She Runs by the Seashore

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I love running in Ocean City, Maryland. I did a group run there recently with a couple friends, and I enjoy running on the Boardwalk and in town when I get a chance. But after nearly a decade of living in Salisbury, I still hadn’t run at Northside Park until recently.

My boyfriend had a work-related event to attend in North Ocean City the evening of Thursday, June 28, so I decided to run at the park, which was nearby. I knew there were paths, but I’d never explored them.

Northside Park spans a somewhat large area on Ocean City’s bayside, with entrances at 125th, 126th and 127th Street. I found a free parking spot easily and began my run.

Although I’ve had my Garmin Forerunner 935 since October, I had not explored it enough. This was my first time using a workout that I’d created and sent to the watch — a one-mile warmup, four 800-meter repeats each followed by a recovery of 400 meters, and then a one-mile cool-down.

The park has paved paths that include views of the bay and a lake. The park seemed pretty busy, with plenty of people walking around, people playing softball and children playing on the playground, among other things.

I ran the perimeter of the park via a path and tracked it on my watch as just barely less than a mile. There are also paths within the perimeter of the park.

I used the rest of my run exploring the different paths until I reached five miles and the end of my workout. I did have to repeat myself, but the park was a great place to run. The paths were pretty wide, and I enjoyed the scenery.

I felt like my 800s were also run at a good effort. I ran them in 4:55, 4:52, 4:56 and 4:52 — pretty consistent, right? Although that was a slower pace than I would have liked on a more-pleasant-temperature day, and slower than the average of 4:33 that I did for 10 before I ran the Vermont City Marathon, I could tell I’d worked hard. The heat was definitely a factor.

Another perk of running at Northside Park is that it’s right by Abbey Burger Bistro. After I picked up my boyfriend from his event, we returned and ate there together. It was delicious, and we even talked to one of the owners, who was super nice.

Have you run here before? Do you have a favorite spot to run at the beach? 

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