She Runs by the Seashore

I’ve participated in the Tour de Salisbury every year it’s been offered, but this year’s Tour had a new twist — each location was on an island! For two of the islands, you could only get there by boat. Because of the further-away and harder-to-get-to courses, we also had four months to complete The Islands Tour.

Here’s how the Tour works: You have (this time) four months to complete 12 courses, which total about 75 miles. You can do these on your own time and complete the Strava segments, then log times in the BrokeRunner website. You can compete for a podium spot, but many, like me, do it for completion and fun.

I have been super busy, so although it’s November now, The Islands Tour ran from June through September. And, the Winter Tour is about to start for the second year – if you’re local to the Delmarva area and interested, sign up here.

Along the way, participants could get location-specific stamps in our personalized passports from DiCarlo Digital Copy Center. If people missed getting any of the stamps at the specific locations (businesses or outdoor locations), they could also get the stamps at DiCarlo.

Ocean City and Isle of Wight

I logged my first couple segments of The Islands Tour on the first day — June 1. Diana, Diana, Kimberly and I took on the 4.48-mile Ocean City Boardwalk segment. I’ve run on the Boardwalk many times, and this is an easy-to-follow segment — up and back on the boardwalk. We were not racing the segment and completed it in 1:04:25, a 14:22/mile pace.

After that, we figured we might as well go to Isle of Wight, which was a 1.12-mile segment off Route 90. I had seen this park and had wondered about it before, but I’d never actually been there. On this day, we walked the segment, taking it as a leisurely nature walk. We saw a bunch of crabs and talked to a woman who was there with her dog, Natalie (I remembered the dog’s name because I have a cousin Natalie!). Afterward, we enjoyed breakfast at Bayside Skillet.

Because the Isle of Wight segment was so short, I did want to go out and try to run it fast, so I did that June 19. This was a short but pretty segment that included two small boardwalk piers and plenty of water views. I completed the segment in 10:11, a 9:04/mile pace, cutting 21 minutes off the walk.

Assateague

On the second day of the Tour, June 2, Kimberly and I took on the Assateague segment, starting a little after 7 a.m. This segment has been part of every Tour — the four previous Tour de Salisbury events and the Winter Tour — along with the new Islands Tour. The course starts and ends at the visitor center and takes runners on the paved path across the bridge, onto the sand for three miles (for an out-and-back), back over the bridge and onto a wooded trail by the Rackliffe House.

Afterward, we walked to and from The Five Tides, a total of about 2.5 miles, where we got our passports stamped.

My time for the 6.99-mile segment was 1:40:30, a 14:22/mile pace.

Deal Island

A new addition to the Tour was Deal Island. I’d run in Deal Island before, but not this exact course. I had off Friday, June 14, and ran the route by myself that morning, using the navigation on my watch. I only ran a little extra at one point, but otherwise, everything went well. It was a nice rural course with some water views, including heading over and back across the Deal Island bridge.

The course started by the small beach, went over the Deal Island bridge, included an out-and-back in Chance and then went back over the bridge to more running in Deal Island. There were a couple parts closer to the water that were swarming with biting bugs, but other than the bugs, I enjoyed it.

My time for the 6.06-mile segment was 1:20:20, a 13:15/mile pace.

Picnic Island

Picnic Island is a super small island that’s part of the Salisbury City Park. The course, however, included the Salisbury Zoo and the mountain bike trails at the City Park, as well as the main City Park trail. This one is close to my house and was easy to fit in, as long as the Zoo was open. Over the four months, I was able to run the 4.52-mile course five times — getting the segment four of those times.

I did my first attempt June 15 but went the wrong way while trying to use the watch navigation and turned around too late to get the segment. The next day, I ran it again, with Melissa, and we got the segment.

I ran it again July 20 and was able to cut off three minutes on an overcast day with light rain. On Aug. 20, a cooler day, I was able to cut off four minutes to get my time under an hour, at 59:16. This was a 13:07/mile pace.

Now familiar with the route, I led Kimberly on the segment on Sept. 1, the day after we ran the Mike Sterling 10K.

Tangier Island

I had June 19 off work for Juneteenth, and Trent and his crew planned a group outing to Tangier Island for that evening, leaving Crisfield at 5 p.m. It would have been cutting it too close if I had to work that day, so the timing worked out well for me. Tangier Island was one of the two islands that participants had to reach via boat, and it was $30. A large group gathered for the experience, and having such a large group of runners take over Tangier was a lot of fun.

Tangier Island was one of the Tour locations that I’d never been to before this summer. The roads were very narrow, and people use golf carts to get around. The island was pretty, and there were plenty of water views. There were not many restaurants or amenities on Tangier, though after the run, most of us had ice cream at a local spot. As someone who often will run out to the grocery store just to pick up a few things, and as someone who is often running late, I know I’m not cut out for the island life — but it was great to visit.

The segment included about two miles of running on the sand. It was a narrow stretch of beach. Unfortunately, over the summer, the area evolved, and part of the original segment was underwater. So, the segment was ultimately removed from the official results (which I agree with, as safety comes first), but I am still glad I went!

My time for the 5.01-mile segment was 1:25:13, a 17:00/mile pace.

Fenwick Island

Before running the new Fenwick Island segment, I’d heard that it was a tough one (there’s an active Facebook group in which people can share their runs), but I think I ended up running it on a nice day. While running on sand is always challenging, it did not feel as bad as I expected. I joined a group organized by Carol for a run the morning of June 29, and I ran the whole segment with Lisa. The segment was 5.92 miles, and I think about four miles of this was on the beach, starting and ending at the state park beach. We also went past the lighthouse in Fenwick Island as part of the run.

My time for the segment was 1:24:05, a 14:11/mile pace.

Saxis

Saxis was another place I’d heard of but had never been to before the Tour. I drove down to the Eastern Shore of Virginia on July 13 for this 3.97-mile segment, which I ran by myself. I enjoyed exploring a new place on an overcast day. There was plenty of nice scenery, and I liked the small-town touches — I took a photo of a light pole banner with an oyster can on it.

My time for the segment was 52:06, a 13:06/mile pace. Afterward, I continued south to get some of my favorite doughnuts, from Corner Bakery in Onancock. Onancock is part of this year’s Winter Tour, so I’ll definitely be running there on a Saturday (Corner Bakery is closed Sundays).

Wye Island

I ran the new Wye Island segment “on my way” to visit my family. It was kind of on the way, but a decent ways off Route 50. I had run at Wye Island once before, but I hadn’t done this exact course. Much of it was on a crushed gravel road, with a middle section on a trail. It was quiet and scenic. I went out there Aug. 3, and I didn’t get there as early as I probably should have. It got hot, and I changed up my run-walk segments to include more walking.

Somehow, I missed the turn for the trail portion and ended up running on the side of a field. By the time I had determined I definitely went the wrong way, I kept going, because I didn’t know if I would have enough time to turn around and still get the segment. Somehow, I still ended up getting the segment, but I wanted to go back and do it correctly now that I knew where I made a mistake. This was a pretty easy course, so I’m not sure how I messed it up.

I made it back on Sept. 23 and cut about 23 minutes off, going from 2:04:51 to 1:41:21 — a 13:14/mile pace. I was not going for a podium spot, and I knew I did not have to run the segment again, but I wanted to.

Smith Island

The day after the Naylor Mill 7K, Janet and I headed to Smith Island. We had both missed previous group trips, and I’m glad we were able to go together. We took Smith Island Cruises and met another Tourist, Sam, who ended up finishing the Tour as the top male. Surprisingly, another running friend, Allison, was also on the boat, but she was just visiting Smith Island and wasn’t doing the Tour (she doesn’t live on Delmarva).

I had been to Smith Island once before for a work event, but I had never gotten the chance to run there. Because of the timing of the boat trip from Crisfield, we started our run at 1:42 p.m., and it was hot. However, neither of us were focused on getting a fast time. It was scenic and rural, and afterward we had lunch and the famous Smith Island Cake at the Bayside Inn. After seeing hardly any cars in Tangier, I was surprised to see more vehicles (pick-up trucks, if I recall correctly) than I expected on Smith Island.

My time for the 3.32-mile segment was 47:59, a 14:27/mile pace.

Chincoteague

I headed to Chincoteague on Aug. 24 and ran the 10.5-mile route in 2:39:25, a 15:10/pace. I started too late in the day, at 10:09 a.m., but after running this course three other times during previous Tours, I finally had a run here without bugs, which was amazing. Chincoteague has always been my buggiest segment, although it is a pretty one. The course includes a nature trail at the beginning, some of town, a loop at the wildlife refuge, a loop up to the lighthouse and running back through town. I also stopped to get another bottle of water at McDonald’s, which was along the course, while I let my watch run.

I listened to an audiobook during the run. Afterward, I had tacos and blueberry lemonade from Pico Taqueria, then decided to go up the steps of the lighthouse, which I’d never done at Chincoteague before. It was free to go up with park admission (and I have the Assateague/Chincoteague pass), and the views were great. On my way out, I stopped at Mister Whippy and got my passport stamp and a chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream cone.

Kent Island

Kent Island was the longest run that’s ever been part of a Tour, at 15.57 miles, and it was my last one. Not only did I want to work up to the distance and use it for my marathon training, but I also wanted to run this one in September, when it would be cooler.

I drove up to Kent Island with Lisa, Bob and Melissa on Sept. 14. Lisa and I ran the whole segment together, Melissa ran ahead of us, and we also started with Jeanelle, who drove separately. Holly and Yvonne were out there, too! Bob served as our bike support and was there to provide water throughout the course. Lisa and I each went through four water bottles, so it was extremely helpful (and fun) to have Bob on the bike.

This segment included the Cross Island Trail from Long Point Park to Terrapin Beach Park, along with a longer-than-expected loop at Terrapin Beach Park. I knew how long the segment was, but the loop at Terrapin Beach Park was so long that we didn’t get to see Melissa or Jeanelle on our out-and-back. The Cross Island Trail is paved, flat and scenic. I’d run on the trail before, but had not run the full length.

We could see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the Terrapin Beach Park loop. Although this was a lengthy segment, it was a nice one. Run-walk intervals were helpful, as they often are for me. Plus, Lisa, Melissa and I all got to finish our Tours that day.

There was also a fun end-of-Tour pool party, hosted by Vira. I love the Tour de Salisbury and all its related events and am looking forward to the Winter Tour starting up in a couple weeks!

My total time for The Islands Tour was 16:16:25, excluding Tangier. With the Tangier time (to make it comparable to previous Tours), my total was 17:41:48. Of the four other summer Tours I’ve run, three of those have started with 17 hours. The other started with a “19.”