Run Out of Downtown

May 23

There is a state law requiring citizens to participate in at least one organized run per year. At least, there ought to be. Downtown San Diego is the starting line for a good one. The Navy’s 22nd Original Bay Bridge Run/Walk kicked into gear on May 18. I was one of 8,000 runners. I ran with two 11-year-olds. It occurs to me as I write this that my running shoes are probably older than these fifth-graders (my daughter and her soccer teammate).
    The four-mile run starts in front of the San Diego Convention Center. Have you ever done an organized run? The gun goes off…and nobody moves. Packed into the street like lemmings, we finally start to shuffle forward. Half a mile down Harbor Drive, we finally can break out into a jog.
    The cool thing about this race is running across the Coronado Bridge. The runners have a lane on the left. A middle and right lane on the bridge allows auto traffic to flow both ways. The finish line is Tidelands Park in Coronado.
    We stopped—as planned—and took photos at the middle of the bridge. It was a great experience. My daughter ran into (not literally) another friend from school. And mid-span, I was passed by a local public relations practitioner, who later used the encounter to pitch me on one of her clients. Tenacious, she is.
     The worst part of the day was getting home. Race organizers promised ferries back to the downtown starting point. By my estimation of the size of the line, nearly half the racers opted for the ferry. We waited in line for more than an hour (a length of time longer than what it takes to run the race).
    The girls and I want to do the run again next year. So I’ve got time to find someone who’d like to volunteer to pick us up by boat and get us off Coronado. A skiff, a dinghy—we’re not picky. But a helicopter ride would be cool…Tell me about your race experiences, or pony up your yacht…

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