Running while on Vacation: The Great Island Trail in Cape Cod

      Wow was this course an adventure. I mean that is basically what we called it, "the Cape Cod Adventure",  but the real name was the Great Island Trail. My group of 3 three and I ran 3 miles to the end of the trail, where we gazed upon such a great view of the ocean, and 2 miles back.
      I will be honest here and tell you that there were two attempts at this course. The first time was two days prior, at 9:30 AM in the scorching hot sun, no sunscreen or bug spray, and ankles buckling in the loose sand. It wasn't a good time.  We ended up having to turn around before we could reach our final destination. However, we took a day to recover and to plan the second attempt for the next morning. This time, we started at 7:30 AM, it rained the previous night which packed down the sand and cooled everything off, but with a little humidity and fog left over. We loaded up on sunscreen and bug spray, to protect us from those pesky flies. And finally, we knew what we were getting into. We accomplished the entire course! At the end some of the members decided to go for a little dip to cool off.

      For more information on the course itself, it was filled with sand dunes, pine tree woods, salty water, and mini crab invested marshes. I almost felt like a jungle animal running down the trail, dodging branches, and leaping over roots. At moments on the course, we had to stop, usually either because the sand was too loose to run in, the grass was too high, or we had to climb a dune. But, we accomplished it!
      The group members had some accessories that were very useful: we used Run Cuff and Run Keeper. The Run Cuff was used to carry our phones to take pictures of the landscape and Run Keeper was an app for the iPhone. Our run keeper user said, "I like it because it allows me to keep track of my exercise routines. So if I go running or walking or on the elliptical, it gives me a sense of what I am doing and how many calories I am burning. It also allows me to keep tracking of what I am eating and my nutrition. Also, what is cool is it gives me a map of where I ran, and you can post and share through the network on the iPhone".

The Adventure Crew

      To end this post, I am just going to fill you in with a couple reminders if you interested in running in Wellfleet MA and conquer the Great Island Trail:

• Wear sunscreen!
• Even if it is cloudy, the strong rays from the sun can peak out. I learned my lesson the first time. I ended up running with my arms inside my shirt.
• Wear bug spray!
• There are some evil little insects out there, especially in the marshes. Ticks in the grass, mosquitoes in the woods, and green head flies on the beach. Beware of the bugs!
• Stretch!
• The sand can be dangerous on your ankles if they were to roll. Also, there are many steep hills. Usually my calves and hamstrings get tight. 
• Just keep going!
• There are many places where you can stop and turn around, however, the ending feels great. Obstacles may get in the way, but just take on that challenge and go for it! 

We even saw a goofy little fox!