Sydney
Training Log- 24 km Harbour Run, Out and back: 17 October 2012
Last night revisited a running route I hadn’t taken for about two years- it was like meeting an old friend again.
There had been a lot of changes in that time: a new bridge, some new pathways, public squares looking better developed. And also much was unchanged: the old boarding home still retaining its charm as well as its secrets, the stillness of running over the Parramatta River on Sydney’s harbour late in the evening, the distant glow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
I ran along the first half of the course for the Sydney leg of the 10 City Bridge Run last night. Covering 12 km, and then returning along the same route.
Good conditions to run, and started fairly late in the evening which meant that the traffic on the road was light as well.
Pulled up well, and found the distance easy to manage, which is a good sign for the road ahead.
Powered by Brooks
Thanks to Brooks and the Sydney Running Centre for sponsoring a pair of Brooks Beast running shoes.
Every contribution makes a big difference, and for a running event, shoes are an extra special concern of mine.
I was delighted when Phil from the Sydney Running Centre called me with the good news of sponsorship from Brooks. The Brooks Beast is a great running shoe. It has good stability, and comes in different width sizes (most shoes don’t) so it gives me the extra room needed in a 4E.
This morning I took the shoes out for their first training run, with some light sprint training, and over the next few days will slowly increase the distance to break them in.
Thanks to Phil at the Sydney Running Centre and all the crew at Brooks.
Training Log 17 October: 15 km City Loop and Harbour Run
Took off on an relaxed pace for a harbour run around the Botanic Gardens to Opera House, crossing the Harbour Bridge down to Lavender Bay.
Passing Luna Park and up the stairs that lead to the small Indian Restaurant (if you know North Sydney, you will know which one), then back across the bridge exiting off to where Hickson Road goes under the bridge.
Taking Hickson Road to King Street Wharf, then down to the end of Darling Harbour, and back to Hyde Park via Liverpool St and Pitt St.
Perfect conditions for running, and a good course with mostly flat, many pedestrians in parts and some good bends and sights.
Out of Reach? City of Sydney talks MDG
I am still working through the irony of hundred of people flying to New York to spend great sums of money on accommodation and the life’s littles luxuries like coffee to talk about poverty… Was anything achieved other than a gee-up from world leaders to say we have to do better? Could it have been better achieved with a couple of emails? I don’t know, and I wasn’t there either.
But before anyone set foot onto Manhattan, what the world did know was that it is not working. Back to the lead question: “Is the seemingly impossible possible?”
Want to know more? Find out at the City of Sydney presentation tomorrow night at the Surry Hills library. Click here to find out more.
I hope to see you there!
Six Bridges of Separation: Kyle Sandilands
Kyle, Kyle, Kyle! When will you realise there is more to this world than yourself!
Now I don’t know Kyle- I only know what I read in the media. I think he is a likeable fellow. Good humour, or at least well-intentioned. Always ready with a smile and few gags.
Sometimes I feel sorry for Kyle. He has been through a rough patch recently. Many of us have been down the same road ourselves, so I can empathise.
I saw a report today in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph that Kyle “vows to take down Clover Moore” over increased regulation of opening hours for licensed venues. Living in Kings Cross myself, I know what a loss to the city cutting back drinking hours would bring. For a start, the zoo that visits Kings Cross from about 11 pm toward the end of the week would disappear. That would be a loss.
Sandilands has a personal interest in fighting the proposed changes to the legislation, having bought into the Kings Cross nightclubs Piano Room and Trademark alongside his business manager Andrew Hawkins just two months ago.
I would like to challenge Kyle on this issue. I think he could better spend his time talking about the needs of those in extreme poverty. But here’s the rub: I don’t know him, and I am only in town until Friday. I would need to speak to him this week, and on air.
So please help out. Build the bridge to Kyle Sandilands (can we prove that we really are all connected by six bridges of separation?), and lets make not only Sydney but the world a better place.
Complex
I was speaking with my friend last night, Armen, who lives in a part of Sydney known for its relative poverty. The area around Macquarie Park has changed radically over the last 11 years. Now there is a train line nearby, and with the university and shopping centre a short walk away you would hardly think it was once among the worst areas for crime and social neglect.
We spoke about poverty for some time, and about how complex this issue is to understand. Armen made a distinction between a physical poverty and spiritual poverty, and how this is sometimes overlooked. People can see the obvious signs of physical poverty so clearly.
Does this distinction matter when the physical needs of extreme poverty are so profound?
Lisa Asked: How Does It Work?
I was speaking with my good friend Lisa last night at GreenUps here in Sydney, and the conversation shifted onto the 10 City Bridge Run.
Lisa asked how did it all work. Good question. Here is my answer.
The start point would be to frame the 10 City Bridge Run: a global endurance challenge where I will run 10 sub-marathons each of 24 km in 10 cities across 10 countries within one month. The purpose is to raise awareness of an individual’s capacity to act to influence extreme poverty.
I will start running in Sydney on 14 October, and finish in Seoul on the last day of the G20 Summit 12 November.
These dates are part of a design to form a ‘bridge’ between two key institutional events: a United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals held last month in New York commencing 20 September, and the G20 Summit in Seoul starting on 10 November.
I contend that what happens in between, the engagement of people like you and I, is of the same importance.
This is about much more than just running. Each run represents the 24,000 children under the age of five who on average die every single day. While 0.1% of this figure is from the West, a staggering 50% comes from sub-Saharan Africa alone.
This is an initiative about participation. Not through running, but bridge building. I am asking people to take photographs of themselves or other people making bridges between themselves and for these to be collated and then presented to the G20 Summit leadership (President of Korea). Together can we collate 24,000 of these photographs which will be printed, curated and then delivered to the President of Korea?
Another outcome is a book that will be published in electronic and print format containing 1,000 selected photographs from those in the petition. The book has a working title of “Above the Line”, a reference to the challenge of moving people often corporately identified as ‘The Bottom Billion‘ above the line of extreme poverty.
The 10 City Bridge Run is community funded, that is to say ‘crowdfunded’, by many sponsors who each pre-purchase the book “Above the Line” enabling the running to take place, and importantly the achievement of all Six Outcomes.
Sounds difficult? The tagline for the event is “Is the seemingly impossible possible?” I don’t believe we can fully address this question without first seeing what is possible ourselves through an experiential challenge.
What I propose is possible, but it requires the participation of others. Will you join me vicariously on the run as a sponsor? Sponsorship is $240 for a printed copy of the book or $24 for a electronic copy of the book.
Please be part of the difference that makes a difference and sponsor the 10 City Bridge Run.
Training log: 4 September. 20 km looping Bellevue Hill (Sydney)
Set out to run 20 km tonight along a course joining Kings Cross- Rose Bay- North Bondi- Bronte- Queens Park- Hyde Park. After reaching Rose Bay while I felt fresh to continue running I was experiencing enough discomfort around my calves to decide to turn around and not complete the journey.
I could have pressed on, and possibly risked over-training. Sometimes it is difficult to listen to the body correctly- am I just a little tired and should dig deep to push a little harder, or is the body trying to signal to me a message to say time to take some rest.
Tomorrow is a rest day, and when my training begins next week I think I will also swim a few laps at the end of each session to give the legs some warm down exercise beside stretching.
Measuring the run for time or heart-rate was not a factor tonight as the goal wasn’t achieved. Rather than seeing this as failure, I will take this as positive information in my training and see how my legs respond next week.
Feeling good and positive about each of the runs over the coming month, and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.
Global Launch, Sydney- 10 City Bridge Run
Join us for the global launch of the 10 City Bridge Run.
100 people running or walking 2.4 km from Sydney to Milsons Point, meeting for breakfast afterwards just across the bridge.
11 September at 8 am meeting on the Bennelong Lawn, immediately inside the Royal Botanic Gardens, opposite the Sydney Opera House Forecourt. There will be a short brief of what it is about, and how to get to breakfast, then we will set off at 8.30 am. For those who are running, it is a fast course but all uphill climbing all of the way past knockout views of Sydney. If you are walking, enjoy the same view, but it will need to be a brink walk to come in under 30 minutes but easily achievable.
Free to attend. You can register via Eventbrite.
There is a little bit more to just meeting for coffee involved here, so please take time to read the following and also the objectives of the 10 City Bridge Run.
This is the beginning of a journey to frame a pictorial petition to be given to the leadership at the G20 Summit to be held in Seoul this November. In 2015, world leaders and the UN will want to report on their achievement of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and progress to date has been slow even falling short of what is needed in some areas. If Copenhagen is any measure of what we can expect, leaving important issues only to institutional authorities might lead to further disappointment.
The 10 City Bridge Run is a creative process of inquiry.
Over the course of 30 days later this month I will run 240 km, as detailed in the text a little further below.
To launch on 11 September, 100 people are gathering to run or walk 2.4 km together in under 30 minutes.
This is a symbolic gesture to show that collectively, we can do the same work as one unit in far less time and with far greater collaborative reach.
Starting in New York on 24 September 2010, I will commence the 10 City Bridge Run- a global endurance challenge to raise awareness of the possibly to eradicate extreme poverty affecting children in our current generation.
Running 10 sub-marathons in 10 cities across 10 countries inside of 1 month.
Actually, this project is about much more than just running. Each run is representative of the 24,000 children under the age of five years of age who tragically die daily on average based on the 2008 mortality rate for that year (8.8 million children).
So join us on 11 September. Be part of the difference that makes the difference.
If you are not in Sydney, let us know if you are able to connect with us in one of the other cities where we will be visiting between now and the end of October, and we can hook up with details of dates and locations:
- New York
- Toronto
- Brussels
- London
- St Petersburg
- New Delhi
- Jakarta
- Banda Aceh
- Shanghai
- Tokyo
- Seoul
This is important.
Please take time to ask why you should care.
Thanks for taking time to give this your consideration- see you on the journey!
Building Bridges 