Beach bride

The beach weather has been kind of crazy this week. Rough water, crazy wind and really high tides every day until today. Saturday evening I set off for my usual beach run – to the pier and back. It took me 16 minutes to get there (with the wind behind me) and 25 minutes to get back. I have never run against wind like that, I mean never. During that 25 minutes I was thinking that was the third-hardest run of my life (after the marathon and the first triathlon) but now that seems impossible.

Also on Saturday there was a 4 p.m. wedding on the beach, right in the middle of hundreds of sunburned, half-drunk strangers. It’s not unusual to see beach ceremonies, but usually they’re held later, when it’s not so blazing hot and the beach is more secluded. Not the case this time. The bride looked like she was about 16 and she was escorted by someone who definitely wasn’t old enough to be her father (her father probably had no idea she was getting married).

When the processional began, all the sunburned, half-drunk strangers on each side of the “aisle” turned their chairs and coolers to watch. We walked down, too, mostly to see whether the bride was as young as she looked from a distance (she wasn’t, although everyone probably looks more mature in a wedding dress). When the couple had their just-married kiss, all the random onlookers clapped and cheered. It was kind of heart-warming, in a very specifically Myrtle Beach way.