Hyde Park, Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, and City 2 Surf

Big Post, this one... Yesterday I went to Hyde Park to do some homework and hang out with friends, and took some pictures:

The ANZAC Memorial

St. Mary's Cathedral - very beautiful on the inside, but there was a wedding going on so I didn't take any pictures

After awhile, we walked to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, out on a point of land overlooking the Harbour:
Apparently Mrs. Macquarie was the wife of the mayor, and he had his workmen build this for her when they built the road out to the point so that she could sit and watch the ships go by in the Harbour:

From the point, we watched the sun set over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House - it was amazing:

I snapped this shot of the Sydney skyline on the way back

That night, I cooked pasta - ziti with a bolognese sauce (with kangaroo meat instead of beef). It was quite good, though I made the mistake of cooking the whole bag of pasta (1 kg) at once, meaning that I now have a very large ziplock bag full of pasta in the fridge... can anyone guess what I'm having for dinner tonight?

Then I went to bed to get some rest for an early morning today.

I woke up at 6:30 for a nice breakfast of bacon, sausage, two fried eggs, and an English muffin with strawberry jam. I figured I'd have plenty of time to meet the UTS team in Hyde Park at 8 before the race started at 9. What I did not count on was locking myself out of the room when I went to take a shower.

The security of our residence is very good. Your UTS ID is your key, and you need it to open the door of the building, move the elevator, open the door of your apartment, and open the door of your room in the apartment. I left my key in my room and shut the door behind me, where it promptly locked. I didn't notice this until I finished my shower and went back. After several unsuccessful attempts to pull on the latch from the inside by sticking a coathanger under the door (it is possible, just very difficult), one of my flatmates came to the rescue by running to Security (I only had my towel, and it was very cold outside) and getting them to bring a master key. By then it was about 8:10. I got to Hyde Park by about 8:45; it turned out to not matter whether or not I met Team UTS - we would all be running in our individual heats, and I already had my bib and timing tag. As I was in the last heat (being relatively late to register, and having no seed time), I didn't start until about 10 anyway.

The run itself was great - winding and hilly (and crowded - 75,000 people were taking part, the largest timed race in the world), but offering great views of the city and the ocean. There were bands playing along the street (some playing rock, some playing jazz, some just drum corps). Around kilometer 4 we hit Heartbreak Hill, a steep-ish and winding road that goes uphill all the way to kilometer 7 (the halfway point is at the crest of a hill, tricking you into thinking that it's all downhill from here, which it's not). We ran through a tunnel, we ran along harbours, we ran across ridges, through neighborhoods and rows of shops, all the way to Bondi Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the world.

I finished at 1:18.48 by my watch (the official time will be printed in Tuesday's paper), a new PR for me since I've never run a race that long before. After that it was down to the beach and the UTS tent, which supplied all UTS runners with BBQ (chicken kebabs and beef sausages, not American BBQ), bananas, apples, water, and tea.

Tents were lined up across the beach - charities, companies, teams, and UTS (the only Uni with a tent; there were 350 UTS runners)

After a bit of a rest, I met up with some Americans from the Australearn group who were planning to hang out at the beach that day anyway and had agreed to bring me a bag of my stuff (camera, phone, a sweatshirt, etc) and we went out to explore the area. We walked down a trail along the cliffs, heading south and getting some great views of Bondi:

It was at this point that my camera decided to run out of batteries; I'll try to get a hold of some more pictures from the day. We went all the way to Bronte Beach, and saw some incredible cliffs and beaches along the way. After that, it was a bus ride back to the city (the City 2 Surf finisher's medal earns a free bus ride back), and now, dinner.

Overall, C2S runners raised nearly $2 million for various charities (each runner chooses one of their own), and, with your help, I've raised $275 for EWB Australia. Just because the race is over doesn't mean you can't still donate though - the donation sites stay open until the end of September (I think) - please help me try to reach my goal of $500!