What can I say?! What a well organised and beautiful event! Loved it! Next year I think I will definitely run the full as the half just wasn't enough - I wanted more, much more, lol... Running over the harbour bridge was simply: WOW, and the rest of the course didn't disappoint either. Nor did the amazing (but too short) double-handed, post-race complimentary massage. This might have been my favourite moment! Nothing like a good hard glute massage. The only downside (and really, it's not that bad) was the annoyance of carrying a phone with me the whole way - the first time I have done so. The reason being that I really wanted to snap as many photos of the course as possible (you can check them out below) so it wasn't a wasted effort. BUT - I definitely prefer running with nothing at all, no phone and no gadgets - running 'naked' if you will - free and like a bird! Sort of... Much less hassle. But then, I wouldn't have the photos of this event otherwise! So all good :)
I surprised myself with the time - I was expecting to have finished in a much slower time, considering I felt I took it quite cruisily (having just had some eye laser surgery I was being cautious not to jolt my head too vigorously and was aiming to glide around Sydney zen-like!) and even stopped to sip on the sports drinks instead of running/choking/attempting to drink on the go, and slowed down for the said many photos too.
Could I have run this one faster? Absolutely. Does it matter though? Not really. However, it is kind of encouraging for the next half in a couple of weeks' time - and I think I might have a crack at trying to run the next one a little bit faster and see how I go. IStadium run - I'm coming for you!
My good result this morning though was no doubt helped by the excellent pre-race prep the night before consisting of catching up with family while eating copious amounts of home-made fried rice with the footy on in the background (not that I'm a footy fan, but I am a furious fan of awesome alliteration). Might make this a standard pre-race ritual! :)
And as for those photos that I went to extreme lengths to get (i.e. the carrying around my phone for the whole race), here they are - from start to finish, my morning in pictures: