Washington DC, Dulles Airport Westin

I am on an overnight for 17.5 hours in Washington, DC. Initially, that

sounds really exciting...until you realize that Dulles Airport, or

airport code KIAD, is 30 miles west of all the sightseeing and

touristy stuff. I am staying at the Dulles Airport Westin. This part
of DC is a little more industrial, and I'm no more then a couple miles

east of the airport. Let me start by saying the room was amazing. For
anyone who has not stayed at a Westin, the beds and showers are
top-notch, and they make recovering from a long day, or long run for

that matter, a wonderful experience. I have never stayed in this part
of DC before, so I made my way down to the concierge to ask if there

are any good running trails or paths in the area I should try out. He
gave me a recommendation that, though fairly repetitive for a 12-mile 

run, was still very enjoyable.

I made my way out the front door by the lobby, started my playlist

with a little old school Metallica, and continued across the street. I

picked up a path that passed by a gazebo that was near a small pond
with flower beds around it. This was a nice highlight to the run, and

the path quickly fed into Sunrise Valley Drive.

I turned left on this road, following it as I had been instructed
until running into my first traffic light. It was a steady uphill run

for the next mile and a quarter. The path began by running by an

industrial area with large buildings for Time Warner and Northrop
Grumman as well as apartment buildings. I hadn't looked at a map

before leaving, so as the sidewalk turned into a gravel path that
paralleled the Highway 267 toll road, I wasn't sure if I had gotten
lost in the first mile, or if I had been given bad advice.

The sidewalk returned quickly and the industrial buildings returned

with it. I found the traffic light earlier mentioned on Centreville

Road. Just prior to this light, the fruits of my uphill labor were
rewarded with a block and half of down hill running.

Following the side walk, I passed a strip mall and an uphill gradient
on my way to the next landmark, a PNC Bank.

I turned right at the PNC Bank and from there it was a downhill
stretch for the next mile and a quarter down Coppermine Road. I passed
what looks like fairly recently-built apartment buildings and reached
a segment where the median has beautiful trees that were in bloom, and
that led me back to my starting point. I crossed back over the Sunrise

Valley Drive and followed a corridor of shade between two office

buildings, right up to within a hundred feet of the Westin. There was
a nice visual as I approached the Westin: I could see a pond adjacent
to the hotel with a 35 foot fountain shooting into the air as I walked
up to the entrance, victorious from the run.

The entire route has well-groomed grass and flowers near the
apartments and industrial buildings. The small segment near the toll
road is the only portion where I didn't have a sidewalk available.

There were no bike lanes on the road, so I spent the majority of the
time on the sidewalks. With the apartment buildings and hotels nearby,

there were plenty of pedestrians to make me feel safe. It's the middle

of July and it was lower 80's with a good breeze, making for great
running conditions. Coming from Phoenix, it's hard to match the beauty

of the trees and color of all the flowers. Though I would love to have
been running by memorials and Smithsonian museums, this was still a

good example of running on the east coast for anyone that ever makes
their way to Dulles International. The loop was 3.05 miles, so I did
four times, stopping in the Westin each time to get water. It was a

good 12-mile run, and I averaged 8:29 minute miles over 1:44:55. My
fastest was the last mile at 7:58 and my slowest was the first at
9:07.