Gold Coast 2026

July 02

July 03

July 04

July 05

Gold Coast 2026, July 05

I got a 4am wakeup thanks to a text message saying that my 9am flight was cancelled. By default I was put onto a flight from 2:30pm to 6:30pm with a stop over in Sydney instead. Thankfully I was able to choose from other options, since none were great I ended up picking a direct flight at 7am.

Due to the change I had to change to a very early 5am alarm then rushed to get packed and make the bus. I was at the airport at about 6:15am and due to the early departure everything went smoothly. By the time I made it home it was close to 11am. Before lunch I went for a run and my legs didn't feel too bad except my quads were very sore, particular on any slight downhill sections.

14487 steps with 12 km running

Gold Coast 2026, July 04

My watch alarm was set for 4:20am but I woke up a few times during the night and then finally at about 4:15am. I was feeling quite thirsty during the night due to a warm hotel room, which wasn't ideal preparation.

For a small breakfast I managed to get through a couple of 60g carb bars and a bit of energy drink, then took off for the tram. The tram at 4:50am was quite empty compared to usual and didn't even get too packed by the end, so I must have left a bit later in previous years. Since it was only about 5:20am I sat in Australia Fair for about 15 minutes as it was just slightly warmer than outside.

The start zones hadn't opened yet so I did a quick one kilometre jog to warm up until the zones were opened at 5:50am. I managed to get in the front row, but there was two big sections of elite and preferred runners ahead like usual. With a couple of minutes to go until the 6:15am start they removed the tape and everyone bunched up further, although you couldn't really sneak further ahead.

The start was quite crowded but I've experienced worse, I was running about 4:15/km in the beginning but got the first kilometre done in just under four minutes. The second and third kilometre were a bit too slower than I would have liked, but then I finally got into a pattern of running close to 3:40/km.

I managed to get a bit of water at most drink stations and a gel after 7 kilometres before the turnaround point. I didn't keep track of what my time was at the half way clock, but it was also about 10-15 seconds ahead since I took a while to cross the start line. By rough watch calculations I was close to 78:30 pace and possibly having to deal with a small headwind on the way back.

Through the start of the second half the wind was quite light and the main challenge was going back over the three small bridges again. I quickly got through a second gel as the 15 kilometre drink station was approaching. Only at around 16 kilometres did each kilometre split start to feel like it was taking longer, although my times were still consistent. I was roughly trying to calculate if I could catch up to 78 minutes, and though it was possible with a slightly faster five kilometres.

Despite working quite hard I didn't feel like it was totally at the limit, so I was still putting together good times but my form was suffering a bit. In the last kilometre I tried to speed up but didn't have much energy left. I couldn't tell what my time was heading into the final straight, and didn't see the official clock, so I just tried to run as hard as I could across the line.

I only stopped my watch a little after the finish line and it had 78 minutes exactly. Depending on when I started it, I was hoping to just sneak under 78 minutes, and later found out I had an official time of 77:59. There was a lot more faster runners than ever this year, and I only just managed to make the top 350. Three years again when I ran just over 78 minutes I was inside the top 200.

After the finish I wasn't feeling great, so just got a quick drink, then the finisher medal and t-shirt and jumped on the tram. Getting off near the hotel my legs were alright as I could still jog a little to the hotel.

Once I was done getting changed I only watched the extra time and penalties of Australia vs. Egypt, since I had overheard the score after 90 minutes already. Sadly Australia lost of penalties, which is probably why I didn't hear about the end result on the tram ride back.

It was only about 10am still so I decided to walk over to Pacific Fair for some food and head back to the hotel for an early lunch. There wasn't much interesting at the shopping centre but I managed to find a bit of food for lunch, then watched the half marathon live stream. The men's race was interesting again, but the women's wasn't competitive at all. Before heading out for the afternoon I also watched a bit of the Box Hill NPL women's match.

I took the tram back up to Surfers Paradise but it wasn't much different to the usual. I went across to the beach and found somewhere in the sun, but it was still a bit cool and breezy. As the afternoon was getting on I took the tram back to the hotel and picked up some food along the way. My room card was set to the wrong date, so it didn't work in the lift and I had to get it reset at the front desk.

After dinner I did a bit of packing up for the morning as I had to get a bus at around 7am for the airport.

29420 steps with 22 km running

Gold Coast 2026, July 03

I got up just before 9am and ran to the convention centre, but it was barely 500 metres. There was only a few people already at the venue so I was able to get my bib quickly and then walked through the stores at the expo. In the large Asics are there was one good t-shirt but it was about $150. Afterwards there was lots of shops selling similar products like socks but I didn't buy anything, just got a free milk protein drink on the way out.

I decided to go back to the hotel first to drop stuff off, then got the tram and bus up to the outlets, which is always a very slow trip. At Nike they didn't have any specials but got a Pegasus Premium from the 50% off wall for $95 which was good value. The Asics store surprisingly had some Superblast but the largest size was 11, and I probably didn't have room for more shoes anyway. Afterwards I found a cheap singlet in the Adidas shop, then nothing in New Balance or Puma.

I made it back to the bus top just in time for the next bus and then another slow tram down to Broadbeach, and today it said they were actually going down to Burleigh Heads. I stopped in at Woolworths again for a bit more food and then back to the hotel for lunch. On TV I tried the first episode of Celebrity Escape which was not too bad, and also the highlights of the morning World Cup games.

I had a bit of rest in the afternoon and decide to do a bit of Japan trip planning since I'm running out of time. I started dinner a bit earlier due to the morning schedule and watched another Celebrity Escape.

6690 steps with 0.5 km running

Gold Coast 2026, July 02

• 9:30 train delayed at Camberwell
• 10:30 bus
• 11:10 airport

I got another McDonalds fries and cheese toastie for an early lunch, but no milkshakes !

The plane was only boarding through the front door so it took quite a while to get everyone on board, and lots of people were still coming through very late, even though the cut off is meant to be ten minutes before departing. There was also an additional half hour delay taking off due to high winds.

After landing at Gold Coast airport I missed a bus by about minute, but they come every 15 minutes so I was first in line for the next one. The tram line extension is finally almost finished to Burleigh Heads, but not fully operational yet, otherwise I could get off the bus there instead for a slightly more comfortable ride, and probably slightly quicker. Sadly it seems like there is no immediate plans to take the same tram all the way to the airport - why they build the airport so far away is a very strange choice.

The bus trip was quite slow since it makes heaps of stops, so I got to the hotel at about 4pm. The check-in to the same hotel as last year was quick, with two bedrooms again but only one bathroom this time.

I walked up to closest Woolworths but didn't find much different except a lamington milk drink. A new Zambrero had opened up nearby but it was really slow, you have to place an order and wait rather than making it on the spot like Subway.

Back at the hotel I just watched some shows on TV with USB drive, plus Twitch streams and World Cup highlights.

8985 steps with 4 km running

Parramatta 2026

June 19

June 20

June 21

Parramatta 2026, June 21

The race was scheduled to start at 7am and was a little over 1.5 kilometres away, just south of the finish  area at CommBank stadium. I woke up with my alarm at 6:15 and had one gel and a small drink before leaving the hotel, which is definitely not the ideal pre-race nutrition but low risk.

There was a lot of detours through the city centre so the walk was a little longer than expected, but came out just in front of the start line. It was possible to do some warmup laps on the road, but I wanted to get a good spot at the start so only did a very short jog. Once I found a spot I had about 20 minutes to wait, a little cold but not too bad.

As the race started I was a few rows back from the start line, but a bunch of eager people immediately went ahead down the first straight. I estimated I was around 100th place as we started through the park, which was a little steeper than I expected. The first drink station came at 5km but was just after a corner so I wasn't prepared for it and was also on the wrong side of the road. It wasn't a hot day so I didn't really need a drink, except I knew the next one wasn't until 12km.

The middle of the race was not the best, switching to some narrow river paths and footpath sections, with a few step hills added in. I was staying on pace at around 3:45/km and even started to feel good after 12 km. I got through some gels at 7 km and 14 km and then we were back into the park for the final third of the race. Inside the park there was another steep hill down and then straight back up again, which probably could have been avoided with a better route.

Going through 17 km my hamstring started to feel weak but I was still managing good times just behind a small pack of about five runners, even getting a bit quicker it turned out. Only after about 19 km as we had a very long route around the back of the stadium I probably started to struggle a bit. I didn't realise I was so close to 80 minutes due to the increasing difference between the course markers and my watch distance. I only got a view of the time when it passed 79 minutes 50 seconds on the board, so there wasn't enough time for an extra sprint and I ended up just missing out on 80 minutes.

Overall it was a well organised race with great crowd support, but just a bit too complicated to run really fast times. There wasn't as much of an expo or finish line experience as other races, although that will probably improve in future. A free t-shirt and free photos with the entry price was a good addition.

After the race I didn't have a lot of time so headed straight back to the hotel. With a quick shower, breakfast, and packing up I was just on time to run to the station in time for the train. Getting off at central station I walked all the way down to the airport platforms only to find they were closed for maintenance. Instead I had to walk all the way back to the street outside, and find a poorly marked queue for replacement buses to the domestic airport terminal. The bus took a while to show up but the trip itself was fast, hardly any different to the train.

I had a little over an hour before departure so got some food for an early lunch and headed to the gate. The flight and the rest of the trip home took the usual five plus hours from start to finish and that was the end of the weekend trip. Being only two weeks before Gold Coast I'm not sure if this would be a definite inclusion to my plans for next year at this stage.

25658 steps with 21.25 km running

Parramatta 2026, June 20

The two parkruns closest to Parramatta could each by reached by bus rather than train. The Auburn Botanical Garden event was smaller and seemed like a slightly better option of the two, however the only valid weekend departure time was 6:55 and arriving at 7:13, with a 1.5km walk afterwards.

Following the plan I got to the parkrun by about 7:30 and it wasn't too unbearably cold, I tried to find somewhere to sit with a bit of direct sun, and soon the briefings were underway and the race was starting. The course had a narrow path in the first kilometre, and with a turnaround included there was also people running the opposite way so I got a bit stuck where I was.

Surprisingly the leader was only running about 20 minutes, but today I was only aiming for 23 to 25 minutes and not concerned with positions. My hamstrings both felt terrible since I got up, but started to get a bit better during the race. I picked off quite a few people along the way and ended up 6th in a bit over 22 minutes.

After getting back to the hotel I had to pickup my bib from CommBank stadium, which was nearly 2 kilometres away. I didn't want to do that much extra walking each way so looked at bus options from Parramatta station instead, and there was quite a few going in the same general direction.

The bib pickup was very fast, and included a free t-shirt and some very small safety pins. There wasn't much else happening at the expo yet, so it was a quick trip there and back on the bus again to the town centre.

I decided not to make a trip all the way to DFO Homebush because of how my legs were feeling, and I might go to DFO Gold Coast in a couple of weeks anyway. Instead I went to Westfield for a much needed haircut and then some shopping. I got another Top Juice yoghurt for lunch and then back to the hotel to watch Welcome To Wrexham and eat lunch while resting.

I also watched some Twitch streams and rested for a bit in the afternoon, then went back to Westfield shops since it wasn't too far to walk. Nike had 25% off but nothing good in their regular store, so I tried Myer and a few other places. While walking around I put in a Nando's order for pickup and went back to the hotel for dinner. In the evening I prepared for getting up at 6:15 and watched more shows on the laptop.

15397 steps with 5 km running

Parramatta 2026, June 19

I just had time for a quick 5 kilometre run in the morning before leaving for the airport, reducing run  distance for the last two days before the half marathon. The travel journey was the same as usual.

• 10:30 train
• 11:10 bus
• 1:00 plane
• 2:50 train
• 4:00 hotel with detour via shops

After getting to the hotel I went back to Parramatta Westfield for food and dinner, picking up a big tub of berry yoghurt from Top Juice and custard rolls from Bread Top. At the supermarket I also found some new sour Powerade drinks, which was a bit unusual for hydration purposes.

That was my whole adventure for the evening so I walked back to the hotel to have dinner and rest after a tiring day or travel with lots of standing and walking.

12398 steps with 5 km running

Brisbane 2025-2026

December 31

January 01

January 02

January 03

Brisbane 2025-2026, January 03

Another 6am start to get a train to Eagle Junction then a short 1.5 kilometre run to the Kedron parkrun starting area. I had enough time for some extra kilometres beforehand, where it wasn't quite as hot but still quite humid.

After a Thursday parkrun and a lot of walking since I wasn't sure how I'd go, but my legs felt quite good. From the start a group of four fast runners took off, then another group of three so I was in eighth. My splits were alright around 3:40 or better and I slowly moved up into fifth place, but way behind the first four. At the end I finally pushed a bit harder to get down to 3:30 and finished in around 18 minutes. The course was quite good and simple, with a pedestrian path next to the bike path the whole way, only it was all concrete.

I did a few more kilometres back to the train station and while waiting 10 minutes for the next service to arrive. Back at the hotel I went straight to the breakfast again before it got too busy, then back to my room to pack up. I wasn't in a big rush so had nearly an hour to get ready and walk down to the train station again.  The train was easy and much better than the Melbourne side of the public transport. The airport and flight also went well, and the whole travel time was about the usual 6 hours.

16,600 steps with 11.8 kilometres running

Brisbane 2025-2026, January 02

As usually happens I had a loud fridge powering up about once an hour in the hotel room, and was also a bit uncomfortable due to dealing with a sore right shoulder and upper back. I still got up for an early breakfast just after 7am and it was much more empty, although with the same stuff available.

At about 8am I took off for a morning run, but had a long walk to get down towards the botanical gardens. Finally the new bridge across the river was open, but parts of the river boardwalk just nearby remain closed for more years. Across the river I headed north east to start but had to turn around at an inlet after about 2 kilometres. I continued back the other way along most of the South Bank parkrun course, before turning around and finishing through the botanical gardens.

After walking back to the hotel and getting ready I set out for the morning. It was a more mild day of only about 25 degrees, and almost no rain. I just walked back towards the city mall area again, which is a bit of a long and boring walk from the hotel past central station every day. Since I had a bit of time I stopped in for a haircut which took a little longer than I expected, then got some snacks for lunch. I had a look around some other stores in the city as there was more open today, but didn't find anything to buy. Eventually I made it back to the hotel for a late lunch and to watch the next episode of Match Of The Day while resting for a while.

I didn't have much planned for the afternoon and didn't feel like an hour trip each way to DFO. I had to spend a bit of time in several mobile apps trying to get a $10,000 BPAY payment reversed between a bank and share investment platform. I ended up just going around in circles with my investigations, then still had a couple of hours left in the day. I didn't feel like doing much more walking with another early start and parkrun coming up. I just went out for a short afternoon walk then picked up a burrito again on the way back for dinner. For the evening I just watched some TV shows and Twitch, then the BBL to get enough rest before another early start for parkrun.

20,900 steps with 13.0 kilometres running

Brisbane 2025-2026, January 01

I started the year with a 6am start to get a train for 7am parkrun. The route was 15 minute train to Boggo Road then a 1.5 kilometre run across the river to St Lucia parkrun. This was my first attempt at loading a course into my Garmin watch to help navigating from the train station to parkrun. The route itself worked alright except the map had so many other lines and markings on it with similar colours. I ran a bit extra for a 4 kilometre warmup and was sweating before the start.

I took off from the start in about 5th place, dealing with some slight hills on a gravel course, with a bit of mud from previous rain. By the 1.5 kilometre turnaround I was into second place and then took the lead, but had someone still right behind me. I lost the lead at both of the next turnarounds but got back ahead soon afterwards each time. I was sure the other person was going to pull away for the finish but I managed to do that instead. I used the watch route in reverse to get back to the train station and had to wait less than 10 minutes.

After walking back to the hotel I got changed and went down for the free breakfast. The range was quite similar to other Holiday Inn Express hotels, the highlight was some good berry yoghurt.

Getting packed for the day I took a bus to Woolloongabba bus station for 10am, with an impressive bus network on some of it's own dedicated roads. Probably because they have less of a train network they have put more effort into having efficient bus trips.

I arrived at 1 Up Arcade just after the opening but there was already quite a few people inside. The entry price was $30 for unlimited play all day, but was closing earlier at 4pm due to the public holiday. There was a good range of games, including beat them up, fighting, guns, and racing. A small negative was how many Street Fighter games they had, which nobody seemed to be interested in.

My first stop was to try out a strange Quake arcade machine. It turned out to be just the single player game but with a track ball for aiming. The button to fire kept getting stuck also, so I only played the first level as it was not easy to move and shoot at the same time. Next I moved on to The Simpsons which I've played before, but some of the levels didn't seem familiar so maybe it was a different version. There was a kid that kept walking around waiting for me to finish playing which was a bit annoying.

I would have gone to the 6 player X-Men next but it was broken, instead I went with Double Dragon 2 and NBA Jam tournament edition, although most of the codes for secret players weren't working on this version. I also had a quick try of Galaga, and Sega Rally, and played through all of Captain America And The Avengers. My final game was Mega Man The Power Battle, which was like a weird boss fight only version of Mega Man, but the characters only had basic weapons.

The combination of sitting and standing and using the controllers had made my arm and neck quite sore after a few hours, by the time I was ready to leave. Some of the cabinets had seats nearby, or you could grab them from elsewhere, but others were a bit high for seating. I spent a bit under four hours there and played most of the games I was interested in, but easily could have stayed for longer.

I took a similar bus back into the city which comes out underneath the mall and shopping centre, which was convenient. I got a quick energy drink from Chemist Warehouse since I hadn't had anything since breakfast, and had a walk around the mall. I stopped in at the EB Games and Zing store which had some interesting merchandise, but probably was all too big for my backpack.

I stopped in at a couple of Woolworths and an IGA on the way back to the hotel, but didn't find much different, usually they have some different flavoured milk at least. Watched some TV shows and Twitch while having a combination of lunch and dinner, and made some basic plans for tomorrow.

20,200 steps with 11.70 kilometres running

Brisbane 2025-2026, December 31

In the morning I had time for a quick 10 kilometre run then left for the train at 9:15am, then on a bus at 10am and arrived at the airport by 10:40am. The terminal was very empty so I got through security very quickly. Before departure there was time for a small lunch, which was some average chips from Schnitz. I also got a snack from Daniel's Donuts and a drink from the vending machine, then had less than 30 minutes to wait for boarding.

We got held up 15 minutes on the runway as often happens, which meant we arrived at Brisbane a bit late also. The trains to the city were only going every 30 minutes on a holiday schedule, but the next one was only 10 minutes away so could have been worse. Getting off at Central station and walking to the hotel was done by about 2:30pm local time, or 3:30pm Melbourne time.

Before leaving the hotel I quickly got the latest episode of Match Of The Day which only took one minute. The closest Woolworths Metro was a bit of a walk as I was just outside the city centre, and when I got there I realised I forgot to check if there was a fridge in the room, but luckily there was. The supermarket was quite small so had limited options, and no good milk drinks.

There wasn't many fast food options around this part of the city, the best was a burrito place that I think I've been to before. A small with the city in general is the "central" station is still a good walk to reach the actual CBD area where most of the food and retail is. It's a bit different to Melbourne where's there a bit of everything all the way between Flinders Street and Melbourne Central for example, and heaps of trams the whole way along too. I think it will be a better when the new rain line adds an extra station, but that's not expected until 2029 now.

While waiting for the burrito I found a Japanese supermarket while had some USA Welch sodas. I tried the Strawberry Cherry which I hadn't had before, but didn't realise it was zero sugar which often has taste at all, but this one was alright. The burrito was good except for having a bit too much rice and not enough beans, but the chips were not very good.

I watched Match Of The Day while having dinner, and found my legs were a bit tired from standing and walking for more than usual. I tried the nightly BBL game on TV afterwards, but the first team got a low score so it wasn't very close.

16,400 steps with 10.5 kilometres running

Auckland 2025

October 31

November 01

November 02

November 03

November 04

November 05

Auckland 2025, November 05

My alarm was set for 7:20am to allow time for running and breakfast before a 10am checkout and 10:10am train. I could have wasted a bit more time and got a train 30 minutes later, but didn't seem worth the risk of a delay and missing the bag drop deadline.

For the morning run I didn't want to run on concrete again so crossed over to the opposite side of the road, which eventually turned off inland after 4km. My legs were a bit more tired after yesterdays longer run but still got through 11km.

Packing was a bit rushed as I kept finding more things I'd forgotten to account for, but just managed to squeeze everything into both backpacks. Getting down to the train station there was major issues on the southern line that I was planning to take to the bus interchange. Nothing seemed to be happening so I went across to the eastern line which also seemed delayed, but at least it seemed like a train was about to depart. In the end I was only about 10 minutes behind schedule getting to the airport.

The check-in area was empty, but when trying to do the last step of the bag drop my backpack placed in a container wouldn't move forwards onto the conveyor belt. I had to get a staff member to come over and do a manual override, so I hoped it would still make it to the other end.

Before going through security I stopped for a Tank juice in the small food court, probably like a smaller version of Boost juice. On to security and once again my passport failed to scan and I had to go into the manual line. That was still a quick process but the security check was very slow, so there was about 75 minutes until take off by the time I was waiting at the gate.

There was just enough time to eat some snacks and write up the notes for my last day before getting prepared for boarding. For this flight I didn't think I'd booked an exit row but maybe a row with extra leg room still. Unlike the previous flight this one actually had a business and premium category.

I was one of the last on the flight according to the announcements about which rows were allowed to board, except when I got to my seat almost everyone around me was already seated. The flight went pretty quick again with no delays. The meals again included a default vegetarian option which was macaroni cheese, but I didn't like getting another garlic bread roll instead of plain one.

After landing somehow my passport worked first time at the gate, but luggage was really slow like usual. For maybe the first time ever I walked straight on to a waiting Skybus, and because it was nearly peak afternoon time a train was only a few minutes away too. I arrived home at about 5pm Australia time, having left the hotel at 10am Auckland time or 8am Australia time.

Steps = 17,300 with 10.95 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 04

My last whole day in Auckland already. After breakfast I got ready for a short bus ride out to the zoo on the western side of the city. With a short walk from the bus stop I arrived not long after opening at 9:30am.

At the entrance the ticket prices were reduced by 20% as some areas were closed for construction. I started in the African Safari area which was the best, but didn't have the giraffe, ostrich, or zebra. I did get to see the cheetah, flamingo, meerkat, and rhino, but failed to spot the lion in it's enclosure.

The New Zealand section was disappointing, I expected the kiwi would be the highlight but none were visible in their nocturnal house. The penguins were also absent, and and I only saw one seal. The East Asia section was next, with some orangutans at the top of some incredibly high poles, and a few tigers, but I couldn't find the red panda.

The highlight of the South American section was the Galapagos tortoise, there was also many small varieties of monkey but were a little hard to find. Finally was the Australian section except the Tasmanian devil was closed. The other highlights were the emu and kangaroo, although I've seen lots of those before.

That was the end of the zoo tour, which had a pretty good layout to avoid going around in circles. The enclosures and other structures were also above average, it's just a shame a few were offline. I ended with a quick trip to the gift shop and then walked back to the bus stop. While waiting for the bus there was some strange Melbourne style trams going around the park exterior, one said Orrong Road and another Glen Iris.

Back on Queen Street once again I stopped in for some food and drink to take back to the hotel for lunch. I noticed my head was still feeling quite sore from the cave exploring yesterday. I didn't have any other specific activities for the afternoon, but also needed a bit of time for packing before the morning. My flight wasn't until 1:30pm but I didn't want to be rushing everything right before hotel check-out.

I decided to get my run done a bit earlier, but it was still quite warm in the afternoon. After about 6 kilometres going east I turned around, as with yesterday it's a good route except the 1.5 kilometres each way on hard concrete. I did a couple of extra kilometres at the end for 14 kilometres in total. On the way back to the hotel I picked up a yoghurt from Woolworths and an ice cream from this great Japan Mart across the street which I hadn't been to until now.

For dinner I just watched some more TV shows then figured out how to pack everything in my bags. I couldn't get everything done since I still needed my running shoes tomorrow, and more dirty clothes, but it looked like it would just fit. I had to get a bit creative putting rolled up shirts or shorts inside of each pair of shoes, which was now three extra pairs instead of two.

For the morning I was thinking of going to the airport early then across to the nearby outlets, including Nike, but decided my bags were already too full. I just got in some more rest for the evening since I had quite a long day of travel coming up, even with the help of the time zone.

Steps = 22,400 with 14.25 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 03

My alarm was set for 7am but I decided to rest a bit more rather than go for a run in the morning. After having breakfast at 8am I walked down to the ferry just before 9am since they said to arrive 30-45 minutes early, but that was unnecessary since it was very empty.

The ferry departed on time at 9:30am and after a stop at Devonport made it to Rangitoto Island a bit after 10am. I set out on the track to the summit which was well marked and said it was 2.2km and 1 hour to the lookout. It felt like quite a long walk and more than 2 kilometres, and was steeper towards the top, particularly the sections with stairs. The view from the top was good and was facing towards Auckland luckily, with just a few trees partially blocking a bit of the view.

On the way back down I made a detour to another place called lava caves, which suggested it was related to an old volcano eruption. The cave was quite small and very dark so you could hardly see where you were going, it was also very low and narrow in one place where I smashed my head on the ceiling. I didn't notice anything special about the cave though, it just looked like any other to me.

Those were the two main places to visit, so I made the long walk downhill to the ferry with a bit under 30 minutes to spare, but better than being late. The ferry was a bit late to turn up, then went via Devonport again and I was back on land at about 1:15pm. First I checked out a big food court near the harbour but didn't find much, so decided to try Burger Fuel across the road instead. They had two vegetarian options, but one was a horrible mushroom burger so that was immediately ruled out. The other came with beetroot, which I asked to be removed, then I found out the burger was still loaded with beetroot when I got back to the hotel. It was a shame as the rest of the burger was quite good once I'd scraped off all the beetroot and tried to reassemble it.

Back at the hotel I watched some TV shows and checked in on work quickly while eating my burger and fries. Before heading out again I also checked in on my shares and made a few trades, so by the time I was ready to go it was already 3pm. I didn't have much else planned since I intended for today to be about recovery, and also wanted to try a bit of running before dinner.

I visited the Real Groovy music store again and bought a key ring and pin as gifts. Further up Queen Street I also went to a couple of other souvenir shops, and bought a gift magnet and a replacement Christchurch magnet. After a quick trip to the Nike store, then the supermarket and finding very little food I went back to the hotel to change for running.

The walk down to the harbour was 500-750 metres and then I could start my route east. It was a good run for about 2 kilometres then it became concrete footpath for 1.5 kilometres, then it was better bike path surface again. In total I ran for 11 kilometres and felt pretty good except for some slight soreness in the bottom of my quads just above the knee. Trying another Woolworths metro on the way back I still didn't have much success.

Back at the hotel my head was still sore, and I realised I had some dried blood where I must have cut my head in the cave earlier. There was too much hair in the way on the top of my head so I couldn't get a good look at the problem though. Since it was after 6pm I sat down for some food and more TV shows on computer for the evening.

Steps = 27,000 with 11.1 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 02

I slept alright overnight and only woke up a few times, perhaps because I wasn't nervous at all for this race. At 5am I got up and managed to eat a couple of race energy chews and a bit of Gatorade, which is more than I can usually manage before a race. Since my right foot had been quite sore for the last few days I decided to gamble on the new race socks that were a bit thicker and hopefully more supportive. I've also had some right glute and hip issues for close to two months but it's finally been starting to improve.

I decided to leave the hotel at about 5:30am to be ahead of time for the 5:45am ferry and the three that followed it. Once I got to the ferry building there was already a huge queue in each direction extending for about two blocks. I overheard one person say the line exploded after a train full of people just arrived. After finally reaching the back of the queue the line was inching forward slowly but regularly. I only got on to a ferry at about 6:10am, which was supposed to be the last one, so they must have ended up running more services than advertised. It was amazing to see people just showing up at 6:05am when the last ferry was due to leave five minutes after that.

The ferry trip was quick but standing room only, so my legs were a bit tired from standing on the spot for nearly an hour. At the Devonport end it was easy to get to the section at the front for people under 90 minutes, and there was an open road ahead for a quick warmup.

The race started and I purposely went conversative at the start, knowing the first 5-6 kilometres had a lot of hills. Checking my watch splits I was staying under 4:00/km and my legs weren't feeling too bad. After 6km I expected a flat section most of the way the bridge, but there was actually lots more up and down until about 10km instead.

Finally we could see the bridge at 11km but still had a very long few kilometres to finally get to the bottom of it. The bridge was quite steep and lasted a bit longer than I thought, but I managed a fairly steady pace and then sped up on the way down, close to 3:30/km. I knew there was another surprise hill just after leaving the bridge and that turned out to be very steep too.

By now the slow marathon field ahead was starting to build up, so I had to dodge across the road a little. After being way ahead or behind on my watch compared to each of the course markers it was suddenly a perfect match again at 18km. I had a slow 19th kilometre but thought I'd still be close to 82 minutes depending on how much extra distance I had to do at the end compared to my watch.

I finally caught one more person, who I'd been following almost the whole race and sped up just a bit to around 3:45/km again. My watch then split at 21 kilometres but I was still a long way from the finish line so I realised my 82 minute goal was probably done. Coming into the final straight there was only 3 seconds to spare, so even a sprint wouldn't have helped and I finished about 5 seconds behind. Since my goal was to have a fun race and not injure myself it was a success, and the new socks and sore foot had no further issues either.

I got my medal then walked back to the hotel to check the results. There was no link on the website yet, but I was able to modify the 2024 link and found I'd finished in the top 50, and third for age category.

After getting changed and a quick breakfast I header for a train to Onehunga to visit the outlet shops. I figured after a hard day of running it would be good to sit on a train for a while. At the outlet shops they sadly didn't have Nike anymore, but had Adidas, Asics, New Balance, and Puma among others. In Puma first I saw a clearance pair of Deviate Nitro Elite 3 for $275 but with an extra 50% off. This is the same shoe I'd just worn for this mornings race, but size 14 instead of my usual 13. I decided to think on it and continued shopping.

At New Balance I didn't find anything, but got casual shorts and a running shirt from Asics, and running shorts from Adidas. Heading back to Puma again I tried on the shoes again and figured they would still be good enough to risk for training sessions, maybe with thicker socks. The price of the shoes ended up being just $118 in Australia dollars.

After a stop at Chemist Warehouse there was just enough time to walk back to the station to get the two trains to Auckland Central again. On the way to the hotel I got another burrito from Taco Bell which was good, but the cheese quesadilla was average.

While having lunch I checked the race website again and there was still no results. However on the same page I saw there was prizes for top 3 in each age category available after 11am but it had to be collected on the day. It was after 12:30pm at the whole place shuts down between 1pm and 2pm, so I had to jog down to the finish area again and find the information tent.

Luckily the online results were correct and I receive a bronze medal for third place, and they also said results were available via the mobile app instead. On the printed out results I saw a lot of people still hadn't collected their medals yet. After taking a few photos it was another walk back to the hotel to drop off my medal and write out my notes for the morning.

Feeling a bit rested I went for a walk uphill to the south end of the city. The first store I visited sold lots of vinyl records but also had a section with lots of assorted small games, toys and other merchandise. There was lots of interesting stuff but I didn't buy anything yet, and I'm already going to struggle to fit everything in my backpacks due to buying another pair of shoes.

I continued up past some games arcade until I reached Aotea Square and turned around. My legs had been feeling good earlier, but my feet and left shin in particular had now been through enough. There was a place going out of business selling Asian toys, but it all seemed to be generic stuff. After a quick trip to Woolworths I headed back to the hotel to rest and have dinner. Due to the time zone difference I could finally watch Match Of The Day now, as it wasn't close to ready at lunch time. I also watched a replay of the Noosa Bolt 5 kilometre race on YouTube.

Steps = 33,700 with 21.75 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 01

The room was a bit noisy overnight due to general hotel noise and a main street nearby, but overall not too bad. My alarm was set for 7am so that I would have enough time for a 10 minute walk to the train station, and made it with plenty of time to spare. The train trip was just one stop for about 5 minutes, then I was able to follow people to the nearby parkrun starting location. It was quite a unique place for a parkrun, starting and finishing on the middle of a footbridge elevated over the bay.

Soon after we set off half of the footbridge was closed so there was a narrow section until we got back onto land. The course had a lot more hills than I expected and some were quite steep although didn't last for long. My legs felt quite bad at the start but got better as I went along and finished in the top 20 at about 22:30 for 5km.

A quick walk back to the train station and then to the hotel to get ready for the free breakfast. The options were a bit more limited than a usual Holiday Inn Express but I got some hash browns, mango yoghurt, muesli, orange juice, and plain croissants.

After breakfast I headed down to the harbour for the race check-in. It wasn't too busy and was well organised, the first stop was to collect the race bib and free hat, then another area to collect a bag with a few free items like bagels and gels. The bagels needed to be toasted so I had no idea what I was going to do with those.

At the expo they had the Asics merchandise first since they were the major sponsor, and they had a special collection of marathon and half marathon tops with every participant named on the back. I thought that was a bit unique so got a regular t-shirt version, since it seemed better than the rest. Moving on through, one of the stores had the Australian shyu socks, where they match the colour schemes to some of the common racing shoes that are currently on sale. I got a pair to match my light green / blue Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3, as well as some energy chews. I wasn't sure if I'd wear those socks tomorrow or stick with my better known Steigen pair, which are also a close match colour wise. On the way out there was also free Rokeby milk and Red Bull cans, and a long line for free barista coffee.

Heading back to the hotel I stopped at the local Pop Mart store to see if they had anything special for New Zealand, but it all looked quite standard. After dropping off my race stuff I walked to the local Countdown supermarket, which is sadly now just named Woolworths. They had the Anzac flavour of Mother Earth muesli bars which was good, as they don't sell them in Australia. Most other things were similar to Australia, so I just got some bread and drinks, plus a visit to Dunkin Donuts on the way back to the hotel for lunch and rest.

By the time I finished lunch it was 1pm but I didn't want to have a big and exhausting afternoon. I started out at a local games and collectibles shop which had quite a lot of stuff, but nothing I was desperate to buy. The next stop was a souvenir shop which had some good quality magnets with a buy two get one free deal. Then another stop at JB Hi-Fi to see what they had, but the collectibles section was very small. Finally I got some more food and drink at New World and then back to the hotel as my legs were starting to feel a bit tired.

I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and watching some videos on Twitch and YouTube before trying to sleep early ahead of the upcoming morning race.

Steps = 13,500 with 5.0 kilometres running