Found out the hard way today that running on the beach is not for wimps. It looks all cool when other people do it, but is so NOT cool when you are trying to accomplish it yourself. First of all, I must describe my beach to you. It's not like what you see on TV. You go from the boardwalk to the fluffy white stuff, the stuff you sink in. From that, there is ZERO slope down to the surf. It's a mini-cliff. It literally just falls down about a foot from the soft sand to the surf. So one must either run in the "quicksand" or in the water. I tried both and neither was quite successful. I'm sure I looked like a frog having seizures to the poor innocent bystanders who had to witness my excursion.
Regardless, I did 0.5 warmup then managed to run 1.0 at an 11 minute pace. My knees were killing me, so I walked 0.5 up to the road by the bay. I have never in all my life been so happy to see asphalt!!!!! From there, I ran another 1.0 at an 11 minute pace, then 0.5 cool down. All in all, I ran 2.0 and walked 1.5. Not too shabby considering I was a newbie at sand stomping.
I also must add a note about the wildlife. When I run with Kim, we usually encounter all manners of wildlife. Just comes with living in the Southeast. Usually we run into (or jump over) turtles, baby birds, dogs and rabbits. Running today, I encountered the following: 27 dead frogs, 2 dead lizards, 1 dead crab, 1 live crab, 2 live rabbits, 1 wood rat, a family of field mice, 2 gator ponds and many seagulls and sandpipers. Yes, you read correctly...27 dead frogs! And those were just the ones I had to jump over! Counting the wildlife kept my mind off the pain. Whatever it takes to get the job done!!!!
