Gold Coast 2023

June 30

July 01

July 02

July 03

Gold Coast 2023, July 03

Had yet another early start at 5:30am to get a run completed before checkout, lots of people out near the beach already and even at this time it wasn't very cold.

The bus to the airport took the standard 30 minutes without much traffic. The flight estimate was already showing a ten minute delay, I was just hoping it didn't keep increasing. Instead it came back to the normal time and nobody realised, so I was second in line to board the plane.

Like usual at the Gold Coast airport there's not enough seating in the strange combined food and departure waiting area, but I managed to find a seat and write up the travel notes while waiting for boarding to start.

Another successful trip, I'm not sure if I'll come back for a third year in a row and hopefully another PB, the only downside is probably the cost since it is during school holidays.

Gold Coast 2023, July 02

The marathon started about an hour earlier at 6:15am this year, but still only the same time as the half marathon strangely, while the ten kilometre race was at 6:45am once the marathon was under way.

I was still tired from yesterday so didn't travel up to watch the race start. Instead I waited around to go for a late morning seven kilometre run instead, legs didn't feel too bad.

Watched the marathon live stream while having lunch, had good coverage with multiple cameras of different groups but sadly nothing at all for the ten kilometre race.

Took the tram up to Cavill Avenue the middle of Surfers Paradise for some afternoon exploring. Similar to last year there was lots of food and restaurants, mostly within a compact area between the highway and the beach. It had got a bit more windy and cold than yesterday so wasn't the best conditions for walking around outside, then got the tram back to the hotel to finish the day.

Gold Coast 2023, July 01

Set an alarm for 4:30am to get the tram by 4:45am but woke up about every hour during the night, probably in part due to the usual loud fridge problem. Reached the race venue around 5:15am for the 6:15am race start, outside in the cold air it soon got very cold standing around in a singlet.

Thankfully it was soon time for a quick two kilometre warmup then lined up at the front of Zone A. The stupid qualifying times are a near impossible 1 hour 16 minutes for men and rather easy 1 hour 28 minutes for women.

The started was a giant mess of people predictably, I couldn't run faster than 4:00/km and had no space to overtake. I don't understand how there was so many slow people ahead of me that must have come from the priority zone, even lots of men it seemed like.

Finally I was able to run properly after about two kilometres, but lost at least fifteen seconds off my target lap times. From five to fifteen kilometres I was feeling the best, averaging around 3:40/km that was even a little faster than I expected and didn't seem to hard. I had some gels along the way at eight and fifteen kilometres but skipped all the drink stations - it's a little hard to digest a gel while running fast but I got through it well enough.

Soon after fifteen kilometres the effort felt much harder but somehow the lap times remained the same, but really hoping the finish line would come soon. My GPS kept getting a bit further ahead of the markers each kilometre so I didn't know what my exact net time was going to be, although I calculated that I was moving closer to 1 hour 18 minutes. I only tried to speed up a bit coming into the final straight as 1:18:00 was showing up on the clock for gun time, I only missed out by two seconds for net time after all.

Got the tram back to hotel before the crowds, then a tram and bus up to Harbour Town outlet mall. The Nike store had 40% for members via the mobile app so I got some Pegasus Turbo that were already reduced and came out to less $100. I tried New Balance but they never have any good racing or training shoes in the outlets, likewise I assumed for Asics but they had a couple of models of their super shoes over 50% off so decided to buy the one that still had size thirteen.

By surprise found a Zambrero across the street for lunch before getting the bus back. I stayed on the bus instead of getting of early for the tram, this turned out to be a big mistake because there was still lots of traffic closures due to a very late morning five kilometre family race. The bus wasn't even moving so I got out to walk to the closest tram stop, but had to wait a long time there with the crowd of runners that had just finished their race.

Dropped off shoes at the hotel then had more walking across Pacific Fair. Just got some donuts again from Doughnut Boss and food from the supermarket, but all these shops are all the way at the other end of the centre.

Back to the hotel and watched the live stream of the half marathon, it was alright except the women's race wasn't even close - but an impressive 15th overall for the women's winner. My legs were feeling a bit sore after walking and standing up for much of the afternoon, although probably a bit better than last year. Stayed at the hotel to have dinner so I could rest my legs and watch some TV shows and AFL - doesn't even get on the main channel seven broadcast.

Gold Coast 2023, June 30

Got up at 6:30am to give the Vaporfly 3 a quick evaluation for 2 kilometres in the dark, since I'd never worn them before. I planned to try them out properly earlier in the week but it was raining and I wasn't sure if they would have dried in time.

First impressions were good, they seemed a bit more spacious and cushioned than the Vaporfly 1 but I soon experienced a bit of unusual pressure in the left mid foot, it seems like the inner sole is raised higher on the inside than other shoes I usually wear. I didn't want to risk wearing them for the half marathon until I had more information, so luckily I had a second pair of brand new Vaporfly 1 to take instead.

With that last minute inventory sorted I left around 8:00am for the train into the city and eventually landed at Gold Coast airport at 12:30pm, with a bus waiting to go. Similar to last year there was a very high amount of traffic for a Friday afternoon on the main highway so the bus took much longer than expected.

Got over to the expo around 1:30pm but was shocked to see a giant line waiting to get through the entrance, spent well over thirty minutes standing in line just to get a race bib and had very sore hamstrings by the end. It seemed like there was way more people in the line than could possibly be racing tomorrow, in previous years I don't think I've waited even five minutes.

Just rushed through the rest of the expo, got some food from Woolworths and had a quick late lunch. The only good outcome of the delays was that it was already time for hotel check in, back at the same place at last year in Broadbeach South. Also had some extra food from Woolworths for dinner so stayed at the hotel to rest for the morning race.

June Review

The June review.

Another running race at Launceston this month, improved on last months 10 kilometre result for a new PB around 35:40, plus a new parkrun the day before in Launceston too. The rest of the month was just jogging around parkrun and doing half marathon training each Sunday before Gold Coast. Still a bit short of 300 events and 25 volunteers at parkrun.

Shares down slightly for the month, must be five months out of six now. It's a challenge to make money when any random day could drop by 2% for no good reason.

A very quiet time in sports across June and July, no annual events so just waiting for NFL and premier league. Carlton still can't beat any teams in the top eight, maybe to build for a few more years.

Only one major event in the to do list right now.

Computer

Started with a new Philips 28 inch but haven't unboxed yet 

The current Samsung 27 inch randomly goes black for a couple of seconds

Europe holiday

Lacking motivation still, but lots of planning to do

Completed travel bookings

Completed all but one hotel booking

Still busy at work so it will be interesting to see what happens when I'm away for nearly four weeks.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV Shows
• Break Point
• Took six months to release another five short episodes
• Basically just a summary of French, Wimbledon, and US open tournaments
• 5 out of 10
• Video Games
• Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
• Exploring is fun but the main story is very disappointing
• 7 out of 10