Saturday, May 22, 2010

Seen While Running - In the Navy

San Diego is such a beautiful, interesting place that every run is filled with things to see.  Part of the reason I enjoy running alone is that there's no conversation to distract me from my people watching.   

Today I needed to crank out 11 miles and I didn't have a run mapped.  I decided to do a big loop around the Big Bay and actually ran 14 miles. It's a flat, scenic route: downtown San Diego, the USS Midway, the Embarcadero, Seaport Village, the Tall Ship Star of India and a loop around Shelter Island. 

You always see a bunch of Navy ships in the Big Bay.   As I started the Shelter Island loop, I saw a giant Navy boat headed out to sea.  The sailors were "Manning the Rails" which means all the crew are standing around the edge of the boat.   I've heard they man the rails when they enter port, but I'd never seen it.  The San Diego bay only has one opening to the Pacific and the boat was definitely leaving.

It was very, very sweet.  Retired Navy guys who were sitting around fishing would get out of their lawn chairs as the boat passed by them.  People were looking at the boat with binoculars...maybe trying to get one last glimpse of their loved one headed far away.

Run Notes:  It was windy and chilly for the first part of the run and I completely forgot to drink for the first 4 miles.  Stupid! My hydration never really got caught up even though I was chugging fluids.  I ran out completely and had to stop at Point Loma Seafood and get a refill of water.

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