Sydney City2Surf 2012 - A Race Report

On Sunday 12th Aug, I raced the City2Surf 14km run (in Sydney). I had in mind to give this run a good hot go and see how I am placed for my half marathon in 9 weeks time. I was very pleased with my time of 1:20.56 as I was expecting 1:25 on a course I had never done.

I decided to do this race about 4 or so weeks ago so it was a mad rush of paying for registration with one of my pay periods and leaving accom and flights for the next pay. Due to this delay, I could only find accommodation for hostels (under $100 per night) or hotels (over $180 per night). I assumed that I would have to pay for an extra night's accommodation to cater for the fact that I would like to shower after my run and not to check out before 7am, I decided on the cheap option as my funds for that week was extremely low already. With regards to flights, the cheapest and most suitable ones I could get were for Tiger Airways for $220 return (nothing to complain about there).

Saturday - Pre Race Day

So I flew into Sydney at about 3pm on Saturday after doing a lap of Studley Park with Dale (the Cannondale Tri Bike - an entry about this new bike will be coming soon) - 14km. The bike felt smaller but with better control. I didn't get much of a chance to ride in the tri bars but I did get a few pedals out of the saddle.

The flight into Syd was turbulant due to the rough conditions around Sydney over the weekend. When I arrived, it was a quick train trip to Central Station and a walk to my accommodation. I had booked accommodation through a Hostel Finder and for $80, I was happy with a single bed. But when I arrived, I was unsatisfied with the room I was going to spend the weekend in. The width of the room was small - small enough that I could touch the sides of the walls with the palms of my hands and they provided a small toilet and a sink (no shower). There were no facilities available for me to shower the entire weekend! Not ideal!

Thank God one of the girls from the squad had a room with her partner and they had two Queen beds and asked if I would like to stay with them (and I did!).

I also had to pick up my race kit from the Town Hall before 5pm and I wasn't going to make it in time with the rain so I asked one of the girls from the squad if she could help me out and everything worked out at the end. Note for next year (if I do the race again - arrive on Friday night).

A couple of people from the squad was up in Sydney for the race and so we decided to grab dinner together. Due to the C2S event and the Collingwood v Syd AFL match, many restaurants were booked out. We walked along Darling Harbour and ate at a small (dark) pub called Tokio Hotel. I had Wagyu Spag Bol - prob too much red meat for a meal before a race. Should have chosen chicken or fish (note for next time).

Sunday - Race Day

Having accommodation so close to the Start line was a bonus, we could get up at a reasonable hour (of 6am) and tried to get to the start line by 7:30 to drop off bags. There was a slight miscommunication and authorities abusing their power and I ended up being late for the yellow group bag drop off. Luckily, there was a nice enough volunteer who let me drop off my bag into his truck.

Course Gradient - note all the inclines

As I signed up for this event only 4 weeks ago - I was starting with the yellow group at 9:15am (The first group started at 7:45am). It was not too bad as I had plenty of time to calm down from the rush of the bag drop and also time for a toilet stop and to eat my Shotz Bar. The starting line for the yellow group was interesting as I could spot that this group was most likely not the fastest - there were costumes and ladies who had their face painted thick with make-up. Here I was, in my Tri Alliance singlet, visor and my running shoes on. There was also some pre-race entertainment provided by (cringe-worthy) Kate Cebrano.

Course Map

At this point, I should add that for the life of me, I could not pick up a satellite for my Garmin watch so I have no data apart from the time. I could not pace myself and just ran with how I felt.

When the start gun went off, I was also dodging people left, right and centre. People were walking from start to finish even in the yellow group (there was another group who started behind yellow who were the designated walking group). The run through the CBD was brilliant as most of the shops around the street provided much entertainment. The run through the tunnel was also interesting but not as long as the Burnley run for R4K.

After the tunnel, it was pretty much up hill from there - starting with the famous Heart Break Hill which is about a 1.5km incline. This is where many people stop jogging/running and started to walk. This frustrated me so bad as I didn't want to lose my momentum. I engaged my calves and just ploughed through the crowd - often squeezed myself in between people as they gave me no room to go around.

I am proud to say that I ran the entire way up without slowing down or stopping. I think doing all those hill runs in Studley did pay off - Thanks Coach Greg. I only slowed down to grab cups of water which showed that my fitness had definitely improved.



After the 1.5km hill, the run felt like it just kept going up and up! Surprisingly, my body felt good and I actually felt that I increased my pace from the 10km-13km mark. I noted the times on my watch and I did approx 27:15 for my 5km and under an hour for the 10km - it was hard to judge as there were no signs and my garmin let me down.

The last 2 km was glorious - I still felt good (no niggles) and I could see that many people were struggling at this point. I noticed that there were also people who had the green and blue bibs on within the group that I finished with so it meant that I had caught up with them. The run towards Bondi was beautiful - it was then that I could see how many people were in this event as all you could see was a sea of people on the road running towards the finish line. Now the finish line was not a straight route from the road, it was a big loop which could be deceptive for a first timer and as there were no route markers, I had no idea how much energy I should be conserving for the finish line. Luckily, I had plenty left in the tank and finished strongly with a time of 1:20 on my Garmin. I was stoked!

Offical Result from the Sydney Morning Herald 14/08/2012

I stuck with my plan of a recovery soak in the water (was the ONLY one who did it) and the water was surprisingly warm and so I knew that I would still have DOMS the next day (and true to that, I am struggling with stairs this morning). After the soak, it was a wait in line for the bus (50min), then a bus trip to the station (30min), then a train ride back to Central station (20min) where I also got a little bit lost (no phone on me) on the way back to the accommodation. The time it took me longer to get back to the hotel that it took for me to run 14km.

A quick shower and lunch in Chinatown, I then headed back to the Airport back to Melbourne.

Things to note/ improve on for next year (if I chose to do it again):

• Register early so I get to start with people who actually want to run this course
• Book accommodation and flights early - splurge and pay for hotel. Need to see if it is better to book at Bondi or Central for accommodation.
• Fly in on Friday night - fly out Sunday afternoon 
• Nutrition was spot on (1 bar at the start, 1 Shotz Gel at 30min, 1 isotonic gel at 60min)
• No to Gatorade for running as I found that my stomach was no OK with it - luckily it was washed down with water too.
• Get faster!
• Turn Garmin on as early as possible (so it is able to search for a signal out of the way of others).
• Eat fish or chicken the night before (no red meat) 
• I love my Nike Free shoes - def going to use them for the half marathon - just need to watch out for my arches.

I wanted to add here - a friend from the squad slapped me on the bum so hard (it throbbed like crazy when I ran) when she saw me that her hand print is still on my poor bottom.



If you look closely - '
there is a hand print on my cheek.