Ten Miles

My new shoes arrived yesterday, just in time for my ten-mile long run this morning.  I picked them up at the Post Office where a young man named Perry handed them over.  "These came just in time," I told him.  "I'm running a half marathon in a little over three weeks and I'm hoping these will take me across the finish line!"  He immediately asked me about the race and said he had recently run a treadmill 5-K in 18 minutes or so.  I urged him to come out and run the 5-K or the 10-K.  'You cross the bridge twice," I said.  "Last year, there was a 40-mile-an-hour wind in my face.  I've never run in conditions like that!"  He smiled and said, "I have.  In Iraq."  Turns out he is an ex-Marine and an Iraqi veteran.  So maybe I will see Perry at the starting line.

Martha also planned to run long today, and we  both awoke just before dawn.  I got to the dune-top deck in time to witness another glorious Atlantic Beach sunrise.

Conditions were ideal: warm temperatures in the low 60s and not much wind.  I have not run this far since September in Cades Cove, when I ran the 11-mile loop against my better judgement just because it was a beautiful day and we had gathered together with friends for that express purpose.  It had been a mistake (although an especially memorable one), causing a relapse in my on-and-off struggle with an inflamed right knee.  The inflammation in my knee has nearly disappeared over the past four months, but still I was a little apprehensive about my first double-digit run of 2019.  But it went well - nice and easy, and not a  bit of pain during or after the run.  Martha completed nine miles, as she had planned, so it was a good day for both of us.

We thought our successful long runs called for a celebration, so we decided to have lunch at one of our favorite places in Morehead City which we discovered last year, The Shuckin Shack. These char-grilled oysters were the appetizers - yum!