2016 - Birthday Run. Maroubra to Palm Beach

When 2 years ago Lidia said “You can do anything you’d like for your birthday”, I don’t think she fully realised the implications of her statement !

I knew exactly what I wanted to do. And the conversation went along the lines of… (In brackets the inner thoughts)
Me. “Really? Anything I’d like? (woooohoooo! I have an idea!!) ”
Her. “Yes, it’s your birthday. (sh*t I shouldn’t have said it)”
Me. “I’d love to have breakfast in Palm Beach, with you and all my friends (run run run!! Yeah!! Here is my chance I can’t waste it!)”
Her. “That’s a great idea (How lovely. Nice champagne breakfast with friends.. day on the beach afterward.. it will be fun!)”
Me. “Maybe at the Boat House. (run run run!! That’s the further place I can think of right now. It’s a nice place. Lots of coffee and food.)”
Her. “I love the Boat House.” (We had so much fun here in the past! Breakfast will become brunch, prawns, champagne, strawberries.. I’ll wear that beautiful hat. And Luca may wear the black jacket. He looks so hot in that”)
Me. “Breakfast though, so early. Maybe 8AM. That’s early but not too early. (So working back, I need to be at the bridge at 1AM?)”
Her. “Yes. It’s a bit of a drive. So everyone has time to get there. (I’ll have to get up early to be ready on time! But that’s ok, I can do it for a posh breakfast!)”
Me. “Yes. So YOU have time to drive there. (While I’ll run there!!! Hahahah!!! Did I stress the YOU too much?)”
Her. “… (YOU? What is he up to?)”
Me. “… (Maybe she didn’t get it.. )”
Me. “There is no much traffic in the morning, YOU can get there in 40mins (Surely that’s not too much to ask/ too unreasonable!? I am at a safe distance, she won’t reach me with a punch.)”
Her. “Spell it out (what is he up to? Something stupid for sure)”
Me. “I’ll run there (Cool idea eh? Run all night long!! For no other reason than being able to do it!)”
Her. “I knew you were up to something (I knew I shouldn’t have said “anything you would like”!)”
Me. “From Bondi Beach (The first year..!)”
Her. “Luca! (If I didn’t know him I would think he is joking. Why me? Why meeee???!!!) ”
Me. “It’s not that far. (Well it’s a lie.. but you know..) I’ll leave the night before and meet you there (I dropped the bomb. Hold your breath now!)”
Her. “On your own? No way. That’s stupid. I will not allow that (Why me! I can’t possibly allow him running all night on his own. This is pretty stupid. There are snakes, bears dropping from trees..)”.
Me. “I’m sure I can find people to run with me (Gotcha! I have some pretty crazy friends! Forgot!? And they all love coffee. I’ll pay them if I need to!) ”
Her. “Luca! (Sh*t! I’m trapped)”
Me. “You said I could do anything I like for my birthday! This is what I would LOVE to do. (Straight face here! It’s done!! Woooohooo!! I’ll need a checkpoint or two..)”
Her. “… (I am 8 months pregnant. And he is thinking about running all night. I could give birth any time now! This is ridiculous!)”
Me. “… (hold still.. don’t talk first.. Jacob will join for sure, Olly, Joe, Mark, Brad, Andreas, Chris.. )”
Her. “Only if you have someone running with you at any time. (surely he can’t find someone to run the whole way with him! There are not so many dumb/crazy people out there!) ”
Me. “Ok. No Problem. I’ll have someone running with me at all times! (So who am I missing? I’m sure I can find more people. Who would miss such a great opportunity!)”
Her. “… (Sh*t. These are Luca’s friends I’m talking about. I am defeated.)”
Me. “Thanks! I love you! (Victory!! Run run run run!! Yeah! What time do I need to leave Bondi?)”
Her. “… (So.. I’ll have to wake up early in the morning to get to Palm Beach. Go to a nice restaurant with a bunch of sweaty and smelly runners that have been out all night. Nice! I’ll need the sunglasses to hide myself!)”

The rest is history.. 🙂

I maintained my promise. I had someone accompanying me for the whole run.
In 2014, 11 friends joined me a different points to cover the distance from Bondi Beach to Palm Beach (79km).
In 2015, we started from Coogee (A little caveat I didn’t mention to Lidia was that each year we will start further away.. to keep things fresh you know.. ) and other 12 friends helped me along the way to get to Palm Beach (86km)

This year

We will start from Maroubra Beach, adding another 6km from last year for a total distance of 92km.
The run is actually almost 2 months after my birthday but it does coincide or almost with the birthday of three friends who will join me. I’ll start at 8:30pm, with the goal of covering the 92km to Palm Beach in 11h:30mins. Including coffee stops along the way!
The rough schedule is:

8:30PM: Maroubra Beach
10:40PM: 12km – Bondi Beach
00:30: 31km – Woolloomooloo – Checkpoint 1 (10mins)
1:00AM: 35km – Harbour Bridge
1:30AM: 38km – Cremorne Point
3:20AM: 52km – Spit Junction
4:20AM: 62km – Manly Beach – Checkpoint 2 (10mins)
5:25AM: 68km – Dee Why – Coffee stop!! (10mins)
7:00AM: 82km – New Port
8:00AM: 92km – Palm Beach

The run is open to anyone.
You can join and leave at any point. If interested just send us an email!

I can’t wait to start!

Maroubra to Wolloomooloo done! With Terence and Chammy

How did it go?

I couldn’t have pick a better night for running: full moon, clear sky, no wind, mild temperature from start to finish.
I got a UBER ride to Maroubra beach (the driver was a bit perplexed by the fact that I was going to run from there to Palm Beach) to meet Terence for the 9PM start.
We started running and chatting, getting to Bondi half hour before schedule, meeting no other runner or walker for the whole way. Magical.
We progressed along the coast to Watsons Bay before Chammy joined us just at Nielsen Park.
From there we run through Point Piper, Double Bay and all the way to Woolloomooloo, our first check point, in high spirit maintaining half hour lead on the predicted time.

Lidia welcomed us at Woolloomooloo (km 32) with water and a sweet surprise for me: a bar of white chocolate I devour in 2 minutes flat.
After thanking them all for the support, I set off to the next session to Spit Bridge which I was going to run on my own this year. I was looking forward to it to have some thinking time.

I was running well and relaxed and I was on pace, reaching Spit bridge ~20 minutes ahead of time. Gav was meant to meet me at Spit but given I was a bit ahead, we decided to meet further up, at the end of the trail part of the Spit to Manly section.

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Almost there.. just hang on a little longer..

Gav and I were running along when around 4:30AM we saw a couple with a baby near a beach. “These guys must have had a really nasty night if they are out at this hour with their baby!”. Turned out that it was our friends Nat and Jacob with little Alice. They followed our Live tracker and thought to surprise us with coffee and fruits given we were running close to their house! Legends! That coffee gave me the boost to continue on!

Further down in Dee Why, Derek joined us and I was glad for the extra company, not so much for me but for Gav. Since Manly I grew quieter, focused on my knee pain, trying without success to stretch and adjust my running form so that it wouldn’t hurt so much. Unfortunately the problem was way higher on the lower back and my leg was all twisted, so all my effort didn’t have any effect.

From there on it was not enjoyable, and I couldn’t wait for this thing to be over. Only 25km to go but in my mind they looked like 50 as we were proceeding at snail pace and I had to stop every 5km or so to stretch out the leg. Gav and Derek were so great and understanding, chatting and keeping the spirit up and supporting me in every way possible. It must have been pretty frustrating to go so slow!
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Around 20km to the end, Newman joined us on his bike. What an energetic and charismatic guy! He made us all laugh, took a million pictures and scared all the cockatoos along Narrabeen!
10km to the end, Scott joined us. In any other occasion I would have started chatting to him and talk about crazy adventures he was planning but I was still in a very bad mood and pain that I hardly spoke to him. My only thought – get to the finish.
Pace dropped further but we eventually made it to Palm Beach – 94km in 10:50 minutes. Not the best of times but I was glad to have finished and get a huge breakfast

Next year, we start from La Perouse, to round it up to 100km ! Are you ready?

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