The Most Beautiful Run...

...was also the hardest!!!

My coworker convinced me to go on a run with him. He said it was 6 miles, along Torrey Pines and Black's Beach. The first 2.5 miles were part paved road and part trail that led down hill to the beach. What my coworker failed to mention was how long we were going to have to run in the actual beach for...Yeah, it was about 2 miles. For a girl that never runs on the sand/beach, that part was killer. The sand literally zapped me of all my energy. I had to stop and stretch out my calves on a rock because there was major crampage. I managed to survive the sand and beach, but then there was what seemed like a million stairs that led back UP the cliffs. Oye. You're practically for forced to walk these stairs, but even that hurt. I hobbled up and made it to the top, still having another 1.5ish miles to run to the finish. I let myself stop and stretch because my legs were sooo tight I thought they might snap. That 5-10 minutes of stretching was the best thing I could have done because now that I was back on the pavement I was able to power it to the end at a pretty decent pace. What kept me going this whole run, even when I wanted to give up, were the amazzzing views. Cliffs, beach, and blue skies, what more could you ask for?  As hard as it was, I may have to go back there.

Lesson learned: don't underestimate how hard it can be to run on a surface you're unfamiliar with.