Episode 198 - Phone a Friend
2020-04-05
— open the full-size coverHostsLyndell Murray Melissa Erbacher
GuestsCameron Drake Mark Scarborough Melissa Ellis Paul Kitching Tony O'Connell
Show notes
From the Facebook post
As it seems 'normal' has gone out the window, we're phoning our friends to see how they're adjusting to the new normal. Channel 5 News Crew member Lyndell Murray is back as guest co-host!
Running, rainbows and teddy bears: Episode 198 of the parkrun adventurers podcast has them all!
Somewhere over the rainbow is right here:
From the podcast feed
The parkrun adventurers record at parkrun-time to fill the void, with Lyndell Murray back to join Mel as guest co-host. Wondering how the gang are doing, we phone a bunch of friends to check in.
Listen
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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
Melissa Ellis
Phone check-in: her unofficial "Ellis Palace" 5k loop from the front door (week three, with Paul), competing in the global parkrun quiz as Team Ellis, and working full time with the army reserve on COVID-19 after being deployed for the summer bushfires.
Tony O'Connell
Phone check-in from Victoria: doing everything backwards on un-parkrun day, breakfast first, then week two of his home Cape Paterson course run in reverse, a description of the clifftop coastal course, and the Victorian teddy-bears-in-windows movement.
Paul Kitching
Phone check-in from Adelaide: keeping up Tim Oberg's 5k-a-day challenge by mixing running, spin and family bike rides, working from home in marketing, Summiteers Zoom catch-ups, and greeting strangers (and dogs) from two metres.
Mark Scarborough
Phone check-in from Canberra: homeschooling and fitting two desks in the home office, the emotional adjustment to distancing, Gunrunners Zoom drinks, and a personal challenge to run Canberra's 145km Centenary Trail in seven weekly stages while training for the Berlin Marathon.
Cameron Drake
Phone check-in from Western Australia (woken up by the call): the "honey-do list" that has replaced Saturday parkrun, logging paving and weeding on the Garmin, joking about becoming the show's foreign correspondent when WA secedes, backyard little-athletics carnivals, and the parkrun kit still in his garage for a dining-room-table parkrun.
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:24
Lyndell Murray hosting with Melissa Erbacher, both in Queensland and recording during parkrun time for the first time in the podcast's history, checking in on physical distancing and staying socially connected. Mel hasn't felt the urge to run at parkrun time and has been baking instead; Lyndell is running but later in the day, noting Strava friends doing the same. They chat about home-office and dumbbell shortages, chalk-art messages on footpaths, and confirm there are no roving reports this week.
The Channel 5 News crew starts at 10:48
With no roving reports possible (parkrun globally cancelled for COVID-19), the hosts phone round the Channel 5 News Crew during parkrun time to find out what each of them is doing on an "un-parkrun" Saturday. Mel proposes it "Maybe we should give the rest of the Channel 5 News crew a call and just catch up, see if anyone answers the phone. It's parkrun time." Five calls connect, Melissa Ellis (her home "Ellis Palace" 5k loop, army reserve COVID-19 work), Tony O'Connell (running week two of his home Cape Paterson course backwards, teddy-bear spotting), Paul Kitching (Adelaide, 5k a day, Mount Barker RD, Summiteers Zoom catch-ups), Mark Scarborough (Canberra, homeschooling, Centenary Trail stages, Berlin Marathon training) and Cameron Drake (Perth, honey-do lists and a threatened WA secession), while Greta Wilkinson and David Moss ring out and return the call with voice messages played later in the show.
Sign-off starts at 1:01:11
Mel thanked Lyndell for the insight into her Survivor obsession and said that was probably it for the week, noting this was the first time they had recorded during parkrun time on a parkrun day, or un-parkrun day. She called it the first of a new wave of parkrun adventurers podcasts, with episodes built mainly on interviews with interesting parkrun people, asked listeners to suggest anyone they would like to hear from, and invited anybody who wanted a chat to reach out via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, promising to keep things lighthearted and point out silver linings while acknowledging there were tougher times to come. She thanked Lyndell for the chat and for catching up with the rest of the roving reporters and wished her luck keeping on top of her Survivor podcasts; Lyndell said she felt honoured to be the one who got to chat to the whole team.