Double Bridge- Patrick and Teresa Style!!!

One of the great things about our racing community is that certain races are going to come up year after year, Double Bridge is one of those races.  With these repeat races there is often a benefit to signing up early, a money saving benefit.  So Patrick and I signed up shortly after the race last year.  The only problem with this is we had no idea we would be selected for a triathlon team that would be volunteering at the event handing out fabulous visors.  We had to figure a few things out to make it all work- we wanted to run the race but knew we could not run the race.  A plan started to brew- we would run the race before the race!!! 

Start Line- 4AM

This seemed like a good idea when the plan was to start running at 5am.  But since we had a few rough running events lately I freaked out and we decided to run at 4am!  This means a 3am wake up for me, because I still HAD to shower.  
Also, something to remember at 4am (which since we had not been running in the mornings I had forgotten), it is colder than the day's high! We arrived at the start line at 4am, water, nutrition, and lights all a go!!!  The security officer gave a slightly questionable glance but since we weren't vandalizing the place or breaking any laws he didn't intervene.  He more than likely thought, "Oh great crazy runners already!"

At the CHOPPA!!!

We headed out on our little adventure, we would run the course from the Pensacola side to the Pensacola beach side (oh yeah this meant leaving my Jeep overnight at the beach).  It was a strange feeling coming out of the start line, there was no one elbowing for room, no one pushing, no need to zig or zag.  Then it dawned on us, THIS IS WHAT THE FRONT OF THE PACK FEELS LIKE!!!!  We were the leaders in our own little race!!! 
We started a little slow and in the third mile I needed a quick potty break- the good thing about running a race course before the race, these things are already set up for you!  We hit the War Memorial and got a quick photo with the Chopper- the Pea Ridge folks know why. (It is weird having so many race photos, since we stopped to take them this time.)
Once on the 3 mile bridge it was step by step easy sailing.  We listened to the fish jump at the bugs brought by the lights off the fishing pier and after we passed that Patrick listened to me sing the theme song to Might Mouse.   

Moving on 3 Mile

The moon was high and bright in the sky and lit up the small water breaks.  I was basking in the moonlight when I heard a voice behind me, "I am coming up on you, don't want to scare you." I nearly jumped off the bridge in that moment.  Who the heck is out here running at 0430?  Besides us!!!  I laughed as his efforts to not scared me nearly made me pee myself (thank goodness for the earlier potty break).  He passed with little more than a conversation about the great morning and to have a good run.  We got a few honks from people headed out to the race- we waved.  We got a few looks from people trying to beat the start of the race to work- we waved.  And we got buzzed by an 18 wheeler- he did try to give us room and we certainly gave him as much as we could. 

Overpass

After reaching the end of the first bridge we headed onto some not so great road.  They are grating the road for new pavement so it is not fun, but the sidewalk soon appeared.  I thought this would be a good thing, until we hit the sprinklers.  I am not sure what they were watering as it seemed only the side walk and us were getting wet.  
We passed another officer at this point, waiting in her car for the real racers.  She waved and appeared shocked.  Not sure if it was because we were running out there so early or if it was because we looked like blinking Christmas trees heading down the road.  We hit the 5K area and started to see the 15K buses go by to the start line, Patrick waved, I gave my hang ten signal and on we went.
At this point we hit the overpass.  Now if you have never run this course "Double" Bridge is a misnomer, because really there are three bridges when you include the over pass.  And you should include the over pass because it is a bridge, it is steep, and it is at an awkward angle, making it difficult.  The buses were coming by more frequently at this point- we still waved.  

Top of the beach bridge

Here we were at the foot of the last bridge, up and over that's all we had left.  Again I sang, not sure what this time, but I sang.  We waved at a few runners on the other side and a few more buses.  We pushed up the bridge at a decent pace, catching the sky as it began to warn of the rising sun. Down the bridge felt good, this is not always the case for me and downhills, but today it was all good.  We met the cone layers at the bottom of the bridge as they headed out. 

Rock N Fly Proud!

Wishing them all a good morning we pushed out the last half mile on a marked course.  
We turned into the parking area and went ahead on down the finish shoot.  I think the guys finishing putting up the netting got nervous with our arrival so we assured them it was not race time yet.  We lengthened our strides and pressed on through the finish line.  Patrick really pushed me, I could not fall back.  It would have been a photo finish.  We were greeted by a few friends who were working the race.  One mentioned that he was not sure if it was us coming through or UFOs landing!!!!  
After our race it was time for part two of our morning- Handing out visors to the 15K finishers.  This was an amazing experience, as volunteering on these events often is.  We got to see the speedy guys and gals cross the line then we took our spots at the Gavel Nation (Joe Zarzaur) tent to hand out visors with our Tri Team. We got to see lots of smiling faces- happy to have done their 15K!!!  

 While a year ago and even a few months ago this was not the race we set out to have I think in the end it was even better than any race we could have run today.  We got to run the race course that we love and we got to give back to the running community which has and continues to give back so much to us!!!! 

Congrats to all the finishers out there!!!  

They were nice enough to give us medals (we were official racers).