How the Half Marathon Turned Out

 It didn't.

Remember how I was all, "I'm running a half marathon!" And then I was like, "Running long distances is hard," and finally I said, "I don't think I want to run a half marathon."

Well, the week after that last statement I tried to run from my house to the West Hyattsville station, which would have been 12 miles, but I didn't make it. My legs weren't having it and I had to call Alex to pick me up. He showed up with pickles and Diet Coke and drove me home while I thought about my musculoskeletal system and how I think it needed more time to prepare for 13 miles. 

So...I pivoted, downgraded from the half marathon to the 5k distance and crushed it!

The half marathon medal was way cooler. :(

I still plan to run more half marathons and one day I really, really wanna run the NYC Marathon, but I'm going to build up a little more slowly. No fear though, I'm still doing Project Crow. I did a run last weekend and will have a post up about it soon!

To Stave Off Despair

 I have my reasons for choosing to run from Metro stations rather than to them. Mostly it is because I am gross and/or cold after I run and don't want to take the train home after a run. After my most recent terrible uphill run and my subsequent looking for long runs that aren't all uphill, I decided to change my mind.  If I want to risk the cold or dirty looks because I smell or drip on the way home, that's okay. From here on out, my goal will be to cycle, run, or walk to every Metro station from my neighborhood or home from every Metro station to my neighborhood.

So say we all.

As the Crow Runs (and Walks and Cycles)

Welcome to my new blog about my new fitness project: Project Crow — or, if it makes it easier for you, Project CRoW.  Project Crow stands for Project Cycle, Run, or Walk. During Project Crow, I will be getting home from each DC-area Metrorail station by one (or more!) of those three methods.

My sophisticated activity-tracking system.

I came up with this after I heard about someone who had run to every Metro station and I thought that was a really cool idea. I don't know for sure if that is a thing that happened; maybe I'll do some research on it. Regardless, I liked the idea because I get bored with running the same routes all the time so this seemed like a good way to do some exploring and motivate myself to get out the door in my running shoes.

I live in Kensington, Maryland, and will run to my neighborhood, not my house, partly so that you can't triangulate in on my address and partly because I live at the top of a bummer of a hill that I don't like to run up. In more bummer news, Kensington is net uphill from most Metro stations. That super sucks but also leads me to my next topic, which is why not just run downhill to all the stations?

I decided to run home from the stations because it is a super drag to shiver all the way home on the Metro from a winter run and it is just downright embarrassing for me and gross for others when I sweat all the way home on the Metro after a summer run. I've done both; neither is awesome.

I should probably address the cycle and walk part of Project Crow here. I am primarily a runner. In fact at the time of this writing, I could probably count my adult outdoor bicycle experiences on one hand. That said, I have had knee issues of late, so the cycle part is there in case my knee blows out and I can't run anymore. Also, do you have any idea how far away the Wiehle-Reston East station is from my house and how long it would take me to run that distance? (It's really far and a long time.)

I do have a bike, so I hope to start some riding, but I don't really want to be killed during this endeavor, so I will need to find some bike path-accessible stations. I am an avid indoor cyclist (I love me some Peloton), so hopefully by the time I get on the road, my legs will know what they're doing.

I included walking in Project Crow because sometimes I am just not feeling a run and it is nice to walk. Also because it starts with a "W."

I'm really excited to begin this project. I tend to obsess over running routes. Whenever I am in a car or on the Metro, I watch roads and paths and think about terrain and elevation and how it would be to run on it. I have my eye on a few paths that I can't wait to run on. I'm excited to plan some routes home. I'm going to try to not run the same routes all the time so we can all experience new areas of the DC Metro area. This means that I won't always be taking the shortest route home, you know, as the crow flies.

There are a lot of Metro stations — 91 to be exact, with more on the way. My home station is Forest Glen, which is the first station I have run as part of this project. It is also the start of my commute to work (Farragut North is the other end — Red Line, represent!). The farthest Metro station that I've run from is Rosslyn, although that doesn't count for Project Crow because I did it last year.

You might have read this far wondering, why crows? What is up with the crow thing? Well. Crows are badass, yes? That's pretty much it. I'm a fan of corvids in general. They're smart, they're pretty, they make funny noises, and they eat roadkill. What's not to love? In fact, I added cycling and walking to my project in part because it made Project Crow work.

That's about it. My next post will be about my Forest Glen run. If you have questions, you can ask me and if you want more information, check out my FAQ.