Sunrise Kemah Bridge Run and What Not To Do

My friend, Martha posted a picture on Facebook of the Fred Hartman Bridge (remember I did my first half marathon on this bridge). We started talking and then the plan was formed to run the bridge. Eventually, we changed it to Kemah Bridge and at sunrise so it would be safer for our first time running in a larger group. We met at Miramar Park at 6:15 a.m. to get this going. Some of the group would run 9 miles and the other group would run six miles.

We decided to have a nice pasta dinner (and slumber party) at my apartment with some wine and a viewing of Kill Bill, Part 1 the night before the big run. And it was going to be a big, steep run. I had painful memories of my Toughest 10k Kemah run. So, I didn't want to do too much the day before to prepare myself.

I was up early and ready to head to Kemah, but because of some complications in the morning (needed gas for car, getting lost, etc.), we showed up 15 minutes late. It's not my finest hour and I know that I'm not always an "on-time" kind of girl (thanks mother), but I'm usually on time for running events. And that is the absolute worst thing to do when leading a group of runners. Consequently, we missed the sunrise. The only thing that made me feel better is that we wouldn't have seen the sunrise anyways, because of the clouds and rain.

I'm not the only one crazy.

I'm praying to the knee and ground Gods to get me through this.

John ended up leading our group (including the six miles, while I would take the 9 miles) and through a slightly different route to see more of the water front in the beginning. The temperature wasn't too hot, which was nice for a change. We started off faster than I wanted, but I expected that would happen with John and Jim in the lead. I started out at front, but quickly dropped to the back of the pack. John would stop the group so that everyone could catch up and we could continue our run together as a group.

Heading up onto the bridge.

Looking down at Kemah Boardwalk.

I lost momentum on the bridge, but I made up for it on the down part. In fact, my first three miles were under 11 minutes or just at 11 minutes (the bridge part caused this). We ran around the boardwalk and got to a point where we would could split off from the group to run the planned 9 miles. We decided to stay together and then just run the extra three miles on the trail by Miramar Park. Several groups of runners kept asking what group we belonged to for this run and we just responded with friends running. There was one lady who kept running by us and saying what a good job we were doing. She was really positive and I liked it.

 

The other great thing about this run was Shane. Martha somehow convinced him to get up early in the morning to ride a long with us and provide us water. He was awesome and had music.

 

My issues with the toe started to occur when I went back over the bridge the second time. I was physically okay to keeping running (albeit slower), but my surgery foot/toe was hurting. I ended up walking on the bridge for a bit and after I got off the bridge. I finally caught up to the group and we headed back to Miramar Park. At the last stop, John stayed back to run with me and I forced him to walk some of the way to help out my foot.

 



 

In the end, I couldn't continue on with the extra three miles and the whole group decided to just stop at six miles. But now I'm worried about my foot. I mean it gave me issues before, but never like this. I'm hoping that the bridge is the main and only reason for the pain. Otherwise, this training cycle is going to suck. I am working with my doctor to find out a cause and a plan for the foot, because something isn't right and I've known that since May.

We did a total of 6.03 miles in around one hour give or take seven minutes. My Garmin said something more, but can't remember at this time. I don't necessarily believe the mapmyrun (mainly because I didn't have an average pace of 9:13, but here you go.

Afterwards, we went to Seabrook Classic Café for a much needed reward of food. It was really good.

Jim had the Garbage Plate...yeah, this is it.

Our next run is scheduled for Sunday, August 3, at 6:15 a.m. However, this time we are running the Fred Hartman Bridge and I will be early to the run start. We won't miss the sunrise this time, I promise (unless weather prohibits us).

Come out and join us. Bridge runs are great for speed training and making you feel like a bad ass.