Review of The Melbourne Marathon Festival 2011

October 2011, Melbourne Victoria. 

I had to pull out of the 10km event today due to a sprained ankle, an injury a few people felt came rather too conveniently a week before the event. The reality is that they couldn't be more wrong, as an early morning run through the city is exactly what I call fun, as Alison knows all too well.  She has a slightly different point of view though and spent most of yesterday grumbling about the 7.30am start and that 'people must be bloody stupid to do this and actually pay for the privilege.'

In fact if looks could kill, then I would have been a dead man at precisely 5.30am this morning when the alarm went off. I was spared only by my earlier offer to be the designated driver. As much as I didn't want to get up either, I do quite like living so it was an easy choice.

We picked up our friends Steve and Allie on the way, and by seven am they were dropped at the start line with plenty of time for toilet stops, a warm up and last minute nerves to fade. At that point I thought I'd be sipping a latte, munching on a slice of toast and engrossed in the Sunday papers at a local cafe in no time at all. How wrong was I.


Almost one third of all Australians are registered participants in sport. That would mean Melbourne has around a million active athletes, and I swear that they were all running in one of the festival's five races. Or at least trying to find a parking space at the same time as me. To cut a long story short by the time I had parked, walked/limped the 2km to the race start, missed Alison starting, watched everyone else pass over said starting line, walked another 1.5km to the Festival Expo, taken a wrong turn or two, and eventually reached the finish line - Alison, Steve and Allie had all finished the race and were waiting for me at the meeting point. And then there was a 2km hike back to the car yet to come. Bad ankle or not, it would have been easier to run the damn race.

For the record Mrs Ferrari did finish in a very impressive 53 minutes, closely followed by the Popes in 55 minutes. And I'm still alive, just. I cannot at this stage confirm that she will enter the 2012 event, but initial reports are that this would be highly unlikely, 'unless they moved the start to allow for a Sunday morning lie in.'