My Favorite Thing About Running at the Beach

Perfect Beach Reading--Getting ready for the half!!!!

Ahhh...vacation. I wait all year for it. This year's beach trip to Destin, Florida, was a little different, though. The week before our trip, my husband decided to race some friends on a dirt bike in the field behind our house, and he was involved in a wreck that caused him to break his collar bone. And bruise some ribs. Oh, and his knee....I didn't mention that. He also hurt his knee. Needless to say, the trip was a little more stressful than I expected.

Being the avid runner that I have become, I packed two sets of running clothes and my shoes, because I needed to run three times while away from home. Because of the hubs' injuries, we didn't get a lot of sleep at night. Every time he rolled over, he moaned. Then I had to help him sit up so he could get out of bed for several trips to the bathroom. Somehow that collar bone and his bladder are connected!!! Amazing miracle of science!  When I woke up each morning, I felt like I did when my boys were newborn babies and I had been up with them the night before. Groggy and foggy are words that come to mind. I didn't feel like running. I knew, however, that I had this half-marathon to train for, so on Sunday, our second morning at the beach, I tiptoed out of bed and put on my clothes, grabbed a water bottle, put on my armband with my phone, and headed out. It was around 6:15 ish and the sun was up, but it wasn't too hot. I started out, and was so happy to see many others running. I'm so used to not passing another soul way out in the sticks where I live, so this was a different experience for me. I was feeling adventurous because I had not mapped out a route, I just decided to Forest Gump it, and when I reached a dead end, I turned around and went the opposite direction. I really wanted to run on the beach, but in Destin the sand is way to soft, plus the strong waves had carved out a shelf between the beach and the water, which also happened to be slanted, and I didn't want to run on an uneven surface. I was surprised to find out that RunKeeper doesn't work any better in Destin than it does in the rural areas of Georgia. It continued to get "stuck" on the mileage so it wouldn't actually show the distance accurately. I would have to take a short walk break, pause the app, then resume it to get the numbers to catch up. Pain in the rear!!!!! Despite this challenge, I was able to run about 4 miles in 45 minutes, which is actually a personal record for me, because it usually takes me 45 minutes to run 3.1 miles. I supposed the lack of humidity helped me--you really can breathe better in Destin! Reason number 1,075 to move there!!!

The beach view is fabulous!!!!

When I arrived back at the condo, I thought about my run and tried to pinpoint my favorite thing about running at the beach--the community of runners all out doing the same thing at the same time, the view of the ocean from the sidewalk, the sidewalks and the safety of them (as opposed to the side of the road that I am used to), or the lack of humidity. I realized it was none of those things! My favorite things about running at the beach is............sprinkler systems!!! Several were on each part of my route, and it was so refreshing to run through them and get sprayed with a little water. These little gems kept me cool the entire run! What a luxury!

No, these are not sprinklers. But they will help me on my runs at home. Purchased on clearance!!!! Cha-Ching!