Cooper River Bridge Run Weekend

This weekend was fabulous.  My bride and I have been working toward our goal of "Getting Over It".  The IT being the Cooper River bridge that stretches from Mount Pleasant, SC to Charleston, SC over, for obvious reasons, the Cooper River.  This was the 35th anniversary of the event, but the first for us.

Source

We have been doing some training, and running some 5K's, but this was my first 10K and I was nervous yet excited.  For an old, one-time fat boy that used to get out of breath running from my La-Z-boy to the dinner table... well this was a major accomplishment to go with the 85 lbs I've shed over the last couple years.

The weekend started with a trip to Conway, SC to drop Natalie off at her uncle's house to spend the night with her cousin.  We conveniently timed the drop off around lunch so we could partake of one of the finer eating establishments in the state - The Rivertown Bistro!

I had the Grilled Chicken Pita with macaroni salad and sweet potato chips.

My lovely bride had the grilled shrimp salad.



So after leaving the Bistro, we headed off to Charleston to check into our hotel in the historic district.  We didn't realize at the time that our hotel would be just a half block from the finish line of the race!  Gotta love those bonuses in life, right?

Once settled into our room we ventured out for some touring and of course PASTA for the pre race eats.  We were told by the hotel staff to give Pane e Vino a chance for some great food - so we did!

Some fresh bread and oil to start...

We split a salad...

She had the spinach ravioli

and I had the Pasta and Pesto!

After enjoying a great meal with an even greater lady, we ventured out to the streets of downtown Charleston.  It was such a beautiful evening and we really wanted to do more, but an early start in the morning sent us back to the room to get some needed sleep.

Race morning!  We were pumped and ready - even after getting up at 4:30am to run.

My time was not record breaking by any means, but it was OUTSTANDING for me.  I finished my first 10K (with a 1 mile 4% grade uphill stretch)  in 1:20:28.  Yes, I plan to run it again next year and shoot for under an hour.  (gotta have goals right?)  Will you join us next year? 

Thanks for stopping by!