I’m trying to check if there is anybody else out there who completely freaks out about running over a long high, bridges, especially those large high ones over rivers with the narrow, designated running or walking lane. It gets worse if its during the last part of a long run.
I simply can’t do it without mortification. Maybe its a fear of heights or something, but its not just heights.
If its a race and the whole bridge road is open, that’s a little better, but not greatly. I feel like a cat being held over a bathtub. Traffic coming the other way, and a mere three feet to the right is this 100 foot drop down to a big river. The wind is whipping you around. I instinctually start running as far away from the rail as possible. The other guys I run with are just hammering it, no problem: checking out boats and barges and shit 100 feet below: “look way down there, look at that barge way down there…” or something, and I’m not EVEN GOING TO LOOK DOWN. I’ll say something like: “f&Yk that, let’s just get this over with…”
I was watching a show about the Mackinac Bridge the other day and I told my wife, you know, I could never run over that. Mentally. No way.
I almost have to stop and walk; in fact, I will if there just too much shit going on with cars on it. I feel like the guy in the V-8 commercial, where he’s walking and the world tilts.
We have a guy in our roadie group that has a phobia for high bridges. He can’t ride over them. If our group route is going over a bridge he has to drive there in his car and wait.
Phobias are irritational fears. Sometimes they can be treated professionally or you can suck it up and force yourself to do it if the phobia isn’t overly strong. Often then it seems easier. At one time in my life I suffered from mild claustraphobia and felt very uncomfortable in elevators. I forced myself to ride them and my uneasiness with them gradually disappeared.
I’m like that too. I didn’t do Detroit marathon because of the bridge. I would never walk/run on the Mackinac Bridge. Last year, I did NYC marathon and crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was quite an experience. The bridge started swaying too. Very freaky.
I have to keep my mind occupied to manage that. I remember, as a kid, my brothers and I sitting on a rock ledge over the Grand Canyon eating PB&Js. Went there with my kids and I wouldn’t let them within six feet of the edge, even had nightmares about it. I climbed up Half Dome in Yosemite and looked over the edge and my legs just about collapsed from under me. I was on a video shoot on an oil rig off of Seal Beach, California, some of the cables got caught on the rig’s evacuation boats strung high above the water - about 100 feet. I had to inch my way out there to free the cables, as long as I concentrated on that, I was OK. Once the cables were freed, I had a real problem getting back. Later, we were ‘relaxing’ on the helecopter pad - the highest point on the rig, waiting for the shuttle boat to take us to shore. All I could do was lie down and shut my eyes. I had to have someone help me down the unrailed stairs (no rail so the helecopter has nothing to get snagged on). I totally understand.
The Mackinaw is the ultimate test for any person with a fear of heights because you can see through the bridge… but only in the center two lanes. The outside lanes are solid concrete so it’s not so bad. But beware the wind, during the spring and fall it’s strong enough to blow a cyclist over.
I felt that too! I’ve done that race 8 times now, but this last one was the only time I felt it MOVE. I didn’t know what it was, if it was just me. Thought it was what an earthquake must feel like.
I always feel like the wind may blow me over the side of bridge while on the bike. Felt that way even on the short bridge at IMF. I have a quasi-irrational fear of heights.
Yes. Don’t like them at all. I am very afraid of going over the side (especially in a car and being trapped inside). I realize that it’s totally irrational and extremely unlikely, but I have to remind myself of this in order to get over. It’s nothing that would stop me from crossing a bridge, but there is freak-out factor there. Knowing that it’s irrational is what helps me get over it… Having said that, though, I’m wondering now what possessed me to do the 7-Mile Bridge Run in the Keys last spring… No wonder I didn’t enjoy it…
You are not alone. And I would agree with others that cycling can be much worse, probably from the speed on the bike.
I was camping in Yosemite a couple months ago and rode from the Valley headed east, then headed up Big Oak Flat Road (towards Tioga), which is winding but straight uphill, no flat sections. Going up was fine, as I had my mountain bike with its triple. But then turning around to head down – OMG!!! Headed downhill, the entire length of the Valley, with a looooooong drop down, stretched out to my right, and only a very short rock wall between me and the void. I had to focus toward the middle of the road to fight off the vertigo.
It’s an internal thing you’re born with, I think. Those that have no problem with stuff like that, I envy you!
The wind on the Mackinac Bridge can be not only strong enough to blow a cyclist over, but also strong enough to blow a Yugo into Lake Huron. Not that I’m sure a Yugo counts as a car, but I can remember when that happened and it was something of a big deal.
I’m generally okay with running/cycling on bridges over the Intracoastal but them I’m also good at ignoring the sharks and icky stuffthat have to be underneath me somewhere during open water swims.
Call it a highly developed denial reflex because if I let myself think about those things, I’d probably freak out.
How did you do on the cables at Half Dome? I’ve hiked Half Dome twice - one time, there were few people and the cables were easy and quick. My first time, though, the place was packed, and the cables were packed and it toook a long time to go up or down. That freaked me out - being stuck on a steep rock face, waiting for people to move so I could move! The top and looking over the edge didn’t bother me.
I had an embarassing acrophobic episode this past summer.
D’Wife, D’Kid and I were at Hurricane Harbor (Six Flags Great Adventure’s water park) I started to have an anxiety attack as we climbed the steps to one of the water slides. We were only about 20 feet up, but I just couldn’t go any higher.
My daughter had this gem …
“It’s okay to go back if you’re scared, Daddy. I don’t think you’re a pussy.”
The two times I’ve done, there wasn’t much of a crowd. As long as I’ve got something to hang onto, though, I’m better off. Reminded me of one time on top of Halfdome, I was up there along with a bunch of turistas who surprisingly made the hike - old out of shape people with their cameras, etc. Some climbers who have spent a couple of days climbing the face are just reaching the top, pulling themselves over the edge only to find these old tourist type snapping their pictures and applauding them. I wonder what goes through their mind, acheiving such a feat, only to reach the end and see old farts taking pictures of you. I think I’d turn around and jump off!
Yeah, I had a similar experience - I got to the base of the cables, and was a little put off - but I saw many people going up that my pride would not allow me to skip it if they could do it. I could only imagine the climber’s reaction you describe…
I was shockingly NOT READY for the experience of “Space Mountain” at Disneyworld, looked like it was for tards and noodleheads, BUT after it was over…my kids wanted me to do it again, and I’m like, NO F&*KING WAY! I got mind tricked into that one by my wife’s friends.
LOOK AT THE SCREEN DAD…DON’T MOVE YOUR HEAD AROUND…
