Over the Bridge and Thru the Tunnels
A preview of what your Trigon Bay Bridge Marathon experience will be like!
Instead of singing "over the river and thru the woods to grandmothers house we go," on June 10, 2002 we were singing "over the bridge and thru the tunnels to the Oceanfront we go." Why were we singing that previously unrecorded version of the Thanksgiving classic? Because due to the support provided by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge / Tunnel Commission, we had the opportunity to run the first 14 miles of the Trigon Bay Bridge Marathon.
Starting 4 miles south of the toll plaza on the north side of the bridge, we proceeded (with a police escort behind us) down the breakdown lane, our ultimate destination being the toll plaza on the southern side of the bridge.
Wanting to match our experience with what we believe our marathon runners will experience, we started our run at 7:00 am, marathon start time. The sun was out, the wind was moderate and the traffic was light. Our first emotion was "Wow, we can't believe we're really running across the bridge and thru the tunnels." Controlling our emotions we slowly settled into a 7:45 per mile pace and began to soak up our surroundings. The view of Virginia Beach to our left was comforting. Seeing land made us realize that the journey had a finite end. We realized that the boats trolling the water beside us made for positive distraction. But most of all we realized the uniqueness of this run. This was not your normal everyday step-out-of-your- house-and-do-your-old-familiar-close-your-eyes-and-go-run run. This was something special.
As we continued through the first few miles we realized that the first tunnel up ahead was going to serve as a contrast to what we were currently experiencing on the bridge. As we descended down into the tunnel, the moderate grade was well received as it served to fire different muscle groups from what we had been using on the flat surface of the bridge. The air quality was fine and the short respite from the moderate but refreshing head wind and the sun was comforting. The ascent was equally moderate and breaking out in to the sunshine and ocean views served to reinvigorate us.
As we continued along the bridge toward the next tunnel we chatted the next 4 miles away. Two training partners with nothing on their hands but time and miles to kill can cover a lot of topics. Before we knew it were approaching the second tunnel and the experience in the second tunnel matched that of the first.
Emerging from the second tunnel we could plainly see the shore line ahead. It allowed us to "keep our eye on the prize." We steadily clicked off the remaining miles, each step drawing us closer to the approaching shoreline. As we reached the south toll plaza we stopped and looked back and gazed out at where we had come from. As great of a feeling as it was to look out from the start of our run and see where it was we were going, it was even a better feeling to look back and see where we had just come from.
The bridge and tunnels were accommodating partners during our run. They gave us good road surface, great air quality, overwhelming views and a great sense of accomplishment. We hope that you can experience what we did when you run the bridge and tunnels during the Trigon Bay Bridge Marathon on October 20, 2002. For more details, go to: www.baybridgemarathon.com.
Note: Dave is Race Director and Josh is in charge of course logistics for this new event.
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