I had been meaning to get up to Seneca Creek State Park for a while, and a Tuesday morning with nothing on the calendar finally settled it. Forty minutes up 270, a small day-use fee at the gate, and I was parked near the boat center with the lot almost entirely to myself.

Rock Creek Park's trail network is dense, occasionally disorienting, and worth every mile. Here's how to get started on DC's best trail running destination.

For a number of years, I lived outside of downtown Silver Spring, a block away from a wooded trail that ran along Sligo Creek. I used the hill between my house and the trail for hill workouts and the trail itself for everything else. As time went on, I stopped running anywhere else.

There's something primal about speed work. No scenic distractions, no conquering elevation—just you, the pavement, and the clock. DC's topography might be famous for its hills (looking at you, Rock Creek Park), but the city delivers when you need pancake-flat terrain to hammer out tempo runs, intervals, or those soul-crushing 400-meter repeats.

Here's where to find your speed in the District and beyond.

Once you’ve mastered the DC classics (Rock Creek Park, National Mall, MBT, Anacostia, and the Capital Crescent), you may be looking for somewhere new to run. Fortunately, for DC runners willing to travel a little further from home, the area is chock full of interesting routes to test your fitness. Some of these are metro accessible, and some will require four wheels, but they’re all worth the trip.

DC is home to many great trails. Here are the five that all runners should know.