The Twin Bridges 8K Road is part of the North Carolina Seafood Festival and I've ran the race every year except one since 2000. The race starts in front of the Beaufort Drawbridge on the Morehead-Beaufort Causeway. It follows Highway 70 West from the Beaufort Drawbridge, over the Beaufort High-rise Bridge into Morehead City, through Morehead City to the Atlantic Beach High-rise Bridge, ending in front of the Bella Pizza & Subs on the Atlantic Beach Causeway.
I've always enjoyed this race for many reasons. It's a point to point course and it just feels like a fast race as a result. I also love the high rise bridges. I train on the Atlantic Beach high-rise bridge a lot. It's 400m from the bottom of the AB Bridge on the Morehead City side to the top where it flattens out and it's 1.5 miles over and back on the bridge. My mentor and local running legend, Sonny Hyman, and his wife started the race a long time ago and it is now run by the Morehead City Parks and Recreation. I haven't broke 29 mins at Twin Bridges but I've ran a lot of sub 30s I have a lot of top 5 finishes to my credit.
I felt good going into the race this year. I felt like I had a real shot at breaking 29 minutes for the first time there. My running was going well since returning from a week training in the mountains while on vacation. I did 4X800 with a 400 jog between at 2:48 and 4X400 with a 400 jog between on the track Tuesday as a final speed tuneup before the race. I felt great on the 800s, like I was on cruise control and could have gone faster and done more. This was going to by my first race in my G Series Pro Elite Tribe uniform as a member of their running team. I was excited and wanted to do well for them.
I arrived at the staring line around 7am, an hr before the start. I ate a powerbar, had 16oz of water, and then just sat and relaxed while waiting for the buses to bring the other runners. My friend Gene, Iceman, Chiellini also parked at the start so him and I talked and exchanged stories while we began to warmup and stretch about 30 min before the start. It was windier than I would have liked but the temperature was great at 59 degrees. It was going to be a brutal head wind the whole way to the finish. After doing an easy mile to warmup I made my way to the starting line.
I lined up on the staring line with my friends Jimmy Waters, Sonny Hyman, Mike and Becky Fitzula, David Garrison, and about 300 other runners. The gun was off and the race started. I went out fast but steady as I watched Jimmy take an early lead. The wind was tough and we hadn't even got to the top of the first bridge yet. I found my friend Leon and he said his goal was sub 29 as well so we tried to run together. I pulled away from Leon a little bit as we made our way up the first high rise bridge and the first mile marker. We went through the first mile in 5:56, 6 seconds slower than my goal pace.
The wind really started to pick up once we hit the top of the Morehead City high rise bridge. Even with the first 1/4 of a mile downhill coming off the bridge the wind was still slowing us down. I kept trying to run hard against it but was having no luck. I ran mile two in 6:18. I was in 7th place overall after Leon had left me going down the bridge. I kept running hard and passed a high school runner that went out too fast shortly after mile two. I set my sights on my friend Jordan. He's really fast but also goes out too fast. He would go out at 5 min pace if he could in the Beach Runs earlier this summer in the 10K and I would always catch and pass him between miles two and three and go on to win the 10Ks by 1-4 minutes.
Mile 3 was another fight against the wind and I ran it in 6:16 but I had made up ground on Jordan. At about 3.5 miles we made a left turn and started up the Atlantic Beach Bridge. Finally the wind was at our side and not directly in our faces. Jordan was just ahead of me when I made the push up the Atlantic Beach Bridge. I passed Jordan pretty easily and pulled away from him. Mile 4 was almost at the top of the bridge and I ran it in 6:15. I saw my Dad at the bottom of the bridge on the other side and he cheered me on as he took pictures of me and my friends.
I've always enjoyed this race for many reasons. It's a point to point course and it just feels like a fast race as a result. I also love the high rise bridges. I train on the Atlantic Beach high-rise bridge a lot. It's 400m from the bottom of the AB Bridge on the Morehead City side to the top where it flattens out and it's 1.5 miles over and back on the bridge. My mentor and local running legend, Sonny Hyman, and his wife started the race a long time ago and it is now run by the Morehead City Parks and Recreation. I haven't broke 29 mins at Twin Bridges but I've ran a lot of sub 30s I have a lot of top 5 finishes to my credit.
I felt good going into the race this year. I felt like I had a real shot at breaking 29 minutes for the first time there. My running was going well since returning from a week training in the mountains while on vacation. I did 4X800 with a 400 jog between at 2:48 and 4X400 with a 400 jog between on the track Tuesday as a final speed tuneup before the race. I felt great on the 800s, like I was on cruise control and could have gone faster and done more. This was going to by my first race in my G Series Pro Elite Tribe uniform as a member of their running team. I was excited and wanted to do well for them.
I arrived at the staring line around 7am, an hr before the start. I ate a powerbar, had 16oz of water, and then just sat and relaxed while waiting for the buses to bring the other runners. My friend Gene, Iceman, Chiellini also parked at the start so him and I talked and exchanged stories while we began to warmup and stretch about 30 min before the start. It was windier than I would have liked but the temperature was great at 59 degrees. It was going to be a brutal head wind the whole way to the finish. After doing an easy mile to warmup I made my way to the starting line.
I lined up on the staring line with my friends Jimmy Waters, Sonny Hyman, Mike and Becky Fitzula, David Garrison, and about 300 other runners. The gun was off and the race started. I went out fast but steady as I watched Jimmy take an early lead. The wind was tough and we hadn't even got to the top of the first bridge yet. I found my friend Leon and he said his goal was sub 29 as well so we tried to run together. I pulled away from Leon a little bit as we made our way up the first high rise bridge and the first mile marker. We went through the first mile in 5:56, 6 seconds slower than my goal pace.
The wind really started to pick up once we hit the top of the Morehead City high rise bridge. Even with the first 1/4 of a mile downhill coming off the bridge the wind was still slowing us down. I kept trying to run hard against it but was having no luck. I ran mile two in 6:18. I was in 7th place overall after Leon had left me going down the bridge. I kept running hard and passed a high school runner that went out too fast shortly after mile two. I set my sights on my friend Jordan. He's really fast but also goes out too fast. He would go out at 5 min pace if he could in the Beach Runs earlier this summer in the 10K and I would always catch and pass him between miles two and three and go on to win the 10Ks by 1-4 minutes.
Mile 3 was another fight against the wind and I ran it in 6:16 but I had made up ground on Jordan. At about 3.5 miles we made a left turn and started up the Atlantic Beach Bridge. Finally the wind was at our side and not directly in our faces. Jordan was just ahead of me when I made the push up the Atlantic Beach Bridge. I passed Jordan pretty easily and pulled away from him. Mile 4 was almost at the top of the bridge and I ran it in 6:15. I saw my Dad at the bottom of the bridge on the other side and he cheered me on as he took pictures of me and my friends.
Coming off the AB Bridge I picked up the pace going down the bridge and now made a faster push on the straight and flat road to the finish line. I was running hard when I heard someone catching me from behind. I tried picking it up more as Jordan caught and passed me with about 400m to go in the race. I couldn't believe it. He's never passed me back in a race where I passed him. I ran the last mile in 5:40 as a result of having the wind finally at my side and not directly in my face slowing me down. I ended up finishing in 6th place overall out of 307 runners and placed 2nd in my age group with a time of 30:24.
Jimmy Waters won the race for the 2nd time in 28:48. Mike Fitzula came in 2nd place overall in 28:53. Jimmy had to out kick Mike for the win. Becky Fitzula won the women's race for the 2nd Consecutive year in 32:41.
I was disappointed in my time and overall finishing place but that wind was tough. In all the years I've ran this race I've never had to fight wind that strong the whole way to the finish before. It slowed everyone down.
It was a tough day but it was good to see a lot of friends and to have my girlfriend Jamie and her dog, Justus, there to cheer me on. Justus was a big hit with the kids. Kids kept coming up and wanting to play with him and pet him. This was the second race he's gone to and cheered for me. The first was the Crystal Coast Half Marathon earlier this year in Morehead City.
Jimmy Waters won the race for the 2nd time in 28:48. Mike Fitzula came in 2nd place overall in 28:53. Jimmy had to out kick Mike for the win. Becky Fitzula won the women's race for the 2nd Consecutive year in 32:41.
I was disappointed in my time and overall finishing place but that wind was tough. In all the years I've ran this race I've never had to fight wind that strong the whole way to the finish before. It slowed everyone down.
It was a tough day but it was good to see a lot of friends and to have my girlfriend Jamie and her dog, Justus, there to cheer me on. Justus was a big hit with the kids. Kids kept coming up and wanting to play with him and pet him. This was the second race he's gone to and cheered for me. The first was the Crystal Coast Half Marathon earlier this year in Morehead City.
Jamie, Me, Justus post race
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