Cooper River Bridge Run 2007

With the weekend approaching, i found myself with a sense of trepidation (and a little dread) as with it came the 30th Annual Cooper River Bridge Run - a 10K run that starts in the Mount Pleasant side of the Cooper River and ends in downtown Charleston taking in the Ravenel Bridge on the way - for pretty much the middle 2 and a half miles of the race. Having decided way back in September that i was going to run this year, i had done quite a bit of training to make sure that i was actually able to run the required distance and also did a few runs over the Bridge itself to get used to the incline (i believe it's 4% uphill for a mile or so). Of course, i hadn't been able to put the two together but i figured that i would be okay on the day itself. With an 8am start for the race, and shuttle buses leaving downtown from 5.30am to 6.30am only, it meant that an early start was a pre-requisite and so i ended up in bed at about 10pm on Friday night, ready to get up at around 4.30am in the morning. Staggering out of bed at this time (and being regarded with a bemused look by the cat), i managed to wake myself up before heading out. Naturally, reaching the appropriate point at the start (I had put myself in the 50m to 1h group) meant that there was a good hour or so waiting around for things to happen.

Anyway, long story short, the start came around and everyone crunched up even more (35,000 people is an impressive sight, i can tell you) for the gun and then we were off. After spending the first mile or so to the bridge dodging people (very annoying as some of the slower runners and walkers had pushed their way to the front), the bridge came around and EVERYONE slowed up. Despite having a stitch develop on the way up, I was happy that it disappeared soon enough and i was able to complete the rest of the course pretty well. Crossing the line at 47:53 and placed 1465 overall (out of 35000 is rather good i think), i was pleased to see that my chip time (the actual course time as measured by an electronic chip that was triggered and stopped by the start and finish lines) turned out at 47 minutes exactly. I think i'm going to run again next year (despite the fact my legs are going to kill me tomorrow) although i plan to run a bit more consistently throughout the year. And i am definitely putting myself in the next category up - hopefully being able to avoid all the hold-ups and dodging. All in all, a fun - if tiring, event.