The AIR/Florida Striders contingents.	There were three Savannah River “Bridge Runs,” a 5K (one time over the bridge), 10K (two times up and over the bridge), and for runners who wanted the ultimate punishment, the Double Pump (for a total of three times up and over the bridge). We arrived early Friday afternoon and picked up our packets at the expo. Even though it was fairly small, Gary and I walked out with purchases of running shorts, shoes, and of course, gel for the race the next day. We didn't go to the spaghetti dinner that night but we heard it was a sold-out crowd. Next thing we did was figure out how we were going to get to the start of the race. Since we were starting and ending at different places we had to figure out whether to ride the ferry, or trolley cars, or drive ourselves to the start. I wanted to have our car at the end with my gym bag and of course the camera for post-race pictures.

We decided to ride the trolley from the Civic Center. The trolley schedule was from 6:00-7:45 a.m. (the race started at 8:15). Well, afraid of the unknown and wanting to make sure it was hassle-free, I convinced Gary to wake up at 5:10 and get there around 6:15. He wasn't very happy with me when we were the first ones there! The volunteers hadn't even arrived yet. Needless to say we had plenty of time, and coincidentally we got on the trolley at the same time as a Florida Striders group and AIR members Keith and Gayla Poythress. The weather at race time was a cool 50 degrees with clear skies. There were about 2,000 runners in the 5K, which started about a half mile from the bridge. I saw Gary and Keith at the start, and that was the last I saw of them. They took off and there was no way of catching them. Gary and Rosa Haslip with Gayla and Keith Poythress Savannah River Bridge - just as bad as the Hart :-( The first time up the bridge I was thinking, “Hey, this bridge isn't as bad as the Hart Bridge in the River Run,” which comes at the 7-mile mark. Halfway up the bridge I was thinking, “When is this bridge going to be over?!” Once we made it up the bridge there was roughly 1 1/2 miles to go and the majority was down the bridge; piece of cake, right? WRONG! There were a couple more small hills and an incline to the finish line -- they didn't tell us about that! We had about 15 minutes’ rest before the 10K started. About 1,300 people ran the 10K. I'm not sure if the rest was good or bad; the legs were a little stiff starting the 10K. Once again, Gary and Keith took off at the starting line, but this time I kept Gary in sight. We ran through the historic part of Savannah for the first mile. I had finally caught up to Gary about the 1-mile marker, and then, you guessed it, up the bridge again! Gary would lose me up the bridge! This time up the bridge, I was thinking, what in the **** possessed us to sign up for the Double Pump? Something should have warned us when 3,500 runners were competing in the 5K and 10K but only 300 of those signed up for the Double Pump! The sights on the bridge were pretty cool, though. As I was running down, I could see the leaders going down the ramp and circling back around the other ramp and coming back up! The third time up the bridge was painful, but mentally it wasn't so bad. This time my thought was, "This is it -- make it up the bridge and you're home free." Except I forgot about the hills toward the finish line again, but thanks to spectators cheering you on and the camaraderie of fellow runners along with you to the end, we made it across the finish line. I couldn't believe we had run over the bridge three times! And to cap it all off, we took home some awards. Keith took third place in his age group with a total time of 1:05.36, Gary took third place in his age group with a time of 1:07.34, and I won my age group with a time of 1:08.25. Gayla's knee gave out on her during both races, but as Bill Pennington wrote in our December newsletter -- being an AIR runner, she didn't give up, and still finished the double pump with a 1:34.17. Post-race celebrations had lots of refreshments, Brunswick stew, and beer. Later that night, we joined up with the Florida Striders group and had a great time rehashing the race, getting to know them better, and making great memories. We missed Bill Pennington, who signed up but was unable to race due to injury. We had a lot of fun! Winning awards makes it more fun