We had four runners in our little group on the 6th. The weather was fine, no rain, like we experienced on our last run. Our run was scheduled for 10.30am on the Sunday and we met at the Jetty at Grange. I turned up at around 10.00am and it was shortly after that I realised that organising a barefoot run near the beach meant that there would be quite a few people walking around without shoes, this raised the question how do I recognise the 'real' barefoot runners. I saw a group of 4 men dressing in running gear and no shoes, I slowly wandered up and asked if they were here for a run, yes, they replied, I then asked "A barefoot run?" they looked kind of puzzled, I then explained and I think they must have thought I was the local crazy, no, they had come for a beach workout and had no intention of running along the road without shoes. I then looked around and saw quite a few people waiting around with no shoes, this was kind of like going on a blind date. Next time I need to say turn up at the jetty and wear a red carnation and no shoes, or maybe use a special hand signal!
Anyway eventually we worked out who we were and after introductions and a bit of a catch up we set off on a short loop of 4km, 2km along the footpath that follows the Esplanade. It was 2km to the next jetty which we covered at a easy talking pace, then after checking everyone was ok we got onto the sand for the return run. The tide was out and so there was plenty of good firm sand to run on. To finish off the run we retired to the nearby cafe for some cappucinos and conversation.
I've floated the idea of getting together for a more regular monthly run on the first Sunday in each month on a route near each participant. I'll see how it goes.
Chris, Jenny, David and Neil on the Grange Jetty on IBRD 2012
Neil