Beach!

So I spent the second week of August at the Jersey shore with some friends. We rented a house and spent the week swimming, hanging out on the beach, eating clam chowder, and, of course, running. Here are some photos from an early-morning run on the sand:

Just after sunrise

Some of my friends were there already watching the sun rise, so they took a picture of me before my run.


I heart sandpipers!


I had no idea how far I was running. In my mind, I wanted to run until I could see the Barnegat Lighthouse in the distance. Every once in a while I left the water's edge to climb up on a life-guard stand and scope out the horizon. Below is the view from the stand, where the lighthouse is just barely visible. It was actually clearer in person.

I ended up running 8.4 miles that day. On the way back, my IT band was aching from running on the steeply-slanted shore, so I took my shoes off and felt better immediately. When I reached the beach entrance to get back to the house, I jumped in the ocean and let it splash my legs. It felt great!

So there is my very un-Jersey Shore-ish experience at the Jersey shore. It was a great time and a great opportunity to get some barefoot running in on the sand. My legs have been feeling really good lately, so I hope to be doing a lot more running this fall.