by Kainas » Tue 12 Aug, 2014 9:41 am
Yes, we were there. It is our annual *thing*. We have taken both our daughters since they were 6months old, so this was my 4yo daughter's 5th year, and my 2yo daughter's 3rd year. We have refined our race procedure as the years have gone by.
2010. (With a 6month old) we stayed in Campbelltown at my Aunt's. That was the biggest cock-up yet. We waited over an hour in the bus queue, finally got to the train and all the way back to campbelltown, only to realise that we had flat phones and no way of contacting my aunt who had thought it best to drop us at the station that morning (so our car was at her place). In the end we re-boarded the train, went to the next station that had a taxi rank, I left my husband and 6month old in the cold while I took the taxi back to my aunt's house (thank goodness I love navigation and, despite not knowing her address, I could recall the key street names to get us there). I raced into the door and said "Can't talk, can someone come with me to pick up Bill & Eleanor" - because I had no idea how to get back to them quickly). No pram this year, just carried her in the ergo the entire way.
2011. (With 1.5yo and a very pregnant belly). We knew better than to catch the buses this year and walked from Bondi beach up to Bondi junction (3.5km) and we still got there faster then the buses (and skipped the queue). Still lots of problems as I did not run the race, so I caught the bus to Bondi Beach, and waited at the finish line... There are so many people that I did not actually see my husband walk past (pushing our daughter in the pram). We stuffed around for quite a while before we finally found each other (because phones don't work at all on race day at Bondi Beach) and because we failed to bring money and the packed lunch looked so unappealing we didn't eat until much later at McDonalds in Central Station (bleck). We caught the train the entire way back to Morriset where our car was parked (near Newcastle). Huge day, we were very tired by the time we got home.
2012. (With a 2.5yo and a 6mo) We invested in a great double pram, which made the race transit easy (but my 2.5yo was stilled carried in the ergo the entire way because she wanted to and I wasn't dealing with a mid-race tantrum). We had packed snacks and cash on us to buy food from the ample takeaway food vendors along the walk back to Bondi Junction where we had parked our car. This year went much more smoothly, we felt like we were all over it.
2013. (With a 3.5yo and a 1.5yo) We raised the bar and booked a hotel for 2nights at Bondi Beach. Cheap deal because the hotel at just newly opened. The 3.5km walk to the train station in the morning kind of sucked, but otherwise it was awesome just walking to a hotel 3-minutes from where the race ended. We let our 2yo walk at the start of the race - which was dumb. The race is huge and it took us 20minutes to even make it to the start line (including a toilet stop), by the time we were 300m past the start line we looked around and we were coming dead last!! She refused to go in the pram so I pulled out the ergo and we were off.
2014. (With a 4.5yo and a 2.5yo) Best year yet. We booked a hotel near Darling Harbour, spent saturday going to the aquarium and seeing other things. The race was good, the walk to the bondi junction was better after the race, more exciting as loads of people walk. Got back to our hotel for a clean up and then a 5-minute walk to darling harbour to find dinner. My 2yo walked almost 2km of the race, which I was impressed with, this year we kept them in the pram until the end of the race, that way if they wanted to walk they could and there was no chance of us ending up as the last people. This was also the first year that I did not carry a child the entire race (in an Ergo), although I did carry my 2yo for about a kilometre.
As always the race is absolutely amazing. We have loads of footage, including a very cool video taken by our 4yo from within the pram. So busy, so impossible to move. There was a stretch where a guy (wearing some sort of offical shirt) ran past declaring that he was leading a pram congo line and beckoning everyone to jump on, and so we did and had a good km of running as part of a line of prams, that was an absolute highlight this year.
The race is exciting, I still remember my very first year (2007 or something - the only year I ran without kids), and hearing the noise of the plastic drink cups long before seeing the actual drink station (they use cardboard now). The bands that play all along the route are wondering (I counted at least 10 or 12), the YMCA house that plays the YMCA song on repeat for 4hours, and everybody dances to it on the way past (they were not there last year, and they were very much missed). The smurf house in which a heap of university boys paint themselves blue and dance in their underwear and give hugs and high fives (they used to have a house, but must have moved out because now they occupy a park near it). The army group that walks it with full packs every year. The countless costumes, from wallys to lego man.
The atmosphere is brilliant, it is a highlight of our year. We are hoping that when our children are old enough we will have given them the gift of having been in the event every year of their lives (and they can do with that as they will).