Wasn’t the bridge looking absolutely stunning this morning?
Fitting, given that it was the Blackmores Bridge Run today.
The Bridge Run is the 10K race of the Sydney Running Festival. Other race options are the marathon, half marathon and a family 3K run. Both the race bibs and finisher’s medals are clearly colour coded for each event.
The total number of runners registered for festival events is about half that of the Sydney City To Surf. There was a practically intimate total of 16000 runners for the Bridge Run which allowed for the route to be marked by several tight turns through historic areas of the city near the Observatory, Hyde Park and the Art Gallery of New South Wales that were sandwiched between surreal runs along the Harbour Bridge and up the concourse to the Opera House.
I liked that the course was relatively flat and the course didn’t feel too crowded. Both were great confidence boosters and helped me enjoy the run and not get too caught up in my niggling aches and pains and the dregs of that head cold from Friday.
I’m also counting myself as extremely privileged as a recreational runner to have had the chance to run races through some of the city’s most beautiful and historic locations on the Bridge Run and the City 2 Surf this year.
The races complement each other in terms of technical difficulty and distance as well as the terrain that they cover. And they both have such convenient starting (and finishing) locations. I’m coming back for both next year if the planets align as they have this year.
I spent quite a bit of time wandering aimlessly under the sails of the Opera House after the run, basking in my surprisingly good finishing time.
I wandered along the Bennelong Lawn
and looked out into Farm Cove
before my gaze returned to the Opera House behind me.
It’s Sydney.
Of course there was a bar at the finish line. Open and with lines of potential patrons at 9am.
It’s days like this that make me love this city hard.
It’s not hard to momentarily forget the traffic, the public transport meltdowns and that relentless hustle when you get to kick back on a sunny Sunday morning amongst a sea of like-minded strangers who are just all there to have a good time. And to help each other take their best post-race smartphone photos.
It wouldn’t be race day without a post-race walk of pride to a purveyor of high-quality refined carbs.
These are but a few of the range of doughnuts available at the Walker’s Doughnuts stand in the basement of the Galeries. I highly rate the apple and custard filled doughnut.
And here we are. Sunday evening and I’ll be spending it the way the day began. Doing some yoga and foam rolling to get this old lady’s joints back into gear for the week ahead. If you’ve gotten yourself a solid starter tan from the weekend’s running, it would be a crying shame if you were unable to work it because you’re hobbling around with a dodgy lower back and posterior chain.
Be well and may Monday treat you and your joints with care.
