Race Day: City 2 Surf

Last Sunday was the day of reckoning: City 2 Surf race day. Jeremy has been training for three month and it finally time to see if all that training had paid off.

So early in the morning, I pushed him out the door with a camel back and a pocket full of Gu to run14kms from downtown Sydney to Bondi Beach.

He was in the second heet of racers so we could see the blue heet (the first to leave) just finishing as we arrived at the start line. Yes, that is the blue heet jam packed onto the road and stretching out for kilometers. Oddly, while we stood there warming up, just minutes after the last blue runner crossed the starting line, the radio hosts announced that the had just been won by a man who ran the whole thing in 40 minutes! It's amazing to think the last guy in his heet had barely even started!

Jeremy, of course, wasn't running to win it (maybe next year?) but enjoyed showing off his bulging biceps for me anyway as I watched him get all stretched out for the big start.

And before I knew it, he was gone! Off and running as one of the last few out of the yellow heet. And so began another race: trying to get to Bondi Beach. 

The majority of the Bondi train line is underground but there is one brief moment where it pops up near Double Bay and I got my one sweet shot of the race around half way. The trains themselves were pretty empty but the buses were a bit full and as I descended the hill down to Bondi on a special service bus, I could see lots of runners making their way back to the train station.

The beach was packed with thousands of runners and family members cheering them on as the crossed the finish line.

80,000 people -- that's how many were out to run the race that day! And when I look back on photos like this one near the finish line, I can only wonder how many were trampled...

And what race would be complete without a few famous faces?

Like Duff Man of Simpson's fame.

 Or Batman? (Robin was just behind him.)

Or just those entirely unashamed to beg for attention? (I thought it was pretty funny. I bet they had terrible sun burns!)

But my favorite runner was this guy:

I waited for an hour to see him run up to the finish line but he slipped past me and we only found each other a whole 45 minutes later. And how did this sporty man do? He finished at 1:25:27 and 23,744th place. Not bad I say! A whole half hour better than he thought he would do!

I was and still am so proud of him for finishing and for running the whole thing. He is such an amazing guy!

The rest of our day was at a bit slower pace. We walked back to Bondi Junction to catch a train (stopping for bagels and Borjomi Georgian water along the way) and then did nothing for the rest of the afternoon. His knees and feet hurt a bit from pounding the pavement but all in all, it was a success. 

Next year, maybe I'll run with him. :)