Canal Street and the Reservoir were the first major changes between running in 2006 and 2008. These changes came in the form of a hill, and I was not amused.

Coming out of Virginia we made a left, and ran down Canal Street. One of the first things we passed was the Exorcism staircase. I got to reminisce about the time Splintered Image went over and took some pretty cool band pics on those stairs. As we continued down Canal Street it was pretty neat to be able to look to our left and see the C&O Canal. Greg and I talked about camping and hiking on the Canal while in Scouts.

All of that was either level or down hill. Eventually we hit a cut-back and started going uphill. This was the part that didn't amuse me. We didn't talk much. I think that's because we were running up a really big hill.

The course went through a neighborhood. The people there were pretty friendly, so it was nice to get some words of encouragement as we were running up. One couple had a nice little hill as their front yard and were able to set up chairs to watch all of us go past. I hope none of the people minded not being able to drive on the road we were using. I can't imagine being blocked in my house for a couple of hours as a bunch of idiots ran by.

Once we got to the top of the hill we were at a reservoir. I don't know any good stories about this reservoir, except that Greg thought he got lost there on a Boy Scout bike hike. Turns out that he was suffering from being a long distance runner, and that story was an evil hallucination. I was hoping to get hallucinations on the order of squirrels cheering me on. Oh well.