Now on to business. I am very lucky to not only live in such a beautiful place but to live in a place that really supports running and runners. I can say this now, but I didn't always feel this way about Charleston. I moved here right after college, I was your typical post college graduate with a liberal arts degree. I had some vague notion of what I wanted to do with my life but besides my own internal motivation to figure it out, there was nothing else in front of me. The first few years in Charleston were tough. This town is beautiful, but when you're a young, poor college graduate that doesn't know anyone, it's hard to find your niche. People are so dang nice down here, it's almost too good to be true. Besides the bless-your-heart, god awful drivers these people will smile at you and welcome you with open arms and a glass of pure sugar sweet tea. I was just in a weird place in my life and I wasn't sure I wanted to like Charleston.
I wasn't an avid runner when I moved down here. I had done a few 5ks in college and I enjoyed running for exercise. I had a running buddy for a little while when I moved here but once I started a real job, my life got in the way and running wasn't important enough to me at that time. When I first heard about the bridge run, I thought it sounded like tons of fun and one day I knew I was going to train for it.
Flash forward almost 7 years later and I'm at the cusp of running my first bridge run! Even though it's not my first 10k and I've had so many running milestones in the past year alone, this will still be an emotional race for me. I'm on track with a plan for life, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in, and running has truly made me such a happier person! If you're a new runner, join a running club and find friends to run with, it keeps me motivated every day to keep running when I have people to enjoy it with! When I reach the finish line tomorrow, I can look back on this past 7 years and know that Charleston, SC isn't the place I first thought it was. Even though it will be a long time from now (at least 3 years), I will honestly be sad to leave this place. I am so pumped for my first official bridge run!
I am hoping to get an official race report up tomorrow after the race!
Side note: My college of pharmacy is an awesome supporter of runners. The expo here is just ridiculous. It's an awesome expo (Chobani was my favorite!!!) but the location isn't very friendly to out-of-towners. It gets real hairy with parking and driving through that area of town. So my college picked up our race packets but also gave everyone a really awesome tech running t-shirt that has an Rx symbol on it, so cute! See pictures below. They also hooked us up with a ton of swag, like unlimited free gatorade, cliff bars, the works! For all your pharmacy nerds out there (hey, I'm one of them too), this event is organized by Dr. Dipiro. Yes, the one who wrote that big book you carry around and who happens to be a really good runner! That's my little drop of knowledge for you all today. :-)
.JPG)
Yay! Pharmacy Running Tech T-shirt!
