City 2 Surf 14k...

Sunday was the annual City 2 Surf 14k run. It starts from Hyde Park downtown and runs east to finish at Bondi Beach. Clarice had tried to talk me into it, but I remembered the 5k she forced me to run last summer (with 2 days notice) so I opted to be the race photographer. I should have just walked it...

Clarice, along with good friends Paul and Amber, itching to get started...idiots.

As they make their way to the starting area I decided to leave and try to get ahead of them. I found a place to park fairly close to the finish line and trekked down Bellevue Hill (at this point I should have noticed something...) to a point that I thought was in front of them. We'll never know as there were hundreds of people running. I looked for a bit, but never saw them. Afraid I'd miss them at the finish, I packed it in and started towards Bondi Beach. At this point I noticed I now had to go UP Bellevue Hill.

The race has a hill that is about 1.5k and is nicknamed "Heartbreak Hill". That road skirts the side of Bellevue Hill and must be a killer to run up. Paul and Clarice, running together, decided to walk a bit when they hit that point. My route to the finish, according to the GPS, straight over the top of the hill. (insert weeping and gnashing of teeth...)

Long story short (you're welcome), I made it to the finish before my phone rang. Clarice had her mobile strapped around her arm in case of emergency and to call me when she was finished in case we never found each other. I was very fearful of walking down the hill towards the beach only to have my phone go off meaning I missed her finish. She would have killed me. By the time I got to the beach I had hiked 4.5 miles from the car (according to my pedometer) and my clothes were soaked with sweat. The race was 8 miles...I should have just walked it!

I found a good spot to take pictures just where the runners make the final turn down to the finish line about 500 meters further down the beach. With hundreds of runners turning the corner every minute I was resolving myself to never seeing her when I caught a glimpse of her pink running shirt turning the corner. I had my camera set to "continuous shoot" and fired off 10 photos before yelling encouragement. She told me later she was excited to see me, but the look on her face was more, "I think I'm dying!"

If you look closely to the second photo you can see Clarice in the right and Paul (in the white hat) trailing on the left. He told Clarice later, "You started to go faster and my body couldn't keep up!" Apparently the "kick" was not discussed earlier.

Another interesting part of the race was the number of people who felt the need to dress up for the occasion. I saw Mr Incredible, the Flash, Batman and Robin, several Supermen, 6-7 guys who painted their bodies to match the color of the speedo they were wearing (shirtless, or course), a couple wearing horse costumes... It was often hilarious, but in the case of the speedos - too much information.

It was a fun morning. We were all exhausted and it was starting to rain as we caught the bus back to where I parked the car. After dropping Paul and Amber off at their place, Clarice and I went home to shower and relax. Thank goodness for the Olympics. Neither of us moved for hours!

Jon