15,000 people this year’s Gold Coast Marathon. In 2023, I ran it with a friend I left behind early. In 2024, I ran 42km with a friend just on a summer Sunday morning through Brisbane. In 2025, I ran the Gold Coast alone (with thousands of my new friends). That’s 1.5 times up on when… Continue reading Gold Coast Marathon 2025: Race Report
Last time I tried to run 32 kilometres I didn’t get it done. That was on December 1st, 2024. I ran 23.3 kilometres and had made a range of errors. Today, I reached the peak of my Gold Coast Marathon training program with a 32 kilometre run. This time I did it. I ran from… Continue reading 32 Kilometres Of Marathon Prep
I ran from Quest Maribyrnong due west. The thing that strikes me the most as the difference between Melbourne and Brisbane are the kinds of houses that make up suburbia. Brisbane’s dotted with elevated wooden Queenslanders, airy, light, impossible to really ever be ahead of the upkeep of. Melbourne by contrast is almost all single-storey… Continue reading The Maribyrnong River Trail
Legend has it that the Kamo River through central Kyoto first ran south in another location altogether. When the city became home to the imperial capital, the thought was that a river cleaving this new home in two would signify the division of the nation. So the Kamo was diverted to its current course due… Continue reading The Kamo River Running Path
This is not fiction. I had a target in 2024 to write 1,000,000 words for the year. That's 2,740 words per day every day on average. It's a hard thing to do and it was the challenge for the year because it was hard. I did not hit the target. I came in, as per… Continue reading 101,203 Short
The Gold Coast Marathon, the only full marathon I've run before, is a warm marathon. On July 7th, 2024, on the day of the full marathon, the Gold Coast had a low of 15 degrees Celsius and a high of 24 degrees Celsius. Today in Brisbane on my homemade marathon, we finished in 28 degree… Continue reading Zac & Sean’s 2024 Homemade Marathon
Next Sunday, June 2nd, thousands of runners will line up at the northern end of Margaret Street in Brisbane’s CBD. At 6am, the gun will fire and they’ll start the 2024 Brisbane Marathon. I won’t be among them. The plan was to be, of course. For 16 weeks I trained and through April I ran… Continue reading Non-Starter
NB: Hotfoot is a personal essay, not so much short fiction. It was my submission to the Calibre Essay Prize for 2024. It was unfortunately unsuccessful so here it is in the public eye this way instead. Still, enjoy. -- When you start running a lot everyone asks what you’re running from. They’re joking, by and large,… Continue reading Hotfoot
Zac van Manen 