Cooper River Bridge Run

Cooper River Bridge Run
Tim Long

In the four and a half years I've been in Charlotte, I had yet to participate in the bridge run. It seemed that everyone I knew went down to Charleston, SC to take part in this VERY large event. I'm not much for the mega-races where, if you start anywhere but the front at the start, it can take [many] minutes to actually begin the race.

This year, in typical Tim fashion, I decided the night before to run it. Fortunately, a friend had rented a nice place in Charleston, and for a reasonable fee I was able to stay there Friday and Saturday nights.

I arrived early Friday evening and met up with the others staying in our place, so we could go to the expo and I could register. As I mentioned, this is not the race where you plan to run fast, or even reach the starting line fast. So, it was one of the few times I was never nervous before an event.

After a short night's sleep, we headed to the shuttles that take you to the start (it's a point to point race, so the start is six miles from the finish). The line for the shuttles was unbelievably long. I was certain we wouldn't make it in time. Finally, the mile long line found its way to the shuttles. My friend and I are quick enough (not fast, but quick) to justify starting near the front, so we ran the mile to the start banner, and popped through an opening in the barricade when the race started.

The first mile was slow for me, bounding in and around groups of people, dodging kids, and zig-zagging so much that I must have added 400 meters to that first mile. Finally, I had passed enough people to allow myself to get into a fast flow, and ran the second mile in 6:15. I wasn't paying too much attention to my time, since I knew it was blown by that first mile, but I was just curious to gage my comfort and effort at certain speeds. The bridge was supposed to be very difficult by all the accounts of people who had run it in the two previous years. I found the gradual incline fairly easy compared to all the mountainous trail running I had been doing, so I was able to pass a lot of runners. Once we crested the middle of the bridge and it leveled, I took off and flew for the last three miles, which are level to slightly downhill for the most part.

After crossing the finish line and grabbing some water, I met up with friends, and saw David (the publisher of CHF mag). David told me his running time, which in itself isn't record breaking, but he had ridden his bike from Charlotte to Charleston the day before; 220 miles and 15 hours. Suddenly, I felt lazy and went for a run to add on some miles and try to comprehend riding that far and then running a race the next morning.