So Saturday was such a busy busy day for me. Pack, Amazing Race and Glow Run.
In the morning I had to pack the big furniture in my house up, along with a whole heap of little things still laying around. We were moving back to mum and dad's that night!
At 11 we set off for the city to compete in the Amazing Race - Great pursuit. It was a 3 hour long race to the finish line to complete all the challenges and tasks set for us.
With a desperate scurry amongst 130 other couples for our clue sheet at the beginning we sat down together to figure out the clues and sort out of route for the afternoon.
First stop Birrurung Marr for a stamp, then onto Rod Laver Arena for some tennis! After getting a little lost and wasting vital energy running up and down a massive flight of stairs, we discovered our entrance to the tennis courts and had a small hit before heading over to the Fitzroy gardens for our "tasty treat".
As expected, we did get lost finding our destination in the gardens, again wasting time and energy but eventually found the group as we raced up the hill. Our tasty treat came in polystyrene cups... not exactly what we were expecting. 3 dead cockroaches was on the menu. Down I popped 2 with a mouthful of grape gatorade, reluctant to keep them down. It was scratchy on the way down, I didn't chew.
On the tram up to the Melbourne baths saw Amee and Lozzy bobbing for duckies in their clothes. Soaked but cooler, we ran to the old gaol for another stamp, down through China town for our next stamp and an answer to one of our clues, down to GPO for another answer and last stop Mr Larry Latrobe to count the studs on his collar. We had 15 minutes to spare and decided to take the time penalty instead of running for the last clue and wasting more time and energy. We had to conserve what we could for the run in the evening!
So we didnt win any prizes, nor did we place even close to the start. The winners finished just over an hour early! Meanwhile we touched down at the finish line 2 minutes early having not completed all our challenges!
We did get a stress ball each though! Makes it all worth it though, right?
Next on our agenda was the 5km Glow Run. I was a little nervous about this because I haven't actually ran 5km at once yet. On top of that it was going to be freezing outside and I don't like to exercise in the cold because it hurts my ears and my throat (yeah, I know. Suck it up princess, right?)
Luckily for my ears they gave us a terry-toweling head band which covered my delicate ears nicely. I had brought a bright pink, long-sleeved running top just incase I got frost-bite but didnt end up needing it. The adrenaline and excitement was the fuel for mine and Laura's fire! We were comfortable in the cold temperature in just our tshirts!
So Chris finally arrived and we spent a bit of time in the arena with the glowing and the DJ's and the dancing... then took our place at the start line. Oh how pretty it all looked, in all its glowing splendor! (as you can see to the left!)
There we so many people, so many glow sticks! I can't even begin to imagine how many glow sticks there were everywhere the next day! Even when we ran they already littered the path!
So we made it through the first wave of the first ever Glow Run in Australia. We were pretty chuffed!
As we ran, I couldnt wipe the smile off my face. Not only was I running with two of my favourite people in the world, but I was RUNNING! And enjoying it. I never even imagined I would be doing fun runs in my life. It was not something I even thought about. It was amazing to run with so many people, and it felt good! So many people ran past me, but a lot of them encouraged me if I slowed down. And every time you approached a volunteer, or even just a spectator, they'd high five you and cheer you on which pushed you to push harder! It was a great feeling.
And just having Laura and Chris there to push me on, but also for me to push them on was great too. Sometimes you FEEL like walking but then they tell you you can't so you don't!
As we approached Federation Square we could hear the music and see the lights again. All we had to do was weave our way up the ramp to Birrurung Marr and cross the finish line. I said "after this ramp we run the rest" and Laura said "No, we run the ramp and THEN run the rest". So thats what we did. Exhausted we weaved left, right, left up the ramp and then ran the last 500m to the finish line. We could see the brilliant bright lights, hear the music pumping, and at the finish was the MC for the night, egging us on as we chase down the party!
And here it is! The most amazing sight after running all over the city, approx 20km for the entire day, 2500 calories burnt and some fantastic memories. As I so often do, I teared up as I approached the huge finish line, with the crowd at the side cheering us through. We ran down the "catwalk" and entered the arena with pride. We had done it! What a day, so much accomplished, and I was on top of the world!!!
Chris and I before the race... And then after, my usual red face on
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