SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday, September 27, 2021

Weekend Highlights: Cooper River Bridge Run and the Columbia Zoo

 Hello hello and happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend! Ours was crazy busy but so much fun. 

On Saturday morning I was running in the Cooper River Bridge Run 10k in Charleston, SC. I originally signed up for this race in December 2019... before COVID spread around the world and changed all of our lives. The race got delayed, delayed again, then delayed again to this September. They had put a lot of measures into place to keep the runners safe from COVID, and I was READY! Running an official race is something I will never take for granted again. I love the atmosphere of the music, the crowds of people cheering you on, the energy of all the other runners... the excitement is contagious to say the least.

We had plans to head to Charleston early Friday morning but we were having our lawn aerated & overseeded and there was a delay. We technically didn't have to be here for it but wanted to water the new seed after they put it down. So we didn't end up getting to Charleston until mid afternoon. We headed straight to the Charleston Convention Center for the race Expo.

The tagline for the race is "Get over it", meaning get over the bridge. It sounds simple enough right? Run over a bridge, you're done. But as you can see from the course map, there's actually quite a bit more to it than that.

We start in Mt. Pleasant, SC, run over the bridge, and then run right through downtown Charleston. If you haven't been to Charleston before, it is the quintessential picturesque Southern town. Think large, beautiful, historic mansions on the water. Think horse drawn carriages, delicious Southern food, a relaxed atmosphere. It's one of the most popular destinations in the South for a reason.


So Friday night we stayed in Mt. Pleasant 1-2 miles from the starting spot of the race. On Saturday morning we all woke up, had breakfast together, and then Devin and the kids dropped me off as close as they could get me to the starting line.

Here I was at the starting line getting ready for my corral to go. 
Then it was my corral's turn to move up to the starting line. They counted down, and we were off!
This was around the mile 2 marker. We were just about to start heading up the bridge. As you can see it was a beautiful day. Hardly a cloud in the sky, the temperature was in the 60's and very little humidity. It couldn't have been better.
This was my view from the bridge! See the city of Charleston down there?
My view looking ahead. It was beautiful and made for such a fun place to run.

This was coming up King Street near the end of the race. I love the palm tree lined streets, the church steeple, and the beautiful blue sky.

Right after I finished:
Then my own personal fan section met up with me afterwards
We had plans to stick around Charleston for awhile and possibly even take the kids on a carriage ride, but the city was super crowded meaning there were long lines for everything. We figured we would just start the 3 hour trek back to Charlotte, and make a pitstop in Columbia at the halfway point.

We have been talking about taking the kids to the zoo since the spring, but knew we wanted to wait for the temperatures to cool down a bit. Well, since the weather was perfect on Saturday and we were driving through Columbia on the way home anyway, we decided it was the perfect time to go.
Liam's favorite were the gorillas, spider monkeys, orangutans.. basically any form of monkey.






By the end of the afternoon, Liam was falling asleep in the stroller. When we finally put him in his car seat, he was asleep before we even backed out of our parking spot.

Sunday was a much more chill/relaxed day. We woke up, had a relaxing morning around the house, went to Mass, then packed a picnic & headed to the airport overlook. The kids love to watch the planes take off and land, so we figured it would be a good spot for lunch.
Look how excited Liam is too see the planes!

The weather was beautiful, so we were soaking it up while watching the planes.

Then we came home, did some stuff around the house to prep for the week, and I blogged from the backyard. Not a bad way to end the weekend!
Now we are looking forward to a nice (hopefully) easy week ahead. I hope you all have a nice week too!

2 comments :

  1. Congrats on your run! When we visited Charleston we stayed in Mount Pleasant and I just LOVED that side of the bridge. Glad you had good weather for it. Sounds like a fun time at the zoo too.

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  2. Congrats on your run! I love Charleston. If I was going to run a 10k anywhere, it would be Charleston ;) you are lucky to live so close. The zoo looks like so much fun too!

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