Beach Trail: Best Idea Ever

Probably the best idea San Clemente ever had was to make the Beach Trail.

Before the trail, the town along the coast was not connected at all, and the only way to walk along the beach was during low tide or along the train tracks. The trail connects 'North Beach' at the North San Clemente train station, down past the pier and all the way to 'State Beach' next to the Calafia campgrounds.

The Coastal Trail is 2.3 miles long, with dirt paths and whitewater views the whole way.

So why would I not take advantage of this every day?

Usually when I go running, I try to get over with as quickly as possible, starting and ending my run at the bottom of our stairs. I start by plugging in my iPod earphones to drown out the assortment of loud and obnoxious noises in our neighborhood, including the omnipresent beastly trash trucks, leaf blowers, cars, street sweeping trucks, construction cranes two blocks over, and tractors at the hardware store across the street.

It's actually a bit chaotic in our neighborhood, and sometimes I get the feeling my jog has turned in to a dance of dodging moving vehicles. In fact, one time as I crossed the street I got ran into by a car that didn't come to a complete stop.

But still I kept pounding the pavement.

Then our new roommate, Laura, came to live with us, and we decided to go running together in the mornings. She wanted to utilize the bit of time she had to run along the ocean. You mean DRIVE in order to RUN? It was a bit of a foreign concept to me, but I agreed.

We had fantastic morning getting exercise and chatting along the quiet beach trail, and I noticed I wasn't thinking about getting run over. Also, it only took about two minutes to drive from our house to North Beach, so I found it wasn't too much time "wasted" driving.

When Laura moved out to her own apartment in Laguna Beach, I forgot my motivation to drive to the beach in order to run. Then one especially loud "Busy Town" morning I decided I would give it another try, even without my morning partner.

This time I had no one to talk to, so I brought my iPod. But when I got there and heard the birds chirping and the ocean crashing, I realized I wanted to hear the sounds, not drown them out. 

I spent the whole jog listening to the peaceful morning sounds, and found myself thinking, mentally organizing and just being peaceful in my head.

In Spanish there is word, "quieta" which means "still," and connotes calm and quiet. This is the word that comes to my head when I think about running along the beach trail. It's nice exercise, but perhaps even more valuable is the "quieta" that comes along with it.

Unfortunately, our busy world includes constantly listening to music, watching TV, seeing or hearing advertisements, driving or being around cars, talking or being talked to -- and we forget how delicious it feels to simply just be.

So yes, I'll run to that ;)

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