Beat the Bridge 2009

Last Sunday I ran my first real race. An 8K. I've run a 5K before with Zoe Niki and we took many walking breaks so I've never counted it as "my race".

Anyway, Sunday's race was Beat the Bridge and I love the concept. You have to "beat the bridge" before it goes up. The course actually has two bridges. The first one is near the starting point (Montlake Bridge) and the second bridge is at the 2 mile mark (University Bridge). If you don't make the University Bridge in time they open it and you have to wait it out (about 6 minutes I believe).

Here's the course map:

Since a few of us work at the University we had the idea to park there and walk over. It was a good plan. I got to make a pit stop in the hospital for a potty break and then we sped-walked to the starting point and were warmed up and ready to go just a bit before 8:30.

Did I mention that it was a beautiful day? Perfect running weather for that time of the morning. My shoulders got a little pink...

So, how'd I do? Well, I beat the bridge! I ran with 2 friends who are training for a half marathon. They'd just run 8 miles the day before. I'm sure they could have gone a lot faster but they stuck with me. I think I started off a little too fast because I got a side ache a little after the 1 mile mark and it never really went away. There was also a bit of a hill (really, it wasn't even a hill, just a slight incline) after the 2nd bridge and that kind of killed me. The funny thing is, once I got to the last 1/2 mile, when the end was in sight, I kind of wanted to just stop and sit down. Pathetic! Anyway, I did it and it was fun. My knees and hips survived!

I'm still not convinced that I'm a distance runner (like, I don't see myself now running 10Ks and further) but I'd like keep trying things I haven't done before. Either run faster or run further. For now I'd like to run faster so I'm going to try a little interval training to see how that works out for me. I might just hit a wall and if that happens then maybe I'll try the distance thing.

Oh, btw, the company in charge of the timing chips had a problem so I don't have a net time but I crossed the finish line at 48:33. I'm sure it took us 20 or more seconds to even get moving at the gun so my pace was a little faster than 9:46. Not bad. I started running last June after a 20 year break and that first run was pathetic. I love improving.