Episode 65

Episode details · 234 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:11Scott Trickett: Welcome back to episode 65 of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. You've got a happy Scotty this week. Have we got a happy Mel this week?

00:00:21Melissa Erbacher: Mel's happy most weeks.

00:00:22Scott Trickett: Most weeks? I was hoping you were going to say Mel's always happy.

00:00:28Melissa Erbacher: That would be a lie and I don't do lying on the podcast.

00:00:32Scott Trickett: So did parkrun make you happy this week?

00:00:36Melissa Erbacher: Yes and no. I'm still hobbling a little bit, but it was a special parkrun, so I didn't volunteer this week. I did a little bit of an adventure to Golden Beach to run with my sister-in-law, who was doing her 100th parkrun, which is very special.

00:00:56Scott Trickett: Oh, we always like milestone runs, celebration runs.

00:01:01Melissa Erbacher: What did you get up to?

00:01:03Scott Trickett: Well, I also had a milestone run. I went back to Studley and ran with one of our runners, Big Adam, who ran his 50th. So Adam's been with us since the launch of Studley, hardcore Studley runner. So I just did. There was an article during the week on Run Bundle with the founder, PSH. It's a really good article, some good quotes in there from the main man. But one thing that stood out for me is that he really emphasized again that parkrun is not a race. And it's just a run in the park with your mates. And that was 100% my experience on Saturday. I didn't break out of a trot. Had a chat to a couple of my mates throughout the course. And again, just a fun morning made me happy.

00:01:51Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I had a fun morning too. As part of the celebrations of Karen's 100th, Her daughter, her eldest daughter, Alicia, who she has been harassing to get to parkrun for more than four years now, came for the very first time. And she wasn't going to run the course. She wasn't going to participate. She was just going to show up and cheer everyone in at the end. But when she found out that I would be hobbling... along and um not going to be too competitively paced she decided to keep me company and that was really nice because finally she got her first parkrun under her belt she didn't go through the finish line because i think she was still a little bit too shy about it um and she hadn't bought her barcode with her anyway so she was like well i'm just going to come up unknown anyway but you know she did the course so that's the first step what's been her aversion to parkrun Um, the fact that she's a teenager and she likes to sleep.

00:02:52Scott Trickett: Hmm. Common problem. It is. We've discovered. Maybe we should shift it. How would you guys cope up there if we moved it to nine? Would nine work?

00:03:04Melissa Erbacher: No, we would suffer. We would suffer if it was 8am up here. It's just not going to happen in the summertime.

00:03:12Scott Trickett: Hmm. Nine would work down here. I'd be happy with nine, even in summer.

00:03:16Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but then half your day is gone. By the time you finish and you have breakfast and you have a chat, then all of a sudden it's midday.

00:03:24Scott Trickett: Yes and no. So it was obviously a weekend of milestones because there was a big milestone also down here at Newborough. We had a couple of three generations running their 250th run. We're starting to see a few of these pop up around the country. And we were lucky enough that Oyiela ventured out to Newborough and caught up with a whole bunch of people, including Amber, Jenny and Corey, the runners in the spotlight this week doing their 250. Should we have a listen?

00:03:55Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I want to hear all about it.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:03:57Oyiela Litaba: Hello parkrun Adventurers. My name's Oyiela. It's Friday evening and we're in Newborough with a group of parkrun Adventurers getting ready for a celebration at Newborough parkrun tomorrow. We've just had dinner and we're ready to celebrate with Jenny Erickson, Amber Erickson and Corey Simmons. All three of them are going to be completing their 250th parkrun tomorrow morning. And not only is 250 a very special number, but there's something extra special about this group because they are three generations of the same family. Jenny is Amber's mother and is also Corey's grandmother. So it's going to be a real family event. So we've just stepped aside from the celebratory dinner. for me to have a chat with Jenny, just to ask her a little bit about parkrun. So Jenny, first of all, could you just say, how did you find out about parkrun in the first place?

00:04:59Jenny Erickson: Well, we'd been running every month with the Victorian Road Runners around the Tan, and we quite enjoyed that, and we'd done quite a few fun runs. And then Amber came home one day and said, Mum, how would you like to run every week instead of just running it once a month? And I said, well, that sounds all right. And she said, I've just been reading about this parkrun that's being started up at Albert Park, and we could go and run there every week. We could still run it with the road runners if we wanted to, but this way we will at least be running consistently. And we thought it was a good idea, so that's basically how it came about.

00:05:35Oyiela Litaba: Well, that's great, but one of the things that a lot of people at Albert Park didn't realise when you first started running was how far you were coming to get there, to join in with the great event that was developing there. So where were you living at the time and how long did it take you to get there?

00:05:52Jenny Erickson: Okay, so we were living in... I was living in Bales, near Coorup, and Amber was living just down the road in Katani. And we didn't think of it as being far because we'd been coming in, as I say, once a month to... victorian road runners and every fun run was in the city and amber was the driver designated driver and as long as she was willing to drive us there i was quite happy even though i did say even though i didn't particularly like driving into the city that i would you know take turns if she wanted to take turns but she was quite happy to go so for us it was just we were going that far anyway so we just it was just more often that was all

00:06:29Oyiela Litaba: And having gone to parkrun a few times, you decided it was something you really wanted to continue.

00:06:35Jenny Erickson: It's funny because we all basically agreed that it was just as good if not better than running and we really enjoyed running with the VRR, that it was just as good if not more fun. And I guess because we were doing it together, we've always sort of done things together, because we were doing it together it made it a bit easier too because instead of just one of us having to get up early every morning, we all got up together and and didn't think anything of it.

00:07:01Oyiela Litaba: Now, I see that you, for a long time, consistently came to Albert Park and then as other, and that was the first parkrun in Victoria, but when other parkruns started to, you know, it launched, You did here and there go to others. But it was almost three years, I think, before you went to somewhere else, which was Pakenham. And then you went to Berwick Springs for a New Year's Day run. So since then, I see from looking at your statistics, you've been to quite a few other places. You've been to some launches, not counting Newborough, which is your current home, or Albert, which was your home for such a long time. Could you say whether you have any favourites or any particular memories of other places?

00:07:46Jenny Erickson: I think because we started at Albert Park, that was always going to be our favourite, and we all liked the fact that it was one lap, one lap of the lake. For a long time, I didn't like running double laps or up and backs, but over time then, and everyone we went to, the people were friendly. I think because we started at Albert Park and we found the people friendly there right from the start, We made a lot of friends there and because we've been going so long, that's why it took us a while to get into other ones. And then we realised how much the newer ones starting up relied on people coming and supporting them until they got going. It was funny in a way because we all liked different ones. I quite liked Pakenham but Amber found it hard because it was more on concrete and she had a lot of trouble with her knee. I was lucky I didn't have any trouble with any injuries. So we all liked them for different reasons. But yeah, over time we started to try going to a few more. Because we stopped doing so many fun runs too, I think that gave us a chance to move around a bit more and do other parkruns. if we kept doing, because we were doing a different, at least one fun run a month at one stage, as well as Victorian Road Runners every month as well. Once we weren't doing quite as many of the fun runs, we started getting around to more of the parkruns, which was good.

00:09:13Oyiela Litaba: Very much looking forward to joining you tomorrow morning to actually put that 250th run in the bag. And really, really big congratulations for what you've done so far. Thank you very much. So Friday evening in Newborough and I'm here with Amber Erickson who is one of the three members of a family due to do their 250th parkrun tomorrow. At the moment I believe you're now regulars here in Newborough and I see from the reports that you have had your debut as a run director and Corey's going to be a run director sometime in the next few weeks. That is correct, yes. In terms of the motivation that's kept you coming to parkrun over the years, could you say a little bit about what that's been?

00:10:03Amber Erickson: Look, running's always been something that doesn't come naturally to me. I'm not going to pretend that it does. um but you know we started running all together to you know to do something as a family to share an interest and um you know that community spirit that that parkrun brings is definitely the main reason it brings us back um you know through injury and illness and everything else all right i'm out there and i really wish sometimes i could run but you know being out there with that community being able to catch up with people every week is is a big a big part of what draws us to that and also for me I'm a very strong disability advocate and I've found parkrun from the moment that we started there to be a very inclusive event and that's always been very important to me because I think it's great to have these events but if it's only for the elite or the fastest or that kind of thing then, you know, it doesn't really serve a purpose to me. But to see that anyone from any age, from any speed, from any ability can participate, that really is something that I find quite unique in this day and age.

00:11:13Oyiela Litaba: And have you found that that is something... It is very much part of the parkrun ethos, but has it been something that you have seen really happen on the ground, either... Well, in any of the parkruns that you've visited, or one more than others, perhaps?

00:11:28Amber Erickson: Well look definitely and I suppose first and foremost I noticed it at Albert Park when we first started because when we first started I had my son there who is on the spectrum but I also had my foster son at the time who had a disability and the guys there could not be more inclusive and welcoming. of the differences that both those two young boys presented with at the time. But I've definitely noticed because of the tourism that we've done that there are a lot more people of all abilities participating. I think Newborough has got a huge group of people with very varying abilities. We've got a young girl there who's recently started who gets around on crutches and everyone has been so welcoming and ensuring that you know, she has everything she needs there and I think that's a huge thing to be able to see that a community event is just so welcoming and so supportive of that kind of thing.

00:12:23Oyiela Litaba: That's good to hear. Does parkrun kind of get a little bit old or are you really excited about tomorrow?

00:12:29Amber Erickson: Really excited about tomorrow. I don't... Look, it's funny because someone said to me the other day they know that both my son and I have been... turning up to parkrun probably for the last two years with both injury and illness, and we've basically been forced to walk. It hasn't been a decision of we're doing it for the fun of it. If we don't get out there, walking is the only thing we can do at the moment. But in saying that, that has opened up a completely different set of opportunities that running did. Although I met some wonderful people while I was running, I've met some even more wonderful people by walking. the people that have supported my son in the time that he's been unwell was just I can't be thankful enough but also the people that maybe by us walking we've met and helped inspire their journeys whether they're people just starting out whether they're people that have got ongoing injury and illness that walking is the only thing they can do as well to me it's you know at the end of the day As much as I want to run, it's more about that social aspect of meeting people, getting to know the journey of their life and what they're doing. And, look, Corey and I see us being unwell or injured as just a speed hump to that. It's just a glitch in time that we hope eventually, by the time we're at 500, we may be back to running, but if we're not, we'll still definitely be out there.

00:13:50Oyiela Litaba: You have been a family who... I would say you've done your fair share of volunteering, but more so than that, you've always been available to help on a less formal basis. You've been there to help with things that have gone on on the day. I seem to recall you've made a few cakes in your time. Would that be right?

00:14:10Amber Erickson: Just a few, just a few, yes. And look, again, it's part of that community spirit. If you feel that, like, I felt for a long time that I didn't have the confidence to be a run director and do the sort of the stuff on the scene yeah I was I was competent to be a timer or a photographer but I never felt that I could step up and do a bigger role so when there were other things like you know we need cakes or you know we need someone to dress up in a stupid costume because we're running a costume day you know we wanted to help encourage that and support that so we did those little things because to us it was still playing a part oh well I would say those things are the kind of glue that holds together

00:14:51Oyiela Litaba: a positive community of people feeling that it's a social event and not just just a running event but having said all that you have had a debut as run director I have yes um wouldn't say it was my finest hour but let's say I can I can improve on it but it wasn't as scary as I thought it was so good good thank you very much for speaking to us thank you So Corey, just looking back over the last roughly five years since you started parkrun, do you have any real strong memories that stand out?

00:15:26Corey Simmons: I think the strongest memory I have is the second birthday, when we had to dress up for Zoo for Two it was. Yeah, so that was really good and it brought us all together.

00:15:39Oyiela Litaba: More recently, you have been coming to parkrun and walking rather than running. Yes, that's right. So would it be right to say that there's enough going on at parkrun that it motivates you to keep coming back in that way?

00:15:51Corey Simmons: Yes, because the people are really friendly and it's just good to get out there and keep exercising. It's just really healthy and it's good for my health condition. So, yeah, I've just got to keep going and, yeah.

00:16:05Oyiela Litaba: And one of the questions that I did ask of Jenny was whether you found it any different in terms of starting off pushing towards getting 50 and then pushing towards getting 100. And then this has been only just about two or three weeks beyond that. three years to go from 100 to 250 yeah um has the experience been similar wrong way or has one or other of them been sort of more enjoyable it's from about um the first 100 runs it was quite a lot different because i was running but um i feel like from 100 to 250 it's

00:16:46Corey Simmons: It's been different because I've been walking, so I've just been trying to get out there and keep going, and it's unbelievable that I'm up to my 250.

00:16:56Oyiela Litaba: Because one of the things, just looking at the numbers, it appears to me that... Looking at your running and looking at your volunteer history, there's probably been only a very small number of weekends where you haven't somehow been involved in parkrun. Would that be right?

00:17:15Corey Simmons: Yeah, that's right, yeah. So every week I basically ran, but if I haven't ran, it's been a volunteer. Only about two weeks that I had an injury. Yeah, I didn't volunteer, but yeah.

00:17:26Oyiela Litaba: And could I just ask, in terms of anyone who's thinking of whether they, you know, whether parkrun might be for them, do you have any advice or suggestions that you could make to them?

00:17:37Corey Simmons: I would just say you don't have to run it. It's not all about speed. It's just getting out there and having fun. And, yeah, it's good for you.

00:17:46Oyiela Litaba: All right. Well, thank you. And I'm very much looking forward to seeing the three of you tomorrow morning and getting to that milestone. So thank you, Corey. So it's now Saturday morning after a very successful parkrun here at Newborough today. And our trio have completed their 250th run. And I'm speaking to Tony O'Connell, who some of you know as TOC, who is here. He was, I would say, the fanciest of the fancy dress today. The theme was green and he really went to town on it. Tony, we'd just like to ask you about the parkruns down here in Gippsland. This is the most recent, but what else is available for the parkrun adventurers who might want to come down this way?

00:18:28Tony O'Connell: Yeah, look, we've got Gippsland pretty well covered at the moment. We have 10 parkruns through Gippsland from down on the Mornington Peninsula all the way across to Bairnsdale in East Gippsland. And we've got some fairly exciting news that there's a couple of new parkruns coming up fairly soon. We're hoping to get Lakes Entrance, which will be a big one with the Holidaymakers launch. And we've got a bit of a surprise one coming up down on Mornington Peninsula, down on the bottom end of the peninsula. So that'll really cover Gippsland really well. So we've grown from just having one or two a couple of years ago to 10 now and a couple more to come up in the future. Thank you.

00:19:07Melissa Erbacher: Awesome work, Oyiela. We love, love, love the roving adventurers getting out there and getting some reports from us, for us, I should say. And how awesome, three generations reaching 250 runs on the same day. Like 750 runs. That's, yeah, mind-blowing.

00:19:27Scott Trickett: Now we've got, if you like that, we've got more roving reports coming up. This is the week for roving reports. We're going to save that for the outro.

00:19:48Melissa Erbacher: Next on the podcast, we have a guest all the way from Sweden. She had a bit of a big adventure in 2015 when she ran solo across Iran, taking approximately 58 days. Her name is Kristina Paltén. Kristina, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers. Thank you very much, Mel. Now, alone through Iran, that is a very big... And many people would think scary undertaking. You also ran a very long distance. What was the motivation that made you decide to do this?

00:20:29Kristina Paltén: Actually, it was to make the world a better place, which sounds maybe a little bit big. But the reason why I did it was that I saw that in Sweden we have, it's a lot of fear, fear for strangers. It's xenophobia is growing. And I was thinking, I don't like fear. I don't like fear to rule my life. I don't like fear to rule the society where I'm living. I want the world that is based on trust and where we are curious about each other and are open to each other. So I was asking myself, what can I do? And I'm a runner and I'm a woman. So I just put on my running shoes and, and went running through a Muslim country with Sharia laws because that was my way to show trust to a religion, culture, nation, people who are unknown to me.

00:21:25Scott Trickett: A woman running through Iran, I would have thought that's almost one of the scariest things you could come up with. Like, were you really scared going into it?

00:21:34Kristina Paltén: Yes, I was. I was terribly scared before I left. But I must say that I had the belief that most actions between people are good no matter where I am in the world. And I mean, if I have that belief and don't act according to it, then it's nothing worth. So I was kind of arguing with myself that, okay, there's one and a half billion Muslims in the world. What we see in the newspapers, that's what IS is doing. And One and a half billion Muslims can't be like IS, because one and a half billion Christians are not like Anders Bering Breivik, the terrorist in Norway. So my logical mind was telling me that, okay, most likely most people are nice, but my fears were telling me something totally different. And three weeks before I was going, I was just so... afraid and I thought I was the most stupid person in the entire universe that could ever come up with such an idea. So I did have to handle all the fears I had. And a psychologist, he told me to write down all my fears. And that was a very good thing because then I could separate them and see what they actually were. Then I also graded them from zero to 100, where 100 was the worst. So that gave me a simple priority list. So I had three fears that scored 80. And the top fear was that someone would follow after me when I was running and attack me when I was sleeping in my tent. Because I felt very vulnerable when I was alone and asleep. But then I had to figure out, okay, I have 22 different fears. What can I do to prevent it from happening? And that's a way of securing success. So for instance, if I'm afraid of being attacked in the tent, well, if you find a hotel, stay in the hotel. If you don't find a hotel, well, ask a family if I can camp in their garden, because then I will have some kind of relationship with some persons. And if I don't find a family, if it's just completely open and no people, well, bring the green tent, not the orange one. So I will have some kind of camouflage. And I also argued with myself that, okay, in Sweden, being raped is, I mean, usually 87% of the rape cases are in close relationships. It's not by strangers. So I don't know anyone in Iran. So if it's the same there, it's probably a very little risk that I will be raped.

00:24:27Melissa Erbacher: I like your practical approach to breaking it down and this sounds like really great advice to figure out what your fears were and to rate them on a scale. Was one of those things, I mean obviously in a foreign country, many countries you go they speak a same or similar language or you have some of those sorts of skills. I understand that you didn't have any understanding of the language in Iran. So did that rate somewhere in your fear scale, how you were going to communicate with the people that you were seeing on a daily basis?

00:25:07Kristina Paltén: Actually, it didn't. I didn't think about it. But I've been traveling quite a lot in China, so I'm used to traveling in China. a country where I don't know the language. And I know that body language works. So with a few words and with body language, you can usually understand each other pretty well.

00:25:26Melissa Erbacher: Those are good skills to have.

00:25:27Kristina Paltén: Yes, but it was difficult though. I mean, not many people speak English and I'm not very good at Persian. So it was a difficulty.

00:25:35Melissa Erbacher: So how, for example, would you ask some people if you could camp in their garden? What would... Could you play out that kind of conversation for us if there was like no language, no common language between you?

00:25:50Kristina Paltén: Well, actually, I never had to ask that question because I was invited to so many people. But I did have to ask it, though. There's something called the Red Crescent. It's like the Red Cross, but it's the Muslim variant. And in the beginning, when I started in Turkey and then I ran towards the Caspian Sea, and it's not a lot of people there, but... there are lots of traffic accidents in Iran. And that means that there are stations along the road that the Red Crescent is running. And the guy who are working there, they are sleeping there and having kitchen, having beds, et cetera. So the first time, the first period of time I was sleeping in many Red Crescent sites. And I mean, it's easy to, to ask for sleep. You just put your hands to your, to your shin and pretend sleep and, and kind of, I mean, look like you're asking and then pretend to sleep and point at them. And it works.

00:26:55Scott Trickett: And so what did you discover about the people of Iran? Did you meet ISIS? Were they all horrible and mean to you? Or did you discover the opposite?

00:27:06Kristina Paltén: Actually, one of the very first learning I had before I even went to Iran was that I didn't know that Iran was a Shia Muslim country and IS is a Sunni Muslim organization. So actually the Iranian government is working very hard to keep IS out of the country because they don't like each other. But when I was staying at the Red Crescent, one guy there, he did some body language where he told me, Pakistani, Daesh, Iraq, Iranian police, boom! And that meant Pakistanis who are driving from Pakistan to Iraq to fight for IS, they are shot by the Iranian police. So actually there is no IS in Iran, which really made me feel much better.

00:28:00Scott Trickett: And what about the people of Iran? Did they embrace you? Did they know what you were doing?

00:28:07Kristina Paltén: Yeah, I mean, it was difficult for me to explain what I was doing, but I was... I had a man here in Sweden. He learned about what I wanted to do. And he said that, okay, you're going to run through my old home countries, Kristina, and I want to help you as much as I can. So he helped me to plan the trip. He gave me a lot of advice. And then he also went with me to Tehran. So we flew there together and he helped me to buy SIM cards because I cannot buy SIM cards without an Iranian passport. We also bought gas and maps for finding the way. And then we went home. But one of his friends from childhood, he drove me to the border towards Turkey. And his name was Meredad. And Meredad, when he went home to Tehran and I started running, he thought that, okay, I want to help Christina as well. So he... He created a group on Telegram, it's similar to Messenger, of the friends he knew that lived along the way where I was going to run. And they said, wow, there's a Swedish woman running through our country. So they added their friends and they added their friends. And when I came to places where it was more people, I always got a message from this group that, well, tonight you're coming to this city, Christina. And I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who lives in that city. So when I came running to that city, there was usually someone standing by the road saying, hello, you must be Kristina. You're going to sleep in my home tonight. So actually, I've been sleeping in 34 different people's homes. So my impression now is that the Iranian people are incredibly hospitable and friendly and helpful.

00:30:04Melissa Erbacher: They certainly sound very welcoming. And wonderful that you had some help in your preparations. What other kind of things did you have to do before you left to, I mean, obviously there'd be training involved in terms of the running aspect, but what do you pack when you're going to run across a country that, you know, is 1144 miles?

00:30:30Kristina Paltén: Well, first of all, I have a baby jogger. So because I wanted to carry a tent and sleeping bag and sleeping mattress and kitchen and And I cannot carry it on my back. So I have a baby jogger that I'm pushing in front of me. And, uh, well, me and my friend Karina, we had been running from Turkey to Finland two years before the run pre run. And I knew the technique, how to run with the baby jogger. And I knew what to pack, but usually it's not a whole lot of clothes that I'm packing. I had to change my clothes because I need to cover my hair. I need to cover my entire body in Iran. It's the law. But it's a lot of equipment. For instance, I wanted, if this, I mean, this was an experience, but if it turned out well, then I understood that this will be a very, very strong message. And I want people to know what happens. I want to be visible in media. I want to... display pictures. I want movies. I want, I want to write texts. I want to show what's going on. So I had a camera, a video camera, sound recording equipment. I had a tablet and a lot of different things just to be able to communicate, but also, well, some clothes, not so much, but every day I had five kilos of water and I also had some food, of course. But usually people stopped in their cars and gave me food, so I didn't have to care too much about having food along the way.

00:32:08Scott Trickett: I'll admit, I don't know much about Iran and the Iranian lifestyle. What's it like as a country? Is it very civilized? Is it very advanced? What's going on in Iran?

00:32:19Kristina Paltén: I would say it's very diverse, very complex. In the beginning and in the end, it was quite poor areas. I mean, I saw shepherds and children who were working. But in, I mean, in like Tehran or in the big cities, or I stayed one night at the doctor's home. He was, the man was a doctor, his wife was a doctor, and she was climbing mountains in Nepal. And Their son was studying architecture and we sat there on their porch in a very beautiful garden drinking beer and talking about the yoga trips they were doing when they went to India. So I would say it's everything between not having really the food you need for the day to being incredibly rich, very well educated and well, everything in between.

00:33:20Melissa Erbacher: I'd be really keen to know how, so obviously you had a fantastic running base, Christina, if you've run across previous countries before and marathons and things. What kind of kilometres or miles did you average each day? And what was the terrain like?

00:33:41Kristina Paltén: Well, actually, in Iran, I purposely didn't run very far. If you take 1,840 kilometers divided by 30 or 58 days, it's 32 kilometers a day. But actually, eight days were resting days and 50 days were running days. So if I divide it by 50, it's 37 kilometers per day. And I didn't want to run too far because I wanted to write. I also wanted to post pictures and so on. And it takes time and it's difficult to be a creative writer if I'm too exhausted. But in the beginning, the terrain was... Well, I was surprised by the heat. I thought it was going to be 30, 35 degrees Celsius, but it was 45 to 50. And it was horribly hot to run fully covered. And it was a lot of mountains, sand, desert. But then after a while, I came to... part of the country that it's a it's a bit higher altitude so it turned cooler but after passing the mountains I came down to the Caspian Sea and then I had to see to the left and and mountains to the right so that means it's very humid but it's also very green and very beautiful and but it was maybe 35 degrees Celsius there but the humidity was a problem

00:35:11Melissa Erbacher: 37 kilometers is still almost a marathon every day that you actually ran. So that's not a short distance.

00:35:18Kristina Paltén: No, that's true. And I know it sounds a bit weird, but when me and Karina was running from Turkey to Finland, we did a marathon per day in 75 days in a row. And now I was only doing 37 per day for 50 days. So it was shorter. But so, and I think that's interesting because that's a mental thing. I mean, when you run further, then it feels short to run shorter, even if that short is quite far. So running, I didn't see running as a problem. It was just do it, so to say, but the heat was a problem. And also, of course, I was a bit worried about the culture But as long as I get proper rest, which means eating and sleeping, then it works. The body is kind of going into a different state when you run every day like that. After three days, I don't do any stretching. My legs are not sore. They are kind of just rolling, and it's a different state. And it's very nice.

00:36:41Scott Trickett: Are you going to make a movie out of this?

00:36:44Kristina Paltén: Yeah. Before I left, the intention was that a Swedish journalist was supposed to follow me. But since I wanted to make the run alone, he was going to meet me every third day and take pictures and do some movies. But he didn't get a journalist visa. So when I started, it was only me. So I was running around with my video camera trying to film as good as I could. But then after a while, an Iranian man, photographer, got permission to be with me. So he was with me for eight days. And the other 50 days I've been filming myself. And I was running around with my video camera and not understanding what people were saying to me when I filmed them. But seeing this documentary when... when what I had filmed was translated and finally understanding what people said. It was just so much fun.

00:37:42Melissa Erbacher: That must have been a real gift.

00:37:46Kristina Paltén: I mean, I could finally understand six months after what people told me. I hope it was all good.

00:37:55Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's wonderful.

00:37:57Kristina Paltén: Yeah, I guess you will have some good laughs during the documentary because the communication is really... Wonderful. It's completed now. Actually, we just signed an agreement to distribute it in the U.S. and also in Europe. And I think it will be on Australian Running Festival in October.

00:38:22Scott Trickett: Okay, perfect. So it's called Alone Through Iran.

00:38:27Kristina Paltén: Yeah, 1144 Miles of Trust.

00:38:29Scott Trickett: What about the running culture in Iran? Did you have people join you along the way? Is there a good, cool group of runners?

00:38:37Kristina Paltén: No, I would say that in Iran, I mainly met people who, I mean, they enjoy being with their families, which means the extended family, so it includes relatives, and they eat a lot of food and are laughing a lot. But I wouldn't say that exercise is very popular. It was a running club who ran with me. one day. And usually those guys, they were running between five and 10 K, but this day they ran 10 kilometers or 35 kilometers with me. So that was really fun. And some of them couldn't walk the day after, but one of them was an ultra marathon runner and he was running with me the second day as well. And also at some occasions I had children who were running with me, women who were walking with me or men who were walking with me, but usually Generally, I would say that I had to slow down, even in walking, because people are not exercising quite a lot in Iran.

00:39:41Melissa Erbacher: Christina, you've got the documentary coming out in a little while. What have you been doing? What other adventures are on the horizons for you now that this is behind you?

00:39:56Kristina Paltén: Yeah, well, first of all, it's been taking quite a long time to digest everything that happened in Iran. It was a marvelous trip with so many, I mean, so much happened. So it's been taking some time to make the documentary. Right now, I'm also writing a book about this run and it will be released globally. So I'm really looking forward to that. But of course, I mean, usually I need some rest after an adventure. And I am starting dreaming about new things. And sometimes I think maybe I should go to Africa because Africa is a giant area. I don't know the word in English. It's a giant continent.

00:40:46Melissa Erbacher: That's the word.

00:40:48Kristina Paltén: Yeah. And I don't know much about it. And it would be wonderful to discover... where our roots supposedly are from, running back to the origin of humankind. But also I'm thinking it would be very interesting to go running in, for instance, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, all the Stan countries, because I know very, very little about them. And I heard that there's a lot of beautiful nature there. But first of all, I'm going to... hungry to make a six-day run. You go running on a one-kilometer lap for 144 hours and see how far you get.

00:41:32Scott Trickett: Hey, Kristina, I've got to admit, I admire your bravery. I admire your adventurousness, but also your humanitarian efforts in setting out to try and find out something different about the people of the world. So thanks for coming on the podcast and sharing that story with us this week.

00:41:49Kristina Paltén: Thank you, Scott. It's been great to talk to you.

00:41:52Scott Trickett: We have to make sure you look up and find one of those parkruns in Sweden.

00:41:56Kristina Paltén: Yeah, I would Google it and see if I find it.

Meet the ED

00:42:10Scott Trickett: We're going to catch up with one of our EDs now, and we're going to catch up with one of our EDs who's been around for a long time. I hope you don't mind me saying it. Welcome to the podcast, Dawn Courage. from kingscliff hey scott hi mel now you have been around for a while you're one of our original event directors not only are you the original from kingscliff but you've been around for since the very early days of parkrun in australia yes i have i have i ran um i think there's only two parkruns when i've ran my first one which was at main beach and i think

00:42:44Dawn Courage: Well, there might have been three. I think there was one in Brisbane, maybe one in Melbourne and, and main beach at that time. And, uh, then I went to Kirra after that and I think Kirra had, was number four or five or something. So yeah, it was one of the early participants in, uh, Australia. And then, um, yeah, one of the earlier parkruns to set up and I'm still here.

00:43:04Scott Trickett: So you obviously love it. You love Kingscliff.

00:43:07Dawn Courage: I do. I love Kingscliff and I love, I love all the parkruns. Um, I love the idea of the park, the concept of it. Um, as a runner i've run myself i was looking back at it actually um just this week i think it was 1986 when i first started running and um so i've been running for 30 years um in some form or other my son's run at various levels through all of his 21 years of of life and um i've always been grateful for somebody to hold the stopwatch for me or him when we've been doing our thing so parkrun's enabled us to to do the stopwatch volunteer bit and also participate as well so And it's free when you think how expensive entry fees are to do anything or belong to any club to have a free event. I just I can't speak highly enough of it, really. Even if I wasn't involved as an event director, I still would shout it from the rooftops without a doubt.

00:44:04Melissa Erbacher: Dawn, being one of the early starters, you must be – obviously, volunteering would have meant that your run count has taken a little bit of a hit. But how are you tracking with your runs? Because we're starting to see a few 250 shirts in Australia. I know.

00:44:23Dawn Courage: No, I think I'm about 130 or something like that. I'm over the 100. But for the first – I think the first two years that we had Kingscliff, I – I think I event directed pretty much every week so there was a long dry period when I didn't get any running done at all um unless I would did it was a little bit naughty um and I used to sneak the odd run in when I was still supposed to be event directing but of course I don't do that now but in the early days we used to try and oh okay everybody's all right I'll just run out and back and and do one um so yeah but it doesn't it doesn't matter there's um there's There's plenty more times. I'm going to be running until I'm about 80, so I'll get there. But, yeah, there are some really big numbers now coming up. I think we've got a couple of 200s that run regularly with us. But, yeah, it's an achievement to do 250. I was happy just to get to my 100 personally.

00:45:22Melissa Erbacher: It'll be a long time before I get to 250.

00:45:24Dawn Courage: Yeah, yeah. Well, you've got other things on your plate, haven't you?

00:45:28Melissa Erbacher: Of course.

00:45:29Scott Trickett: So things have changed over the years, Dawn. What are some of the things that you've noticed that have changed? Like back in the old days you could do a cheeky run there as the run director. Have you noticed anything else change over the years?

00:45:44Dawn Courage: Well, I suppose that the part on tourism has grown and grown and grown and, you know, when we do the shout out every week, the faces and the hands that go up from so many different place you know different parkruns not just in Australia but across the world that's that's really noticeable um the other things that have changed and we're one of the lucky few that have got the tent I think after I don't know what run number it was but after about run number 50 was set up we I don't think that you could afford to do the tents anymore so we've still got our tents and we're very proud of our tent and we put it up every week um so that's we've still got that um and it was of course in the Everything just went through Tim. If you wanted anything, you called Tim. And we didn't have territory directors or anything like that. It was just Tim, Tim, and a little bit more Tim. So I suppose that was the biggest change. And, yeah, I mean, eventually it wasn't too long when one man couldn't handle it all because, as the graphs show, it's just like the side of a mountain, the growth. You just trekked along at two or three or four, five, six, seven, and then whoosh, 100 part runs before in the blink of an eye. So, yeah, that's been a change. It's just, you know, the hierarchy really, I guess.

00:47:01Melissa Erbacher: Now, Dawn, I've run your course, but I don't believe Scotty has yet had the pleasure. For those of our parkrun adventurers out there who haven't visited Kingscliff yet, can you give us a brief description?

00:47:13Dawn Courage: Well, I would say that, I mean, I haven't, because I am at Kingscliff almost every week myself, but I haven't been to many, not really, not compared with how many there are out there. But I'd almost stick my neck out and say it has to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, run out there. It is straight out and back. There's no turns. There's no hills. There's no sand. There's nothing where you have to slow down to go round anything. It is just a straight two and a half round a cone and you're back. We're also very lucky that we're sheltered by the natural buffer between us and the seafront. So... The wind is usually very kind to us. It tends to come in off the sea. So it gets caught in the trees. So we don't get it very often, a straight headwind. So it's very kind that way. And also with the trees there, we tend to get the shade too. So I think that it's got to be up there if it's not the fastest. I mean, I know we don't have the fastest record, but I do believe that's because we haven't had anybody really super fast come and test it out in a racing type situation. We tend to get maybe one fast person on their own. And as we know, you know, trying to run a time trial is never as quick as if you're in a race. But I think if we got two red hot runners on their days having a go, I think that the course records would be in danger because it's super fast. It really is. And being protected from the wind, you know, in fairly cool conditions. Yeah, that's really, if you like a fast run, I'd say that that was a plus. If you don't like hills, it's a plus. We've got a cafe and good parking at the start, which is also the finish line. Yeah, it's not interesting. You know, we don't have any landmarks, really. You can't see the lighthouse. You know, there's no lake or anything to look at. So I guess it's a bit of a speed demons course. It's suitable for buggies, too. You know, if anybody's pushing a pram. You know, you've got no, it is flat. There's nothing that's going to cause you any grief with your buggy. So, yeah, and we like, we're friendly. We are parkrun light. We're not generally going to ask you to put any costumes on or run in a three-legged race or, you know, egg and spoon it round or anything like that. But we're a friendly bunch. We like to have a laugh. We've got our frame that everybody's happy to stick their head in and have their photo taken through. I like to think my husband's an excellent photographer, definitely. And he does take the photos most weeks and you'll get a great finishing shot when you when you come in across the line if he's a photographer. So if you want to make the trip up this way and check if he's on taking the photos, you'll get a nice memento to take away with you for sure. And of course, you know, when we haven't got daylight savings in operation, you can come and run both events. You can run Kira and then you can come and run ours. But it has to be a freedom run. But you can come and run it. We're very happy for you to run in the pack with the rest of them. And just give yourself a personal challenge to see whether you have got two parkruns in you. And that's a fun thing that quite a lot of people do. And you don't have to race between the two, providing you can run at a fairly decent pace at Kira. You don't have to get in your car and really be dangerous. It's a comfortable drive to get to us comfortably without taking any risks. I mean, if you haven't, you can record Kira as your freedom run if you like and see how fast you can do your second one in. But yeah, so it's still a good challenge that's out there for any parkrun tourists who'd like to do what we call the double.

The Compass Club (new adventurer club)

00:50:51Melissa Erbacher: You also have the distinction of being the easternmost event in Australia currently. And I believe since the inception of the Compass Club, you may have received a few more parkrun adventurers visiting to get the eastern point of the compass. How is that working out for you?

00:51:10Dawn Courage: Well, I didn't even know about it until fairly recently. But I thought that's a bit of fun. And nobody's actually said to me when they've come along that that's what they've come along specifically to do. But yeah, I suppose that they must do. So that's nice. And it's nice to think that, yay, we've got something a little bit unique down here at the moment. I mean, if Byron ever decide to start up, then we'll be the second easterliest. And actually, that would be nice if Byron did have one. But I think they struggled down there to try and find somewhere that sounds suitable to put a 5k on because we do get a lot of visitors and local runners come up to us from Byron and And I know that they'd love to have one, but I think they're struggling to find somewhere that's suitable to hold it. Yeah, so I think we'll be the most east for a little while yet.

00:52:00Scott Trickett: But we've got an event launching on the Ballina coast.

00:52:04Dawn Courage: Yep. I think, well, I'm told that it's 500 metres less easterly. And I think it's literally where the position of the course is because we are We're almost on the beach. We've just got the nature strip between us and the beach. So we are as far on that coast as you can be, whereas they're not. I think their path is going to be just slightly inland. And that's all it takes. So I looked at it on the map and I thought, oh, that is flipping close. But the powers that be have said that they've looked it up and Who am I to argue with the part-run tourists?

00:52:41Melissa Erbacher: They know their stuff and they... Yeah, it all comes down to the GPS coordinates, that's for sure. I know that when Weeper launched, it was like, ooh, Darwin. Darwin might be pipped for the northernmost with Weeper. But, yeah, there's a kilometre or two in it between those two. But, you know... That's where all the fun is. People should go and try and join the Compass Club now and then if they get kicked out because new events get launched, well, there's another adventure to be had. Yeah, that's it.

00:53:13Dawn Courage: That's it. That's it.

00:53:14Scott Trickett: Dawn, thanks for coming on.

00:53:16Dawn Courage: That's okay. I hope to see both of you at some point down on our course and tell anyone who's listening, come and have a crack at our course because I think if you're on form and you're thinking, how fast can I run? If you get a good day on our course, I think you could surprise yourself.

00:53:34Melissa Erbacher: Next time I'm looking for a PB, I think I'll travel to Kingscliff.

00:53:38Dawn Courage: That's it, definitely. I think it's one for the, yeah, it's certainly one for that. I would put money on it. Not a lot of money, but I would put money on it.

00:53:46[laughter]

00:53:46Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")

00:53:59Melissa Erbacher: Australia is getting a queue this weekend with the launch of Queanbeyan parkrun in New South Wales. And equally, if not more exciting, because we don't even have one of these yet. Oh, no, we do. We do have one. But it's an E in Emerald.

00:54:17Scott Trickett: Hmm. Where's the other E?

00:54:19Melissa Erbacher: Echuca.

00:54:21Scott Trickett: No, well, that hasn't launched yet. So this will be our first E. The first E? Yeah.

00:54:26Melissa Erbacher: Oh.

00:54:26Scott Trickett: Echuca's launching next week, I think.

00:54:28Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Okay. I could have sworn Echuca launched already.

00:54:32Scott Trickett: No. Not yet.

00:54:33Melissa Erbacher: Shows how much attention I'm paying.

00:54:36Scott Trickett: Not even paying attention to your own podcast, Mel. And it's also very important to point out that Queanbeyan, you may not know this, Mel, is actually in New South Wales.

00:54:45Melissa Erbacher: I did say that it was in New South Wales.

00:54:47Scott Trickett: Yes, I was just pointing it out, that it's definitely in New South Wales.

00:54:51Melissa Erbacher: As opposed to ACT, which is where lots of people think it is.

00:54:54Scott Trickett: Yes. I don't know who would ever think that. But it's definitely New South Wales, so that's fantastic. Another parkrun for New South Wales.

00:55:06Melissa Erbacher: They've been busy this year.

00:55:07Scott Trickett: Have they? I thought we were a bit light on for launches so far this year. Now they're all coming thick and fast.

00:55:14Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I think in terms of prospects, New South Wales, they're lining them up.

00:55:23Scott Trickett: In terms of anniversaries this week, It's another Victorian domination. Lilydale Lake and Parkville celebrating their anniversaries, 3rd and 1st. For those two events.

00:55:37Melissa Erbacher: So, Donuts, are you going to either of these anniversaries this weekend, Scotty?

00:55:42Scott Trickett: I'm not, because we're doing a kids. We're doing the very first... You know these kids take over parkrun events? Yes, I do know those. Well, I've never done them in my tenure, in my reign as... as ed wherever i've gone i've never done missing out on a lot of fun yes but we're going to do one this week at westerfolds and my daughter in her excitement just decided to put her name down for pre-event setup okay which means we've got to do that we've got to walk the course before the event and then we've got to walk the event she didn't think that through

00:56:18Melissa Erbacher: And... 10 kilometers. Yeah. Hmm.

00:56:23Scott Trickett: So I'm not sure if Kasia should be running, walking 10Ks, but we're going to find out on Saturday.

00:56:28Melissa Erbacher: Well, if you just take the first one easy, I mean, it might mean quite an early start.

00:56:33Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:56:33Melissa Erbacher: Could you perhaps set up like on bikes? That's what we're thinking. What's involved with the setup on Westerfold? Do you just need to arrow some things, or do you put signs out?

00:56:45Scott Trickett: Yeah, we put some signs out, but because it's a big looped course, you have to actually... There's no shortcuts. You have to walk the whole course. Also, I remember in my early days, I tried to figure out any shortcut I could, but you always had to run halfway through the course to put a sign out and then end up running... back and by the time you've done that you've done 5k there are just no shortcuts i tried for six months i tried yeah so yeah that's what i'm doing so i can't make the two anniversaries in victoria fair enough i'm sure they'll have fun without me westerfolds will be enough yeah but let's turn our attention to an anniversary from last week, Lalor

00:57:33Melissa Erbacher: Also in Victoria.

00:57:34Scott Trickett: Also in Victoria. Gary Murphy visited his NENDY. And he went along and got some reports for us. Take it away, Gary.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:57:42Gary Murphy: G'day Mel and Scott, it's Gary Murphy from Highlands parkrun in Melbourne. parkrun day this week, I did some adventuring to Lalor parkrun in the northern suburbs of Melbourne for their first anniversary, ticking my NENDY off in the process, and catching up with some fellow parkrunners and volunteers in a roving report. I talked with junior parkrunner Alyssa, who took some amazing photos, especially of the cake, which had a replica of High Five Bridge on it. She loves parkrunning with her friends and is a great volunteer. Colin, who captured some great memories for everyone of all the fluoro action that lit up the course. Paula, the tail runner, who was high-fiving and encouraging everyone along the way. And Chloe, who did a terrific job on the barcode scanner. The thing is, you have to make sure that you hit the record button while you're talking to outstanding volunteers such as these. But I want to thank them for talking to me anyway and sharing some great stories. Of course, theirs were the best, the ones that I missed. However, here is some of the action I did capture. But first, while I've got the opportunity, I want to give you, Mel and Scott, a huge shout out for all the time and effort you put into the podcast. It's great to hear what's going on around the country and indeed the world. You give us the opportunity to feel more connected to our parkrun cousins and encourage us to adventure along to different parkruns to share the parkrun love. Keep up the good work. Anyway, blue skies, happy parkrunning. Here's Laylaw parkrun. I'm here with Melissa Flentjar at Lalor parkrun at the first anniversary. She's the Laylaw parkrun founding event director, a running mum, Laylaw Running Club founder, mother of twins and all-round good egg. Mel, congratulations on the first anniversary parkrun.

00:59:18Melissa Flentjar: Thank you.

00:59:19Gary Murphy: Congratulations to you and your event team on Laylaw's first anniversary. What have been the highlights of your first year?

00:59:25Melissa Flentjar: There's been lots of highlights but for me I've really enjoyed the camaraderie of Laylaw parkrun. It's a great community where everyone's out supporting each other. There's constantly runners going back to help other runners. We've had lots of people achieve PBs and it's been a great thrill to see walkers turn into joggers and joggers turn into runners.

00:59:54Gary Murphy: For those who haven't been lucky enough to parkrun at Layla yet, describe your course.

00:59:59Melissa Flentjar: The course, people come here thinking that it's a flat course. It starts off in the parklands, so you get to walk or run around the external perimeter of the park first, and then you head up onto the bike path, you cross High Five Bridge, and then you head southbound along the freeway uh to the turnaround and then you have a nice about 1.2 climb back up to up to the park where you enter the parklands through around the lake into the finish line very good i'm looking forward to doing the bridge that's uh that's my highlight for that i'm very looking very much looking forward to that um do you have a favorite volunteer role that you'd like to do I actually like being tail runner. I get to see everyone out on the course and being able to cheer everyone on and tell everyone what a good job they're doing and give everyone a high five. So that's my favourite volunteer role.

01:00:57Gary Murphy: That's cool. And I notice you've got a huge list of parkruns you've adventured to. What would be your top three?

01:01:05Melissa Flentjar: Apart from Laylaw, I really, really enjoyed Shepparton. That's a really beautiful course. And it would be a close call between Portland and Warrnambool for my third. So either of those two.

01:01:24Gary Murphy: And who was the person that introduced you to parkrun?

01:01:30Melissa Flentjar: Now through Running Mums Australia I met Michelle Esdale who was a Diamond Creek parkrunner and she encouraged me to come along for my first try which was I believe November 2015.

01:01:44Gary Murphy: So which parkrun is on your bucket list?

01:01:47Melissa Flentjar: It would definitely have to be the home of parkrun Bushy Park in the UK.

01:01:52Gary Murphy: I like the sound of that. Well, good luck today, Mel. Have fun. And we'll catch up with you at the end and see how you went.

01:01:58Melissa Flentjar: Thank you.

01:01:59Gary Murphy: Well now I've found Kaz Derby and Kaz is the guest event, guest run director for today and she's from Mullum Mullum parkrun. Welcome Kaz.

01:02:10Kaz Derby: Thanks very much and I'm really happy to be here, very excited to be able to celebrate Lala's first anniversary.

01:02:16Gary Murphy: So what's brought you here today to be run director?

01:02:19Kaz Derby: Mel actually requested or asked me if I would run direct so that the event team could actually run the course together because they've not actually run it together before. So I was quite happy to do that for her. Awesome. So that she could do that.

01:02:34Gary Murphy: And have you run the course yourself?

01:02:36Kaz Derby: I have. I was here for the launch 12 months ago and I've run it once since. I don't get over this way very often as I tour a lot of different pack runs and I'm also run director at Mullum so it keeps me pretty busy.

01:02:49Gary Murphy: That's awesome, parkrun adventuring and volunteerism.

01:02:53Kaz Derby: Oh yeah, lots of that.

01:02:54Gary Murphy: Yeah, that's good. So Kaz, what's your favourite volunteer role?

01:02:58Kaz Derby: I actually love timekeeping or finishing tokens because you get to cheer everybody over the line. You see everybody that comes through. I also like barcode scanning because you see people's names, you can address them by name, tell them they did a great job. And again, you get to see everybody and meet them great.

01:03:20Gary Murphy: Good luck today, Kaz. Thank you. We'll see you at the run brief. Yes. And we'll catch up with you later. Thanks. Okay, so I've found some more parkrunners. I've found Pat and Holly. Where are you guys from?

01:03:30Unidentified speaker: Craigieburn.

01:03:31Gary Murphy: And which parkrun's that?

01:03:32Unidentified speaker: Highlands.

01:03:33Gary Murphy: Excellent. And what brought you here today? It's the anniversary and I'm from Lalor originally. That's where I grew up. Excellent. Have you had a parkrun here before? This is my fourth one here. How many have you done, Pat? Oh, about 180. And what about you, Hol?

01:03:46Melissa Erbacher: Um, 44.

01:03:48Gary Murphy: Excellent. Oh, have fun today. Thank you. We'll see you out on the course. We will. All right, now I've found Chris Bullock. Chris is a Laylaw parkrunner and a brand new run director. How did your first run director experience go?

01:04:00Chris Bullock: Oh, it was pretty good. Jumped up there on the park bench and just, yeah, told the crowd everything. Yeah, it's a bit nerve-wracking, but everyone had a good time and, yeah, it was all good.

01:04:12Gary Murphy: And how did you get started in parkrunning?

01:04:15Chris Bullock: I came here, I was here... One year ago, at the Laylaw launch, I just heard about it via Facebook. I thought it would be a few crazy nutters out here, but there's actually almost 200 people here. And, yeah, I've loved it ever since.

01:04:29Gary Murphy: I always come down with the family, and my wife, Bec, is also a run director. So, yeah, it's a real family affair. That's awesome, mate. Yeah, talking about crazy, it looks pretty crazy, but pretty cool here today. Everybody's in fluoro. It's overcast, but there won't be any rain. And we're pretty excited. It looks really good this morning.

01:04:48Chris Bullock: Yeah, I think the photos will look great. Yeah, everyone's in the bright colours. We've got a fantastic cake and, yeah, should have really put on a show this morning. The cake's brilliant. That'll look good in the photos too.

01:04:59Gary Murphy: It has a replica of High Five Bridge on the cake, so that will be very impressive.

01:05:03Chris Bullock: Yep.

01:05:03Gary Murphy: Thanks, Chris. Good luck today. Have fun and thanks for being a run director. Thank you very much. Cheers. All right, now, we've finished Laylaw parkrun and I've rounded up a few parkrunners and I have... There's someone finishing. Well done. And I've found from Karkarook...

01:05:17Anita Nichols: Anita Nichols.

01:05:18Gary Murphy: And from, I'm going to say Bushy Park, originally from Bushy Park, but now roaming the country looking for parkrun adventures are... Matt Poole.

01:05:26Unidentified speaker: And... Mark Dekschotlka.

01:05:28Gary Murphy: And you guys are in the country parkrunning around and just... Around Melbourne. Around Melbourne, yeah. So we're just doing tourists around all the area. We move around quite a lot, house-sitting, so we're doing all of the parkruns in our local areas. Great. And so how many have you done different parkruns, do you think? I think we've done eight... Now, yeah, something like that. And given that we've got the event director from Karkarook, do you have a top three? Oh yeah, Karkarook is one of them. Because it was one of our first.

01:05:57Anita Nichols: Who's the 20?

01:05:58Gary Murphy: Yeah, I think my favourite's probably Maribyrnong. Right.

01:06:04Unidentified speaker: And studly.

01:06:05Gary Murphy: Studly. Oh, great.

01:06:06Unidentified speaker: Studly is beautiful.

01:06:06Gary Murphy: Yeah, I know.

01:06:07Unidentified speaker: Very challenging.

01:06:09Gary Murphy: I know. Scott will be happy with you saying that. And so how's Karkarook going?

01:06:13Anita Nichols: Karkarook is going really, really well. We've now got five run directors that are assisting. And we are growing week on week. So we average about 180 to 200 every week now, which is terrific. Wow. And yeah, we have about 30 new runners and walkers every single week, which is great.

01:06:32Gary Murphy: And how did you find today at Laylaw? Was it a good course? It was hard up until at Hilt, and then it was all downhill.

01:06:38Unidentified speaker: It's beautiful. The energy is amazing. I don't know whether it's like this every year, every week or because it's the one year anniversary, but everyone's in high spirits and cheering and high fives galore and yeah, it's been amazing.

01:06:52Gary Murphy: And when I found you guys at the start, I loved that you didn't know that today was the anniversary and you turned up and thought, this is unusual. What's happening here? We're just going to say, this is what happens every week.

01:07:02Anita Nichols: I got to meet Melissa a few months ago and I saw her in full colour in the Melbourne Marathon and I, you know, knowing Melissa I knew that today was going to be awesome and it certainly hasn't disappointed. I've really enjoyed it.

01:07:13Gary Murphy: Yeah, it has been a lot of energy and really good.

01:07:15Anita Nichols: Lots of energy.

01:07:16Gary Murphy: Thanks you so much guys for talking to me. Well done today.

01:07:18Anita Nichols: Thanks.

01:07:20Gary Murphy: Alright, we're at the finish line now and I'm with... Karen. Karen. Karen's doing timekeeping. We've got a bit of a gap so I'm going to jump in and ask her a few questions. How's it going, Kaz? Yeah, really good, man. How many have we got so far?

01:07:31Unidentified speaker: 90.

01:07:31Gary Murphy: And how long have you been parkrunning for?

01:07:33Unidentified speaker: Since October last year.

01:07:35Gary Murphy: How many have you done, do you know?

01:07:36Unidentified speaker: I have done 16 runs and this is my 11th volunteer.

01:07:39Gary Murphy: Good on you, Kaz. That's cool. And I noticed your Laylaw Running Club top.

01:07:42Unidentified speaker: Laylaw Running Club, yes.

01:07:43Gary Murphy: How's that going?

01:07:43Unidentified speaker: Yeah, really good. Tuesday, Thursday nights.

01:07:45Gary Murphy: Awesome.

01:07:45Unidentified speaker: Get along and do some training.

01:07:47Gary Murphy: Good job, Kaz. Thanks for volunteering today. No worries. Thanks for talking to me.

01:07:50Unidentified speaker: No worries.

01:07:51Gary Murphy: Cool. Well, I found Mel and she's just finished the first anniversary parkrun with an awesome Avenue of Honour at the finish. Mel, that was great fun. How did it go for you?

01:08:01Melissa Flentjar: It was good. I walked it. So I got to high-five everyone and it was very emotional at the end when everyone formed the Avenue of Honour. I got to high-five everyone. So it was a really good event.

01:08:14Gary Murphy: It was so much energy and excitement and you put on a great event and the colour was just awesome. So congratulations on your first birthday. Thank you. All the best for the next 15. And thanks for talking to me.

01:08:27Melissa Flentjar: Thank you.

01:08:28Scott Trickett: Awesome work by our adventurers this week. It's a long podcast this week.

01:08:35Melissa Erbacher: Are you sure it's going to be that long?

01:08:36Scott Trickett: It's going to be long, yeah. Our reporters have come through. Our interviews were riveting and fantastic. So it's time to wrap it up. Give people time with their families, time to go for a run.

01:08:51Melissa Erbacher: Well, aren't they listening to us while they run?

01:08:54Scott Trickett: Some do.

01:08:55Melissa Erbacher: Some do.

01:08:56Scott Trickett: So let's give them an opportunity to stop running.

01:08:59Melissa Erbacher: If you are still running, this is your opportunity now to go really, really hard until the podcast finishes. Go. But now we have to talk for at least 30 seconds or a minute, Scotty, to make it worthwhile.

01:09:11Scott Trickett: No, well, if they're running really hard, let's... Let's drag it out. I could play a song. Should we play a song and then come back and say goodbye?

01:09:18Melissa Erbacher: Or maybe we should just say, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

01:09:21Scott Trickett: No, that would be annoying.

01:09:23Melissa Erbacher: So they run faster.

01:09:24Scott Trickett: That would be annoying? No, because if you're sitting on the train listening to this, that's annoying. Trust me. Having you shout, go, go, go.

01:09:35Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Fair enough. We'll consider the commuters who aren't out there on their feet.

01:09:43Scott Trickett: Just dragging it out a bit longer.

01:09:47Melissa Erbacher: We'll finish it any time now.

01:09:56Scott Trickett: That's enough. See you, Mel. See you next week.

01:10:00Melissa Erbacher: See you, Scotty.