Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Ocean City Challenge: A Vacation Run



This past week was a solid one for me in terms of training runs and workouts:

Sunday, 6/29 - 12.25 miles
Tuesday, 7/1 - 7.5 + miles
Wednesday, 7/2 - 25 minute swim
Thursday, 7/3 - 13+ miles

Running with a combination of folks and paces as well as solo miles has been great for variety. This week I opted to forgo a Sunday run for an early morning fishing trip with Jason Kline and some friends of ours from out of town off Tilghman Island. It was a mild, 10-rockfish morning, but it's been a while since I've been out fishing, so was glad for the change of pace and the morning on the Bay.

This morning was an 8.5 mile morning, looking for a Wednesday swim, and Thursday run of about 10-12 miles. Motivation can be tough to come by during the summer, as it's not a season of races, while it is a season of heat and humidity. To keep summer running fresh, it's about time for a "challenge." Enter Ocean City.

Next week is an annual vacation east to Ocean City for the extended Valliant/Hutchison families. During the week, I always enjoy mixing my runs so that I start on the beach, then half-way into the run, head up to the road and return via Coastal Highway. Those who know and/or have run with me know that I like to come up with running "challenges." My favorite kind of challenge involves circumnavigating some landmark, body of water, you name it. So, I pulled up MapMyRun.com and looked at Ocean City.

We stay on 120th Street. As you can see from the image above, if you start on the beach and run from 120th, down past 1st Street and to the inlet, then turn and come back up Coastal Highway, by the time you end up back at 120th, you've hit 14.51 miles. Not bad, but not quite "epic" yet in OC terms. SO, if you continue up past 144th Street and cross the state line into Delaware, then back onto the beach for a return to 120th...well, then you've run Ocean City from tip-to-tip, with a long, narrow loop. That's it! Cover all of Ocean City in a morning--a beach-road-beach 18+ mile vacation run.

So that's the OC Vacation "challenge." To pull it up as it's own page, you can click Ocean City Challenge here. Stay tuned for a report on that, among other things. Happy summer running!

5 comments:

Runners on Trails said...

I like the Ocean City challenge route, and it's a reasonable distance for a vacation week. How do you manage to get all the lights green on your run north? No doubt there are endless opportunities to get fuel, twinkies, cotton candy, salt water taffy (hey, that might just be the ultimate running snack), and various drinks to keep you hydrated and energized. Have a great time at the beach.

Anonymous said...

I think Wood Frog is onto something there. Perhaps these "opportunities" along the route for refreshment could add to the challenge. You could add requirements of eating certain foods along route such as boardwalk/Thrasher fries or consuming a certain number of calories. Sort of a junk food style Pub Crawl if you will.

Michael Valliant said...

Indeed - I could see returning adorned with a shirt from Brass Balls, a shot glass (used) from the Purple Moose, and an empty 40oz of Private Stock. I am interested in Keene's contention that salt water taffy may be the ultimate running snack... Thanks for the tips, fellas ;)

Anonymous said...

My vote would be probably not for the taffy. It would likely be hard to chew when you're well into a long run. However, it is worth trying at least once on a run...

Anonymous said...

Good luck!
Enjoy your trip.
Have fun at the beach.