Joggling in the OC (part 2)

Day 2:  Ocean City Boardwalk (3 miles)
I had the idea of joggling along the boardwalk in Ocean City.  I was nervous, as this would be my most public joggling yet.  Would I be weaving in and out of people?  Would the ocean winds throw me off?  What would it be like running completely on wood?

I got the to boardwalk probably at about 7:30AM.  There was a small crowd of people out, enjoying the early morning sun.  The weather was perfect.  I did a short warm-up run through the more conjested area at the end of the boardwalk.  But then it really opens up, and I started joggling.

I’m not sure what happened, but I was in my joggling groove.  I was throwing and catching with great accuracy.  Out of the corner of my eye, I was watching the waves crash on the beach to my right, and looking at all the little stores to my left.  My feet loved running on the soft wood of the boardwalk.  I felt great.

The crowd out on the boardwalk was fairly quiet.  There were very few runners out, mostly just people out enjoying a morning stroll near the beach.  Most people just watched curiously as I joggled by.  I had a few comments, my favorite being “Well, that’s not something you see every day.”  I also had my first heckler.  Just some guy saying “Careful.  Watch it.  Don’t drop that one.  Now, catch that one.”  I found it quite amusing.  If that’s as bad as the heckling gets, I’ll be happy.

Just before I turned around, however, I had a bit of a rock-star moment.  A man was standing down the boardwalk, taking a picture of his wife.  It was a weird angle, as they wouldn’t be getting much in the picture, except me in the background.  And I heard the wife say, “Hurry up.  Here he comes.”  That’s when I realized I was going to be in some family’s photo album.  Yeah, it was an ego boost.

On the way back, I dropped right in front of one of the big, beach-front hotels.  There were a couple guys on the balcony who found this kind of amusing.  But it turned out to be a very good 3-mile joggle.  It was a real confidence booster.  I celebrated with a stop at the create-your-own-donut shop.  I was, after all, on vacation.

Day 3:  Ocean City Boardwalk (4.4 miles)
My third and final day of joggling in the OC was tough.  First of all, I had a friend who wanted to run with me.  And I don’t want to mention any names, but getting this person out of bed for a morning run is a little like dragging a 6 year old to the dentist.  After hours of tugging and pleading and bribing with donuts, I finally got this person out to the boardwalk by about 8:00AM.  That alone is an accomplishment.

It was a windy, windy day.  I was throwing really wild, and I am just going to blame it on the wind.  I was all over the place, and having trouble concentrating.  It was a bit cold out, but as always, it wasn’t long into the run that I got warm.

I was kind of excited about sharing the joggling experience with my running partner, but the crowd was very unresponsive.  There were a lot less people out (it was a windy Sunday morning).  About a mile and a half in, a runner going the other way said “Wow, that takes talent,” but that was all I heard.

Instead of the usual 3 miles, I thought it would be fun to thru-joggle the entire boardwalk.  So, we kept going all the way to the 2.25 mile marker, and turned around.  The way back was very hard.  For a good part, the wind was aimed directly at us.  It was tough.

Literally, in about the last minute of our run, my running partner’s knee gave out, giving an anti-climactic end to our thru-joggle.  He hobbled back to the car.  I felt bad for pushing that extra mile.  But as always, everything was much better at the donut shop.

Weekend Joggling Wrap-up

So, to sum up the weekend, I joggled about 11 miles, and probably ate as many donuts.  For the most part my calves held up okay.  I am hoping I can start pushing my distance soon.  After all, I do have a 25K race in about a month.  But that didn’t matter this weekend.  I had a great joggling vacation on the beach.