Being
that the City 2 Surf occurred so long ago, I would like this post to serve as a
long overdue thank you to everyone that supported team underdog and Kenya Aid.
The City 2 Surf is a 14 Kilometer (approx. 9 miles) run through the heart of
Sydney. It started in Hyde Park and ended at Bondi Beach, Sydney’s most famous
beach. I could be wrong, but I heard rumors that the city 2 surf is the world’s
largest run, boasting over 70,000 participants.
The
idea to run in this race was first conceived during a supper (desert)
conversation after bible study one night. Some of the guys at the study asked
me what I did for fun. When I told them that I enjoyed running, they told me
about Australia’s biggest race.
After
hearing about the race, I began to search for people who would be interested in
training for and running the race with me. This is how I met Justin. Justin is
an Australian from Tamworth, the country music capital of Australia. When he
heard about the race, he was just as excited as I was. We hit it off right away
and began to form a team.
In
the begging there were six of us interested in running the City 2 Surf, and with
just 16 days to train, we had to work pretty hard. Of the six of us who started
training, one by one people began to drop out until it was just me, Justin, and
Corey. Needless to say, this was incredibly disheartening. It got to the point
where I wanted to drop out myself. There were two things though that kept me
going. The first thing was Justin’s constant enthusiasm. The second thing was
finding out about Kenya Aid.
If you form a team on the City 2 Surf website,
you have the option to pick a charity to raise money for. Corey, Justin, and I
were discussing a possible charity to donate to when we found Kenya Aid. Quoting
from the website, “Kenya Aid is a not-for-profit charity dedicated to fighting
the causes of poverty in Kenya. We provide quality rural health services and
implement community based health strategies. We aim to empower local
communities towards development, as we believe that basic health care is a
fundamental human right.” After reading about it, we set up the website and
invited friends and family to support our run and sponsor Kenya Aid. From that
day forward the City 2 Surf became more than a race to us. It was a cause.
After
just 2 weeks of preparation, the day of the race came. As we walked into Hyde Park,
I came to realize that 70,000 people are A LOT of people. More people then I have
ever seen in my life. Now, a little background information about me…I am a bit
of a competitive person. Running is a passion of mine that I hold very dear.
When I race, I go all out. So, when I found out that Justin and I had to start
40,000 people back from the starting line, I was a little frustrated. But, “no
worries” I thought to myself. “After all, we have timing chips that start as
soon as we cross the starting line. I can still run as fast as I want.”
Imagine
being a jackrabbit caught in a pack of tortoises inching their way to the sea.
That is the best way I can describe the first 5 kilometers of the race. No
matter how much I dodged and weaved, I constantly had to slow down to avoid
running into someone. Soon frustration grew into downright anger and I started
to have some pretty ugly thoughts. Some people stopped to tie their shoes,
other people stopped to walk a bit, and others just weren’t going the pace that
I wanted them to go. “How dare they impede on MY race,” I thought.
It
was at this point that I had a very humbling moment. Another voice started
speaking in my head. “Your race David? I thought you were running for fun? I
thought you were running for Kenya Aid? And what about every other person out here
running today? They have worked just as hard training and raising money as you….
David, this isn’t about you”
“This
isn’t about you…” Ouch. A painfully piercing statement, but overwhelmingly true.
My anger soon turned to guilt as I began to realize that I had been a bit of a
jerk the first 5 kilometers of the race. After that realization, I had a
resolve to attempt to run with a different attitude. I ended the race not exactly getting the time that I wanted...But I finished it in a much better mood than I began it in.
Upon
reflection of the City 2 Surf, my favorite part of it was not the actual race
itself. It was the friendship that I built with Justin through training with
him and watching as our family and friends raised over $700 of support for
Kenya Aid in just a week and a half! So, I want to say thank you to everyone
who helped out. $700!!! That’s huge. And it’s money that is spent directly on
fighting poverty in Kenya. As a whole, the City 2 Surf race rose over $1
million dollars! Thanks again everybody and Goodonya!
-David
