National Running Day --June 6, 2012--Cancun



Happy National Running Day!

I am excited that I get to run this day in beautiful Cancun, Mexico while on vacation.  My plan is to run 6.66 miles on 6/6/12 on the beach barefoot which will be a first for me.  I do not want to mess up my pretty feet, but I also do not want to mess up my Nike's with sand either! 

I start this run at 6:04 am Cancun time just as the sun is starting to rise.  I love early morning sunrise.  It is humid and hot already but off I go running along the beach as my plan is to run 3.33 miles out and then turn around and come back. 

It is absolutely gorgeous.  As I am running, I see a graduation ceremony and there is a photographer taking pictures with the beach and sunrise in the background.  What a neat idea!  On the way back from my run I see them throwing all their caps into the air as the photographer snaps away!  I'm sure she did not catch me in the background in their picture.  At least I hope not!

I run down towards the end of the beach and I come up on some type of protective animal park from what I can read in my limited Spanish.  There are a ton of rocks like a dam and everytime the water comes in it makes a huge splash.  It's like something out of a movie.  There is also an old seagull just sitting there on the beach not moving.  He is alive but not moving.  I keep going closer but finally decide to stop running and take a picture of him.  I am afraid to get too close because he isn't flying away and does not act scared, so I am afraid to get close in fear that he will attack me..hahaha  I am much closer to the bird than the picture suggests :-D

When I stopped to take pictures, I accidentally stop my Nike +GPS at 2.12 miles!  Ughh..now I am in a quandry as I really want it to say 6.66 mi.  Silly, I know.  I am only about 2 miles out on the beach and cannot run past this park, so I turn around and head back.  It's here I realize that the padding on big toes is hurting and I am forming blisters....ughh!  I run down the beach just past my hotel and after about 4 total miles I decide just to head in and get my socks and shoes to finish this run either on the treadmill or on the roof.

I get to the roof gym and the treadmills are taken.  I wait for a few minutes and lift weights, but then I really need to get this run done! So, I head out on the roof to get it finished.  I go around and around of what must be about .15 mile loops.  I was loopy for about 4.5 miles.  Everytime I passed the gym the treadmills were in use!  WEll, good for them, but better for me!  LOL I'm sure they thought I was crazy as the gym is enclosed in glass and I can see them and they can see me.

While on the roof, there was a Mexican cook doing his prep work at the outside bar/grill.  When he was pushing this big cart, he caught my eye and started running with it.  It was so funny that I laughed and started clapping my hands to show my support of his run with his cart! 

I finished my part 2 run with my 6.66 miles on my gps but in total I actually ran 8.78 miles.  Every strand of hair on my head was drenched.  I drank the rest of the day!  It was a memorable National Running Day and a beautiful run to boot.