Episode 7 - Ashley Cowley

Episode details · 157 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:06Melissa Erbacher: Welcome to episode seven of parkrun Adventurers. We are so excited it's episode seven. I mean, seven, that's like more than one hand. You need two hands to put seven on fingers. So yay us.

00:00:21Scott Trickett: Your maths is really good this week.

00:00:25Melissa Erbacher: is i think it's getting better um so much has been happening in the last week we we went to see some movies we went to parkrun you know we're having adventures people are listening to us life is good to a certain point because there was a lot of judgment coming my way in particular about our discussion last week on movies oh no scotty what kind of judgment

00:00:52Scott Trickett: I think most of the judgment was based around the fact that I haven't seen certain iconic films and a lot of judgment on my indifference towards The Princess Bride. An indifference that I stand by because I went back. I didn't watch the whole thing again, but I thought maybe I've missed something.

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: I think perhaps you're watching it with the wrong people.

00:01:14Scott Trickett: I was watching it by myself.

00:01:16Melissa Erbacher: Well, exactly. You're watching it with the wrong person. So, yeah, you need to get. the right people in the room to watch. It's a comedy. Comedies are better watched with friends who are laughing, you know. It's all part of the group enjoyment. So, yeah, I stand by the judgment that I think our listeners are giving you on that one, I have to say. But we both went to see Zoolander 2 on the weekend. I went with my running group. You went with your club. What did you think, Scotty?

00:01:45Scott Trickett: I love the film. I thought it was funny. I was apprehensive when it started. I thought, oh, this is a slow start. Where's this going? But it came good. It had some laughs. I was happy. What about you?

00:02:05Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. I really enjoyed it. I actually went dressed as Mugatu to the screening along with my running club. My husband, May, have actually begged me not to go dressed up to a public place in that costume but fortunately for everyone involved I didn't listen to him and I got a lot of smiles from random people that I didn't know at the cinema and yes the movie itself was amazing and we had a really really good time it's something that I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about people either love it or they hate it some people think it's so bad that it's good but on a personal note I really enjoyed it so That's all you can really say, isn't it? Everyone needs to go judge for themselves.

00:02:51Scott Trickett: I'm glad you went as Mugatu. Full credit. You beat us hands down in the costume dress up.

00:02:59Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, and everyone except for, once again, my husband was throwing a very decent blue steel in the group photo. So we've got some good peeps up here, I have to say.

00:03:09Scott Trickett: I didn't see too many entries into the blue steel pose at parkrun. I had a go with my mate Scotty Hawkins as we ran around Jells. I mixed a little bit of David Brent in there.

00:03:21Melissa Erbacher: I noticed that. It was a good picture though. Another good running shot of you, Scotty.

00:03:26Scott Trickett: I tried. So from here on out, I'm just blue stealing it for the rest of my parkrun shorts.

00:03:33Melissa Erbacher: Look, you just can't go wrong. Seriously. But people are listening to us all over the place this week, which is very exciting. We've got some feedback on Facebook saying Watching As I Run was listening to us on her run. Danella Taylor has also been listening to us when she runs, and Tony O'Connell. Some people listen to us on the bus. Other people listen to us while they're making dinner. But it did make me think, you know, I've listened to podcasts on long runs in the past and things like that. But I have to say that mostly I would listen to music. What about you, Scotty? Do you listen, do you have anything in your ears when you run, either at parkrun or on other running occasions?

00:04:15Scott Trickett: It's a golden rule of mine, no headphones at parkrun or running events. It's a bit disrespectful and rude. That's just my opinion. I know other people really like it. They need to put their headphones on and zone out. I will wear headphones on a long solo run, which honestly doesn't happen to me much anymore, but that's just by choice. I enjoy running in a group. And if I do, it's usually I'll throw on some podcasts.

00:04:41Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I'm interested in your perspective on no headphones at either parkrun or other organized events because I have to say in the early days when I was at parkrun, five kilometers was a big deal for me and listening to myself attempting to breathe or clomping along just really didn't work for me trying to get any kind of rhythmic gait happening. So I personally really needed music. just to get me through, you know, breathing basically. So you think it's rude and disrespectful?

00:05:20Scott Trickett: Look, I get why you had it on and I get why others do. But to give you an example, on Saturday I was running around and I was saying hello to everyone. I'm at a new event. I want to get to know as many runners as I can. And so you'd run past, you'd say hi, and they've got their headphones on and they don't hear you. And so I keep going. And so it's like a missed opportunity to have a connection with another parkrunner. That's my only issue with the headphones. And in a big event, I definitely think they should be banned because you need to... For safety reasons? Yeah, for safety. And there's lots of people running around and if you're in the way or you're not aware of your surroundings, you can cause trouble for yourself and for others.

00:06:08Melissa Erbacher: Okay, that's interesting.

00:06:10Scott Trickett: I also like running out in nature. So if I'm going for a run in the trails or in the bush, the last thing I want is headphones. I want to hear my surrounds. If heavy breathing is part of that, that's just part of the experience.

00:06:25Melissa Erbacher: I would agree with you on the trails because the trails are a completely different experience than running on roads or footpaths and things like that. I'm interested though, when you say you were trying to say hello to people, you know, there are other ways you can communicate other than noise, right? So you can hold your hand out for a high five, which is probably more likely to be seen by somebody who may not even be giving you eye contact anyway. Well, you could always smile or throw somebody a blue steel or give them a wink.

00:06:57Scott Trickett: These are all valid points.

00:07:00Melissa Erbacher: Do you think you might be sending the wrong message if you wink at all the runners?

00:07:03Scott Trickett: Maybe.

00:07:05Melissa Erbacher: You might end up with a lot more friends than you started.

00:07:08Scott Trickett: I like a conversation. In parkrun, I don't mind having a running conversation. What I'll do is I'll start at the back and just work my way through the field and try and get to know as many people as I can.

00:07:21Melissa Erbacher: As in when you're overtaking people?

00:07:23Scott Trickett: Yes.

00:07:24Melissa Erbacher: Oh, see, I don't think those people really want to be your friends, Scotty. You're overtaking them. I understand on an out-and-back course, people coming towards you, you know, you want to say hello and stuff like that. But if you're overtaking someone, they don't want a bar of you, to be honest. I'm one of those people that gets overtaken and is like, are you serious? And now you're trying to talk to me? You know I'm trying to breathe over here, right?

00:07:49Scott Trickett: I have come across that reaction a couple of times.

00:07:53Keith: But I just keep running.

00:07:54Scott Trickett: Okay, move on. Someone will talk to me.

00:07:58Melissa Erbacher: Someone will talk to you eventually. You're lucky you probably haven't been slapped around, to be honest.

00:08:03Scott Trickett: Look, I'm not offensive. I don't come up and get in your face and go, what up?

00:08:07Andrew: Come on, push, push.

00:08:10Melissa Erbacher: Why are you going so slow?

00:08:10Scott Trickett: Hey, buddy, how are you going?

00:08:13Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm not sure. Have we ever run a parkrun event? We have South Bank parkrun, but I don't think that actually counts because there's 500 other people there. And I'm pretty sure you started up way ahead in front of me. So I wouldn't have experienced you overtaking me on that one.

00:08:32Scott Trickett: No.

00:08:33Melissa Erbacher: If I had, you might have heard about it.

00:08:36Scott Trickett: Look forward to it then. Yes. So you run with headphones in at parkrun?

00:08:48Melissa Erbacher: No, I don't actually run at parkrun with headphones in anymore. But it was very important to me when I was starting. And I would have to say that probably for the first... Six months I definitely ran with music in my ears and I do do it again on my long runs now because, you know, I find it helps with my pacing. If I pick the right songs and there are so many amazing songs to run to, there's nothing like Dave Grohl to get you up a hill when you really need that extra oomph. So, yeah, I get a lot of benefit out of running with music when I'm training for an event, for example. But I think the parkrun thing has definitely been key to me moving away from running with music in my ears all the time because it was the development of friendships over time and – To be honest, I don't have the music up very loud anyway so I can always hear what's going on around me and I have no problem having conversations with people. We have an out and back course at Kawana and many of the courses on the Sunshine Coast are out and back so I've always had the benefit of the fast runners coming towards me. You see everybody who runs when you're at the end of the pack and even when you're turning around and coming back yourself. you see the people that are a little bit slower than you so there's always time for a friendly hello or a cheer or you know encouraging people as they go and I don't think it's mutually exclusive to be able to do that when you've got earphones in but yes being able to just get out and enjoy the 5k without music and taking the scenery and things like that is something that I can do now but it's not something I felt personally able to do when I started because The sound of my breathing was very, it really did put me off, you know, gasping for air. And I'm not one who can talk or I wasn't one who could talk a lot when I first started running. And now I've realized that I can go at a comfortable, slow enough pace that I can talk.

00:10:51Scott Trickett: So your weekend was spent eating cake this week?

00:10:55Melissa Erbacher: Oh, yes, there was definitely cake for me. I was at Golden Beach's second anniversary parkrun and I was volunteering as the timekeeper, which was super fun. I do love me a little bit of volunteering and it's one of my goals for the year to do a lot more of it. So I was happy to be able to help Rochelle and her team out there. Didn't even press the stop button when the first runner came through.

00:11:20Scott Trickett: Well done. You're learning.

00:11:21Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I am. I'm getting there. I was pretty excited by myself. Almost missed the second runner coming through because I was so excited that I hadn't pressed the wrong button, but we won't talk about that. Yeah, no, but I had a great time at Golden Beach this weekend and we actually have a roving adventurer, Karen, who caught up with a couple of runners as well.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter segment)

00:11:41Karen: Hi, I'm at Golden Beach parkrun with our newest member of our 100 Club, Paul. Paul, why did you start running parkrun?

00:11:51Paul: actually it was my daughter that introduced us into parkrun she came up to the sunshine coast for for a weekend and she said dad just i've got a surprise for you tomorrow morning just have some running gear on some shoes i've got a surprise for you and she ended up taking us up to the kawana parkrun and i'd actually given away running for many years had run the gold coast half marathon a couple of half marathons and thought oh i'm finished now and So when I did the 5k, it nearly killed me, and I wasn't going to let it beat me, being competitive, so I just keep coming back week after week. And then when the Golden Beach one come online, it's just such a great community and a great spirit that we just keep coming week after week.

00:12:26Karen: So does your daughter still run now that she's got you hooked?

00:12:28Paul: Yes, yeah, and it was great. She ran with me today, so that was great to come across the line with her. So that's great.

00:12:35Karen: Thanks very much for that, Paul. We hope you keep coming back to Golden Beach and many other parkruns. Enjoy.

00:12:40Paul: Great, sure will. Thanks very much.

00:12:44Karen: And now we're here with Keith. Keith, what started you running parkruns?

00:12:49Keith: Well, I do athletics for about 50 years and I just found this event being done and I come down to watch and I got involved in that way and I found it just an enjoyable way of keeping myself in condition when I'm not racing.

00:13:05Karen: And so, Keith, what keeps you coming back week after week? Because I know you're always here.

00:13:10Keith: Well, it's the atmosphere down here with the people. No one's a not-your-friend type of thing. Everyone's just enjoying themselves, and why not get involved and enjoy yourself too?

00:13:24Karen: Thanks, Keith. We'll let you go and have some birthday cake.

00:13:27Scott Trickett: thanks great work karen loving the roving adventurer contributions that our listeners are giving us every week it was a good looking cake at golden beach did you sample any of it mel i did i got a nice fat slice chopped right out of the middle of it for me well done golden beach

00:13:56Melissa Erbacher: Wyndham Vale parkrun is launching this weekend in Victoria and we are lucky enough tonight to help today to have Maria and Andrew, the event directors joining us on the show. Maria, Andrew, how are you doing? Fantastic.

00:14:11Andrew: How are you going?

00:14:13Melissa Erbacher: Really, really well. Are you excited about your launch?

00:14:16Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah. Very excited for a while. Actually, it's been building for better part of a year.

00:14:23Maria: Since about May, June, we started with the idea. So yeah, it's been a long time coming. And we have a great event team behind us and they're very excited too.

00:14:32Scott Trickett: So Wyndham Vale is located 30k outside of Melbourne. And I understand it's supported by Stockland. So we love Stockland for chipping in and helping you guys launch your event. But it's their retirement village. Is that how this has come about?

00:14:48Maria: Yeah, so Tarneit Skies Retirement Village. It's probably about an eight minute drive from President's Park where our course is and a few months back I contacted Stockland just to ask some questions about one of their grant applications and a woman named Lauren contacted me back and said, look, you're welcome to apply for the grant, but it's only for $1,000. However, we have this retirement village really close to where you're proposing to have your event. And if you can get enough residents on board, we'd be happy to give you the rest of the money that you need to start up your parkrun. We went to Tarneit Skies retirement village and gave a presentation to about 50 residents and they were all very enthusiastic, very keen and so Stockland was very kind to fund us the remaining $4,000 that we need. And the initial $1,000 that had already come from a Wyndham leader through a Wyndham leader online grant where people got to vote which applicants they thought deserved the $1,000. So yes, we were very lucky to secure all the funding that we needed and most of it, the vast majority of it from Stockland.

00:16:11Scott Trickett: So does this mean that you're going to be encouraging the members of the Retirement Village to come along to parkrun?

00:16:18Maria: Absolutely, yeah. So I've been in touch with them in the last few weeks, just reminding them to get the word out to residents to come along. And they had been actually talking about organizing a group bus for the residents to come down. So I actually am really grateful to Marie Gibson who came along to that presentation because she's retirement age and she sold, I guess, to them that this was something that they could do and that even if they didn't want to participate as a runner, that they could walk, that they could volunteer and they could still be involved and meet new people, have a great time, etc. So yeah, they all seemed quite enthusiastic. I don't know how many of them would actually be runners, but that's I guess, you know, as long as they're coming along and enjoying the experience and getting out there and integrating with the community, that's what we want. So we can be happier.

00:17:24Scott Trickett: The name parkrun sometimes scares a lot of people off. So this is going to be a great example of, well, it's park walk as well.

00:17:32Maria: Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that message doesn't get out enough. So I'd be really happy if our parkrun, because I think each parkrun can have a different feel to it, depending on the demographic of people that attend regularly. I'd be very happy if our parkrun became almost a flagship of everyone. you know park walk um to to kind of get that message out there that it is a non-competitive event for everyone of all abilities of all ages and you don't have to run you can walk and still you know get the benefits of getting fresh air exercise meeting people etc

00:18:13Andrew: Maria and I were both apprehensive when we first sort of got involved with parkrun. And probably for the same reason that most people do is the name sort of scares you off. You think you have to be a seasoned runner to partake, you know, like, especially when you find that it's timed. All the results get uploaded and things like that. People sort of get freaked out. But our very first time doing parkrun was a pleasant surprise. And just so many people came out. in one way or another, either runners or volunteers, and just really came together as a community. So we just knew that was something we wanted to get behind.

00:18:44Melissa Erbacher: Wonderful. So you talk about when you first started parkrun. Where did parkrun's journey start for you?

00:18:51Maria: There's actually a friend of ours who lives in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Chris Morgan. He had been doing parkrun for about a year. And when he had started, he was a fair bit overweight. And over the course of that year, you could see the... The weight melt off him, but also the confidence just skyrocket. And had joined a running group through parkrun, TXR Runners. He'd started competing in other races and long ones too. He did the Puffing Billy. Yeah. Half marathon, etc. And we saw him progress, you know, through his posts on Facebook and photos and everything. And, you know, finally, we got around to saying, what is this parkrun thing that you're doing? Like, yeah. Tell us, what's it all about? And he just sold us, absolutely sold us. So we said, right, well, if Chris can do it, we can do it. So let's do it. And we went to our first one in November of 2014 at Point Cook. My first one, I couldn't run the full 5K. So I did a mix of running and walking. And I think my time was maybe about 34 minutes. It was very challenging. It was a struggle. But what encouraged me to come back was all the people high-fiving you along the way, cheering you on. So yeah, we were hooked pretty much straight away.

00:20:26Melissa Erbacher: Well, 34 minutes is still roughly my PB, so you're doing well. Thank you.

00:20:35Andrew: That's the great thing about it as well. You know, the whole idea of a PB is not to put some sort of unrealistic stress on you, but just something to motivate yourself. And most people like it to do this just for the run. And even people who have some of the fastest times, well, you'll see them just running with somebody and taking it real easy that day. So there's a little sense of competition if you want to push yourself. but definitely no pressure to compete per se, race against other people. And really people cross the line and they sort of turn back around. And as people come over the line, people clap and they cheer each other on. And yeah, it's just great to see people making no matter what their level of experience.

00:21:10Scott Trickett: Now I'm pretty clear with Goliath. I've picked up an accent from both of you. Yeah, it's hard to miss. Where are you guys originally from?

00:21:20Maria: We're both from Canada. I'm from Toronto. Okay.

00:21:24Scott Trickett: And I'm from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Because there is a parkrun in Canada. Well, they're starting up there.

00:21:29Maria: Oh, yeah. The last I checked, they hadn't started one up yet. So that's good to hear. I'm really glad to hear that. I know that someone had been looking into starting one up in Vancouver, I think.

00:21:39Scott Trickett: Yeah, that's right. They're trying to get one up. Yeah.

00:21:41Maria: Fantastic.

00:21:42Andrew: That's where it definitely would start too. I mean, it's a bit milder out that way.

00:21:45Maria: Yeah, but, you know, they've had one in Detroit for ages, and Detroit's just across the way from Windsor, Ontario, so they could easily have one there as well.

00:21:54Andrew: True enough, yeah.

00:21:55Melissa Erbacher: Okay, but aren't there bears in Canada? You'd be running faster.

00:22:03Andrew: There's only like five kinds of bears, though.

00:22:08Melissa Erbacher: Only. And I'm pretty sure they all eat you.

00:22:12Andrew: Listen, they have parkrun in Russia, so they can do it.

00:22:14Maria: Yeah, that's right.

00:22:16Andrew: We can just suck it up, I reckon.

00:22:17Maria: Yeah.

00:22:18Andrew: And I was just home for Christmas for about five weeks, and despite the some days minus 15, minus 20 temperatures, you still saw people rugged up, leg warmers on, just giving it, going for a run. So I reckon there'd be a demand for sure.

00:22:33Scott Trickett: It's coming. For all our listeners in Canada...

00:22:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, the whole two of you.

00:22:40[crosstalk]

00:22:40Scott Trickett: That might be a bit optimistic.

00:22:42Karen: It might be a little bit optimistic.

00:22:45Scott Trickett: Okay, so thank you, Andrew and Maria. Thanks for joining us on the parkrun Adventurers. Super good luck with your launch on Saturday. I'll hope to visit in the coming weeks.

00:22:55Melissa Erbacher: Have heaps of fun. You're going to love it.

00:22:58Andrew: Thank you very much. Thank you.

00:22:59Melissa Erbacher: Thank you so much.

00:23:00[music]

00:23:00Andrew: Great talking with you and, yeah, hope to see you there.

parkrun adventurer interview

00:23:14Scott Trickett: It's time to chat to one of our parkrun adventurers, Ashley Cowley. Ashley has joined a very unique club called the Hoffman Club. Welcome to the show, Ashley, and tell us exactly what is the Hoffman Club.

00:23:29Ashley Cowley: Hi, Mel. Hi, Scott. Well, basically, the Hoffman Club is an unofficial parkrun club for parkrunners who have got to the 50 club at 50 different courses. It follows a similar trend to other unofficial parkrun clubs such as the Cowell Club or the Frame Club which are for running 100 different parkrun courses or 250 different parkrun courses which came out of the old UK podcast. And they were taken by the surname of the person who first did it. So in that same vein, the person who first ran 50 different courses at 50 different runs was a guy called Roderick Hoffman. So unofficially, I've coined the term the Hoffman Club. So you came out with this team? I believe I first mentioned it, but I have been discussing it with a couple of other guys who are also doing one run to one course. There are about eight of us at the moment, and at the moment there are about five or six of us in regular contact with each other. So it was a kind of a collective discussion between us. We refer to ourselves as the Hoffmaners.

00:24:52Melissa Erbacher: So just to clarify Ash, it's one run per course so you haven't doubled up at any of the courses that you've done in your first 50?

00:25:02Ashley Cowley: Not at all, no. So every run has been unique. Impressive.

00:25:09Melissa Erbacher: And how long has it taken you to achieve the Hoffman Club status?

00:25:16Ashley Cowley: I do actually have it in days. It's just under three years from start to finish. So my first parkrun was May 2013 and I obviously got into the parkrun club February 2016. So just under three years for myself.

00:25:33Scott Trickett: I'm going to take a wild guess here. You're British. So you discovered parkrun because you're British or did you, because your first one is at St. Peter's in Sydney.

00:25:43Ashley Cowley: Yes, it is. So I actually registered in the UK six months before that. But I never ran in the UK. I registered because a friend of mine at football recommended it. I never got a chance to do it. And when I came out to Sydney initially for six weeks with work, a friend of mine runs part run in Sydney. So asked me to come down and join him at Sydney Park.

00:26:14Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so if it's taken you three years to run 50 parkruns, that's on average one every three weeks, if my math is okay. Does that mean you have, I mean, it's very difficult. Once you've got the bug for parkrun, you just want to keep going. Have you had to abstain on certain weekends because you knew you couldn't physically get to a different event to achieve your club status?

00:26:40Ashley Cowley: A little bit, a little bit. I have volunteered a few times to get a part run fix as well. Excellent. For me at the moment, I do have other things as well. So I don't necessarily have... every weekend free for parkrun. But with doing what I'm doing, it's different. It means I get to travel rather than just turning up each week for a run. Different people do different things, and this one is mine.

00:27:13Scott Trickett: Have you done any sneaky unknown runs?

00:27:16Ashley Cowley: You can tell us. No, I haven't actually. Well, I tell a lie. I actually ran St. Peter's twice. However, the first week I ran was my first ever parkrun. And I had a chest infection, and I wasn't able to complete the course. So I tried to run St. Peter's, got about three kilometers in, and I just couldn't breathe, so I didn't finish. And I went back to St. Peter's the week after, and that was my first parkrun. So unofficially, yes, but I never completed the course, so...

00:27:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's a bit more of a cooler story than forgetting your barcode that first time. Yes. We'll let it go for having a chest infection and not completing the full distance.

00:27:59Ashley Cowley: Yes.

00:28:00Scott Trickett: So number one was at St Peter's. Number 50 was at Main Beach, the home of parkrun in Australia. On the weekend, tell us a bit about your experience from Saturday.

00:28:11Ashley Cowley: Well, first off, I've got to say, Main Beach is probably one of my favorite courses I've run. And that's not just because my memory is terrible and it was the most recent. I'm a sucker for a trail run. I do like a bit of a trail run. So Main Beach, with it being a gravel run, with a little bit of an incline in there for me, that was... That was good for me. Obviously, you get the view of the beach and the sea as well, just to make it that little bit sweeter. But it was a good run. was a bit touch and go. I had a common runner's problem of ITBS a couple of weeks ago. It looked like I might not be able to necessarily put in what I wanted to put in, but I felt good and I was able to get through the finish line in a decent time for myself. Actually, an Australian parkrun PB for me at the weekend to clock up number 50.

00:29:14Scott Trickett: That's good. You did it in style. That's the way to do it.

00:29:17Melissa Erbacher: Great job. And so you just touched very briefly there, Ash, on it's one of your favorites. Do you have a top three that you could give us?

00:29:26Ashley Cowley: Top three, now you're asking. If you read – so I have a blog. I write about each of the runs that I do them. If you read that, there's normally always something that an event has that is – that is done brilliantly. One unique thing that they do that sets them apart from somewhere else. So if you read through that, you'd be forgiven for thinking that every single one is my favourite. But I'd probably have to say... Shellharbour is probably the most picturesque. The view from Shell Harbour is something quite special. You start on a grass at the top of a hill and when you look down, there's a beach down in the bottom of the valley with the sea behind and you kind of run down to the beach, across the beach and then back up the other side. So that one was picturesque for me. Cairns, when I ran in Cairns, I thought that one was fantastic. It's so different to anything else I've run. It had a real tropical feel running along the boardwalk alongside the Esplanade there. That one was something special. Obviously, Main Beach probably up there for me. I'd have to just throw in Sandon Point as well. Similar to Shell Harbour, you run alongside the beach there. They've got an awesome sea pool there, so when you've done for a run, you can just have a quick dip afterwards. I think I'd have to pull those out of all of the ones I've done so far.

00:31:03Scott Trickett: Out of your 50, you actually ran 21 of them back home for you in the UK.

00:31:08Ashley Cowley: Yes, I did, yes. So when I first came out to Australia, I came out for six weeks. It was a short work stint, and after that six weeks, I headed back to the UK, having done three different Sydney part runs in that six weeks. I'd kind of got the bug a bit then, and being back in the UK, they're a bit closer, and I was back in the UK for about three or four months, before I actually moved out to Australia permanently. And I never missed a week when I was back in the UK. At one point, I did 20 part runs back to back, 20 different part runs back to back. It's the benefit of being in the UK, I suppose. So actually, a large chunk of those were one six-month stint. And then I did a couple when I went back for a holiday about a year or so back.

00:32:03Scott Trickett: I noticed none of the UK runs made it into the top three.

00:32:09Ashley Cowley: The weather's slightly different. There's a slight rose-tinted tinge on the Australian parkruns just purely from a weather perspective. Yeah.

00:32:21Melissa Erbacher: Okay. So, Ash, the blog is parkrun50and50.com. Obviously, you've achieved that goal. What's next?

00:32:29Ashley Cowley: It's a question I've kind of had from near enough everybody I know in part run. I don't know if I could bring myself to go back and run another one again. There are obviously courses I would love to. I would love to do some courses again. I think I've had it ingrained in me so much over the last three years that I'm going to... continue doing what I'm doing so for me next I want to try and do one in each Australian state I've got three states left and then after then I suppose we'll see from there but I think I'm probably just going to keep doing unique courses every time I run

00:33:16Scott Trickett: Well, parkrun is going to continue to grow in Australia, so there are new parkruns every week. I did note you've only done one down in Victoria, so there's plenty down here if you want to go adventuring around this state.

00:33:29Ashley Cowley: Yes.

00:33:31Scott Trickett: Good luck.

00:33:32Ashley Cowley: Yeah, thank you very much. Thanks for joining us. No problem at all. Thank you very much for having me.

00:33:35[music]

What's happening this weekend

00:33:46Scott Trickett: Let's jump straight into what's happening this weekend. We have one launch that Maria and Andrew have told us all about out at Wyndham Vale. And where is the cake this week?

Where's the Cake

00:33:58Melissa Erbacher: The cake this week will be at Kirra in Queensland who are celebrating their fourth anniversary with an 80s theme. I've been to a couple of 80s themed parkruns and they're always good fun. Excellent choice for costumes.

00:34:13Scott Trickett: I've suggested 80s themes a couple of times and you'd think I'd have a bit more sway, but I haven't got it off the ground. I've never been to one.

00:34:20Melissa Erbacher: Well, the whole point is you don't suggest, Scott. You just go with it and you tell people what they have to get dressed up as.

00:34:28Scott Trickett: So what's your costume of choice for an 80s theme? Or what has been your costume of choice for an 80s theme?

00:34:34Melissa Erbacher: I've been to two 80s themed parkruns. So for the first one, which was at Riverway, I went along with, and I do like to do it in a group situation. So I went with my sister-in-law, Nico, and her gorgeous little boys. And we were dressed as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That was good fun, Heroes in a Half Shell. The second one was at Noosa parkrun, which was in the middle of winter. Their anniversary is in July, so it's always very fresh. And once again, went with the group, my brother and my niece and nephew. We all got dressed up as the Ghostbusters. So that was very cool, along with my sister-in-law who came in her leotard. As you do, she got physical.

00:35:21Scott Trickett: Ninja Turtles, is that 80s? I recall 90s.

00:35:25Melissa Erbacher: The original cartoon before the films came out were in the 80s. I was an 80s baby and I was living in Mount Isa at the time and I actually had two brothers that got in a lot of trouble for breaking the heads off my father's golf clubs to turn them into bows. So definitely 80s.

00:35:44Scott Trickett: I'm a little bit older than you, so I miss that Ninja Turtles thing. I was a Masters of the Universe kid.

00:35:51Melissa Erbacher: Oh, He-Man. He-Man was 80s too.

00:35:53Scott Trickett: Yeah, it was. I'm looking forward to going as Skeletor or Shogun.

00:35:59Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that would be great.

00:36:02Scott Trickett: Good going, Kirra, on reaching four fabulous years.

00:36:06Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of where's the cake, Running Guy Ryan was out at Ipswich parkrun's second birthday last weekend. The theme, as we mentioned, was tacky formal and he wore a pink suit. Ran the course in a pink suit in 2142. That's very stylish.

00:36:26Scott Trickett: It's a handy time and it's a handy suit. I'm not sure if he'll ever have another use for a pink suit. Maybe he can wear it to the 80s theme at Kirra this week. Double up costume.

00:36:36Melissa Erbacher: Good plan.

00:36:37Scott Trickett: Kuvera also posted a lovely, smiling, happy picture of her running at New Farm. And we're massive at New Farm because obviously her friend Finding My Balance was also there. And I just see lots of pink and I see lots of fluoro.

00:36:53Melissa Erbacher: I think it was a pretty happy, smiley weekend, judging by the looks of them. So great effort, ladies.

00:37:00Scott Trickett: Good work. Don't forget hashtag parkrunadventures. That's how we can find you. Thanks, Mel. We had another action-packed program.

Facts on a Haystack (Ian Hay stats segment)

00:37:10Melissa Erbacher: We did, and looking forward next week to having Facts on a Haystack with one of our faves, Ian Hay, back on the show.

00:37:17Scott Trickett: Yeah, I know he's been doing some hard work in the background, refining his database, doing all his super nerdy stat stuff.

Fortune cookies sign-off

00:37:26Melissa Erbacher: But for now, I think we just better leave it with some fortune cookies. What do you think, Scotty? You're eating fortune cookies. Breakfast of champions. Dinner of champions. Dinner of champions, yeah.

00:37:39Scott Trickett: It's my weight loss technique. One meal a day.

00:37:43Melissa Erbacher: Of fortune cookies. Well, no, it's lunch and then these are snacks. Snacks don't count. Oh, okay.

00:37:50Scott Trickett: And my last cookie, my last fortune was great success awaits you.

00:37:58Melissa Erbacher: Well, they must be talking about the podcast, surely.

00:38:01Scott Trickett: What else could there be?

00:38:03Melissa Erbacher: Thanks for listening again, guys. Look forward to chatting to you again next week.