Rachel and I flew to Charleston for the Cooper River Bridge Run the first weekend in April. We stayed with our good friends Lindsey and Chris (Shaggy) Hamil in Summerville, just outside of Charleston. Mark Clark came down and joined us for the race and the weekend.
Rachel and I flew in late Thursday night. We actually were delayed flying out of Philadelphia due to thunderstorms in the southeast and didn't arrive in Charleston until 2 AM (thanks Shaggy and Lindsey for picking us up so late). Friday morning, Shaggy and I took Libby, his Labrador Retriever, for a walk around the neighborhood. Libby is a fully trained hunting dog. The highlight of the walk was when Shaggy ordered her to chase a duck that had just come out of the pond. He called her off just before she jumped into the pond to go after the duck, which had quickly retreated into the water. 
Early April is a great time to be in Charleston. The flowers were in full bloom, and the highs were in the mid 70's. Charleston is one of Rachel's and my favorite places to visit, but it gets extremely hot beginning in early June (sometimes earlier). 
After eating lunch at Sticky Fingers, Shaggy took me and Clark to the Ice House for his weekly Friday afternoon dart game. Rachel and Lindsey went for pedicures and then joined us later (great shot of Rachel and Clark). 
Lindsey and her friend Mike, who is also a regular at the weekly dart game.
Shaggy, with The IceHouse in the background. According to Mike and Shaggy, this is "the last true bar in Charleston". I must admit that it was an interesting mix of old and young, blue collar and white collar and tatooed and untatooed.
Rachel, Lindsey and a couple of the girls who are regulars at the dart game. Lindsey works with the girl on the left (if I were more timely with my blogs, I would have remembered her name). 
Shaggy and Lindsey dropped Rachel, Clark and I off in Mount Pleasant early Saturday morning for the Cooper River Bridge Run. It is a very popular 10K that starts in Mount Pleasant (2 miles), goes over the Cooper River Bridge (2 miles) and ends in historic Charleston (2 miles). This year, 33,000 people completed the race. It was crowded. This is a picture of me, Rach, and Clark about 40 minutes after the race (actually about 40 minutes after Clark finished, 35 minutes after Rachel finished, and 33 minutes after I finished). More on the details of the race in "Reflections".
After the race, we went back to Shaggy's and Lindsey's, cleaned up, and then headed into Charleston for the afternoon and evening. Our reward for running 6.2 miles that morning was afternoon desert at Kaminsky's. Friends, if you ever visit Charleston... please remember one thing - Go to Kaminsky's. It is a little desert restaurant located on Market Street, near the Hilton. No menu is necessary, as the homemade deserts are housed in a display case as you enter. Stop in for a desert and coffee sometime when you are in Charleston. You can call and thank me then, or after you get home. 
After desert, the girls went shopping on King Street, while Shaggy, Clark and I headed to the Blind Tiger. On our way, we passed by Broad Street and "The Four Corners of Law", which is one of my favorite intersections in Charleston (Rachel and I actually had some of our wedding pictures taken here). On one corner sits the old Charleston City Hall; on another corner sits the Charleston County Courthouse; another corner has the Federal Court House; and the final corner houses St. Michael's Church and the ultimate law - God's law. 
Charleston is a city that boasts some wonderful sights. It is also a city that is extremely proud of its long history. If you ever visit, I also advise that you take a history tour. The history still ranks second behind Kaminsky's. 
These are pictures of some of the church steeples in Charleston. None of the steeples have church bells, as they were melted down for cannon balls during the Civil War (or "War of Northern Aggression" as it is known in Charleston). In the 1950's the United States Congress attempted to appropriate funds for new bells for all the church steeples. However, the city refused the money in order to honor its fallen sons. 
The Four Corners of Law at dusk
The Blind Tiger is a really cool outdoor bar in Charleston. You actually walk through a traditional bar and into the back, which has a large outdoor courtyard. 
Shaggy and Clark at the Blind Tiger.
Me and Rachel in the swing at the Blind Tiger.
The one proud purchase from the girl's King Street shopping spree was an "Oragami". No, I am not talking about a folded paper animal...these are a single clothing accessory that can be folded into 12 different outfits. I must admit that I have been pretty impressed (Rachel is actually wearing the Oragami in the title shot of my last blog - The Easter Photo). We thought about sending one to Michelle Obama, because it would be perfect for a woman on the go, who needs lots of different outfits to impress the media. She could run into the bathroom with her oragami and come out with an entirely new outfit. Amazing!!!
For supper, we went for seafood at AW Shucks. After dinner, we went to Tommy Condon's Irish Pub, another one of my favorite Charleston hang-outs. Unfortunately, it was already packed by the time we arrived, so we were unable to get seats inside to listen to the Irish band. The race effects finally caught up with us, and we headed back to Shaggy's and Lindsey's about 10 PM. Sunday, we had a low-key day. After Bojangles biscuits, Mark headed back to Knoxville. Chris, Lindsey, Rachel and I went to the Summerville Art Festival and walked around for a couple of hours. That evening, we ordered pizza and watched a movie. We hope to make it back down to visit Chris and Lindsey again in September.
REFLECTIONS - The Fall
Why would Steve have bandages on his hands, you might ask. During his 6.2 mile struggle, he ate pavement. I don't often refer to myself in third person, but I am still trying to get over the resulting mental trauma.
I will be remembered as the Curt Schilling of the 2009 Cooper River Bridge Run. Like a true champion, I overcame my injury to finish the race, and like Curt Schilling, I did it - bloody sock and all. Unlike Curt Schilling, the remainder of my stats (like race time) were not at all impressive.
I wish I could tell you a cool story about how it happened, like how I was running at the front of the pack and got tangled up with the lead pack of runners. Or how, exhausted, I tripped at mile 6 trying to finish the race at under a 5 minute mile pace. Unfortunately, all of that is untrue. The fact is, I tripped over my own two feet at 0.5 miles. I WASN'T EVEN TIRED YET!!! Luckily, the Love of my Life immediately created a human barricade to prevent me from being trampled by other runners. To her I owe my life.
2 comments:
Esteban- Solid work. Very inspirational stuff, although you shouldn't compare yourself to C.Shilling he is way more obnoxious than you.
Next time smear the blood on your face, arms, and shirt. Let everyone know you are like Braveheart or at least the Ultimate Warrior.
Now that was a great weekend. Thanks for documenting it.
Bill, I agree that Steve could have gotten more mileage from his wound had he taken the Braveheart / war paint route. Of course, he would frightened everyone as well.
If you want proof of the damage done, click on the post race pic of Steve with Rachel and I.
Post a Comment