August 15

At 1:50 AM I was rudely woken up by the fire alarm. Apparently some kid on another floor pulled the alarm. I wandered outside half-asleep and waited for the fire brigade to declare it safe for us to come back in. I promptly went back to bed and slept until 7:00am. Today I had classes throughout the day from 8:30am until 4:30pm.

On one of my breaks in between classes I went to the store on campus to buy the Sydney Morning Herald to find out how I did in the City to Surf. I couldn't believe it when I checked -- my official time was 52:46 and my official place was 255 out of 53,669 people that finished the race! There was 63,541 that entered the race, so I guess about 10,000 people ended up not finishing. I can't believe I did so well! With how little I've been training my goal was to either break one hour, or be in the top-1,000. My second goal was to be around 55 minutes and be top-500. I literally did not expect to do any better than that with my training. My best 15K Boilermaker (a relatively FLAT course by comparison) was in the mid-57's two years ago. Last year I ran 58-something. But somehow even with all the hills of the City to Surf I managed to run 52:46, equivalent to 6:04 per mile! Wow! The race felt so good too. I purposely stayed relaxed and didn't push myself beyond the point of enjoying the run. I didn't feel like I was going that fast. Definitely my best 14K ever. Maybe I could do it again some day! :)

I had a tofu-veggie stir-fry with rice for supper tonight. I think I'm getting better at cooking. Well, I best be off to study. I have a test early Thursday morning and I'm not ready for it! :-x Plus I have several other assignments due. I guess I knew that my lazy streak couldn't last forever. :-P