A weekend at the GC...

Saturday

arrived at GC in pouring rain & wild winds...

picked up my hire car and head for the expo...picking up the race kit went smoothly & I also purchased a few items...

completed a cache I had attempted last year then checked into the hotel...

dinner was at the Southport SLSC where I met quite a few CRs - FitnHealthy, alisonjc, Bellthorpe, Ellie80, Trick, Wombat out of Hell - as well as caught with some others - Cirque, Rags, Nando, The Owl, Vegie Girl...meanwhile the weather alternated between pouring rain & howling winds!

gave FitnHealthy a lift back to her accommodation then headed for the hotel...

Sunday

up at 5am and down to the bus stop by 5:30am - it was windy but not raining at least...unfortunately I don't think the organisers realised how many buses they needed as 5 went past in 20-25mins without stopping as they were already full...

worried that I'd missed the start I decided to run to the start (~4k!)- only 1 other bus passed me and it was full too...on the way I bumped into two cricketing friends who were both doing the half as well...

I had 9mins to spare and as I was wearing a long sleeve CR top I ended up carrying it all the way as there was no way I'd be able to leave it at the "Left Luggage"...in hindsight it was lucky I had re-arranged my flights and come earlier as I might have been in more trouble with having to collect my race kit on race morning!

I managed to make my way through the crowd to the sub 2:20 point but that was as far as I got...as a result it took me 3:18 to cross the start and the first 3ks were quite congested...

originally I was planning to go 1:43-1:44 but I was playing catch up the whole time...then the last 7ks were a real struggle - I think a combination of running to the start as well as the wind...so even though my time was slower than I wanted I was actually happy in the end to finish in 1:48:00 net (1:51:18 gun)...in fact I was never so happy to see the finish in a HM as I was today!

after getting some fruit/water, I bumped into David B in the recovery area - he'd run 1:42 so was reasonably happy I think...next it was de-chipping time and medal/shirt collection (I'm wearing the shirt now!)...

I then made my way back to the expo to see if my credit card was at the Active Stride stand (I'd noticed it missing the night before I was hoping they still had it), sure enough they did (phew!)...talk about lucky!

the next bus drama took place when the return shuttles (meant to be operating from 9am) didn't appear...luckily a local route bus driver let some of us on for free...I ended up with 20mins to shower & check out... saw Strewth looking strong while I was on the bus too...

lunch and a bit more caching followed before I returned the car and got set to come home (via Melbourne!)...made it by 8:30pm...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 17.7/63%
start time: 6:34am
total distance: 21.25
total time: 1:48:00
avg pace: 5:05
total calories: 1688
avg HR*: 166

*Time spent in HR Zones:
00:00 [Z1: 93-111]
00:10 [Z2: 111-130]
01:16 [Z3: 130-148]
66:55 [Z4: 148-167]
50:38 [Z5: 167-185]

1k splits:
5:08, 5:06, 5:05, 4:54, 4:55, 4:58, 4:51, 5:01, 4:52, 4:54,
5:05, 5:03, 5:07, 5:12, 5:13, 5:14, 5:18, 5:23, 5:28, 5:32 (1.0975k)