Cooper River Bridge Run AW

[jwright]

I'm just a lurker, but I always enjoy reading about other people's races, so I thought I would comment on my run Saturday.

I live in Charleston and have done the Bridge Run 10K maybe six or seven times. It is always a huge social event, but the crowds and timing have kept me from making it a priority. After the debacle in 2012 where people were waiting over an hour to start, they capped participants at 35,000. This year, they had the lowest number of runners and walkers since 2008. They increased the price earlier and made it a week earlier to avoid conflicting with Easter so that may have had something to do with it.

But, the loss of revenue for the event aside, it was noticeably less crowded and therefore better organized and more enjoyable. I'm not a competitive runner, but I always like to try to improve on my PR. The bridge is super-steep; we live in the Lowcountry so this is the only hill I have ever run on in my life. My previous best on this course was 58:28 and my best 10K time was 57:10.  To add to the difficulty, I took a redeye Thursday night from Hawaii and arrived home in Charleston at about 11:00 AM on Friday before Saturday's race.  Not feeling as perky as I could!

There were at least 10 corrals for runners with a 45:00 - 1:00:00 time and they were assigned based on when you signed up.  We ended up getting in the front of DD to try to be near some friends who were one ahead.  There was a three minute break between corrals though so we never caught up.  And I even lost my friend in my same corral about two minutes in.  Since we had our three minute buffer, there was wide open space and people just took off at the start.  It was about 8:23 when we started.  We were out way too fast, but I tried to keep up since I knew it would soon be crowded and slow.  After the first mile marker, we started uphill, lots of people started walking.  I almost though I would go faster if I walked because I was not making any progress climbing up.  It felt terrible and I still had to dodge walkers.  I didn't really enjoy the view since I was just looking three feet ahead at the road.  Once we got to the three mile mark the hard part was over!  Downhill then flat.  After the bridge, the course turns to narrow downtown streets and the breeze was gone; it got hot.  Ugh.  At about five and a half miles the course passed the park where the celebration was; we had to go a few blocks and come back down a parallel street.  Longest half mile ever.  We were getting further away from the finish.  Finally we turned and headed back down to Marion Square.

I finished at 1:19:01 on the clock; net time 55:03!  A new PR and really surprising given my vacation and travel beforehand. 

Overall I enjoyed the race, it is still one of the larger crowds I have ever raced in, and expensive!  But being a local, it is nice since we don't have to travel.  I'd recommend everyone come and do it once because it is a pretty unique race, then decide if the Bridge Run is something you want to make a tradition.

[sadlebred]

Congratulations! I have been over that bridge several times, and it's really steep! (well, for this mountain girl! I grew up in Gvle.)

[nichelobe]

Congratulations!! That bridge is no joke! We were there in November and got to run it. The views are so gorgeous! This race is on my bucket list.

[thom]

That's a huge time improvement!! Congratulations on an awesome, strong race.

[CallingAllAngels]

Way to have a great race! I live in SC, and try to run the bridge whenever I'm in Charleston. I think I am going to do this race next year with some family. My cousin lives in Mt. P so it could potentially be cheaper if I can stay with her.

[itsme]

Congratulations! If I were an east coaster I'd do it. I'm just getting into traveling for races so maybe one day.

[Mushe]

Great job! I love doing local races. I'm glad the changes made it better.

[shellfish26]

Way to go, and congrats on the PR! I've seen some pics from the race and wondered if anyone here did it- sounds like fun!

[cinco]

Congratulations!

[jwright]

Mar 30, 2015 13:13:25 GMT -5 CallingAllAngels said:

Way to have a great race! I live in SC, and try to run the bridge whenever I'm in Charleston. I think I am going to do this race next year with some family. My cousin lives in Mt. P so it could potentially be cheaper if I can stay with her.

I'm in Mt P as well! Easy walking distance to the start!

[arch01]

Congrats!!

One of these days I'll do this race...

[badgergirl66]

Awesome job! And what a great PR.

I love reading race reports. Especially with a happy big pr at the end.

[juliabug]

Congratulations! A steep bridge is definitely AW worthy!