I woke up early this morning, a ball of nervous energy. My plane tickets have been re-directed towards Dakar, and I was up last night tossing and turning while thinking in French, after suddenly realizing that I have abandoned the language for about a month. C’est pas bon, ça.
So this morning I instinctively reached for the one thing that has served as therapy and stress relief during the past year and a half: my running shoes. I also grabbed my camera and an espresso-flavored GU, deciding this time to attempt to capture some of the everyday beauty that I get to witness here on Cape Cod. What follows is a little photo essay of my run. You, dear Reader, might find it a little boring and excessive, but this is more of a keepsake entry for myself that I can click back to while in the dusty climate of West Africa and thinking of home. My virtual madeleine, if you will.
The route, according to my Garmin. I park and start at Falmouth Ice Arena. I think there’s a magnet attached to that place, because we always find ourselves back there.
The path heading north starts off modestly, not promising too much. I think this is why most people tend to head out going south towards Woods Hole (which itself is a magnet of sorts).
First signs of ocean, not far up the trail past the hospital
Breaking out of the woods, you can start to see the marshland
I just think these types of shots, while so commonplace around here, are absolutely gorgeous. Nothing says Cape Cod to me like these two.
January in Falmouth really does give August a run for its money, but I’m not gonna tell anybody. I like having my frozen wetlands to myself.
“What’s a kwa-hog?”
Isn’t this called a bike path for a reason?
Mile 3. I finally stopped to remove whatever was digging into the bottom of my foot. You can barely see it but it’s on the yellow stripe. I swear it felt about 20x that size. Plus I just wanted to show off my groovy socks…
Cool Twisty Tree
Hey! My brother plays hockey with that guy!
With my back to Chapoquoit Beach
Here we are. My favorite beach.
Apparently Chappy is a favorite destination for other people, too…
Shall we?
Dad’s lighthouse is gonna be way cooler
Hey! There he is again! Business must be good.
Mile 5. Seemed like an appropriate turnaround point.
The trail is fraught with danger!
Getting back into town.
Crap- I’m at 9.25 miles! Guess I’m going to run a little further….
I have never understood why this house had a big old timey “Falmouth” sign on it. Can someone please look this up and get back to me?
Looped around and back at the rink! Spot on 10 miles!
A nice older lady on a bike took this for me. Turns out that she was one of the original petitioners for the Shining Sea Bike Path, or so she told me. I believed it, and thanked her for helping me to complete my first double-digit run of 2010.
Then I raced home, picked up my brother, then raced back down to the rink for some more ice skating. You know, because I hadn’t gotten enough physical activity for one day…
So there it is. I doubt you had as much fun as I did today, but I hope you were able to get a little window into my life at home. Every day I walk out the door, I can’t believe how lucky I am to be from here.