffic too much.

2013-08-19 7:39 PM
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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?
I'm glad to see this, we'll be out there next week (Sunday to Sunday) and will be looking for some nice runs. We're doing a trail marathon in St. Paul on Saturday then flying out to DC with the kids on Sunday, so I'm not sure how long I'll be looking to run, probably keeping it at 10 and under for the "recovery" week. We're staying at the St Gregory Hotel on M street, looks like the Rock Creek Park Trails should be good running? Is that different than the Crescent trail?

I'm guessing if we're not looking to go too long but still want some variety, we can probably take the Metro to any of the better running spots in the city, right?

edit: How about actual trail running, single track off pavement type stuff, anyone have suggestions?

Edited by Climbinggonzo 2013-08-19 7:41 PM
2013-08-20 5:30 AM
in reply to: Climbinggonzo

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Subject: RE: Crescent Trail?
All of the trails kind of connect. Your hotel is in a great spot to get to running trails (I live in the neighborhood).

For the Rock Creek Parkway trail, you'll want to run up a few blocks to P Street and head west over the bridge. If you run down the ramp to the parkway, you'll see the trail. If you head north, you'll run through Rock Creek Park (there are dirt trails in RCP as well, but I'm a road runner, so others may have more info on that). If it's the weekend, the Parkway trail going north eventually meets Beach Drive, which is closed to traffic on the weekends and makes for an awesome run -- that would be about 4 miles from where you start, though.

If you head south, you have several options. The parkway trail connects to K Street and you can pick up the Capital Crescent Trail there. If you keep going south past the Kennedy Center, you have a few options...you can continue up the hill toward the Lincoln monument and then run the Mall, or you can hook a right at the top of the hill and cross the Memorial Bridge to get to the Mt. Vernon Trail...you can either run toward Alexandria, or if you run toward Rosslyn you can add a loop around Roosevelt Island. Alternately, you can cross the parkway where the volleyball courts are and connect to Ohio Drive, which eventually hits Hains Point.

The Mt. Vernon Trail is my personal favorite, but all of these routes have their own appeal.
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