[Originally Published 06.10.2013]
I was feeling crappy. I hadn’t run since my 10k in May. I didn’t have a good reason for taking a break from running. I could say was busy, but honestly, I could have fit in some runs here and there if I had had the discipline… or motivation.
At the end of last week, I decided that was going to run on Saturday morning. For incentive, I decided to run at the beach.
I woke up Saturday morning later than I wanted to. While in bed, I almost talked myself out of running. Thankfully, I got up and got ready. I had a quick breakfast.
I made the drive out to Huntington Beach and hit some traffic. It turns out that there was a sand soccer tournament happening so there were more people at the beach than I expected. Thankfully, I found a good parking spot.
I was planning to run 6 miles. The first mile was a little tough because I had to negotiate my way through a lot of people who wer e either walking, biking, or even standing on the path. Once I distanced myself from all of them people near the pier, the run became more enjoyable.
When I got to the 3 mile point, where I usually turn around, I decided to keep going for another mile. I found myself leaving Huntington Beach and entering Newport Beach.
Since this was new territory or me, I played it conservatively and turned around just before the 4 mile point. Then my iPhone died. This has been happening to me on my longer runs lately so I bought a Mophie external battery a couple of weeks ago. So, I plugged in, resumed my RunKeeper app, restarted m music, and resumed my run.
The next two miles were great. However, the beach path got really crowded during the last two miles. I ended up hopping onto a curb to avoid crashing into an elderly woman who wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking. Soon after that evasive maneuver my right knee started giving me trouble. I still had about 1/2 a mile to go. I tried to ignore the pain in my knee as I kept pushing along.
For the first time ever, I ran 8 miles!
There’s something about running at the beach. There’s something about the ocean.
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Where is your favorite place to run?
