City 2 Smurf - Review

City 2 Smurf? Oh I get it….
by danehiser

A review of The Sydney City 2 Surf, Sunday 11 August 2013.

Family guilt is a powerful thing. It can drive you to do things you wouldn’t normally do without a push. And as much as I hate to admit it (and I do hate to admit it), that can often be a good thing.

Today it drove me to complete The City 2 Surf as a walker, with my brother, Trent, and my Dad, with a guest appearance by my Aunty.

Trent is disabled, and afflicted with a condition that leads him to put on weight much faster than anyone else. So to combat this, we have, for years and years arranged for Trent to walk 6km a day on a treadmill. Now correct me if I’m wrong (actually don’t correct me), but that is more than a fair majority of people. This strategy has worked and kept the weight relatively at bay, and has really increased his fitness and walking speed. As my mum, rather bluntly, pointed out: he’s fitter than I am, which I don’t think is true, but I’ll stew on it while I eat this cheeseburger.

This year, Trent decided he wanted to walk The City to Surf, so my Dad agreed to take him, and I rather foolishly felt like I should join them to help Dad out and spend time with Trent, even if it did mean a day of his endless questions and repeated catchphrases – enough to make a devout and disciplined monk break his vow of silence.

Now, I’m currently unemployed, which means that I don’t have (m)any early starts. In fact, 11am at best, is not an unusual wakeup time, and on Sundays, sleep-ins should be enforced by law (preferably by a hard-assed, no-nonsense Captain Snooze).

So we woke at 6am to make the trip from Penrith into the city. Trent was up first and already in the shower…and he was pumped! I have to say, he had WAAAAAAYYYY too much enthusiasm for 6am in the morning.