Completing the DC Metro Marathon

Yesterday, the kids and I spent nearly 10 hours completing the DC Metro Marathon.


What is the DC Metro Marathon?

It is accomplished when you have been to all 91 Metro stations in one day.

We didn't do the "Ironman" -- visiting all of the stations without departing the system for bathroom or food breaks.

We also didn't do a "Perfect" marathon, which is riding the entire system with no breaks and then getting off exactly one stop away from your originating station.

Still, we did pull it off with (roughly) the following data points.

• time in system: 8 hours and 55 minutes
• total time elapsed from beginning to end of marathon: 10 hours and 10 minutes
• door to door: 11 hours 5 minutes

We changed trains 20 times. 

Our most visited station was L'Enfant Plaza.

The longest we had to wait for a train was 11 minutes.

The kids had a great attitude and particularly loved when they had the entire car to themselves, allowing them to engage in some Israeli dancing and relaxing.

This wasn't my first effort at this feat. I did a Metro Marathon by myself 30 years ago when there were fewer stations in the summer before 9th grade.

Anyway, I am sure our route could have been more optimized, but here's what we did. Map below. 

• Glenmont->Fort Totten
• Fort Totten->Greenbelt
• Greenbelt->L'Enfant Plaza
• L'Enfant Plaza->New Carrollton
• New Carrollton->Stadium-Armory
• Stadium Armory->Largo Town Center
• Largo Town Center->L'Enfant Plaza
• L'Enfant Plaza->Branch Ave
• Branch Ave->Foggy Bottom
• Exit of system with late lunch at Char Bar
• Foggy Bottom->Vienna
• Vienna->East Falls Church
• East Falls Church->Wiehle/Reston East
• Wiehle/Reston East-> Rosslyn
• Rosslyn-> Franconia-Springfield
• Franconia-Springfield->King St.
• King St.->Huntington
• Huntington->Gallery Place
• Gallery Place->Brookland-CUA
• Brookland-CUA->Shady Grove
• Shady Grove->Twinbrook

We got picked up at Twinbrook by the NFO.

We had a great time, read a lot, used our various devices, and explored the DMV to the fullest.  It's not for the faint of heart, but it is fun.