Dined then Ran

My trip to Port Orange this week included a lot of dining, hours of cleaning and sorting, and an acceptable amount of running. In this case, I dined and then ran. I ran because I needed to, both from a fitness/stress perspective, but also because the night before I had enjoyed a very yummy dinner. We tried the new Malibu Beach Grill restaurant at the newly opened Pavilion in Port Orange. The food was exceptional and the prices were very reasonable. I highly recommend it. This is a sister restaurant to Monterey Grill which I have tried numerous times on previous trips. In fact, I also dined there for lunch on Thursday. Always consistent, always scrumptious! If you are ever over in the Port Orange area, don’t miss it. And the mud pie is “to-die-for”.

But back to the running. I just love seeing a place on foot. In this case, it is the place where I grew up. I’ve been up and down these streets so many times and for so many reasons…but this has got to be one of the best reasons. There’s something about running through a place that makes you look harder, see things more clearly and differently than you ever have before. Sure, maybe it’s that you’re going by them more slowly…but maybe it’s more. I don’t know, Thursday morning I got up and went running at about 5:55 in the morning. Wasn’t a long run or anywhere particularly scenic, but it did me good. Maybe it is a combination of being up before most people and being on foot that makes you feel strong and capable and privy to a world that not everyone gets to experience. Even running by the mundane places, the chain retailers and restaurants, feels special at that time of the morning with the sun coming up and the streets relatively empty.

I actually ran down the middle of one side of a four-lane road for a couple of minutes before I saw headlights turning onto the road. At that moment, while staring at the empty road, I felt like I was in a running shoe ad with the road ahead of me representative of possibility, in so many forms. That morning, as most, I felt so blessed and lucky to have the life I do…to be strong and able-bodied, and headed back to a home filled with love. So, running to dine is sometimes so much more than that. This week, besides burning calories and releasing endorphins, running reminded me of all my many blessings and also that sometimes, even if you’re in the same place as everyone else, you don’t have to look at things the same way. Different perspective = atypical results. Let me think on this for a while.

Try it the next time you’re in a place you’ve travelled to many times before. Or try it at home. Get out on foot before the sun comes up and see how it makes you feel. You’re out in the stillness…“alive” before the world wakes up. There’s something so empowering about that.