Sunday 17 miler

My 14-mile run turned into 17 miles. I get carried away with exploring different areas of Ptown and end up running or hiking much longer than planned. After my 1.5 mile sand walk warm-up from the shack to the road, I ran 4 miles of the bike trail to Herring Cove Beach, then down to the jetty and the west end of Commercial Street. I ran the length of Commercial Street toward Truro and out to Beach Point. On my return I ran the length of Bradford back out to the jetty, over to Herring Cove and followed the bike trail back to the airport. It was a good combination of bike trail, road, the bike trail with deep sand walk to start and finish the run. The sun was out and the wind and rain were gone. A nice change from the 13-mile rain hike yesterday. The most exciting part is I finally saw a whale, or at least a whale spouting. I was stretching at Race Point Beach and saw something white, tall, and billowing. I kept watching and by the second time I realized it was a whale. From the shore it resembled a freight trail with it’s steam pushing out every few minutes. By the time I got back to the shack, hauled wood, built a fire, made and ate dinner; my brain was too worn out to draw. It can be difficult to balance running, hiking and drawing with the short days if I feel pressured to do it all. Because I do not have running water or electricity, I need to go to town to get water and/or to the airport to charge my computer or camera batteries, but never the less it is dark after 4:30 and hard to draw. I tend to pick and choose if it is a long drawing day or a long running day or a combination of the two in moderation. But what is important is that the running and hiking is a direct feed to my drawings. The physical endurance and interaction with the land is the vehicle that shapes my drawing and keeps me going every day. Fortunately my body holds the physical experience so that I can continue the essences of this work back in my New York studio. While I am in no hurry to leave the C-scape shack, in fact I do not want to leave, I can look forward to my giant drafting table and printing press at the studio and I will have a body full of beach memories to draw from.