Governor's Bay Bridge 10K

Governor’s Bay Bridge Run: Race Canceled for 4th Time in Six Years.

That was the headline today. Rarely does running make it to the news page. This time it did. A point-to-point 10K race that requires a fleet of buses to conduct the runners to its starting line has been cancelled four times in six years. This is a race in peril. And what a nice race it is.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a four-mile long double structure spanning the Chesapeake near Annapolis. The two parallel roadways were built at different times so they differ slightly from each other.

The bridge is 186 above the water at its highest point so that’s the height runners climb to in the first two miles as they leave sea level on the Eastern Shore. Then it’s two miles downhill back to land on the western side, and two miles of flat running to the Sandy Point State Park where the race ends.

The runners park their cars in the park early in the morning to take buses to the start line across the Chesapeake. After the race it takes awhile to leave because of the crush of traffic. There’s a nice post-race festival in the park, though, with free beer and a nice view of the Bay Bridge. Last year they handed out finishers’ medals.

I ran the race last year. It was fabulous. I did it in 47 minutes flat, which is my 3d best 10K time. I was 59 seconds off my PR from the 2001 Pike's Peek 10K which is basically a downhill run on Rockville Pike. I got to thinking afterwards about what kind of a time I might have had if I hadn’t fooled around so much on the bridge during the race. My time included a stop in a Porto-San on the bridge in the first mile as well as two more quick stops for photo ops at the high point of the span. (A bracing early morning run over Chesapeake Bay in 2006.)

The views are stupendous. I love running over bridges. That’s why I liked running the NYCM so much last year (five bridges). And even though the Annapolis Ten-Miler deserves its reputation of being hot, hilly and humid, I loved running that cruel albeit scenic race last August because of the opportunity it afforded to run over the hulking U.S. Naval Academy Bridge twice.

I think the Bay Bridge 10K would be a good race to try to PR on. You run uphill the first two miles while you’re still fresh. Then you run downhill for two miles recovering. If you can push the pace during the last two miles on the flats you have a shot at a great race.

If I didn’t have to leave my house in Virginia at 5 am in order to be on time for the buses leaving the park for the start line across the Chesapeake, I would run the race again and try for a PR. In any case, it was an incredibly worthwhile Been-there-Done-that race, running high over the Chesapeake in the tangy salt air for thirty minutes before regaining terra firma. I also fondly remember driving out the highway in the early-morning darkness towards Annapolis and falling in with the posse of school buses coming from DC to service the race.

But with four cancellations in six years, ouch! It bodes ill for the future of the race.

This year it was too windy. At 7 am yesterday it was blowing hard in DC, at least. It 2005 there was construction on the bridge which caused the race to cancel months ahead of time. In 2003 the authorities cited security concerns in canceling the race, and in 2002 there was lightning and thunder on race day which caused cancellation.

The Annapolis Striders, which puts on the race, is a very fine running club. They conducted a 5K race in its stead yesterday in the state park. There is a Bay Bridge walk which gets underway after the race which has also been cancelled those four times as well. I hope the Bay Bridge 10K race continues in good health.

Are You Ready?

Are you ready for some running? In a few days I’m going to run the second National Marathon here in DC. Not only is it the second running of the National Marathon, it is the second national marathon as well. The first national marathon collapsed just before its second running in 2003. The race was cancelled a few days beforehand in that post 9-11 scaredy-cat atmosphere due to "security" concerns (security as defined in financial terms, I’ll wager). The company folded its tent and filed for bankruptcy. Most or all runners lost their registration money. Some runners were on planes enroute to the race when the marathon went belly-up. There were howls of outrage over, amongst other things, the fact that the company didn’t even hand out the pre-printed t-shirts before it went out of business.

But runners are a hearty breed and many of the registered runners took to the street on the appointed day and ran the marathon route anyway. The results were actually logged. Hey, it counted.

Last year’s inaugural course went through the District and Prince Georges County, where it picked up some brutal hills. Read Bex’s account of running it. This year the race has returned to entirely within the District. That makes members of the 50-state club happy, who are busy running a marathon in each of the fifty states. Many are purists and insist that each course has to be entirely within the particular locale. Not that runners are obsessed. Now they have a pure District option. (The former race of choice, the MCM, starts and finishes in Virginia. Read Bex’s account of Jeanne running it the first time.)

I don’t feel ready to run it. But that’s what we always say before a marathon. At least there’s no frost or rain or snow in the weekend forecast, unlike a week ago.

LPRM Recap Redux. Two weeks ago Bex and I ran the Lower Potomac River Marathon Two-Person Relay in the Coed Division. Our team was the Tortoise and the Hare. I already told you about my mile splits but I did not tell you where we placed. I said to go read Bex’s account to find out how we did. Well, let me tell you how well my running buddy truly did. (Here's John Piggott airborne as he three-peats at the LPRM in a course record time of 2:33:05. Second place Jonathan Krupa was over seven minutes back.)

We came in first in the Coed Division out of eight teams. We were 5th overall out of 27 teams. Four of the nine men’s teams beat us.

I did leg number one, which is 14.6 miles of flat, scenic vistas with water views. Bex did leg number two, which is 11.6 miles of hills along a non-descript highway.

Our time was 3:34:35. I ran my leg in 1:56:41 and Bex ran her leg in 1:37:54.

(Bex legs it out at Milepost 23. Look at that roadway cant!)

At the time I handed off the sweaty sash (it was plastered around my neck the whole way) I was in second place in the Coed Division, but the leader was five whole minutes ahead of me. Bex ran his counterpart down. (Pretty impressive, huh?)

Bex was much faster than any other female Coed Division runner. Only one second-leg Coed Division runner, a guy, put in a faster time than Bex but we

had enough cushion that he never threatened Bex. Who knows what epic duel might have occurred if he had challenged her at the end?

(Hmmm. Where did Bex park her car?)

She was also faster on her leg, by a lot, than nine of the ten second-leg Women’s Division runners. One woman ran the second leg barely a minute faster than Bex, but she, too, never actually threatened Bex.

Bex ran the second leg faster than five of the nine Men’s Division runners and came within half a minute of the sixth. Six Men’s Division runners were faster than me in the first leg but Bex ran three of those runners’ partners down. She overcame handicaps of three minutes, four minutes and five minutes to pass them. Whew.

(Waiting for Bex at the finish line with my friend from work, G. He was 6th overall in 3:03:54, a PR by 9 minutes!)

In my last post, I revealed how much I wanted a plaque when my sister won one once. Well, now I have a plaque of my very own. Thanks Bex! And good luck in the Half on Saturday. See you at RFK.