This morning I headed out for a little over 4 miles on the boardwalk. I hate running on the concrete boardwalk when there’s a paved bike path right next to it. But they have this sign:
I have not seen any runners/walkers on the bike path, but I have seen plenty of bikes on the boardwalk. That doesn’t seem fair. Maybe I will break the rules tomorrow. I think the pavement is easier on your joints than concrete anyway.
On the way back up the boardwalk, I saw lots of surfers on the beach and in the water. They all had on full body wetsuits. They must be tough stuff, because it was in the low 40’s and windy. Even if the water was tolerable, it would be an awfully cold walk back to the car. Maybe that’s why they were all running to and from the ocean?
I continued up the boardwalk, past my hotel, and said good morning to Neptune.
He’s one bad looking dude. I definitely wouldn’t mess with him.
I will leave you with some lessons learned on the boardwalk:
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When someone is using a weed whacker on mulch you will get hit in the ankles by flying mulch. There was a person that followed weed whacker guy down the boardwalk with a leaf blower to blow all the mulch back onto the area between the boardwalk and bike path
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Morning boardwalk runners are friendlier than evening ones. After waving/saying hi to about 10 runners yesterday with no response I gave up. This morning almost every runner I passed waved or said good morning.
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It gets cold, even at the beach. I could see my breath this morning. Good thing I had my new long sleeve running top to wear.
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Unless it’s race day I run slower in the morning. I ran last night’s run and this morning’s run at a “comfortable” pace. Yesterday I had an average pace of 9:54/mile and this morning it was 10:17/mile. They felt like the same effort, though.
Turkey Runner 
I missed a few posts because I looked at this today and thought: wow-where is she? With the palm trees, I thought definitely somewhere farther south than Virginia Beach. Glad you are enjoying the beach and boardwalk. I am just like you with the weekday/evening and weekend morning run schedule. Have a good rest of your trip!
I don’t think those palm trees naturally grow here the way they do further south. They plant them along the boardwalk for atmosphere, but I haven’t really seen them anywhere else.
Oh gosh I hope it warms up a little for you! I’ve been to Virginia Beach in April and it was cooooold! haha. I think morning runners a little nicer! I don’t know how to surf but I’m afraid of the ocean so I dunno if I’d get the chance to learn 😛
I’m actually enjoying the cooler weather! We ran the Rock N Roll Half here in September one year and it was so hot and humid, it was miserable.
Last time I tried to make it down the bike path it was loaded with pedestrians. Of course it was during the Shamrock and I was trying to get too the finish line to catch Barry.Enjoy your beach trip.LUD
There were so many people that day! I guess the signs didn’t apply :)Today (Thursday) I ran further up Atlantic Ave going towards Fort Story and I was thinking about how we biked around watching Barry run Shamrock. That was a fun day!
I have never surfed… but I did boogie-board in middle school on Spring Break.A morning run is my preference, but any run is better than no run!
I used to boogie board a lot as a kid. We typically go to the beach every year in August, and have done so since I was a baby. I always liked using my Dad’s really nice boogie board… he would come out in the ocean with me and send me off on waves over and over again until I wore out.
I totally agree on the morning runners being nicer thing! I don’t know why, though. Maybe it’s because everyone is all wound up from work at the end of the day. My dad used to surf (he was sponsored and everything) and he has tried to teach me, but I am no good. Plus, we were never at a beach long enough for me to really get into it, ha. I’ll stick to surfing on the snow ;)I prefer morning runs, I just can never drag myself out of bed early enough to do them, ha.
Maybe that’s the reason! That is so cool about your dad! We took snowboarding lessons when we were in CO and I was not very good at it. I fell a lot, haha. I wish I had given skiing a try while we were there!
Oh I fell a LOTTTT (still do). I grew up skiing, so it was weird to switch. I still prefer skiing and only board when I am with newbies, because it slows me down to their speed, ha. I think falling on a snowboard is infinitely more painful than on skis…but the learning curve is much faster.
Around here I rarely bump into a runner so I can’t comment on niceness. I’m with you on the speed though…I cannot get my legs moving in the a.m.!
I usually don’t see many at home so it was kind of exciting to see so many people out and about… but then a bit of a let down when they all pretty much ignored me that evening that I ran.
My youngest son surfs. He took lessons in CA and we got him a board when he was in high school. I’ve never tried…I prefer to run first thing in the morning. I think you should go for it, and run on the asphalt trail. I agree, I think it’s easier on the joints than concrete.
I was going to run on the bike trail today but I chickened out! I am not much of a rule breaker.