The Joy of Running

This past Saturday, Cindy and I ventured to Topsail beach to expose Casey, our 6 month old puppy, who is nearly 50 pounds, to the sand and sea.  He has experienced water before at Jordan Lake and Eno River.  He was really young at Jordan Lake and was afraid of the first few steps into the wet stuff.  But, being coaxed a bit by a couple of paddle boarders and us, he splashed around happily trying to figure out what it was all about.  We then took him on a hike to Eno River, a shallow river in Northwest Durham.  One Ford on the river is ankle deep but about 15 yards across.  We lured him in with a few treats and little by little, he made his way across the river, jumping and splashing toward the banks of the other side.  Of course, both of these venues are fresh water.  Ever since, he loves running through the gutters after rain storms gobbling up the water while sprinting through it.

We decided to show him what the big pond looks like, with waves, sand, birds and fresh salty air.  Of course, he doesn't know that the water in the big pond tastes different than the fresh water in the Eno river or the rain gutters.  The sandy wide open beach was his first new experience.  He danced around like a kid in a new world, kicking sand everywhere and playing.  As we walked to the water, he noticed the waves coming at him.  "OK, this is new, why is this water trying to get me? The other water just sat there and I played with it! This water looks like it wants to play with me!"  Of course, the first thing he does as he nears a tidal pool is gobble the water.  Not good!  That was the last gobble or gargle of the day.  He tested it other places but realized that although the water felt the same, it didn't taste the same.  It was also more fun because it kept coming after him.  Eventually, he just fell in love with it, splashing, galloping, jumping and going in deeper until the water was up to his belly and the waves were tickling him.

He was having so much fun playing with Cindy in the water that I decided to do a few "strides" with him along the edge of the water, enough to splash but little enough to run.  Here is one of my favorite photos of all-time and gets to the pure joy of running!  Cindy took this and captured the essence perfectly.  God's great creations of the ocean, beach, human and dog in an activity so natural to both in a setting so natural and beautiful to this world.  It captures the pure joy of running!  Ironically, I didn't do my normal run on this day but there is no run that I could have done that would have been captured like this.  The waves are shown both calm and powerful.  I'm running relaxed and easy and Casey is surging with a great sprint.  It brings the essence of the joy of running and in life to a real and exposed existence.

Days 263-265: 8 miles, 2014: 1,266 miles (100 days left)