Sydney Marathon - Race day – Before the race

The Sydney marathon was on 20th Sunday September 2009 and was scheduled to start at 7.15am. I managed to get as much sleep as possible in the nights leading up to it except the night before – I expected this anyway. I woke up at 3.30am to have my brekkie – Had a few wholemeal bread rolls with honey and a banana. I decided to skip all dairy products as instructed in most training programs.
After my brekkie I decided to get back into bed and watch the last lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
I have always been a fan of him and inspired by his ‘Last lecture’ (Hypothetically if you were dying, what would you say in your last lecture? For Randy Pausch, that wasn’t a hypothetical. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and the doctors only gave him a few more months to live – He passed away few months later).
In the lead up to the marathon I was trying to remember his line about ‘brick walls’. So I decided to watch it to find that line:
“Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

I also came across another quote from him – “Experience is what you get, when you didn’t get what you want”. I knew this was going to be so true, even if I couldn’t get to the finish line in a couple of hours.
We arrived in Milsons Point at about 6 AM - After a drive from Quakers hill (via Cherrybrook) to Strathfield and a train ride to Milsons Point. My ‘support crew’ consisted of a very excited and nervous mum, dad and Shyamala!! I had another banana around 6.30 and was ready for the run after some warm up and stretching..