It was funny to see who recognized one of the 10 most recognizable buildings in the world. At Gulf Shores, it was about a 40% recognition rate, not including young kids. I'll post some pics once I get them downloaded. Wednesday, after a kid asked us if we'd ever built a sand submarine, I came up with the somewhat demented idea of a large submarine being attacked by a large sea creature. The whole sand sculpture ended up about 18 feet long, with a large sub being engulfed by a creature that had characteristics of a giant squid, a crab, a lizard, and a shark. Again, pictures may reveal things more clearly. This one was a big hit. 
Thursday, we finished up our presentation (we had sand groupies by this point in the week) with a large-scale Porsche convertible loosely based on the 911 model. We built this one big enough that smaller children could sit inside of it, and we had a dozen or so people come over and pose their children in the sand car. That was probably the most fun, but the sub/monster combo was the better sculpture. Friday, we had to start the journey back.The running, you say? Well, I was not very inspired. I woke up Monday through Wednesday at the beep of my watch at 5:45am, and utterly failed to leave the room on any of those early mornings. C'est la vie. I wish I could report that I diligently got out there and did some miles, but alas, I did not.
However, I knew I had to do the scheduled 18 miler at the very least. So, on Friday, after gorging myself on Mellow Mushroom pizza on Thursday night, I was up and out of the condo at 5:45am, running. I had checked Gmap, and found that I could head west towards Ft. Morgan (a historic fort from Civil War times), and it was almost exactly 9 miles to the end of the peninsula. So, it was easy directions for the 18 miler. It was muggy, but somewhat overcast, so I had about as good conditions as could be expected in southern Alabama in mid-July. With the GPS synched, the iPod loaded, a Camelbak with 32 ounces of ice water, and a 20 oz. bottle of Gatorade, I set out, exited the property onto AL 180, and headed west.
It proved to be much more of a mental test than I had anticipated. I've never run more than 16 miles by myself in one run, so this was a new personal record. I drank from the Gatorade on the way out, finishing it up somewhere around mile 7, and got rid of that handheld distraction. I did my GU every 3-4 miles, and walked through all the water stops. I figured I'd just keep moving since I was alone, even though I'd shorten the actual running distance a little doing it that way. There was a volunteer fire department, several bird watching conservatories, a lot of traffic with people towing boats to the end of the pier, and of course, lots of condos along the way. The road was almost arrow-straight for the most part, which was both good and bad. It was good that people could see you from a long way away, and thus was safer, but it was bad in that you couldn't make a mental game of getting to a corner ahead. The road was pretty darned flat, as well. I started craving a hill, just for variety. :-)
I reached the end of the ferry pier, did my sun pose looking back east and then into Mobile Bay for a bit, sipping water, and then it was time to head back. I was working harder and harder, it seemed, as I turned back into the sun, heading east, but I focused on getting to the next landmark one at a time, trying to break up the journey into bits that I could manage. I took my last GU (actually, it was an Enervitene I had left over from Indy) at about mile 13.5, finished off my water (it would have been great to have another cold bottle of water at that point!), and fought my way home. There was a big water tower at the Beach Club entrance, and I finally spotted it about the time I did that last water stop. The bad thing was that it was so large, and the road so straight, that it was a lot farther to the finish than I would have liked. Oh, well. With the count on the iPod at something like 40 songs so far, I trudged on. My pace was slowing a bit due to the heat, but I kept at it, and soon enough, the actual entrance to the condo place appeared. After rubbing my eyes to make sure it wasn't a mirage, I gratefully turned into the drive, and finished the run off with a modicum of style.
The run was just under 18 miles (17.98). With all water stop time included, it was 9:54/mile pace. That's a bit slower than usual, but with the combination of a solo run and less than ideal water supplies, I'll take it. The main thing is that I got out there, finally, and knocked out the most important run of the week. Actual running pace was more like 9:30-9:35/mile. I probably covered a half mile of that total during my walk-through water stops.
I found my way to the pool area, and spent a few luxurious minutes letting the beach shower cool me off. That was truly a great feeling. I figured I'd kick off my shoes before getting back under the shower for a more thorough dousing, and instead, I caused a massive calf cramp in my left leg as I pointed my foot downward. Ouch!!!!! It was one of those cramps that you can see. It looked like a small mouse had crawled under my skin. All I could do was sit down carefully and grab the cramped muscle with my thumbs, pressing on it. Eventually, and it seemed like a very long time, the cramp crawled out of my calf (you could feel it slide away under my thumbs), and I could breathe again. Man, that hurt!! I gingerly took off the other shoe, and enjoyed that cool shower some more, and then headed back upstairs to get going on our homeward journey.
I should have stretched, I should have iced the calf, and I should have taken ibuprofen. But, instead, we walked to the beach one more time, enjoyed the early morning sounds and sights on the beach until about 10:00am, and then it was time to go. I did chug an Endurox (12 oz.) and another Gatorade (20 oz.), along with a bottle of water, so I wasn't totally a post-run goof, but I certainly wasn't practicing what I preach to other runners. :-) After cramming the Tahoe full of our gear (we don't pack lightly when we drive somewhere), it was time to start back to Texas.
I suffered from my lack of stretching every time we stopped for gas or food. I tried to plead with the stretching gods by gently stretching at all those opportunities, but they weren't having much sympathy for me. Sigh... We had bad traffic issues, big rain, and other road maladies on Friday, but we finally made it to Baton Rouge around 5:00, and found a hotel for the night. We celebrated by having some Mexican food there (we had had plenty of seafood during the week, so it was time to get back to other cuisine). I slept the sleep of the very fatigued that night, and although I was very sore on Saturday, I was mostly rejuvenated. At least that portion of the drive only featured the usual craziness around Houston.
So, a good vacation, one quality run, small pangs of guilt over missing the other runs, and no sunburn. Good times...
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