Episode 42 - Tim Oberg
2016-10-27
HostMelissa Erbacher
GuestsPaul Rainbow Tim Oberg
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers go the marathon distance and celebrate anniversaries at home, and parkrun Australia 'Big Cheese' Tim Oberg checks in to answer your latest questions. Dirty Cheetahs are on the prowl, and we compare real and unreal marathons with Curl Curl parkrun Run Director Paul Rainbow.
Enhanced transcript
Checked transcript — speakers named, sound described, segments marked.
Read the transcriptGuests
Tim Oberg
Listener Q&A: Tim's burnout/anxiety and how he restructured his working hours, Australian event growth and junior parkrun, whether volunteer locations could appear in runner stats, how he works with parkrun Global (Tom Williams, Helen Hood, Nick Pearson, Paul Sinton-Hewitt) and neighbouring countries, and race-entry discounts for parkrunners.
Paul Rainbow
Comparing a "real" marathon with the Marathon du Medoc in France (he ran it dressed as a drop bear), the Melbourne Marathon and pacing an injured friend, a surprise Dirty Cheetah welcome at Studley parkrun, describing the Curl Curl course and its 7am start, stumbling across a parkrun in Paris, and the origin of the Dirty Cheetahs at a 100km Canberra team ultra.
In this episode
parkrun news bulletin
Scripted mock-newsreader bulletin, hosts alternating items: weekend volunteer (13,985) and new-registration (17,773) numbers; a Derek Zoolander running club clean sweep of the points prize at a Queensland parkrun, with Pat O'Connor giving his first-place medal to 72-year-old Graham Rose; the Perth 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships; a parkrun Global statement (read at [00:05:31], attributed to Russ Jeffries, Head of Marketing) on a delay to the next batch of milestone t-shirts, now due 1 December; and Jackie and TOC (Tony O'Connell) becoming the 12th and 13th members of the Peel Club at Darwin parkrun, TOC dressed as the red Teletubby.
Tim Oberg monthly Q&A (segment not given a name on air)
Listener questions put to parkrun Australia head Tim Oberg. Will asks how Tim addressed the anxiety/burnout he wrote about and whether weekly parkrun attendance contributed (answer: work burnout, not parkrun; he now switches devices off after 5.30pm). Peter asks the current Australian event count and the next 12 months (high 180s now, ~190s by year end, ~250 Saturday events plus maybe half a dozen junior parkruns by this time next year). Another Tim asks whether volunteer locations could appear in stats (possible but low priority; more likely after the global website rebuild around Easter 2017). George, an international listener, asks how closely Tim works with Helen Hood, Tom Williams, Nick Pearson and Paul Sinton-Hewitt. A question from "Sunny Inverloch" asks about race-entry discounts for parkrunners (Blackmores Sydney Running Festival promo code, Medibank Melbourne Marathon competition).
Social Adventurers
Round-up of listener social media across Twitter, Strava, Instagram and Facebook, covering two weeks after a break: Nicola Forward's four-week Australian parkrun trip; the Strava club hitting 250 members and Will Barlow's implausible 19,689m of elevation; Mosman parkrun's animal-themed third anniversary; Simon Mackley's 100th parkrun; Jamesy Wamesy in full Ghostbusters kit at Westerfolds; Macalicious21's freedom-ish run after Wangaratta was cancelled; the Evans High crew (ERC) at The Ponds parkrun; Jeanette Campbell's 100th; Tamworth parkrun's P-themed second birthday; Steve Batesta's modified 50 shirt; and Paul Curtin and Michaela becoming Vic Statesmen at Portland.
Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")
Weekend calendar close-out: no launches this weekend, and a first-anniversary wish to Port Macquarie parkrun in New South Wales — "We hope you have a wonderful morning, full of cake or donuts, as the case may be." The cake catchphrase is not used in its usual form here.