City to Surf Tomorrow, brief mention of 5k disappointment

It's Saturday night and I'm at the youth hostel in Sydney.

Tomorrow is the city to surf and I'm downloading podcasts and ripping my two new cds by chairlift and the hilltop hoods to load up the ipod shuffle with listening material for tomorrow.

After a few days walking around Sydney I am recquainted with how hilly it is, tomorrow is going to be a challenging hilly course. However - I have run far greater distances in the past, and If I approach it just as a training run it should be an interesting and fun cultural experience (It's 75,000 runners, the largest fun run in the world, and it ends at Bondi Beach which I've never been to before).. I will try to remember to chill out and manage the moment (hence loading up the ipod, definitely not a run where I want to rely on breath association as the only tool to get me through).

Disappointingly, when I bolted out the house on Thursday morning I forgot to pack my cantoo singlet that I'd worn to training and then washed the night before. So I will be running without my cantoo identification, and hence without all the support and cameraderie a CanToo singlet generates! I will still go and say hello to the cantoo guys after the race, you can't stop me.. and at least I've got my shoelaces!

I think it's going to be pretty warm but I'll wear my addidas running tights since I can stuff some cash in the back pocket to head out for breakfast afterwards (If I can.. I'm sure Bondi will be a madhouse).

I'm pretty exhausted right now and a bit dehydrated. The last two days I spent wandering around Sydney and taking in the glorious sunshine, but haven't taken the best care of my hydration needs. I didn't exactly rest the past two days but I didn't train either, my legs aren't fresh but they don't feel like they're about to fall off.

Thursday morning though when I first got here I went for a run up to the Botanic Gardens and then spent an hour giving myself a personal training session, lots of repeated short bursts of activity like sprints and running up stairs and ab work. It was actually great fun and a type of workout I'd like to do more of in the future - very sore Friday though!

I was in part trying to appease for my very disappointing 5k run on Wednesday. I worked hard, had the heart rate about where I wanted it, and managed to just stay in control.. Conditions that I hoped would result in an improvement on the last 5k when I went too hard, had no control, but almost broke 30 mins - this time it was 31 mins something and I was really quite down about it.

But tonight that's not on my mind at all, I just want to get some hydration in me, get the ipod loaded and then get some rest, and get my gear ready for the morning! It's a 9 oclock start and apparently the back of the pack won't start until after 9:30 or perhaps even closer to 10, so I don't need an early start which is quite nice! I will probably shower tonight so tomorrow morning I can get up, eat a light breakfast (not an option on those 7am starts), and head out the door just before 9.