WASHINGTON -- It's no secret that a certain subset of District of Columbia residents is obsessed with jogging.

In a city populated by type-A personalities and strivers, people drop hundreds of bucks on jogging gear. They jog in the rain. Early in the morning. On Friday nights, down streets clogged with bars.

And yes, in a blizzard.

As the snow flew Saturday, a few hardy souls were out running in it, including a slight man clad in black leggings who shuffled past Dupont Circle at a slow but deliberate pace. Who was this guy? And does anyone really need to jog that badly?

The answer: Eli Powell. He's 22. And he, apparently, did need to jog that badly.

"I'm originally from Alaska," said Powell, an energy analyst. "I like running in the snow. This amount of snow is [unusual], but the temperature and the fact that it's snowing isn't. Having snow on the ground is normal because all the trails on home have snow on them."

Plus, Powell said, he has an Ironman triathlon competition in June, and there's not a day to waste. So he took off mid-morning, with plans to run seven miles. By the time he made it through Dupont Circle, he already had six down and one more to go.