Loveday Writing

On Sunday 15 October, I participated in the Melbourne Marathon Festival.

The Melbourne Marathon Festival consists of five distances—a marathon, a half-marathon, a 10km run, a 5.7km run and a 3km walk. I chose to complete the 3km walk, a shorter distance to the previous fun runs I’ve completed as part of my “Fun Walking not Running Tour”.

Unusually, the 3km walk didn’t start until 11.45am, which is great if you want a sleep in but not so great when it’s warm and sunny….I got sunburnt.

The 3km walk started in Batman Avenue, 150m north of Rod Laver Arena, where I eventually made my way to Flinders Street, then William Barak Bridge later, finishing on the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

I thought I was being timed by the chip on the back of my bib, however to my disappointment I was later told the timing chip was placed on the back of my and some other 3km walk bibs in error. I was timing myself via the stopwatch on my phone, however I stopped timing prematurely as I mistakenly believed I had crossed the finish line at 22 minutes and 34 seconds. As I stopped my stopwatch thinking I was being timed anyway, I don’t know my official time. As I believe it took me more than five minutes but less than 10 minutes to walk from where I stopped the stopwatch to the actual finish line, I rounded my time up to 30 minutes. If 30 minutes was my official time, it would make it a personal best.

Although we weren’t being timed, the 3km walkers got a finisher’s medal just like everyone else.

I highly recommend the Melbourne Marathon Festival for any running or fun running enthusiast. The weather, scenery and atmosphere were fantastic.

The Melbourne Marathon Festival was the VIC leg of my “Fun Walking not Running Tour”.