Mother’s Day Classic 2011
This morning marked my 5th year running the Mother’s Day Classic 8K in Sydney’s Domain. (Previously: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010.) This year I was joined by the Snook and by my friend Kunaal. I actually had 7 miles on the schedule for today, so the Snook and I decided to run the 2 miles to the start of the race. We did 3:1 intervals the whole way. It was pretty cold out there at first, but eventually we warmed up. We met up with Kunaal at the Cathedral and then headed to the starting line. As usual, it was a complete and utter circus. I’ve run this race many times and I like the vibe and the cause, but the organisation is just a MESS. There are too many people running on a course that is far too small for them. We had to run all the way to the Art Gallery just to get across the course to the starting line (since they had it all fenced off). Luckily we made it to the start with a few minutes to spare. They seemed to be releasing the group in waves. We were towards the back, which was fine with us. It probably took us 10 minutes to get across the line, but eventually we were off!

Kunaal ran with us and we kept up our 3:1 intervals. It was hard at the start because of the immense crush of people. We’d only just completed the 1st km and were heading back down Art Gallery Road when we heard sirens behind us. The lead runners had already completed 4K and were lapping us! It was utter confusion. Art Gallery Road is fairly narrow there, and you had lanes of people running in both directions with a crowd of people watching at the fence on either side. We moved out of the way to let the motorcycle and the lead runners past. Up ahead though, I could see that NO ONE was moving aside! The motorcycle siren was whooping, but people just didn’t get out of the way. The lead runner actually caught up to the motorcycle and passed it (while shoulder-charging some woman out of the way). It was madness. I bet the elite runners were pretty pissed about it.

Anyway, once we got past the Art Gallery things opened up and it was fun again. The Snook and I chatted the whole way. Kunaal kept up with us for the first 5K or so but then dropped back a little bit as his shins were hurting him. My legs felt a little tight, but I knew we were nearly done. The Snook and I decided to skip the walk breaks on the last kilometer and run it in. We finished in 60:10, which is pretty good! Definitely not my PB, but the goal was just to have fun and not injure myself, so I’m happy. (Plus I did run an extra 3.8km before the start!) Here’s my RunKeeper data.

Happy Mother’s Day! Read on to see some photos. Me and Snookums waiting at the Cathedral for Kunaal before the race.

As we were slowly moving towards the starting line, I noticed Mario and Luigi entertaining the crowd on the sidelines. I immediately handed my phone to Rodd and told him to take my photo with them! Luigi’s face CRACKS ME UP.

More serious now. I’m showing off my red WWBD? bracelet. B stands for Barb, and she’s the toughest, nicest person I know. I wrote WWBD? on my hand for one of my long runs a few weeks ago and posted a photo on dailymile. Another amazing local runner named Kirsten decided to get actual bracelets produced and sent me one! How cool is that?

And lastly, here’s me and the boys after the race. Such a great day!