[Race Report] Oceania Diaries, Part 3: Sydney

I landed in Sydney on August 27, ate something in the city and went straight to the Olympic Park, far in the west. Public transport was free for marathon runners all week. It was probably the first day of the expo, and I still waited about an hour in line to get in. After I found my name, I went to my Airbnb in Paddington. The house was old, small and three stories tall. My room barely got any light, and its door looked like a wardrobe door. I probably napped, went for a run, and had dinner out. I do not remember the details well.

On the 28th my internet plan ran out, so I drew a route on Google Maps and started walking. Breakfast was a latte and a bagel, which was not enough. I then went north to a photo spot with a view of the bridge and the Opera House. A navy ship with sailors lined up on deck sat about a kilometer away. I took a lot of photos and asked strangers to take some of me. I could not get enough of the Opera House! I had booked a guided tour, and the inside is as good as the outside. After buying a few things at the gift shop, I used the wifi nearby for a while.

I then went to the Art Gallery of NSW, which is free. It had a few interesting pieces. There was another free gallery next to my Airbnb, and the guy working there had a very posh British-Australian accent. Every time I walk through an art museum, I feel like I want to paint.

On the 29th, I went to the city center and bought a blanket to wrap myself in before the race. I got some gifts for my family at the gift shop and spent the rest of the day in bed, eating bread and fruit I had bought at Aldi that morning. I was in bed by 5-6pm. My days in Sydney ended around 4-5pm, and I woke up around 4-5am. I slept very well.

Training Block

After Boston, I planned for Sydney and Berlin, since I had gotten into both lotteries. I would not run Sydney at full effort. In the 4 weeks in between, I would get over jet lag, rest, train and taper. I imagined finishing Sydney in 3:00-3:15 and then pushing for 2:40 in Berlin. All good until…

The plan fell apart. We moved from the Bay Area to NY, and I changed jobs. I had to start my new job in the second week of September, so taking time off in my second week to fly to Berlin at the end of September would not look good. I had to give up Berlin. That became clear in mid-July, which meant revising the plan halfway through. I decided to race Sydney fully.

Looking back, I see the same problems I saw after Chicago and Boston. I did strength twice a week until mid-June, but I never lifted weights. It was bands, squats, calf raises and drills, and I do not think it helped. I quit after a while too. I liked plyometrics at first, but those were the first to be cut. For speed, I started with hill sprints, then did 1K and 2K intervals, then 400m intervals near the end. I pushed well in the intervals, but I never took gels. I also never ran at race pace in long runs. Peak week was only 132K, right before the taper. My parents visited in the middle of the block and my volume dropped to 34K a week. And of course the cross country move…

On the bright side, writing these at the end of October, strength has become a habit. Two solid sessions a week. Speed work is what needs to change. I cannot get under 4:00/km in 3-8K blocks. It is always around 4:15.

Goal

I wanted to run around 3:40-3:45/km, but I had fitted myself to a realistic 3:50. I would slow down in the second half, which meant the overall goal of 2:45 was achievable (only in my mind!) The pacer I followed was the 2:45 pacer.

Race

I woke up around 4am, had breakfast and did my morning routine. Around 4:45 I got on a bus. A man in his forties at my Airbnb did not trust that buses would be running. The official transit app and the signs at the stops said they would be running, I had checked a few days earlier. After the bus, I had to take a train. I could not tell where the station was, but I found it with a group of runners. Everyone on the train at that hour was a runner.

Before leaving the station, I joined the toilet line. It was great to have them in a public transit station. Some toilets were men’s, some women’s and some unisex, and 90% of the line was men. They did not want to use the women’s toilets, so we asked whether anyone was going in. When nobody did, I went in. It was meaningless to keep waiting, it is the same toilet and there were no women in line! I stayed in the station with my blanket to avoid the cold.

One of the downsides of this race is that each wave has an entry time, and if you miss it, you cannot get in. You have to start with the next wave. In order to be with my wave, I could not enter the toilet line in the waiting area. And there were no toilets after entering the start area. We stood for 30-40 minutes in the cold. The organizers should fix these two problems.

I saw the pacers a little ahead of me and tried to move up, but could not get far. That is how it started.

The course goes from north of the city, over the bridge, then south. The first part is quite downhill. I wanted to start slowly and also catch the pacer. Classic mistake! No matter how much you tell yourself, a stupidity shows up on race day. The biggest hill is around 16K. I had already started losing the pacer before it, but there the 2:50 pacers caught me, and I knew it was over. My performance dropped a lot after that. I spent the last 5-6K doing math in my head to stay under 3 hours. I finished in 2:58. The consolation “prize” was that I was the fastest Turkish (1/21) runner (in Boston I was 2/16).

As if that were not enough, I had to walk a long way to bag claim. I did not have my phone with me, since I had to drop my bag on expo day and had not given them my phone. I got home by bus somehow, showered and rested.

I had wanted a beer for the entire training block and had not had one. After the race, I went alone near the Opera House to have a beer, but the desire disappeared. I took a medal photo in front of the Opera House instead. I was unhappy with the result, but that photo cheered me up. Afterward I stood there staring at the building for a long time. I went home, and as after every marathon, sleeping was hard.

On August 31, I left early. I flew to Auckland first, then to San Francisco. I had 4-5 hours to wait after landing, so I went out and had In-N-Out. I was in NY on Sep 1 in the morning. My wife saw the photo of the burgers I had without her.

Published: Oct 29, 2026.
Last edited: Oct 29, 2026.