When I got to the beach yesterday it was rainy, windy, and cold. And the weather back home?? 60 degrees and sunny…. hmmmm.
I took a picture for you from my balcony to document the less than ideal weather, but naturally I left my camera cord at home. Guess I will stick to pictures with my cell phone for the week.
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| Not my picture, but just to give you an idea of what it looked like when I rolled into town. |
The plan was to run in the morning Tuesday through Thursday or Friday this week. I was smart and neglected to check the weather prior to packing. I had the words “Virginia Beach” in my head, so I packed all shorts and t-shirts to run in.
I woke up this morning hoping to run, but the weather was much the same as Monday- windy, cold, and cloudy. So my morning run got pushed to this afternoon so that it could warm up some. Except it didn’t. What did I do then? Googled the closest running store, drove there after my meeting wrapped up for the day, and purchased a long sleeve running top. (Note: Yes, my hotel has a fitness center with TWO treadmills. But I refuse to use them when there’s a boardwalk right outside my door)
The good news is the running store (Running Etc.) had already switched over to their summer stuff, so the only long sleeves they had were on clearance. This top was originally $70 and I got it for $30. Score! And I know it was meant to be, because on the clearance rack this was the only small and everything else (and by that I mean the other 4 long sleeve tops they had in the entire store) was large and x-large. I typically wear a medium in women’s sized clothing, but this Asics top is a “loose fit” top and it fits great on me. It was fate! Plus I love the color.
So with my new long sleeve shirt in tow I got back to my hotel and headed out for a little jaunt up and down the boardwalk.
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| Don’t be deceived by the sun. It’s cold, I promise. |
My legs feel pretty good after Saturday’s race. The upper parts of my quads are still a bit sore and so are my hips, but I took it easy and actually ended up running around 9:54 pace. I guess it helps that I’m at sea level and it’s flat as a pancake. Even though I enjoyed the run, it seemed like I had been running longer than I really had. It was strange, because I didn’t feel tired, I just felt like I had covered more distance than I actually had. Maybe it’s the lack of hills?
Have you ever run on a boardwalk? Which one/where? Do you like running along by the ocean? Does it feel longer for you, too?
Turkey Runner 
I love running on the boardwalk at home in New Jersey! I would have totally went and bought a shirt too, treadmills just aren’t as fun! Plus it definitely is fate since it was on clearance. I hope the weather improves for you!!
I’ve always wanted to see the boardwalk in NJ! Maybe someday 🙂
Totally typed up a comment when I was on the bus this morning, but it never posted =( booo. It went something like this…I love running on the beach and/or boardwalk when we are on beach vacations. I think that the sound of the waves is so peaceful and relaxing! I love that you were able to find that long sleeve on sale (what a score!) so that you could enjoy your runs outside! At least the crummy weather allows you to enjoy more of the boardwalk to yourself! I feel like running along a boardwalk (or like…a really flat stretch of road you can see for miles on) is that you can see FOREVER and I think if you can “see” a mile, it feels a lot longer than if you are running hills or something where you add a lot of turns or something that keeps your mind occupied and tricked from how far you are running.
Aww I hate when that happens! I agree- the waves are relaxing. There are definitely pro’s to the weather. Not as many people, like you said, and I’d rather have to wear a long sleeve than be dying from heat/humidity.
I’m glad you found a long sleeve shirt on sale, and that your legs have recovered enough from the half to run again! I ran on the Virginia Beach boardwalk at the end of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘N’ Roll Half-Marathon a few years ago. It was a fun race, but it was a really hot and humid day.
I also ran that race back in 2007 and it was really hot and humid, too! I don’t know what I was thinking signing up for a race in VA Beach in September! That last mile or two down the boardwalk to the finish felt like forever.
So many different kinds of boardwalks!There are some “boardwalks” (literally walks made of boards) along the reservoir by our apartment in Singapore, and we do run on them – but they are just over the shoreline of a reservoir in a jungle – no sand, etc. They are also super slippery, thanks to being eternally wet, and probably having some micro-organisms populating them.We’d also run on the boardwalk in LA when we were living there – that was fun, the weather was always great, but the foot traffic was sometimes really annoying.Sometimes I ran on a “boardwalk” in Rochester, and that was something of a hybrid of the two experiences. The weather wasn’t usually awesome, but other runners were the only “traffic”. I enjoy being by the water, so all of these were good experiences for me. I suppose the only disadvantage (for me) is the possibility of slipperiness… The time seems to fly when I’m running by the water!
Yikes those slipper boardwalks sound like they’d be scary to run on! I never thought about how many different boardwalks there are.