We enjoyed much better weather for this City2Surf weekend than last year. There was some rain later on Sunday but most of the time we had gorgeous sunny weather. We had a bit of consternation on the day we arrived when we found out there was no parking for the apartment. We did realise later that when we booked the apartment they did advertise parking but those details were all scrubbed from the listing by the time we arrived. GRRR!! Anyway G parked mostly legally opposite the apartment and we unpacked our bags then he drove off to find a carpark. Our friend was already at the apartment. and our other friend would be arriving on late flight (delayed from the Thursday due to her having RSV earlier in the week and needing some more time to recover). Finally G arrived back at the apartment.

Later in the afternoon, when we figured all the builders would be packing up, we went for a walk towards the car to see if there were some closer spots, which there was. P and I waited while G went and got the car and he ended up having his pick of a couple of untimed parking spots overlooking Tamamara Beach. After nabbing that car spot we kept walking along the coastal path to Bondi and settled in at our favourite pub. I stuck with non-alcoholic beverages (my pre-race week commitment) but once it was happy hour P started sampling the cocktails. By then another group of friends had arrived in Bondi and they joined us for drinks. We spent a few good hours chatting then wandered to the supermarket to pick up supplies for the weekend. We stopped at the apartment to drop the food off and then we continued up the hill to Mama Made Roti for dinner. We finished dinner pretty early (it was good) and walked back to our apartment. A few games of bananagrams and it was time to get ready for bed. I was almost ready to climb in when our other friend finally arrived. We had a quick chat, then it was lights out.

The next morning G got up early and disappeared for his run. Later I caught the bus and met him near Centennial Park. While he walked down, I did my pre-race activation run and we met just near Moore Park to go to the expo and pickup our bibs. The guy checking us in shoveled big handfuls of Pure hydration mix into our arms with a wink and told us to keep it quiet. I now have a whole tupperware container full of the sachets in my pantry. I bought some more pairs of toe socks, but we were out of there pretty quickly and headed back to the apartment.

P and L had been down to the beach for a swim—way to cold for me—and picked up some food from the farmer’s market so we had a full fridge for the weekend. Then it was feet up, a nap for me, and then reading or watching the footy on TV. Later we walked down to Bondi to meet Mel (we stayed at her house in Umina Beach before arriving in Sydney) who was working but was going to take a coffee break. Soon it was time to make dinner. We were catering for our friends who were staying nearby, mainly because we had a good living area with a sizeable dining table. I started looking through the cupboards and realised we didn’t really have enough big saucepans to cook the pasta so messaged our friends to bring one from their accommodation. We were cooking pasta for seven people and in the end had to do three lots with our two saucepans. Dinner was yummy, spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread with a salad. Everyone ate their fill and there was a good portion leftover which would come in handy the next day. Then we played many rounds of bananagrams before everyone dispersed to get their race kit together and get an early night.

The alarms were set for bright and early in the morning and by 6:30 we were in the line for the bus. Well, everyone except for G who was running the 8K to the start line.The bus went express all the way to the start line at St James Park. We all got together for a group photo (except G) and then headed off to our separate start coralls. I was green which has a predicted time of 70-90 minutes. I did a quick warm up with some drills, jogging and strides then found myself a nice little spot not too far back and not too far forward. The start from green wave is always very good. The corral is at right angles to the race course so you are funnelled around and into road about 10m before the start line so it is not congested through the start line like some other races I’ve been in. Since the green wave needs a qualifying time people are usually running at a fairly similar pace.

City2Surf is supposed to be the biggest fun run in the world and the sold out this year with 90,000 entrants, although not all of them end up running on the day. When you can see the road ahead (on the uphills and downhills) it look like a mass of people all over the road, but when you are in it, there is always enough room around you and I very rarely found myself obstructed. My main goal this year was DO NOT WALK!! And I nailed it! Second goal was to get a PB. The race is 14K with 210m of elevation. Heartbreak hill around the 6K mark is about 2K long. I just kept turning the legs over, but didn’t look at my watch to see how fast I was going. After that you go down then up again before the very long downhill. By this time my shoelaces must have loosened and not far into the hill my feet were sliding forward with each step and my big toe slamming into the front of the shoe. I felt it, but I was too far in so just shrugged my shoulders and kept going. I knew I needed to make the most of the downhill. About a K later I could see the finish line just a couple of 100 meters away but I was not sucked in, because I’ve done this before and know there’s still about a kilometer to go. My legs protested the sudden change from steep downhill to slight uphill but pulled themselves together after a few hundred meters. I was sure I’d missed my PB chance at this stage but kept going and finally finished with a 15s PB.

I made my way out of the finishers area and G texted me that he had my coffee, so I met him and the rest of the gang and we slowly walked back to the apartment. The shower was very welcome, then we made up a big breakfast of eggs, mushrooms and spinach on toast. The rest of the day was filled with a nap, playing Skip Bo, eating cheese, drinking wine and watching the footy. Later in the afternoon it started raining and you would not believe how happy I was to have the leftover pasta from the previous night. It was so good to have food to eat that we didn’t have to cook or go out for.