I don’t understand why people are afraid of bridges. It just doesn’t make sense. One drives on a road and doesn’t fall off… isn’t a bridge just a road? One walks on a sidewalk and doesn’t fall off… isn’t a bridge wider than a sidewalk? I just don’t understand the phobia… and yet I am absolutely 100% terrified of bridges. There is something about being on a bridge that scares the ever-loving hell out of me.
Why do I bring this up? Good question, glad you asked. This coming weekend James is participating in the Bridge of the Gods Half-Marathon in Cascade Locks, Oregon. The race starts off in Washington, then you run over this hella big bridge on into Oregon, and continue the race from there. And I’ve been talked into participating in the 10K. “It’ll be a great bench mark for your race coming up in September.” “You’re going to run the course anyway, you might as well join the race and earn some bling.” “It’ll be fun.”
I did it. I signed up. I feel sick. This bridge stands 140 feet above the water and is 0.3 miles long. For me, that is equivalent to 3 to 4 solid minutes of complete hysteria at the beginning of the race. Guaranteed that it will be the fastest 0.3 miles I will ever run in the history of ever! I plan to put my head down and just plow through… it’s a shame the road is actually metal grate that you can see through… down to the water below… 140 feet below. I actually did try running with my eyes closed this morning. That didn’t work too well.
I also told my loving husband that I need to be sure to add new music to my iPod before the race, that was a priority. He informed me, “Well, I have Bridge Over Troubled Water if that helps…” He now sleeps on the couch…
Other than the bridge panic, it’s supposed to be a beautiful course. I’ve created an Instagram account, hoping to take some pictures and have them post directly to it. I’ve also created a Twitter account. I don’t understand Twitter for the life of me or what to do with it, but I noticed on my Garmin watch that I can do Live Tracking and it can link with Twitter, so I thought I’d see how that worked. The links to both are in the side-bar menu.
I also want to wish Dawn good luck with her race tomorrow. No worries! We got this!!
Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have. –Norman Vincent Peale