Jogging Update
So I called the Narragansett Chamber of Commerce today to find out how long Narragansett Beach is, i.e. from Narrow River to where the beach meets the wall. "I don't think we keep that kind of statistics," says the woman who answers, in that tone that lets you know she resents you even asked. That tone always bothers me, so I decided to stretch out how long she had to talk to me. "Okay, great, thanks." (Half-beat.) "So do you know anyone else who might know?" "Well, I know the Narragansett Town Hall doesn't keep those statistics either. They keep statistics on property values and population information, but not what you're looking for." Thanks!
I didn't know the number of the Narragansett Town Hall, but I had Parks & Recreation, so it still counts as calling up the town. "Parks & Recreation." "Yeah, hi, I had a question you might be able to help me with. How long is Narragansett Beach? Like from Narrow River all the way back to the wall." "Uhhhh... let me check." (Long pause.) "1.2 miles."
Man, too bad nobody keeps those statistics. So the moral of that story is to trust the knowledge of people who actually deal with this stuff for a living. Anyway, the number itself is actually great news. For reference, these days I've been parking my car at the end of the wall, and starting my jog from there. (For out-of-towners, "the wall" is a sidewalk/wall combination they put up where the ocean just hits rocks instead of sand. So, ocean, rocks, wall. Very scenic too.) According to much more easily obtained information, the wall runs 0.8 miles from the end to where you can go down onto the beach. From there I jog the 1.2 miles to Narrow River, back, to the river again, back again, and then the 0.8 miles back to my car, for a sum total of, apparently, 6.4 miles. Now, I may go a bit less, because I can't really tell where the wall ends and I just go to the last trash can instead of ... well, I don't know what I'd be going towards. Oncoming traffic?
In any case, even if I'm cheating that's awesome, because my previous PR for distance was 5.35 miles, and now I'm doing about 6.4 every time I run (like, for example, today) with a large part of that on the beach. Plus, a few weeks ago I tried doing just the beach for three laps, and at 1.2 miles each way that puts my new personal record at 7.2 miles, and that's all beach running. That's awesome. Lung capacity is terrific.
Confidential to GBC: And I tried a protein shake! I got vanilla. Will I wake up tomorrow with cut muscles and spider-sense?
REMINDER: You can see what Narragansett Beach looks like from this webcam here. On clear days you can see the top of the wall at the bottom of the photo. So that's what I look at when I jog. How's the treadmill?