Boundary Boardwalk

I’m socially awkward.

I wasn’t as a child.  I was obnoxious, outgoing and a bit of a daredevil.  I don’t know what happened to me.  😛

Crowds make me uncomfortable- sometimes running in public still freaks me out.    I’ve mostly gotten over it in home town.  Granted the bridge still stresses me out.  For crying out loud, I still sprint across the damn thing.  Last weeks long run saw the bridge mile clocking in at 9:14.  Which doesn’t sound that speedy until you take into account my stupid shins and the fact that I walked part of that mile too.

Running in work town?  Oh hell no.  I do it very rarely.   What if people see me?  I don’t want customers to see me in a sweaty mess.    And shorts?  Forget it.  If I run in work town, I wear capris, no matter what time of year.   Throw in the fact that I only have only the one 4 mile route and I don’t run there very often.   Too uncomfortable.

The week has been running around 105ish in hometown.   Mid 70’s at 7 am. Yay. 😭😭  I ran in work town on Monday- tried to be invisible.   Wednesday was my half day and I wanted to run but 100+ temps?  Not so much.  Whereas work town was a lovely 72.  Decisions, decisions.

I stepped outside my comfort zone.  I ran in work town.  On a new path.  In shorts.  In the middle of the day.  There were people around.  It’s summer in a beach town-  what was I thinking?

It freakin’ rocked.

Don’t get me wrong- those 4 miles kicked my ass.  First I was cold then I was hot.  The path I thought I was on turned out to be not what I thought.  My shorts rode up every 5 steps and I spent most of the run trying to discreetly dig them out of my crotch and yanking them down.  Cover those legs! My legs hurt, my shins ached.  I was sinking in the sand.  The pavement seemed too hard.  I lost the cover to my new handheld Orange Mud and didn’t even notice for 1/2 a mile. How?   I was breathing like I was sprinting but I so wasn’t.   I walked more than I would have liked.  People saw me.

But —

I ran through a tunnel of Cypress trees–


Found three stacks–


And a rock–


Like I said- this run rocked.  Can’t wait to push my boundaries ( a little) again with a longer run.   And maybe with different shorts.  😛

How do you push your boundaries?

 

 

11 thoughts on “Boundary Boardwalk”

  1. I used to avoid running with people around. And I am still working on it to an extent. But, I have really worked on be comfortable in my own skin this year. Which has resulted in 3 runs with just a sports bra, it was so freeing! Now they were all out of town in the middle of nowhere but there was still traffic. At first it bothered me but now, I love the thought. And I am going to do it again sometime! 🙂

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    1. I don’t know if I could run in just a sports bra. Shorts are enough of push right now but I know that is also partly due to the fact that I am a few pounds heavier than I would like to be. I’m going to keep working on it though. 🙂

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      1. I can completely relate. I am not a bigger person but was heavier in HS and even my dad had told me “you are too fat to run.” That is when I quit for a long time. Even now it is still hard for me to muster up the inner strength to believe in myself. But I know I am good enough regardless of the number on the scale and size of my thighs! You are too!!

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  2. Wow! What gorgeous scenery! You are really lucky to live in such a beautiful area, heat notwithstanding.

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  4. Wait, if we go outside our comfort zone it turns out ok?!?! Gasp lol. Totally kidding.

    I always worry that I look like hell when other come upon me. Then I stopped caring. I feel good when I’m active and that’s the only person I have to please.

    Great work and the scenery is gorgeous.

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    1. Right? Who knew?

      I was better about not caring what people thought for a while. Then I put on a few pounds, got a little slower and all the doubts came creeping back up. I am trying to work on it again.

      Thank you!

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  5. This morning I overslept a bit (considering all week it’s only been 4 hours of sleep, I needed it!) so I knew I’d be running when the sun came up instead of under the cover of darkness, but I really wanted to run (<— can't believe I said that!) so I took off. Black capris with pink stripe, black and white tie dye top that is 2 sizes too big and a big yellow truckers hat. I didn't match at all. And I told myself I could do just 2.7 miles and not go all the way to the main road. In the sunshine. But, I went to the main road, in the sunshine and did 3.2 miles 🙂 I'm getting better at it!

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    1. Matching’s overrated right? I am so impressed that you get up in the morning to run- that is so hard! Especially after what seemed to be an exhausting week! I need to work on running in public in work town in shorts–it’s too damn hot here for misguided modesty!

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