Over Thanksgiving weekend while in Cannon Beach, I had the opportunity to run in the sand for the first time. I have been to the beach several times, but it was before I started running. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be running in this year’s Huffing for Stuffing in Bozeman. I figured that running on the beach would make up for that a little bit. I had been talking to several friends about me running on the beach and how excited I was to try it out. I am so used to running on pavement and trails. I once made the analogy that running in the snow was probably very similar to running in the sand. There have been times where I have had to run in deep snow and I find myself a little frustrated at people for not shoveling, because I always feel like I am going to trip and fall. It is really hard to get your footing just right and with the motion of running, I assumed that running in the sand would be very similar.
My friends told me that I was crazy and that it was nothing like running in the sand. I didn’t believe them. Running in piles of snow is hard. I was excited to give running in the sand a try. I laced up and headed out a couple of times while we were staying in Cannon Beach. I ran a bit in the dry sand while on my way to the wet sand. Yes, running in the dry sand was difficult and my feet slipped around similar to me running in the deep snow. Here are a few differences:
- The dry sand isn’t wet nor is it cold like the snow.
- The wet sand is like running on a dirt trail. The snow is nothing like that. If it is hard, it is icy and you can easily fall. Falling in the sand wouldn’t be so bad.
- My feet sink a lot deeper in the snow than in the sand which makes it harder in the snow to run normal.
- When running in the snow, it is obviously cold outside, so out come the layers. Running on the beach usually means less layers even in November. (Unless of course you are somewhere with colder winters or like Cannon Beach last Friday when it snowed).
These alone are enough for me to make my decision on which is easier to run in. Unless you want a crazy good work out, most people are going to run on the hard wet sand. If you want another crazy good work out, find some place that has not been shoveled and go run in that. It will be a much harder workout than running in the dry sand.
This of course is my personal opinion, but nonetheless sand wins as the easier of the two.