Sri Chinmoy Cherry Lake December 2018

I haven't done a running specific post in a long time, some have been combined into short holiday reports though.
I think the last specific one was Run For The Kids 2015.

This months race wasn't anything major, but I'll have a go at writing a short review on any new races.

• Location: Cherry Lake, Altona - 40 minutes
• Distance: 10.5 kilometres - actually 10.7 kilometres
• Result: 41:20 @ 3:51/km - 8th of 128

An easy location to drive to, except I parked in the first available car park which was about 500 metres walk each way to sign up, so most of my warm up time was used for that.

I decided to wear Nike Lunarglide instead of the lighter Nike Lunar Flyknit since those are a smaller size 12.5 and I wasn't sure how they'd go over the distance. So instead the Lunarglide are a medium weight but a bit worn with about 600 kilometres already run.

Just had time for a two kilometre warm up then straight into the race. All three race distances started at the same time and without a turnaround point so you don't know your position for sure.

I took a safe approach to the start like usual, just went out around 3:50/km to avoid a blow up later. Like usual though I struggled through the middle of the race even without running to the limit. Got a quick drink at 7 kilometres only because it was a warm day, and had a better third lap to finish with an alright time, but hardly better than midweek training sessions.

The course was pretty standard, three laps around a big lake but all on a concrete footpath surface unfortunately. The only other issue was lots of swarms of small bugs on one part of the course.

Ran another lap and a half for a cool down, since I didn't finish high enough for any medals.

NSW Part II 2018, December 25

Off to Gungahlin for the Christmas parkrun. I've done this once before, as the second event on 2018 new years day, but missed out of the top 10 so wanted to give it another go. I was just hoping for anywhere in the top 10 but still had really sore legs during the previous two days since running around Bathurst.

Didn't feel much better during the warm up so was considering not running. Somehow settled down a little while waiting for the run to start, so was able to participate. Dropped down to 11th after a kilometre, was going to give up but just waited a bit longer. Got lucky when a couple of people slowed down, 19:04 was good enough for 8th this time!

Back to hotel to checkout, and get ready for the long drive home.

Stopped in Gundagai after 2 hours for early lunch. Drove a bit more and swapped over before the border, still feeling comfortable.

Rested for a bit but took over driving for the last two hours. My back was so tight and painful the rest of the way, glad to finally make it home in the afternoon.

NSW Part II 2018, December 24

More driving again in the morning, through the south west suburbs of Sydney towards ACT. The road conditions seem quite different and lower quality, lots of patchwork pieces of cement.

Reached a country town at Bowral after a couple of hours, but still cars and people everywhere. Went to the Bradman cricket museum, $20 for entry. They had a lot of older cricket stuff, didn't have time to read all of the accompanying information:

• Australia vs England test matches
• Beginning years of cricket
• Bradman
• World Series Cricket

There wasn't too much about modern One Day and Twenty 20 competitions, and no good magnets in the shop.

Had lunch while in Bowral then drove on to Goulburn to see The Big Merino.

Driving again to the final stop for the day, Canberra the home of motorways and ring roads. Even had just enough time to visit another Nike Outlet in Fyshwick on the way in. This time I got one pair of newer Zoom Fly shoes and some shorts and socks.

Drive to the hotel, it had 'budget' in the hotel name and it was really compact. Drive to the city centre, it was very quiet on Christmas Eve, some places were still open for dinner at least. Drive back to the hotel, seems to be a 15 minute drive to get anywhere in Canberra, but lots of empty roads and room for expansion.

NSW Part II 2018, December 23

Another early start to go for a run around Mount Panorama. I had been sick all week and wasn't breathing well today, and that was before starting up the hill.

The run was so much harder than I expected, almost down to walking speed on the way up and the corners never seem to end. It wasn't possible to run flat out on the downhill either as it was too steep and may have been quite dangerous. I was originally planning two slow laps but went a bit too hard on the first one so left it at that.

Due to time constraints could not spend more time to visit the Motor Racing Museum once it opened unfortunately.

Back to the hotel to checkout and drive for an hour to Lithgow or Bowenfels. Stopped to view The Big Miner's Lamp, you can only see the back of it from the parking lot so wasn't too exciting.

Kept driving to Penrith in (very) far west Sydney, although still heavy traffic somehow. Stopped for lunch in some park then drove on to Parramatta. The motorway was probably supposed to be 110 km/h but was 80 km/h the whole way due to minimal roadworks that weren't actually in progress on the day, so basically like every other roadworks you have to slow down for.

Always have time for a quick stop at the Nike Outlet in Auburn. They have individual queue lines so of course got stuck behind a woman who took like fifteen minutes at the counter, seem to be doing a double and triple check of every item on the receipt and debating the prices. Didn't have many size 13 in the store, so just got one pair of older model Zoom Vomero and some Lunarglide that I can probably wear around at work.

Expected to have quite a bit of spare time but just made it before the 2:45pm start of the NBL game at Sydney Olympic Park. It was the only event for the day, but all of the stupid street parking is one hour which is totally useless. Finally found a spot with a normal ticket machine, almost cost as much as the match tickets.

Just made it to the seats with about ten minutes to spare. The seats were in a corner on the second level, pretty good views actually. Sydney were leading after the first quarter, but just stopped scoring in the last quarter and lost once again.

A much better experience than watching a game in Melbourne, not as loud, less annoying music, no kids with clappers or thunder sticks.

Stopped at a burger place in Parramatta, also ordered the potato scallops, Jason had never heard the term before.

Had good quality wifi for once and was able to watch Match Of The Day on the laptop!

NSW Part II 2018, December 22

Had a small breakfast and a quick ten minute drive to parkrun. So better than the Melbourne suburban parkruns in that regard, but you only have the choice of one parkrun here...

Ran a bit of the course early to get an idea of the area for about one kilometre out and back again. At the official start several guys ran ahead early, but I was into third before too long. I was close enough to be able to follow the person is second and had no chance of getting lost, although the course was pretty well marked anyway.

I ran a quick last kilometre but remained in third for a time of 19:22. A good trail course although the surface was a bit rock hard in places, not too technical.

Back to the hotel to checkout and apply some more bandaging. A quick detour to The Big Strawberry 10 kilometres west of Cobram, didn't get any strawberries but did get a magnet.

Driving again into NSW, started getting a bit fatigued and a sore back again after about two hours, but made it through to Narrandera for a lunch break in the hot sun.

Drove another hour to Barellan, just a small detour and a stop to see the The Big Tennis Racquet, definitely the best big thing on the trip. The GPS started going through the back roads, I made it as far as Barmedman before needing a break from driving.

More back roads through Grenfell until finally back on the main road at Cowra. A bit of a strange route, the speed was still 100 km/h but all of the places along the way seemed to be ghost towns, no signs of any people or traffic on the roads.

Finally made it to Bathurst, the hotel has closed much earlier than advertised but was able to get a key from the after hours safe.

Got some dinner then a drive around the Mount Panorama circuit. Only really one place to stop around the circuit if you followed the rules, at Skyline. The track was quite steep which was to be expected but also not nearly as smooth as I expected.

Was just able to get the Steigen athletics race working on YouTube with the hotel wifi - had a women's 5km and men's 10km.

NSW Part II 2018, December 21

Finished work a bit early to have enough time for a three hour drive to Cobram for the first night. There was about a kilometre of traffic waiting to exit at Greensborough in the afternoon, so was happy to be going in the opposite direction.

Managed two hours before getting a sore back, probably better than expected given how much pain I'd been having the last few weeks. Stopped in Shepparton for dinner and a break, then the last hour to Cobram.

The hotel was across the NSW border in Barooga and was pretty small compared to Cobram. So drove back to Cobram for some food and drinks. Lost a battle with a soft drink bottle lid and my hand was all ripped up and blistered afterwards. So second time back to Cobram for some bandages.

Tired so set the alarm for Cobram parkrun in the morning.

November Review

This is the November report, the notes seem more empty than usual. I took a glance at my 2018 goals, and it's not looking good.

Start off with running like usual, just one 10km race at Bendigo for the fifth year in a row. A bit of a lonely race besides catching one person on the second lap and passing many slower half marathon runners. Not that happy with my time of about 39 minutes or 3:55/km, which is basically my standard training time after work.

Also got a new parkrun best time at Lilydale, still a fair way off 18 minutes but at least achieved one small running goal with a new record. I've been dealing with some sore foot and quad issues, so skipped another race in Ballarat, the early race start wasn't ideal either. Had to order a new watch band for my Garmin after 8600km and 650 hours, the plastic is starting to crack but otherwise works fine, but has no multi-sport features.

No biking.

No new investments in shares, just keeps going down so might be a good time to wait and see instead of investing more money.

Been keeping busy with sports highlights for NBA, NFL, and soccer. Went to a game of NBL to see Melbourne vs. Sydney, and Sydney lost like usual. Also went to the Gridiron Victoria final in Geelong, wasn't close this year.

NBL Melbourne vs. Sydney.

Nothing major happening on the to do list:

• Christmas holiday - planning a short route to NSW and back, finished the bookings
• New Year holiday - not sure about this yet, might just want a few days to relax instead
• System Backup - didn't find any good free software so started writing my own backup script!

Still not sure when my work contract will finish, but looks like it will be January now. There is one good thing about it, that I might get to save a couple of annual leave days.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV
• The Challenge Season 32 - Final Reckoning
• Didn't like the format for this year, and very average teams make the final
• Amazing when the final comes around and contestants can't even run 4km
• 4 out of 10
• Video Games
• NES
• Faxanadu
• Watched a stream of someone playing the old Nintendo game, so started a play through myself
• Xbox 360
• Bioshock Infinite
• Finished the main game and a replay to get most of the achievements
• The extreme difficulty looks a bit too challenging
• Grid 2
• Had this in progress from some time ago
• Seems to be very challenging even on medium difficutly
• Been finishing in the middle without race assists

October Review

Starting with running as usual, the recurring shin pain has settled down so I was able to run close to 300 kilometres which I haven't managed since 2015. I attempted to beat my recent 5km pb at the track but just missed out. I also attempted to beat my old 10km record, another 2018 goal, but missed out twice there as well.

Just one race for the month, my first time at the Lara fun run for another 10km. The course was better than usual as it was on gravel, the distance was a bit over 10km but going by pace it was not bad.

No biking.

Nothing good to report in shares. The worst month in years or something like that.
Haven't even made a profit for the year and my investment loan is barely breaking even.

The busy time of year for international sports with NBA, NFL and premier league all going.
It's too hard to watch all of the NBA highlights, and I'm not really liking the shift to high scoring and no defense this year.

Nothing much happening on the to do list, needs a clean out for the end of the year.

• Car - Had another look at options, surprised that prices hadn't changed much
• Christmas - Should book some hotels soon for any short trips, near some good spots for casual running and park runs
• Running schedule - Got a better plan up to the end of the year, should plan a bit further ahead and there's a few NZ options about six months away

Been a bit slow at work, just trying to switch across three projects all at once is difficult. Should finish off in the middle of December which isn't the best time to be looking for a new assignment.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• The Fratellis was cancelled
• The Grates ticket for December
• TV
• Fear The Walking Dead season 4
• A good change to the story, added some new characters
• 8 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox 360
• Bioshock Infinite
• I didn't really follow the story as I was playing, not quite as good as previous ones
• Finished the game on medium difficulty, replaying to complete some of the achievements left over
• 7 out of 10
• Xbox One
• Bought Red Dead Redemption 2

September Review

This is the September report.

Some mixed results in running this month. Got a surprising park run 5km PB at 18:20 as well as an 18:10 on the track. Set a reasonable time at Harvest Run with a 4:00/km average, but it's a unique hill course so can't be compared to anything else. Right after that race I've started developing shin pain again, hopefully it doesn't take months to resolve like last time.

Latest shoe collection.

No biking.

No change in shares, lost all the good reporting season gains the week afterwards, and now just going slowly backwards. Using dividends from the investment loan to pay down the same loan a bit.

AFL finals month at last. Melbourne vs Geelong didn't get a reserved seat, so got there about 2 hours early since I was in the city already. Melbourne won in the end but not very convincing.

Collingwood vs Richmond finally got a reserved seat in the third week of games. Not a good game as Richmond had lost by half time.

Collingwood vs West Coast won a seat in the grand final ballot. I wasn't sure about going after Melbourne and Richmond both lost, but turned out to be a great game. Low scoring but competitive, just a shame Collingwood couldn't stay in front.

AFL grand final entrance.

I tried to find out which AFL grand finals I have been to:

• 2011 - Geelong vs Collingwood
• 2013 - Hawthorn vs Fremantle (passed on)
• 2014 - Hawthorn vs Sydney (passed on)
• 2015 - Hawthorn vs West Coast (passed on)
• 2016 - Sydney vs Western Bulldogs
• 2018 - Collingwood vs West Coast

The NFL regular season started too. Just watching the highlights that run for 5-10 minutes per game, takes a lot of time for 16 games though, until bye weeks start.

Made a little progress on the to do list, don't have any big goals at the top of the list.

• Linked In updates - not two jobs behind anymore
• Move ISP accounts - should be no more emails going to ISP address anymore
• Nintendo Switch - bought the console on discount, no games yet
• System Backup - overdue to take backups and get a better backup and recovery process, made a start

No big changes at work. Completed the AWS developer associate exam, was very easy. Not sure about doing any other exams, since they take a lot of effort. Possibly going to be extending my contract for another 3 months, hopefully don't get bored. Each contract has been quite long so far - 1st for 12 months, 2nd for about 8 months, 3rd for about 6 months.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• A Simple Favour
• Just got tickets before gold class vouchers expired
• Action and dialogue was good, story was a bit predictable
• 7 out of 10
• Music
• The Fratellis ticket
• Wolf Alice
• Not too loud at The Corner was a relief
• Wasn't very familiar with a few songs, sound not as good as the album
• 6 out of 10
• TV 
• American Vandal season 2
• Another good season, but formula started to feel similar to the first
• 6 out of 10
• Quantico season 3
• No surprise the show got cancelled, had no purpose anymore
• 4 out of 10
• Video Games
• Nintendo Switch
• Bought the basic console
• Xbox 360
• Bioshock Infinite
• Played for about an hour
• Xbox One
• Bought Call Of Duty WWII

August Review

This is the August report, right on time.

Running is going alright, completed two races but still no progress on improving my 5 km and 10 km records, but got close to 1 km and 1 mile during training.

Started the month with a 10 km in Townsville, only averaged 3:57/km but impacted by the heat a little. Finished the month with another 10 km in Shepparton, again only averaged a slow 3:53/km but Garmin only registered 9.90 km distance.

First new Melbourne park run for a while in Warragul, a good course despite a few turnaround points, but hard work to just get under 19 minutes as the course was a bit muddy and slippery. Planned a couple of good new routes for long runs, one through Endeavour Hills towards Lysterfield with a fun big hill, and one along Scotchmans Creek trail from Glen Waverley.

Ran a rare interval session to finish the month, six repeats of 1km was a bit easier to get through than shorted 600 metres going quicker, need to start doing them more consistently to get some rewards.

Warragul parkrun

No biking, probably wait for more daylight hours at least.

August is the announcements and dividends month for shares. I had a few that underachieved, but probably came out alright overall and have actually started making a small profit overall for the year. Lots of companies I have invested are all doing capital raising at the same time, asking for more money, but I'm a bit poor due to paying lots of annual bills.

Almost ready for AFL finals now, so I entered into the MCC grand final ballot. Due to a typical ticketing failure I missed out on all tickets for the first week of finals which is rather annoying.

Nothing much done on the to do list, need to try and clean out some items that have been hanging around for too long.

• Tax return - Got $600 back but I had to pay $1300 up front durng the year, so still lost
• Townsville report

Finally got a corporate photo taken for work after nearly two years. I completed another exam, a bit easier than the previous one in the end, but more uncertain since there wasn't much training material. I'm going to do another AWS exam since I found out that it's similar to the first one, and possibly a bit easier.

That's it for this month:

• Books
• None
• Movies
• MIFF - Arctic
• Another Arctic survival story
• A slightly different predicament and managed to stay interesting
• 6 out of 10
• MIFF - Finke: There And Back
• Documentary about a dirt bike race in NT with lots of crashes and injuries
• Seemed to spent too much time on the preview and the first day of the race
• The second day hardly had any coverage
• 7 out of 10
• Mission Impossible: Fallout
• Not interesting at all, spent far too long on each ridiculous action scene
• 4 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• Floribama Shore season 2
• Not bad, probably better than watching more Jersey Shore
• 6 out of 10
• SWAT
• Didn't expect much, but a reasonable crime of the week show
• Has one of the creators of The Shield involved, so several actors have popped up
• 7 out of 10
• Video Games
• PC
• Purchased Quake and Quake 2 with mission packs on Steam

Townsville 2018

August 03
August 04
August 05
August 06
August 07

July Review

A bit late this month due to holiday.

Weeks of windy days haven't been good for running, and I only seem able to recover for one good training session during the week at the moment. I missed a few days with a calf injury, but it was good to avoid any serious injury by taking the rest rather than risking it. Only one race at Princes Park, slowed down a bit by the hills I only managed about 39 minutes, so still not getting close to my 38 minute target. Had my longest run for the year, and 20th overall, with a half marathon in training on a Sunday.

No biking, probably have to start soon if I'm going to do a triathlon this summer.

I thought my shares were going well after one had a big increase, but I compared my amount invested to the increase for the year and found I've made no money at all...

Still a bit slow for sports other than the World Cup finals, France was a good alternative after England missed out again. The Tour De France was not really interesting.

Time for the to do list:

• Holiday
• Townsville trip organised for early August
• I noticed I'd been planning a Cambodia and Vietnam trip since 2015, which still hasn't happened
• Looking at options for a short trip for Christmas that's not too expensive
• MIFF
• Most sessions were late during the week
• Just got Arctic and Finke: There And Back for one Saturday
• Tax Return
• Filled out all the details, half of it had to be done manually
• Now have to wait until August for my investment activity report to be generated
• I had to prepay $1200 during the year, I might be $600 back so I still lose in the end

Making some progress on work exams, passed AWS with 85% and have the second scheduled for early August. I might do another AWS exam since the material is similar to the previous one, not sure about any others yet.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Music
• Franz Ferdinand at Festival Hall
• Good songs too, would have liked a few more rare ones
• 8
• MGMT at Festival Hall
• Good songs, presentation could have been better
• 7
• Movies
• None
• TV
• Alex Inc
• A bit predictable and unrealistic adaption of a true story
• 5 out of 10
• Cobra Kai
• Really good, better than expected
• 8 out of 10
• Corner Gas Animated
• A bit uneven but some good writing and characters
• 7 out of 10
• Mr Mercedes
• Better than The Mist at least, a little different to the book though
• The Pixies track in some episodes was good
• The second season will be interesting, as the second books is very different
• 6 out of 10
• Video Games
• None, waiting until exams are finished at least
• Planning to buy a Nintendo Switch some time

Townsville 2018, August 07 (Let's Rock)

Last day. Started with a tough hike up the 'goat track' to the top of Castle Hill which overlooks Townsville. Tough on the legs with all of the wide steps. Good views from a few different ledges.

Castle Hill.

Not one goat on the goat track.

The walk back down was easier, stopped at Queens Gardens for lunch. Would have been a good spot for running. Back to the city again to buy a magnet, only a couple of shops with limited options, but picked the best option.

Downtown.

Revisited Jezzine Barracks, near where the race was held on the weekend. Had some World War 2 stuff around, and various public art. There's a big public rock pool right on the beach, but was a bit to cold.

Drove down the long cape road to Cape Pallerenda. Looked like another good running track with some hills on Strava, but so rocky you'd twist an ankle for sure.

Just driving around a bit more before having to head to the airport, went past The Strand again and some botanical gardens. Got some dinner then drove to the airport. Best airport drive ever, just driving down a road with houses on it...and there's the airport car park!

Steps: 26,500
Drive: 350km approx

• Townsville
• 7 out of 10
• Good
• Better place to be during winter
• Having a car
• Running and walking tracks
• Townsville airport
• Traffic
• Bad
• City centre size
• Jellyfish in the water
• Limited entertainment options
• Melbourne airport
• Missed Out
• The Big Brolga - if it still exists

Townsville 2018, August 06 (Death Magnetic)

Bit of a rush start:

• Drive to city
• Find somewhere to park - the one 'main' street gets busy on a week day
• Stop at the supermarket
• Run to the ferry before departure

The boat only took about 20 minutes to get to Magnetic Island, not much to see.

I'm on a boat.

Got off the boat and walked to Arcadia and Alma Bay along the road. Surprised by how the amount of housing development on the island.

Not one arcade machine in Arcadia.

There were no footpaths going up the big hill to the other side of the island, so a good time for lunch.

Hiked through the bush instead towards The Forts track, hard work climbing up all the steps, only passed a couple of people. More walking around The Forts track to reach some old fort lookout towers, very dusty. This was supposed to be the best place to see koalas, but did not see any!

Bush walking.

The fort from the other fort.

Walk through the bush and along the street to Horseshoe Bay at the other end of the island. Probably ended up with about three hours of walking on the island.

Wasn't too much to see at Horseshoe Bay so got a bus back to the ferry, since the next run wasn't for more than an hour.

Steps: 26,000

Townsville 2018, August 05 (Road Rules)

The 10km race start was only at 7:45am, probably could have been a bit earlier. Drove from the hotel to the race, I thought roads might be crowded, but plenty of street parking everywhere!

Did a quick 2 kilometre warm up around the streets, while the marathon and half marathon was already out on the roads. Sweating from the warm up wasn't a good indication, walked over to the start and got in the front row.

Started a bit slow off the start, having gone too quick in the heat in Singapore earlier this year. Skipped the 2.5km drink station which was a mistake, struggling by the next drink station which wasn't until 5.5km. Need more drinks!

Not a huge field of fast runners, I probably made my way up into the top 25 quickly but was mostly running by myself afterwards. There was a couple of hills later in the race which were a bit difficult, not having a great time trying to stay under 4:00/km.

Grabbed another couple of spots late in the race, gave me something to focus on. The distance was 10.13km which didn't help my finish time, just came in under 40 minutes but not close to any personal beats. Lately my races haven't even been as good as my training runs, need to make some improvements to race preparation, especially hydration.

Drive back to the city to the farmers market on Flinders Street, not much for sale except cronuts! Got some food for lunch at stopped at the Palmetum - a place will palms. Good place with a little rainforest.

Palmetum.

Started a long drive north to Paluma, but took a detour first to the Frosty Mango. Basically it's just a larger version of a milk bar on the highway, selling lots of ice cream flavours and a few other mango specific products.

The Big Frosty.

Took the road inland to Paluma, one of those annoying roads with bends every few seconds and narrow roads, 40km/h max speed. Stopped at Little Crystal Creek for a break, had a river and some rock pools.

Little Crystal Creek.

More slow driving to get to Paluma, nothing at all in the town, almost drove past the other end without realising. Got out of the car at last, walked around for a while, had some nice tracks though the forest. Otherwise very quiet and deserted.

Somewhere in Paluma.

Downtown Paluma.

Drove back to city, lots of dead kangaroos on the highway, no near misses this time.

Steps: 13,000 + 14.5 km

Townsville 2018, August 04 (Stranded)

Because of the climate the parkrun starts at 7:00am instead of 8:00am. There's three parkruns around Townsville, the closest was about 15 minutes away. Bit of a weird drive to get there, seems to be a separation between where the city ends and the suburbs start.

Got to the parkrun at Aplins Weir just in time, a good spot along the river. The course wasn't so special, just a cement footpath along the river, but good scenery at least.

I was just going for an easy run, started about 4:00/km but dropped it down to 4:30/km soon.
My only goal was to finish in the top ten, made it without too much effort.

Aplins Weir.

Drove back to the hotel then found somewhere to park in North Ward - north of the river where almost everything else. Walked down The Strand, a beachfront road almost identical to Cairns.

The Strand.

Walked down Flinders Street! in the city centre, a bit smaller version though. Spotted a couple of souvenir shops, some street art, but otherwise it was fairly quiet, maybe because it was the weekend.

The other Flinders Street.

Some street art around town.

Some other street art.

Victoria Bridge.

Got back to the car and drove up to the top end of the city to Jezzine Barracks. Picked up a race pack from the Townsville Running Festival expo. Free singlet! although I don't wear singlets, and a free 15 cents Coles bag! which had the race bib and not much else.

Drove to Hermit Park, ordered some pizza, drove to some park to have lunch. The park had some kids miniature train going around it, also happened to be near part of the V8 Supercars street circuit. After lunch walked around a bit of the circuit, some of it is just normal road so couldn't determine the full track layout.

Possibly part of a V8 track.

Didn't want to walk too much with a race the next morning, so went back to the hotel a bit early.

Steps: 17,500 + 5.5km

Townsville 2018, August 03 (The Town)

So this is what my winter holidays have come down to, a weekend interstate.

Started with a three hour flight from Melbourne after work, left late afternoon and arrived in the evening. Made a good decision to hire a car for the duration, cost about $220 which was easily worth the convenience. Got a free upgrade - aka we don't have your car - to a Toyota Camry, I would have preferred to have the compact Yaris or similar I booked, since it's easier to park.

The car was alright, it had a foot parking brake but would still roll after being engaged. The drive from the airport to the hotel was easy, since I brought along my own GPS unit instead of paying like $20 a day to hire one!

The hotel reception had already closed for the night, but they had a phone to use to get a room key from the safe. The people in the next room were the worst, they went out for the night at like 9:00pm but left the TV going at full volume. Then they finally got back after 1:00am and started making a ridiculous amount of noise. Lucky they were gone the next day.

Steps: 5,000

June Review

This is the June review. I already know I'm failing at most of my fitness, holiday, house, money, running and work goals for the year. Might be too late for some of them.

Finally having a good stretch of running without any serious injuries, but don't seem to be improving at all, might have to do something different. Set a couple of park run course best times and nearly got down to 18:30, but just missed my overall 5km best. Also found a couple of new routes for longer runs in Croydon Hills and Kilsyth. Had planned to race a 10km at Albert Park but the weather was just so bad that I skipped it, probably a good idea. There's not many good choices for races during winter coming up either.

No biking.

Not much success with shares lately. I added to my investment loan, so I'm near the limit allowed unless I contribute more shares as security from my main account, probably won't do it right now since the share market is near an all time high. Did a bit of selling and buying, mostly selling out of horrible choices that actually kept going down afterwards, so no regrets there.

Still a bit slow for sports, the NBA finals were predictable with Golden State winning 4-0. Watched the first Australian World Cup game at imax, gave up an unlucky goal just when it looked like we could hang on for a draw. Stayed up for the 1-1 draw with Denmark, then got up early to watch the disappointing 2-0 loss to Peru, and that was it for another four years. For the rest just waiting for the 20 minutes highlights of each game, but haven't done so well avoiding results prior.

Nothing much seems to be happening on the to do list so it doesn't even need a section this month, just having ongoing battles with the stupid committee about the new speed bumps, which has been really frustrating.

Within a month I finished one short work assignment, went back to the office, and just started another longer assignment back at the same place. The good is that it's close by and I can drive to work, but the bad is that there's nothing much around and can't do running at lunch time - no change rooms and showers, and no good tracks. I have my first AWS exam scheduled for early July, which I should be able to pass now, I might think about doing a second AWS exam before my other exam to be done by September, since a lot of the material is the same across the two.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - official study guide
• I suppose it counts
• 8 out of 10 - if I pass
• Music
• None
• Movies
• Downsizing
• Expected some purpose to the movie, never got it
• 3 out of 10
• TV
• The Challenge - Champs vs Pros 3
• Don't really like these as they aren't very competitive
• 6 out of 10
• The Staircase
• Netflix remade an old murder trial documentary and added new episodes
• Quite surprising how much filming was done in the moment
• 7 out of 10
• Video Games
• None

May Review

This is the May review.

Had a bit of a break from running with the holiday, except for the Star Wars 10km and Malaysia park run, but you don't really lose any fitness in a week so no problem. Besides that just a couple of park runs and volunteering, finally I was able to order my 50 and 100 park run t-shirts. My left knee has been going surprisingly well without wearing a support, but now my right knee started to hurt after a hard midweek session, so the other side now needs it. Maybe one day I'll be able to run with no compression or support extras.

No biking.

Shares are slowly moving upwards, but not back to where they were earlier in the year, at least my investment loan is actually making a small amount of money now! I put through a couple of sell and buy orders from my regular account, but accidentally used the investment loan to do the buying, which almost exceeded my loan limit. It was good to find out how selling works though, it seemed to just work like a normal account.

Sports have gone a bit quiet except for the start of the NBA finals. I really enjoyed the Golden State vs Houston conference finals because it was competitive but not always easy to watch because the Warriors struggled so much. Supporting Golden State was quite different to previous years, but I just really dislike the Rockets team. The finals I expect to be quite boring by comparison.

Nothing much on the to do list right now:

• Committee - still dealing with this never ending speed bump problem
• Holiday - finished the Singapore and Malaysia report
• Holiday - waiting on work, then I can decide on another holiday opportunity
• Running - not a lot of events around at the moment, have a couple of interstate options

Finished up at work a bit later than expect, going to be moving to a short term project next. Now I have to try and get two exams finished by August, which won't be easy. The AWS is going well, I just need to do some memorising of all the material now. I got 80% on my first practice exam without really trying.

That's it for this month:

• Books
• None
• Movies
• Crooked House
• Limited release of an Agatha Christie book
• Not one of the best stories, most characters weren't very necessary
• 6 out of 10
• Three Billboards
• Watched on the plane to pass the time
• Wasn't much point to the ending
• 5 out of 10
• Music
• Got a ticket for Franz Ferdinand with MGMT
• Got a ticket Wolf Alice after they added an extra show!
• TV
•  Blindspot
• A poor season, a single protagonist can perfectly time future events
• At least they're going in a new direction for the next season
• 6 out of 10
• Video Games
• Probably will need to wait until I finish exams now, don't have time for everything

Singapore and Malaysia 2018

May 03
May 04
May 05
May 06
May 07
May 08
May 09
May 10
May 11
May 12
May 13

April Review

This is the April review, almost forgot due to holiday distractions.

Two running races in the same month, about time.

• Sri Chinmoy Williamstown 10km
• Wasn't very confident due to lack of racing
• Finally managed to stay under 4:00/km pace
• Finished in 38:45 but could have gone a little quicker
• Run The Rock
• Didn't register in the end, lucky as the rain and wind was bad
• Werribee 10km
• Last minute decision was a good idea, fun course
• Finished in 39:00, but the course was a bit harder
• Park Runs
• Parkville 18:45 better than expected
• Lalor new event, horrible wind!
• Lilydale 18:35 course pb

Lalor parkrun.

No biking.

No big change in shares, haven't invested due to holiday expenses.

Two more shows at the comedy festival.

• Lawrence
• 7 out of 10
• Not as good as previous years
• James Veitch
• 8 out of 10

Too much sport at the moment, but hard to pick out the good content from the Commonwealth Games and then have time to watch it. Don't really have time to watch a two hour road race for example. Just managing to keep up with NBA playoffs by watching the last quarters only.

The to do list:

• Foxtel
• Got changed over to satellite
• Don't understand why you don't get all the secondary free to air channels
• And seems like their installation has broken the downstairs aerial reception for those channels!
• Holiday
• Possibly the least planned holiday
• Only bought plane tickets in the last month, hotels the last week or so

Nobody seems to know when we'll be ending our work project now, which is a bit frustrating. Still don't seem to find much spare time for study while winding down.

That's it for this month, quickest one in a while.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• A Quiet Place
• 8 out of 10
• A unique movie, but the silence was a bit awkward in cinemas
• Ready Player One
• 7 out of 10
• Had high expectations, didn't really deliver
• Music
• None
• TV
• The Challenge Season 31 - Vendettas
• 7 out of 10
• Most of the hopeless competitors seem to make the final these days
• Should be more elimination and less politics
• Video Games
• Xbox 360
• Final Fantasy XIII-2
• Finished 100% at last!!!
• Not sure what will be next

Singapore and Malaysia 2018, May 13 (Epilogue)

Travel summary:

• 10:00am flight
• Got hotel reception to book a taxi to come in 20 minutes, to save time waiting after finishing breakfast
• I asked about going to the airport instead of the central train station
• He said they don't do it, you have to use 'a website' yourself
• I asked what website, he seemed confused so I had to rephrase it - Grab or Uber apparently
• That seemed weird, so I just asked for a taxi to the train station and he wrote down my room number
• Finished breakfast and ready to leave!
• Checked on the taxi progress, he asked if I wanted to book it now!
• So...this made the whole previous conversation pointless
• The 'taxi' arrived, it was actually just a Grab driver, just managed to fit a suitcase in the back
• A bit too stressful, but got to the train and the airport with no more issues
• So many different queues to get to the departure gate, but moved fast
• Went with Air Asia instead on the way back, since it was direct from KL
• No screens in the head rests, really boring listening to podcasts and staring at nothing
• It was weird that I had booked a meal as part of the baggage allowance, they had two meal services but you only get one meal!
• Melbourne luggage carousel must be the slowest in the world, always takes at least 20 minutes
• The car battery started in the long term car park!

Next time...not sure yet.

Magnet updates.

Singapore and Malaysia 2018, May 12 (All These Things That I've Done)

Last day. Saturday morning is parkrun day! There's exactly one event in Malaysia, so I chose a hotel that was close enough to run there. The park was quite small so it was a strange course, run a small loop once then a large loop three more times. Even with an early 7:30am start it was very tough conditions in the heat, finished in just over 20 minutes for the 5 kilometres.

Back to the hotel and breakfast, this time got a bus ticket booked online for Genting Highlands to avoid any confusion. Only booked for about a half day, since I was not expecting too find much there since the previous indoor and outdoor theme parks have been closed down and the new 20th Century Fox theme park is well behind schedule. What a surprise...

Most buses take you to the bottom of the hill, which has the outlet mall and the cable car station up to the top. The line seemed to be moving deceivingly fast but it was just so long it took nearly 30 minutes to reach the front - it's going to be a total disaster once the theme park opens. I couldn't understand why so many people would bother going there when there isn't all that much to do, much better off just doing the equivalent activities in KL.

There's some temple at the middle station you can get out at, but given how long it took to get into a car, you wouldn't risk getting out and having to wait for another empty one again. So finally reached the top, a bit like the Crown complex I suppose, and likewise including a hotel and casino. There was a few smaller attractions that seemed to be more suited to children, video game arcade, restaurants, shopping, cinemas and bowling.

Probably not a good sign when the light show is one of your main attractions.

Given the amount of time available, just decided on some bowling after having looked at all of the options. The bowling was really cheap like the cinemas, paid for two games and did well considering having not played in a few years.

Could have gone close to 200 with a bit of luck.

The trip back down was great by comparison, 15 minutes or less.

Just had time to visit the Nike store at the outdoor outlet mall at the bottom, seemed like a good place and had lots of shops, but didn't have time to look anywhere else. Maybe saw a couple of size 13 shoes but none worth getting, instead got a couple of pairs of large shorts instead of medium this time, but they still weren't much longer! So need extra large in Asia.

More waiting in line.

Legs feeling really sore just sitting on a bus for an hour, not looking forward to an eight hour flight tomorrow. Back at the hotel I had to find an ATM at the shopping mall, given the preference for cash you'd think these things would be everywhere, but there was like one every second floor and took forever to find it, makes no sense.

Steps: 14,000 (2.5 hours)

• KL
• 7 out of 10
• Good
• Cheap also
• Park Run
• Bad
• Few signs for streets and train stations
• Less frequent trains
• No theme park at Genting Highlands
• Vegetarian options
• Missed Out
• Some of KL Forest Eco Park
• Malacca

Singapore and Malaysia 2018, May 11 (The Backup Backup Plan)

Had a two hour bus trip booked to go to Malacca at 8:30am, I was ready to leave a 7:30am but Jason wasn't even done with breakfast until 7:45am, so wasn't going to be on time for that - it only cost a few dollars at least. Took a train to the main bus terminal anyway, next available buses weren't until 10:00am so didn't really want to wait around in a bus terminal for that, it's only slightly better than an airport terminal.

Went back to KL Sentral instead, had a look at the bus situation to Genting Highlands, didn't look good so got out of the station. This was probably my least favourite experience, the streets around KL Sentral are just not pedestrian friendly at all, it's all highways and exit ramps and no way to get around on foot, just kept going around in circles reaching dead ends.

Eventually got to the museum / planetarium / gardens / bird park / butterfly park etc. Lots of things around, too bad it's almost impossible to get to. Found fake Stonehenge and a deer park walking through the gardens, only all the deer were just hiding in the shade, providing no entertainment. Tried out the KL Bird Park of all the available choices, described as the world's largest walk-in aviary. It was better than I expected, there is a big net over the whole park so the birds can't escape, and you can just walk around with most of the birds, somehow they don't have an issue with all the people being around them. A few had to be in cages for various reasons - their safety or yours.

White flamingo?

Some kind of parrot.

Favourites:

• Emu and Ostrich
• Flamingo
• Parrots

Walked to the closest train station, forgot it was another one of those KTM stations that was closed! so had to find the next station instead. Still dealing with sore legs so during the afternoon went back to the hotel, got a ticket for the cinema at the shopping centre. Bargain prices for movies, $4 for regular seats and the front few rows are only $3. The best option seemed to be this horror movie Truth or Dare, in English but with subtitles, no problem. There was a problem though, due to the Malaysia culture or whatever, they were cutting out bad words but also some themes must be inappropriate so suddenly the movie would just skip forward as they'd cut entire parts out of it. Really weird and confusing to watch. The movie would have been terrible even without the edits, like those Final Destination movies.

Steps: 21,500 (3.5 hours)

Singapore and Malaysia 2018, May 10 (Batmania)

Started the day on a train to Batu Caves, which is possibly what I did last time, but with less difficulty:

• Train to Bandaraya LRT station
• Walk to Bank Negara KTM station (closed)
• Walk back to Bandaraya LRT station
• Train to Sentul LRT station
• Walk 1.5 kilometres to Sentul KTM station (quicker than waiting for the replacement shuttle bus)
• Train to Batu Caves KTM station

Batu Caves was about the same as last time, still lots of tourists managed to make it there, most from those big tour buses I suppose. The pack of monkeys weren't on the main staircase anymore, but they were still hanging around, one received a banana then got attacked by another monkey which started biting it's tail - they get pretty ferocious. I'm not really sure why the place is such a big attraction actually, besides walking up all the stairs it's just a big open cave and then you turn around and go back. There is a separate Dark Cave guided tour but you have to queue for it.

Here we go again.

So took a train back to KL, got out at KLCC. Bought some lunch but it was almost impossible to find an exit into KLCC Park, it's like they don't want you to ever leave. KLCC Park is a great spot, lots of open space and you can see the twin towers in the background. We investigated going up the towers but it was something in the range of $30-40, didn't seem worth it.

Petronas TT.

Instead walked up the hill to the KL Forest Eco Park next to KL Tower. The entrance we arrived at was in the middle of the park, so after walking across the sky walk rope bridges to the bottom it wasn't really worth going all the way back to get to the other end. Otherwise a good walk through a miniature forest in the city.

Eco park.

Back on a train, then switched to the MONORAIL to Bukit Bintang, basically the main shopping and retail district. Got a pair of shorts from the Nike store, I never bother to try clothes on before buying but probably should have as the medium fit alright but just wasn't as long as I hoped. After a week of walking my legs were starting to hurt much more than usual, so had to finish a bit early and head back to the hotel. I found a place selling red bean buns! but they only had one left.

Steps: 25,000 (4.5 hours)