Beat The Bridge

Beat The Bridge is an annual event in Seattle to benefit juvenile diabetes research. The goal? Beat the bridge. It's an 8k run, but the challenge is that you must cross the bridge by a set time or get stuck behind it as it is raised.

A couple of people from the office decided to take up the challenge. In the slow heat (my heat), we had 20 minutes to cover the first 2 miles needed to beat the bridge. As the non-runner that I am, I figured 5 miles is rough, but I should be able to knockout two 10 minute miles to save face. Little did I know that raising the bridge was but one of the tricks this event had up its sleeve.

At the starting line, the gun went off at 8:40AM. However, because there were so many people in my heat, it took 2 minutes to cross the starting line and begin running. As I crossed, the emcee on the loud speaker announced, "18 minutes to go!". Great! Now I need to do two 9 minute miles, right? Wrong. I know this because after crossing the 2 mile marker I saw the bridge gates about a quarter of a mile ahead; half of that distance I covered before my allotted time had ran out. The lights flashed, the the gates dropped, the bridge raised. I lost to the bridge.

Ironically, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Stuck standing around with the rest of the losers, I got a chance to catch my breath for the last 3 miles. These miles were decidedly slower.

The fifth mile was definitely the hardest. Partially because of the fact that it was last, but more so because it was deceitful. The course kind of ran out of places to send us. So one thing the organizers did to give runners 8 kilometers of terrain is to send us down and back a street. At the beginning of the street there is a balloon in the shape of a 4. When you get back, you see the normal mile marker. You just ran 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile thinking you were on the last mile when you weren't. The actual 5th mile consists of several short straights that turn towards the University of Washington's Husky Stadium. With each upcoming turn you think to yourself, "The end is just around the corner. Keep going. You can do it!". Only to realize that you have yet another few hundred yards to go. But hey, maybe this turn will be the last?

When it was all said and done I'm glad I did it. It was for a good cause and 5 miles is my personal best. Plus, it gives me confidence to do more races!

Beat The Bridge: http://www.beatthebridge.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

Images: http://picasaweb.google.com/MrSharps/20080518BeatTheBridge