Sydney Marathon Recap: Hills, Jet Lag, and Opera House Glory

Sydney Marathon beckoned as the newest World Marathon Major, and I couldn't resist answering the call after earning my six-star medal in Tokyo. This Australian adventure would become my seventh major—a milestone I never expected to reach when I started this journey.

The electric atmosphere at the expo set the tone for the weekend, with volunteers and organizers proudly showcasing Sydney as the latest "world wonder" in the marathon circuit. Abbott created special photo opportunities for seven-star finishers, and I was thrilled to see strong female representation among participants. While the expo ran smoothly on day two, some logistical challenges emerged on race morning—most notably a 75-minute porto potty wait that left me rushing to my corral!

Let me be crystal clear: Sydney offers the most challenging course among the majors, with significant hills in the later portions. The spectacular route winds through beautiful landscapes with perfect weather, culminating in that iconic finish at the Sydney Opera House. What Sydney currently lacks in crowd support compared to Chicago or New York, it compensates for with stunning scenery and strategic entertainment stations. Fellow runners considering this race should incorporate hill training at the end of long runs to prepare for those climbs on fatigued legs.

Managing the 14+ hour time difference presented its own challenge. I fully committed to time-shifting protocols—even giving up caffeine despite Australia's amazing coffee culture! While not a perfect solution, these strategies helped me avoid illness despite extensive travel. The experience reinforced valuable lessons: you get the race you train for, preparation matters, and finish lines aren't endings but transitions to what comes next in our running journeys.

Ready for your own extraordinary challenge? Join our October "Ghoul-Friend Gauntlet" in the Extraordinary League for accountability, connection, and a bit of spooky season fun. Drop into the Stride Collective to share what you're training for next, and keep making those extraordinary strides!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Sydney Marathon Achievement
• 1:01 Sydney Expo Experience
• 4:36 Race Day Logistics Challenges
• 7:02 The Sydney Course Experience
• 10:30 Jet Lag Strategies & Lessons Learned
• 14:05 Retro Reboot Wrap-up & What's Next

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hey friends and welcome back to Extraordinary Strides. It feels so good to be back behind the mic. This is my first official episode since running the Sydney Marathon, and not just any marathon, but the one that earned me my seventh world marathon major star. Today I'm going to take you behind the scenes of that journey from the expo to the finish line and beyond, and sharing what it meant to finally complete this goal. Plus, I'll give you an update on the retro reboot wrap-up, what's ahead in October, and some practical tips for tackling that jet lag or giving you a little bit of my behind-the-scenes reviews of the two methods that I used. I can't wait to get into this conversation. So, my friends, as you may or may not know, I have tackled the Abbott World Marathon Majors. And after Tokyo and getting my official six-star medal, I thought I was done. Then the World Marathon Majors added in Sydney. And there's more coming up and down the pike, but for now, let's talk a little bit about Sydney. We're gonna talk about the fact that it really was a very different training cycle for me. I can honestly say that this is by far the hardest course of the majors. But those hills that I tackled in North Carolina did come in handy. Before we even get into the course and what you can expect for Sydney, especially as that ballot is opening up and you may be considering throwing your hat into the ring to take your 26.2 down under, let's start at the expo because that's where I think it really hit me that I was about to earn my seven star, and that is because they did such a fantastic job of really welcoming and giving a lot of notice and kudos and applause to the seven-star finishers that were there to tackle that weekend. And also, I want to thank all the volunteers that made that expo possible. The energy that Sydney and the volunteers that the expo had was absolutely electric because they were so excited to be the seventh world wonder, if you will. The logistics for the expo, well, my friend, uh, they were good. I think there are some things that they're going to need to iron out as this continues to grow in popularity, but I will say that it was relatively smooth. I had no hangups, I got what I needed from the experience in terms of picking up my bib, getting some really fun photo ops. I went with a couple of gal pals that were going to be running as well. So I can honestly say that we all were able to get in and out relatively quickly. There was really no issue. This is the first time that I can say that I have had to reserve a very specific window for a major, but that may be something that we're seeing a little bit more in the majors coming on for the expo. And they had a lot of flexibility within that. I think they were really just figuring out how to logistically onset all of the individuals that are coming in. Now, I will tell you, I went on the second day of the expo. Reports from the first day of the expo weren't quite as favorable. I heard a lot of things got sold out. There were a lot of logistical challenges. And I can honestly say that by the time I got in the second day, most of those things had been worked out. So I did not experience all that. If you do not know, I'm also not a huge swag person. Like I don't need to buy a lot of things at the expo. I will say from what I saw, it was a little messy in terms of how they approached those Sydney Marathon swag from their special official sponsor, and that area was a little bit different. But all in all, it did appear that most folks were able to snag what they wanted at that specific portion of the expo. Again, the World Marathon Majors definitely brought it. Abbott had a really great setup for folks to get photos and to show off their seven-star compression sleeves that were given to us and take our photos with all of the really fun aspects of tackling that journey. It was great to see that this particular race also brought out a lot of female finishers. You know that I've always been really forward in its mission to get more women into the World Marathon Majors track, and we're seeing that happen, and we definitely saw it at Sydney. That was incredibly exciting. Now, I will say from that experience that I can tell you that there were some ups and downs in the actual process of race day. By far, Sydney gets top marks. I mean, absolutely a plus plus plus plus on helping logistics for the transportation to the start line. I was so impressed with the fact that they had volunteers in the subway station or the train station. There was great signage. Definitely really helped so that that wasn't an issue. However, it was also my first time experiencing going to a major and not having the roads officially closed. I think Sydney will probably change that in the upcoming years, as I saw quite a few runners that maybe were anxious or maybe running late to their starting corral time try to take on some of the traffic that was there, and it wasn't necessarily something that I have ever experienced before. So luckily, from what I saw, everybody stayed rather relatively safe, but I think that that could definitely be tightened up. So keep that in mind. If you do decide to take Sydney on as your next adventure next year, please, please, please, my friends, allow yourself plenty of time to get to that start line. Now, I did allow myself plenty of time to get to that start line, but when I got there, I wasn't allowed into the corral. Went wh. Or even the area, not even the starter's village. I was on the outside of the starter's village as they prioritized the really small space for the earlier corrals. I will say this is also probably a logistical hiccup. There weren't as many porto potties as they likely needed to have them. What I heard from other runners that had run Sydney before is that they had twice the amount of porto potties that they did the previous year, but they also had more than double the amount of runners. So keep that in consideration as well. A couple of Gal pals of mine actually were able to use their restroom before leaving their hotels, and I think that they may have made out better than I did, as I ended up standing in my longest two-date wait for a porto potty, around 75 to 80 minutes. I've never experienced that. And although I got there incredibly early, I can honestly say this did throw me for a loop as I had to hurry up and rush to try to get to my corral in time. Also threw me for a loop because while I have advocated for folks who are doing Run Disney or the majors of not standing around too long, I didn't really have an option. I definitely wanted to be in that port of potty line, but I do feel like that created a little bit of stiffness, a little bit of not feeling my absolute best when I went into the starting corral. Now the course. Course was gorgeous. The day was beautiful, the weather was perfect. In so many ways, it was sublime. Was it the energy of a world major? No, it was not. Yet, it will be. And I have zero doubts that once that comes around to having the same energy of Chicago, New York City, London, it is going to be a spectacular experience. It already is a spectacular experience. But if you're going on to Sydney after channeling that energy from New York City or Chicago, do expect it to be a little less crowded in terms of cheering and support. The volunteers did amazing work. They definitely had a great, great connection to the community and cheering us on. I will say Sydney did a great job of having different spots throughout the course of entertainment and to keep us going, but the crowd support, the community support just was not there yet. Now, this isn't the first time that we've seen this happen. This is something that does tend to happen for the newer majors. You have heard likely Tokyo came around a little bit later through in terms of the amount of crowd support that it had. I fully suspect that Sydney will as well. The energy though around the actual marathon events was palpable, was electric, more than made up for it. And that's okay because I just threw on some Nate Barsgetty and his latest bio of big dumb eyes, and that got me through those lulls when there was nothing else going around. And again, the course was absolutely beautiful. I will say that those hills towards the end, they are something you should really consider to have in your training of not just training for hills, not just doing hill repeats, but consider adding hill repeats at the end of your long runs to practice those fatigue legs going up and down. Both the up and the downhill are pivotal so that you feel your absolute best. Come that finish line. And what a finish line is it. Truly, of all of the world marathon majors, this may be the most spectacular finish line, finishing right at the Sydney Opera House. But be prepared, my friend. If you've done New York City, know what I'm talking about. You know how you're finished, but yet you're not finished. You're walking and walking and walking and walking and still walking more. Well, Sydney had a little bit of that as well, too. Because you have that spectacular finish at the Sydney Opera House, they have to funnel the runners out into a finisher's village, and the finisher's village is about a mile away from the actual finish line, or a couple kilometers if we're gonna get super fancy. Which basically means that you need to be prepared to continue going, even though you have finished your entire legs. Hopefully, you feel elated from crossing that finish line, you feel fantastic and energized, or at least you're really excited to be able to get back to your room and shower and sit down. Whatever the case may be, do know you need to prepare for that. But as not just with Sydney, that is something you should likely prepare for, any of the world marathon majors, but I will say this felt a little bit more like New York City in terms of how much you had to continue going. Now, what lessons did I learn specifically from this race? Well, I learned that you get the race that you train for. My training season had its own little hiccups. I was consistent, so I felt good from start to finish, but I didn't necessarily feel like it was the strongest race that I have ever had. Wasn't the worst race, it was just the race that I had trained for. And I think that that's really important that you keep in mind. Also, really important to keep in mind to have the right mindset as you approach the race, knowing that not every season will be the season for your strongest race, nor should it be. You should have some races that you do just for the joy. And I think that when it comes to the majors, especially when you're traveling 14, 15, 18, 20 hours to get to some of these locations, you have to take that into consideration. So I did discuss before heading out that I was using time shifting. I did. I 100% committed. I committed so much, my friends, that when my time shifting app told me not to have caffeine, I actually did not have caffeine. And if you know me, you know that that is a big commitment there. That may be the strongest of all commitments, which was very sad because Australia has some amazing coffee. But needless to say, I fully committed. It was a tough transition. Even with using Fly Kit, even with using the Blu-ray blockers, even with using the supplementation that came through and shifting my times and taking naps when it said to take naps and reducing coffee and all of those different things. It was a tougher transition. I do feel that it takes a few days, if not longer, to really get into the swing of things. I feel like I was likely getting into the swing of things the day after race day, and that's kind of what the time shifting app did tell me that was gonna happen, which is okay, my friend, because again, I knew that going into it, and I was still really loving the energy of being there for that seventh world marathon major. However, I want you to keep that in mind. Does not mean that you cannot PR at these races, just keep in mind that you will be impacted by it. One of the big positives that I can share though is that despite the fact that I had to take one, two, three, three different planes, and I feel like I took plane trains, automobiles, and even ferries to get to this particular race and to make this trip happen, that you still need to take care of your body and taking in those supplements. And I'm so excited to report that I didn't get sick throughout this trip, which is a huge deal considering again, you're going through that really dry air of being in the airplane, your sleep is a little thrown off. So, from that perspective, I have to say that the time-shifting supplementation of fly kit and the time-shifting hours and shifts of when to eat and what to eat really did work for me in terms of keeping me at least feeling my healthiest in that perspective. Now, I will say, my friends, the thing to note about finish lines in general, whether it's at the Sydney Opera House or the finish line of your local 5K, they are magical, but they're also just the starting point for what comes next. And that's where we're headed right here now, because back here back at home, I had folks tackling their retro reboot within the Extraordinary League, and you guys were crushing it, my friends. I'm so excited to see how many people really brought it every single week. It was a really fun reset. It reminded us to return the foundations, dust off the basics, rebuild strength and consistency. And so many of you in the league showed up beautifully through this. I want you to remember this wasn't just a short-term challenge. It's about laying down the bricks for what comes next. And what's coming next here in October is that we've got a new challenge lined up. And my friends, if you've been listening to the podcast and you're wondering what the Extraordinary League is all about, well, let me tell you, it's a group of athletes that are all about consistency, connection. And here for October, we're taking it up a notch and adding in a hint of spooky season fun. So for those of you curious about this community, I want you to consider this may be the challenge for you to join us at the Ghoul Friend Gauntlet or the Coven Clash. It is a team-based challenge where duos work together to move their squad forward so it has that support, accountability, and you get to meet an incredible community of people chasing after big, audacious goals. So, with that said, if you want more information, head to episode notes. You'll see the link there. Now, let's talk a little bit more about some of the practices that I learned from this trip that I'm going to take into my everyday that I want you to consider taking into everyday. So, with jet lag, or trying to avoid jet lag, a few different things came to mind that I think we can implement in our everyday life, which is to really keep that structure of your waking time and your sleep times so that you can be strategic with it, using light to your benefit, having that morning light to help you reset your body clog and avoiding those bright screens at night. And to keep moving. One of the best ways of really getting through the jet lag, I feel, was that I kept moving, whether it was on the plane or when we were waiting for the next leg of our journey. It really did help us to reset by getting that mobility, getting in a little bit of walking. And I feel like from day to day, regardless of what's going on in your life, keeping moving is going to be a really important element to help you feel your best. What I also loved about the lessons that I learned was anchoring our day with those really important, nutritious, and delicious meals. So I will suggest that these are all practices that you can take into your everyday, regardless of whether or not you have a big trip in hand or you're just trying to feel your best on the everyday basis. Now, with that said, friends, I am so curious if you have any particular questions, if you're thinking of throwing your hat into the rink for Sydney, because while Sydney may have been my finish line for the seventh world marathon major, we also know that there's always some fun adventure in store. So I'd love to hear more about what you're training for, shoot me a message or drop into the Stride Collective and let us know what's going on in your world. So again, if you're ready for accountability and connection, join us over at the league. And until then, I want you to know that I thank you for letting me share my Sydney adventures. I'm gonna ask you to keep moving forward, keep chasing your goals, and keep making extraordinary strides.