City to Surf 2008

This past Sunday we ran the annual City to Surf charity run. There were over 70,000 people there, making it the largest chip-tracked race in the world. The race starts at Hyde Park in the Sydney CBD, and heads east for 14 km until the end at Bondi Beach. Michelle ran it last year, and since I've been doing more running, I decided to join in this year.

This winter has been longer and colder than last year, so the morning started out quite chilly. We caught the bus sponsored for the university group at about 6:45 a.m., and arrived at the start around 8:15. We were joined on the bus by one of Michelle's friends, Tajeen, and her boyfriend, Jerome, whom we met up with after arriving.

The sea of people was an impressive sight, and what made it even more fun were the costumes some people wore. (It's somewhat of a tradition for this race to dress in absurd costumes. There was a gorilla and a banana; a set of tools; Batman and Robin, and a number of other superheroes; cowboys and Indians; sumo wrestlers; women in formal gowns; men in bathrobes, and so on.)

There were four groups for the crowd. The first group contained all the most elite runners who either qualified or were invited; the second group semi-elite runners; the third group runners with no verifiable time records; the fourth walkers. Michelle was in the second group due to her time last year. I was in the third group. Michelle's friends were in the fourth group.

We all started towards the back of the third group rather than split up. I was a bit surprised how many in the third group kicked back and walked. They really should have been in the fourth group, or at least had the decency to move over to the side so those who wished to actually run could get by. Needless to say, the first third of the race was spent weaving through all these slow people who positioned themselves in the wrong group.

The course is a scenic route through the city, and decently challenging. I wouldn't say it was a difficult course, but at the halfway point was the so-called "heartbreak hill" -- which I think earned its moniker moreso because it's a long hill rather than for its steepness (it certainly isn't).

I ran quite well until about halfway up heartbreak hill, then I started inserting periodic walk breaks. Had it not been for the crowd, I likely would have been able to push myself better, as I've done on the local trails. Once I was over the hill, I picked up a full run again for a good stretch. However, for the final third of the race, I had to continue with the walk breaks to keep from over-exerting myself. The last couple of kilometers of the race were the longest. I got the impression I was nearing the finish line, so I kept pushing. But every block turned into another block, and time seemed to slow down.

Then I finally saw the beachfront, and you can imagine my disappointment when I realized it was farther away than I initially thought. Nevertheless, I continued to push myself as much as I could, and finished in under 100 minutes. I was exhausted. The only injuries I had were a couple of very minor blisters under one of my toes.

After replenishing my fluids with water and Gatorade, I caught up with Michelle and we found a nice cafe at the far north end of the beach where we got coffee and a couple of pastries. Overall, it was an enjoyable event -- though I probably wouldn't do that particular race again simply because it's overcrowded. A year ago there's no way I could have run that kind of distance. This year's trail race series starts up again next month, and I'm really looking forward to those.