Brisbane 2025

May 30

May 31

June 01

May Review

Another review, nearly a half year over.

Revisiting the miscellaneous from last month, and all the time spent on the election campaign was concluded in under an hour. Now we can move on to achieving nothing substantial for another three years.

Starting with running again I had a Sydney 10 race in the middle of the month. Although my time was only about 36:30 once again I definitely had to run extra distance, so I'll consider it a bit of progress. With the trip to Sydney and Brisbane (covered next month) I also got to visit two new parkruns at Wentworth Common and New Farm for jogging the day before a race.

I was feeling quite sore after the Sydney race, with the left hamstring problem coming back yet again, but at the following weekend at parkrun I did manage a promising run under 17:50 while trying out a new pair of Adidas Adios Pro 3. They had a very different feel to all other racing shoes I've worn (not many) because of the sections cut out of the midsole, so it will take some time to get used to. The good news was that I didn't having any problems after wearing them, like I did immediately in the very narrow Vaporfly 3.

After all the bad news in shares last month there was a pretty dramatic reversal in May, if only I had money ready to take advantage, rather than being invested already. I can't complain too much though as my shares and super balance are back to where they were in February, or perhaps slightly better. Also for a change I had no major expenses for the month, but with interest rates going down I'll be a bit worse off from bank interest (and house prices going up even more).

We're heading into a slow winter of sports being an odd numbered year, so no major events happening. The one highlight was Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup, but of course Manchester United lost the Europa League final. As a bit of a consolation Oklahoma City are into the NBA finals as strong favourites, so I might finally watch a live NBA game or two.

The to do list has a few things going on:

• Holiday
• New Year
• Possibly a short trip somewhere interstate, before prices go up too much
• Japan
• Disney Land - might skip it due to time constraints and crowds
• Team Lab - got tickets for both but the second didn't work with OTP so had to use another credit card - bank support was useless
• Sydney
• Sydney report done
• Phone
• I gave away my unused Galaxy A54 as a gift, which I had not upgraded to in nearly two years
• After witnessing how easy that upgrade was I might soon start using my recently purchased Galaxy A56
• Just worried about the authenticator app
• I also ordered a phone case and screen protector at 8:30pm which arrived by 8:30am the next day
• Running
• June - XCR has a unique 5km Albert Park race but I might be training for half marathon by then
• September - registered for the Run Prix 10km again
• November or December - still haven't decided about Auckland or Singapore
• USA DV lottery
• Failed again this year

Another quiet month at work, and I'm still putting off taking the Java exam due to the bad experience with the practice tests. I've actually lost a lot of momentum with travel and Japan planning, so need to refocus in the next month and just get it over with. Once all of that is done I might be able to return to playing some video games.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• Final Destination Bloodlines
• Finally a movie to watch at the cinemas
• The introduction scene was too long, but overall not bad
• 7 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• Just the usual
• Video Games
• PlayStation 4 - compatible with PlayStation 5
• Bought The Last Of Us part 1 - already had a PlayStation 3 version
• Bought Uncharted collection - already had PlayStation 3 versions of each
• PlayStation 5
• Bought Final Fantasy 16 - showed up 4 days after it was meant to be delivered, outside the garage
• Bought The Last Of Us part 2 remastered

Brisbane 2025, June 01

The 10 kilometre race was scheduled quite a while after the longer distances, beginning at 9:00am. I left the hotel at 8:30am which was actually too early, after a quick ten minute warmup there was still a bit of time standing around. Meanwhile a lot of the marathon runners were coming past on their second lap. The sun was just starting to come out and there wasn't much shade in the starting area to avoid it. I was wearing my second pair of Nike Vaporfly 1 again since I hadn't picked a replacement for race day yet, it's now up to 200 kilometres so starting to get a bit worn out.

This time I got off to a better start, running a bit quicker to avoid getting overtaken and being stuck in traffic for the early kilometres. The first and second kilometre had most of the hills, so I was only going at a bit under 3:50/km. I counted that I was in about 35th place with people coming back the other way after the bridge turnaround point.

There was another short steep hill I hadn't planned for after coming off the bridge at about three kilometres. I almost missed the first drink station because two girls handing out water were too close together, but got a little bit of electrolyte instead.

By the middle of the race I was feeling a bit warm and thirsty but had some faster times due to a slight downhill. Reaching half way with my watch at 18:13 was a bit disappointing, since I was hoping for close to 36 minutes at the end. At about the 6 kilometre mark they had drinks being handed out before and after the turnaround so I was able to get two more cups, which helped a bit.

For a second time I saw the leaders coming back on the opposite side of the road but didn't count my position this time, although I had passed about five people since the bridge. Coming back towards the finish along the river walk I passed a few more people who were fading before the 8 kilometre final drink station.

There was one more big challenging uphill into a bit of wind before the 9 kilometre mark with took the last of my energy. It was a bit of a battle heading towards the finish line even though it was a slight downhill again. I crossed the finish line just after 36:20, and my watch only measured 50 metres over distance, very good considering all the buildings.

It wasn't quite 36 minutes, but given the heat and hills I was still fairly happy, at least I broke out of the 36:30 zone. Since I was tiring so much at the end I didn't have much of a sprint finish, but still ended with a 3:30/km final kilometre.

I got some drinks, a banana, and a medal and then headed back to the hotel to recover. Checking the live results I was about 25th and first in age group again, although last year I was just inside the top 20. I had just enough time for breakfast and packing up before 11:00am checkout and a 2:00pm flight, apparently delayed by just 5 minutes.

After a snack in the food court I went to the gate, but no sign of the plane yet at 1:00pm as I was writing up my report notes. The plane was a little late like usual, and also had to deal with the standard delay being able to land in Melbourne. For the first time we had this strange route where we went all the way past the airport and over the western suburbs until we were alongside the city centre, then had to turn around and go all the way back again.

Run = 11 km

Steps = 15,038