Beautiful 12

Today was supposed to be a 12-mile/2:20 run. I decided to run along Johnson Beach in Perdido Key. What a fantastic place to run. First, the weather was AWESOME! It was 57 degrees and sunny. There was a slight breeze. I ran through Gulf Islands National Park. I didn't realize there was an entry fee until later. Ooops.

Here was the view. Note, I ran against traffic. The photo would turn out better if I took it behind me rather than in front of me, so it looks like I was running with traffic, but I was not.

The picture doesn't do the scenery justice. It was just overwhelmingly beautiful. The road goes for around 2.5 miles on a barrier island that is maybe 500 feet wide. The sound is on one side (to the right in the photo) and the Gulf is on the other. There are dune crossovers every so often and people would park their cars off the side of the road and go enjoy the pristine beach.

The water was a beautiful emerald green and the sky was differing shades of blue. I really wanted to stop and breathe it all in; sit in the sand and just become one with nature. I pressed on because I wanted to complete my run.

I saw several people along the way. Everyone was very friendly. It felt nice to hear all the encouragement. One lady was riding her bike and then I saw her on roller blades. She said she would have run, but she forgot her jog bra.

I did 12.1 miles in 2:14:45 for an average pace of 11:08.

I ran the road from the parking lot to the end and back and then I ran out of the park to the condos and back (almost 6 miles). On the way in I saw that there was a day-use fee. I asked the kind gentleman about it (no one was at the guard shack when I went through and the guard arms were up, so I figured it was OK to pass. On my second pass through I paid him the fee. He kept insisting that it was OK, but I wanted to make sure I paid. It is worth it to me if it will help keep that area pristine.