Mount Pleasant Magazine March April 2019

37 www.MPMcalendar.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature promoting community health, and the Charleston Running Club, with its knowledge of conducting races and of the sport, proved immensely successful even in the early years, with Keith Hamilton and Hamlin directing the race. But that success skyrocketed in the mid-1990s, when Smith was hired as race director. He excelled in his role, growing the race from a regional competition to an international race. Smith remained in his role as director until January 2019, following a diagnosis of glioblastoma. People like Hamlin and Smith are indeed the backbone of the Bridge Run, and Hamlin continues to promote wellness, train and educate in the sport of running, writing a book on training long-distance runners. This book is special in that it is dedicated to his to wife and to Julian Smith, with a portion of the profits on each book sold going to the Glioblastoma Foundation to fight brain cancer. Eventually, proceeds also will help the American Cancer Society in general and the MUSC Foundation. “I not only wanted to write a book because I’ve been asked to write a book for decades on training – and I’ve trained a bunch of athletes … I wanted to write one that would have some relevance on what’s happening now and be able help the efforts and research on cancers,” Hamlin said. Terry Hamlin, co-founder of the Cooper River Bridge Run, with the Ravenel Bridge in the background. The event initially took place on the long- gone Pearman and Grace bridges. Photo courtesy of Terry Hamlin. Part of the proceeds from Terry Hamlin’s book on long-distance running will benefit the Glioblastoma Foundation. 300 signed editions of the book will be available at the Cooper River Bridge Run Expo. The main bookstore rollout will come later this summer. Photo courtesy of Terry Hamlin.