The 2nd annual Across the Bay 10K happened on November 8th, 2015. I missed it last year but heard what a great race it is - already one of the most popular 10K races and the 6th largest in the USA - and wasn't about to miss it again this year.
The [Chesapeake] Bay Bridge, for those of you who are not familiar, connects Maryland's "Western Shore" to its Eastern Shore and is our gateway to the beaches along the Atlantic Coast, Ocean City and Assateague Island. The bridge first opened to traffic in 1952 "as both longest continuous over-water steel structure, and the third longest bridge in the world" (learn more at wikipedia.org).
The Bay Bridge is about 4.35 miles long, a 10K race equals 6.2 miles, and the east bound span reaches more than 180 feet at its tallest point. Can you imagine the views?
At this point, I would have loved to delight you with some awesome snapshots of the bridge, the race, the views, the cruise ship that was about to pass under the bridge, the many - and much appreciated volunteers - the picture perfect blue sky and the sun rising on the horizon .. But, I was just too busy racing to be able to stop and snap pictures! I had a goal to crush and crush it I did.
←−−− My official race pic and a few shots from the finish line will have to do instead.
I crossed the finish line after 55 minutes and 1 (yes, 1!) second, set a new PR and made it into the top 9% of all female runners (and walkers), there were more than 13,000 women and more than 22,000 participants overall.
Not too shabby for someone who had just dusted of her running shoes after a long - very long - hiatus at the beginning of the year. And the best part was, I got to race with my big brother by my side.
The 2nd Annual 10K Across The Bay was extremely well organized, everything went smoothly (except for the expo on Saturday perhaps, that seemed a bit chaotic to me), the weather was gorgeous, the wind came from the right direction and the after party was fantastic. My only regret is that I missed it last year and, consequently, also missed out on earning part 1 of a race medal puzzle.
The 3rd Annual 10K Across The Bay is scheduled for November 6th, 2016. You can sign up here if you would like to join the quest to beat the bridge. It's worth the training (and getting up in the middle of the night on race day), I promise you.
I beat the bridge (and 17,852 other runners)!
Comments(7)