Running near Dulles Airport: hop on W&OD!

Vacation time, time to catch-up with late posts, phew!

This run actually happened before my last post about my Memorial Day training weekend and its traditional 3 ultra runs in 3 days. I was working at a client in Herndon, VA (Virginia) that week and staying in Sterling, both being close to IAD, aka Dulles International Airport, Northwest of Washington DC.

I did a few searches on the web for nearby trails and it wasn't too difficult to find that the long W&OD (Washington & Old Dominion) trail was passing by Herndon and Sterling, less than a mile from my hotel actually. I had run once on that bike path back in 2010 but didn't realize it was going on for so many miles away from the capital. The W&OD Railroad Regional Park is most likely the thinnest regional park in the US, if not in the world, at least the most linear: 45 miles long but only 100 feet wide!

I didn't have much time to squeeze a run in between short nights and client work but I still managed to run a half marathon before breakfast. No picture from the luxurious vegetation bordering most of the asphalt bike path, but here is the overview map.

Whenever you stay in this area, look for the best place to hop on the W&OD trail!