Cooper River Bridge Run - Run10k

Finally, it got going, and I said goodbye to my mom and headed out. Lots of dodging around walkers, and I felt fine until hitting a literal wall of walkers coming up the first incline to the bridge. My pace plummeted, and I knew that even for me, this was way too slow. I kept running whenever I could and slowly made my way up the incline. By the time the road widened out again, I was able to go a little bit faster, but I also knew that by the 5k split, at 32 minutes, my dream of breaking 60 minutes wasn't going to happen today. I didn't feel bad though, and tried to really run faster on the down side of the bridge. Temps were getting hotter, but there was a nice breeze up there, so it felt fine. I took water at the second water stop at the foot of the bridge because I knew that the last 2 miles would be hot without that breeze, and whew, they really were! I sought out the shady side of the street and really put forth a big effort to keep my cadence up. At one point, there was a firetruck spraying people with their hose and I ran right for that - heavenly!

Finally, the last mile was quite crowded. I noticed the crowd but felt very focused on myself and the amount of effort I felt I was putting forth. It was definitely the hardest I have ever fought for a race, including all the 5ks. I just really gave it my all, finally rounding the corner for the last 0.2 and whew, then it was all over. My watch said 1:03:39, chip time 1:03:29. My first feeling was disappointment that I wasn't much better than 3 years ago when I ran my first ever 10k, but I later checked and found that my time back then was 1:06:09, so heck yeah, I was over 3 minutes better. That's a PR and I'll take it.



Just keep practicing, keep the speedwork in one of my weekly runs, remember to work hard.

Walked around and looked for water and a snack.


Afterward, I met up with my family, had some water and a banana, and waited for my mom to finish at 1:38:something, number 21 in her age group (she's 70). We hopped on a shuttle back over to our side of the bridge to drive home, spending the time to dissect our races and talk about training. I feel good today, and hopeful that I can keep making small improvements, that my knee is feeling good, and that my husband, mom and sister want to make this an annual tradition.