Run Streak Day #4 - 2 Miles - Sunday - 11-30-2014 - Details

Run Streak Day #4 - 2 Miles - Sunday - 11-30-2014 - Details

My Holiday Running Streak started at the Subaru Distance Classic 6K on Thanksgiving morning. It was a cool morning and I covered the 3.65 mile course in 34:01 minutes or 9:19 minutes per mile. Not a bad time for me although it really didn't feel very quick at the time.

On the 2nd day of the streak I thought I'd run my 4 mile neighborhood loop. My right hamstring was still very tight from the prior day's run. A little past 3/4 of a mile I felt a little tinge in my right achilles. I immediately turned back and ended the day with 1.55 miles. Later in the day I iced followed by heat and got out the heel lifts for my shoes for the next few runs to take the pressure off the sore achilles.

On run streak day number 3 I thought I'd explore a section of beach I have never ran on before. At the east end of Atlantic Blvd. I turned north and headed toward the Mayport Navel Base and the jetty at the inlet near the base. I thought the jetty was a mile or mile and a half north of my starting point but didn't know if I would be able to get all the way there. After running a mile north on the beach I still saw no jetty or navel base, just beach, ocean and residences on my left. Before long I had run 2 miles north and still had not found a jetty or naval base.

Somewhere between 2 and 3 miles north of Atlantic Blvd. the land on my left changed from developed residential structures to barren sand dunes with what I would call natural vegetation. As I ran north I kept studying the beach ahead looking for an inlet or jetty. It seemed to look a little different up ahead, I just couldn't tell how far ahead I was looking.

Finally, at exactly 4 miles north of Atlantic Blvd. I came to a row of posts across the beach as if someone were going to put up a very high fence. There was no fencing but there was a gate with a big blue sign that said PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT - NO TRESPASSING. I surmised that this might be a good place to turn around, after all, I had already gone a lot farther than planned and had not brought any water or nutrition.

Before I headed south though I thought that a selfie in front of the big blue sign would be a great exhibit for this blog post. I guess I've only tried one other time to shoot a selfie. Well, on this day, with the sun in my eyes and not being able to see the image very well on camera, I didn't do very well. I did get one that showed part of my sunglasses and squinted eyes with part of the big blue sign in the background. Certainly not good enough for a blog post. I guess this is a skill I need to work on.