City 2 Surf... redux...

Last year, Clarice and some of our friends ran in the Sun-Herald "City 2 Surf" 14k run from Hyde Park in the heart of Sydney out to probably its most famous beach, Bondi. I, being completely fat and out of shape, volunteered to be the team's photographer. After spending that morning sweat-soaked from running all over the place (with a pack of camera gear) trying to get in front of them to take their pics, I joked that, "I should have just run the darn thing!" Oh how I regret those words...

This year, having lost 60 lbs and after a few months training at the gym, I was forced to "become an idiot"

2008 - I labeled this pic "The Three Idiots"

2009 - Who's the "idiot" now?!?

Clarice's time last year was a very respectable 1 hour 45 minutes so she set our goal this year at "under 100 minutes" or less than 1 hour 40 minutes. Fair enough for her, except she was holding ME to that goal as well! She's been married to me for HOW LONG??? (11 years - yes I know my anniversary).

We were joined again by our poor, beleaguered friends Paul and Amber who somehow always seem to get talked into undertaking these wild and crazy things. Amber had been sick all week, and Paul had been working a lot of hours and not had much time to train, so they decided to run/walk together as well, but had no intention of keeping up with the slave driver, err... Clarice.

Paul and Amber

Amber's "Wings" - apparently she drank her Red Bull!

75,000 runners milling about at the start - World Record Number of Participants for a foot race

Still milling - have I told you all how much I HATE crowds???

The traditional "Discarding of the Warm Clothes" - in the past runners would dress warmly (it is winter here) and then just chuck their clothes high into the trees. The race organizers have taken advantage of this tradition and now groups of girls collect all the clothes and they go to people in need.

Clothes cover the bus stop

And we're off! Finally...

It NEVER thins out. You spend more energy weaving in the crowd than running.

A last crown shot - for Todd (look front right). We were maybe 800 meters into the race when we approached the tunnel and we saw a gentleman getting CPR by the side of the road. I don't know what ever happened to that man, but the scene still haunts me. I said a quick prayer for him as I kept running. I am amazed how well run an event of this size is. Not even 1/14th of the way into the race and paramedics are already stationed in case of emergencies like this.

Jon's view for most of the race. Not complaining!

Right in the middle of the 14k course is "Heartbreak Hill" - about 2k of grueling up-hill running. All through training MY goal had been to be able to run the 6k to the bottom of the hill. CLARICE's version was "run to the hill, walk up, then run the remaining 6k". Neither of those actually occurred. As we reached the 6k mark and the bottom of the hill, Clarice looked at her GPS running watch and said, "Let's run the last 1.4 mile to get to 4 miles even." I nearly cried. The course if very hilly with lots of ups and downs, and my right hip was killing me. In training it started aching about the 5k mark and today was no different. Running up-hill only made it worse. I got to about .1 miles to get to her target then said, "I can't. I'll catch up." Mistake. Should have kept running because when she hit her goal and started walking, she had no intention of waiting for slow, old me! No way! I had to BRISKLY walk up-hill to catch her. It did give me a chance to get a drink, but did nothing to alleviate the pain in my hip, but I did catch up.

Clarice finally walking while I'm catching her up

Beautiful view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House that I am amazed was not blurry since I took it on the run.

THEN Clarice did the unthinkable - she started running again before we got to the top of the hill!!! Instead of getting 2k to walk and recuperate, we walked less than 1!! The next stretch was blessedly down-hill so I could take longer strides and that helped my hip a little. About the 9k mark I was whining. 10k I was down-right complaining. 11k I felt like I was going to die. 12k crests the last big up-hill and you can see the finish line, but you still have 2k to go including running PAST the finish line only to circle back. Auuugghh. The ONLY thing that kept me running was the thought that Clarice had her heart set on us crossing the finish line together and getting our picture taken. Without that, I would have stopped and walked. In the end, she dragged my sorry butt across the line in 93 minutes, way under our goal. I told her, "we could have walked the hill and still made it!"

Wait for me, we're almost there!

North Bondi Surf Life Savers carried this coil of rescue line the entire way trading places among the 5 of them. Show offs. I'm sure they raised money for their worthy cause.

The Aftermath...

Paul and Amber finished a bit behind us, as planned, and we trekked back into the city. A really memorable event, but one I doubt I will ever do again (since we won't be here next year...).