The Bridge Run

Well, the bridge run went fine. It was a completely different experience than the small runs I've been doing. There were I think between 30,000 and 40,000 participants, not to mention massive amounts of people cheering you on once you reach the city. In college, my roommates and I would head over to the coffee shop (that is cafe for our Dutch readers) on Bridge Run day and drink coffee and yell encouragement to all the folks running by. It was always a blast-- first the elite runners whiz by-- their bodies seem created only for running. They are running machines, primarily east African. Amazing. Then you see the first woman, then the first older person-- and then the HERDS move through-- just hundreds and hundreds of people for a long time... then the walkers come through. The streets are blocked off for the entire morning and people are just everywhere.

I ran with my friend Katie-- who hadn't trained, by the way-- she takes spinning classes, but hadn't run since January. As Mike said, "yeah, but she's like twenty years old". Needless to say, this was a great no-pressure situation. From the running perspective it was amazing to hit downtown and have people lining the sides of the road cheering you on. After my last race, the 8K for H20 I planned to train hard to try to really improve my times and do the bridge run in less than or just about 1 hour. Hmmm. Then the boys got colds, then Mike and I got colds, then the pressure of the dissertation began to build. I generally run three times a week, but recently on two different weeks (including last week) I only ran one time. So, by the time race week came around I knew that under an hour was not going to be a realistic goal. I decided to just take it easy, not worry about the massive crowds and how they would affect my time, and enjoy running with Katie. My friend Katie is hilarious, so we had a great time talking throughout the race, laughing at some of the costumes (and the bad attitudes-- i thought exercise was supposed to release happy endorphins, people!), and really catching up. I felt like I had a nice visit-- an hour talking with a friend without major interruption. That is unheard of these days. So our time was 1hr and 16 minutes, just under my modified goal of 1hour20minutes. Most importantly, i just enjoyed the run, felt great the whole time. The time seemed to fly, and I think that was because it was such a 'destination' run. Usually I am feeling cramped in our small neighborhood, just sort of trying to keep my brain occupied long enough to make it count for a decent run. One day I will invest in an ipod which should help with this-- but I decided to prove to myself I was actually interested in this sport before gearing all up. I haven't even bought shoes, yet... so an ipod is down the list for now.

Back to my 'destintion' run theory. In this case, you have about 2 miles before getting to the bridge,during which the focus is on the expectation of 'the bridge', and it is the beginning so people are just pumped up and yelling, etc; then you reach the bridge, and it is around 2 miles over the bridge, with views of downtown and the harbor, and North Charleston; then you hit downtown, for another approximately 2 miles-- which includes people cheering you on, upper King street, etc. So I always felt like I was going somewhere.

I highly recommend it, though I have heard from friends who are serious about timing that it can be very difficult, as the crowds get really congested at the bottom of the bridge. There is supposed to be a series of groups beginning in waves, but there is not a lot of policing of the sections-- so even our section (the under one hour group) had a lot of walkers in it.

I saw Mike and the boys along the route, then met up with them afterwards-- thank goodness he is so tall: he is always easy to find in a crowd. It was so crowded and crazy. Then we walked back to the car and ran into some friends which meant we stood around and gabbed for a while, and by that I mean about one hour. I didn't realize how that was making me feel until a bit later when we went to grab some brunch at the Variety Store on the marina. The restaurant had the AC cranked up-- uugh. I was starting to get a headache and ended up with a whopper. What a bummer. I had to come home and lie down for a while-- I should've eaten something right away and had a fleece in the car to warm up. Headache aside it was a great day overall. Mike was a champ about carting the boys all around to see me, then helping with them while I battled my headache. I do not think -- at this time-- that I want to do much more than this 10K. In fact I think I like the idea of 5K and 8K and may just try to improve my time with those for a while.
The Sustainability Institute in North Charleston, now headed up by one of my 'green team' members, is having a 'green' 8K in May. Maybe I can get Katie to do that one with me, too.

I have been scouting out runs in CT , and am thinking about doing The Space Race in Granby in July, and the Pumpkin Run in the Fall. They both look relatively family-oriented.

I have been desperately looking for teaching jobs over the summer, and am hoping I can find something in Charleston for the first summer sessions. Mike plans to transition in Connecticut with the Handyman Connection up there, so he is flexible about when we move. It looks like I can start teaching early in Hartford, by beginning with a summer II session course in July. We will be moving up at the end of June/beginning of July before classes start on July 7. Still no word if I can find a teaching gig here in early summer.

And not to jinx it in ANY way, but Will 'slept through the night' last night. He has been waking up at 4AM-5AM over the last week. Not sure why, and we have been adjusting his sleep schedule to see what might help get him on track. His two top teeth are coming in at the same time, and he is getting over the runny nose that seemed to last for a month-- so who the heck knows what is impacting his sleep in different ways. Regardless, last night he slept from 9:15-5:15 this morning. Whoo hoo Willy! Keep it up big guy!