Training in the City

I've started walking around the city while training for my Avon Walk.  I have always loved cities.  I find peace among a lot of people.  I love the sights, the smells and the sounds.  I feel alive there.

I left the convention center where I was working and just headed up 7th Street.  I don't know exactly where it turned into Georgia Avenue but I knew it would.  I walked through some pretty interesting areas.  There were people sitting out on their front stoops, walking around, going from point A to point B and just wandering around.  People knew each other - I was clearly an outsider.  I was less of an outsider around Howard University, though I'm pretty sure I didn't look like their standard student.  I didn't feel unwelcome anywhere, but I didn't feel like I belonged there either.  Still, it was a different way to see the city.

When Amanda and I walked from Silver Spring to the White House last Saturday, we walked up 16th street, a road I've driven a million times.  Yet we saw things we hadn't thought of.  We saw beautiful gardens, huge houses, buildings we couldn't identify and vendors selling yucca and plantains (no, we didn't try them).  We stopped in the Greek Orthodox church for baklava and a clean bathroom break.  Everyone we passed was friendly.

Andrew and I walked all over Eastern Market through Capitol Hill and down on the Mall to L'Enfant Plaza last Sunday.  We passed beautiful flowers, the Supreme Court, protesters at Capitol Hill and tourists galore.  Walking smells better than metro.

When I'm not walking through the city I'm walking around Lake Artemesia in College Park.  There we see beavers, bats, ducks and listen to frogs and other creatures.  Training for this walk has been tough but I've seen things I wouldn't have seen otherwise, which is pretty cool.