Last This Day

Long Distance Weekend, Sydney

Another Year, another Long weekend, another one with not much rest....

I was given a traditonal Bundock wake-up call by my Aaron and Jarrad - bursting into my room at 7.15am; party poppers blazing with a body slam thrown in just to make sure I was awake!

Once the boys had gone off to work, I set about a day of forgetting myself and the world. Into Randwick for a haircut (though I'm not sure how much I actually had taken off) before grabbing a Boost Juice and going for a read in the park - I got some new; very much appreciated reading material from my old travel friend Flee; now based in the UK.

After some lunch I packed my camera and a book and headed to Maroubra beach for nothing much in particular. I took some random shots, I read some book, I even did some study - it was all good on a Sydney Winters day of 23 degrees.

I headed home and treated myself to some noodles from the Spot before I finished speaking to my family back home in England.

Jarrad, emma and myself then headed out to the Palace to start the evenings festivities off. By the time 9.30 rolled around, everyone was with us on Pitt St ready for Tapas.

Sangria, good food and great company meant the evening rolled out real nice. Now was time to head onward - Le Cross of course, and a late night as we danced into the early hours.

Of course I woke up feeling like a million dollars, luckily some musical therapy was at hand, and an impromtu jam session took myself and Aaron through the latter morning hours of the day. After a brief sleep, it was time to move on to the 2nd engagement of the weekend.

Our good friend Emily is leaving us for the tropical climbes of Queensland; Cairns to be precise. Not sure why, since she doesn't like scuba diving ;)

So of course, this called for another party. And since today was the warmest day since (from my recollection) around early May, it seemed only fitting it should be a BBQ party. My biggest problem with all of this, was the fact that my third engagement of the weekend - was a 14km run the following morning. Great will-power won-thru though and I stayed sober for the whole day. Which, I found can really give you the upper hand in playing tricks on drunken friends... 4 peoples big toes painted with pink nail polish before anyone noticed.

City 2 Surf (The following picture is obviously not mine and props go to the Sydney Morning Herald Website)

So after 2 months of very occasional training (I think the total stood at 1x10km+ run, 3x6km+runs and a bi-weekly round trip to the gym and back (at 3kms a pop)) 6.30am rolled around and it was time to slip on my running gear and make my way with Jarrad (along with 64,000 other people) to the starting area for the 2007 37th annual City 2 Surf 14km (8.7miles) run.

As Jarrad had already qualified last year, he disappeared off to the front of the pack group, I was left in with the 3rd group to be allowed to start the race. After one false start, we finally got going a full 10minutes after the initial pack had been let loose on the route. I didn't start running for around 300metres due to the sheer amount of people surrounding me, but eventually started to pick up pace as I headed toward the Kings Cross Coca Cola sign.

If I'm honest, I felt pretty dreadful at that point. I was well warmed up - yet really not feeling the running, and I needed to pee. Luckily, as we exited the under-pass - I was well into the spirit of things, passing by the odd pub with rock bands up on the awnings serenading the rapidly moving crowds. So from kilometre no 2, to around kilometre no 6, I was happy - exploring suburbs of Sydney I'd yet to see, appreciative of the gorgeous sunshine keeping me warm as I bounded past the marina near Double Bay.

I finally stopped to relieve myself under the comfort of a large tree, before heading onward to tackle "Heartbreak Hill". Several straight KMs uphill were definitely the hardest part of the run, and I had to stop for about 20metres of walking just to let my breathing recover. Though from that point I managed to see out the rest of the race without stopping.

Far from it, as I entered the last 4kms of the run, I was pleasently encouraged by the fact that the majority of runners surrounding me were from the group that started 5minutes ahead of my pack - I was confident I would make the top qualifiers group.

As I came down the final hill at North Bondi, I picked up my pace, some crowds clapping me on... before my actual fitness got the better of me - some severe wincing directed at the road before me; I levelled my pace out as I headed down Campbells Parade. Right at this point, I heard a familiar voice shout "Come on The Fon!"... Aaron and Em from the sidelines gave me an adrenaline shot that I figured would carry me home... that boost picked up my pace and wore me out again pretty quickly, but with the final hairpin, I started really motoring, and sucking for as much air as possible.

The Finish Line, 72minutes and 54 seconds - I made it.

Jarrad and I took a quick dive in the Wintery Bondi waters, and were ready for some big lunch. Which pretty soon ended up in the pub, chatting to friends about the mornings accomplishments and trying our hardest not to let our physical states get the better of us.

6 or so beers later, it was time to bail... and on arriving home, I passed out on my bed after a shower, and then went on to sleep pretty damn well.

The Tuesday after the event, the results were published in the Syndey Morning Herald, and out of the 60,000 that took part, I came in in 4,888th position! I prefer to think of it as coming 4th out of 60 ;)