It's been well over a month since my trip to Carolina Beach with friends. This was just a short getaway (Thursday through Sunday), and I would be starting my new job the following Monday morning. That's a lot of driving from Columbus to the southern North Carolina coast just to stay three nights and then start a new job! I knew it would mean my training schedule, which had already suffered this summer due to illness and injury, would take another hit. But I was determined to get some exercise in. I scheduled myself for a very generic "Walk on the Beach" for both Friday and Saturday, since Thursday and Sunday were driving days. I decided I would consider my plan achieved if I got out there and did just a little bit more effort than sitting in the sun. And I assumed I'd be on my own for my pseudo-workouts. But I was wrong.
We had a nice group of six ladies (and three tween girls) on the trip. This was my first time meeting Keri and Charlotte, but I already knew Anita as well as Shelly and Nikki (we'd just run the
Dublin Irish Festival 5K the previous week). It turns out that Charlotte is a cyclist and had just completed the 100 mile
Pelotonia ride. She didn't want to remain idle for the entire beach weekend either.
Friday
After some time in the ocean playing in the surf with the three girls, Charlotte and I set out for a walk to "the pier down that way (South)", which looked fairly close. It turned out that our round-trip walk from our condo was 3.5 miles. Not as close at it appeared.
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| Ruins from an old pier? (photo credit: Charlotte O'Neal) |
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| Pelicans! (photo credit: Charlotte O'Neal) |
We didn't exactly speed-walk it, but we certainly put in some work, walking barefoot at an average 21:26 pace. We stopped along the way to look at things, and for Charlotte to take pictures (I hadn't taken my phone), so some idle time factors into that pace. It was a beautiful day and a nice walk up to the Kure Beach pier. We also walked all the way out on the pier past many people who were fishing. I felt successful on this day, getting in a respectable walk on the beach.
Saturday
Over morning coffee, I did some research and found a brewery in Carolina Beach (of course I did). I proposed to Charlotte that we would run the 2 miles to the brewery, try some beer, and then walk back on the beach. She was up for the adventure, and we did this while everyone else went shopping.
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| With Charlotte on the highway - hot and steamy |
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| Route from beach condo to brewery |
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| Saw some beautiful hours along the route |
The run to
Good Hops Brewery was hot! It didn't help that we started out during the hottest part of the day and ran on the roads, not the beach. We were on a highway for at least half the run, with cars going by fast. The good news is that there was a wide shoulder, so we were perfectly safe running single file. We did a run/walk, but walked a little extra. The only goal here was to get to the brewery, not to make a certain pace. Finally, we saw the brewery! My Garmin logged it as a 2.2 mile run. We each ordered flights and enjoyed them in the air conditioning of the quirky little brewery.
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| Made it to the brewery - see our smiles?!? |
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| My flight in a cute hop board |
After our beer, Charlotte and I had to walk a ways through a residential neighborhood just to get to the beach, and then we were able to take off our shoes and walk the rest of the way on sand, with the ocean breeze helping to cool us off. This walk was logged as 2.27 miles at a 22:26 pace. But again...who cares? We put in about 4.5 miles on our second vacation day. We earned the beer, and felt good about getting in some mileage.
It was great to have someone else to run and walk with on the beach vacation, because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gone as far without Charlotte. Next time I'm on a trip like this, I think I'll look for another brewery. Breaking up an effort with a reward of beer made for a very sweet vacation victory.
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