Random People – Georgetown Joggers

My writer’s block seems to be unblocked, thanks in part to a suggestion from a friend. The next few posts titled Random People are people observations; I spoke with some of these people and just watched others.

One of my favorite people-watching places is downtown Washington DC and today I picked Georgetown Waterfront Park as the starting point of my journey. There were two reasons for this choice: one, I had not visited this part of DC in more than ten years and two, it is the start/finish line for this year’s Kidney Foundation Walkathon. I am participating in that event in two weeks and I wanted to see if there was a convenient way to walk there from the nearest Metro station. There isn’t, by the way, unless you walk across a lumpy field under a freeway and run across a busy 4-lane street where there is no crosswalk – which I will do because that is still more convenient than trying to find a parking place anywhere in Georgetown.

The Georgetown Waterfront is part residential, part retail and entertainment and part business. The plaza in this picture is at the center of things, about halfway between George Washington University and Georgetown University, so it is no surprise that many of the people I saw at 9 this morning were college students. A few giggly girls provided the soundtrack inside the Starbucks and other college co-eds provided, well, how should I say this … ‘eye candy’ outside. Other people in my field of vision were cleaning crews scrubbing the brick walkways, restaurant staffers setting up outdoor seating areas for three restaurants, owners of the expensive boats docked next to the waterfront walkway and a few stray tourists.



After I finished my coffee, I strolled along the waterfront, dodging groups of joggers and bicyclists who share the pathway. The cross-section of morning athletes includes students, jogging club members (I read their matching shirts) and young professionals who probably live around here. In a way I am a little jealous that these people can do their routine daily activities in the shadow of landmarks like the Watergate and the Kennedy Center, with a view of the Washington Monument in the distance and the Lincoln Memorial around the next bend.

Kennedy Center, joggers, Potomac River

The Watergate Hotel, Condos and Offices

Coming soon in future posts: the Couple from Chicago, Counting Languages and the Cop in the Shade.
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Thanks to Eliz for the suggestions and encouragement that helped unblock my writer’s block. I was tempted to say she was my literary laxative, but that sounds so wrong!