Departure

This is our last morning here, and we had some surprises.  I was drinking my coffee on the deck when I noticed a fit young man running by wearing a camel-pack.  Then I saw him again - or was it another?  It turns out there were several of them, and then a woman or two.

I realized that an event was going on, and a brief search on my computer informed me that we were watching the OBX Ultramarathon, which began at the Corolla Lighthouse this morning at 5:00 a.m. and ends in Kitty Hawk - 50-K (31 miles), and exactly ten times farther than I raced last Saturday.  The sun is up now and it is a little warm, and these athletes have my complete admiration.  How humbling to see them out here, running in sand, for such a long distance, with only the occasional quizzical glances from oceanfront dwellers like ourselves, and no applause at all!

While we were still watching the runners, Martha spotted some porpoises out in the surf, leaping and glistening in the morning sunshine.  We both tried to take some photos, and I even tried a movie on my phone, but with no success.  I have never been able to photograph these magnificent creatures - they look like little dark spots on the camera.

But to us, they loomed large in the morning surf, a fitting end to our little vacation our here.

So now I will shut this blog down for a couple of days, pack up the computer, and head back up the road to Highlands.