Back In The Swing of Things... For Real This Time

Yesterday I wrote that taking the metro to work from Jon's apartment in Van Ness and then taking it back cost over nine dollars.  While I was grateful for the extra time to sleep in that taking the metro afforded me in the morning, that kind of cost just isn't sustainable.

Today's running route

So this morning I woke up at 6:20 (OK, maybe 6:30 - as Jon describes it, I have a "fluid relationship with time"), brushed my teeth, and ran from Jon's apartment near the Van Ness metro to the Medical Center metro in Bethesda, about four and a half miles.  I headed north on Connecticut Avenue and crossed into Maryland at Chevy Chase Circle, then cut over to Wisconsin Avenue on Bradley Boulevard.  It was a great morning for a run: 55º, and I badly needed some exercise after a week of excess on The Cruisical.  The crisp air was like fuel for the engine of my legs, and I got to the RideOn Route 46 stop at Medical Center in about 43 minutes - and that included a bathroom stop at a Starbucks in DC.  (On this particular morning, I was not a paying customer using the restroom.  However, there have been plenty of paying customer mornings and afternoons for me lately, so my Starbucks conscious is clear.  Oh, and did you know they're offering a bunch of free shit over Wi-Fi now?) 

After just missing the 7:11 46 bus, I had to wait a boring 25 minutes for the 7:36. But I knew my co-worker Beth rode that 46, so at least I would have a bus buddy. I got to work feeling great about the fact that two days after returning from the Bahamas I ran 4+ miles at a sub-10 minute/mile pace.  In fact, I was in a good mood all day.

After work, during another abysmal offensive effort from the Phillies in support of Cole Hamels, I rode my bike from my office in Rockville the 3.4 miles down to the White Flint metro and picked up RideOn Route 5 to Silver Spring.  The Route 5 originates at Twinbrook and then winds through Garrett Park before ending up at Second Avenue and Colesville Road, about five blocks from my apartment.  It was the first time since I started riding my bike to work three weeks ago that there was already one bike on the rack when the bus pulled up.  I got home around 6:20 - and would have gotten home sooner, had I not narrowly missed the 5:33 5 bus.  But it's not like the Phillies had even shown up to play today anyway, so there wouldn't have been much to watch.

"How Do I Get There From Here" or "Baseball History"

Today was Walk To School Day, an opportunity to encourage Montgomery County's students to do just what it sounds like:  walk to school.  It's also a good chance for Roger to get out in the community and meet parents, teachers, and students at a school in District 1.  This year, we celebrated Walk To School Day at Ashburton Elementary School, and we met at the Davis Library to walk there.

The problem for me and my carlessness is that Davis Library is located on Democracy Boulevard near Old Georgetown Road.  In other words, it's not near any metro stops that I could easily bus to and then ride my bike the rest of the way.  The closest one is Grosvenor, but the problem was that there is no quick way to get from Silver Spring to Grosvenor.  I considered taking the Capital Crescent Trail over to Bethesda and then taking Old Georgetown up to the library, but with having to bike back to the office in Rockville afterwards, I thought maybe that was a little bit too far.  After pouring over the RideOn routes in the area (and with help from Jon), I decided I'd take the Route 37 from the Wheaton metro to the intersection of Tuckerman Lane and OGR, then bike the rest of the way down to the library.  The 37 leaves the Wheaton metro every half an hour, so to give myself enough time I needed to pick up the 7:00 bus.  That meant leaving my apartment at 6:30, easily the earliest departure time thus far on this endeavor, but that's mostly because I needed to meet Roger at 8:00.


The green lines represent my bike route; the blue line represents the
RideOn route; the purple line represents how Google Maps told me
to drive to the library.

 The bike ride to the Wheaton metro was an easy one:  up the Sligo Creek Trail to University and make a left, then a left at Amherst to the metro.  What I didn't consider was how dark it would still be leaving at 6:30 - I really need to pick up a light for my bike, especially since it's getting darker earlier at night.  Once I took the RideOn down Tuckerman, which took about a half hour, I made a left on my bike at OGR.  I wasn't sure what kind of sidewalk (if any) would be running along such a major roadway, but there was sidewalk the whole way down to Democracy.  It took about ten minutes to bike to the library, giving me some time to cool off since I was already dressed for the day.

Walk To School Day had a great turnout, and Roger was joined by Ashburton Elementary School Principal Charlene Garran and District 16 Delegate Bill Frick.  I also met a future Pulitzer Prize winner in Julie, a third grader who interviewed me for their school newspaper, The Ashburton Star!  After it was over, I took off on my bike down Tuckerman and back out to Rockville Pike.  I picked up the Route 46 and took that the rest of the way to the office. 

Game 1 of the National League Division Series between the Phillies and the Reds was tonight at 5:07.  As a diehard fan, I didn't want to miss any of it by going home after work, so I stayed at the office and watched it there until it was over.  Turns out, I am REALLY glad I did, as it was a game not to miss - Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter, only the second time in the history of baseball it's been done in the playoffs.  I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.  Batter after batter, strikeout after strikeout Roy dominated the Reds lineup.  My heart pounded the entire way through the ninth inning.  We have a special team this year, and I think it's going to be a very special postseason for us.  (Before anyone accuses me of bandwagoning - I grew up in Pennsylvania and used to listen to Harry Kalas call Phillies games with Richie Ashburn on the radio with my grandfather - back off.)

After work I took the Q2 back to Silver Spring.  It only took about 40 minutes, as rush hour was long over.  I didn't mind the ride: I had just witnessed baseball history.

Metro... Oh, Metro

After work tonight, I planned on meeting co-workers at the Nationals Phillies game, for my last regular season opportunity to see the Phightins (even though we started mostly our B Squad) and the last Nats home game.  I knew my SmarTrip was still in the negative from taking Rachel and Michelle to Georgetown Cupcake over the weekend so I glanced at the screen for train arrivals, which indicated the next train to Glenmont would arrive in four minutes. With no lines at the kiosks, that was more than enough time to bring my SmarTrip back to the positive side.

When I reached the platform however, I heard the familiar chime of the doors closing and I darted for the closest door but didn't make it. I watched the train pull away and again checked out the screen for next arrivals. It said that more trains would be there in 1, 6, and 11 minutes, but that soon changed to one singular Glenmont train arriving in 4 minutes. After an actual wait of about 8 minutes, the next train pulled in.

If I had known the next train was either "1" or "ARR" I would have taken the escalator stairs two at a time and made the train. As Greater Greater Washington's David Alpert writes, this latest malfunction isn't a safety issue but it sure doesn't make using Metro more pleasant either.

Metro has got enormous problems that require enormous fixes. But this seems, to me at least, like something Metro should be able to get right.