Nike She Runs, Centennial Park, Sydney

May 2014

Last year was my first year at this event (and the third year for the actual event), and while I didn't love this year's event as much, its still my favourite fun run.

The run is a 10K night race in Sydney's famous Centennial Park and this year another 6,000 women participated.

The names of all the participants this year were on a giant She Runs sign, its always fun spotting yours.

The 10K course changed this year, which included a hill for the first kilometer, I'm pretty sure we didn't hit that hill to a bit later last year.

I can't wait to see what the event holds next year, this year I managed to knock 3 min off my time last year with a PB of 1:02:07. I would love if they did a women's only marathon like in San Francisco, but I doubt we would have the numbers.

NYE, NYC, Midnight run through Central Park

December 2013

The Midnight Run was one of my Wish List items. When we decided to visit NY over the new Year period after booking our accommodation and flights this was the next thing we signed up for.

The 4 mile (or 6.5 km) run takes you through New York's Central Park. The run starts at mid-night as fireworks light up the sky.

It's an easy run for us, but was a great way to bring in the new year and get a run in at Central Park on our trip.

 My only issue was the temperature. It was -5.5C (22F), much colder than I have ever run in before (4C or 40F might be the coldest) and while my top half was warm I couldn't feel my legs (they were numb from the cold) by time we got back to the hotel, despite my "winter" leggings!

Sydney Running Festival

September 2013

The Sydney Running Festival is the only event to remain from the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

For the last two years we've run the 9K Sydney Bridge Run, but this year we went for the Blackmore's Half Marathon.

The runs start under the Harbour Bridge and all end up at the Sydney Opera House, you really couldn't ask for a much prettier course. It was a fabulous experience, and even though I'm a back of the pack runner I still felt really supported by the crowd and fellow runners.

DH finished in a fabulous 93 min, but we discovered what the "front" of the pack runners can miss out on, compared to me who finished in 2 hr 35 min.

1. I got up and close with the wheelchair marathoners, including the fabulous Kurt Fearnley. The first time he came up on the other side was exciting, when he overtook me on the 19k mark (and the 40k mark for him), who knew I would be excited to be over taken?
2. The elite male marathoners came screaming around the 6k mark as I was plodding past the 9k mark, it was a stunning sight
3. Seeing DH at his 20.5 k mark and my 12.5 k mark really lifted me, especially since he wasn't that far off the 90 min pacer so I knew he was going to beat his target (100 min)

My only disappointment is not getting a photo at the finish, with my medal.

I highly recommend this race for the tourist and the local, we will definitely be back for our 4th year next year, who knows maybe even for the full....

Wish List: Destination Runs

It's a recent thing, me actually wanting to run and me actually being able to run more than a few meters. Australia has some pretty spectacular races and we've done the Sydney Bridge Run every year for the past two years (you run over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through the Botanical Gardens and end at the Opera House). But Australia's running events don't have the open times that US events do and that limits me in terms of the half marathon distance. However there are a number of destination runs I would love to do (and I feel are within my capability to do so!):

Hawaii - Kona Marathon

This takes you to the Hawaiian Island of Kona (the one with the Lava). Can't do the 42.2 kilometer distance, then you also have the half (21.1k), the 10k or the 5k. The advantage of this marathon is it's 8 hour cut of time,  and that its on a tropical Island. Where is where the disadvantage comes in (and probably the long cut off), the humidity.

Birdsville - Big Red Run
This one is an ultra marathon, you know one of those races where you don't just run 42.2k, but go further, in fact this one you can "choose" to run up to 250 km in six days....But it raise awareness for a great cause - Type 1 Diabetes.

New York - New Years in Central Park
I covered this one on a previous wish post, but its still at the top of my list. The 4 mile or 6.4 km course starts and midnight. They have fireworks, plenty of supporters and a champagne station, because really would it be NYE without champagne?

Antarctic - Ice Marathon
The attraction to this one because I've never run in snow and I covet the marathon distance, not extremely logical I know. Two things to tick off at once (plus who do you know who's run it?).

And that's just the short list, there are so many runs large and small, short to long distance in every corner of the world....so what are you waiting for?

She Runs the Night, Centennial Park, Sydney

May 2013

This was a female only 10K night run, 6000 females in fact. It was very empowering ;)

They had a wall at the start/finish with all the participants names on it, it made me a little bit emotional.

It was a really fun race, with tons of cool things along the course.

This year was a 10K, last year was a 13K. To be honest I was initially disappointed in the shorter course, but on the day I decided it was perfect, not too much of a challenge which allowed you to have more fun!

My favourite part was at the end, when the screen had the cats follow you to the finish line.

 I can't wait to do the race again next year, hopefully my sister will have started running by then and we can run it together.

PS. Did I mention my PB of 66 min, last year I ran the 9K Sydney Bridge Run in 72 min, not a bad improvement for adding an extra km!