Saturday 26 May 2012

Gelato, Star Wars and Half Marathons Oh My!


Gelato, Star Wars and Half Marathons Oh My! (A weekend recap a week late- a second )

I insisted on a low-key start to the weekend to be as mentally and physically prepared as I could be for the half-marathon on Sunday (a VERY patient and understanding hubby went along with my demands).  We cooked dinner in Friday and Saturday night and had a pretty relaxing day on Saturday spent running some errands (fun times as always) and at the Maritime Museum here in Sydney.  The museum was surprisingly good with lots of different exhibits.  We have been on a bit of a museum kick so to speak lately and have a new obsession with free tours that they all seem to have (who knew).  The few free tours we have done have been great- usually volunteers who take you around the exhibits explaining and telling stories.  Much more entertaining having someone explain everything to you!  


Yes.  This was a highlight of the tour.  A boat made entirely of beer cans.  And yes, it is mostly VB.

We capped Saturday night off watching Star Wars Episode 1, as we have decided to re-watch them all in order (yeah, we really are that awesome). The hubby kept falling asleep... so I guess it was actually just me watching Star Wars :)

Moving onto Sunday.  I did not sleep well at all… due mostly to the stress and anticipation of the run I imagine, and was up bright and early at 4:55am.  Made our way down to the CBD for a 6:45am start time.  It was crazy how many people were there… even waiting for the train to get to Town Hall was very crowded.  Something like over 13,000 were registered, which was a new record number for this half marathon.  Crazy pants indeed.


 Here is where I was before the start of the race.  The yellow group was the last to go, so there is a good view of the masses of people in front of us.

To be honest the whole morning went by in a blur.  Not sure if it was just being in “the zone”, being very tired or a combination.  I was nervous about not pacing myself well so I started off pretty slow, which worked out well as I didn’t really get tired the whole time.  It was a really nice run through the city starting and ending at Hyde Park.  Pretty much you run down towards the Opera House, under the Harbour Bridge, through Pyrmont and loop back.  It was a cool start to the morning (good for me!) and the rain held off until after the run.  My only complaint was because there were so many runners, it was hard at times to get around people.  There seemed to really be no rhyme or reason to where people were running in the streets (ie slow runners were not to one side, there was no side really to pass on either).  This of course is a minor complaint.  The hubby surprised me about 1/2 way through the race.  It was fun/exciting to see him at that point and gave me a boost of energy for the rest of the run!

It was a crazy feeling to actually finish the run.  Partly due to it being the first long race I have done, partly because it seemed like such a crazy goal.  If you had told me a year ago I was going to be living in Australia and running a half marathon I would have thought you were crazy! 

The day continued with Brekkie with some good friends, wine tastings in the rain, and gelato (at the casino, much to the delight of the hubby).  It worked out quite well where the boys went to play craps and the girls got to avoid this by going for Gelato Messina (the best gelato in Sydney as they always have peanut butter based options!).


We capped the weekend off with Thai food and Star Wars Episode II.  This is by far the worst of all 6 movies and I am glad to be done with it!  Now that the run is complete, I actually have time to think/plan for our US trip in less than 2 weeks!  I’m sure it will be a busy week with minimal if any posts… until next weekend anyways :)

Oh and in case anyone was curious about my time:

Net time (actual running time start-finish) 1 hr 48 minutes 26 seconds (not too shabby for my first one if I do say so myself)
   

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