Sydney: SMH Half Marathon

This morning, I ran the SMH Half Marathon. It was my first half marathon, the longest, but also most exhilarating, run of my life thus far. I'd been training earnestly for 10 weeks -- running 3x/week, yin yoga and even a detox. It's only 21.1K (nothing compared to a 42K marathon!), but I still felt butterflies in my stomach as race day approached. It was a mixture of nervousness, excitement, and of course, "Shit, do I really want to do this?" But as soon as I opened up the race pack yesterday, and saw the souvenir running chip, I said to BL who was also running his first race with me: "I want a collection of these." This, coming from the mouth of someone who would have scoffed at the idea of going on just a half hour run 5 years ago. Another reminder of the wisdom behind that James Bond movie: Never Say Never.

Perfect blue-sky morning from Hyde Park

For my first half marathon, I could not have asked for a more ideal race. The weather, course and crowd were amazing. The start in front of St Mary's Cathedral by Hyde Park was simply picture perfect. I loved running through charming Rocks, up Argyle Street, the view of Sydney Harbour Bridge and of course the Opera House. The crowd was pretty awesome. There was a great sense of comraderie, especially for and among the orange-shirted Can Too runners running to raise money for cancer research. It was inspiring to run behind a blind runner, guided by runners from Achilles Running Club. I was amused by people along the course holding signs that read: "Run! Zombies are chasing you!!" I was spurred on by the woman banging out a steady cadence on the Hunter Street hill. I loved hearing the sound of plastic cups crunching under runners' feet 300m before I could even see the drinks station. Even my iPhone knew exactly when to play Placebo's cover of Kate Bush's "Running up that Hill" -- the second time I had to tackle the hills of Pitt and Hunter Streets. It was also interesting to see how different runners geared up along with their individual quirks. Compression pants were widely spotted. Lots of runners with taped-up knees, shins or ankles. My favourite quirk was seeing how a runner had taped his earphone buds to his ears. Interestingly though, the top seeded runners were the most minimally decked out -- running shorts instead of compressions pants, no bandages, braces or tape, and no earphones.

8,854 runners lined up behind the start line by St Mary's Cathedral

Race completed, I can now confirm that half marathons are addictive. KS, who had to sit out this race on doctor's orders, has already been baiting me with the 19 September Blackmore's Sydney Running Festival, where the half marathon includes a run across Sydney Harbour Bridge. Very tempting...