The 10 kilometre race was scheduled quite a while after the longer distances, beginning at 9:00am. I left the hotel at 8:30am which was actually too early, after a quick ten minute warmup there was still a bit of time standing around. Meanwhile a lot of the marathon runners were coming past on their second lap. The sun was just starting to come out and there wasn't much shade in the starting area to avoid it. I was wearing my second pair of Nike Vaporfly 1 again since I hadn't picked a replacement for race day yet, it's now up to 200 kilometres so starting to get a bit worn out.
This time I got off to a better start, running a bit quicker to avoid getting overtaken and being stuck in traffic for the early kilometres. The first and second kilometre had most of the hills, so I was only going at a bit under 3:50/km. I counted that I was in about 35th place with people coming back the other way after the bridge turnaround point.
There was another short steep hill I hadn't planned for after coming off the bridge at about three kilometres. I almost missed the first drink station because two girls handing out water were too close together, but got a little bit of electrolyte instead.
By the middle of the race I was feeling a bit warm and thirsty but had some faster times due to a slight downhill. Reaching half way with my watch at 18:13 was a bit disappointing, since I was hoping for close to 36 minutes at the end. At about the 6 kilometre mark they had drinks being handed out before and after the turnaround so I was able to get two more cups, which helped a bit.
For a second time I saw the leaders coming back on the opposite side of the road but didn't count my position this time, although I had passed about five people since the bridge. Coming back towards the finish along the river walk I passed a few more people who were fading before the 8 kilometre final drink station.
There was one more big challenging uphill into a bit of wind before the 9 kilometre mark with took the last of my energy. It was a bit of a battle heading towards the finish line even though it was a slight downhill again. I crossed the finish line just after 36:20, and my watch only measured 50 metres over distance, very good considering all the buildings.
It wasn't quite 36 minutes, but given the heat and hills I was still fairly happy, at least I broke out of the 36:30 zone. Since I was tiring so much at the end I didn't have much of a sprint finish, but still ended with a 3:30/km final kilometre.
I got some drinks, a banana, and a medal and then headed back to the hotel to recover. Checking the live results I was about 25th and first in age group again, although last year I was just inside the top 20. I had just enough time for breakfast and packing up before 11:00am checkout and a 2:00pm flight, apparently delayed by just 5 minutes.
After a snack in the food court I went to the gate, but no sign of the plane yet at 1:00pm as I was writing up my report notes. The plane was a little late like usual, and also had to deal with the standard delay being able to land in Melbourne. For the first time we had this strange route where we went all the way past the airport and over the western suburbs until we were alongside the city centre, then had to turn around and go all the way back again.
Run = 11 km
Steps = 15,038
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