Saturday, November 13, 2010

New and Not New - Soft Sand and My Butt Hurts

When I first started this blog, every run was a new adventure. Every new ache or pain or failure or success opened up a whole new world of things that I'd never experienced before. Every race was a first time...and we all know what that implies...to say the least, first times are memorable.

There haven't been many firsts recently...maybe you've noticed. 

This morning started off being, really, no different. Mik, Betty, Kat, Elsie and I got together (yes! all of us...at the same place, at the same time!) to run at Mission Beach, a place that we've run, oh I don't know, a gazillion times. I'd done some speedwork on the treadmill and some squats and lunges on Friday (3.5 miles/10:09 pace thank you very  much), so my legs were a little spent. Even worse, the last couple of times I've run, my plantar fasciia tendon has bend bugging me again, so I thought for this morning's run, I'd take it easy and I really wanted to avoid running on concrete, the hardest of hard surfaces.

The problem is that the boardwalk on both the beach and bay side of Mission Bay is concrete, so this morning, I decided to run on the sand for a couple of miles instead.

Oooohhhhh something NEW!

The tide was going out, but for some reason there wasn't much hard sand to run on, so I spent most of the time hurdling kelp and trying to stay somewhere near the surf, no so near that my shoes got wet, but not so far away as to be running in the dryer, really soft mushy sand.

Running in wet soft sand must be a really, really good workout because my legs are just trashed tonight. Moving from a sitting to a standing (or vice versa) position is excrutiatingI'm not sure it helped the PF tendon at all and I may not be able to stand or sit tomorrow.

All for the sake of newness, which I'm thinking now is highly overrated.
Had I not been running on the sand...I would have missed this. Proof that red beer cups are quite versatile
Of course, some things never change. Post run mimosas and pancakes at Elsie's
On another note, it's been a completely beautiful weekend here in So Cal. On Thursday, Walter, Turbo and I went to Wind and Sea beach. It was pretty funny. I have run to Wind and Sea on numerous occasions, but usually on back streets, so I made Walter drive the back streets of North Pacific Beach and Bird Rock to get there. It was a round about way to get there, but well worth it.
Walter and Turbo out on a rock, trying to stay dry.
Gosh my little boy is getting big. Those are surfers in the background
Turbo, climbing up one of the cliffs
That's my boy!

My other boy
Ah shoot...somebody's gotta live here....Nothing new there

14 comments:

  1. Officially jealous!!!!!! We have snow in our backyard - bleh! I always think the stork dropped me off in the wrong place, I was meant to live in warm weather year-round. Glad you got in a "new" run - the sand is such a great workout! I have (tried) run on it a few times and it always burns my calves!!

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  2. I love your photos and I want to move where you are. I woke up to 9" of snow yesterday. *crying*

    Ugh...those sand workouts are the devil! I have watch people run on the beach and they make it look effortless. When I tried it, I thought I was going to need medical attention. ha! This was a great first!....I hope your foot gets better.

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  3. Pics of sunshine, warm water, beaches ect, are always appreciated. Just in case you are wondering. No real snow here, yet, just - 8 C (17F) overnight.

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  4. Sucks to be you, trapped living in that hell hole called southern california (read with dripping sarcasm and jealousy as I take note of the 30 deg morning that *I* am facing)

    on a serious note, i tried running on sandy besch once. ONCE. it was a workout!!

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  5. Saturday morning was fabulous! What people fail to realize is that we've had a pretty dismal summer, weather wise, and you certainly did not take Saturday for granted! It's so appropriate that you still topped it off with mimosas! We did, too. :)

    Nice run on the beach!

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  6. Beautiful scenery! Sounds like a pretty great way to spend a Saturday morning :)

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  7. Your comment about Dear Jesus cracked me up. Helen is more like a healing devil but I'll take it. She must live closer to you than to me so if you ever need some devilish torture, let me know!!

    Nice pictures of the beach and the rocks, I love it down there!

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  8. Great pics - love Wind-n-Sea. Hey, seriously, try a product called Foot Rubz for your PF. For $5.00 you can't go wrong. It worked wonders for me and another running I know.

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  9. Sounds like an idyllic weekend here. Hope the legs have recovered by now.

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  10. It certainly was a great weekend! Glad you got out and enjoyed the day.

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  11. Yes and someone's gotta live here as well. Guess I drew the short straw!

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  12. Gah, you want something new? Trade where you live for a winter...LOL, and really, who knew you could use beer cups for more than just...well....BEER!

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  13. HOW gorgeous is it there? And what are those temps? Jealous, jealous, jealous...

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  14. It's really an informative and well described post .Photos of sunshine, warm water, beaches ect, are always appreciated. Just in case you are wondering. No real snow here.. I appreciate your topic for blogging. Thanks for sharing such a useful post.

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