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Bay Bridge Run is uphill struggle for race’s novices
By JOE SHAFRAN
I see that registration for the Bay Bridge 10K run a week from Sunday, May 7, closed Thursday April 22nd. Hope you made it. And, if you are running it for the first time, let me offer some advice. This is not an easy 6 mile run. First, this is probably the only race in the world where you cannot check out the course on foot beforehand. I ‘m getting the impression that a lot of first-timers are not aware that first two and a half miles of this race is uphill climb.
The other day, I was chatting with David Leiva, one of the business reporters at the Capital, who must be a good runner, having been given a coveted official name, Flood, as a sworn member of the famed 6:06 running club in Annapolis. This group runs, but it’s mostly at sea level, so David, from New Orleans, listened closely when I brought up the incline and he was quick to suggest that he would train the next few days on the Naval Academy bridge that has a similar rise. And then came another warning, last Friday when I was working out with Jimmy Frattino, at the Merritt Athletic Club in Annapolis. Jimmy tells me that he has run just about every one of the Bridge runs and will do this one on the 7th. When I said I was reminding people about the 2 ½ mile climb, he said it was a good reminder but he says the killer in this race isn’t the rise from the start at Stevensville going west. He says it’s the Oceanic Drive overpass of Rte. 50 at about the 5 mile mark just as you make the turn to the finish line. That’s the “wall” for many a runner and the place of a lot of dropouts or where runners become walkers and where they keep one of those “meat wagons”, just in case. And just to add more credence to my suggestion of hill training, there’s Ann Andrews of Annapolis, one of the better runners around here. She’s the girls’ field hockey coach at St. Mary’s. Ann and I wave to each other running in opposite directions in the morning on the Dubois Road hill in Annapolis. Some months ago, Ann asked what my suggestion would be to prepare for a hilly race and I had suggested that her routine should consist of successive runs at a fast clip up the Dubois hill.. When we did the hill the end of last week, she said it was about the most valuable running advice she ever had. You may have seen Ann hobbling around on a leg cast the past couple of months. It wasn’t the hill. She said she stepped in a pothole while running and did herself in. She’s back, minus the cast, and rather than try the Bridge on the 7th, she will do a 5K in the near future and then really turn it on for the Annapolis ten miler.
There was the Boston Marathon last week and I notice in the list of finishers the Naval Academy Marathon Team, with Midshipman Wallace Miller, the Captain, coming in well under three hours. And just over three hours were his coaches, Nathan Nudelman and Dr. Tom Hatter. The winner was Robert Cheryuiot from Kenya who did it in 2:07:. Aside from the 19 Mids, there were a couple dozen runners from Annapolis. One Annapolitan came in 136th in 2:39. There was the London marathon last Sunday won by Felix Limo of Kenya in 2:06. Deena Kastor became the first American female in 2:19, in spite of her tripping and crashing into a table reaching for water. Bruised, she got up and finished.
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Last column I talked about the picture of Nike founder, Bill Bowerman, being in the instep of the running shoe. Adidas now has a shoe out with graffiti on the outside that sells for over $200. Andre King of the “Gotta Run” store in Annapolis says it’s more of a high fashion shoe that you might not see in his shop, which he says specializes in function rather than fashion.
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I often wonder if we couldn’t set up a land race here in Annapolis for the sailors on those Volvo round-the-world boats. They have to be athletic for that six- month grind cooped up on a boat and on land only time enough to do their laundry. I’ll bet they would welcome a good long run around here.
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The details will be forthcoming, but I hear that the 6:06 running club in Annapolis is not going to let the morning of June 6th go by without doing something. It’s a Tuesday and you can run with them at 6:06:06 on 06/06/06.
Running Calendar:
Sunday: Glen Burnie. 9 a.m. 5K run and 1-mile walk SDA Church, 508 Aquahart Rd..Start at Church, then the B&A Trail. Call Jerry Scherer at 443-867-6658.
Sunday: Frederick Marathon. There’s also now a half-marathon, a four-person relay, a twilight 5K and a progressive marathon for kids of all ages. Look for information on-line or call 877-876-8882.
May 13: Annapolis. 8:30 a.m. Hillsmere Elementary. Vincent’s 5K run and walk. In memory of 5-year-old Vince DiBerardinis. Call 410-280-6226.
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