Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

walkathon

For the fourth year in a row (have I been here that long now?), I participated in the annual Help the Homeless Walkathon with a “team” from Shawn’s company. We all met up at Federal Triangle, then marched over to the Mall to join the rest of the marchers. Like last year, our 5K route took us east toward the Capitol, west down Independence Avenue, south on 15th Street to the Jefferson Memorial, around the Tidal Basin, and back across the mall, past the Washington Monument. Aside from a bit of chilliness, it was a beautiful morning to be out walking, and the cold actually felt pretty good once we got moving.

There’s always a strange disconnect for me when I see homeless people begging for money from participants in the Help the Homeless Walkathon. I generally don’t give money to panhandlers, partly because I rarely have cash on me and and partly because it makes me uncomfortable — I don’t know where the money is going, and I don’t know if it’s an opening for a mugging. I like the idea of the walkthon because it generates money for specific programs for everything from low-income housing to soup kitchens to health care to children. But I still feel crappy turning down or ignoring panhandlers at an event for those very people.

After the event, we walked from the Mall up to Dupont Circle for lunch. We’d hoped to have brunch at Luna, but the line was out the door — and filled with other folks from Shawn’s company who had beaten us to the punch. Then we tried Raku, but since we’d have to wait half an hour for the restaurant to open, we decided to go up the street to Alero, which could seat us immediately. In all, we’d walked about five miles that morning.

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