City Run Series 2017 complete, City2Sea #2...

my flight to MEL yesterday was on time and I was pleased to see Ellyse Perry got her ton while I was in the air...

caught the Skybus to Southern Cross Station, a train to Flinders Station, then switched to a tram to the Botanic Gardens...

I found a cache that Suze and I had DNF'd back in May last year as it was missing...this was a multi-cache that had its starting point in Canberra...

back on the tram to the hotel to check in...from there it was a tram then train trip to Mordialloc to hopefully be first to find (FTF) on a multi-cache which had been published in August...like the cache in the Botanic Gardens, this cache had its starting point in Canberra...

the cache was called "Remembering the Fallen Road Trip Canberra" and it was an appropriate day to be FTF...

I grabbed some dinner to take back to the hotel and then reversed my steps to catch a train then tram...

the tram driver missed my stop so ended up walking an extra block which meant I could find another cache, this time a traditional, next to the Albert Cricket Ground...I had played on this ground back in January 1998 when we (NSW) beat SA in the WNCL finals 3-0, immediately before my lower back stress fracture was confirmed (overuse!)...

after finishing my dinner, I headed back out at 10:15pm (!) to attempt another cache which was located near a tram stop...unfortunately I had to DNF it as it was missing...was good to get a call from Tim as I was getting off the tram - he, Madeleine and Erin were heading back to Basel via Abu Dhabi...

this morning I was up earlier than planned so I had a shower, got dressed and headed to the start...I caught the tram to Federation Square and then walked the rest of the way...

conditions were still but overcast so it was going to be quite muggy...

it was hard to tell which mat was the start mat for the red start as the elites/preferred runners started well ahead of us even though we were on the same gun...in the end I did start my watch early (better early than late!)...my goal was 75...

start temp/humidity: 15.7/89% (apparent temp same)
finish temp/humidity: 16.5/86% (apparent temp same)
start time: 8:20am
total distance: 15.01
total time: 75:09
avg pace: 5:00
total calories: 1045
avg HR: 159
TE: 5.0
Recovery HR: 123/53
BPK: 795

1k splits: 4:45, 4:55, 4:50, 5:00, 5:01, 5:02, 5:09, 4:59, 5:03, 5:08, 5:07, 5:09, 5:09, 5:12, 4:38, 0:03
5k splits: 24:31, 25:21, 25:18

I always find the flatter runs harder to maintain pace as it is easy to get in cruise mode so I was happy with my time...even better when my official time was record as 75:01!

there were 4685 finishers (5496 entered)...the fastest time was 44:08 by Liam Adams / 56:56 by Julie Norney (59th overall)...the average time was 91:18...

at the current time I have officially finished 1000th overall, 180th female out of 2302 and 36th W45-49 out of 522...that may change!

after I finished it was straight through to get a medal, two waters and an apple before I caught a tram back to the hotel...

a quick shower and pack then I was back on the tram back to St Kilda to catch the Skybus (St Kilda Express) to the airport...the bus was delayed due to the race road closures and the trip to the airport took an hour...

back in Canberra by 2:15pm with Jodie picking me up to get me home...

this was my second City2Sea after running the inaugural event in 2011 when it was 14k and start outside the Arts Precinct on St Kilda Rd...

now I'm relaxing watching the cricket...