Episode 42 - Tim Oberg
2016-10-27
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, July 2016HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
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 (opens in a new tab) parkrun Run Director Paul Rainbow.
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptGuests
Tim Oberg
Listener-question Q&A: his article on anxiety and burnout and the boundaries he now sets around work; Australia's event count (high 180s) and the forecast of ~250 Saturday events plus a handful of junior parkruns by late 2017; whether volunteer locations could be added to stats (deferred to the new website platform around Easter); how he works with Tom Williams, Helen Hood, Nick Pearson and Paul Sinton-Hewitt at parkrun Global; his support of Singapore, New Zealand and Malaysia; and discounts for parkrunners at major running events.
Paul Rainbow
Marathons real and "inverted commas real": the Medoc Marathon in France run dressed as a drop bear, then the Melbourne Marathon pacing an injured friend; a birthday surprise from fellow Dirty Cheetahs Mary and Dorota at Studley parkrun; describing Curl Curl (flat, single loop, 7am start, 160-200 runners through winter) and the coming Willoughby and Galston events; stumbling across a parkrun in Paris without his barcode; how the Dirty Cheetahs formed as a four-person 100km relay team in Canberra; and whether cheetah ears are performance-enhancing.
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:11
Scott Trickett and Melissa Erbacher mark the 42nd 'marathon edition'. Scotty tells the story of his first marathon over ten years ago, Melbourne Marathon from Frankston into the city on a hot day: under-prepared on long runs, he cramped around 30 to 32k at Brighton, walked the last ten kilometres and finished in just over four hours, by which time family and friends expecting him in three and a half had gone home. He has run six marathons, calls them all disasters, and says the next will be under three and a half hours with proper training.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 3:30
Scott hands over with "How about we have some news?" and the two hosts read a mock-serious bulletin: 13,985 volunteers and 17,773 new registrations globally over the weekend; a Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can't Run Good clean sweep of the top three male and female points-prize places at a Queensland event, with Pat O'Connor handing his first-place medal to Graham Rose; the Perth 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships; a parkrun Global statement (read by an unidentified voice) on the delayed Milestone t-shirt batch, attributed to Russ Jeffries, Head of Marketing; and Jackie and Tony O'Connell becoming the 12th and 13th members of the Peel Club at Darwin, TOC running it dressed as the red Teletubby.
Social Adventurers starts at 42:10
Scott opens with "Mel, have you missed Social Adventuring?" and the hosts work through Twitter (Nicola Forward booking a four-week Australian parkrun trip), Strava, Instagram (a Mosman/Mossman animal-themed third anniversary group photo; Simon Mackley's 100th parkrun; Jamesy Wamesy in a Ghostbusters outfit at Westerfolds; Macalicious21's freedom run after Wangaratta was cancelled for water over the course; the Evans High/ERC crew at The Ponds; Heather's Happy Snaps at Tamworth's second birthday) and Facebook (Steve Batesta's modified 50 shirt with Alan Burrell at Wynnum; Paul Curtin and Michaela becoming Vic Statesmen at Portland on an 800km round trip).
Strava Club update starts at 42:59
Nested inside Social Adventurers. Mel asks "How's the Strava Club doing lately, Scotty?" and Scott reports "a nice even 250 members in the club", plus a special mention for Will Barlow in Canberra and his implausible 19,689 metres of elevation in a week, which the hosts conclude was recorded on a flight.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 49:59"Where is the cake?"
Scott: "none of those events are launching this weekend. No launches this weekend." Mel: "We do have an anniversary though", happy first anniversary to Port Macquarie, New South Wales, "full of cake or doughnuts, as the case may be".
Sign-off starts at 50:16
Scotty called it for their "marathon episode", saying it was not quite their longest ever but they had tried. After some fumbling over who should say goodbye and Mel dutifully saying "Goodbye, Mel", they exchanged goodbyes and Scotty said he would see her, and the listeners, next week before the recording stopped.