Daniel Rees (Reesy) and I boarded the flight from Melbourne with the Hawthorn footy team who were playing the Swans on Saturday. Go Hawks!
I arrived in Sydney and had a relaxed afternoon. It was nice to switch off again, and exclusively think about my preparation. While Reesy checked into his hotel, I went to a shoe shop across the road, and managed to find a pair of racing flats to run in for Budapest, and then went for another (much-needed) 60min massage. In my post-massage zombie like state, Reesy led me into the city where we registered and picked up our race kits.
Then we headed into Nth Sydney where we met up with Seals and Kel at their local bar for Friday night knock-off drinks, and moved on later for some authentic Italian carbohydrates. Good times and good conversation over a glass of wine.
Saturday was super relaxed also. After a big sleep in, I slowly made my way to Jago’s – the local cafe, for an omlette and a coffee, before heading to the footy to watch the Hawks get smashed by the Swans in the afternoon. I’m not sure what happened, but the Hawks just didn’t bring their “A-game”. Maybe it was the terrible toasted ham and cheese sandwich we were served on the flight from Melbourne?… Go Hawks! …please start winning games from now please! Thanks.
Sunday was “fun run” day. The biggest timed run in the world… I was looking forward to see how all these people run on the same 14km track and filter their way around Bondi at the finish. Officially there were 67,974 finishers across the line! I met Reesy at the start line at 7:30am with the rest of the crowd and stretched and self massaged myself until the gun went off at 8:30am. I was blocked in by a few thousand others in SH1, but managed to find the footpath a faster route. Dodging pedestrians and spectators was faster than attempting to overtake the slower runners in front. As the gaps opened up, Reesy and I worked our way back onto the road and managed to find some rhythm which is where a gap opened up between Dan and myself.
As I had never ran the City to Surf before, I was really looking forward (or not looking forward) to checking out how steep and difficult Heartbreak Hill would be. I was a little conservative in my approach as I really didn’t want to be looking for more O2 than I could suck in. As the hill started (6km) I was feeling pretty good. I kept my heart rate low enough, and continued to pass people as I made my way over the main section. So that was a good confidence booster. It always feels better to be passing, rather than being passed. As for Heartbreak Hill, it really isn’t too bad.
As I approached the 10km mark, the big time clock on the side of the road said 35:40… Sweet! I was making good time considering 4 of the 10km was uphill.
I pushed over the final hill at 11km and started hurting for the first time, but knowing it was mainly down hill from here, and that I was on track for a faster than expected time, I started to plan my run to the finish. I let my heart rate settle a little bit before opening up and lengthening my stride. I passed the 12km marker and thought… Ok only 7mins to run, go for it. I continued to pass people the entire 14km, from the starting gun, all the way into the finish. Next year i’ll hopefully get a preferred start near the front.
I crossed the line in 48:16 in 68th position overall. This was a great result for me, and an opportunity to give my body a little test on the race track to see how I’ll perform at threshold.
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It was awesome to catch up with friends too. Thanks to Seals for putting me up at his place, and driving me to the start early on Sunday morning.
Full race results can be found here
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