jogging on the beach

After a thunderstorm this morning, I went jogging on the beach under the delusion that the sand would be easier to run on after it rained. My hypothesis was that the wet sand would be firm like the sand next to the water on a normal day. I was wrong. In fact, it is the reverse. Sand is more difficult to run on after it has rained, including the sand next to the water.

Nevertheless, I trekked through my two miles of mushy sand until my right calf muscle had had enough and locked up. I have never had it do that before--completely contract and lock. So I stretched and loosened it until it was comfortable enough to start running again. I have three hypotheses for the tight muscle: 1) I didn't drink enough water this morning. 2) I didn't stretch it well enough before I ran. 3) Those funny pilates stretches I tried at the studio yesterday did something funky to my leg. Unfortunately, I don't really have a way to test my hypothesis, so I'm going to say: a combination of all three.

In spite of my tight leg, it was gorgeous to run along a calm lake after a thunderstorm in the after smell of rain.

Like I usually do when I run, I made a parallel between running and life. This time it was this: sometimes in life, something essential locks up. It's just been over-used, under-stretched, and under-nourished. You have to stop and let it release, stretch and take care of it. This goes along with what the apostle Paul says in the New Testament, too, when he writes that he has run the good race. I don't think it means that he didn't stop and breathe a bit. To run a good race, you have to know how to care for the muscles you use too...