Weekend & Sydney Half wrap...

Saturday

jodie & i headed up to Sydney at about 8.15am stopping to do 2 caches on the way (found the first one near Sutton but not the other one near Lake George)…

called into Kingsgrove & picked up some half spikes for cricket then it was into the city to pick up our event kits…pretty smooth process…also checked out the stalls – jodie bought a long sleeve running festival shirt while i got a cap…

picked up a bite to eat before bumping into wombat & LuckyLegs as we were heading back to the car…

on the way to North Sydney, i pointed out bits of the Family Fun Run course for jodie…

checked into the Vibe then headed back out to cricket training at Chatswood…finished up there around 4.50pm and went to the Great Northern for what turned out to be dinner…afterwards parked at Luna Park & walked up through the start area pointing out more things to jodie, giving her tips on where to start & which side of the road to run on…

back at the hotel we laid out our gear for the next morning – this was the first time jodie had used a timing chip so i popped it onto her shoe for her…

with alarms set for the next morning (5.30am for me) we then settled in to watch the cricket with the TV going off when India were 5/35 (!) with play halted due to rain again…

Sunday

the alarm in the room next door went off a little before mine & then i was up…

headed out the door at 5.50am…handy being so close to the start…i dropped a clothing bag in for jodie so she could have a top at the end…

bumped into Nando & had a bit of a chat to him before heading over to the road…the start area didn't seem as crowded as last year which was probably due to the early bird singlets being sent out in the mail…the weather was perfect…

the start was delayed by about 2 minutes or so & then we were away…only took me about 20 seconds or so to cross the start but it took about 4 minutes for the field to clear the start – jodie was out on the 1st floor balcony filming!...

i seemed to got into a rhythm fairly early & managed sub 5:00 ks until the 8k mark…passed 10k in 48:25…struggled a bit after the turn as first my left calf started to feel tight and then i got a stitch, didn't let it stop me though as i knew i could push through it…

grabbed some jellybeans at 14k and then just concentrated on a steady rhythm back up through Pyrmont…

a Strider pushing a pram (Podrunner?) passed me around the 18k mark…& then it was into "the" hill…i think i managed to run up it faster than last year while there were a lot of people walking the steep bits & then running the "flat" bits…it definitely helped to know the course…

it was fantastic to see the CR cheersquad from so far away (love those pom poms) & get some great support as i "stumbled" past – thanks guys!

managed to run around 4:30 pace into the finish for a course PB of around 9 minutes so i was pretty pleased about that…i had 1:48:08 on my watch & the Telstra text message (free service we signed up for at the Registration Expo) gave me a (gun?) time of 1:48:27…last year my time was 1:57:38 (gun)/1:56:47(chip)

jodie, meanwhile had exceeded all expectations (22:00-22:30) to run the Family Fun Run in 21:48 by her watch (21:55 by the Telstra text)…she was very pleased as this was her first big event…i think she may be back next year!...she gave me a big cheer just before i finished before racing over to join me..

the organisers changed the finishing area around this year so you didn't have to de-chip straight away (a very good thing)…we picked up some drinks & fruit before heading up into the recovery area where we got our free Sunday Telegraph before setting off to get our finisher's medals which we then proudly wore!…we also picked up the bag of goodies from the Sunday Telegraph stand before buying some soft drinks… Gnome came to see how i'd gone & i heard that (as i'd expect) he brought the 120min group in on time…then it was a fruit salad from the Blackmores tent & off to pick up the clothing bag…

we walked down to Circular Quay & caught a ferry back to Luna Park…luckily the Vibe has a late checkout (11am) so it worked out perfectly for us to have showers & some room service before continuing on our merry way…

the rest of the day was spent with a couple of hours at the cricket (watching not playing) in Daceyville (mini-trial matches between Gordon & Universities) & then a trip to Grays Point for Jodie to catch up with one of her old school friends…home just after 7pm…

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the stats:
start temp/humidity: -
start time: 6:33am
total distance: 21.34
total time: 1:48:08
avg pace: 5:04
total calories: 1600
avg HR: 169
finish temp/humidity: -