George Washington Bridge

Another week, another "longest run of my life"...whew!

Well, today we ran 15.76 miles. It was notable in several ways. For one, today was the most beautiful day we've had so far. I was 55 degrees, sunny, the most beautiful of New York days. We met in Central Park for yet another hilly run, but some of my friends had a better idea. They suggested that we take a break from the hills of the park (Central park is VERY hilly!) and run up the west side to the George Washington Bridge. For those who don't know, the GW Bridge connects Northern New Jersey with upper Manhattan. The bridge is a giant suspension behemoth that is about a mile across and is an important fixture on the Manhattan skyline. My friends Kiernan and Erica went with me, as wel as two new guys we had never run with, Steve and Gustavo.

I don't know if I've mentioned, but in New York, 20 streets equal one mile. So we began our run at 72nd. Street and ran all the way to 181st street to the bridge. That is about 109 blocks, or about 5.5 miles. Tack on getting lost near the entrance to the bridge, 2 miles round trip to the path along the river, and another 2 miles round trip across the bridge and you've got one LONG run!!

We started out feeling really good, enjoying the day. I swear the first 4 miles went by so quickly, I don't even remember them. Part of the reason for this is that I don't think we really coach Ramon's advice to "behave" for the first 1/3 of the run. By behave, he means that we should make sure to hold back speed-wise to make sure we have enough energy left later in the run, when we really need it!

So after a nice brisk, comfortablt 6 miles, things got a little hairy as we approached the bridge. For one, we climbed about 100 yards vertically just to get on the bridge. We felt really good while we were running on the bridge (probably helped by the beautiful view of Manhattan) and for the first half of the run back down to 72nd St. Then....we hit a wall.

We each hit a wall in the last few miles of the race. This was not aided by the fact that we pretty much ran out of water right when we needed it most. Times like these, the value of teamwork makes itself incredibly apparent. I don't think I could have finished today without my teammates and I feel the same! How lucky I am to have such great people to keep me going when the going gets tough!

Oh, and that includes great people like you. Each week, I know that you will be reading my blog. And I know that you don't want to read that I quit after 10 miles. Neither do my honored teammates. These heroes didn't have the option to quit halfway through their fight against cancer, so neither do I. If I am lucky enough to be healthy enough to run, I will NOT chicken out when the running gets tough. Thank you for reading this far. I'm getting pretty tired, so I will sign off, but please check back tomorow, I have more fun stories to share!

Carissa