The Hoppy Okapi

Today was race day number two in my short running career. The 22nd annual Bay Bridge Run/Walk was today, a four mile course over the Coronado Bay Bridge. Race day is the only time all year that pedestrians are allowed to cross the Coronado Bridge, so that experience was as much motivation to participate in the race as the actual running. The race was sold out with 8000 registered participants, so it was more than ten times larger than the 5K we ran in March. The start line was incredibly crowded, and I crossed the start line about a minute and a half after the official race start. The crowd started to this out as we headed south on Harbor Drive and over a small hill, but I had to do some darting around walkers and the occasional runner who was going more slowly than I. Other than the huge crowd, the main difference between today and my training runs was that it was hot today! My typical morning runs down by the water are cool and overcast, taking advantage of “May Gray” and soon, “June Gloom” (do we have one of those early-morning-fog phrases for every month? maybe I should watch local weather stations more to find out…) I definitely would have preferred to run the race on a day that was NOT part of San Diego’s second major heat wave of the year, but there I was pounding the pavement, with the sun beating down. I somehow missed the first mile marker as I was running, but I must have passed it in around ten minutes (fast for me!), because before I knew it I was heading up the ramp onto the bridge, and facing a looooooong uphill stretch. I couldn’t hack the uphill in the heat at a running pace, so I slowed down after about 17 minutes of running and walked the hill, but I still managed to make the two mile marker in about 22.5 minutes. I took advantage of my slow pace to enjoy the views from the bridge, looking ahead to Coronado and back to the downtown San Diego skyline.

I planned to start running again after a few minutes, but my legs were not having it, so I kept walking until the downhill part of the bridge. By then, I had enough energy built up to run the rest of the way without stopping, although the last mile sure seemed long! I hit the three mile mark at about 37 minutes, and then came off of the bridge and onto the street, looped around a park trail (a muddy, narrow park trail, with lots of runners and walkers, some of whom were pushing strollers – it was quite a mess really, and surprising that no one crashed into each other!), and then ran under the last part of the bridge and into the park. The run-up to the finish line was long, and I didn’t have any energy left for a final sprint – I had to be content with actually crossing the finish line while still at a run. I made it through the finish chute fairly quickly, and Chuck was waiting for me with a very welcome bottle of water – he’d finished in just over 40 minutes (unofficially better than 40 min, since it took us about 90seconds to cross the line), so he’d had about ten minutes to get rehydrated and scope out the finish area while waiting for me. My official time was just over 50 minutes, which means I came in around 49.5 minutes from crossing the start line – I’m pretty happy with that time, especially considering that I walked for almost a mile on the uphill part, and my best training sun was 4.2 miles in 49 minutes on flat ground. The Coronado race was pretty fun, and I’d definitely like to do it again next year, and finish in a better time!