Episode 74

Episode details · 264 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:09Melissa Erbacher: Welcome to episode 74, that's right listeners, I did my research and figured out what number we're up to this week, of the parkrun Adventurers. I'm Mel and my co-host Scotty has joined me, I hope. Are you there, Scotty?

00:00:23Scott Trickett: I have. Back-to-back weeks.

00:00:26Melissa Erbacher: I know, right?

00:00:27Scott Trickett: Our flexibility is not very flexible at this stage.

00:00:31Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, you know, it's, yeah, flexibility works in both ways. We can be flexible to do weekly podcasts for a little while.

00:00:42Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:00:44Melissa Erbacher: Did you have a good parkrun day last weekend?

00:00:47Scott Trickett: Always.

00:00:49Melissa Erbacher: Care to elaborate?

00:00:50Scott Trickett: Why not? I visited. I went back to Parkville parkrun. Now, this is a parkrun.

00:00:56Melissa Erbacher: In Princes Park?

00:00:57Scott Trickett: In Princess Park.

00:00:59Melissa Erbacher: Yes. It's all the P's, this one.

00:01:01Scott Trickett: If you go back like 70 episodes, almost, we might have actually talked about Parkville parkrun. This is one of the ones that, in Melbourne, we've got a couple of iconic running spots. Albert Park is one. We've got the Tan. And we've got this place called Princess Park, which has got a 3K running track around it. Very popular with runners, but we never had a parkrun there. And I sat on a few meetings, worked with a few different groups, had many email conversations, many phone conversations, ran the course a few times with a few different people. We finally got that event up and running. And I went there to the launch, and I haven't been back since. And I think it was about, oh, they might have even been at about event number 70, or in the 60s at least. And how was it? Nobody knew who I was. It was great. Not that I was going there to be recognized or an ego boost, but... Nobody knew who I was except for I happened to run into my old mate from Castlemaine, the ED up there. Nobody knew who he was despite the fact that he's created this wonderful community event up at Castle, Maine. So it was a nice reminder that even though you can be in the background doing lots of stuff, the general parkrunner has no idea, doesn't care.

00:02:25Melissa Erbacher: And while my ego... You can still fly under the radar.

00:02:27Scott Trickett: Yeah, while my ego takes a little bit of a hit, it's actually not a bad thing.

00:02:32Melissa Erbacher: No, it's not. Not the size your ego is.

00:02:34Scott Trickett: Out of control, some people say.

00:02:38Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, you've got your own podcast. Yeah. Sometimes people need to be taken down a peg or two. But that's all right. You know, if we were doing it for the recognition, then... we would be doing it for the wrong reasons and we would be sorely disappointed a lot of the time.

00:02:57Scott Trickett: Yes. Have you come across similar circumstances where you know so many details about this event and you're so involved and then you go there on the day and you are just another parkrunner?

00:03:10Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, I kind of like that. So, yeah, it happens all the time whenever I adventure around anywhere, you know, I don't tell people I'm coming necessarily and I just quietly participate in the run and I might introduce myself afterwards to the run director on the day but even then most of the time the run directors don't know who you are or what your contribution has been to a parkrun in general but you know I walked the Nambour course a couple of weeks ago as I mentioned with uh Renee who's the chief operating officer and nobody knew who she was and they didn't really make a big deal out of it and you know I was at Maryborough last weekend and if I hadn't introduced myself and told everybody who I was because I was um volunteering as the run director on the day then they wouldn't have had any clue either but even when you tell somebody what your your volunteer title is or anything like that they still you know they don't know what happens behind the scenes and all that sort of thing and that's totally fine I prefer it that way you know I wouldn't like to be that person who everybody recognizes and and they They know exactly what you do, so then they come up and want to talk to you about it. I still like to be that parkrunner who just gets to run or volunteer every week.

00:04:32Scott Trickett: Yeah. Like I said, we were joking about my ego and stuff like that. It's only partially true. Only partially true. No, it's not. I'm not complaining about it. It's just an interesting observation.

00:04:46Melissa Erbacher: It is. Was it freezing? It seems that it was freezing everywhere in Australia on the weekend.

00:04:53Scott Trickett: Was it freezing? Yeah, it is. There's no avoiding it. I mean, Melbourne's just cold this time of year. We've reached the point, we're a couple of months into it now, that I'm sort of blocking it out. I'm focusing on we're getting closer to spring.

00:05:08Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it's ridiculous. It was like 15 degrees for me on the weekend. I was just numb.

00:05:15Scott Trickett: Yeah, we haven't seen 15 degrees for a couple of months down in Melbourne. We haven't got there, I don't think.

00:05:23Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, it's not much fun. I can tell you. Take it from me. You don't want to see 15 degrees.

00:05:28Scott Trickett: And I'll tell you what, you know what the cold weather does to me though? Like you would think the cooler it would be, the easier it is to run. But my actually, my kilometers have dropped right off. And I looked back through a couple of the previous years of my running diary and it's a similar pattern. When it gets colder, I lose a lot of motivation and I've lost my mojo for running a little bit. And I know you haven't lost your mojo, but you know someone who has.

00:05:56Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I think it's a bit of an epidemic at this time of year and I don't know whether or not it's literally just the temperature or if it's one of those things that fluctuates. I mean, I have lost my mojo in the past and it gets to be a really hard place to try to crawl your way out of to get back to where you were and motivated and happy with what you're doing with the running and stuff. So how are you coping then with your loss of mojo?

00:06:25Scott Trickett: I'm doing really well. I'm actually enjoying it.

00:06:28Melissa Erbacher: Enjoying not having mojo? Does this mean you're sleeping in more, or how does it manifest for you? Because I know Sneaky Bird on Strava tells me you're still running, so it can't have completely fallen out of the pants end.

00:06:42Scott Trickett: No, it hasn't. And I am running reasonably well. But what I don't like is I don't really like running in the dark that much. And I think even though in summer, where it gets brutally hot, The idea of just running where it's light appeals to me. I don't like wearing a head torch. I don't like the thought of every step. Could be the last one before I fall over.

00:07:05Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I was going to say. Is it because you're vertically challenged at the best of times? Yeah, it could be.

00:07:10Scott Trickett: I did this silly thing. We talked about fartleks and intervals and all this sort of thing.

00:07:16Melissa Erbacher: And it was intervals. It was intervals. Did we mention last week that it was intervals?

00:07:19Scott Trickett: No, thanks, Mac. It was intervals was the word we were looking for.

00:07:22Melissa Erbacher: There was a bunch of people who I received random texts or messages throughout the week. And that's all they said. They just said, intervals! Exclamation mark. I went, yes, that was what it was. Thank you to all those people who knew what I was trying to say.

00:07:36Scott Trickett: It also confirms that we are no experts because I couldn't help you.

00:07:43Melissa Erbacher: No, I did have one person mention that you were actually actively not helping by trying to convince me that it was fartlek. Despite the fact I told you it wasn't. But yes.

00:07:55Scott Trickett: Speaking of fartlek, I tried to do a fartlek along a bush trail, which I thought was flat. in the dark, with a head torch with diminished power, like the battery was running flat. And that sort of stuff is not fun, and I think that's why I've lost some mojo.

00:08:16Melissa Erbacher: Okay, well, you might need to find an athletics track that has lights on at night time, and you can just run around in big circles.

00:08:23Scott Trickett: Well, I did that the following week, and it was much better. And I actually stopped at the end of it and thought, yeah, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I should remember this feeling next time I decide to do a fartlek at night on a trail.

00:08:37Melissa Erbacher: Well, if anybody else is lacking in mojo at the moment, there's a great post in the parkrun Tourism Facebook group, which is all about people giving their suggestions for how people can get their mojo back. I have passed on some of that knowledge to the person I know who hasn't been able to find it for a while, and they have taken some of the tips and they've started to run again, which is really good. I don't think they've quite got their mojo back, but they're certainly on the way there. And for anyone who isn't on the Facebook, which I would be very surprised that none of our listeners, any of our listeners aren't on the Facebook, we've got a bit of an inspirational episode in store for you today, just because there are some people out there that are doing it more what's the word i wouldn't say they're doing it harder but they certainly put some of us to shame in terms of the challenges that they meet when they are participating in parkruns in general so not trying to make people feel bad about their own efforts but hoping to inspire them yeah i don't think it's it's not wrong to say it's hard i think it for some people and like running is hard

00:09:54Scott Trickett: Let's not kid ourselves and running.

00:09:56Melissa Erbacher: Oh, no, not at all.

00:09:57Scott Trickett: Getting up early in the morning. Otherwise, if it was easy, we'd all be doing it and we'd all feel fantastic and we wouldn't have the health problems that this entire planet seems to have.

00:10:08Melissa Erbacher: And we'd all have those wonderful, smiling, photogenic photos that I know most of us don't ever have, even at parkrun.

00:10:24Scott Trickett: Runners World. It's a very popular magazine and it's a very popular website. And someone who they featured was one of our local parkrunners recently. And because of that, her popularity has exploded. Welcome to the parkrunner Adventures, Jessica.

00:10:38Jessica Hay: Thank you for having me.

00:10:40Scott Trickett: Now, we should start with a bit of background. Jess, if I can call you Jess. You're a Highlands parkrunner, but you also have a Facebook group called The Long Weigh Down with Jess, your running diaries. How did you come about with the idea of coming up with a running diary and sharing it with all of Facebook?

00:10:58Jessica Hay: Well, it sort of started, I originally started on Instagram. I thought, I really need to hold myself accountable. So I started putting things on Instagram and I realized, okay, there's actually something happening here. Well, I don't really put anything on my personal Facebook page. But I'll start this group and then anyone who really wants to know about it will know about it. And I'm on there every day talking about everything I'm doing and started off with a few followers and I've just cracked over 2,000 today on my Facebook group and I just kicked over 19,000 on Instagram today. So it's exploding.

00:11:34Melissa Erbacher: That's awesome. The amount of support you'd be getting from all those people must be pretty cool.

00:11:39Jessica Hay: It is so. I just feel so lucky. I feel really blessed. I'm rarely met with any hate or trolling. So it just motivates me. I wake up, I see all the lovely comments. I'm like, yep, right, I can do this. They're right. I can go out. I can give it my best. Even on a bad day, I lean on that group and I go, oh, it's not been such a good day. And they pick me up and I start all over again. So I'm feeling really lucky.

00:12:04Melissa Erbacher: And how did you come to running, Jess?

00:12:07Jessica Hay: Well, in the runners' world, I mean, I mentioned that running wasn't anything I really thought about. But I had been going to the gym and it wasn't working. I wasn't pushing myself.

00:12:17Melissa Erbacher: And I'd seen many people attempt this thing called parkrun.

00:12:21Jessica Hay: I was like, all right, fine. Maybe I'll go give it a go. And then I was there in my first one and I got through the 5K and I'm like, I want to beat that next week. And I did. And then I'm like, you know, this is actually something that really could work for me because I'm just challenging myself. It's me versus me. And I'm just going to keep getting better. And then I had this little epiphany. I'm like, well, if I'm going to make it a goal, and maybe make it a big one, I'm going to keep going to parkrun and I'm going to run a marathon one day. So that's how the story really started.

00:12:50Scott Trickett: Your first visit to parkrun, how did that go? Because your times, you haven't cracked an hour yet for parkrun, have you?

00:12:57Jessica Hay: No.

00:12:58Scott Trickett: So there's some apprehension about going along to parkrun thinking, I'm not one of the fast guys. How am I going to fit in here?

00:13:06Jessica Hay: That was my biggest. I probably registered. four to five months before I actually went and that was probably the biggest thing I couldn't get my head around I'm like they're going to pack up before I finish or I'm not going to be able to finish but I spoke to a friend who'd been going to a parkrun at the ponds and she was like I guarantee you they won't leave until you finish so I just had in my head I'm like I've just got to get through it I've just got to get through it and I'll apologize the whole time about how long it's taken me but I didn't have to I had a really sweet I had a friend who happened to show up on the same day, run back and finish with me. I didn't even know. I wasn't even aware of my time until I finished. I just was focused on finishing. And that's how I sort of go about it now. It's just about finishing. It's not about the time.

00:13:54Melissa Erbacher: That's a good attitude to have. Jess, you aren't the only person to ever register for parkrun and then take months and months to get there. In fact, there are registrants out there who still haven't made it to parkrun. So you obviously had a friend who had experienced it before to encourage you along. What would you say to someone who hasn't been yet?

00:14:12Jessica Hay: I mean, I personally, now I kick myself that I didn't go sooner. So if you have done that registration, I promise you it's just worth going and getting that first one done. And then it will just become a way of life. It will become an addiction. If you've got that time free on a Saturday, you will want to go to parkrun. It's just one of those places you want to go, you want to see the people, you want to try and do your best. It's 5km in the bank on a Saturday morning. How good can you start your weekend, really?

00:14:38Melissa Erbacher: I'd say all our listeners have most likely been to parkrun before, but this is good advice for them to know what they could tell their friends who haven't quite made it yet. Yes.

00:14:46Scott Trickett: Tell us about the Runners World article, Jess. How did that come about and what did that do for the popularity of your Instagram followers and your Facebook group?

00:14:56Jessica Hay: Well, I got this... you know, private message on Instagram. And it was this lady just going, hey, I write for a magazine, Runner's World magazine. You might have heard of it. I was hoping I could, you know, approach you and do some questions. And I'm thinking, oh, is this real? I did a bit of stalking. I'm like, okay, she looks legit. I agreed to it. Didn't really think much of it. And then a few days later, I actually got the questions that she wanted to do. And I'm like, okay, all right, I'll answer the questions. still in my head thinking don't get excited they may not they may read your answers and go oh not boring don't want to actually release it so I did my answers and I think it was within another day or two I woke up to just yeah bedlam of excitement from everyone like oh my gosh oh my gosh Jess you're here you're here you're here I was getting shared everywhere I think by the end of two days from just what I could see it was being shared over 50,000 times it was just so exciting so full on and it's really now I've got this sort of platform where I can talk about it to people and everyone knows that I'm kind of not the real deal because I wouldn't even consider myself the real deal yet but you know I really am going to try and make this work and I am going to you know preach it to anyone who wants to hear about it so you've got this I'm going to call it a cult following now which is fabulous obviously those people all give you support and enthusiasm but you're using Facebook

00:16:23Melissa Erbacher: the Facebook group as well as a vehicle to help other people, aren't you?

00:16:27Jessica Hay: Yeah, I'm trying to do my best. Like I want people to talk about what's worrying them as well, about their apprehensions with it. I also run, like I do plan events for virtual runs or walks. And that's a way of just people, if they tick that they're going, they feel accountable, they're doing it, they're sharing their stats within that event. But I feel like, you know, if they want to talk about it on their personnel group, people are always worried that they're going to get like sort of, shamed by family and friends. So I'm giving them this outlet to, okay, take it going, share what you did, share how you went, and we can talk about it, celebrate it. And it's going really well. I'm really happy that I can do that for people.

00:17:00Scott Trickett: And how does that feel, Jess?

00:17:02Jessica Hay: It makes me feel really good. I really, really like it.

00:17:08Scott Trickett: I kind of feel like a coach. What about when the Runner's World article came out and you were getting bombarded? Were you scared? Were you worried about what people were going to say? Or were you just really excited that your story was being told?

00:17:23Jessica Hay: No, absolutely. Definitely was really – I couldn't read the comments for a while. I was too scared to see what people were saying. But then everyone who sort of knew me well were like, no, all the comments are great. It's got this real positive vibe to it. And I started reading into the comments like, okay, it's going really well. Everyone's really taking this story great. And it just – opened up so many more avenues for me. I mean, I've got Olympians following me. It's crazy.

00:17:54Scott Trickett: Who are some of your favorite followers or famous followers?

00:17:58Jessica Hay: Well, it's funny that even though I say that, my favorite followers are people that have been with me from the start. I'm not saying I don't love everyone that's following me now, but there's people that when I first voiced that, oh, this is something I want to do, I don't think I really am a runner. It's those people that grabbed onto me then that said, no, you can do this. You will make this work. And there's still people who I really lean onto this day. There was a lady from the UK. She goes to the UK parkrun and she must have seen me. I don't know how, this is how amazing social networks are. She saw me post that parkrun and she was like, you can do this. She private messaged me and she's like, I will help you get there. I will watch you until you go to this parkrun. And she just every week was like, you can do it. You've just got to do it. And she finally got me over that line. I've had someone else from Australia who has lost like 80 kilos who said she started out with parkrun and she's like, you can do this. She's actually flying down this weekend to do Run in Melbourne with me. So these are the people that are doing it. It's their experiences that are really helping me continue this. Like they've just really taken me under their wing and I just feel so lucky.

00:19:04Melissa Erbacher: Jess, you mentioned you've got Run Melbourne this coming weekend. You're doing the 10-kilometre event. How are you feeling about it?

00:19:10Jessica Hay: I mean, if you follow me, like, I'm so nervous. Like, I can't – yeah, I'm really nervous. It's purely just in my head, like, oh, my gosh, I just hope I survive and get through it. And I'm, you know, a bit of a gag, and I think, oh, my gosh, they're going to pack up by the time I get there. You know, all the rats will be out at Jolimont Station by then. But I'm really excited. I know I can do it, so it's going to be a really good day.

00:19:33Melissa Erbacher: You've completed 10K before or you just have that faith in yourself?

00:19:37Jessica Hay: I've got up to eight kilometers. I'm following a training plan. So I'm having faith in the training plan that it's all going to work out.

00:19:45Scott Trickett: I think you'll be fine, Jess. Once you've done, once you've started, the crowd will pull you along.

00:19:50Jessica Hay: Yeah, the atmosphere. That's what I think is going to get me across the line.

00:19:53Scott Trickett: Now tell us about your home parkrun, Highlands. I've got a close connection with Highlands. I started my parkrun life at Highlands parkrun. I reckon the team out there is awesome. How's your experience been at Highlands?

00:20:07Jessica Hay: From the moment I, my first one, I have felt like I've been going many years. I finished my 20th on the weekend, just gone. But I honestly feel like I have been doing this for so long and they have just welcomed me with open arms. I'm so lucky that it's a lapped course because I get encouragement the entire time. And it was one of the reasons I was drawn to Highlands actually. I know a lot of people don't like laps, but Someone who was starting at, you know, 198 kilos was like, okay, I need to know there's an out. So that's why I did it. But now I really like the laps because I can just tick it off and I've got those people coming up behind me going, you can do it. Well done. Go, Jess. So I just feel part of the family. Very lucky.

00:20:46Melissa Erbacher: Have you adventured to any other parkruns, Jess?

00:20:49Jessica Hay: I have been to Rudy Hill parkrun up in Sydney. That was a really great course too. It was a bit warm when I went, so I was thinking there was like creatures in the bushes, but it was real exciting. Yeah.

00:21:01Scott Trickett: So Rudy Hill, have you got any plans to try any other parkruns close to home?

00:21:07Jessica Hay: I really do. I'm really on a mission to get this sub 60. So I feel like I just want to conquer that at Highlands, I feel like. And then once I've done that, I think I will feel a bit better about branching out purely because it is very frosty down here in Victoria at the moment. I'm also trying to avoid anyone that's got very slippery courses. But I think once it gets a bit warmer, I'll start venturing out to some more courses.

00:21:33Scott Trickett: And what have you got planned? Half to run Melbourne. You mentioned you've got a goal of a marathon. How far away do you think you are from that?

00:21:40Jessica Hay: That's probably a couple of years, I reckon. So the plan is, this is just rough dreaming, pending, you know, my body holds up. I've got a few more 10Ks, 6Ks and 5Ks this year. I'm doing the Father's Day Fun Run, which I'm actually got approached to be an ambassador for. So that's really exciting with YMCA. I'm doing the Harvest Run out in Yarra Valley. So that's going to be beautiful. I really want to do the Melbourne Marathon 10K because I just want to run into MCG, who doesn't? Victorian born and bred. And then I'm just thinking about a few more in November and December, hopefully. And then next year at some point, I mean, I'm pipe dreaming maybe, but I'd love to attempt a half next year at some point. And then the dream is to do a marathon the year after that.

00:22:23Melissa Erbacher: Jess, it's often the case that people who run don't necessarily like it while they run, but they like how they feel afterwards. Do you actually enjoy running? Is it something that in the moment you're happy that you're doing?

00:22:36Jessica Hay: Look, it's 50-50 at the moment with me. There's days where I can just find my groove and I'm like, okay, I've got this and I'm really happy that I'm out there, I'm running, my body's letting me do this. And then there's days when you've got those niggles and you're like, oh, why am I doing this? Just go home and rest, put on some Netflix, give up. But then I'm like, I get home, I'm like, you know what? I just did 4Ks that I wouldn't have done a year ago. So it's always that feeling afterwards. You just feel so accomplished. Like I get it. Like so many people make jokes about hating running at the time and then finishing and feeling amazing. And it's true. Sometimes you're just not feeling it, but you get it done and you just, Yes, I did that. Thank you.

00:23:19Scott Trickett: My mojo is pretty low at the moment. I think Mel knows someone whose mojo is pretty low at the moment. But the feeling after a run is what we do it for.

00:23:28Jessica Hay: Yes. I can't believe I'm totally agreeing with you and I'm having this conversation because if you talked to me a year ago, I'd be like, oh, no thanks, not my thing at all. But here I am, yeah, preaching it to the world that this is something that's really good for you. your body. It's really good for your mental capacity, all this stuff. Like it's just, it's turning my life around.

00:23:50Scott Trickett: It's great to hear. And how are you going? The aim is to lose some weight, obviously.

00:23:55Jessica Hay: Yeah. I mean, I'm definitely feeling, I haven't weighed myself. That was another thing off subject of parkrun. I decided to not weigh myself this year. I'm like, I was getting too obsessed with looking at the scales and it was just playing my mind too much. So it sort of coincided with starting parkrun. I also ditched the scales and it's all worked. I'm,

00:24:13Scott Trickett: definitely going down in sizes so it's getting there it will happen good luck jess thanks for coming on and sharing your story with parkrunners i think you know you are an inspiration to many and i think your story can resonate with a lot of people that we haven't met at parkrun yet i'm not sure if we're going to get them on this episode but maybe they'll come back and listen to this episode six months down the track yeah they'll find a connection with you so thanks for coming on really hope so thank you for having me

On the Couch

00:24:52Melissa Erbacher: And we're very lucky to once more have Coach Dinneen, Coach Steve back on the couch joining us so we can ask somebody who's a bit of a professional in this aspect about mojo. Welcome back to the podcast, Steve.

00:25:09Steve Dinneen: Thanks for having me along.

00:25:11Melissa Erbacher: Now, we've chatted a little bit about the fact that we have experienced ourselves and we know others who have lost their mojo. Let's just dive right in, Steve. Is there anything you can recommend for people to break out of the mojo having or lost mojo having state?

00:25:31Steve Dinneen: Yeah, it's really common that people, not just runners, lose their mojo. And I think it's quite easy for people to get their mojo back. It's just about getting things done above the shoulder. So if you want to look at why, how someone gets their mojo back, it's the same thing as why someone's not fit in the first place. Why do they want to start running? And that's what I often go back to is, You know, parkrun's really good at getting people started into running. You get a lot of people that really don't do any running. They don't know anything about running. And then for some reason, something clicks to get them going. So mojo is a very similar experience to me. When people lose their mojo, you've got to find out why they lose it. Are they overtraining? Have they been injured? Are they not reaching their goals? Do they have no goals? So I think to get people back with their mojo, I often go back to basics. Why do you want to run? And often it's enjoyment, whether it's health, whether it's fun, socialising. So my little tips for people to get back to finding their mojo is get back to the basics. Stop looking at your watch. Stop looking about your PBs. Don't worry about how fast or slow you're going. Just get back to the basics. Run in a good environment. Run with good people. Set small goals. You might find you've done 50 parkruns and all of a sudden you've got to a certain level where I'm not getting any faster. And that might be the trigger to actually losing your mojo is, well, I'm not beating my time. That's okay. If you look at the current world record holder, he doesn't go every time and break the world record. So I think to get your mojo back, you just need to reshift your focus or just sort of move things. And I was saying before how it's a bit like a ship. You leave a port, you just need a destination to sail to. And it's okay to change course along the way. So an example might be you've got into running because you wanted to lose weight. You want to lose weight and that's your mojo. And then after a period of time, you're losing the weight. You're like, well... I'm sort of been running now for six months, and I am losing weight, but I kind of lose that mojo. So you might switch to trying to get a little bit faster. You might change parkruns. Let's go change a different course. Or you might all of a sudden try and run with someone different, and that might be someone to inspire you. It might be someone better. Or it might be someone not as good as you that inspires you. So my little trick for mojo is really change your focus, and that could be anything from – um going quicker to going slower to just chilling out just see if you can run and pace a friend so yeah you speak to your friends and find out why there has their mojo gone you know maybe they need an event to focus on because they've been training for six months and they go well i'm not training for anything okay well let's give you a target go to a 5k run go do a 10k run go do a trail run so change the focus or change the enjoyment you know you've been racing Why don't you go just chill out and have some fun? Or you've been having too much fun, get a race to focus on. Does that sort of make sense?

00:28:25Scott Trickett: It makes perfect sense.

00:28:28Steve Dinneen: Absolutely. Yep. And so that's the trick. When you find out why people are losing their mojo, all you've got to do then is speak to them and find out, well, okay, what got you back to basics? There's a couple of examples I've got now of this school kid that's really been flat. He's year 12. He's had five good years at school and, In his final year, he's got really flat because all of a sudden he hasn't made this Victorian team or the state team or whatever he's trying to do. So what we've decided to do with him is, okay, we'll go back to basics, run with your mates, don't worry about winning or getting the top three, just go back to basics. And all of a sudden, now he's not the pressure of finishing top three, he's enjoying his running again and he loves it.

00:29:08Scott Trickett: As a coach, Steve, you must see it coming. Like you must get the excuses from your athletes why they can't make sessions. What do you do when you can see someone who's drifting off?

00:29:20Steve Dinneen: It's really, it's quite interesting. As a coach, and I've learned this sort of through a lot of ways, but what I've found as a coach is you can't do it for the athletes. Right. you can't run for them. So you can only, in a way, I go halfway. I go, look, if you invest your time and interest into it, I'll invest mine. And if those runners invest in their time, but you see them starting to drift, for me, it's trying to figure out why they're drifting. So it might be the case of, I'm just not getting the results I want. Work's really busy. Things are hard at home and therefore the pressure's on them. So for me, when I see my athletes start to drift and not really show up much or other stresses are coming on or they're showing up, but they're just getting flatter because they're pushing too hard and their results aren't coming, I might back them off. So I might say, okay, Scott, you've been coming. I'm sort of noticing things are getting hard. You're missing sessions. This week, I just want you to train from home. Don't worry about coming to training. Just fit a run in at lunchtime, get home, see your family. It's cold in Melbourne. Get out of the rain and just give them a breather. Or it might be a bit of a reason they're not motivated because they're not racing well. So I'll go back to why they're not racing well. A couple of guys I've had already, they haven't been racing well because they've been training too hard. They come out on a Tuesday and Thursday and they've trained really well. When it comes to a Saturday race and they're not running as well as they should because they've left part of their race in their training. Other guys have got a cold and they're really hard on themselves. There's just a lot of reasons. So for me as a coach, I need to understand why. And athletes aren't always forthcoming and telling you why they're not coming. You know, you don't know what's going on at home. You're not sure what's going on at work. They might be having a niggle. There could be a lot of reasons going on. So when I sit with an athlete, you know, I often have a bit of a chat with them. I might monitor them too. I might not chat to them to see how things go for a few weeks and the pattern develops. I might then say, hey, what's going on? Let's try and change this. because sometimes you just have a bad, bad, bad week, bad month. So, yeah, when people lose motivation or lose interest or it's getting hard for me is to find out why and I just need to change things around to stimulate them or let them recover or let them heal a bit.

00:31:31Melissa Erbacher: I like how you mentioned it's all above the neck. Obviously, it's a head thing, losing motivation, even if it's got external factors like a physical result or, you know, people aren't achieving targets and things. What would you recommend for us keeping in the right headspace so that we can just prevent losing mojo in the first place, Steve?

00:31:55Steve Dinneen: So I often talk to people why they don't get into running in the first place. And one of the reasons people don't run is because when they've gone through school or anything that's associated with running growing up is going hard. So if you're at school, you get in a race, you go as hard as you could. Go hard as you can until you don't feel good. If you're running around the football field or if you're running around anywhere, you go hard until you feel uncomfortable. But people start relating not enjoyment with running. It's a hard thing to do. As I say, go for a jog and enjoy it. So if someone's really... struggling with their running and they're not enjoying it i just pull things back and say go to the basics you know when you go for an easy run you go around smell the flowers look around go with a friend and have a chat it's the same thing as sitting at a cafe having a coffee but rather than sitting at cafe having a coffee you're out in the fresh air you're releasing endorphins in your brain and it just starts to come along and the more often you jog and jog easy the better you slowly build up and feel sort of okay my fitness is getting up i'm feeling healthier i'm feeling fresher If you just go, oh, I don't feel like running and go sit down and do nothing, that's not going to help either because you start to feel guilty. You don't release endorphins. So for me, it's like, yeah, if you're not feeling like you want to run, just do some easy joggings, take the pressure. One of the hardest things with current technology is people go, oh, but if I look at my Strava or my Garmin, I'm not going as quick as I was last week or last year. I go, who cares? It's not a race every day. Just enjoy it. And, you know, as I said, go run somewhere different. Run with someone slower than yourself. Run with a friend and have a chat. And that, for me, is the key, I think.

00:33:29Scott Trickett: What about – we had Jess on the podcast earlier, who's an inspiration to many. What about looking for people for inspiration? What do the fast guys do for inspiration? Do they look at each other?

00:33:42Steve Dinneen: Yes and no. So I've heard about Jess and, you know, what an amazing story. And I think – If you want to find inspiration, you can find it in most people from the elites to the beginners. So I'll give you some inspirations I've had in the last six weeks. You know, as you know, I've run with Australia's best runners all these years, guys I train with, I treat them. You've got Liam Adams, you've got Mitch Brown. You look at what those guys do and it is inspiring what they get up to. I've got a young guy that I'm coaching, Andre Waring. You know, he's been running two years. When he came to me, he was about 15 kilos heavier than He was playing soccer and, you know, he wasn't that quick. He's improved so much over the last 18 months. I look up to him and say, how great is that? His mental focus and his dedication is really good. Then I go to Scott, yourself, you know, your running has come on leaps and bounds over the last 12 months. And when you first came to me, you were looking at doing a marathon. Then you decided, oh, this 5K thing is not too bad. I still remember when you did it in the end of last summer, you did a 3K track race, never been on track. Now, for you, you did that track race and you were like, oh, yeah, it wasn't my greatest run. It was okay, a bit different. But from my point as an athlete and a coach, I get inspiration because you jumped in the deep end. You actually went out of your comfort zone and you tried something new. So to me, that's inspiring because I've done – 500 track races, you've done one. And if you get out of your comfort zone, that's inspiring in that. You know, for the people that are coming out in the park or trying to lose weight or trying to get fit or just trying to make themselves better people by getting healthier, we inspire that. So from the elite guys, yeah, we do find inspiration in each other, but we find it in anyone. You just got to hear people's stories and You know, that's the one beauty thing in running. Whether you're running at the London World Champs in three weeks or you're running a parkrun over in London somewhere else, everyone knows how hard running is. Everyone knows it's a personal and individual challenge. So you all know you've all been in that sort of hurt like at some stage. So for me, if you want to find inspiration, you've just got to look around.

00:35:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, Coach, yeah. I didn't think that personally my mojo was missing. I thought I just like stored it somewhere until I was ready to use it again. But talking to you now, I'm all inspired to get back out there and do some different things and go back to basics and shift my focus. So thank you very much for that. You've covered that very well and you gave some excellent answers. So I think there will be a lot of people out there inspired to try something different and mix up their training a little bit now. So thank you very much for that.

00:36:23Steve Dinneen: Well, just before I finish on that is I can tell you that, you know – Even the elite guys lose their mojo. And I've had a discussion with a couple of them lately that have lost their mojo and they're only just starting to get it back. Everyone loses it. There's nothing wrong with losing your mojo. You think it's actually a natural part of running. It's about, you know, just refining yourself. So for everyone out there that thinks, oh, I've lost my mojo, what's wrong with me? It's actually a normal part of running. You know, I've now done almost 800 days in a row and it would be about 40 days in that that I did not want to get out of running. I had no motivation. You find it.

00:36:58Melissa Erbacher: You're on a run streak that's 800 days long.

00:37:01Steve Dinneen: Yeah, I'm on an 800-day streak. So, as I said, everyone says it must be easy. It's not. It's hard. And I've lost my no-jo many times in that period. But you get it back. And, you know, I had a very big flat patch probably about four months ago. And it took me eight weeks to get through it. I'm lucky I had, you know, good support from people around me that just kept me chipping away at it. And, you know, you come out the other end and you love it and then when your friends lose their mojo or lose their way, you help them get through it. So I think the running community is pretty supportive and it's common to lose your mojo and it's really good when people just help you get through it.

00:37:35Melissa Erbacher: Well, we are a supportive community indeed. I would definitely agree with that. Thank you very much for joining us on the podcast again this week, Coach. We really appreciate you joining us.

00:37:45Steve Dinneen: Thanks for having me and have a great week of running. Thank you.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:37:53Paul Kitching: Good morning, Scott and Mel. This is PK, Paul Kitching, underscore PK, whatever you want to call me, checking in from the Cleland parkrun launch here in South Australia. The first trail run, parkrun, in South Australia. I know there are other trail runs around Australia. Looking forward to hearing about them. But today, you're going to hear all about the Cleland parkrun. We've just arrived. Fantastic turnout. I'm just here checking out everyone. Lots of people from Mount Barker, from the city. So Clearland is in the foothills of Adelaide. The Clearland Wildlife Park is where we are at. So we're expecting to see lots of furry locals. At the moment there's lots of cold locals standing around. Anyway, we're going to get going in a minute. Really looking forward to a great run. Actually, I'm going to wander up here and just off the cuff say g'day to John. John Lang's the run director. John's going to say g'day before the run. How are we going, mate? Good. Busy. It's great, isn't it? Great turnout. And Greta?

00:38:54Julia: Morning, PK. How are you going?

00:38:55Paul Kitching: I'm great. We're just getting ready for the run, so we'll have a chat to you guys afterwards. But a great turnout and looking forward to an awesome day.

00:39:02John Lang: Indeed, we hope so. And anyone who wants to hear this and come along and have another great day any other Saturday morning, feel free.

00:39:09Paul Kitching: Good man. All right, let's get this show on the road and we'll chat to some crew afterwards. Well, that was fun and I thought the best person to speak to after the run is Sputnik. Sputnik, what did you think of the Cleland Run today?

00:39:22Sputnik: I think that it was beautiful and amazing and picturesque and I saw kangaroos and I saw a koala and I saw a lot of crazy runners running up and down those bloody hills.

00:39:33Paul Kitching: Yes, indeed. Yes, the first trail run for South Australia. Have you done any other parkrun trail runs, interstate or anywhere?

00:39:38Sputnik: No, I've done plenty of parkruns, but never a park trail run.

00:39:42Paul Kitching: Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Yeah, and I know you do lots of trail runs and you're out there and you're a manic runner. And thank you for your support and taking photos and getting it out there. Beautiful photos, may I say.

00:39:51Sputnik: I was out there only taking photos. That's why I'm not puffing now. I'm just hanging out today.

00:39:57Paul Kitching: No, I was impressed with how many people turned up. And also there was even someone with a pram, which is very impressive. I'm going to have to ask her how she went. Oh, that was crazy good, wasn't it?

00:40:07Sputnik: How impressive is that? But that's depressing because when someone with a pram runs past you, you go, how are they pushing? They're not only pushing themselves up that hill, they're pushing another person.

00:40:15Paul Kitching: Oh, mate. For those who don't know, Sputnik has a great mantra, which is... Everything is awesome. Awesome is possible. Awesome is possible. Say no to ordinary. Yeah, that's right. NMF. And life is all about the relentless pursuit of wow. That's it.

00:40:30Sputnik: And today was wow. There was a great crowd, but I have to admit, if it was raining, I wonder if that might have weeded a few out.

00:40:37Paul Kitching: We were very lucky. There was a spot of rain on the way. But beautiful, beautiful day. Good on you, Spud. Thanks so much, mate. Good chatting.

00:40:43Sputnik: Have fun.

00:40:43Paul Kitching: Thanks, mate. Okay, I'm now with Esme. Esme, how many parkruns have you done?

00:40:47Esme: I've done about over 50.

00:40:49Paul Kitching: Over 50, well done. And what did you think of today's parkrun here at Cleland?

00:40:53Esme: It was fun and nice being in the hills.

00:40:55Paul Kitching: Awesome. And did you see anything furry?

00:40:58Esme: Yeah, I saw a koala and I also saw a kangaroo.

00:41:00Paul Kitching: Cool, cool. All right, well done, guys. Guys. She's hanging with her friends, sorry. I can call them guys. Ladies, actually. Well done. Did you have fun, Lily?

00:41:10Unidentified speaker: Yes, I did.

00:41:11Paul Kitching: Awesome. And will you come back to Cleland?

00:41:14Unidentified speaker: Oh, definitely.

00:41:15Paul Kitching: Good work. And you, Ava?

00:41:16Unidentified speaker: Maybe.

00:41:17Paul Kitching: Maybe. And how about you, Liza?

00:41:18Unidentified speaker: On a warmer day.

00:41:19Paul Kitching: On a warmer day. There you go. Straight from the kids' mouths, the reality, how it really is. Okay, for the next Quickfire Rapid Questions, we are speaking with Julia. Hi, Julia.

00:41:27Julia: Hi, how are you?

00:41:28Paul Kitching: Great, mate. Where's your home parkrun?

00:41:30Julia: Mount Barker.

00:41:31Paul Kitching: Awesome. Like a few of us here today. How many parkruns have you done?

00:41:34Julia: This is 32.

00:41:35Paul Kitching: Awesome. And where's your favourite parkrun so far?

00:41:39Julia: Ooh, they're all great.

00:41:40Paul Kitching: And they're all good now. Have you done any overseas?

00:41:42Julia: I have done two overseas. I've done Barnsley and one in Portsmouth.

00:41:47Paul Kitching: What do you think of Cleveland?

00:41:48Julia: I love it.

00:41:48Paul Kitching: It's beautiful, isn't it?

00:41:49Julia: It is lovely. It's tough.

00:41:50Paul Kitching: Yeah, it's tough, but it's gorgeous and... We love that, and we love a bit of a, you know, it's just a contrast to other parkruns. Anyway, good on you. Thanks, Julia.

00:41:57Julia: Thank you. See you.

00:41:58Paul Kitching: Okay, now we're going to do some quick fire rapid questions. I've got Charlie. Charlie's waiting. Good on you, Charlie. Charlie ran with me today and walked. Charlie, sorry, Charlie Butler is your name. Yes, it is. And g'day.

00:42:09Charlie Butler: Hi, how you doing?

00:42:10Paul Kitching: Great, mate. This is how many parkruns for you?

00:42:12Charlie Butler: Okay, 44.

00:42:13Paul Kitching: Well done, mate. Where do you usually parkrun? Mount Barker. Awesome. And what do you think of Cleveland today?

00:42:17Charlie Butler: Well, a parkrun that has a lot of hills isn't necessarily a parkrun for everyone, but I liked it.

00:42:21Paul Kitching: Good answers. Well done, mate. Let's find someone else. Okay, we are now in the Cleveland Wildlife Park Cafe, some would say the best part of parkrun, and I'm here with a penguin. Hello, penguin.

00:42:33Jane Luke: Hello. How are you today?

00:42:35Paul Kitching: Good. It's actually the awesome Jane Luke. Is that how I pronounce your surname? That is correct, yes. Jane, who many know from the parkrun and trail running and running world. Jane, what are your thoughts on Cleveland parkrun?

00:42:45Jane Luke: It's definitely a challenge. It's probably not a great course to try and do a PB because you'll probably be disappointed. But we saw a couple of koalas and great spot for a selfie halfway. So what more could you want?

00:42:59Paul Kitching: Correct, yep, the Longridge Lookout, exactly. And you've got the one piece, the... What's it called again? The onesie. Onesie. Oh, man, I clearly need coffee. The penguin onesie. Do you often run in a penguin onesie?

00:43:13Jane Luke: This is the first time. I just thought it was appropriate given that it's been quite cold up here and also because I was walking, I thought I might have a little bit of fun with it. And in the beginning, I was really, really thankful because it was quite chilly, but... It's surprising how warm you get walking in a onesie.

00:43:31Paul Kitching: Have you done any of the parkrun Trail Runs interstate?

00:43:34Jane Luke: No, this is my first. I'd like to. I know there's a few of them out there and I'd be pretty keen to try them out, but probably not wearing a penguin onesie next time.

00:43:43Paul Kitching: That's all right. What's the next big event for you? I know you did Boston Marathon. Do you have any more big ones coming up?

00:43:52Jane Luke: Population-wise, it's probably as big, but not event-wise. The City to Surf in Sydney in a couple of weeks, that'll be my next one.

00:43:59Paul Kitching: Have you done that before?

00:44:00Jane Luke: Yes, I did it two years ago, so I'm looking forward to that. Once again, probably won't do it in a onesie.

00:44:05Paul Kitching: Good on you. Well, thanks, Jane, and thanks so much for everything that you do for parkrun in South Australia. No worries. I know you're a great supporter. Well done. Thanks so much.

00:44:11Jane Luke: Thanks.

00:44:11Paul Kitching: Okay, we're now still at the cafe, but we're outside and listening to some lovely wildlife tweeting away there. whilst parkrunners are tweeting away inside about the awesome parkrun that they just did here at Clearland. And I'm with John Lang, who is the joint event director with Sorrel.

00:44:32John Lang: Yeah, with Sorrel Morrison.

00:44:33Paul Kitching: John, how are you, mate? Yeah, good, thank you. Good on you. So you and Sorrel, happy with how today went?

00:44:41John Lang: Yeah, look, we're absolutely pumped. We watched the trials and the trials had good numbers. We had 70 or so people for each of the trials in less than ideal weather. And today it's beautiful blue sky and sunshine and a beautiful winter's day. And so we was figuring, okay, two lots of 70, probably get all of them in one spot and get 120, 150, and that would be a good launch. and the last person in was number 229 today, so we exceeded expectations.

00:45:09Paul Kitching: Very impressive. Yeah, and the cafe here has been slammed. It has. But good of them to be open, the Cleland Wildlife Park Cafe. Got to give them a bit of a plug.

00:45:18John Lang: Yes, they've done a brilliant job. We came in and had to chat to them, and they weren't sure about this idea of opening early for us, but I think after today that... Matt and Val will be, have made, you know, 200 lattes over there on the machine. I think they might be keen to get a few helpers in for next week. It's going to be a busy and popular place to be at the end of the run, yeah.

00:45:41Paul Kitching: Sure is. Clearland is a beautiful, a beautiful part of South Australia, of Australia. Is this an area, I mean, tell us a little bit about what inspired you to do a parkrun here and where, you know, where your parkrun journey started and how it brought you here.

00:45:56John Lang: Yeah, it's kind of apt to be here in many ways. I got into parkrun at Mount Barker, just like you, PK. And mine started because I was training for the Eurobilla Ultra Marathon. And Eurobilla is probably the biggest, most busy ultra we have here in SA. And it actually passes just past the top of our course here. And... Yeah, so basically it passes straight through the car park that we use. So we are back to it. So I was out using parkrun as an extra incentive to get out on Saturday morning and a bit of speed work as it is. And training all those long runs, your mind kind of wanders when you're getting ready and you've got four hours out on the trail. And I decided, well, I think I'd rather do my parkrun on a trail. So that's where the idea came from. And then, yeah, about nine, ten months ago, we kind of started making contact with the John Lorry, one of the territory directors here and with parks and we started this whole process off.

00:46:59Paul Kitching: Brilliant. Yeah, it's certainly, we've been hearing about trail runs in other states and so it's great to have, have one here. Obviously it's different to other parkruns, which I think is the, is the, um, the beauty of it. The fact that, you know, it's not going to suit everyone. But hey, if you come here and you do Cleland, then you know you can go elsewhere and get a PB.

00:47:15John Lang: Oh, absolutely. Look, I mean, we looked at it. In terms of elevation and whatnot here, we do have just a wee little bit, as you'll see, if any of you guys look on the Strava Club. But yeah, look, there's others with more here in SA. There's, sorry, in Australia, there's other ones that are equally challenging from what I hear. The beaches, I can't imagine running 5k on soft sand. That would be pretty challenging in my book. But ultimately, yeah, we're all about being inclusive and, you know, inclusivity comes from diversity. Of course. And by embracing everyone and everything, that's horses for courses and there's something here now for those guys that we had a few first-timers today that I know as trail runners that hadn't really done much parkrunning in SA because they wanted that more challenge. Sure. And now that it's here and on offer, I think we'll see them getting into their red and black shirts in the next couple of years and that'll be great to see.

00:48:07Paul Kitching: Awesome. And you're right, and that's opening up such a... another audience to parkrun that may never have thought about doing parkrun and now can see them and they think well if it's a good 5k run every week as well as the trails that's great.

00:48:19John Lang: Absolutely and it was great today we had first timers that are from some of the local hills towns up here and one of the ladies that came along Sally I know from trailruns and she brought her two kids with her so we've got trail runners and parkrunners of the future coming out. We even had some of our NIG folks come out and push the pram up and down the hill which I was very inspired about. I've done the pram running when I had my kids and they were little and that's a tough gig so it was great to see.

00:48:46Paul Kitching: It's brilliant. Very impressive. Good on you John and one final thing it adds a sea to the Pirate Club as well it does I did ask there was a few blank stares but I think a few people may be coming home and having a bit of a look to see what I was on about that later today so yeah we've got three Cs and one R in SA anyone thinking about it you can get a good start already come along good on you John congratulations mate well done looking forward to many more excellent days up here at Cleland and thanks for thanks for everything that you do as a volunteer and bringing you know more parkrun events like this to South Australia

00:49:19John Lang: No worries, PK. Thank you for your help too, mate.

00:49:21Paul Kitching: Good on you, buddy. Thanks, mate.

00:49:23Scott Trickett: You know, there's a reason PK is in the Channel 5 News crew. He does some stellar roving reports. And there's another one from the Cleland parkrun launch over the weekend. Nice work, PK. The countdown is on until we get to... The countdown? Yeah, the countdown's on until we get to meet PK. And the whole crew from South Australia. Because we've booked... We've booked our trip. We've booked our adventure.

00:49:52Melissa Erbacher: How many days? It's got to be less than 60 by now.

00:49:55Scott Trickett: Oh yeah, way less. We're talking just over a month.

00:49:59Melissa Erbacher: Well, when you say the countdown is on, I think we actually need to make sure we know what the numbers are.

00:50:04Scott Trickett: Okay.

00:50:05Melissa Erbacher: We should look into that.

00:50:06Scott Trickett: Yep.

00:50:07Melissa Erbacher: But yes, that will be very exciting. It will be wonderful to meet one of the, well, the first member of the Channel 5 News team.

00:50:15Scott Trickett: And a whole bunch of South Australian parkrunners, because we know they're pretty awesome, as we've learned from PK's reports.

00:50:23Melissa Erbacher: And we have another gentleman who is making an excellent case for joining the Channel 5 News team. Dave Moss was at Stanthorpe parkrun on the weekend for their Christmas in July event, and he had a little chat to event director Kirsten Ellis.

00:50:42David Moss: Hello, it's the middle of winter and you've just had the mid-winter Brass Monkey Run.

00:50:49Kirsten Ellis: Yes, we have a Christmas in July parkrun that's a special event that we organise in Stanthorpe. It's basically to celebrate the cold in Stanthorpe.

00:51:00David Moss: And how long have you had this?

00:51:01Kirsten Ellis: That was our third Christmas in July, so growing every year.

00:51:07David Moss: And how was it today?

00:51:09Kirsten Ellis: It was cold. The previous two years we have actually managed to have one of the hottest days on record for July. But this year we pulled a cold one.

00:51:20David Moss: Yeah, there was frost on the ground.

00:51:21Kirsten Ellis: There was a lot of frost. It was about minus five and weather zone was reporting a feels like of minus ten. That was cold.

00:51:28David Moss: And what did the runners think of it?

00:51:31Kirsten Ellis: They were all pretty subdued at the start compared to previous years, but that's understandable in the cold. We're lucky to have Santa arrive and warm the crowd up and distributed a small amount of sugar that helped as well. That was beautiful, yes.

00:51:44David Moss: The fire brigade turning up with Santa. That was unexpected.

00:51:48Kirsten Ellis: Yeah. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed it. It always puts a smile on everyone's faces anyway and helps to cheer us all up in the freezing conditions.

00:51:55David Moss: So Stanthorpe is the coldest parkrun in Queensland.

00:52:00Kirsten Ellis: Yes, we're claiming it, yes. I think you win it. Yes.

00:52:03David Moss: Where do people come from who normally run in Stanthorpe?

00:52:07Kirsten Ellis: Our regular runners are Stanthorpe people, so just people who live in town or live on the outskirts. The first year... For winter we had a core of about 20 people who came each week. This is our third winter and we're holding steady at about 50 runners per week. So that's pretty good. It's growing over time.

00:52:30David Moss: It seems like a fairly close-knit community.

00:52:32Kirsten Ellis: It is, it is. You've got to be fairly dedicated to keep up your physical activity through winter. That's our main reason for having the Christmas in July is a lot of us will train for the Gold Coast Marathon, which happened earlier this month, and then just to keep the motivation up through these really cold conditions.

00:52:53David Moss: Oh, it's a beautiful area too.

00:52:54Kirsten Ellis: Yeah, having everyone come and visit, it's great motivation to keep everyone going on their parkrun journey every week. So it's a lot of fun and we enjoy putting it on.

00:53:04David Moss: And we do recommend that if people want to come out here for parkrun, there are a lot of additional things to do in the Stanthorpe area.

00:53:11Kirsten Ellis: Yes, well, it's the area of apples and grapes, so plenty of bed and breakfast and in winter a roaring fireplace and lots of wineries to test out. Lots of wineries. Lots of wineries, so yeah.

00:53:24David Moss: Okay, thank you very much.

00:53:25Kirsten Ellis: Thank you. Okay.

00:53:27Scott Trickett: Thanks, Dave. He's pretty good, Dave. What do you reckon, Mel?

00:53:32Melissa Erbacher: He's certainly getting a lot of adventures in at the moment.

00:53:35Scott Trickett: What do you reckon about adding him to the stable?

00:53:38Melissa Erbacher: I think we should.

00:53:39Scott Trickett: Let's just do it. The team needs to grow. It does. Welcome, Dave. Welcome to the Channel 5 News crew. Keep them coming. Lyndell, we need a report from you soon too. Because we can kick you off.

00:53:56Melissa Erbacher: You've got to maintain it.

00:53:59Scott Trickett: Yes. The glory... You've got to earn it. The glory of being part of this team. It's not given, it's earned.

00:54:09Melissa Erbacher: And I'm sure Lyndell will take that as a challenge accepted.

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

00:54:12Scott Trickett: Now, no launches this week in parkrun Australia.

00:54:16Melissa Erbacher: No, that's going to give everybody a bit of a chance to catch up on statesmanships wherever they may be.

00:54:22Scott Trickett: And only a couple of anniversaries as well.

00:54:26Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, end of July is a quiet one. So what have we got? We've got Bathurst in New South Wales. They're celebrating their anniversary.

00:54:35Scott Trickett: And Christies Beach in South Australia.

00:54:39Melissa Erbacher: So get along to one of those if you want some cake or potentially donuts if they're hoping to attract Scotties of the world.

00:54:47Scott Trickett: Now, I don't want to jinx this either, but we have no cancellations either.

00:54:52Melissa Erbacher: Well that's a bit awesome.

00:54:53Scott Trickett: It is.

00:54:54Melissa Erbacher: It might be, well apart from the fact that if it wasn't so cold we could have had a big attendance this weekend.

00:55:01Scott Trickett: Well it would be a long time between every single event running. Like I can't remember the last time there were no cancellations.

00:55:12Melissa Erbacher: Maybe we should have another question for Mr. Hay about that. We ought to get him on the podcast again very soon to start answering these questions that we keep coming across.

00:55:21Scott Trickett: Yep. But you add that to the list as well.

00:55:24Melissa Erbacher: I will.

00:55:24Scott Trickett: You added last week's question.

00:55:26Melissa Erbacher: I did. Do you remember what it was?

00:55:28Scott Trickett: No. That's why I said add it to the list.

00:55:30Melissa Erbacher: And you told me you did. I did. I remember what it was. I was just checking you.

00:55:36Scott Trickett: Good. So that's another one. Cancellations.

00:55:41Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Well, I think that about does it for this week, Scotty. Just checking in, not going anywhere new on the weekend. This coming weekend, I am back to run directing at my home parkrun.

00:55:53Scott Trickett: Good. I think that's a great idea. That's a good idea.

00:55:58Melissa Erbacher: You're getting worried that I'm going to increase the lead, are you?

00:56:01Scott Trickett: Well, no, I had my spies out and maybe you need a bit more practice run directing. Just I think you need to focus on that job.

00:56:11Melissa Erbacher: Oh, really? I didn't do a good job?

00:56:14Scott Trickett: I'm not saying. I'm just saying that you need to refine it. Oh, okay. So a few more goes and you'll get there. Okay. Keep trying. Don't give up the run directing.

00:56:27Melissa Erbacher: Don't give up my day volunteering.

00:56:29Scott Trickett: Yeah. So that's good. Have fun. I'll speak to you next week. Maybe.

00:56:34Melissa Erbacher: Maybe. It's a mystery. It'll keep everybody on the edge of their podcasts.