On day 22 of Streaking into the New Year, I decided that since I’ve been pouring way too much money into the gas tank, that I’d take a run right out my front door. Normally, I would frown upon that. But I had plans. Big plans.
I ran down to the marina wearing gloves for warmth – those didn’t last long. I fatigued pretty quickly before even making it to the downhill toward the great Pacific. The gloves I quickly tucked into my belt, squeezed in next to my camera and phone. While fatiguing so easily on day 22 of this running streak, I wasn’t enthusiastic anymore about my plan, which was to run the outer jetty – THAT IS UNTIL I SAW THIS:
Approaching the jetty after running around the harbor:
I took off thinking that running the jetty wouldn’t be so difficult. All it was, really, was giant boulder hopping. Quickly, I realized this would take some strategy. The experience was like running a maze. I had to turn my cap around so that I could see far enough ahead to know the next 10 or so moves. If I didn’t pay attention, I'd find myself leaping enormous crevices, or running across smaller wobbly boulders, or even running straight down into the ocean. At one point, I slipped on bird poop and slammed my knee into a rock. I learned that this challenge took total concentration.
Glorious!
Looking off the jetty toward harbor island:
The further I ran out onto this jetty, the more serene it grew and at one I became with it. Also, the further I ran out, the more stinky it grew – bird waste and bird remains, as well as the guts of creatures they devoured littered the rocks. There were birds all over the jetty – awesome pelicans, thousands of seagulls, sleek black egret-like birds that I’ve never seen before, to name a few. They out-numbered me so drastically that I was a little spooked at times. If even a fraction of these winged-creatures decided to turn on me, I was done for!
Except for two hikers I saw on my run out, I came upon no other people on the jetty. Plenty of boats made their way up and down the channel. At one point, I distinctly saw people photographing me from their boat. I thought to myself, “Oh, brother! Am I going to end up in someone’s blog post today?” LOL.
Though I am a trail runner and don’t often get out to the harbor anymore, I am so grateful for the “streak” in getting me here. The jetty run was an utter delight. I reached the end dang ecstatic. PLUS, I could see Saddleback Mountains. What a prize!
Scenes from the Jetty Run – it was aMAZing:
Approaching the end of the line:
The End. Well, not the end of my run, still have to run the jetty back (about 1.15 miles) plus back home:
Heading Back:
6.04 miles run this morning (9.72)
Great pictures, great story! Sometimes we can find all we need right outside our front door-this is a great reminder of that fact!
ReplyDelete-Kurt
Really pretty. I don't like birds... creepers. Those black sleek-looking ones are anhingas :)
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing run, love the sunny pictures! Almost looks swimmable there...I would totally be hitting up the beach afterwards!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Kurt. So true what you write!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Giraffy. Charlie Harper from Two and a Half Men also HATES birds. That's just what came to mind when I read your comment. I was a little freaked out myself with all those birds. Thanks for the bird identification!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed! When I got to the end of the jetty, I was so mentally tired, I WANTED SO MUCH TO DIVE INTO THE CHANNEL and swim across it instead of running the jetty back. Truly, the only thing that stopped me was that I had my phone and camera on me. I didn't even care whether it was legal to swim across the channel -- I knew I could do it quick enough to not get caught, which of course got me thinking . . . that I will do! Run the jetty and swim across the channel to the island, run across the bridge to the mainland and run home! (I just won't be able to take pictures.
ReplyDelete