Round the Bays

In a sudden turn of events. I actually ran Round the Bays on Sunday. When I met Joseph on Thursday. Just before we parted, he mentioned that he was going to run Round the Bays on Sunday. I've always wanted to run at a road running event. This time I had a friend who was in it. So yeah I registered just days before the event.

By the way, I also realized that I actually walked for 7.5 km a few weeks ago, so the 8.4 km run of Round the Bays shouldn't be a problem. So yup, let's do this.

Actually I kind of warmed up before the race on Sunday morning. I missed the bus that is nearest to my home. So I had to walk further to catch the bus on another route. They were the express buses. Many people in athletic gears all tried to get on the bus. I got on and took one of the few remaining seats. Then at the next stop, there were like 40 people waiting to get on the bus, it took like 8 minutes to board passengers at that stop. Some people were left behind because the bus was full. The bus was full people going to run and I saw people in team t-shirts. There were Tower at the back of the bus, NZI in the middle and Sovereign at the front. Why were all these insurance companies squashed on the same bus? Luckily it wasn't a day for hostility. And even better, nobody tried to sell me any insurance product. :P

Joseph and I said we'd meet at 9.10am but his friend was late for driving him there. The starting line on Quay Street got really crowded so we couldn't meet before the run started. Oh, while I was waiting for Joseph at the start line. I met somebody else. Tony Wang! He was there with his family. He said he had run at this event for the past few years.

Luckily Joseph and his friend waited at Mobil near the start of the route and we met up. It delayed us and kind of put us at the back of the crowd, though. At the beginning part of the run, it was crowded and difficult to actually run. The event organizer said walkers on the left and runners on the right. However, I encountered a few walking people every few seconds when I tried to run on the right edge of the road. I couldn't run in a straight line and had to change direction and pace all the time. Soon, I was separated from Joseph and his friends. We agreed to make our own ways there and meet at the finish line.

I got to the first water station. Cool. I get to grab a cup of water, drink it, and throw it on the road just like those marathon runners I saw on TV. There was also a person who held a hose to spary water over the air so people could run through it to cool if they wanted to. Hey, isn't that Tony? Ha, somehow I met Tony again. We just exchanged a few words and we started running again. They weather was perfect. It was sunny but not too hot. It didn't feel humid. It was very comfortable to run.

After a while, the road became less crowded. People were more spread out. I could run more easily. I kept my pace slow and steady so I didn't burn out. After running past Mission and other beaches, I finally crossed the finish line at St Heliers Bay. woohoo~ That wasn't too hard. ha :P

I met up with Joseph in a few minutes and we found a place where you can print out your time. My time was, 72 minutes and 4 seconds. Joseph was a few minutes slower. Hey that was quite good. I checked other people's 2008 results on the web site before the race and found the average was about 80 something minutes. So, 72 minutes was quite good, and we were probably faster because we were delayed at the starting line for a few minutes.

沒圖沒真相... 這邊先留空，之後跟Joseph拿了照片再貼圖。

Hey, you don't believe me, you can go to Round the Bays web site and check people's results. You can also check if people you know were in the race :P

Next year, if I practise before the event and go to the front of the starting line, I'll aim to finish under 60 minutes. I think I can.  :)