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Conquer the Bridge – Conquer your Fears
| September 4, 2012 |
Posted by Carrie
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Running
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I shared a bit of my fear in cyberspace on Sunday about yesterday morning’s race. Conquer the Bridge – with my personal subtitle of Conquer your Fears.
I’m really really really afraid of heights. I hate open stairs, I get paralyzed when I’m near ledges. It’s even worse when I see my kids near ledges. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon and was able to handle that and I also climbed the Arc de Triomphe last summer and survived.
So, I know I can do it. I signed up to run a 5 mile race over this:
Late Sunday night I found out that my running friend was sick, so I was going at this bridge alone. Eeek! I was nervous.
The set up at the race was great, except for the port-o-potty situation. There were 2500 runners expected and there were a total of 16 potties! Not enough. I warmed up, then got in line. I was still in line when they started getting ready for the race. I was in the stall during the National Anthem (my apologies for not pausing 
). Luckily it was a crowded race and the potties were close, I made it to the start after the race started, but not before the crowd cleared. And, there were tons of people in line for the potties behind me.
The first 3/4 of a mile of the race was a flat street leading up to the bridge. Then we headed on to the onramp.
Here we go! At least this direction is free (well, the whole bridge is free, there used to be a toll coming into San Pedro).
The first up and over was amazing. Once I got started, I realized that the height wasn’t going to be a big deal. As I got near the top, I pulled over to take a picture. My stomach did a little flip as I got close to the edge, but as you can see, we were pretty well protected.
Going over the first time, I managed to only stop once (and it was for a quick picture). It was mentally challenging to keep running up the whole thing. I walked at the top for a few seconds and drank some of my Nuun that I brought. (tip: read race organizer’s page – they made sure to announce that there were no water stops on the bridge per Caltrans regulations – but I overheard complaints, so I know that everyone didn’t know it).
The first downhill didn’t seem to bad. I tried to relax and not abuse my legs. When I got to the bottom, I realized that it was about 1/2 mile to the turnaround and it looked like a slope uphill (to me it looked like another huge hill). For some reason, that slope up mentally wiped me out. I focused and made it to the turnaround without stopping to walk.
It was a pretty hot day and the sun on the asphalt was rather brutal. Or maybe I was just exhausted by the 3 mile mark and everything seemed extra hard.
I did a lot of walking up and over the bridge for the 2nd time. Partly because I could already feel my legs screaming at me (despite my trying to go easy on the downhill), partly because I got really hot and was feeling a bit queasy and mostly because I got to see a girl barfing in the gutter and I didn’t want to be her.
But, I took some pictures coming back over since I was walking anyway.
The bridge and the clouds were rather pretty.
When I got to the top, I made a goal of running the whole way to the finish. I almost made it except for the random moment right at the very end where I walked for a few seconds (I think my brain turned off).
When I got home and looked at my splits, I was shocked. I didn’t realize that I managed to get in that last mile at a 9:59! I didn’t know I had it in me.
I would definitely do this race again. When do you get the chance to run on over a bridge that doesn’t usually allow pedestrian access?
And, if you haven’t heard of this bridge, it was infamously in the news recently as it was the unfortunate location of this.
I also put these 5.3 miles towards Laura’s Labor Day Virtual Race. Go check out her blog for lots of fun recaps. Thank you Laura for hosting!
Wow, Carrie! Way to conquer your fears, even after your buddy bailed! That looks like such an amazing place to run- I’ve never done a bridge run, not even on a training run. Love your recap!!
Thanks Laura. It was super scary going at it alone, but once I was there, it was fine.
Way to go Carrie! Especially conquering your fear:) My mom is afraid of heights (among other things) and she lets it limit her way too much. I love to hear stories of people facing their fears and challenging themselves:)
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Thanks. I loved telling my kids that I knew I’d be afraid, but I knew I’d be safe, so it was something I wanted to prove to myself that I could do.
Great job! I am also deathly afraid of heights! So I know how big of a deal this is. High five!
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High Five! Thanks!
Way to go!!!
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Thank you!
Way to conquer your fears! This reminds me of how much I worried about the bridge in the Zooma Annapolis race, and then the hill right after it was much worse! My favorite bridge to run over is Arlington Memorial Bridge. It’s not very long or steep but running right towards the Lincoln Memorial or Arlington National Cemetary is gorgeous. Mt least favoriate bridge is the 14th Street Bridge at the end of the Army Ten Miler.
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I was kind of laughing at myself when I was looking at that second hill – it was probably nothing, but it mentally killed me. Good luck with the ATM. A bridge with a view would be so awesome.
Great job! Oh man, only 16 portapotties!!? That is crazy! You really rocked it though. I bet that asphalt was hot! Great job! And right in time for Laura’s race too!
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Thank you Kyria.
That’s so awesome Carrie!! I have a bit of a fear of heights so can only imagine what it was like! Great job!
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Thanks Christine!
Way to go to conquer your fears! Looks like a good run too. can’t say I’m mad for heights either – I think I’d be OK sticking to the middle of the bridge – it’s the edges I can’t handle!
That’s how I got myself to the starting line – convinced myself that sticking to the middle lanes would be perfect.
Looks like a beautiful run. Way to go conquering that bridge!
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