Sydney City 2 Surf 2011- prelude to the start

As the driving rain swept its way across the City of Sydney I stood at Museum station at 7.30am on Sunday 14 August 2011 watching groups of keen runners crowd together under any available shelter. My phone let me know that I had a message and instead of the expected good luck from my wife, 2yr son and 5week old daughter it was my final team mate indicating that the dreaded lurgy had grabbed them and they would not be running the 41^st, 14km, City to Surf this year. What had started as a fully pumped excited group of 6 was now down to one rather nervous but still pumped individual ready to battle mind and body, in an inaugural run with 69,000 other likeminded athletes.

 Cross section of C2S

Had I done enough training to not only make it up the dreaded 2km stretch known as Heartbreak hill, but also have enough left over to finish the final 6km, have I drunk enough water this morning, do I need to go to the toilet, is this jumper too hot, what about my hat, when do I start stretching? A million thoughts racing through the head trying to distract you from focusing on your goal. All pushed aside as a break in the weather allowed the crowds to make their way to their designated start point. I was an hour early but several hundred other ‘blue group’ participants had been even earlier.

The good thing about waiting was the generally happy nature of the crowd. Inflatable balls appeared out of nowhere, music was pumping from the street speakers and as it came closer to the start time jumpers, scarves and umbrellas started flying towards trees and, in my case, a bus shelter as the runners readied themselves for the gruelling task ahead. The girl guides come along afterwards and gather the clothing for charity. I proved why I was a runner and not a basket-baller as I lobbed my jumper towards the bus stop, slipped and took out two people in front of me.

The wheelies (elite wheelchair athletes) took off to a great cheer at 7.55am and their race was eventually won by legendary Kurt Fearnly in 38.03; A man who has crawled the Kokoda track. The seeded runners and Red group shot away at 8.00am and were the only group with any hope of winning the place prizes as times are all based ‘off the gun’. First male across the line was Liam Adams in 41.11 and first female was Jess Trengrove in 47.29.

With half an hour to go before I started, I allowed myself to reflect upon what had led to me being here in the first place.

12 months earlier and I got puffed walking up a set of stairs, my son had just turned one and was starting to walk, thoughts of a second baby were not being considered and my body was starting to cash those cheques I had written over the last 43 years. I think it was the time that I found out Nicole was pregnant (November  2011)with our daughter, that I took a bit of a stocktake. I needed to make some serious changes to be able to keep up to my children. When they turned 18 I would be 60! It had to be cost neutral so joining a gym was out of the question.

In order to stay motivated, you have to do something that you like and you have to set some goals. For me that was running. I had won several cross country races in my early teens and ran on & off over the years. My brother-in-law Shannon has also reinvigorated my interest as he had just completed his first City 2 Surf and half marathon and was considering running a full marathon the next year.

I started out slowly as a walk and worked my way up to 5km .Eventually I shuffled on the down hills and then along the flats. By that stage it was Christmas 2010 and Nicole was pregnant and there were many celebrations to be had so I had a few weeks off. About mid-January I started again doing my walk/run 5km route. In February 2011 I decided that I was going to run the City 2 Surf and that night was my first 5km non-stop, non-walk run. It took 37minutes and felt like it almost killed me. I ran the same 5km route 2-4 times a week for about 6 weeks. Every time I finished 5km I would wonder how on earth I was going to run three times that distance.

I found and started to use an old training program for the city to surf which increased by 1km each week up to 14km. I was exhausted at the end of each run but after 5 weeks I had built up to 10km. I was totally amazed and took some practical advice and took a 5 day break. 4 more weeks of running and then along came my beautiful little daughter. That was so wonderful. Thought I would take another 5 day break at that stage. 5 days turned into 9 days. Big mistake.  Coming back was harder than I thought but I persisted and was feeling quietly confident so entered and completed the 11km Sutherland to Surf race. With 3 weeks to go I packed the family into the car and drove the city to surf course. Wow, that is one steep hill! 4 days later I got a cold which knocked me out for 6 days. With 10 days to go I squeezed in 7 runs including one of 13kms.

On the morning of the race I had a light weet-bix breakfast and drove up to the station and jumped on the 6.35am train to the city. And here I was, ready and waiting for the starters gun.

Blue group stepped off to a great cheer at 8.30am and you could see from the smiles and good luck being thrown around that morale was quite high. As we approached the start timing mat the pace picked up and you were able to begin to slow trot. From the moment I hit the start point to the very end of my race I passed other people and other people passed me the whole way.