I’ll admit, going into this year’s Beat the Bridge race, I was worried.  A groin injury, back issues, too much work, not enough exercise, and a diet in which banana peppers were considered a vegetable, all pointed towards an uphill climb.

This year, Team No Runner Left Behind got some late momentum, and by race day we were up to 20 runners.  Our oldest runner was pushing 40 and our youngest not even 10.  We supported Team Livestrong, and clad ourselves in Lance Yellow.  

With 20 runners, a strict buddy system was implemented.  Our goal was to reach “The Bridge” and wait, crossing in one uniform mass of yellow joy.

We all got off to a good start in a front wave.  The announcer yelled, over a loudspeaker, “Don’t worry folks, we won’t start the 20:00 until the second wave gets going.  We had at least a 2:00 head start, so no one would have to worry.

Team NRLB slowly separated from each other, but we all stayed close to a buddy.  Our pace was good and strong.  Kevin and I reached the halfway point at 8:45.  Surely, we wouldn’t be the fastest guys in the group, so it looked good for everyone.

At the 1.8 mile mark, Kevin and I were in solid shape, under 17:00.  3 minutes to go and smooth sailing.  We reached the Bridge and saw two teammates, and we all stopped.  Slowly a few others assembled, one blew right by in some sort of adrenalin induced trance.  We still had at least a minute, possibly more to get everyone across, and so we looked for our remaining teammates.

Then the Bridge cheated.

The Bridge decided it wanted to go up early.  And suddenly bells, whistles, lights and moving parts were among us.  A sudden thought – maybe our teammates crossed already.  We should get to the other side and check it out.

But sadly, there were no more runners on the other side.  And as the Bridge stretched itself to the sky, announcing its presence with authority to the throngs stranded on its south shore, we realized that Team No Runner Left Behind had indeed, left runners behind. 

Going into 2010, Team NRLB had only left 2 folks back in 5 years.  This year, we left 8.  One one hand – success.  We got 12 people across.  On the other – failure.  8 broken souls.  Heartbreak city.

Regardless, the champagne brunch afterwards erased all tears of shame.  Let’s focus on the fact that NRLB surpassed 20 folks, which makes a 30 person goal in 2011 completely reasonable.  

If we start training now, then it doesn’t matter how much the Bridge tries to cheat, we’ll get there in time.  

See you all next year.