Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I got over it...

...the Cooper River Bridge that is. I ran the annual Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday in Charleston - it's a very popular 6.2 mile race from Mt. Pleasant, over the bridge and into downtown Charleston. There's 40,000 runners...it's crazy!

My best friend and I decided last Fall that we were going to actually run the whole thing this year. We have walked it in the past, but we wanted to finally be runners. After running the bridge about once or twice a week since we set this lofty goal, we were ready Saturday and we did it! We only walked for half of the incline up the bridge {which is about the same speed we could run it} and about a block downtown.

Our time was about 1 hour and 16 minutes -- which to any serious runner probably doesn't sound that great, but we were so proud of ourselves because we aren't runners and we ran the race! :) The winner {always a Kenyan} ran it in 28 minutes...can you even imagine?!?!

So some people dress in costumes for the run, and my best friend and I always dress up for theme parties and races...so of course we dressed up for this one. We decided to be the white swan and the black swan in honor of the movie Black Swan. I was the Black Swan -- I even superglued black feathers and rhinestones on the sides of my sunglasses. :) We got lots of compliments on our costumes while we ran and that was encouraging to keep us motivated to run.

We had on feather boas around our waist during the race,
and you can barely see my feathered cuffs on my wrists.


So..I'm a ballet dancer...trying to be a runner...and because of that, I run on my toes. And yes, it looks silly. But a few of my runner friends have said that it's actually better to run on your toes because it's less stress on your knees and joints. I even got fitted for running shoes that are made for 'toe runners'.

Well, I have high arches from ballet and I run pretty high on my toes, so I guess it's really noticeable... I didn't realize how much until Saturday...during the race like six different people pointed out while running next to me: "Look! That girl runs on her toes!"

Granted I guess that the fact I was dressed as a ballet dancer, tutu and all, probably made it more of a "Wow that girl is dressed like a ballet dancer AND she runs on her toes" for most people...lol...so I'll give them that.

However, there was this one group of girls, probably in their mid-20's, high ponytails, short shorts, etc....running behind us at one point and one of the girls really loudly said {in high pitched valley girl voice}, "Oh my god! Look at that girl's feet...that is so weird..she's running on her toes! Look at that! That is so weird!!" I turned around, running backwards mind you, and pointed to my ears and said right to this girl, "Um...honey, I don't have earphones on, I can hear everything you're saying." She just kind of looked at me stunned, then her and her posse picked up their pace and passed us and kept going. Lol...some people never cease to amaze me.

After the race we headed to Red's Ice House to reward ourselves for being healthy by drinking beer and eating delicious, greasy seafood! Yum!

So how was your weekend?? Do you look 'special' when you run? :)

5 comments:

Claire said...

I have been dying to do this race for years! I go to isle of palms every summer and love walking over this bridge in the mornings! I'm signing up for next year! It was the same weekend as the monument avenue 10k in richmond this year, which is a great race of 42000 people if you ever want a change of scenery!

Miss Chelsea said...

Well clearly you were a big hit! Haha how rude of those girls... who really cares how someone else runs?! Anyways, way to go! That's a huge feat!

Angela Noelle said...

I ran the bridge too! And our times were pretty close :) I totally dig the costume--that was my favorite part. If I run it next year, I need to come up with a fun costume!

Beth said...

love this post. i've always wanted to do the bridge run, but have never been motivated enough to get into a training routine. maybe next year?!

i love that you and your friend dressed up. and i'm pretty sure running on your toes helps get the booty and calves really fit too! :)

this made me LOL..."The winner {always a Kenyan} ran it in 28 minutes."

and i love that you told that snotty biatch off. we can totally be friends in real life. :)

Seashells and Southern Belles said...

Go you!! I can only run a mile (bareeely) That's awesome you ran the whole way!!