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[quote=Anonymous]what time of day and what days are you running?

First of all, it's still technically winter, when a lot of people take their runs indoors, and a lot of others are running on roads because they're not sure the trails are cleared of snow and ice.  I trail run in the spring-summer-fall, but avoid trails in winter.  Also, the trails will be more crowded on weekends than during the week, and more crowded during pre-work and post-work hours vs. during the day.  (a lot of trails are unsuitable for the jogging stroller crowd and retired folks, which makes up the midday crowd.)

Trails I like:
* Potomac Heritage trail - you *might* see another runner or two, or a hiker or two, but this is a pretty isolated trail.  It's so technical, though, that generally shady people will avoid it.  I've never felt threatened there.  (pick it up by roosevelt island.)  Awesome views and some real challenges, but you have to slow to a walk often to pick your way over rocks and ford streams and go over or under fallen trees.
* Glover Archbold trail - pick it up from the Capital Crescent trail just west of Gtown, or by the railroad trestle on M St. west of gtown university.  You can take it up to Van Ness, for about 3 miles of trail, then from there, turn around, or find the Melvin Hazen trail.
* Melvin Hazen trail - in DC, near the zoo, I usually pick it up on CT Ave.  it's on maps.
* Normanstone trail - this is not very long - you can pick it up from the Rock Creek Parkway trail (just south of the fitness stations below CT ave, I think) and take it to Gtown
* C&O Canal towpath - it's a dirt path, so it's easy on the legs.  This is a good time to run it - there's no tree cover, so it gets hot in the summer, plus the canal gets smelly at certain times of year before they drain it and clean out the algae.  It goes for miles and miles.  One of the lock houses has bathrooms and water fountains - maybe the one that's a few miles out from gtown.

Potomac Heritage branches out into a couple of nice areas in Arlington for adding mileage - look for the "Windy Run" markers near the big waterfall - you can climb up rocks to a rock staircase and then run through woods and over a couple of streams till you get to a small road, and then turn back.  PH also connects to Donaldson Run by Marcey St. and Military Rd -there are a bunch of winding trails there suitable for walking or running.[/quote]

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