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In addition to the nationally televised Nationals opener at the new ballpark Sunday, tomorrow will bring an exhibition game between the Nats and the Orioles, the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival and the National Marathon.
The events will bring thousands of fans and tourists to the city and a potential traffic and parking nightmare.
If you insist on driving, avoid the Mall, Tidal Basin, the area near the new ballpark and anywhere else tourists or runners might be. Which is pretty much everywhere this time of year.
"Take Metro, take Metro, take Metro," said Karyn LeBlanc, spokeswoman for the District’s Department of Transportation.
Metro will open two hours early tomorrow to get people to the National Marathon, which starts at 7 a.m. near RFK Stadium and the Stadium-Amory Metro station. Several thousand runners are expected to gather for the race, which winds through the city and ends back at the stadium about 1 p.m., accompanied by massive road closures.
Then the National Cherry Blossom Festival — one of the city’s biggest events of the year, with more than 1 million visitors — kicks off at 10 a.m. with the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
The first pitch of the invitation-only Nats-Orioles game is at 6 p.m. tomorrow; Sunday’s season opener begins at 8:05 p.m.

washingtonpost.com

A Fort Collins man is in serious condition after his bicycle swerved in front of a car on South Timberline Road this morning, according to a press release.
Witnesses say Christopher Kavanaugh, 41, of Fort Collins swerved his bicycle in front of a 1996 maroon Buick LeSabre while both were traveling northbound on South Timberline Road.
Kavanaugh, who was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, was transported to Medical Center of the Rockies.
Rowdy Harnish, 31 of Fort Collins, the driver of the vehicle, was not injured.
South Timberline Road was closed for approximately four hours while officers investigated. Alco-hol is not suspect on either driver.
Charges are pending further investigation. Anyone with information about this accident who has not already spoken with police is asked to contact Detective Keith Maynard at (970) 416-2051.

coloradoan.com

By AJC | Monday, February 18, 2008, 06:24 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Peachtree Road Race’s finish line has shifted from spacious Piedmont Park to the Midtown intersection of Ponce de Leon and Juniper. Here’s the map.
Does that sound like a good landing spot for the expected 55,000 sweaty participants?
After completing the 10-kilometer course runners will be forced to walk four more blocks to the Atlanta Civic Center, where the family meeting area and sponsors village will be.
What problems will this cause, if any? Was there a better spot or you satisfied with the changes?
It’s OK. The good news is I will be closer to several MARTA stations when I’m done. From Piedmont Park I always had to walk to the Arts Center Station or to a car I parked the night before in the Ansley Mall area.
But I still think the finish could have been near the park. This is not about the drought. It’s about the damn grass period.
Quite frankly the best PRR’s were those that ended IN THE PARK so the tradition ended when they moved it to outside the park.
It’s a bit of an odd choice. I’m wondering why they couldn’t have used Grady HS (which is already unofficially used anyway by many runners) and blocked off the streets surrounding it (again, already blocked off except for Monroe).

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