Hilton Head Bridge Run Recap

Or.....PR's all around!!!!!

Usually I like to jump right into the recap, but lets talk about how Cubbie creeped me out this morning first.

The alarm went off at 5:30am, however I had been woken up ten minutes before by my roommate's friends, who were just going to bed...Like two ships passing in the sea, I was beginning my day as their evening was winding down.

A long story, perhaps for another day.

I put on my running gear, threw on my wind pants and got ready to walk Jada before I left. Roomie was asleep on the couch ( his friends were sleeping in his bed). Much to my great joy, Jada instantly ran over to roomie and began licking his face, waking him up! Pay back buddy! "Where are you going this early?" I am racing in Hilton Head today. "Oh, good luck!" I walked Jada and returned to the house, running up stairs to "drop the kids off at the pool" before I left the house.

Quietly coming back downstairs trying to not disturb my roomie, I didn't turn on the lights. Right before I got to my front door I was startled by this person sitting in the chair next to the couch. "What the fu...? Cubbie? Why are you sitting in the dark? More importantly, how did you get in the house?" Great way to start the morning...

We get to the race course and get settled. 15 minutes before race time Cubbie has to go to the bathroom. The line was a country mile....I told her I was gonna loosen up for 5 minutes and would meet her back by the blue tent. I get back and can't find her. "She must have gone over to the start" Nope, not there either. Crap, I can't go without her...

As the starter's pistol goes off, I see Cubbie hauling butt around the corner from the can and we are off!!!

This is a small local race with a small field, split between the 5K/10K. I have no trouble weaving in and out of runners and quickly get into a nice grove. I look over my shoulder and Cubbie is 10 paces back. I hit the 1 mile mark at 8:34 and feel like it is a good pace; I was hoping for a 54:00 time today, so I needed to run 8:41.

Second mile at 17:09. Holding comfortable, pasing a few runners here and there. Here comes the bridge and the 5K turn around. Halfway up the bridge I was wishing I was only doing the 5K as I see runners turning around. In my mind I knew for me only doing the 5K would be taking the easy way out. I have ahalf-mary beat down to deliver to CJ in February!

Three mile mark at 26 and change, I lost about 1o seconds on the bridge but was not terribly worried. "I can make this up on the last mile!"

Then the wheels started coming off...Did I go out too fast? Am I not really built to be a runner? Hey, look at that fat guy leaning up against the wall drinking coffee, smoking a cig, that should be me...

As we ran through mile four, it was a sweeping wide left turn on the off ramp from the bridge. We. Kept. Turning. Runners were coming back but I could not see the turn around. Where is the frickin turn around? Who designed this course! Arrrgggh, I hate running, why does it hurt? Finally, the turn around! Where's Cubbie, she should be close. Oh, good, there she is...okay, put on a big face, don't let them see the pain...

"Fast, Fluid, Form" That is the mantra the Crackhead gave me...I kept repeating it as I was energize by seeing all of the runners behind me approaching the turn. Ahead I saw the five mile marker at the foot of the bridge.

I hit the five mile mark at 44:10 and knew I needed to really drop this last 1.2 miles to get in under 54. "Who put this bridge here? What? You know, the 5Ker's got to turn around before they even got to the top of the bridge and I have to go over it twice? Man, the Double Pump is gonna blow next month with three trips over a real bridge..."

As soon I crested the bridge I knew I was home free, it was time to really drop it with only a 1/2 mile remaining. While repeating my mantra, "Fast, Fluid, Form" I scanned ten runners ahead and found my victim. His shoulders were dropped, his head wobbley, I knew I could take him. I used the decline of the bridge to catch my breath and waited for the "rise" of the flat coming off of the bridge to greet me. As I pushed I could hear the sound of footsteps behind me. Let's give a ten second surge and drop this guy. Hmmm, still there...okay, take thirty seonds and then we will push again. When I pushed the second time I actually heard him say, "Oh, shit!" But, he was still there! What the hell? With less than 1/4 mile I looked over my shoulder at him and said, "Come on man, let's go!" At this point we flew by my "victim" from earlier, and turned the final corner to the finishing straight. With my newfound friend right on my right shoulder I saw the clock read 54:10. Damn, there goes 54, lets not lose sight of 55! Final surge into the chute...

54:39.

New PR.

By almost 8 minutes!

I immediatly looped back to get Cubbie in,I made it to the corner and there she was, trucking!

I cheered loudly and watched her cross at 55:45. New PR for her as well. Almost three minutes off of her old PR!

What a great race.

Overall time 54:39/8:47 pace.


I look forward to reading full recaps from the B2Ber's and Florida Ironman....