Washington Bridge Run

On Saturday, our group run was at the George Washington Bridge which is waaaaay up at the top of Manhattan (think 178th street). I was approaching this run with a bit of trepidation. I knew it was a difficult run and for some reason I felt like I had been slacking all week. I really hadn't, but I guess this past week didn't seem like I had been working at 120% like usual :)

I was so afraid I wasn't going to make it on time. Coach Ramon made it clear that we had to be there by 8:30 sharp. My train didn't even show up until 8:11 and I knew that I had to walk a ways from the station to get there.

Luckily, we didn't actually start until 9.

He divided us into groups based on pace and made us leave 2 minutes between each group. We were to run in a single file line across the bridge because it was supposed to be very confusing and very narrow and filled with a lot of bikers. So he called over the 9 minute milers. Then he called 9-10 minute milers. I joined the group, he sent us off and then I heard him call over the 10 minute milers. What?! No! I run with the 10-minute milers! Oh well. Too late, I was already on the bridge.

Turns out that I was glad that I ran with the 9:30 milers. The workout was just my speed. I think that sometimes I just don't give myself enough credit. But it is hard for me to figure out where I should be running. When I started out a couple years ago, I was running too fast. Now I'm trying to figure it out all over again.

Anyway, running across the bridge was AMAZING.I don't care how many times I see the Manhattan skyline from afar...it still amazes me. Plus, the bridge was nice and breezy, and being from Cincinnati, I think it is just an inate thing to love running across bridges. This one was FLAT too, unlike the Brooklyn Bridge is...so even more enjoyable.

When we got into Jersey we ran into Pallisades Park, which is also beautiful. I am not going to lie...it had some KILLER hills. But it was a fun run. Plus, since it was so hot, Coach Ramon and some of the Brooklyn coaches stationed themselves throughout the park with their cars.They had bottles of water for us, Gatorade to refill our fuel belts and pretzels so that we wouldn't get hyponeutremia. (It was kind of like the old days when I ran with the Roncker group and Coach Joe would drive around in the big red truck).

I found three girls who were running just my speed. Luckily too, they wanted to stop at the rest stop like I did (I think I have the smallest bladder in the world). So we went a little off track from the rest of the group (Ramon said if you had to stop, instead of turning around and running back up to catch up with the other runners to stay on the trail with the river to your right and you would meet up with them. It actually turned out that this was the more scenic route. So we were glad we had to make the pit stop. The only bad thing is that something STUNG me. Right in the ankle. And it REALLY HURT. But too bad. We were only like 3 miles into our 14.4 mile run. I think Kelly (the girl I was running with) was afraid I was going to keel over and die, even though I told her I wasn't allergic.

The rest of the run was actually really nice. The change of scenery made up for the horrid hills. Besides, I have to figure that there is some kind of payoff to doing all of these hills :)

Going back over the bridge the other way we had an even BETTER view of the Manhattan skyline. I love our "field-trip" runs. :)

(Oh yeah, and from now on, I am going to pace with the 9:30 runners on my long runs).