I love vacation running.

I know there are lots of people who like to get away from everything while they’re on vacation. But those people are probably not training for marathons. When our family headed off to Washington, D.C., for a sightseeing trip, I knew I’d have to keep getting the miles in. But I wasn’t prepared for how fun it would be to keep up with my training.

D.C. is a great running town. I’m a night runner, and since the city basically shuts down at night, that makes for some great runs. Our hotel was pretty close to the National Mall, so most of my runs were basically laps around the Capitol Building, the Smithsonian, the Washington and Lincoln memorials, and everything in between.

The only drawback was the tourists. Yes, I know I was a tourist, too. But I’m talking specifically about the tourists in large groups that refused to let anyone past. You’d get these vast herds of rubberneckers walking around, spreading across the whole sidewalk. I tried “excuse me” and “coming through” and “on your left,” but nothing seemed to work. I finally ended up shoulder-checking a few of the more stubborn obstacles. Get in the way of my vacation running, and you get what you get.

I took a few photos of my favorite landmarks during my night runs.