The 9 km Bridge Run

Well today was the big day - Alex and I had been training for the past 6 weeks since we completed the Bay run (7km) for our next big challenge, the Bridge run. An iconic Sydney event where runners start in North Sydney, run across the harbour bridge, across the Cahill expressway, down Macquarie st, out through the Botanical gradens to Mrs Macquarie's chair and back to the Opera House. We didn't think that another 2 kms was such a big thing, and we ran close to 9kms in our last few training runs.

However I hadn't factored in 30degree heat, a half hour wait to get started - standing in the blazing sunshine and not enough water stops enroute. That combined with hundreds of walkers and people pushing prams, meant that a nice steady jog was out of the question.

We first saw our support gang around the 4km mark and I honestly felt that soon after that I was ready to give up. Luckily I had Alex gently coaxing me along, but by the time we eventually crossed the finish line, I was totally 'over' running in all shapes and forms! It was gruelling and not at all enjoyable!

All the kids could do was ask where my medal was and if it came with a goody bag and then proceeded to argue over who was getting which. In the meantime I was swooning on the side of the road under the Opera House steps trying to get my breath and stop myself from vomiting!

Don't suspect I'll be trying that again in a hurry - although the best bit about it all was that I managed to raise $1500 for The Red Cross, my charity of choice. Thanks go to all my family and friends who supported me both financially and mentally.