Day 90: Beach habit

I've been reading "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and to my utter amazement it has inspired me to try the running technique described in the book. I don't run, and have always scratched my head and wondered exactly what the appeal is. Doubly so since I was a sprinter at school, and not much good at long-distance running. But the description of the barefoot running technique and the ability of some people to run for 50 miles and more had me wondering just whether there was any merit to it.

On the back of yesterday's migraine, I took today off work and by late afternoon felt well-rested enough to venture out and try some running on the beach at low tide. I drove down to Spanish Banks and walked out onto the sandy flats. I'm guessing the water line was a couple of hundred metres from shore. I padded through the shallow tidal pools, silty mud squishing between my toes and tiny fish scattering in all directions, until I reached the outermost sandbank. I set down my sandals and backpack, looked up and down the beach and set off into the wind at a gentle trot.

I did my best to maintain the form described in the book - head up, back straight and short light steps - and soon covered my first out-and-back of about 300 m. I rested for a bit and then repeated it. I moved on and found another section right by the waterline with a nice smooth patch of firm sand. I set off into the wind again, turned round at the water and returned with the wind on my back, past my gear and down to the waterline again, before turning back and returning to my stuff. I felt fine - a little out of breath but not really tired. I paddled in the shallow water for a bit and took a few photos before running one last time. To my surprise I ran my out-and-back circuit twice without stopping, counting the steps on one pass to work out how far I'd run. I measured my stride and it came out to be about a metre: that meant each leg of my run was about 200 m - and I'd run that distance at least half-a-dozen times. I don't remember the last time I ran that kind of distance but I must have been at school. I figured that was enough, but couldn't put my finger on exactly why it was enough. I wasn't tired, I wasn't out of breath, and the only thing that came to mind was that I shouldn't push it too hard at first. Back at home, I could feel my calf muscles complaining - they had been worked quite hard after all - so it was a good decision to stop.

So I begin to see the state of mind that runners aim for, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

City in the sea