Gold Coast 2024, July 05

 The usual pattern of several hours of travel for a two hour plane flight:

• 6:40 train
• 7:30 bus
• 8:00 airport

I had started getting email and phone warnings on Thursday night about possible delays due to weather, probably morning fog in Melbourne. After a month of training you don't want to have a cancelled flight the day before the race, but luckily there wasn't much fog around and all flights were going on time. However the previous flight coming in from Canberra arrived late so we took off about twenty minutes behind schedule, since they never leave enough gap between flights to maximise profits.

I must have just missed the previous bus leaving Gold Coast airport at 12pm so had to wait about fifteen minutes for the next one. The bus was really slow again on Gold Coast Highway up to Broadbeach, maybe even slower this time due to lane closures for the light rail extension. Hopefully in a year or two that light rail goes all the way to the airport, but it only looks like Burleigh Heads for the first stage. Incredibly this means Gold Coast could also have a train to the airport before Melbourne starts thinking about it again.

I rescheduled my appointment for the expo from 3pm to 1pm while on the bus ride due to being a bit ahead of time. I got to the expo just after 1pm and there was no line, unlike last year having to stand for half an hour - a great job recognising the problem and fixing it. I picked up my bib then walked through the expo with an impressive amount of stores, much better than what Melbourne marathon has to offer outside the MCD.

I purchased an Asics shirt with a black and white design for $50 on the way through, plus two pairs of discounted Steigen socks for $10 each. With the expo visit complete I walked over to Oasis shopping mall. The Subway shop on the way was packed out the door like last year, since it is the best local fast food option. Instead I got some baguettes from Baker's Delight and a few supplies from Woolworths then ate lunch in the park across the road, it was rather cold and windy with a little bit of rain.

I decided to head over for hotel check-in since it was almost 3pm. I had booked a street suite apparently, I don't remember what I selected but I would have intended to get a street view apartment like previous years and picked the wrong option. The room was one of only a few on the ground floor, with an outdoor balcony area and gate with direct access to the street. The rest of the hotel foyer was under reconstruction so it was a bit messy but otherwise functional.

I went back out for a quick 500 metre jog to test out the legs and get a bit of refrigerated food from Woolworths. At the end of the day I was feeling a bit sore and tired from walking around with a backpack and laptop bag for a total of about 8000 steps over several hours. I finished the day watching some shows streamed on the TV and the start of the AFL before the early start tomorrow.