A fine Thanksgiving was had by all - too fine. We only had three days to work off those calories, which conservatively had to be at least 2x the 1330 calories that wimpy pilgrim ate in the above infographic.
Carole and I started the battle on Friday am on a cool and overcast morning by first stopping at Qualia Coffee in the Petworth neighborhood of DC for a caffeine infusion and then parking at the Little Falls Stream Valley trailhead off of Massachusetts Avenue. From there it was about 2.5 miles through the edge of NW DC on the trail system, following by some sidewalk walking through the Brookmont neighborhood to cross the Clara Barton Road and get to the towpath. About 2.5 miles of towpath walking got us to the Fletcher's Boathouse area that has restrooms that meet Carole's stringent standards. We then walked back up the Capital Crescent trail for a very nice urban 7 mile walk, which almost cancelled out the gluten free chocolate coconut bar we shared at Qualia.
On Saturday, I was ground crew for Carole getting in an 8 mile training run around BWI airport. On Sunday, Carl and I did the southern most 6 miles of the Catoctin Trail west of Frederick MD. Since we did it from north to south, the first 3 miles are downhill but then you have to gain back most of that altitude - twice. This is a beautiful section of the Catoctin Trail, though we have had hardly any rain for months and the streams were not as burbly as usual. A few mountain bikers were out, on the southern end many dog walkers.
I always forget about the last climb going in this direction - I always think the parking lot is just around the corner from this nice flat section, but nooooooooooooooo - about a 3/4 mile long climb after this.