Monday, August 31, 2009

Bridge to Brisbane 10K

Lisa and I completed our first road race Sunday, the 10km Bridge to Brisbane!

The race runs over Brisbane's Gateway bridge and attracted over 40,000 racers this year, making it the largest turn-out of the event's history. That's a lot of people getting up at 5am.

Not having a running leg and being reasonably out of shape, we decided to register in the event as walkers this year, however, that changed a little once we crossed the starting line.

The atmosphere was incredibly exciting and I started getting a very nervous, fast paced, "let me at it" hop/skip to my step at the start line. I was resisting, trying to remember there was a whole lot of race left to go, until I heard Lisa say "just go for it". We both broke into a run!

We jogged on and off throughout the race, climbing the bridge in great time and keeping up a solid pace the whole way. I had to make one very quick pit-stop to add an additional stump-sock inside my huge socket after so much jogging, but all in all, we really pushed the pace.

The coolest part was running the last 500m into the stadium area, side by side and crossing that finish line together. We both got a little lump in our throats. It was a great moment!

We're not sure what our results are yet, but we think we did well for our first race. It will definitely give us something to improve on.

I think that will be the last race we register in as "walkers".


Schneider Electric team.


At the finish line.

2 comments:

  1. Way to go!!

    I tell you, just walking 10km so soon after your amputation is impressive... let alone pushing the pace.

    Thanks so much for the offer of a place to stay for World's in a couple of weeks. It hasn't been my year as far as training goes - too many leg issues. I am going to take 2009 off from the ITU World's and hope to be back with a vengeance in 2010!

    You should go down and watch the race though... the Paratriathlon will be on Sunday a.m. and the elites Sunday afternoon. It should be super exciting....

    Cheers!

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