Beach running?

So I've brought all my running gear with me on vacation and while I was scouting out local running routes, my husband suggested that I just run on the beach, on the hard, wet, sand.

"Nah....nobody does that, I'd look like an idiot, the only one out there, running on the beach"

Well, early this morning , we were the first on the beach (one of the "advantages" of vacationing with small children) and after we set up camp (who knew we required all this equipment, whatever happened to my days of a towel and a good book?!.....I digress...) I turned around to find several people running on the beach. Guess it's not such a crazy idea after all.

My concerns are:
-sand in my shoes
-how difficult it can be to walk, let alone run, on sand
-gauging distance correctly

The last one is just my OCD-ness getting in my way and perhaps I could just go out there and run for a decent amount of time, turn around and run back? Hmmm, to be determined.

Oh, and just in case you're jealous about the picture, we're not really in a tropical paradise, but it's still the beach which, right now, is a lot better than home, where I hear the temps are in the triple digits (again!).