Training Log - Sunday, September 12, 2010 (Destin, Florida)

Today, I chose to run the other direction (West) and back along Miramar Beach in Destin, Florida, again along the course of the Destin 50 Beach Ultra scheduled for next February, that I first scouted on yesterday's run. I also chose to go running earlier in the day, 8 AM to be exact. Opting to run in my VFFs, I had planned for another 6 miler that would be my longest run to date in my Vibram FiveFinger KSOs.

Today's run was a little easier and a little more entertaining. The tide had not yet covered much of the firm sections of the beach right along water's edge, so I was able to avoid much of the soft sections that I had to run through during yesterday's adventure. I had also had significantly more sleep prior to this run. I ended running with two of the guys that stayed at the condo with us, Tilo visiting for our friend's wedding from Germany and Ivan from Huntsville, Alabama via Mexico. Since all of us had varying backgrounds in running, we opted for a slow (10 min) pace that would keep everyone happy. Running West, we had the sun on our backs for the outbound leg of the run. That meant that the sun would be straight in our faces on our inbound leg. It makes a huge difference to be able to keep the sun out of your face since sunscreen will run straight into your eyes once you start sweating. Next time, a hat is a must have item on these runs. This run felt much easier than yesterday's, largely due to our ability to select firm terrain along the edge of the water for most of the run.

Having had the opportunity to run about 6 miles of the race course for the Destin 50, I am not so sure I am "up for the challenge". It is definitely a tough ultra. But who knows, I change my mind all the time.