This morning I ran the most fun race I've done in a long time - the Across the Bay 10K.



The race course starts on Maryland's Western Shore and then you run 4.35 miles across the Bay Bridge and finish on the Eastern Shore. The race was so cool because normally the only way to get across the Bay Bridge is to drive. Usually in some pretty crappy traffic (especially in the summer on the way to the beach). And driving across the bridge is a little bit terrifying.



But running across the bridge was one of the coolest things ever.

The weather was perfect and we got to watch the sunrise as we were starting the race. I started in the second wave, which took off at 7:10 a.m. -- which meant my morning started super early. Because the race allows so many people (I think 25,000), runners need to take shuttles to the start that are spaced based on when your wave starts. Waves started every 10 minutes between 7 a.m. and 9:20 a.m.

I parked at the Naval Academy football stadium in Annapolis and had to be on my shuttle by 6:20 a.m. The shuttle system worked well, and I got to the start line with plenty of time to hit the bathroom, snap some pictures and get ready to go.

Once the race started, you pretty much head straight out to the bridge. It was kind of surreal running on a major highway that is normally closed to pedestrians.



Being that this was a bridge race, we pretty much started climbing right away too. When you're driving the bridge, you know you're going up a little bit, but when you're running, you realize just how much climbing you do. The first 2+ miles were basically all uphill. But it was a gentle climb, and I actually didn't mind it too much.



The views from the bridge as we climbed higher and higher were truly majestic. You don't get to enjoy them when you're driving across the bay because you're too busy worried about traffic, but running across, you can soak in how pretty the view really is.



As we crested the bridge and started our descent down the other side, my left hip and knee started acting up. Running downhill for long periods of time can actually really mess with my form, and I could tell that things were a little out of whack. So I walked for a little bit to loosen things up.

It's funny that I didn't feel the need to walk once on the climb up the hill, but it was the downhill that I needed to stop -- the part of the race where most people were happy to coast.



When you step off the bridge on the Eastern Shore, you still have about 1.5 miles to go, which I actually didn't love. I almost wish the course could have been flipped and you ran the 1.5 miles to get to the bridge and then cross the finish line sooner after getting off the bridge. The bridge is the most exciting part of the race, and once I finished crossing it, I was like OK, that was fun, now I want to be done.

But I slogged on and finished the last bit of the race, crossing the finish line in 58:03. Not too shabby for a race the day after Maryland homecoming (aka a long day of tailgating and not eating nearly enough food to fuel for a race...oops).

After crossing the finish line, I grabbed my shirt and medal. I am pretty in love with both. Seriously great race swag.



Then I went to find the shuttles to take me back to the Western Shore. I didn't stick around for any of the post-race party because I had to get back home for my cousin's baby shower so I was super pumped to see there was no line and I was able to get on a shuttle right away. About 25-30 minutes later, we were back at Navy's stadium, and I was ready to head home.

I have to really hand it to the race directors for putting on an amazing race. With all the logistics for a race with that many people, where no one can drive to the start or finish, to run a stretch of road that is normally closed to pedestrians, I was shocked everything ran so, so smoothly.

This was truly an awesome race, and I'm so glad I did it. If you're looking for a fun race to do something you don't normally get to do, I can't recommend this one enough.

Yesterday afternoon, Megan asked me if I wanted to catch a yoga class with her. I haven't set a foot in a yoga studio in years. I mean years and years.



I don't know why. I used to teach yoga. I know how awesome it can be both mentally and physically, but I guess I was just picking other workouts instead.

So last night, I knew my hour on the mat was probably going to be pretty humbling. A lot of my flexibility was gone. My tight runner legs were really evident from pretty much minute one. And all those planks and down dogs made my shoulders tremble.

But man it was a good class.

I left feeling so zen and calm. It was the probably the first time in months that I didn't feel little pinpricks of stress attacking my brain. I told Megan I had some serious "yoga brain" going on. And that calm and centered feeling lasted for hours.

Megan and I are probably going to make Monday night yoga our new thing now that neither of us are training for any long distance events. It will be nice way to start the week -- something a little less rigorous than my normal crazy routine.

 

 

So this afternoon, I was out for a nice leisurely run. It was one of those runs where I wasn't really focused on the running and was more pounding the pavement to do some problem solving. Nothing shakes new ideas loose like a few easy miles.


Plus I was trying out this new pair of Brooks that I got sent to test. Pretty huh?

So I was off in la-la-land in my head, on total auto-pilot on one of my regular 3.5 mile loops, when all of a sudden, I run into a police barricade, blocking off the way I needed to go.

In my head, I thought, well that's kind of annoying, but whatever, diverting around closed roads is nothing new when you run in DC. (Hello, motorcades). So I turn down a side street figuring I'll cut up the next block.

Turns out that's blocked off too, and at this corner there were way more cops (and maybe some military folks, they definitely looked to be in military uniforms and not police uniforms, but I didn't have my contacts in, so couldn't totally be sure).

I stopped to ask one of the cops if I could cut up to the main street. He looked at me like I had five heads, but nicely said no and told me to keep going down the block.

I did eventually, but not before I took a good long, half-blind look up the street (really wishing I had my contacts in at this point) and saw a couple of police vehicles. At this point, I was thinking, oh man there's totally a gas leak. That's not good, better get a move on.

Well ya'll turns out, it wasn't a gas leak. When I got home and did some Googling, I found out my neighborhood beer store had been robbed earlier this morning and the cops killed one of the robbers during a shoot-out. So, yea...that's why the roads were all closed. The crazy thing is, I had seen this headline earlier in the morning, but didn't pay attention to where it had happened, so I was basically clueless it wasn't far from my house.

Also, let's just say I'm really, really glad I didn't do my run this morning like I normally do because uh, was definitely thinking about running at like 9 a.m., which would have put me right near that beer store when this was all going down.

So yep, that's my Monday, and that's crazy, and I'm going to stop writing now and come back another day this week with something more cheerful I hope.