This Saturday was the Cooper River Bridge Run. It's always exciting when you get 31,000 people together in the same place, and this year was no exception. When we showed up at the Gaillard at 5:45, the line for shuttle buses already went down Calhoun to King St. and then down King to St. George. There seemed to be a little more confusion this year with the starting zones than I saw last year, but it might just be where in the crowd I ended up. I know there was definitely some panic as people tried to squeeze through the gates with 15 minutes to go before the race start, but I managed to duck into my zone and get in a few stretches before the gun went off.
The weather was beautiful, and I felt great. The recent decrease in training due to my foot injury left me with really fresh legs. I felt strong up until the last half mile, and was able to push through the finish without slowing down much. Of course, even though I did the race last year, I still managed to misjudge the distance to the finish once I hit King St.
My chip time was 42:53, almost a minute improvement over last year, and I felt much better. That put me at 102/2146 in my age group. Given my expectations, I was thrilled with this result, and am excited to carry through for a good performance in the iFiveK with my blogging peeps.
I managed to snag a post-race massage and lots of free snacks. I was very disappointed that the Johnsonville Brats truck wasn't there, but Jim 'N Nick's came through with a tasty BBQ sandwich. Two days later, my calves are still a little tight, but I think I can call this race injury free, which is the most important thing of all!
