As i only arrived home this morning, i will now let you all know about one of the most electrifying fun runs i have been to.
Early start on Fri as my flight was a 'breky' flight. While i was waiting to board, i noticed a few fella's with 'Knox Roadrunners' shirts on. Sent SB (paul) a text and he said it could be Gav. So once i arrived in Syd i approached this guy, who i am sure though i was some weirdo! Sure enough, it was Gav. Had a bit of a chat then headed down to the Train. (forgot to mention that 'Toady' was a couple of seats in front of me in the plane.) I wasn't too sure of the stop i was supposed to get off at (thought i would just wing it) so i had a look at the map in the train. Some people asked me if i was running in C2S etc, got chatting, and it turned out that we were staying in the same hotel.
I followed this group of people (one of which was hoping for sub 50!!!!) god damn, have forgotten his name. I realised that one of these guys were familliar. I asked one of the fellas his name, and sure enough it was George. A lot of you would know him. I met him at the MDC in May. Anyway, unloaded the bag at the hotel and headed off to Darling Harbour. Time was 10am and i couldn't get into my room until 2pm. Argh! was pretty tired.
Walked around for a hour or so, then sent a text to Michelle asking what she was up to. "trying to find a pub". Sounded good to me but a tad risky. Luckily for me, they ended up choosing one that required a car. So back to taking in the sights and drinking lots of water.
Finally 2pm came, and i checked into the hotel. After being stuck in the lift for 5mins with an elderly couple, the doors finally opened and i plonked myself on my bed and had a little quiet time.
Once my bro and sis in law arrived it was dinner time, so we went up to 'Waggamama'. I made an effort to choose something with little salt, no meat (not good for my tum before a run) and no delicious cream. Can't remember what it was called, but it was bloody yummy. Basically a stir fry with lots of noodles.
Back to the hotel. Drank lots more water, then a bottle of powerade. Was in bed by 9pm.
After an expected disturbed nights sleep, i was up at 6am to have my 2 peices of bread with honey.
Nerves were pretty good...... until the 'uniform' was put on. K sent a mesg to say she was really nervous, which set me off even more! Was getting syked though. Made our way (150metres) to Hyde Park. Wow! people everywhere! So many runners. I was in heaven.
Nearly everyone had a red hat on. We never managed to find the volunter's handing them out. (prob a good thing as i wanted to wear my normal hat)
OMG! the toilet line was ridiculous. There was no way i was getting in that quew. Was 40mins 'til the start.
We then moved into the HSBC start. one word... 'packed!' We had to stand there, still, jamed up like we were in a mosh pit for 30+mins. Gotta admit, was pretty exciting though. Shirts were being flung about everywhere. We got rid of ours 5mins before the start. A beach ball was being hit around the crowd too.
The view i got when jumping in the air to see down the street was nothing short of amazing. A sea of red. Something i will never forget!
The first group's gun went off. One less heart beat i will never have! lol. then the second. Then about 8mins after first, it was our turn.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. I didn't start my wastch until i was under the start banner. By this time we had broken into a very tight jog. It was bloody awsome! So many people, all doing this together!
So, my plan was to head out nice and easy to keep some energy for that horrible hill and the finish. Neeer!!! Wrong! Off i go, zig-zagging, finding a hole then taking off to find the next. By the 3k mark i knew i had gone out way to fast. The tunnel was groovy though. people were yelling stuff out. Was pretty noisy.
I backed off the pace a bit. My head was feeling a little funky, like i was not getting enough oxygen into my body. By this stage i had lost my Bro. There was a hill, well, an incline that lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. I was feeling so buggered. My plan had now changed to backing off even more 'cos i was starting to get worried i was going to hit the wall and not even make the distance.
Every Gatorade drink station i saw from then on, i made sure i walked while having a sip or two. The 3rd one i stopped at, i had half a cup of it, but it didn't seem to cause me any grief.
As i was struggling a bit, the drink stations were getting to me. The cups! The bloody noisy cups. It was horribly loud and almost earpiercing and was totally messing with my head. lol
So, all of us sticky shoed runners kept on torturing ourselves.
6km marker. uh oh. yep..... 'the hill'. The only plan i had for this, was to not walk any of it. The sun was beaming down. Bloody hot compared to my lovely melb weather i was used to. The hill wound about cnr's and went for approx 1.5km's. Once on the top, i felt that it really wasn't as bad as i was expecting it to be. Phew, i thought to myself. Only to find later that there were more inclines.
My pace seemed to be consistent by this stage. i was finally more comfortable. even though there was only 4or so k's to go, i was against increasing the pace.
Some cute little kids were chanting out the front of their house, "if your tired and you know it, clap your hands" there were plenty of claps, let me tell you! Some spectators were even handing out beers. There were some bands on roof tops playing away too.
Ran past the 12km marker and was extremely happy to see it. It was pretty much all down hill by this stage. I remembered to loosen the arms and let the legs stretch out going down. Didn't have any niggles really. (was wearing my knee brace too).
I could see the beach. Yay! I sarted to up the pace. It was time. Every little bit of me was going to be put into the remainder of this run. The congestion started to get thicker again, then we took the last turn for home. Approx 400meters or so. I was feeling great! I had made the distance, and put in a good effort. Sprinted the last 100meters to claim a time of 86.44mins! My arms were thrown up in the air! Woo Hoo baby. Under 90mins. 'Come on!!!!'
Collected my medal, then grabbed 2 cups of gatorade. Was bloody thirsty by this stage.
Met up with my bro and sis in law. I may get spanked for writting this, but, after deducting his 'short stop' of 5mins, his time was 20secs faster than mine. So basically we were well matched.
The run was not a race against him, but a race against myself and to partake in this absolutely breathtaking, extremely well organised, largest recorded foot race in the world!
Can i add that the women out-numbered the men too! Roar!!
So then our sore little boddies headed up to Bondi Junction to do a little carbo re-loading and some retail therapy. I splashed out a had a coffee too.
I wore my skins until 6pm when we arrived back at bro's. Later on, i had the terrible ache's. You know the sort when your not far off constantly sooking. I was in agony.
I decided it would prob be a good thing to wear them on the flight home too. (proved to be right)
As soon as i got into my car, i phoned my massage therapist and managed to get an appt in an hours time. Perfect.
So now i sit here, feeling pretty chuffed about the whole w/e. I had one of the best times of my running life! This shirt looks pretty hot too!
Thanks to my bro who ran this with me. It really was something special to share. And considering your training had the 'butt fall out of it' a few times, you ran
really well.
And to his glowing wife, that car park really was heaven for our chaffed bodies. I can't wait to sample some of your yummy recipes again too.
To everyone else that gave me support, training advice, and sometimes a very hard motivational push, especially K & Stu, Thanks!
I will put some pics up tonight- This pic is obviously a before shot! before all the pain. Thurs i will have a pic from the photographers to put up. fingers crossed.
