A simple 60 minute run

For your pleasure and for of course mine, I should like to tell you of the adventure I partook on today. It was suppose to be a simple 60 minute run with, dependent upon my legs, a few pickups near the end. I chose the beach as my route and much to my dismay realized the tide was high. Some few years ago the sands used to be far more compact, however, with the swirling storms and strong winds the beach has changed greatly. Comprehending that I would have to dodge waves to find any harder surface I realized that this would be a perfect workout for my stability muscles (Jen).
Cruising at a comfortable but rather slow pace for me I took note of the wall of rain somewhere off past Ormond by the Sea (that’s north of where I live). Most storms flow from the west off toward the east, which of course makes logical sense. Seeing that I had nothing to worry about I grinned at the little specks of light so suddenly appearing and then fading off into the clouds and continued on my way.
As I ran onward I began to loose myself in the depths of my thoughts, as I so often do, and missed my turn around time by a few minutes. Laughing slightly, I paused and turned to head back when a low grumble approached my ears. I stopped, hesitating as I turned up toward the clouds, a circumstance I had not been expecting lay upon me. The storm was not in fact moving east, it was on a southerly course, one headed down and along the coastline. My situation was not grave, at least not yet, I realized. The storm, though moving south was slightly out over the water and I had yet to hear any roars of thunder that suggested the lightening was very close.
Bounding along through the sand, narrowly tripping every other step (this is a normal occurrence on my runs) I pushed on taking side glances back toward the storm every few seconds. But, as time pushed on and I lost interest in the clouds my mind once again floated off to other places until my shadow clearly and defiantly leapt out at me. I stumbled and nearly ran into a sand castle. “That’s not good.” A man throwing a frisbee with his children said.
“Yes, it seems the storm is not moving in the direction that I thought it was.” I said, smiling and deciding then that I needed to pick up the pace a bit.
Forging onward I continued, bright flashes speckling the sky out over the water, occasional ones stretching out over land. ‘Bang,’ (haha I feel like I’m a writer for the old Batman show) I moved close to the beach wall and waited to try and figure out just how close the storm was. It was getting closer, but I was not very far from home, I could make it, I thought, and after a few minutes of only small flashes out on the horizon I took off. The clouds above me gave me hope, they were thin and marked the edge of the storm, I should be fine.
Nine minutes from home I skid to a halt as I found a lovely little beach ball sitting lonely in the sand. Oh, I thought, how sad that such a toy be left behind. Deciding that I was doing the only proper thing, I began kicking it as I continued on my way home. Grinning like an idiot I ran along dribbling my beach ball down the tire tracks formed on the beach.
Seven and a half minutes from home a bright light followed by a burst of thunder erupted off to my right, off toward land. The sky was even darker toward the west. There was a small patch of slightly blue sky directly in front of me, however, the two storms were merging and my strip of clear weather was diminishing rapidly. I could have laughed. Grabbing my beach ball I took off, increasing my speed as I flailed through the loose sand (it should be noted that runs in sand should not be done at a quick pace, one never goes anywhere quickly and does nothing more then make a fool of oneself, aka, me).
I watched the strip of blue sky dwindle above me, the storms were moving faster then I could in the thick sand, but I was nearly home. Finally, arriving upon the patio I walked up to meet the security guard, “I’m afraid the pool deck is closed.”
I laughed, “Well, can I cross so as to reach the building?”
“Oh, yes, yes, but hurry.”
Looking down at the sandy ball under my arm I put on the saddest face I could muster, “Is it ok if I wash off my beach ball really quickly.” I motioned toward the water spicket no more then a meter away.
The man laughed, “You know how lightning is, it’ll shoot out of that thing. You had better hurry up and get inside, I don’t want to pick up your corpse.”
Slightly mortified by his comment and the mental image I was envisioning, and rather confused at the same time I shrugged, “Alright.” I said and walked on toward the building toting my little sandy beach ball along with me. Of course as soon as I got upstairs I proceeded to take a shower myself and even gave my beach ball a bath. Of all my 60 minutes runs, this had to be the most memorable.

Very well, so maybe it was not as exciting as I would have liked, though it is not often when ones life is slightly endangered. I hope you enjoyed my story and take away these lessons with you;
1) Never assume a storm is not headed toward you
2) Lightning in Florida is not a fireworks light show
3) When people run from the beach, you probably should too
4) Toys are fun to play with but only at the appropriate times and in the appropriate weather
5) It is hard to keep your balance while running along the beach
6) And finally, don’t write on the blog board right before your run, especially if you mention something that could potentially happen.

Hope everyone has storm free safe runs. (As a word from your respective teammate; DON’T DO WHAT I JUST DID… EVER!!!)

-Lori