Across the Bay Bridge 10K

Last Sunday, Dr. Marsha Seidelman, Dr. Mimi Nguyen (an orthodontist), my husband David, and I ran the Across the Bay Bridge 10K event.  As you know, the Bay Bridge connects Annapolis to the Maryland Eastern Shore area, crossing the Chesapeake Bay.  The Bay Bridge walk has been an annual event for decades (with occasional years where it was cancelled) but, this race (a walk AND run) was an inaugural event!  I was nervous at first because one of my patients did the walk years ago and told me how cold and windy it was.  I knew the bridge could move in the wind which would not be fun as there is no going backwards once you start the walk or run!

The day turned out to be cool but not so windy.  We all had a wonderful run.  I was relaxed enough to stop on and off to take photos of different parts of the run and have attached some of them.  It was wonderful to be able to look up as I ran to see the architecture of this bridge, among the best in the world!  We hope many of you can join us next year for this fun run.  Bravo to my friend Marsha who managed to run the whole way even with one leg still under physical therapy.  She looked great afterward, as you can see in the photos, so no damage done!

After the run, we went for some cappuccino and hot chocolate.  Mimi and I stopped by Sweet Sue’s bakery on North Beach and brought home 2 mini Eclairs, a piece of ham and cheese quiche, a brownie and a piece of cheese cake.  Don’t worry, we did not eat them all at the same time.  You can, however, see the pleasure on Dr. Nguyen’s face as she held the plate full of treats.  Life is short; you exercise so you can enjoy some of the treats in life! It’s a reasonable philosophy!  

I don’t know how much you know about the history of the Bay Bridge but here are some fascinating facts about the bridge:

• The Bay Bridge was officially named the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge, after Governor William Preston Lane, Jr., who led the construction of the bridge in 1949-1952
• The bridge is 4.3 miles long and has a capacity for 1,500 vehicles per lane, per hour.  Annual traffic is estimated to be more than 27 million vehicles.
• The original two lane bridge cost $45 million in construction at the time, being the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure.  A second construction project to help traffic flow was completed in 1973 at a cost of $148 million.
• The Bay Bridge is considered one of the “scariest” bridges in the world, known for its height, narrowness of the spans with no hard shoulders, low guardrails, and a high wind frequency.

Now you know many of the important facts about the Bay Bridge!