Bridge to Brisbane 12km

Today started at a rather early time, the earliest that I've been up ever in the history of my time in Australia... a whopping 4:30AM to be picked up by my friend Al at 4:45AM. We had to pick up another friend who was running over in West End and make it to the race start by 5:30AM (apparently the organizers wanted to be absolutely sure no one would be late). So getting out of the car near the race start at 5AM was pretty much right up there with how cold I was when I was sick with a fever laying in my sleeping bag at Noosa. It was freaking freezing. The sun had yet to come out and warm the winter brisbane sky. But luckily, since I was among hardcore frisbee players, we broke out the frisbee in the staging area and that really helped us warm up. Once race time came close to 6:50AM, the sun had come up, and wow did that make a difference. It was probably the most beautiful morning that I'd experienced in a while, watching the sunrise come up over the Brisbane Harbor, staying among 33,000 other people viewing the same thing. Around 7AM, the race began, with the all too familar, run 30m, then get slowed to a walk because of the congestion, this wasn't helped at all since we were going up an incline. But while on the bridge, I was treated with a unique sight which most people aren't able to see, a birds-eye view of the Brisbane Harbor, Brisbane Airport to the east and north, and an awesome view of downtown Brisbane City to the west. It was hard to enjoy the view, while maintaining pace, and avoiding falling on top of someone else in the highly-congested pack.



Here's a picture of the bridge... The run after the bridge was pretty scenic, going along the Brisbane River in many parts. The time went by surprisingly quickly, as I was jamming out to my typical workout music. My mile splits were probably around 8min/mile, not too shabby in my book considering this is the first time I'd run outside for training since June 14th. (I'd been playing ultimate frisbee, but that is quite a different type of training) The finish was near the Brisbane Powerhouse in New Farm. After the race, I was pretty knackered out, but doing ok. Much better than I was doing after the SF Half Marathon in Feb at least (I could barely walk then).

We took the bus back to our car, and meanwhile, my bladder was going crazy.. I probably had to go to the bathroom 6 times between 6am and 9am. (I held it for the race)... But afterwards, we treated ourself to a massive breakfast, I bought my first omlet of the summer which could not have been better. However, it was in the shape of a quiche ...and about the size of an individual pizza. I'd never seen something like it, but it was quite good nonetheless. The rest of the day has been pretty uneventful aside from a long sit by the river near the lodge, a long chat with Catherine, and washing clothes. To be honest, it was a perfect Sunday. Right now it's only 8:30, but I'm ready to pass out over this day. But I'm going to try to stay up for a bit longer and plan out the rest of the week, which consists of 3 more days here in Brisbane before my journey continues on to Sydney.