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
No comments:
Post a Comment