Washington DC Capitol Cupid’s Undies Run

Earlier in the week a few friends (almost all simultaneously) shot me an e-mail about an upcoming ‘run’ around the Capitol building here in DC.  Except, unlike most running events that round the rotunda, this particular one lacked one key aspect – clothing.  Well, the majority of clothing anyways…

But, I’m no stranger to underwear runs.  After all, they’re basically just like the swimsuits I wear during races.

So a group of friends and I showed up shortly before 2PM (finally, a reasonable start time for a running race…brilliant!) at a local bar (again, another moment of brilliance!) near the capitol.

Inside the bar, over 400 folks were stripping down to their favorite bedroom garments and preparing for the almost 2-mile run.  Though the crowd soon spilled outside where there was quite a bit of local media waiting, enjoying taking pictures of the athletes.  I’m guessing it sure beat taking pictures of snowplows…

A few minutes later the organizers gave a brief speech about the purpose of the run – to benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation – as well as some information about the route.

And without too much more fanfare, we were off…in a very very very long single file line.  The snow banks meant it was single track for much of the initial stretch, before we got to the wider (and better plowed) sidewalks on the Capitol grounds.

Here we are heading down the south side of the Capitol:

We rounded the front of the Capitol grounds and many folks paused to take photos – because there’s nothing more picturesque than a group of folks in underwear standing in front of the Capitol of the United States of America.  Plenty of locals and tourists stopped to watch the parade stream by, along with the US Capitol Police enjoying the spectacle as well.

(That’s me…and my totally awesome smurf valentine’s boxers I found at Target.)

Despite the freezing temperatures, some folks were simply not content with merely running almost-naked for two miles.  They wanted to take it to the next level.  The pinnacle.  The capital of cold…you could say.  So they did the only thing they could (well, actually, there’s another thing that they could do…but that would probably get them arrested)…snow angels:

Now, despite the cold associated with snow angels, I’d argue that the frozen creekside plunge that Rob and I did back a few weeks ago was a bit more hardcore.  Just sayin’…. ?

Speaking of hardcore…One area that clearly separated the runners from the runners was the hill heading up the side of the capitol. It’s one of the steepest little jaunts you can run up in the city, and it never disappoints in slowing down the competition.  We dominated it.

After cresting the hill we headed back on the home stretch paralleling the back of the capitol…

…and wandering past the US Supreme Court building.  Rob took that opportunity to ponder a bit of the historical significance of the moment.

Not long later we were within sight of the finish line (the bar of course!) – but some folks were still looking for their valentine:

Everyone else meanwhile was simply looking for the warmth of the bar…

After all, it’s not every day you walk into a bar and see sights like this:

(Btw, there’s a few more pictures inside the bar from this article as well…)

Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine’s Day!