I was pretty happy I only had to contend with 8 steps on my way to work this morning. Two to get on the bus, two off the bus (yes, I took the bus this morning) and four to walk up to the escalator. It took most of yesterday afternoon to recover from the half marathon, but all things considered, I'm feeling pretty good today.
The run certainly wasn't the most put together race I've ever done. The start didn't have a clock for me to see when I crossed the start line and there were no clocks around the course to help clue me in. I have an app on my phone that tracks time and distance using GPS, but I'm not fully confident in the distance part. I'd say about two thirds of the way in, I start to feel a few blisters forming on the arches of both my feet. Not was I wanted at that point. But I popped a few Clif Blocks and kept on going. I did walk a little bit longer at the water stops and tried to check my phone to see where I was at, but I think that was more of an excuse to walk a little bit. But, after crossing the line in 2 hours 3 minutes and 42 seconds, I'm wishing I didn't walk that extra bit. I was really hoping for a sub 2 hour finish, but I guess I'll have to wait for next time. I think it also would have helped to know the course better. The loop where I thought we finished was actually right off the bat. That really confused me, having no clue how far I'd been running. Here's a map of the run from my phone. According to the GPS I had on me, with all the weaving in and out of people, I ran 13.96 miles. Which, at that time, I'd be perfectly happy with.
The run started at the top by Kirribilli and came down towards the city. I wish I had paid more attention to the scenery running across the Harbour Bridge, but since this was the first long run I've done without any sort of pacing tool, I was trying to get a sense of my speed than anything else. The course then went through the Botanical Gardens and then to the highway. This was when I started noticing the blisters as we went up and down on and off ramps to Pyrmont. I thought at this point I was slightly ahead of where I needed to be, but I could actually feel the individual blisters forming and squishing. But I powered on as best I could. As I came down to the last kilometer, I was feeling pretty spent. There was a lady who forced me to run. I didn't catch her name or number, but I definitely want to thank her. She kept me going for that last stretch, onto the cobble stones of Circular Quay and around the corner to finish at the Sydney Opera House.
As cool as it is to finish the Chicago Marathon near Buckingham Fountain, this was probably a little bit cooler finishing right on the steps of the opera house on the harbour. It was some confusion at the finish line. Nothing was really setup well to keep people moving. Everyone picked up a bottle of water and then spewed out into the gardens. No food and certainly no beer. I had to wait till I walked the 3 miles back to my apartment for that. You might be asking why I had to walk another 3 miles. Well, apparently all buses were off that day since most of the downtown streets were cut off or affected in some way. And since there aren't any train routes that get close to my place, I had to hoof it. But I did walk along the marathon course and help cheer those people on. While I'm glad I did the half this year, I'll definitely be doing the full marathon next year, with a proper training schedule. After I plunked down on my couch I decided to add up all my training from when I arrived in Sydney back in April to come up with a total. And with pretty good record taking (mandated by the gym), I ran 13.5 miles at the gym since July, 8.75 in August for the City2Surf and roughly 2 when I first got down here in May. So for running only 24.25 miles, I feel pretty good about my time. With a proper running regiment, I think I can probably knock a good 10 minutes off that time. We'll just have to wait and see.
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