Gold Coast 2009

arrived Saturday morning, picked up the car (got upgraded two classes because they didn't have any other cars available!) and did some caching on the way to the expo to pick up my number etc...

expo was well laid out with heaps of room for everything....bought some more Injinji socks and got to check out the new Garmin 310XT (I want one!)....only negative was that it took over 20mins to exit the car park!

had a relaxing afternoon before picking up CR BoneyChic for the CR dinner at the Southport SLSC...

a smaller affair numbers-wise than last year but still good fun...the following CRs attended (with results if known):

Coogee1979M (organiser) - HM
BoneyChic - M 6:25:54
Catgirl (from Canberra) - HM 2:01:02
Mrs Wombat - HM 3:02:51
wombatoutofhell - M 4:41:59
alisonjc (+2) - HM
Emma100 (+1) - M (debut) 6:31:38

back to the hotel by 8:30pm, watched the end of Harry Potter before hitting the sack...

up at 5:00am...out there door by 5:20am...much better than last year as I drove to the start and parked in the Australia Fair carpark...

positioned myself between the 1:30-1:40 sign and the 1:40-1:50 sign but should have gone further forward as it still took 1:33 to cross the start and the first k was very congested...

a 5:30 first k meant I was playing catch up the whole time to try and get to my goal...had a flat patch 12-16k and then again at 18-20k...

passed Plu (1:55:52) in the first couple of ks, gave out plenty of GCRs including a thumbs up to Mrs Wombat...got passed by a CR at around the 7k mark but passed her back again after 19k - she was struggling with a pre-existing injury which left her with an awkward running style...got a sideline cheer from Ewen (10k - 45:44)...

overall, despite missing my goal, I'm quite happy with the run which is an event PB...mind you each year I have done the GC the HM has been different!

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 8.0/86% (rising to 10.8/71%)
start time: 6:24am
total distance: 21.1
total time: 1:43:50
avg pace: 4:55
total calories: 1693
avg HR*: 168

*Time spent in HR Zones:
00:00 [Z1: 93-111]
00:02 [Z2: 111-130]
00:04 [Z3: 130-148]
63:59 [Z4: 148-167]
49:51 [Z5: 167-185]

1k splits:
5:30, 4:54, 4:48, 4:49, 4:48 - 24:49
4:50, 4:52, 4:54, 4:51, 4:54 - 24:21 / 49:10
4:51, 4:53, 4:57, 5:00, 5:00 - 24:41 / 1:13:51
5:05, 4:54, 5:05, 5:02, 5:00 - 25:08 / 1:38:59
4:30, 0:21 - 1:43:50

back home to Canberra by 5:00pm...

My Gold Coast record:

2006 (1:44:09)
4273 finishers (I was 1292nd)
1883 women (305th)
350 W35-39 (68th)

2008 (1:48:00)
6278 finishers (2017th)
2956 women (495th)
518 W35-39 (84th)

2009 (1:43:50)
6956 finishers (1703rd)
3187 women (344th)
625 W35-39 (66th)