She Runs by the Seashore

Whenever I attend a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Tourism Public Relations Alliance, I always enjoy running in the host location. The most recent meeting took place April 22 in Dewey Beach (Southern Delaware Tourism was the host), and I needed to pick up my packet for the Coastal Delaware Running Festival in the area later that evening — the packet pickup didn’t start till 6 p.m.

So, I had about four hours between the end of the meeting and the packet pickup. After picking up some Eastern Shore Running Club hoodies and shirts that the club ordered, I decided to check out Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, which is outside of Milton. I’ve already run in many awesome places in Sussex County, Delaware, so I decided to venture further north in the county for this run.

I put “Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge” into my GPS and followed it from there. I didn’t quite end up where I thought I would be. I saw a sign for the refuge, but it mentioned another road. Since I was already out there, I decided to continue along the road — Prime Hook Road — anyway, and what I saw was beautiful. The road had water on both sides and linked the main land area with a tiny strip of land along the ocean.

I found a parking spot on the side of the road and decided to start my run here. I ventured toward the small community, Prime Hook Beach, first. There was one main road, Shore Drive, with a few other roads. I followed Shore Drive to the north and turned around. People were so friendly — they probably aren’t too used to seeing runners, and a few people encouraged me during my run.

On one side of Shore Drive, the houses backed up to the Atlantic Ocean and a private beach. On the other, the houses backed up to the wildlife refuge and, according to Google Maps, the “Big Round Pond.” I enjoyed seeing the unique houses, and noticed one house with a bunch of buoys hung in its trees.

After turning around at the end of the road, I ran back and turned back onto Prime Hook Road. When I passed my car, I was at about two miles and decided to do another two out and two back, for a total of six miles. I did run-walk intervals to keep my pace relatively easy ahead of the half marathon I’d be running in two days, and I was also stopping a decent amount for photos. I enjoyed the scenic views, and when I made it back to the main land mass, there were all these trees that looked as if they had been cut off. I’d seen these on my drive in.

My phone ran out of battery at some point, so I ran the last two or so miles without that distraction — it was actually nice to focus more on my surroundings.

I had an enjoyable run, and when I got back, I was offered a bottle of water by someone who I think had stopped to go fishing. I had water in the car, but I still appreciated the thought.

A map of the refuge can be found here. There are also trails at the refuge that I’d like to explore, and it looks like the best address to use for that would be 11978 Turkle Pond Road, Milton, DE 19968. However, I’m glad I stumbled across this beautiful area and got to run six miles there on a nice afternoon. I went back and stopped for a couple photos on my way out, too.