Ten months in Melbourne – Coming full circle

Last Sunday Melbourne hosted its annual City2Sea run, a 14km fun run that leads from the Arts Centre through Albert Park to the finishing line in St Kilda. It was the perfect day to run. Melbourne has been quite grumpy in terms of weather in the last few weeks and “Where’s the summer” is a common conversation starter these days. But Sunday it showed itself from its most behaved side. Sunshine, temperatures in the mid to upper teens and no wind. Perfect running conditions for the ~14,000 runners. The route is very scenic and leads through the wide alley of St Kilda road, via Fitzroy Street, round Albert Park Lake, back to Fitzroy Street leading to a final lap on Beaconsfield parade.

While Harriet’s training routine was mainly concerned about getting the right songs into the playlist, I decided not to run with headphones, but rather enjoy the serenity. One could call it sporty introvert-time. This was an excellent decision: More than an hour of time to think, to reflect and not being distracted by any electronic gadget.

The race was an amazing experience as we passed by many stations of past adventures in Melbourne: the apartments that we inspected during our house-hunting in mid January, Fitzroy Street which was our first destination in Melbourne and where we spent the first three weeks in a serviced apartment, Albert Park Lake where I jogged my first rounds totally unfit and exhausted after 5km, the Pelican where we had our first Melbournian brunch and finally Beaconsfield parade, which pretty much represents our current home.

The endorphins kicked in at about the 5km mark as we entered Albert Park. I suddenly felt incredibly grateful for the time that we’ve had here so far. Friends, old and new, that we’ve met, places visited, experiences made and in general the life that we live here. It’s been an amazing journey on so many levels. From starry-eyed newbie to nascent Melbournian, from first steps in a corporate job to having made a difference, and of course (apparent during the race) from unfit to (moderately) fit.

I so much enjoyed this race. It gave me that opportunity and visual cues to look back, reflect and extrapolate my thoughts into the future. I know that in a year’s time I will look back and smile about my naïve self today. But I look forward to that next lap and the adventures that it will bring.