Ah, the Olympics. The grandeur, the triumph, the three weeks every four years when we, as a nation, pretend we actually care about swimming or figure skating. And even though recent American attempts to land an Olympiad have fallen miserably short, at least D.C. will still get to be a part of the build-up to the 2012 Games.

See, since the last Olympics were held in Vancouver and the next Games will take place in London, the two nations thought it’d be a nice gesture to pass the torch between the two countries in Washington. (After all, carrying the torch the four miles between the Canadian and British Embassies seems a lot more convenient than trekking it across the North American continent and swimming across the Atlantic to get it there.) Starting at 9:15 tomorrow morning, the Olympic torch like the one above will make its way across the District’s Northwest quadrant, winding through the route below. A surprise U.S. Olympian will apparently carry the torch for the last mile, so there’s that to look forward to. (There won’t be any sled dogs, though. I mean, probably.)

Can’t make it to the relay? The Brits will be tweeting about it, so you can follow along with their photos and such.

View London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic DC Torch Run in a larger map