Step.Sink.Splash

Yesterday after I finished everything I needed to get done at my daughter's house, I thought.....I didn't come all this way to not get the chance to see the beach.  Yes, a hurricane is coming.  Yes, it is slightly raining. Yes, it is not ideal conditions for a beach day.  I knew all of that.  My daughter was busy at work.  I was 6 minutes from the ocean.  What's a girl to do?  Go see the beach of course!!!!
Imagine my surprise when I got there and......no one else thought that was a good idea.  The parking lot was empty.  I happily parked my car and walked down the pathway to the beach.

Okay....scratch that.  I happily parked my car and walked down the pathway to the sea.

The beach was gone.  

The last time I was here it looked like this:

See all the sand?  See the enormous beach?

No beach. At all.

Probably at this point, I should have reconsidered my commitment to fitness and perhaps chosen another place to walk.

Nah!  What's a little water?  I began what I mistakenly believed would be an easy stroll down the beach.  I can easily walk 4-5 miles on the beach with little effort and I had loads of time, so I began walking. The wind was at my back and it wasn't toooooo bad.  When I had reached 1.5 miles from my car, I thought, maybe I should turn around.  But then I thought, well if I walk just .25 miles more, I can make it 3.5 miles round trip which is a good walk.  So I kept walking.  Once I hit 3.75 miles, I thought, well if I just walk .25 miles more, that will be an even 4 miles.  That is a really good workout.  So I kept walking.  The second I hit the 2 mile mark, I turned around. Oh. My. Goodness!  The winds had REALLY picked up.  They were blowing sand and seaweed and who knows what else right into my face.  I kind of kept my head down and started walking directly into the wind. I fear I looked like a weather reporter as I kept trying to make progress against the head winds. The sea had also started to rise so that there were no hard sand spots left.  Now every time I took a step it went like this:

Step. Sink. Step. Sink. SPLASH!

There used to be stairs here........oh yes.  Quite windy.

With 1 mile left to go, my pace had slowed down considerably.  Now with each step, a good 3-4 inches of sand goop stuck to my foot. As I put each foot down, I sunk and struggled to pull my foot out with each step. Step. Sink. PULL. Goop. Step. Sink. PULL. Goop. SPLASH.

By this point, I had to hold my phone above my head to keep it from getting soaked with the incoming tide splash.  I. Must. Make. It. To. The. Car.

Thankfully I made it.  A little wet.  A little tired.  And hopefully....a little smarter.

There is a very good chance, there may be better places to walk than along a sea-filled beach, the day before a hurricane hits. A very good chance.