Rich on Running: You can escape to the Cape, but don’t stop running

If you make it “down the Cape” this summer, may I suggest you squeeze in some time running on the beaches or footpaths in addition to the local clam shack.A few nights ago, over dinner at the Squealing Pig restaurant in Provincetown, a friend of my girlfriend’s told us she’d run about seven miles on the bike paths near Race Point Beach.Located off Route 6, near the tip of Cape Cod and not far from the spot where the Pilgrims first set foot in North America back in 1620, Race Point Beach offers visitors the chance to run off every bit of that fisherman’s platter, in multiple ways.You can run on the scenic bike paths, as my girlfriend’s friend did, or you can do what I did, which was run on the beach. Warning: with its plethora of pebbles, Race Point Beach is not ideal for barefoot running, at least in my opinion.I ran a couple times, both barefoot, on our afternoon at the beach. (Swimming was basically out of the question, as the water felt freezing.) On the first run, I didn’t stray too far from the crowds, running past the two guys playing Frisbee in the water, and then in the other direction, past a few folks tossing around a football and two more people playing beach tennis, and finally back to the terrier that was lounging near our blankets.Running on a beach does present some unique challenges. You want to make sure you don’t crush some poor kid’s sand castle. You also want to be respectful of your fellow beachgoers (I tried to stay clear of getting beaned by the football). Of course, running across the slope of the sand offers its own challenge.That said, beach running brings delights, too: the sight of the ocean, the sound of the surf, and the feeling of dipping your toes into the water to cool off. If you take a break and scan the seascape, you may catch some of the local marine wildlife, as my girlfriend did when she spotted a few gray seals. And there is nothing like a beach sunset – Race Point, according to that old reliable, Wikipedia, is one of the few places around here where you can see the sun descend into the sea.After a little rest, the sight of a fellow runner jogging right past us spurred me to try to run a longer distance. I took off in the direction of Herring Cove Beach, and after passing a solitary fisherman, the only company I had was the plovers. Yet I didn’t want to go too far – it was a hot day, after all.There does seem to be a running community of sorts on the Cape. A woman was jogging down Bradford Street in midday, and one of the people in line at a Provincetown International Film Festival event sported a T-shirt from the St. Pat’s 5K/Tour de Patrick in Providence.Rich Tenorio is The Item’s running columnist. Email him at [email protected].