Episode 27 - Dani McLaren

Episode details · 253 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:14Scott Trickett: parkrun Adventurers. My name is Scott.

00:00:18Melissa Erbacher: Scotty, we're up to episode 27. We passed 27 episodes ago.

00:00:23Scott Trickett: I'm happy with that. Hi Mel's mum. Great that you could join us 27 episodes in. Don't worry about the other 26. They were rubbish.

00:00:36Melissa Erbacher: Hi mum.

00:00:37Scott Trickett: Now, big weekend. Big parkrun weekend in certain parts of the country. On Friday night, you had the opportunity to catch up with a lot of your parkrun buddies, new and old.

00:00:51Melissa Erbacher: I did. There was a whole bunch of people who had attended the Freedom Run that was put on at Main Beach. I didn't make it to the run, but I got to make it to the drinks and dinner part, which was great because after they had showered and some of them hadn't showered, they went to the surf club at Main Beach and There was dinner and much frolicking had. It was good to put a lot of real faces to the virtual faces and names that you see on the Facebook.

00:01:24Scott Trickett: Any stories or tales you can tell from what I hope was a fun night?

00:01:33Melissa Erbacher: It was a fun night. There were some shenanigans, but some things are better left off the podcast. I will say, though, I had the pleasure of catching up with Chris Timms from Launceston parkrun again. They were up, she and her husband, Daniel, was doing the marathon on Sunday. So they came up for the weekend to catch up with everybody and have some parkrun adventures. And Chris and I got to talking. And we've actually come up with a new club, Scotty. Ooh. And I think our adventurers out there are going to be interested in this club. So what originally we were talking about was statesmen. You know, every event in a particular state, they become statesmen. And then we talked about the Peel Club because it's one of Chris's goals to make it to the Peel Club herself. And she's just got a couple of states left. In fact, she might only have Northern Territory left and she joins the Peel Club. But then we started talking about the easternmost, westernmost, northernmost and southernmost events in Australia and were wondering whether or not anyone had done all four of those and we had to figure out which they were first. But we've decided that this is one of our goals now. We're going to call it the Compass Club. In fact, we already have. It's the Compass Club. Because you've got north, south, east and west. And eventually, if anything launches in Alice Springs, we're going to have the center point of the compass. But for now, you've just got the four extra points around the edges. And if anyone has done all four of those, they join the Compass Club.

The Compass Club (new adventurer club)

00:03:17Scott Trickett: I like it. And it can change.

00:03:21Melissa Erbacher: And it will change over time because we do have, you know, events at the extremities, but Somebody mentioned, for example, that the easternmost point of Australia is actually Byron Bay. And there has been talk over time about launching an event in Byron, but it hasn't got off the ground. And I don't know if there's anyone currently working on that. However, if an event did launch at Byron, then it would become the new easternmost event. However, currently, the easternmost event is Kingscliff Park. Let me guess.

00:03:57Scott Trickett: I was going to say Kingscliff.

00:03:59Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, yeah, you were going to say it. So, excitingly, on Friday night, we had been tossing up which events to do which were closest to our various accommodations in the Gold Coast. But once Chris and I decided that we wanted to be members of the Compass Club, we've both done the southernmost event, which is Hobart. I've done the northernmost event, which is Darwin, and Chris has got that one on her list for this year. So... We just needed to do the other two. And what better opportunity than Saturday to sneak over the border into New South Wales? We could even get a little bit of a sleep in because they don't start till 8am down there and do Kingscliff parkrun. So we did. I have to admit that I pretty much know every event that I'm going to be at between now and the end of the year. So for me to have a spontaneous decision to on a Friday night about where I'm going to go the next day. That doesn't really happen very often. So it was very exciting. Beautiful course. Was very welcomed by Dawn on Saturday morning, who's the ED there, not just the sunrise Dawn, but actual Dawn. And yeah, we had our little adventure down to New South Wales. So now I've got three points of the compass. However, I'm going to have to go back to WA. Okay. Can you guess which event over there is the westernmost at the moment?

00:05:25Scott Trickett: I'm going to have a crack at Cottesloe. No. What's that one down south? Is it Bunbury? Not Bunbury?

00:05:38Melissa Erbacher: It's not Bunbury because I've done Bunbury. If I'd thought of the Compass Club a few months ago, then I would already be in it because I would have altered my plans just to achieve this. But then I would have missed out on Bunbury, which would have been a shame. You can't guess?

00:05:54Scott Trickett: No.

00:05:56Melissa Erbacher: Geographe Bay.

00:05:58Scott Trickett: Okay. That's the one I was thinking of when I said Bunbury.

00:06:01Melissa Erbacher: Oh, of course it was. Yes. So now there's a new exciting club of adventurers out there to join. We're going to have to think of the term that someone can be called once they become a member of the Compass Club, you know, like For example, in the Southern Cross Circuit, once you've completed all the stars, you become a stargazer. So we need to think up a name for compassions or whatever you want to call them. It's a simple club to join. There are only four events to get there. However, they're not very close together. So I think it will be a bit of a challenge. And I'm looking forward to people going on their quest for this one. All the corners of the compass.

00:06:44Scott Trickett: Well, there's lots of traveling involved.

00:06:46Melissa Erbacher: There is.

00:06:47Scott Trickett: Yeah. It's a true adventure. So it sounded like the true adventure was coming out on you on Friday night and Saturday morning.

00:06:56Melissa Erbacher: It was, and we had a great time. It was good to catch up with Chris and to meet Daniel and to head out to Kingscliff parkrun. Yeah, it was a really lovely evening, you know, creating new parkrun clubs on Friday night and then going for an adventure on Saturday morning.

00:07:15Scott Trickett: Very exciting. And on Sunday you got to witness GCAM. You were dressed up, no doubt?

00:07:22Melissa Erbacher: There may have been a costume, yes. If you have noticed, or you may not have noticed, because I hide it very well, I'm a professional podcaster now, my voice is a little bit rough today because I did spend about six hours cheering runners on yesterday at the top of my lungs. So I didn't quite 100% lose it this year like I did last year, so obviously... I'm losing my touch or not cheering loud enough. But it was a good morning. It was perfect weather. There were hundreds of parkrunners out there from all over the country. And yeah, it was a great... I need to try and compile a list of all the event directors and territory directors that did a marathon or a half marathon this weekend because there were dozens of them, I'm sure.

00:08:09Scott Trickett: Facebook was full of achievements on Sunday.

00:08:13Melissa Erbacher: So I did have a fabulous weekend, Scotty. Adventures abounding. How about you? What did you get up to?

00:08:20Scott Trickett: Probably pretty similar. On Sunday, we went shopping for a vacuum cleaner. Now, it might not sound like the excitement that you're used to, but... And we had a choice between German vacuum cleaners, Korean vacuum cleaners, red ones, black ones, bagless bag vacuum cleaners. And yeah, that was probably the highlight.

00:08:49Melissa Erbacher: It sounds like a maze of like, how do you decide? I didn't know there were so many vacuum cleaners.

00:08:56Scott Trickett: And it's a decision that you can't take lightly. You have to put a bit of thought into it. There's some money involved, so you don't want to just throw away hard-earned money.

00:09:08Melissa Erbacher: And vacuum cleaners are for everyone.

00:09:11Scott Trickett: Yeah, we don't discriminate. So there's a lot of parallels between your weekend and parkrun and, you know, having lots of fun and mine.

00:09:22Melissa Erbacher: With vacuum cleaners. Yep.

00:09:26Scott Trickett: But we got one. It's black.

00:09:29Melissa Erbacher: Is it Korean?

00:09:31Scott Trickett: No, German. I did vote on Saturday. Once again noted the distinct lack of parkrun candidates on my ballot form. I don't reckon we're too far off it because some of the parties that I did see and some of the nonsense that I was presented with, a parkrun party makes a lot of sense.

00:09:54Melissa Erbacher: It does and it should have a lot of supporters. given the number of registrations we've got. Perhaps by the time we have another federal election, we can get one sorted and sort out this country.

00:10:07Scott Trickett: Well, I reckon the vast majority of our parkrunners are in Queensland. Seems pretty easy to get a Senate seat in Queensland. So four years' time, going to put it on the ticket. Something to aim for. Now, Mel, have you run a marathon before? No.

00:10:25Melissa Erbacher: I wouldn't use the term run exactly, but I have certainly completed a marathon distance, Scotty.

00:10:31Scott Trickett: And how did you feel the following day?

00:10:36Melissa Erbacher: The following day, I was walking around like a cowboy and avoiding stairs wherever possible.

00:10:42Scott Trickett: I think that's a common theme for a lot of people who run marathons. Our next guest has just completed seven marathons in seven days in seven different states. Welcome Danielle McLaren.

Guest interview — Dani McLaren, Triple Seven Challenge

00:10:56Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Thank you for having me. Pretty exciting to be part of this journey.

00:11:01Scott Trickett: Oh look, we're very excited to have you and we're excited to have you a day after this massive effort. You've just run seven marathons for Bravehearts. Firstly, why?

00:11:12Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Yeah, that's right. Why? Part of me to take on this challenge is to make a difference to the lives of so many children that are currently going through the trauma of child sexual assault, just running to raise more awareness, to reduce the number of sexual assault incidences that happen every day in our community. So for me, running is the easy part. What these children go through every day and for the rest of their life, the pain they suffer is nothing compared to the pain that I have to endure just for seven days.

00:11:52Scott Trickett: So is part of that the motivation for getting through the seven days?

00:11:55Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Oh, that's definitely the big push to keep going each day. So if I feel like giving up, I just think of the kids that, you know, can't say no to the abuse that they're going through and, you know, they can't give up. And I don't want them to see that, you know, when it gets tough that, you know, okay, I'm just going to pull out of this marathon because when they're going through a really hard time, we want to show them that they've got the strength to keep fighting.

00:12:24Melissa Erbacher: Having those kids foremost in your mind, Dani, that must make running one marathon, let alone seven, very emotional.

00:12:34Danielle "Dani" McLaren: It is. It's a very emotional experience, especially when you're hearing so many stories about... people on the trip who have themselves been abused as young children.

00:12:49Melissa Erbacher: And how many runners were involved in doing the whole seven events across all the seven states?

00:12:57Danielle "Dani" McLaren: There was 20 national runners who took part in doing the Triple Seven Challenge and three of those ran their first ever marathon last Monday and yesterday they ran their seventh. So pretty amazing watching so many young and different age athletes out there running with such courage and determination to make a difference.

00:13:23Melissa Erbacher: And when you all travel together, I mean, obviously you're going from state to state to state. You must be forming quite close bonds with these people over the duration of that.

00:13:32Danielle "Dani" McLaren: That's right. Fantastic bonds. So even though we only spent a week together, we've just made... the most amazing memories and we'll be friends for life.

00:13:43Scott Trickett: Let's take it back to last Monday. You started in Perth.

00:13:47Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Yes, the first time was along the Swan River in Perth.

00:13:51Scott Trickett: And from Perth you went to Adelaide, then to Melbourne, down to Hobart, into Canberra, Kingscliff and finished with the Gold Coast Airport Marathon yesterday. Which was the hardest one?

00:14:03Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Ooh, um... That's a really tough question because I found that I bounced back each day and had enough strength to keep going through them all. Possibly the hardest one may have been Hobart after coming off a really big high, running with so many family and friends on the Wednesday in Melbourne and then going down to Hobart. It was a little bit chilly there. and a few of my running the Triple Seven were actually having a really bad day down in Hobart and just seeing how tough they were going was really hard as well because all together we're trying to support each other to help each other get across the line some of my friends were really struggling so that was really hard to watch but we all got through it and we moved on and completed the challenge

00:14:57Scott Trickett: Were they just struggling with the pain of running so much?

00:15:02Danielle "Dani" McLaren: A lot of injuries. So we had people running with five stress fractures in their legs. We had people running with really swollen knees, swollen feet, blisters, lost toenails and just quite serious injuries but they kept fighting because the reason behind why we were doing this was just so powerful to keep going.

00:15:30Melissa Erbacher: Dani, what kind of preparation do you do? I mean, I know I trained for six months leading up to one marathon and I was utterly destroyed after that. Is there an extra level of preparation or a longer period of time? How do you approach something like this?

00:15:48Danielle "Dani" McLaren: So a lot of my training has been based about 100 kilometres a week, but with a focus on back-to-back training. So, for example, on a Saturday, I would go to parkrun because I can't miss out on my parkrun. And then in the afternoon, I would do another 37 kilometres. And then again on the Sunday, back it up with 30 kilometres. So just that back-to-back running and getting used to running on tired feet, I think that was the key for myself. And then just a couple of more runs during the week, but building up to around the 100, 110-kilometer mark for the last few months. Also, a real big focus is on the mental strength, so building the mental strength and believing that you can push through anything when you're faced with a challenge, looking within yourself to find the strength to keep going.

00:16:42Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so I'm sure stubbornness plays a big part in that, but how do you build mental strength?

00:16:49Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Oh, that's a really good one. I'm not quite sure. A lot of people say that I'm really tough mentally. I just think maybe because I've had a lot of setbacks myself in my life and I just keep believing in what I can do and just keep telling myself that I can do it. And yeah, that's a really, really tricky one. But I put it down to having going through a lot of challenges in my life and learning from those experiences and using those setbacks to keep going. And also having done the challenge, this is my second time doing the 777, so also knowing that drawing on past experiences to help me get through it as well, helped play a big role in this year's event too.

00:17:37Scott Trickett: You mentioned that it's your second time, so you did it last year. Was it a lot easier this year? Were you faster second time around?

00:17:45Danielle "Dani" McLaren: I was faster this time around because I was a lot lighter weight-wise and also I had a lot more kilometres on my feet. And when I did it last year, the six months prior to completing it, I hadn't run for six years and I couldn't run more than 200 metres without stopping. So over the course of the last 18 months, I've built up my fitness and endurance. So I was able to... move a lot quicker this year but both years I've found that I've been able to quite easily get through the challenge with not much injuries or no injuries actually and yeah, too much of a struggle. I was able to bounce back each day and keep going.

00:18:34Scott Trickett: You're a strong woman. It's a remarkable effort. Thank you. Let's take it back to parkrun. Let's link in the parkrun connection here because you're actually our event director at Point Cook, aren't you? That's correct, yes. And was there a parkrun connection at each event around the country? Were you getting some love from your parkrun buddies?

00:18:54Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Yes, the parkrun support throughout the last week has been fantastic. So at each of the states we've run, we've had people from parkrun come down and support, which has been really encouraging and got us going. a lot of motivation to keep going. In particular, Melbourne. So a lot of my friends from not only parkrun at Point Cook, but parkrun at Westerfolds and Diamond Creek and Laylaw were out there to support me, which was just absolutely fantastic. Just having people run alongside me just gave me a real boost to keep going.

00:19:34Melissa Erbacher: You mentioned, Dani, that there were, was it 21 runners who did all sevens? Of the states, yep. But in each of the states you were able to do, runners could just come along and join you for a marathon that day, is that correct?

00:19:53Danielle "Dani" McLaren: That's correct. So there was, yeah, there were 21 national runners and then there was also across the whole week 100 state runners who took part in the challenge. But also on top of that, we had friends and family and even strangers come down and run with us just a lap or a couple of kilometres just to give us some more motivation to keep going.

00:20:15Melissa Erbacher: I was actually at a parkrun that I've never been to before on Saturday and I believe I got to witness you taking part in a parkrun as part of your 777 Challenge.

00:20:29Danielle "Dani" McLaren: That's right. So the Triple Seven Challenge was along the parkrun course. So we started at 7 a.m. and our course for Triple Seven was out three and a half k's and then back. So I timed it perfectly that I was able to run one complete lap of the Braveheart Challenge and then jump on and run the Kingscliff parkrun because I couldn't miss my Saturday morning thrill of parkrun.

00:21:01Melissa Erbacher: And how did it work with, you obviously ran through the finish line and grabbed a token. Did you just like throw a barcode in the token at the barcode scanners and keep running? I didn't see you finish because I was a bit slower than you.

00:21:14Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Last year when I did the triple seven challenge at Kingscliff, I actually jumped on with parkrunner as well and I made friends with run director Tammy there and she Saturday just gone, I ran with Tammy and Katie and as I crossed the finish line, I handed my barcode to Tammy and she organised a scanning of the token so I could get my time recorded.

00:21:37Melissa Erbacher: That's just awesome. What a wonderful adventure and I just love, often we have people training just before parkrun and they'll go And they'll tack it on as the end of their long run. But I've never heard of somebody running a marathon and doing a little bit before and then doing parkrun and then doing the balance afterwards. That's just brilliant.

00:21:58Danielle "Dani" McLaren: It was absolutely exciting to share the journey with so many like-minded people on Saturday down at Kingscliff.

00:22:06Melissa Erbacher: It was wonderful as well because in the pre-run brief, Dawn mentioned that the 777 event was happening and so if we saw other marathoners out there to give you guys a cheer and just so many of you and being able to cheer you, I felt very special to be involved, just even in my little cheering state.

00:22:30Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Oh, the cheering was fantastic. It really gives a boost and I know a lot of my 777 teammates really appreciated the extra push that they got from the parkrunners on Saturday morning. You know, it's just fantastic that we've had so much support along the journey and we've got a long way to go to help reduce the statistics of child sexual assault in Australia. But, you know, we've got so many people that have come on board to help us, so many friends and strangers and just even through communities like parkrun, we're able to spread that awareness and it's just absolutely fantastic that we can keep doing that.

00:23:10Scott Trickett: Remarkable effort in running the seven marathons, even more remarkable effort for the awareness and money you're raising for these children. We're going to get you back on the podcast to talk about Point Cook. We might save that for another time. But thanks for coming on this week, Dani.

00:23:27Danielle "Dani" McLaren: Thank you so much for having me.

00:23:31Melissa Erbacher: Thank you. That event was Cobram parkrun and their ED joins us now. Lynne, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers. Hi. How did your morning go on Saturday?

Meet the ED / new-launch Event Director interview — Cobram parkrun

00:23:51Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: The morning went really well. I was really excited and really happy with the way things went off. Even the rain held off for us, so that was good.

00:24:02Melissa Erbacher: Did you have a lot of pre-parkrun launch jitters on Friday night?

00:24:08Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Oh yeah, I had butterflies. I was really excited for sure.

00:24:13Scott Trickett: So how many did you get to launch, Lynne?

00:24:16Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: We had 132 participants and 11 volunteers.

00:24:21Scott Trickett: And was that your expectation? Did you have any expectation of numbers going in?

00:24:26Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: I thought maybe we would hit 100, maybe, but just wasn't sure.

00:24:31Scott Trickett: And did you have lots of locals? Because usually at a launch you'll get the tourists, but it's always good to see lots of locals there.

00:24:39Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Yeah, there was a lot of tourists and there was a good mix of locals as well. And the locals are registering. You know, you can see the registrations coming in. So that's exciting.

00:24:55Scott Trickett: So both Mel and I are a bit geographically challenged at times. So exactly where is Cobram?

00:25:02Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Cobram is northeast, northern Victoria on the Murray in a dairy farming community and Shepparton is called the Fruit Bowl of Victoria and we're about 50 kilometres north of Shepparton.

00:25:20Scott Trickett: Okay, so it's one of the towns on the Murray.

00:25:22Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Yep, one of the towns on the Murray. Yeah, we have Barooga on the other side.

00:25:29Scott Trickett: And what about the course? Can you tell us a little bit about the course?

00:25:33Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Yeah, the course is a bush trail. So it's interesting in that it has some slight inclines, has some sandy surface, some gravel surface and some grass and at the moment some water, a bit of mud around. and we go onto a section of land which is owned by Parks Victoria and that is called Quinn Island and that has a lot of wildlife and a few people said they had a koala cross their path on Saturday.

00:26:11Melissa Erbacher: Wow that's the first sighting of a koala we've heard of on the course we've had dolphins and all sorts of other animals. But yeah, I mean, obviously not dolphins on a course, but from the course. That's very cool. So how did you get involved with parkrun, Lynne?

00:26:30Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: I was involved in the beginning. I had a couple of friends that told me about parkrun. One friend was from Canberra and another friend is Scottish. So they had both heard about parkrun. Myrit was friends with, Alan Connolly, who was starting up the Shepparton parkrun. So they were both going to launch and invited me to the launch in Shepparton.

00:26:57Melissa Erbacher: Have you done many parkruns yourself before deciding to set up your own event?

00:27:02Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: I've probably done just over 50 and done maybe 25 volunteer. And something that attracts me about parkrun is the fact that it's for anybody, anybody can participate. Some tracks might be more challenging for the all abilities, but there's no age, there's no age limit, there's not a gender, you know, there's not a segregation, it's about inclusion. So that's definitely a positive for me with parkrun.

00:27:40Melissa Erbacher: So Lynn, you said that you've done about 50 parkruns. Have they all been at Shepparton or have you done a little bit of travelling around and gone on some adventures?

00:27:50Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Done a little bit of travelling around. Do you have a top three? So Launceston is just beautiful and we were there just a few weeks ago and that was a beautiful track with the trees still in their autumn colours. and plenty of water around. The locals probably say too much water because of the flooding they've had. But Launceston was beautiful. Gels Park was also another lovely, lovely parkrun.

00:28:21Melissa Erbacher: Okay, Lonnie and Jells. We've heard about both of those on the podcast in recent episodes. It must have been quite cold in Launceston when you were there.

00:28:29Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Yeah, it was cold. It was cold. I... particularly enjoyed Launceston too because sometimes when you're doing the track and you get to meet very interesting people and they tell you their story and the lady that I was with at the Launceston one had a very interesting story and why she was doing parkrun and that is always inspiring to hear people's stories.

00:28:54Melissa Erbacher: Were you walking the course or you're just one of those awesome runners who can also talk while you're running a lot? no I was walking I was walking the course I had a similar experience um on Saturday actually chatting to a lady uh we weren't quite walking or she was walk running and my running pace is is fairly commonly known as a walking pace for most people so I would agree with you there that it's always lovely to hear other people's stories yeah yep I think sometimes people are

00:29:28Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: facing some incredible challenges in life and there's a lot of barriers. And when they come along to an event like parkrun and can comment on the positiveness of people and the energy and how that has a great impact on people, I love those stories.

00:29:47Melissa Erbacher: And so what would you tell somebody who had never heard of parkrun but specifically to get them to go to your course to try yours first?

00:29:57Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: What would I tell them? Well, I talk parkrun every day. I don't think there's a day that doesn't go by without talking parkrun. And I guess it's part of our beautiful area that we live in. And it's interesting that you can talk to locals and they can say, you know, where's the track? And I'll say, you know, we include Quinn Island and they've never heard of Quinn Island. And I say we have this beautiful feature in our local community that that people have not been onto. So come to parkrun, experience the parkrun culture and atmosphere, and also get to check out what's in your own backyard as far as a beautiful environment.

00:30:38Scott Trickett: That's a good advertisement. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Lynne. It's good to see parkrun spreading its wings further into Australia. the regional rural areas so we can all add Cobram to our list to get to.

00:30:54Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen: Yeah, absolutely.

Social Adventurers / social media round-up (Instagram and Facebook)

00:31:08Scott Trickett: We had a bit of excitement on Instagram this week. We had two of our parkrun adventurers running at Bushy Park. Two different parkrunners on two separate adventurers converging on the mecca of parkrun. Bea Brockman made it to Bushy Park, home of parkrun. Amazing doing a parkrun with over a thousand people. And Nicholas J. Sando.

00:31:32Melissa Erbacher: Yes.

00:31:33Scott Trickett: He commented that it was like a stampede. That doesn't sound like fun. But I'm sure it was.

00:31:40Melissa Erbacher: It is definitely, in fact, it might be number one on my list. to do is bushy park I want to go yeah I think and you know what I'll do I'll start right at the front and I'll just see so I'll be in front of everyone and then be very interested to see what finish position I get because then that might be a personal record for how many people overtook me on a parkrun I'm sure it can be like no other parkrun in the world when you run with that many people at the place it all started. I'm fairly confident it will be a spiritual experience.

00:32:22Scott Trickett: No doubt. I just want to see the deers.

00:32:29Melissa Erbacher: Well, there were no deer in camp. You've seen the pictures. Well, that's not good enough. You need to go see them in the deer.

00:32:40Scott Trickett: One day. Now, you were saying there were no deer...

00:32:44Melissa Erbacher: There were no deer in Cairns on the weekend, but what there were were Campbells. Jeanette Campbell, 21, and her family ran at Cairns this weekend, and they had a great time.

00:32:55Scott Trickett: There were hounds in Portland because Oscar the Hound was parkrun adventuring to Portland parkrun, and there was a PB waiting for them at the finish line.

00:33:07Melissa Erbacher: Will be 1981. 1981. had a picture, he actually had a spliced picture, so it was a before and after shot of him and his daughter running. And he said, very, very sad April at the start, very happy April at the finish, night and day. I think there are a lot of people out there that look much happier when they get to the finish line at parkrun than what they did at the start.

00:33:30Scott Trickett: Tesla Fox was coast to coast with another parkrun adventure. over at Altona Beach. Good to get some consistent form for sound down relays next week. So Tesla Fox was at Mornington last week and Altona this week. He's getting around.

00:33:47Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's what adventurers do. Primal Boys Fitness were at Strathalbyn parkrun launch and said it was a great turnout and great weather for the most part. Not a terrible time. Good benchmark.

00:34:01Scott Trickett: Recreating Mel attended the launch of Cobram, but Mel said it was a mix of trail and muddy, sandy paths that winded along the river. This course will be wonderful in summer and one every adventurer should put on the list. Well done team. On the list. I'm hearing this a bit more.

00:34:20Melissa Erbacher: Hey TJ, loved Frog Hollow parkrun. There was an awkward moment when they told the dog off for trying to chase the birds in a parkrun and thought they were telling her off instead. Yeah, I've seen that happen. Well, actually, I've made that happen. I've bossed my husband around. And some parkrunners that didn't realize he was my husband thought I was just being an exceptionally rude and bossy event director. And I had to explain, no, no, I married him for this benefit. So they completely understood once they realized he was my hubby.

00:34:56Scott Trickett: Miss Belt, she must have been with you on your crazy podcast adventure.

00:35:01Melissa Erbacher: She was.

00:35:02Scott Trickett: Because she was up at stupid o'clock to run the Nambour parkrun in reverse.

00:35:07Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it was stupid o'clock. But what can you do when it's the middle of the week and you've got jobs to get to? You've got to sneak those runs in somewhere. Nod Lightyear went for a run with Danny. So he was one of the people who got to join Danny when she was in Victoria. And he said, wonderful to be able to run with Danny. An amazing person. Seven marathons in seven days to support Bravehearts protecting kids from sexual abuse.

00:35:33Scott Trickett: And Run For Your Life New Zealand, or NZ, was asking the question, where do you run? This pic is from our new parkrun. It was a particularly misty day, but it's always steamy.

00:35:46Melissa Erbacher: And that pic was taken at Pururanga parkrun, and we spoke to the ED there last week. On Facebook, we had Mark Caldercourt saying, Checking in on Friday night, live from Cobb, Vegas. There was a spectacularly lit palm tree in front of the target at Cobb Room. So I'm thinking that's where he got his inspiration for the name from.

00:36:11Scott Trickett: Elaine and Gary Nisbet got a delivery from Tribe Sports late last week. All the colours, black, red, purple and apricot.

00:36:19Melissa Erbacher: You can certainly tell a parkrun adventurer by the number of different coloured parkrun shirts they've got. Sonja Pohlman shared one of her fabulous videos again, as she does when she's tripping around to new events. Good morning from the beaches, parkrun. There were whales. It's always exciting when you see whales at parkrun. Have you ever seen a whale from parkrun before, Scotty?

00:36:44Scott Trickett: Not from a parkrun. I have seen whales before.

00:36:48Melissa Erbacher: It's ten times better when you see them at parkrun. Just saying.

00:36:52Scott Trickett: I'm not arguing. Peter Pohlman. He was at Highfields parkrun in Queensland, wishing everyone a happy voting day. I reckon Peter would vote for the parkrun Party as well.

00:37:06Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I think all our listeners would vote for the parkrun Party. We just need to get somebody to... You need a party leader, don't you? We should take nominations for party leaders. We should get this ball on the go, this show on the road. How many clichés can I confuse?

00:37:25Scott Trickett: We've got four years. But maybe not.

00:37:27Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, you know, we need to start, well, no, exactly. We need to start grooming someone now.

Launches and anniversaries / "Where is the cake?"

00:37:33Scott Trickett: Coming up this weekend, we have one launch. It's in New South Wales, and it's in a place called Wauchope.

00:37:43Melissa Erbacher: No, no.

00:37:44Scott Trickett: One chop.

00:37:46Melissa Erbacher: Will you choke? Will you shop?

00:37:51Scott Trickett: Occasionally, maybe on a Saturday, maybe a Sunday. Don't tend to shop midweek a lot. Wock Hope. Maybe it's Wock Hope. All of them. Everything we said could be one of them.

00:38:08Melissa Erbacher: It's in New South Wales. We're pretty sure we've pronounced that correctly at least. Apologies to the event team at Wauchope. Somebody please tell us how to pronounce this so we can apologise properly next week. In the meantime, I have got a bit of a hankering for something sweet. Where's the cake this week, Scotty?

00:38:33Scott Trickett: Lots of cake. We've got cake in Gatton. They're turning three.

00:38:39Melissa Erbacher: We haven't heard from Gatton yet. I'm keen to actually interview them because it's one of the smaller events that's out in a spot that's a little bit unassuming. But I think it would be a gorgeous parkrun and I'd really like to do it. We should get them on the show soon.

00:38:56Scott Trickett: What about next week?

00:38:57Melissa Erbacher: Well, we can certainly ask. Pitsworth are also celebrating an anniversary this weekend. They're turning two. And they're doing it in 80s style with 80s outfits. Always a winner.

00:39:10Scott Trickett: Bendigo, which is in Victoria. Not New South Wales, as my co-host has written down.

00:39:17Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm pretty sure your co-host copies things directly from the parkour newsletter. Are you sure it's in Victoria?

00:39:29Scott Trickett: Very sure. That's awkward.

00:39:31Melissa Erbacher: Well, we've already established that I'm geographically challenged.

00:39:38Scott Trickett: So the Bendigo in Victoria, don't go to the Bendigo in New South Wales because I don't think they've got a parkrun and I'm pretty sure they won't be celebrating with a Bendigo gold theme this Saturday.

00:39:49Melissa Erbacher: What's a Bendigo gold theme?

00:39:52Scott Trickett: Well, Bendigo's in the Gold Rush area, so I'm guessing they're going with that theme.

00:39:57Melissa Erbacher: Oh, wow. That could be awesome. I've got visions of gold body paint right now. Gold morph suits.

00:40:05Scott Trickett: You can come down for it.

00:40:07Melissa Erbacher: Not this weekend. This weekend I'm adventuring to my home parkrun. I haven't checked in for a while and I need to say hey to my parkrun peeps at Kawana. However, if you're looking for a New South Wales anniversary because you're so disappointed that Bendigo is in Victoria, it's okay. Because Dubbo, which is in New South Wales, are celebrating their first birthday. They're the big one. And they're doing so with long socks. I think that's probably fairly apt for the kind of weather they must be having out there at the moment.

00:40:42Scott Trickett: And wrapping up on the anniversaries front, Phillip Island are also turning one and they're having a penguin theme. Of course, Phillip Island and penguins. So they're asking you to come dressed in blue, black and white. Now, don't tell my daughter.

00:41:00Melissa Erbacher: Because she wants to go and you can't?

00:41:02Scott Trickett: I can't. I'm volunteering this week. So I don't want to let down those people who are counting on me. But a penguin theme at Phillip Island sounds awesome.

00:41:14Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I can't wait to see everyone in their penguin suits. I reckon there'll be quite a few people in tuxes show up. What do you think?

00:41:21Scott Trickett: Yes, a tux would fit the bill of blue, black and white.

00:41:25Melissa Erbacher: Well, a tux is commonly referred to as a penguin suit. Did you not know that?

00:41:30Scott Trickett: I did, yes. I learned that from watching Batman too.

00:41:36Melissa Erbacher: Yes, well, and that was where I was going to say the next thing is that perhaps the penguin from Batman would also be good, although it might scare some of the younger parkrunners. It might scare some of the local penguins too.

00:41:48Scott Trickett: It's going to be a fun morning. Head along to Phillip Island if you're hereabouts. I've said, Phillip Island, top five for me. Great event. Really good run down there.

00:42:05Melissa Erbacher: Why aren't there more weekends? We need to have like two or three Saturdays every week.

00:42:09Scott Trickett: parkrun on a Sunday. I like the sound of that.

parkrun adventure challenge — reverse freedom run

00:42:14Melissa Erbacher: Last week we alluded to a little bit of a challenge that we were going to set for everyone and we told you that we had to do it ourselves first. So we're very thorough here on the parkrun Adventurers and we try to test out everything to make sure that it will be safe and or fun. Usually more fun than safe. So we did.

00:42:37Scott Trickett: And the challenge was to run a parkrun course, do a freedom run, but do it in reverse. So you did it first. Should we have a listen to your audio?

00:42:52Melissa Erbacher: Yes, let's. It is pitch dark, we are at Nambool parkrun and there are stars and moon and I'm here with a whole bunch of crazies who rose to the challenge today. I've got, who have I got? I've got Ian, Alison, Dave, Tanya, Mark, Olga and Melissa. Guys, what are you doing?

00:43:14[crosstalk]

00:43:14Unidentified speaker: I don't know. The alarm just goes off.

00:43:17Melissa Erbacher: I think I've been conned. Who's got the coffee? All right, we're actually going to do the Nambour parkrun course in reverse, so we're going backwards. Yes, Dave is running actually backwards, so that could be even more challenging. I'll be interested to watch you do that, Dave.

00:43:38Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:43:40Melissa Erbacher: Yes, we might have some new entrants to the Stat Club out on the course today. So I'm going to ask everyone what they thought of it in backwards after we've done the run. So let's get going. Okay, we're here at the end. We've just done Nambour parkrun backwards. I'm still a little bit out of breath, but I'm going to ask everybody else to talk, and then that way I don't have to do it. Tanya, what did you think?

00:44:05Unidentified speaker: It was exciting in the dark. First run in the forest in the dark, so I've ticked that one off, so yeah.

00:44:11Melissa Erbacher: Have you done Nambour in the correct direction?

00:44:14Unidentified speaker: Yes, just once in a practice run, but yeah, so it was a bit different, yeah.

00:44:20Melissa Erbacher: How does it compare, elevation-wise?

00:44:23Unidentified speaker: I found today challenging, yeah, yeah.

00:44:26Melissa Erbacher: Okay, Jack, what did you think? You haven't run Nambour during the normal time?

00:44:30Unidentified speaker: No, I haven't. Yeah, very challenging. Had to walk some of those hills. Yeah.

00:44:35Melissa Erbacher: I think a lot of us, in fact, I had to walk all of those hills. Gentlemen.

00:44:41Unidentified speaker: Yeah, it was good to get out of bed to wake yourself up with that. No, it wasn't. No, apparently it wasn't.

00:44:50Melissa Erbacher: We love a last minute challenge.

00:44:52Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:44:53Melissa Erbacher: On the school holidays.

00:44:54Unidentified speaker: Yeah, nothing better to do on the school holidays.

00:44:57Melissa Erbacher: The steam is just rising from all the runners because it was very, very cool this morning. Ian, what did you think?

00:45:04Unidentified speaker: Awesome. I couldn't think of anything better to do first thing in the morning. But I can. But this is second best.

00:45:10Melissa Erbacher: Well, this must be first best because you chose to do this instead.

00:45:13Unidentified speaker: I did. Yes, indeed. Awesome toy.

00:45:15Melissa Erbacher: Alison, Melissa, what did you think? I think it takes crazy to an all new level and I might have to find some new friends.

00:45:23Unidentified speaker: I still don't know how I got roped into this.

00:45:26Melissa Erbacher: I think it's the bad idea leading the bad idea actually.

00:45:29Unidentified speaker: And the twins don't get any easier in the dark.

00:45:32Melissa Erbacher: All backwards. All right, one more person to ask.

00:45:36Unidentified speaker: Olga, what did you think? Crazy. No, it was good. Yeah, thanks for the invite, Melissa. No, that was fun.

00:45:43Melissa Erbacher: Anytime. Well, sounds to me like everyone thought this crazy idea was a good idea or a bad idea and then they've changed their mind to it being a good idea now that it's done. I had a great time. I forgot how difficult it was. So I might have to come back out on a parkrun day sometime soon and do it properly. We had a super fun morning. We were actually joined by a couple of late comers from Noosa parkrun. So I didn't get their thoughts pre the run, but you would have heard from them after the run. And it was a fantastic morning. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of crazies who just came out of the woodwork We posted the invitation late on the night before on Facebook in Sunshine Coast parkrunners group and just said, hey, who wants to join us for some very, very early morning parkrun shenanigans out at Nambour? And yeah, really pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who showed up. So that was a fabulous adventure. How did yours go, Scotty?

00:46:50Scott Trickett: Well, I had a couple of goes at it.

00:46:56Melissa Erbacher: ever the overachiever.

00:46:57Scott Trickett: Well, either that or I'm a bit slow. So I had a go at it first at Coburg. It was a little bit wet, but let's have a listen to see how that one went. Okay, I'm out doing a reverse freedom run and I've got my mate here. Say hi.

00:47:20Tim: Sorry, it's got a car quite here, mate. You're a bit behind me. Catch up, mate.

00:47:27Scott Trickett: I might rephrase that. I've got a running partner here with me. And we're halfway through the reverse freedom run. And we're down at Coburg. It has dawned on me that the reverse of Coburg doesn't quite work.

00:47:44Tim: but first time visitor his name's tim what do you think so far so mate i question that you say we can't reverse this one because we all know coburg is an out and back and we are clearly running back and out so i call it reverse good point good point we're coming up to the turnaround point So we go around in the anti-clockwise direction.

00:48:10Scott Trickett: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:48:12Tim: So do you want me to tell my reverse parkrun story?

00:48:16Scott Trickett: On the run? Sure.

00:48:18Tim: Right.

00:48:19Scott Trickett: Let's turn around because I think we turn around here.

00:48:21Tim: Oh, anti-clockwise?

00:48:21Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:48:22Tim: Here we go. So listeners, take yourself to Kirra parkrun on the Gold Coast. Now, the Kirra parkrun course is all on the Esplanade at Kirra Beach on the Gold Coast. It's one of the fastest courses in Australia. It's where I set my PB back in 2012, damn it! Anyway, it's 2k out, 2k back, then you pass the start line. and go for 500 meters out and then 500 meters back. So that's how you get your 5K. So, we decided that we would, rather than go 2K out, 2K back, 500 out, 500 back, we would reverse it. So we did 500 out, 500 back, past the start, and then it was a 4K sprint home. And, It completely changed the psychology of the run, which was when it was the 2K out, 2K back, you knew you had to pass the start when you were in that sort of hurt locker with 1K to go, whereas when it was the reverse, you just knew you were out there chugging along. So I think it's a really interesting topic, Scott and Mel, that you were discussing this week because I think the course itself and the psychology around the course can have a big impact on your performance. The end. Okay.

00:50:02Scott Trickett: So even though it's the same course, reverse runs can mess with your head.

00:50:07Tim: Exactly.

00:50:13Scott Trickett: the uh the rain in the hills are messing with my legs right now so it's okay if we can slow down mate you haven't um mentioned the conditions we're in torrential rain i think they can hear it but this does mean i'm gonna have to go out again and do another reverse freedom which course will have the most

00:50:40Tim: change your feel for running it backwards.

00:50:43Scott Trickett: Okay, so that was attempt number one. Not exactly what we're after. Good story nonetheless, but not what we're after. So I did a similar thing to you, posted on Facebook and went out again on Sunday morning with some of my running buddies. And we run around Westerfolds and let's have a listen to that. Reverse freedom attempt run number two, with a collection of Westerfoldians. It's four, no, 10 of us. We're going reverse at Westerfolds, naturally, and we've hit the hill early. I've got the back of the pack superstars. What do we think, boys? Hitting the hill early on.

00:51:31Unidentified speaker: It's good to get it out the way, and it's a good morning for running.

00:51:36Scott Trickett: this is another hill we get to climb later on as well so you don't get all the hills over it is more fun running down this hill than running up it okay we made it to the top of the hill so It should be all downhill from here. Do we feel good about that?

00:52:10Unidentified speaker: That's why this is my preferred direction.

00:52:14Scott Trickett: We should speak to the people who put this together, who came up with going this way. Okay. One of them is bloody walking. I'm going to stop with Lee. Did we break you Lee?

00:52:27Unidentified speaker: Yes, I'm broken.

00:52:29Scott Trickett: Was it the going in reverse that broke you?

00:52:32Unidentified speaker: Yes, it was that hill. But now it's all downhill.

00:52:39Scott Trickett: Debbie, have you run Westerfolds in reverse before?

00:52:42Unidentified speaker: I have a few times. We do it on Team Tuesday. Tuesday night runs. Most of the time we go reverse.

00:52:50Scott Trickett: And is that because you prefer it?

00:52:54Unidentified speaker: I don't know. It just seems to be the way everybody wants to go. It's something different.

00:52:58Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:52:59Unidentified speaker: And like Lee said, it's easy going up that long hill in the dark because you can't see how far you've got to go.

00:53:14Scott Trickett: We've finished our Freedom Run with everyone who's done Freedom Runs before, so I'm not sure if it worked. But, Pete, one word? Beautiful.

00:53:20[crosstalk]

00:53:21Unidentified speaker: Friends.

00:53:22Unidentified speaker: Fun. Contradictions. Exhilarating. Company. Sunday run day. I don't know.

00:53:31Scott Trickett: I think that sums it up beautifully, Alison. So thanks, everyone. Okay, so that's it, people. That's your challenge for this week. We want you to do exactly what we've just done. And it's really easy. All you have to do, I think we've mentioned this before, take your phone, turn it upside down and just record what's happening. Your thoughts, your feelings. Give it to us. We want to hear it. We want to hear different perspectives of different courses around Australia.

00:54:06Melissa Erbacher: You don't actually have to turn your phone upside down. Just talk into the part where you'd normally talk into.

00:54:11Scott Trickett: that would involve turning it upside down, wouldn't it?

00:54:14Melissa Erbacher: Do you turn it upside down when you talk on the phone?

00:54:16Scott Trickett: But you're not talking to anybody. So you don't have to listen to anything. But you're right. You're right. You can just talk as you normally would and it'll work exactly the same way. And send in your audio.

00:54:32Melissa Erbacher: Try to pick a course that's not an out-and-back course. Pick one that will make a difference if you do it in reverse.

00:54:41Scott Trickett: Good tip. And when you've done that, send the audio to parkrunadventurers at gmail.com and we'll listen to it on next week's pod. So we'll be looking out for these runs on Strava during the week. I'll be monitoring our Strava Club, which now has 133 members.

00:55:04Melissa Erbacher: Whew, that's a big club. Yep. Could still get bigger. Tell all your friends about it.

00:55:10Scott Trickett: The good thing is, They're really active. All our runners, our Strava runners, are really active. You've got to run to crack our top 100 list, which is kind of the point of joining a running club. But I ran 25 kilometres last week and only came in at 72nd.

00:55:30Melissa Erbacher: We've got some people out there doing some serious kilometres. On the other end of the scale, if you're like me and you get a parkrun in, then you're doing well. And this week... I actually got two in because I did my reverse parkrun challenge. The reverse parkrun does not negate five kilometers, okay? It adds five kilometers. So do it. It's really good.

00:55:55Scott Trickett: And we're done. Another week, another episode done.

00:55:59Melissa Erbacher: So that's it, parkrun adventurers. We are leaving you with a challenge. It's not a Mission Impossible challenge. It's a pretty good one. It could encourage you to get out to an event that you haven't done because your home parkruns an out and back or something along those lines. So get creative. You can do it any day of the week. You can do it any time of the day. You can do it with head torches on like we had to do at Nambour or fancy dress if you fancy.

00:56:34Scott Trickett: Don't let the rain put you off. I put up with torrential rain. So no excuses.

00:56:41Melissa Erbacher: Scotty and I want to have an easy one. So send us, inundate us with audio.

00:56:47Scott Trickett: Oh, an easy podcast.

00:56:50Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, an easy week. Well, we don't want a week off, but, you know, the more you guys send us, the less you have to listen to us.

00:57:00Scott Trickett: There's the incentive.

00:57:02Melissa Erbacher: There it is.

00:57:03Scott Trickett: Goodbye, everyone. See you next week.

00:57:06Melissa Erbacher: Not literally, but, you know, talk to you next week.