This past weekend Jason and I made the 600 mile drive to not only visit my parents for a day, but to run the Cooper River Bridge Run.
If you are unfamiliar with the Charleston Cooper River Bridge Run it's an awesome 10k event, held in Charleston, SC. It's the 3rd largest 10k in the US and host to 40,000 runners each year. Competitive runners from Kenya and beyond come to try for a chance to win the race.
I've talked about my history with running before. This year I have a lot of goals and running a 10k, more specifically THIS 10k was on my list. Why this 10k? Because I went college at the College of Charleston. I met my husband while working downtown Charleston. I lived there for 5 years. And I never ran the bridge. Running hadn't even occurred to me as a good idea back then!
Jason and I had plans to run it, while my Mom, Grandmother & my Mom's friend Gina had plans to walk the route (yes they have a separate section for walk/runners!). Our goal was to run the entire 6.2 miles in an 1:15 minutes.
We boarded the buses to take us to the start line at 5:45AM on Saturday! Yes, you read that right! It was an early morning. The weather was perfect, 49 as a low (which was the temp when we loaded on the buses) and finishing at around 60 as a high. Perfect running weather.
The start of the race was VERY organized. The people who put this together did a great job. It was well marked and everyone was separated into SEVERAL waves. We ended up in wave F. Each wave started in 3 min intervals. IT WAS COLD.
Shortly after 8AM we got underway. BTW, the guy who won ran the course in 28 minutes. Holy cow!
We started out VERY SLOW. Jason had been nursing some mild Achilles tendinitis and with the help of a new brace and a heel lift we were in hopes that he would be able to run the entire route. We started off cautionary, letting all those silly people who sprint at the start pass us. We knew we would pass them in the end anyway.
The best part of the actual run were the bands they had lined up along the side of the route. Local bands playing out of the back of their trucks. The two guys playing the fiddles were amazing. Our favorites for sure.
Photo by Paul Zoeller/postandcourier.com
The route was great. Along with the bands helping speed things along, before we knew it were had hit the 5k (or half way) mark. SWEET.
The bridge flew by in a breeze. Before we knew it, we were heading downhill into the home stretch. The course was awesome. Easy and straight forward to start and then a few turns at the end to keep you from seeing that finish line in the distance and taking forever to get there. We kicked up the pace considerably the last 2 miles.
We finished 5 min fast than our goal at 1:10! Jason ran the entire way, with us only walking thru the water stations and one very quick stop to tie his shoe. Mom finished at 1:39 and Granny at 1:47!
The after party/recovery area in Marion Square was a MAD HOUSE and very unorganized, but it was all good in the end. We hoped a bus back to our cars and headed straight to our old haunt, The Kickin' Chicken for some well deserved lunch!
We had a great trip. The drive sucks, especially since I had to drive 3/4 of it because of J's ankle, but it was worth every penny! I am already ready to sign up for next years race! I think next year we will dress up in costume! (Lots of people in costumes!)
And because I can't NOT post this photo of Mauii and Moto on the drive back. TOO CUTE.
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