Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge 10k AKA The Ben Franklin Bridge Run recap

Sunday for the 4th consecutive year I ran the bridge run. Every year I say I’ll never do this race again because it is cold but I do it anyway. It’s one of those races where I feel like I can really measure my progress from year to year. It’s a race where I can actually see improvement and prove to myself that I am not wasting my time chasing dreams. I’ve always been a dream chaser but I’ve always come up short. I’m not a lucky person. I don’t even know if I believe luck is real but if it is I don’t have it. Things don’t come easy to me and good things don’t happen to me unless I work really hard but regardless of how unrealistic the dreams and goals I have set for myself are I will keep trying. Even if I fail I will keep trying. Eventually hard work pays off. This is kind of what this race symbolizes for me.

Here is actual evidence I’ve improved.
2011 at the bridge run 15th woman.
2012 at the bridge run 13th woman.
2013 at the bridge run 8th woman.
2014 at the bridge run 6th woman.

I jokingly told Phil I’ll win it one year because each year I place better than the year before. I won’t ever win the bridge run. That’s not a realistic goal but I will keep doing this race every year to see how I’m improving. I didn’t run a course PR this year but I was the 6th woman– the first woman not to receive prize money (told you I’m not lucky).

I started off freezing cold. I was that person who didn’t want to race since it was cold and windy but I did it anyway. Phil drove me to the race and we conveniently parked across the street from a house that had a cat wandering in the yard. Basically, this was going to be a good day since I saw a cat. I warmed up and my right heel and left toe were killing me. Incase you missed it here is last week’s race recap that explains what is wrong with my feet.

I need to back track and point out that early last week my toe got infected and I am now on an antibiotic that needs to be taken 3 times a day for 10 days. I’m on day 6 and the toenail is basically gone. The antibiotic makes me sick to my stomach so I waited to take it until after the race. Because of these issues with my feet, I barely ran last week. Clearly, my expectations of this race were high [insert sarcasm]. As I struggled in pain to make my way to the bridge I found two of my college teammates and lined up with them. This helped to take my mind off of my feet. I immediately programmed my mind not to run for time but to run for place. The race stared and I pulled my sleeve over my garmin because I knew the wind was so bad it wouldn’t be worth it to focus on time. I didn’t look at my watch the whole race. I started too far back from the line and spent the first 2 miles passing people that had no business being in front of me. I saw a clock around mile 1 and my time was about 7 minutes–this was bad but the bridge run starts with a gradual uphill and the wind was horrible. I just kept passing people and at the turn around I counted only 6 women ahead of me. I passed one before the 3rd mile and maintained my position as the 6th woman the rest of the race. I thought the wind was going to blow me off the bridge. I also got sand in my eyes running through the streets and I couldn’t move at all near the water front because the wind was stronger than I am. The wind also almost prevented me from entering Campbell’s field to finish. With 400 meters to go I almost feel over from the wind. I finished in 40:36 a whole 56 seconds slower than last year but that’s okay. I barely ran all week, I was limping at the end, the wind was evil, and I placed better this year. I reminded myself I was only running for place due to the weather conditions and the fact that my toe is infected and my heel still has an open cut on it. I also placed 58th overall out of 2862 people which I would say is pretty good. Given better personal circumstances I may have ran faster but this is the hand I was dealt for this race so I did what I could and I’m content with that.

Now my goals are to heal my heel and toe, to finish taking this antibiotic, resume normal training and workouts, and to have a race that isn’t compromised in the near future.