Banjo Player in the Big Smoke

Tesso here with my first ever real contribution to the 'Clairie & Tesso in Bris Vegas' blog .....


Saturday 13 Aug

Well Sydney might have been sunny but it sure was chilly. Worried that just a jumper and a windcheater weren't enough to keep me warm waiting for the start of the City to Surf I scrounged around the Glebe markets Saturday morn and found myself a $5 ski jacket which just happened to be CR blue :-)

Headed down to the bay mid afternoon for a liesurely 9k run with JD. Hmmm, not too many runners around, must all be saving themselves for the big one the next day. Ha, Sydneysiders are soft ;-)

Had a great dinner out at No Name at Leichhardt, plenty of food (minestrone, bread, potato wedges, steamed veges .... er, better stop there) and a glass or six of red. Fuelled up!


Sunday 14 Aug

Race morning didn't seem quite as cold, maybe it was just the ski jacket. I was expecting crowds at the start line though when we got there around 7.15 we found ourselves basically one row back from the barricade. There was a great little pack of Sydney CRs plus Miners and I. We had lots of laughs admiring eachothers throwaway gear. Marty, clearly jealous of my jacket, told me I looked like the best dressed homeless person in Sydney :-) Me, I had my eye on ORunner's sweater and seriously contemplated snaffling it when he tossed it and racing with around my waist.

My teammate Karisma turned up but with a few minutes to go decided to move back a few meters and start with Aunty K and crew. I thought I'd brave it with the fast guys.

Didn't seem too long before we were moving forward waiting for the gun to go. Flying down William St I couldn't resist the urge to look back over my shoulder at the crowd behind - what an awesome sight!

I missed a few of the km markers so wasn't sure of my pace. I thought briefly about chasing Dash but glad I didn't, he took off like it was a 100 meter sprint! I knew Flashduck had a similar goal as mine so I tried to keep her within reach and finally caught up with her at the top of Heartbreak Hill.

Over halfway now which was a good feeling, and it didn't seem too long before the 10 marker loomed - I think it was 46:40 or thereabouts and I figured bloody Chris (my mate from the Regatta Runners) would probably be close to finishing. I was right, he ran 47:50!

It was so exciting when the CR cheersquad came into sight (JD, Superflake, Gronk), I knew exactly where they'd be but still had been looking out for them for the past 5 minutes.

I had a great final km, wasn't really sure I'd break 65 mins even until I rounded that bend and hit the finish straight so was pretty happy to see the clock on 63 something! My card said 63:30 though my watch was 63:38 - but I'll take the official time thanks ;-)

Grabbed my gear and headed up the road to join the cheersquad for a while. It was fantastic to see Lucklylegs coming in, surrounded by people probably a third of her age .... and passing some of them I might add. What a legend! We gave her a huge cheer but she was so 'in the zone' she missed us.

The session at the pub was so much fun, the room was a sea of blue and yellow. Hadn't eaten since pre race (where I ate Bernie G's muesli bar that Blue Dog had given me, finished it just as she was asking for it - I thought it was his!) so headed off to pizza and dessert with JD, Aunty K, Truckie, Owly, Wobbly, Blue Dog and Bernie. Topped it at Owly's place drinking hot tea and listening to her upstairs neighbours.

All in all a great weekend. Already thinking about 2006 where the goal is sub 62. Should be do-able with a few more Mt Coot-thas in the months before .... and a few less red wines on the night before.

Oh, and Clairie WILL be there next year!!!!!