Sanibel Sauntering

For some reason, I much prefer loop courses to out and back ones. I suppose this has something to do with the fact that men don’t like to turn around and retrace their steps. And why that is, I’ll never know.

On Sanibel Island, however, there is mostly out and back running. Not all, but mostly. This is especially so if one wants to explore the running up on Captiva Island (separated from Sanibel by Blind Pass, which is also the name of our condominium complex).

During my first run on the island, I slowly made my way up there, crossing the bridge to Captiva after about 30 minutes. Captiva is quieter and more residential. Rich folks type residential. After 55 or so minutes, my PF began to ache a whole bunch. This doesn’t usually happen during a run; even when the PF is really bad, the aching almost invariably occurs whilst I’m not running.

But this time it was so bad that I was forced to turn back. The pain subsided enough for me to make it, and even do a few extra, enabling me to call it 15 for the day.

For my next trick I managed to explore Ding Darling park from the back end. There is a one-way road through the park, and I found myself going into the exit and against traffic (one car the entire time). I stopped to look for gators, but no luck. After going back out I ran down Troon Court. This Troon was substantially ritzier than ours.

You would think that a fairly easy run followed by a day off would allow me to run fast, strong, and/or long. It didn’t. There are only four days to go before Jacksonville, and things are definitely not boding well.

The PF was as bad as ever as I ventured out early Wednesday morning. Even so, I felt like I was doing a pretty good pace as I ran east on the main drag, and then south on Rabbit Road. Then I turned right to go to the end of West Gulf before turning back. This leg took me about 59 minutes, and I was guessing that it was about 7 miles.

I got back faster – something like 57 minutes. I was still hoping it was 7. Then I checked it on gmap-pedometer: 6.2 miles each way. That’s pretty darn slow, considering that I thought I was keeping a good pace. I did manage to run about 3 additional miles for the morning to make about 16 in all. It’s just too bad it wasn’t a faster 16.

My last couple Sanibel runs were on the beach. These weren’t very fast. The PF wasn’t as awful, but it was still there. And of course I’m eating way too much. Way too much. I’m not very confident about Jacksonville.