7 miles on the beach

Saturday I was in Folly Beach South Carolina. I drove the 5 hours down on Friday afternoon to visit my Dad who is visiting his former work colleagues and friends. He is staying with Rick and Sherry Teerman, who graciously hosted us in their condo overlooking the beach that they live in during long Michigan winters.

Because my long runs now take place every other week, this week I only had to run 7 miles. Because South Carolina was also affected by the cold spell gripping the South, it was in the 30s. Though it was cold and windy, the view was fantastic! Also, so no one confuses me with Wonder Woman, the sand here is very packed, so it was almost like running on the road.

I ran the first 30 minutes with Rick (our host), taking no walk breaks, since this he regularly runs 30 minutes. We went against the wind (south) to start, which meant the turn-around was great. Because of my GPS, he was glad to find out the mileage of his regular route, which was 2.5 miles.

I continued on past the pier and went another 2.5 miles or so. I say “or so” because I changed my watch settings to turn on my new run/walk interval tones, which totally reset my mileage adn I was not sure how far to go before turning around. In true fashion, I turned around too early and had to make up distance at the end of the run.

Because the tide was on the way out, the beach was really long. On the way up, I had gone around a big pool of water that had a small inlet to the sea. On the way back, I was running closer to the water, just enjoying the view. Only when I got to end of this very long pool, did I realize that I was going to have to back-track a long way, or go through 10 feet of cold ocean water. I chose the water, and completely soaked my feet and shins in 50 degree water. Oh well, at least I can say I got in the ocean!

After running about a half mile in wet sloshing shoes, I decided to try out barefoot running that I’ve been reading so much about in Born to Run. If you run at all and have not read this book, proceed to purchase it and read it with haste. It is entertaining, educational, and really well written. Inspired by it, I ran the last mile with no shoes, with cold feet on the beach. It was a great feeling. I felt so blessed to be out there running, even on the cold windy beach, looking at the magnificent ocean. Mom would have loved it!