This week I am in Chattanooga, Tennessee, taking a much needed vacation. I am here to spend some time hanging out with my coach, Robbie Bruce of C26 Triathlon, and several friends.

My wife and I spent most of the day, completing the long drive from Pittsburgh.  We arrived in town early evening, and even though I had a bike workout scheduled by coach, I decided I would run instead.  This was mostly because my wife also wanted to run, and we don’t get to run together very often.

We have rented an Air BnB apartment close to downtown, so we chose to run in the city.  It was a warm and humid evening, but we had a great run together.  After my wife finished her run, I decided to continue on for about another twenty minutes.  It was easy for me to decide where to run.  I wanted to run over the Walnut Street Bridge.

The Walnut Street Bridge is a pedestrian only bridge over the Tennessee River, and is an integral part of the Ironman races held in this city. In those races, you swim under this bridge and later in the day, you run over the bridge… twice.

Even though the bridge is mostly uphill in the direction you run on the Ironman course, I love running on this bridge.  On race day, there are typically large crowds to cheer you on, and the wooden surface makes a nice change from the constant asphalt and concrete present on the rest of the course.  The bridge is especially enjoyable on the second loop of the run course.  This is because, when you get to the bridge for the second time, you have less than one mile to to the finish line.

Tonight I ran the last half mile of the run course.  It was not quite the same without the crowds, and the famous red carpet was missing, but it was fun nonetheless.  I was flying down that hill off the bridge.  My mind was filled with memories of my two previous races here, and I was excited by the fact, that I should race here twice in 2021.  I can’t wait….