I am not exactly sure who Fred Hartman is but there is a bridge named after him that has always bothered me. Not only is it the longest suspension bridge in Texas but it is also one of the tallest because it goes over the ship channel of port Houston, one of the largest ports in the United States.

Let me digress. If there has ever been two constants in my life it is that exercise has always helped me feel good about me and I am afraid of heights. Seriously when I was a teenager if I was ever feeling bad I would just go run and in the same respect if I was taking a glass elevator I would turn and face the door so I didn’t have to look down. Some of my family members used to call me a spider when I climbed because I always had to have my hand on something. I don’t know heights have just kind of always unnerved me.

Its funny that as a teenager that I would volunteer to be a paratrooper in the army. I thought that it would help me break my fear of heights but it honestly didn’t. In fact, the first time I ever jumped out of a plane the instructor had to kick me out. After that I just jumped to save face and dignity.

After getting out of the army I kind of feel into a dark spot in my life and sure enough it was exercise that would get me out. I began running marathons and trail runs and just about any running event to spend time with friends. And wouldn’t you know it there is a group of runs called the bridge series in Houston. Now call me slow but I just didn’t make the connection that I would actually be running over a bridge. I honestly just thought it was a name for a race. But since a group of friends was doing I decided to go along.

Like ever other race I got my packet in the mail and received instructions on where to go the day of the race and wouldn’t you know ….. it was the Fred Hartman bridge. Even before I parked I thought about turning around and going home. I mean I can barely drive over this much less run over it. But I had friends waiting on me and peer pressure is a bitch so I sucked it up and decided to meet them at the start. I don’t know what I was thinking but I decided I would start in the back just in case I felt really sick I could just back out and no one would notice. However, my friends had other ideas and sure enough they drug me right in the middle. My thoughts being I am a paratrooper so if I can do this .. I can do anything.

As previously mentioned the bridge is huge. I mean it’s really long, covering the span of several miles and the height on over 400 feet. Furthermore, the day of the race they didn’t completely close it off so there was cars and trucks driving on it. So here I am in one lane of the road with cars on one side and the side of the bridge on the other. At first it wasn’t that bad, because it starts off as a slow incline but then once I got on the actual bridge things got really scary. In the early morning of the Texas fall with cars driving by the bridge begins to sway. Like this is a normal thing from what I am told but when you are running on it really began to shake me up. My friends are having a wonderful time and laughing and joking and somehow they began to see the panic and fear on my face and that was all they needed to rub it in a bit. It got to the point where I literally fell down to my knees and told them I couldn’t go any further.

But here I am on my hands and knees on this bridge with people running around me and I was stuck right down in the middle of the bridge. If I quit I still had to walk down and if I kept going I still had to go down. It was a no win situation. I don’t remember what exactly was said to me but I am certain it was some kind of apologies from my running mates and I just sucked it up like I always do and continued up the bridge.

Once I got down things began to settle a bit but that didn’t last long before wouldn’t you know … we had to run right back and over it again. Because races are not point to point they are out and back. Ugh ….. Yet with a little determination on my side I just kept my mouth shut and my eyes on the road right in front me. Doing my best to ignore again the cars on one side and the 400 foot drop on the other.

When I finally got off that thing I swore that I would never run anything called bridge series again and while my friends gave me hell and I almost quit during the middle I was so scared on the way back I beat everyone single one of my friends . So in the end … I guess I got the last laugh ….