238 and Counting Down!

I found this great counter to use. Now that the bridge walk is over, I must press on to loose weight. By the time summer is here I want to have made some significant gains.

Pictures from the 2005 Run

As I stated earlier it was a rainy day to begin but it did clear up. Here are a few of the photos I took. These I took at the very start as the runners were beginning and the walkers (me) were waiting to begin the walk. The last shots are of the new bridge in the background.

I got over it for the last time!

What can I say...victory is mine! The morning of the race..yesterday I call my mother around 4:15 am and she tells me again that she has 2nd thoughts. I too am worried that she will not be able to make it. Plus it is pouring down rain. I tell her that we will discuss it when I get there. Iget to her house around 4:45 am. Our timeline is to be on the road by 5am. Buses are already transporting people at 5am. to make a long story short, we both decide it would be better if she passes. I am sad in a way because I will have to go it alone. I am glad because if mom could not have made it over, the race would be over for me too. I may not finish if if we have to leave and get her home. So I go it alone.

I leave her house for the 10 minute drive to downtown Charleston. All the shuttles leave from the visitor center. I turn left at the corner of king and calhoun. There are a stream of cars all heading the same way. A good many of them turn into the parking garage to the left. I thought it was a public garage. As it turned out , it was the parking garage for the Francis Marion Hotel.

I park and get out. I thought the Visitor Center was about 3 blocks away so I did not pull out my rain poncho. It was sprinkling. As it turned out, it was about 8 blocks away. So, that sprinkle turned out to be a lot of water all told. I got on a shuttle at 5:30 and was in Mt. Pleasant by 5:45. The walkers were dropped about a mile from our start line. We had a long way to go. The walk did not start until 8:30am and it was no just 5:45am.

The rain had begun to pour. There is a Hess station right were the shuttle stopped for walkers and when I crossed the street, I entered the mass of walkers there seeking shelter from the rain. There must have been 500 people there already. Around 6:15am I went inside and got coffee and a slice of lemon cake. It would be a long wait. I went back out side. More and more people came. Soon the entire gas station was filled up with walkers. There was no way a car could get in their for gas. I pulled out my poncho and put it on for warmth. The wind began to blow and I could tell the temp beganto drop and still it rained. Hard.

After a while I joined the long line of women waiting to use the one stall in the Hess Station. The owner was there making a killing that morning. He could have really made a killing if he had poncho's to sell. He did make a small killing on baseball hats and visors. I had to buy a visor as I needed a bill to keep the rain out of my face. I went back outside to wait.

Finally around 7am, walkers began to migrate to the start for walkers. I decide to go to. It was still pouring rain. We all waited in the cold pouring tain until 8:30 am for the walk to begin.

The run began at 8am. They started 2 miles back from the walk start. It was exciting to see them run past us. The Kenyans were in the lead and won. This year the Keyan women were beat by the women from Russia. It was a first. The runners ran and there were all sorts of people in halloween costumes. I guess they wanted to do anything to stand out in the crowd. funny hats to full costumes. There must have been 20k runners alone. At 8:30 the runners were still coming like a sea of fish. It became a little chaotic then because the walkers began to walk. So the runners who were not in the front of the pack had to wade thru all the walkers to find a way to get through.

I was in the front of the pack of walkers. I made good time. I finished the race in 2 hours 1 minutes and 3 seconds. The first span was the steepest and the hardest to get over. My shins were really feeling it about 1/2 way up. That bride was also swaying in the wind. People were literally reeling from side to side as the bridge swayed. That was amazing. I did manage to take a few pictures which I will post as soon as I can get them downloaded from my camera.

All in all it was a great experience. When it was time to go home I had a dilema. I had packed lightly just wearing a fanny pack. Camera, keys, drivers liscense and nothing else. I had pulled into a pay lot with no money to get out. I called my father and had him bring me some money to get out of the lot.

By the time I got home, I was crippled. My shins were aching , I was limping and my toes were hurting. Next time, I will have to train better than I did. All yesterday, my shins were very sore. They are better today, but still sore. At least I did it! I walked the Silas Pearman bridge for the first and last time!

Twas the Night Before....

Well, it is the night before and all is well. Do I feel ready? No. Did I work out enough? No. But I guess I will be just doing it on sheer will tomorrow. My mother is going and I wonder if she will be able to complete it. We shall see. I went over and cheered her on tonight. I helped her get her outfit together. Now I am off to take a bath and get my clothes ready. I am to pick her up at 5am. I plan to call her at 4:15am to be sure she is up.

Wish me luck! I know I will do fine. I just know that I will be held back by my mom, but it is okay. We will get over this bridge together!

2 Week Countdown

Well it is just 2 weeks away! I have been working out every other day. Now I need to do it eveyday. Evey single day...walking till race day. I am not so sure about mom going. She has not been feeling well. We will see.

I also need to get more sleep. I tend to me an insomniac. More sleep is more energy all the way around. Today all I did was work in the garden. Clearing away all the winter leaves.

In My Dust!

Well, I decided to go through my walk packet today. There are some really good coupons in there. the t-shirt is very nice. The colors are vibrant. I would be walking it alone so I asked my mother to go with me on a whim. It may be a bad idea as she may not be able to make it and if so, then we will be absolutely last. Back in 1994, she and I did the James Island connector walk and I ended up leaving her in my dust. She was the absolutely last walker to cross the finish line. I did not want to be last so I walked at my pace. She got slighly miffed because I left her. I might have to leave her again. I do not want to be last. Is that bad. To leave your 64 yeard old mother in the dust? She cannot keep up. It is a fact but I do not think I should walk her pace just to stay with her. The dilema. I am making her practice walking so that she can build up some stamina over the next few weeks. It is only just a few weeks away.

I really do love the water. When I went to pick up my walk packet and register, the office had moved to the 2nd floor of Fountain Walker Center. It was a brisk wind up there but it felt good. Right off the ocean and next to the water. I could work in that environment next to the water. That woudl be a dream!

Forward and Backwards

Today I went backwards instead of forward. I did not excersize today and I ate 2 chocolate chip cookies and I had a small bowl of icecream after dinner. Lunch and dinner was very healthy...salad for lunch and salmon and steamed green beans for dinner. Let's face it! Salad and green beans will conteract ill effects of ice cream and 2 cookies!

The bridge today steamed forward well on its' way to completion. The last floor panel was placed today. That was all over the news. Check out the official Bridge Project website for all the details.

Sea Turtle

I did 30 minutes of Tae-bo. Wow! My legs have not done that much kicking in a while. I felt like I was as slow as a sea turtle. I made it through the class but felt that i was as slow as a sea turtle. Well. That will improve the more I do it.

In terms of the new Cooper River Bridge, it will also help protect the sea turtles by having dim lighting.

Planners dim lighting on Cooper River bridge

Structure's low glow to guard sea turtles

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON - The $632 million Ravenel Bridge linking Charleston and Mount Pleasant over the Cooper River will be lit at night, but the lights will be dimmer than first planned for sea turtle protection.

Initially, planners of the most expensive bridge in state history planned to lightthe cable-stayed bridge with 117,000 watts of light. Now that figure has been reduced to 37,000 watts.

The original proposal was too much light, said Paula Sisson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"That number shot up like a giant red flag with us," she said. "A bridge that big and bright would have threatened many species, including turtles and migratory birds."

The state Department of Transportation has agreed to turn off the decorative lighting earlier during the loggerhead sea turtle nesting season.

From May to November, the lights will be turned off at 10 p.m. They will remain on until midnight the rest of the year.

"I told them I wanted the lights turned out, and they said, 'Sure,'" Sisson said. "I was shocked and thrilled that they were taking responsibility for the natural resources."

"We wanted a responsible, aesthetic lighting scheme that would show the bridge off because of the type of structure it is," said Bobby Clair, the state Transportation Department engineer overseeing the project. "I don't think you'll find many cable-stayed bridges in the world that are not flashy and lit up. But ours will be fairly subdued. It is appropriate for the community."

There will be no lights on the bridge's overhead highway signs, which will visible in vehicle headlights. The decorative lights might remain on later during special events such as the Spoleto Festival USA and the Fourth of July, Clair said.

But even the dimmer lights could mean more light pollution and affect stargazing, said Terry Richardson, who teaches physics and astronomy at the College of Charleston.

The city lights wash out the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia on some spring evenings, and Richardson worries more constellations will be lost with the light from the bridge.

Dimming the lights will help protect sea turtles hatchlings who sometimes move toward inland lights, mistaking them for the white line of surf.

"As more and more developments occur, you get this glow around cities," said Sally Murphy, a biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. "We didn't want the bridge to have a glow that would add to the turtle disorientation problem."

If all goes according to plan, the bridge will open next May.

Obstacles..just a few

Well I really have done no training for the race on yesterday or today. I got sidetracked. I had too much work to do and to much to do at home. I did go to the registration site and found out where I needed to go to register. I will do that on tomorrow. I will go downtown and register in person. I hear that because this is the last year on the current bridge only 40, 000 people will be allowed to register and so far about 16,000 have registered. If any of you are interesed in running or walking here is tbe website to register on line or in person. Other infomative things can be found on the website as well. Bridge run registration.

The picture above was taken on high battery. I love the battery and being near the water. This is not on run route. I also have done WalkAmerica for the March of Dimes and the battery is on the route. That is a 5 mile walk also held in April.

Tomorrow is a new day. Training will begin anew!

Why this year?

Well this is finally the year. I have thought about doing this walk/run for the past 6 years. You know how procrastination works. I just never got around to doing it. I have 2 main motivatons this year. One it will be the kick start to my weight loss plan this year and two, it will be the last time it will ever be held on what is currently the Cooper River Bridge. So I suspect that a lot of people who have never done it before will be doing it just to say they did it on the old bridge before it will be town down. Charleston is in the process of getting a brand new bridge built. (More on that a little later)

This year will be the 28th year it will be run. It is a 10k run and a 7k walk. It will be held on April 2nd. In years pastI have watched the run on tv as it is televised each year. I watched it twice last year and it was a sea of people. I have watched it for the past 5 years. Prior to that I would actually go to the Marketplace in down town charleston and watch the runners come in. The Kenyans were always the winners. It was exciting to see the first winners come in. And clapping for them. Let's not forget the clapping.

Well this year, I too must do the run on the old bridge before it is torn down. I have less than a month to get ready so each day I plan to work out to get ready other wise I will not make it. This will be my first big walk/run. I'll be running with the big DAWGS!

Bridges at Sunset

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