Back from the Bridge

Well, the Bridge Run went better and worse than I expected.

This was our third year doing the Cooper River Bridge Run and I have to say I felt a lot better afterward than I did last year. Probably because I walked it with Coll and Em rather than running it. I felt almost crippled after last year's race.

I say it went worse because we got a really late start to the race. Much later than the first year. I think we were probably some of the last people to start the race. It was pretty discouraging to look behind and see only a handful of people and then get the first water station and the volunteers were already tearing it down and putting the tables away (hence, no water).

I thought a sweeper truck was going to come along and tell us we had to stop now, but it didn't and we didn't and the three of us finished our third Bridge Run Walk.

Interestingly, at the end of the race, I came across three Asheville firefighters who walked the bridge in full turnout gear, including air tanks. They were walking in honor of Paxten Mitchell, a 3-year-old leukemia sufferer who died the day after the race. Paxten's father is also an Asheville fireman. One of the firefighters, David Sauer, told me that even though they weren't walking the bridge to raise money, people along the race route gave them money for the Mitchell family.

That's what I love about this race: The people. The people are fantastic. I love all the people who come out to cheer and support the runners and walkers and all the volunteers who hand out water and offer words of encouragement. And I have heard of others talking about people giving them money for their cause during the race. I think it's great.

I'll have more photos and commentary on the race later.

Sansa Sensibility

I am digging my new birthday gift.

It's a 2GB SanDisk Sansa Clip MP3 player. It's advertised to hold about 500 songs, but will realistically probably hold somewhere around 320. It also plays FM stations. I have 245 already uploaded to the little player now, and I love it.

There is some sort of hiccup whereby the player stops communicating with the computer every so often, but it's not a fatal flaw. I've read about some people complaining about it, but it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.

Anyway, my honey got it for me for my birthday. Aint' she great? I can't wait to take it Charleston and jam my way over the bridge. Last year I bought a cheapo arm band radio to listen to during the race. I got pretty good reception and jammed to "Pepper" by the Butthole Surfers. Odd enough song, but with a good beat for running. At least for me.
(By the way, the YouTube video I linked to for Pepper isn't Butthole Surfers, but it is a pretty creative video by kid who said he made the video a few years ago with a friend for a class.)

Now I can load the songs I think I would like to listen to the most the day of the race to keep me pumped up. Can't wait.

Not ready

Photo by Melissa Haneline, The (Charleston) Post and Courier

Colleen and I are taking our annual trip to Charleston next month, and I am not ready.

I am ready to get out of town and enjoy being in that great, old city, but I am not ready for the reason that we began going there.

The 31st annual Cooper River Bridge Run is April 5, and we've been going down since 2006 when the race crossed the Ravenel Bridge for the first time. Quite an experience running/walking over that bridge.

The first year we went, I ran the 10K (most of it). The second time I ran/walked a little slower time. This year, I'll probably walk it with Colleen and her friend Emily (who is really Kim, but we won't go into that right now).

I have been having some hip and knee pains that the doctor thinks may be from tendinopathy. Whatever it's from, I haven't been running since last year's race, after which I could hardly walk.

I would love to be able to run the race this year. It's so much fun being in the crowd. They call it the third largest 10K in the nation. I had such high hopes for my running career when I started off with the Maggie Valley Moonlight Race three years ago.

Oh well, at least we'll be in Charleston celebrating Curly's birthday. What better place? Maybe Ireland. Maybe next year.