Memorial Run

With my impending half marathon run coming up faster than I want it to, I've tried to kick my ass into gear and start running again. I've found a painful 7 mile run around the area and about half way through I get to see a few monuments...good excuse to stop and smell the roses (ok, more like rest my weary feet). When I start running longer distances I will be able to see more of the monuments along the way. Kind of interesting, I have to run across a bridge which is actually 395 South, don't worry...there is a pedestrian path with a guard rail!

Its kind of nerdy but I really want to find a walking tour of the monuments...I will get on that when the weather starts to cool off!

The first three that I've come across are the George Mason memorial and then the Jefferson memorial and the Washington monument off in the distance. And I always like to learn a bit about things so I wikipedia'd them:

The George Mason Memorial is a memorial to George Mason in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. It commemorates the contributions of George Mason, an important American Founder who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and served as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Mason is often thought of as the "Forgotten Founder." Mason, an Anti-Federalist did not sign the United States Constitution because it did not abolish the slave trade and because he did not think it had necessary protection for the individual from the federal government. He was sometimes known as the "reluctant statesman," which was also the title of a biography written about him by Robert A. Rutland. The memorial was authorized by Public Law 101-358 on August 10, 1990.

From a bit away

Well hello there George!

Next, I could see the Washington Monument but didn't get that close. A bit about it:

The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and sandstone, is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5⅛ inches. The actual construction of the monument began in 1848 but was not completed until 1884, almost 30 years after the architect's death.

And then last but not least is the Jefferson memorial:

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C.that is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father and the third president of the United States. Construction began in 1939, the building was completed in 1943, and the bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947.