Arlington resident Mike Wardian, left, runs alongside Brian Banko near Connecticut Avenue in Maryland as part of Wardian's epic June 29 run around the Capital Beltway. (Photo courtesy of Mike Wardian)

Gordon Chaffin: What we can all learn from the Arlington runner who circled the entire Beltway

By Gordon Chaffin On Jul 16, 2019 Last updated Jul 16, 2019

You may have heard recently that some crazy Virginia man just ran around the whole Beltway. Well, his name is Mike Wardian, he lives in Arlington, and he’s a professional runner. Mike is actually an ultramarathoner, specializing in distances longer than the marathon’s 26.2 miles. On June 29, Mike covered 89.99 miles in a single effort — for fun. (Seriously, could you not run 0.01 miles more, Mike?) He ran that far in 17 hours, 54 minutes and 59 seconds. That’s 11:57 minutes per mile including stops — quite fast for a course that long.

Arlington runner Mike Wardian pauses for a picture during his 18-hour run around the Capital Beltway. (Courtesy of Michael Wardian)

You’re probably wondering, Wait, he ran on the highway? No, but he came as close as the law and good sense permitted. He charted a course on roadways just off the Beltway. He started his counterclockwise journey at the Virginia landing of the American Legion Bridge, finishing at the C&O Canal on the other side of the Potomac. He received support from a few friends who set up pit stops with water, food, and dry clothes. Also, a few buddies ran with him for a bit.

I interviewed Wardian recently about this ridiculous achievement and his perspective on transportation in and around DC. He has a unique vantage on our region’s infrastructure: He gave up his car for commuting, opting instead to bike, walk, run or take transit. He runs to the grocery store — and for recreation … if you can call weeks running 100 miles or more recreation.

This interview has been condensed for clarity.

Gordon Chaffin: How did you come up with the idea to run the entire Beltway and how did you plan to execute it?

Mike Wardian: It had been kind of a goal of mine for 20 years or so to do this, and I came up with the idea as I was sitting in traffic, driving to my office in Old Town Alexandria when I first started working back in the late ’90s. And I just didn’t know how to execute it. I talked about it for years and thought like, well, maybe they’ll do construction on the Beltway or maybe I can get some police to drive on either side of me. Maybe I could get behind a car and have somebody drive the speed I’m running and do it that way.

Gordon: So your route wasn’t on the Beltway, but the roads nearby?

Mike: Maybe three years ago, two or three years ago, I saw some guys that had hiked it — they [wrote about] it in Washingtonian. Just kind of as a joke. I thought like, wow, that’s actually a really clever way. They just didn’t run on the actual Beltway, but they kinda took the side roads of going around the Beltway.

The route we ended up doing is around 90 miles. And then it has to fit your schedule. I already had the fitness, so I wasn’t really worried about that. But then where do you fit that in your schedule when you’re racing 50 times a year, and you also have a family and a job and whatnot?

My friends were available — a guy named Phil Hardess and another guy named James Whiteside and my dad were able to crew me, and I said, “Hey, let’s just try to do it.” I’d just done a big race the week before and I knew it was gonna be hot, but I was like, “I’ve got the time now.” And if you don’t do it when you have the time, it’s 20 years later again.

Gordon: What was something that you thought would be logistically challenging about that specific course or that effort?

Mike: The heat was the biggest factor. We tried to start really early, so we started at 1:30 in the morning. I think I would have preferred to start around dusk Friday night. So that you have more time running in the dark so it’s cooler, but that also means that you’re more exposed to people that are out late driving on the roads with no shoulder. And so we decided it was probably safer to start at 1, get to the Wilson Bridge around daybreak, and then deal with the heat the rest of the day. And that’s the way we went about it. If I had the chance to do it again, I’d try a different time of year, probably, and try to go spend more time in the dark, or if it’s January or something, then maybe just start at daybreak or something.

Gordon: You told me that NASA hosted you this past week. What were you doing there, and why did they invite you?

Mike: They have a social media team at NASA, and so they bring in social media influencers to witness a rocket launch. So I got to see the Orion Ascent Abort-2 rocket launch on Tuesday morning, and then Monday we spent touring the NASA facility, meeting engineers, visiting some of the labs, looking at the crawler and the launch pad. So, yeah, it was a terrific experience.

Gordon: Is that one of the cooler things you’ve been able to do because of your success?

Michael: Yeah, definitely. I’ve been pretty fortunate to have a lot of cool experiences because of running, I think — being able to run on all seven continents twice, and running at the North Pole, and getting to meet different dignitaries. And we got a chance to visit the White House a couple of years ago and be part of some presidential councils and speak to companies. Yeah, I’d never imagined that we would have these incredible opportunities. But definitely, NASA and the trip there was high on the list of things that [were] cool to do.

Mike Wardian’s run around the Capital Beltway took him 17 hours, 54 minutes and 59 seconds. (Photo courtesy of Mike Wardian)

Gordon: You mentioned having been stuck in traffic on the Beltway. That’s a common experience, and people have probably thought, “I could run this faster than drive it.” But you’re one of the only people to actually run it. I imagine doing so gives you a fresh perspective on the benefits of non-traditional transportation types. Have you had an experience where you’ve been amazed by the distance or this sort of space and time that running could take you going from point A to point B?

Mike: I think that one of the biggest, most powerful things that I learned was when I started biking and running to commute to work. It takes about the same amount of time as driving. It was just such a powerful concept that you don’t have to drive to get places, [that you can get there at the same time by running or riding a bike].

And I think if more people realized that, it could really change a lot of things in our society. It’s like, most people think about going a couple of miles, and they think, “I gotta get in my car.” But if you’re within 5 or 10 miles of somewhere, sometimes it’s a faster option to use alternative means of transportation.

Gordon: Especially when you live in a city like ours where the most direct route is often the most frustrating.

Mike: Exactly, yeah. And the nice thing is it’s a lot more predictable, too. You know how fast you’re gonna be. So you can know how long it’s gonna take you, whereas when you jump in a car, you could get there in 10 minutes, or it could take two hours — so that’s something that’s pretty crazy, and then you gotta deal with parking and all that stuff.

Gordon Chaffin is a reporter for Street Justice, a daily email newsletter covering transportation and infrastructure throughout the Washington region.