Shady Travels: Live, Explore, Learn: The largest race in the world

On Sunday, I ran my first race ever. I lie. I once ran with the Lufkin junior varsity cross country team when I was a senior in high school because they needed some representation at our own Lufkin meet. I came in seventh of eight.

Being a soccer player, running is a given. I'm not the best runner. In fact, I'm quite slow. I embody the 'slow and steady wins the race' mantra.

Throughout college, I was addicted to the treadmill. Running five miles was no sweat (no pun intended). It was the perfect getaway from the stress of class, papers and internships. My life was so scheduled back then with class and work always at the same time. Running became part of that schedule and if it didn't happen, then my day was incomplete.

Post college years were harder. For 2 years I lived in Seoul - a city with gray skies. The only place I could run was by the river, which was also next to the highway. Running outside is supposed to clear your mind. It filled mine with car exhaust. I took to the gym instead for the last few months, but I never really cemented the daily run into my life. I worked at 4pm, so waking hours varied dependent on activities the night before. Hungover? Kimchi jjigye was the answer. Woke up early? It's raining outside. Woke up on time? I should think about prepping for class or just linger in the apartment till I really have to go. I don't know how I kept my weight down with all the Korean barbecue and soju present in my life. Thank goodness I counteracted with a diet of mainly rice and vegetable soups.

Moving to Sydney was literally like a breath of fresh air. For the past year, I have lived in Darlinghurst and Potts Point, both neighborhoods bordering The Domain park. In less than 40 minutes, I could run from my apartment, around The Domain (which overlooks the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour) and back. Dave and I have taken advantage of this trail and the exceptionally clean air Sydney offers. Yet, I still haven't nailed down a steady running regime. The difference is both Dave and I now have 8:15am-6pm+ jobs with half hour commutes each way. What we're left with in the working day is less than 4 waking hours. Throw in showers, dinner and a necessary mental break a la The Wire, what is left? We've been good though. For about 6 months we were going running 3-4 times per week. Now it's more like 2 times because I'm playing soccer. The adage is true; the older you get, the faster time flies by.

Last year we watched the City2Surf race. This year we were a part of it. It is the biggest timed race in the world. This year, over 85,000 people registered! I was 52204. We registered 3 months prior, ran 1-2 times per week and had ourselves a little pre-race pasta party. Calamari is traditionally not a part of this ritual, but it is my favourite food, so why not. I'm about to run 14k in the morning.

It was the Night Before the Race...

On Sunday, 14th August I woke up to the sound of rain drops beating on my window and a helicopter hovering over William Street - the start of the race and next to my neighborhood. Dave looked out the window and confirmed the rain. Hazily, I thought he was joking. My first instinct was to turn on the TV to see if anyone was out there. There were tens of thousands.

We met up with Dave's colleague Saskia and we all walked down William Street to line up for our group - the yellow group. The yellow group is the second to last group who aim to run and walk. Our group had about 10,000 people and we were aiming to break the world record of 9000 for number of people stretching simultaneously.

Blue Group Start Down William Street

Pumped for City2Surf

Me, Dave and Saskia

Dave Helping to Break the World Record for Group Stretching

The 10,000+ People in the Yellow Group Anxiously Waiting to Start

Everyone Behind Me on William Street

At 9:05, the yellow group set off. There were so many of us that Dave, Saskia and I didn't cross the starting line till 9:15. Our game plan was to jog leisurely and walk when we wanted. Everything changed as we ran down William Street. Picking up speed and finding our stride, Dave and I left Saskia with her friend.

City2Surf 14k Race Course Map

We ran for over 6km until we reached Heartbreak Hill in Vaucluse. The race may only be 14k, but it feels like 25k. The path goes up and down the entire way, but the real turning point is mid-way when runners hit the 2km nearly vertical hill. We walked. Funny enough, the Heart Association bought advertising along the way to congratulate runners. Even more funny, RSVP the dating website bought advertising to encourage runners with phrases like 'You look so hot right now'. Real encouraging.

What was encouraging was all the water and Gatorade stations as well as the sponsors cheer leading, bands playing and private parties yelling "Keep going!" "You're almost there!"

Can You Guess Where Heartbreak Hill Starts?

City2Surf Elevation Graph

After Heartbreak Hill, we entered Dover Heights and it was all down hill through to North Bondi and the finish line at Bondi Beach. I sprinted the last 4k encouraged by the idea of not letting any 'big' people beat me. I would see larger runners in front of me and try to pass them up. Once I passed one, there would be another. This was my running trend for the entire race. With 4k to go, I ran into someone I really didn't want to see. I'm not one to have enemies, but I'm also one to avoid awkwardness. Long story short, I bolted.

We approached Bondi Beach and with 1km to go, a surprise hook turn lowered my confidence. With the finish line so close, how could the race organisers make runners run a 'V' shaped trail? Shouldn't this be a straight away? Regardless, Dave and I had less than 5 minutes till the 90 minute mark and we were going for it. Less encouraging was a very large hairy man huffing and puffing next to me. My mind was set, there was no way this guy was going to beat me. When we were less than 100m away from the finish line, camera operators were yelling, "Keep your hands up if you want your picture taken." I lifted my arms, but they just wanted to stay down. All of the sudden, I was crossing the line and so was the hairy fat man. We tied. Dave finished right behind us, still carrying our sports bag filled with sweaters and cell phones.

1:31 was our time and we were damn proud of it. It was our first race and we were expecting a time around 2 hours. My quads ached. Dave's knees felt like rust. All we wanted were cups of Gatorade and water and the sausage rolls everyone we saw seemed to be eating. We received our medals at the finish line, drank till we couldn't anymore and ate our sausage rolls overlooking Bondi Beach. We met up with our friends at Beach Road pub and exchanged race day stories over pints. We finished our first race, but this marked the start of our next challenge - training for our next road race.