Picture this: you’re walking across the majestic east-bound lanes of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the sun is shining in your face and there is a gentle breeze blowing against your back to help you and 25,000 of your closest friends complete this amazing 10K with ease. It was awesome! Absolutely amazing and I have never seen such impeccable organization at an event. From the 800 volunteers who were there to direct traffic, encourage you to keep moving and to never give up, to those who were holding up the water barrels on the very top of the Bay Bridge when the last wave was coming through and drinking water was coming down to the last drop. The school buses and drivers who volunteered their time (all 500+ of them) so that we were quickly moved from designated parking lots to the starting gate and back to said parking lots after the race… they were awesome. To the high school kids who greeted us at the finish line to make sure that everyone received bottles of water and snack packs full of pretzels and fruit cups for those of us who needed a little carb rush at the end. And these are just the volunteers you could see! We can’t forget the hidden heroes who helped to mark the path, assemble miles upon miles of event gates, and so much more.
Thank you to the Across the Bay 10K Team for working so diligently to bring this event to our beautiful state. It was a rare opportunity and one that I will always be thankful for. I don’t want to say that this was necessarily a “bucket list” item that has been marked off my life list because I would certainly jump at the chance to do it again. For anyone who has considered this event but can’t seem to make the leap… please, please, please make this leap. You won’t regret it and I can promise that you will walk away from it feeling proud of yourself. Your muscles and limbs will more than likely ache as you walk away, but you will most certainly feel accomplished.
