Bowling, Drinking and Running

Yes, that is the order we did it in too. It's not highly recommended - we'll it isn't recommended unless you can space the running part out a few days! This weekend was Dennis' birthday so we had big plans to go to the horse races! I have never been to a horse track before so I was all excited about the experience. Well, apparently there has been a serious outbreak of the equine flu here - bringing the entire equestrian industry to a standstill. No races, no shows, no transporting horses in anyway. They are saying that it will not only affect The Carnival which is kind of like our Kentucky Derby in the States but possibly the Olympic hopefulls for 2008 in China. Pretty serious! So, needless to say, we needed a sudden back up plan for Dennis' birthday. What did we do instead??? Bowling!!

Now, it seems bowling is not that big here because just about everyone except for me had not been bowling in 10+ years.. if ever! On top of that - we lucked out with a cosmic bowling night. We started at Bel & Rich's place for drinks and apps. After much champagne - we headed out to the bowling alley for some serious competition! We had a blast! The girls dominated the 3 game series - showing the guys how it was done! Of course, we ended up closing the place down and headed back to Bel & Rich's for some late night celebrating and much needed pizza. At this point - the furthest thing from Bel and I's mind was the 13k race we had to run the next morning...at 8am. It was a long night.

And then suddenly it was morning! Where did that come from? Ouch... we awoke - half drunk - very tired. Should we forget the race? Roll over and go back to bed??? No, becuase we are dumb. We dragged ourselves out of bed, put our numbers on and headed off to the race. We started on beach - sun shining, waves crashed, head pounding... We managed to actually run quite a bit of the race. More than I expected actually! There were some spectacular views as we ran along the coast. I wish I had brought my camera on this one! At least you can see our course on the left. We finished the 13k's (little over 8 miles) in 1 hour and 49 minutes. That put me at 1023rd place out of out of 1593 at 7.15 km/hr. I love that they posted all these stats! Yeah - we definitely walked the hills. Funnily enough - this race is called Pub2Pub. We ended The Arms - a great pub overlooking a picturesque harbour - but the last thing we wanted was a drink! We ended up heading home after a scrumptious pub breakfast to sleep off the damage we did the night before! The rest of Sunday was spent snoozing on the couch - much needed and I felt, well-deserved!

City 2 Surf 2007

I did it! On Sunday, 12 August I ran my first 14k race - The City 2 Surf race from Sydney to Bondi Beach. Well ok, I didn't exactly "run" the entire thing. There was some walking involved but I am very proud of Dennis, Bel and myself! Bel and I ran quite a bit and finished the race in about 1 hour and 50 minutes. Dennis left us in the dust! A 14k race is roughly about 8.7 miles which was officially the longest run I had ever participated in. This was the 37th annual City 2 Surf run with just over 64,000 people entered. Intense! I have run the Peachtree before and there were a few similarities but overall - this was a far more challenging run. The Peachtree is overall pretty flat with the one large challenge called "Heartbreak Hill". The City 2 Surf is extremely hilly the whole way through - and also has a "Heartbreak Hill" starting around kilometer 5. It stretches 2k's and is one of the steepest hills I have ever seen! The hill lasts FOREVER!!!

So, here's the breakdown of the whole experience! Bel and Rich picked me up around 7:15am (much later start than the Peachtree) and we headed into Downtown Sydney. The race started near the famous Hyde Park. We were in the HSBC section meaning - we weren't star athletes in the first section (aka Kenyan) and we weren't pram pushers in the 3rd section. We crammed into our section and it wasn't long before you started to see the festive runners - dressed up in everything from gorilla suits to nothing but speedos. Nice. Right before we started - our entire section began to strip off jackets and pants to get into their running gear. Where did all those clothes go? They all tossed them to the sides - the sides of the streets, fences and bus stops were covered in clothes! Apparently, everyone wears something old over their running gear and then "donates them to charity" by tossing them over the crowd onto the side walks. A charity then comes by and picks it all up.

Finally the horn sounded for our section and we were off. It was so crowded - we probably shuffled along for the first 5 minutes before we could even break into a swift walk! The race was pretty challenging the entire way through. There were plenty of hills which kept us struggling! By the time we hit the bottom of heartbreak hill I was already getting tired! That hill was a KILLER! MUCH, much steeper than the Peachtree and MUCH, much longer. The race wound up the large hill keeping you guessing as to whether it ended just around the next bend or kept going for eternity! Apparently, someone keels over every year on the hill but I think we made it through this race with no fatalities! Hurray! For perspective - we started in the city behind us and here are Bel and I - ALMOST to the top of heartbreak hill!

As with the Peachtree, people came out to watch the runners and cheer them on. I have to say, the Peachtree has this race beat when it comes to sideline support. There were a few bands along the way as well as neighbors standing in their yards with hoses spraying the passing runners - but the fanfare didn't really compare to the Atlanta race. I do believe City 2 Surf wins in the racer costume department though. People in Atlanta were likely to get arrested for some of the outfits we saw - plenty of budgy smugglers (speedos) and a few true to form Borat's in his famous green bathing suit - ugh!

Just has my legs were about to give out - we finally rounded yet another massive hill and began to descend into Bondi Beach. The finish line emptied right on the beach boardwalk and it was beautiful! The weather was amazing - sunny and clear skies. The ocean was super blue and made for a spectacular finish line! We met up with Dennis at the end and he got us into a sponsored tent! Yay!! Free food and drinks were the perfect reward for all our hard work. A few champagnes later and we were on our way to Michael O'Donnel's house - an NRS AD we work with. He lived about 2 blocks from Bondi Beach and was hosting a big BBQ in honor of the race. A few drinks there and we caught a cab back to Manly. But - no rest for the weary - we headed straight to Bec's house - a good friend of Bel's for a roast! So yes, we managed to eat back everything we had burned off during the race. By the time 8pm rolled around, Bel and I were fading fast. Rich was kind enough to take us home and I literally crashed into bed at 8:30p and was dead to the world!

It was a great weekend although I wish the race was a Saturday because now I am at work when I would much rather be sleeping in and nursing my incredibly sore legs! I guess it's better to just push through the pain!

Oh yeah - Bel and I also managed to raise about $400 through friends sponsoring us for the orphanage in Kenya that NRSI supports! It was well worth the effort on our part and we had a great time doing it!