"on a shoestring"

“It’s elevating and humbling at the same time. Running along a beach at sunrise with no other footprints in the sand, you realize the vastness of creation, your own insignificant space in the plan, how tiny you really are, your own creatureliness and how much you owe to the supreme body, the God that brought all this beauty and harmony into being.” -Sister Marion Irvine, 2:51 PR and 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier

Whenever I find myself in a new place especially a new beach, I will make sure that I find time to run (even if I didn’t bring my running shoes). And run, I did! This time in the historic Lingayen beach, Pangasinan.

After about a kilometer of walking from the President’s Hotel in Lingayen Pangasinan towards the beach, I did some stretching and warm up. I was amped to run so I did some 2K warm-up.

Warm up (used my 10-sec timer)

Lingayen is the capital of Pangasinan where you can see the most beautiful Capitol Complex in the Philippines. You can check my travel blog post about 5 Lingayen tourist destinations if you want.

There are almost no beach visitors on the spot I chose so I tried to do some basic yoga poses that I see online. I don’t know if I was doing it right or wrong but I was having fun, I feel relaxed and flexible.

Stretch. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Since the sun is beginning to rise, I wasted no time and did more barefoot beach run. I really love the freedom I get whenever I run barefoot on sand. Not only that it makes my foot muscles strong, it also strengthens legs muscles that I don’t usually use when I’m on my shoes.

Beach running also aids one’s feet turn-over, making the runner faster. Impact to knees is lesser too that’s why its recommended for those nursing injury or are starting to run again after a hiatus.

Oh, how I love to run on the sand… the baby surfs are just amazing, the view is spectacular most of all- its FREE.

another blissful run at the beach. how i wish, every run is like this...

RUNNING STATISTICS:

Date of Run: November 24, 2011 (Thursday)

Route: Lingayen beach, 8x back-and-forth

Distance covered: 8 Kilometers

Pros: Beach run, fresh air, barefooted and even sand

Cons: NONE whatsoever!

Time: 50mins (6:10/km) includes water breaks and photo ops

Temperature: 21°C

Running Apparel: Topless, MJ shades, H & M boxers & blue Fox board shorts.

If you want to read more of my out-of-town runs, you can check out my RUNNING PLACES Page. It’s a collection of my rave runs from Luzon, Visayas & Mindanao.