Episode 94

Episode details · 178 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:13Melissa Erbacher: It must be time to hear the sleigh bells jingling and ring, ring, ringling or something like that, Scotty, because it's the penultimate episode of the parkrun Adventurers for 2017 and we're feeling festive.

00:00:27Scott Trickett: We are. You dropped that bombshell on our listeners early. Only two to go for those that don't know what penultimate means.

00:00:34Melissa Erbacher: Including this one. Well, penultimate means the second last.

00:00:37Scott Trickett: Yeah. That's why I said two to go.

00:00:41Melissa Erbacher: It's really only one to go after this one.

00:00:44Scott Trickett: But we're only about 20 seconds into this one, so there's a fair bit to go on this one.

00:00:48Melissa Erbacher: All right. Fair call. So let's count it. Let's both say we're right. It doesn't happen very often when we disagree and we can both be right.

00:00:56Scott Trickett: Yeah. But yeah, very festive. I'm super festive this year. We went out and purchased a real Christmas tree this year. After 10 years of having a plastic one, I put my foot down and we went and brought a real one.

00:01:11Melissa Erbacher: Does it smell like Christmas?

00:01:13Scott Trickett: It does. So part of the reason why we've had a plastic one for so long is because Yvonne is allergic to pine needles.

00:01:21Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. So you put your foot down for the benefit of allergies in the house.

00:01:27Scott Trickett: Pretty much. I say confront your allergies. Be one with your allergies.

00:01:34Melissa Erbacher: Take antihistamines. Yeah.

00:01:37Scott Trickett: Well, it's only if you touch it. It's only if you touch it, she breaks out in a rash. So if she doesn't touch it, we're fine.

00:01:42Melissa Erbacher: So she didn't get to help decorate it then?

00:01:45Scott Trickett: No. Okay. Well, no, she did. She was part of the process.

00:01:49Melissa Erbacher: She was supervising?

00:01:51Scott Trickett: Yeah, which she's very good at.

00:01:53Melissa Erbacher: Okay, good.

00:01:56Scott Trickett: But it's great. The house smells of pine. Christmas decorations are up. I know what I'm doing on Christmas Day. So very festive.

00:02:04Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. So you didn't get it so early, although, I mean, did they actually cut it down? Like do you go to a place where there's like a lot and they – They cut it down while you're there or was it already chopped and just waiting?

00:02:18Scott Trickett: Well, we're very lucky to live near one of those Christmas tree farms. But despite that, we didn't go there. We went to the local scout group and tried to support them. And plus the fact that they deliver it. So I don't have pine needles in the back of my car for the next two months.

00:02:34Melissa Erbacher: Yet. Well, because this brings me to the whole disposal thing. And that's why I asked whether or not it was already chopped down. You didn't put it up on the 1st of December, so you've given yourself like more than an extra week's grace in terms of it dying and getting ready to shed said pine needles. But how do you dispose of these? I'm assuming you've had one before.

00:02:57Scott Trickett: I think you just leave it out on the front lawn, don't you? And somebody comes and miraculously takes it.

00:03:02Melissa Erbacher: Okay. I've never had a real one, not a proper real one in Australia since I've been an adult. So I've never been privy to that. But I do know we had one when I lived in Scotland. And we lived in the third floor of our apartment building. And I think, I don't know if it was a combination of being lazy or just, you know, it was too much work or what happened. But we basically left it till way too late to throw out the thing. So even if you just walked... You know, within a couple of meters of it, the air shimmered through and a whole bunch of needles would just like drift down. And we're like, oh, my God, there's going to be a thousand of these through our apartment all the way down the stairs. And you could see the other people who'd obviously done the same thing because there were already needles in the stairs. And so we had this great idea that let's just chuck it out the window. So we sent Adam downstairs, myself and a friend of mine who stayed with us. over the Christmas period, we sent him downstairs to act as the marshal on the footpath and make sure that nobody was, you know, three stories down and going to get hit by this two metre high pine tree. As it hit the ground. And we hoiked it out the window. And it was brilliant because when it hit the ground, it was like a reverse mushroom cloud of pine needles that just spread all over the footpath. And so it was just a stick with all the branches and no needles left on it after it had hit the ground. But also we didn't have to deal with all the stuff throughout our whole apartment. So... That's why I asked whether or not, you know. I imagine it would be difficult with carpets and whatnot if they get too dead by the time you want to get rid of them.

00:04:58Scott Trickett: But that's an interesting technique for disposing of your Christmas tree. Like I said, it's been 10 years, so my memory is not that fresh. But I think we'll try and do something a bit more responsible than that and maybe chop it up and throw it on the garden. We've got one of those chipper shredder things.

00:05:15Melissa Erbacher: Ah, you can mulch it.

00:05:17Scott Trickett: Yeah, we'll mulch it.

00:05:18Melissa Erbacher: I think we'll...

00:05:18Scott Trickett: That's probably better than turning it into a missile. And the fact that we don't have three stories on our house.

00:05:29Melissa Erbacher: You'll find your dogs are probably going to have needles in their coats. Do the boys like the tree? Do they knock the baubles off and things like that?

00:05:38Scott Trickett: They haven't paid much attention to it yet. It's only been in the house for a couple of days. And outside of sleeping and eating, they haven't had much time to... pay attention to the Christmas tree just yet.

00:05:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, sleeping and eating is a rigorous schedule when you're a dog, isn't it?

00:05:53Scott Trickett: They're working up to it.

00:05:55Melissa Erbacher: Okay. So what are you doing for Christmas Day? I'm assuming there's a parkrun involved.

00:05:59Scott Trickett: Oh, of course. Of course. We'll be back at Westerfolds. That's one thing that is in my diary every year and one thing that I'm committed to make sure that we will have Christmas at Westerfolds going forward. I'm no longer the event director, so I don't have ultimate say over whether we'll do it, but... I'm glad to see that they are doing it. So it's Christmas at home this year.

00:06:20Melissa Erbacher: And will you be volunteering or running?

00:06:23Scott Trickett: I'm not sure at this stage. I think I'll be running. I don't mind the old Santa suit run on Christmas Day. I think I've done it three or four years in a row now. So why break with tradition and get really sweaty in a Santa suit one more time?

00:06:36Melissa Erbacher: Well, you've got to get your money's worth out of the costume, don't you?

00:06:39Scott Trickett: What about on the Sunshine Coast? Are we having Christmases up there?

00:06:43Melissa Erbacher: Nambour parkrun is the only event having a parkrun on Christmas Day. So I'll be headed off there. Wes and I are going to volunteer and Adam's going to run.

00:06:53Scott Trickett: Okay. How come there's only one event up there? The other events don't get permission or?

00:06:58Melissa Erbacher: Traditionally, council don't like to allow additional events on Christmas Days on account of the increased number of tourists and people out using the public pathways. However, Nambour parkrun is actually on Queensland government land. It's in a state forest. And they would love for more people to be using their facilities every day of the week, every day of the year. So they're always good to allow it, which is why Nambour gets to slog it out on Christmas Day, should we choose.

00:07:34Scott Trickett: It's a very important day on the parkrun calendar for many reasons, one of them being the social connections that it provides for people who otherwise are very lonely on Christmas Day. But I also think it's a great way to prepare your tummy for Christmas lunch. It is. Or in our case, we do Christmas Eve. So I've got a belly full of pierogi and potato salad and all this sort of stuff. So... There are many benefits to it. And the Christmas Compendium, funny old name, the Compendium, but that's out now so everyone can check and see where they can and can't run on Christmas Day.

00:08:12Melissa Erbacher: And New Year's Day for doubles as well. Compendium's got it all.

00:08:18Scott Trickett: What about on this Saturday? Did you sneak a run in? I fear the ants are, but I want to hear it anyway.

00:08:26Melissa Erbacher: I did get a run in, well, a walk this week, and I actually ventured off to a new event. I went to Warner Lakes, which was my Nendi. No longer my Nendi. But extra fun because I got to do it with my father-in-law, who did his first actual parkrun. He's volunteered three times at a couple of different courses, but this is the first time he's walked the event, so that was a bit exciting. Always good to... get a new recruit out on the course.

00:08:58Scott Trickett: And did he enjoy it?

00:09:00Melissa Erbacher: He did, yeah. It was a warm day and it would have been nice for a little bit more of a breeze but it's a nice course there at Warner Lakes so we both had a nice time and Wes enjoyed the conversation although for the last 10 minutes of the walk he decided he was done and wanted to be in the shade and or getting fed and the only thing that would quieten him down was me singing and Which I apologise profusely to the tail walkers for, but, you know, you've got to do what you've got to do.

00:09:29Scott Trickett: You do. You do. What were you singing? Christmas carols?

00:09:33Melissa Erbacher: No, we actually have a few songs that we've made up for Wes that we sing, and they're his favourites. They're very repetitious, and they use his name a lot, and... They're the good kind where you can make extra lyrics up as you go. So, yeah, I was singing... One of them we actually call the Wesley song and the other one is... It hasn't got a title, but, yeah, I was singing those.

00:10:00Scott Trickett: Yeah, I don't quite understand. Just give me a quick rendition.

00:10:04Melissa Erbacher: I can't because it'll get stuck in your head and you will not thank me, neither will anybody else, believe me. I'm doing you a mercy by not singing to you. Although I think we did mention, was that last week or the week before that we were going to sing? What were we going to sing about?

00:10:23Scott Trickett: We were practicing. We were going to practice our Christmas carols.

00:10:26Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay.

00:10:27Scott Trickett: And I'm ready, but you're not, so we're a team. Mel, if you don't do it, I don't do it.

00:10:33Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Yeah, let's maybe revisit that next week. Perhaps we should have a whole bunch of eggnog or something before we record next time.

00:10:41Scott Trickett: For our final episode next week, it's going to be a bumper one. It's going to be massive. Episode 95 we're finishing on this year before we head off into our summer hiatus. I'm already looking forward to it. But let's crack on with episode 95.

00:10:56Stu: 40 episodes ago, or very close to 40, it was episode 55.

00:11:10Melissa Erbacher: We had the plus-size parkrunner join us. Her name is Shanon Aitken and she has been on an epic adventure this year and luckily for everybody, she's back. Shannon, welcome back to the parkrun Adventurers. Thank you so much for having me. I can't believe it's that many episodes ago. It goes very, very fast, especially when so many adventures are afoot. Now, Shannon, let's dive right in. I looked up your profile just to see how many runs you've done altogether. And congratulations, you just completed your 50th parkrun at Logan River on the 2nd of December.

00:11:47Shanon Aitken: I did, I did. I teed it all up so I would be back home for my home parkrun and do my 50th. I can't believe it. So I've actually been to 37 different parkrun locations this year and just hit the big 50. So it's very exciting.

00:12:03Scott Trickett: That makes you a true adventurer, Shannon. Before we get to all your adventures during the year, when we spoke to you earlier in the year, it was all about getting to know you, but it was all about getting to know this dress and what you were hoping to achieve at the end of the year. Now, you had your dash in the dress a couple of weeks ago. Do you want to tell us what happened?

00:12:26Shanon Aitken: It was an absolutely incredible day. It was absolutely amazing. 310 amazing people made their way to Logan River parkrun to dash in the dress with me. Throughout this year, I've lost 32 kilos. The dress finally fit in the end. And I ran my little heart out. And I get very emotional thinking about it because at the beginning of the year, it was a great idea at the time. The last Saturday it wasn't so much of a great idea as I was putting it on and actually leaving the house in it for the first time. But I did it and I absolutely love it. As much as I hate that dress, I still love it.

00:13:16Melissa Erbacher: So the dress survived the actual run because I have costumes that I've run in and there's no going back sometimes from some of those runs.

00:13:25Shanon Aitken: No, this dress is like bionic. It has stretched so much this year. every time I put it on, but then it shrunk back down again. But she survived and I think I actually might whip her out at the first parkrun of each December and take her out for another whirl just to make sure that she still fits.

00:13:49Melissa Erbacher: For old times' sake.

00:13:51Shanon Aitken: Yeah, good memories.

00:13:54Melissa Erbacher: And was there any chafing? This is the important question. Yeah.

00:13:58Shanon Aitken: I wore my Run Faster tights, so I didn't have any issues, thank God for that. But it's a real concern, but it's safe to say I am chafe-free for now.

00:14:12Scott Trickett: The people that followed you on the journey, did you have many that joined you on the day?

00:14:18Shanon Aitken: I did. There was actually a lady who came all the way up from Melbourne, She was actually coming up to Queensland for a holiday to start off with, but she actually came up a day earlier to come to the Dash in the Dress. People came from Toowoomba who I'd met at Toowoomba parkruns. People came down from Harvey Bay that I had met at their parkruns. I had that many messages sent to me from people who wished that they could have been there, just sending me best wishes for the day. It was incredible.

00:14:50Scott Trickett: And so how did that make you feel that you started this quest at the start of the year? All these people joined you and then they wanted to share the day with you. Was it a bit emotional?

00:15:01Shanon Aitken: It was very emotional. I cried like the whole day. I really did. Even before the run, at the run, during the run, after the run, when I got home after the run, like it was just, it was amazing that that many people came to support me in this really stupid, stupid quest of mine. Yeah, no, it's just, it was absolutely incredible to see that many people there, that many people also wearing dresses, men wearing dresses that were there just to support me because, you know, that they knew my struggle during the year and they were just there to, you know, help encourage me and, you know, I did warn people, though, if they were to outshine me, I would run them over, but not physically, like me running them over, but just my car. And I'm safe to say that no one actually outshone me.

00:15:56Melissa Erbacher: Running them over in your car sounds pretty physical to me.

00:15:59Shanon Aitken: Yeah, it does, it does. I had to clarify that I wasn't going to actually run over them with my own legs because I'm not that fast.

00:16:08[laughter]

00:16:08Melissa Erbacher: LAUGHTER Keep parkrun the happy space that it is and just leave that for the car park. Sounds like a good plan. Having all those people come along, and I know you mentioned you get messages and things like that wishing you well, but does it hit home on a different level than the kind of feedback that you get to your online persona in terms of you know you you write a blog post or you you do a facebook post and then you get comments and responses and things like that so it's actually seeing the people and interacting with them at parkrun and especially on such a momentous occasion as this sort of hit home for you in a different way it has like

00:16:54Shanon Aitken: People tell me that I'm an inspiration. I hate that word. I really do hate it because I'm not. I'm just a person out there just trying to do my best. That's all that I'm doing. But to see these people who have written comments, who have messaged me, to actually see them in person, they've gotten out of bed, they've gotten in their car, they came all the way there just to wish me the best of luck and run with me. It's incredible. It really is. People have made friends on my Facebook page. based on comments that other people are making. They're getting together. They're going for runs. It's just incredible. Never in a million years did I think it would turn out the way that it has.

00:17:36Scott Trickett: Well, let's talk about what it's changed for you. You've created friendships within your group, but I imagine you've gained a few friends over the year.

00:17:44Shanon Aitken: This makes me really emotional because I did a post the other week about how before all of this, I had a handful of people that you could really call friends. I have met some of the most amazing and inspiring people throughout this whole journey. These are people now that I can actually call my friends. These are people that I can call on, give them a call and say, hey, I'm going through this at the moment and they'll be there to talk you through it. There's people that I actually get together with now, people that I get together and run with, that I socialise with. My journey that has started just from parkrun has opened up so many doors for me and made so many friends. It's just It's incredible. It really is.

00:18:26Scott Trickett: And one thing I've – so I've followed you, Shannon, since we met you earlier in the year and I've followed you. You've been a great advocate of parkrun. You've been telling your story in the Brisbane media as well. So I'd have to say you've really got what parkrun's about. Have people responded to the fact that you've got parkrun, that it's not a run and it's a social event?

00:18:49Shanon Aitken: That's the thing about parkrun. The name itself, it does confuse people initially because a lot of people think I have to run. That's not the case. As we all know, it's a 5K timed event every Saturday that's free. That's the best part of it. But it doesn't matter what your capability level is. If you need to walk, you walk. If you need to jog, you jog. If you have the need to sprint, which I clearly do not, you can sprint. And that's the thing about parkrun. It's inclusive of everyone. No one is ever left behind. And I know for a fact that after posts that I've written, people actually say, I didn't know that I could walk a parkrun. And they have joined. I can honestly say hand on heart, I know thousands of people who have started. Just even going to one or two, that's a start because of my posts and them actually realising that you don't have to be a supreme athlete.

00:19:49Melissa Erbacher: I think parkrun Australia is going to have to give you a cut of the takings they get from people paying to run with us every week.

00:19:59Shanon Aitken: I'd be up for that.

00:20:01Melissa Erbacher: Send you all those recruitment dollars that they make. Exactly, exactly. So you've had some amazing adventures this year, Shannon. Can you give us a couple of highlights? Can you narrow down a couple of highlights? Sure.

00:20:18Shanon Aitken: Well, my highlights are going to a different parkrun nearly each and every week. Tourism in parkrun is incredible. You get to go to different locations. You get to meet different people. As I said, 37 parkruns I've been to. I'm doing my 38th this weekend at a different location. Other things that I've done, I ran a half marathon this year. That's just – that's crazy. I ran – 21.1 kilometers i still can't fathom that if you had have said to me at the beginning of the year what were you going to do i was going to try and run 5ks every saturday i've only missed three parkruns on a saturday this year and they were because one weekend i was doing run the rock which was a fun run down in melbourne i did the gold coast airport marathon 10k and that was on the saturday And I also participated in the Havocrack Triathlon in Hervey Bay, and that was also on a Saturday. Oh, yeah, and I'm a triathlete now too.

00:21:23Melissa Erbacher: You're a woman of many talents. I have to admit that a triathlon is not something I will ever go to because I would drown in the first 10 metres of the swim. So it would not be a try because there would only be one event and I would die in it. Right. So more power to you for getting out there and throwing that into the mix. My goodness. So you've only missed parkruns to do other running events. That's very impressive.

00:21:52Shanon Aitken: Yes, yep. And I plan on continuing the same thing next year. Now getting out of bed at an ungodly hour on a Saturday morning is just the norm.

00:22:03Melissa Erbacher: And how has it changed your life in other ways? Like, I know that for many people who discover parkrun, you know, it alters what they do on a Friday night and things like that as well. I mean, apart from obviously converting any conversation you start with anyone new within the first three minutes to parkrun, what else is different?

00:22:24Shanon Aitken: As a family, we've changed. My husband is now doing parkrun. Will is a regular on the parkrun scene. I'm lucky. I was lucky enough to be gifted a Bob running pram at the beginning of the year. So not only have I changed as an individual, my whole family dynamic has changed and it's a real positive for us.

00:22:46Scott Trickett: Okay. Massive year for you. How are you going to top it next year? What adventures have you got planned for 2018? Okay. So my biggest...

00:22:59Shanon Aitken: The exciting news for next year is I'm actually going to be doing a volunteer of parkrun. So this year I was very lucky to have a company, Explosive Sportswear, make a singlet with me where I listed the parkrun locations that I was going to go to and I could tick them off as I go. I am going to be volunteering in all of the parkrun volunteer positions in in 2018. I'll be doing that at all the different Logan parkruns so they're close to home and I know the people there as well and I'll be able to help them. I want to make people realise that volunteering isn't as scary as you think it is. I'm actually personally terrified of being timekeeper but as we all know parkrun is run solely by volunteers and I hope With my writing skills and my want to give it a go, I'm going to make people realise that it's not that tough to do. So I'm very excited. That's one thing that I will be doing in 2018. And another thing that I'll be starting is I'm going to be doing the A to Z of parkruns. In Queensland, we're very lucky that Zilmere is launching. So we finally got a Z in Australia, which is very exciting. So I'm sure there'll be people coming.

00:24:24Melissa Erbacher: from near and far to get that that letter ticked off so I'll be doing the alphabet tourism in 2018 as well well I have to say that first challenge you've set yourself is both exciting and admirable because it is something that volunteer event teams struggle with at every single event is is you know convincing people that things aren't quite as scary as they might seem And, you know, it's something we all encounter all the time. So the fact that you're going to go out and advocate for that as well is just amazing. And an inside tip, timekeeping is one of my favorite roles. After run directing, it's the one that I do the most. And I stuff it up probably 80% of the time and nobody ever knows because everything's fixable. well with the exception of the battery falling off the back of the stopwatch but you know how you get around that we've got this fabulous new app and you can download it on your phone if you've got an iphone and very soon to be available on android and you can play with it at home before you even get to parkrun so you can completely practice in your own space that's going to be some homework for me then i'm happy to take that on board

00:25:47Shanon Aitken: but otherwise if you do just use the normal stopwatch it's literally two buttons and one of them you only have to press one time so it's very easy not scary at all i promise oh i know i'm just i want to give it a go and show to everyone try and prove to everyone that you can do every position in parkrun like i know a lot of people love doing tail walker because all you have to do is follow everyone But I've got a list together of different positions and one that I actually left off the list and I wasn't really aware of is a vision impaired assist runner. So that's also something that I'm going to give as well to assist our fellow vision impaired parkrunners.

00:26:32Scott Trickett: Now, if you're going to go on the alphabet tour, that means you're going to have to come down to Melbourne, Shannon, because we've got the only J in Australia. Have you got some plans to tour outside of Queensland?

00:26:44Shanon Aitken: Well, I need to win the lotto first. That's a bit of a problem, isn't it? It is, it is, it is. So whilst I'm doing the alphabet, I may not get it all done in 2018, so it might roll over to 2019. But I'm really going to try my best to get to as many different places as I can. I'm very lucky that I actually will be having a sponsor in 2018 to assist me in some of my quests as well, which is very exciting and different challenges. But it all comes down to that almighty dollar. So if I can get down to Melbourne in 2018, I will be down there. If not, 2019.

00:27:27Melissa Erbacher: When you volunteer, obviously, only a couple of those roles also involve doing the five kilometres of the course. Do you have plans to do, you know, a run either before you volunteer or how are you going to still sort of incorporate the moving? Because I imagine it's part of who you are now.

00:27:44Shanon Aitken: So if I can't do it at the actual parkrun location, I actually go for a bit of a jog on a Saturday afternoon. I try... if I am volunteering, to go and do it beforehand. But sometimes when I've got my little one with me, it's just a little bit too early to get him up and drag him along that hour of the morning. And then afterwards he always wants to go to the playground. But I'm always finding time to get my 5Ks in. Now that I've also recently joined Run Down Under, and that's like the virtual run around Australia, And I want to clock my Ks up because I want to get to the next town. I'm basically still in the main street of Canberra. I'm not moving all that fast, but I'm trying to find time to get more Ks clocked up.

00:28:33Scott Trickett: Well, you're just a hardcore runner, it sounds like now. From when we first met you, it's been quite a transformation. Congratulations, Shannon, on your year and good luck for next year and everything you've got planned.

00:28:45Shanon Aitken: Thank you so much. I really appreciate your support. Thank you.

00:29:00Scott Trickett: Some people cram a lot into their year, a lot of running into their year. Our next guest certainly fits that bill. Chris White, who is an Albert, Melbourne parkrunner, set off on a journey to run 17 marathons in 2017. And we thought that's a good tale to tell. So welcome to the podcast, Chris White.

00:29:23Chris White: Thank you very much.

00:29:24Scott Trickett: Great to be on here. 17 marathons in 12 months is a lot of running. It's more than one marathon a month. Firstly, where did the idea come from and how did it all go?

00:29:38Chris White: Well, I've literally just finished the challenge this last week. So, yeah, it's pretty fresh in the mind. And you've caught me at a great time because about an hour before I get the opportunity to chat to you guys, we just passed the fundraising total that we were looking for. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's been a, it's been a hell of a year and, um, it started probably, uh, when November, um, 2016, really, I had the idea of kind of doing multiple events, um, rather than sort of training for one specific event, trying to do, you know, three or four over the course of the year. And then it slowly morphed into one a month and then. it ended up at 17 and I think, um, yeah, it was just phenomenal really that sort of two or three weeks where it, where it went from, you know, two or three runs to 17, um, and speaking to the Baker Institute who I was, who I've been raising the money for, um, along the way, um, was just amazing. It was just an amazing process in terms of getting the goal in the first place, let alone actually trying to do the thing. Um, But yeah, as I said, I've just finished up with a treadmill marathon in Port Melbourne this past week, which I won't recommend to people. But yeah, a very interesting experience over the course of the year for sure. And I've learned a lot. I mean, I'm a running coach as well. So I've learned a lot that I know I'll be implementing with the guys that I coach. And it's been awesome to be able to raise the money. We've raised $17,000 or $17,500, I've just checked before coming on air, $17,500 for the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute along the way. So, yeah, I'm in a very good space, a little tired perhaps, but ready for Christmas now.

00:31:44Melissa Erbacher: I'm guessing all the 17s mean, you know, it's 2017, may as well up the count to 17 and then raise $17,000. Yes. Chris, I am one of the rare people that really enjoys the taper part of a marathon training program. And if you've got that many marathons all in one year and they're relatively spaced out, I imagine you're either running a marathon or you're on the taper all the time. Is that how it's pretty much played out?

00:32:13Chris White: Yeah, it's been interesting, actually. And that's part of the learning from it. I mean, 17 is probably one every three weeks, roughly speaking. And I kind of went into the year thinking that I would look for runs that were three weeks apart to give myself the maximum amount and spread it out as far as possible. But what I found was, a bit like you're saying, was that actually I was kind of in this semi-tapered funk, really, where I wasn't really training, I wasn't really running, and I wasn't really doing much of anything, to be honest with you. And then I'd go and run a marathon. And mentally, I found that quite difficult. Physically, it wasn't necessarily too difficult. But mentally, you know how you get those sort of highs and lows that come with preparing for big events? Well, I was kind of on this roller coaster that I wasn't particularly enjoying for a while. So what we did was I actually spoke to another coach and said, OK, what would you do? And he said, well, why don't you try... lumping some of them together. So for example, have a six week break and then do two marathons back to back. Um, and that, so I tried that and we did, we did, um, did three. So back to back to back, you know, one week after the other. Um, and then I had, you know, seven or eight weeks off and that worked really well. I mean, physically it was harder, but mentally, which is what I was found that to be easier. I could kind of rest, recover, and then, you know, go through the rock, go like ride the roller coaster, so to speak, and then, um, then train again for a bit. Um, and then if I had any injuries or anything like that, it would, I had enough time to kind of iron them out before addressing another block of, of racing, um, so to speak. So yeah, it was, it was interesting, you know, going into it with one plan and then sort of changing it up Maybe it was quite early on, actually. It was probably three or four months in that we sort of decided to change it and sort of clump them together a bit more. Yeah, so that's one of the learnings for sure.

00:34:30Scott Trickett: I'd love to hear about your highlights amongst the 17, but I know already what's the low light, the treadmill marathon. Firstly, what were you thinking and was it as hard as I imagined it would be?

00:34:44Chris White: Yeah, so... The treadmill is obviously the freshest in my mind. And in many respects, it was the hardest one. Partly because I didn't expect it. And perhaps naively, I didn't expect it to be the hardest one. I kind of expected, okay, you know, there's no hills for a start. That's good. It's in a controlled environment. You know, surely that's good. I've got all my friends and family around me to support me. That's good. I've got as much as I can eat and drink if I need it that's good but actually you know some of those things kind of not backfired but weren't as positive as I thought they would be so for example I thought the main issue would be me getting bored to be honest with you me you know boring on a treadmill I didn't want to get bored so I invited lots of people to kind of keep me entertained and have a bit of a party around it. And, um, but actually what happened was that a lot of people showed up and, um, that the room was really, really hot. Um, so in the, in the end, actually having all those people was, was great, you know, motivation wise and atmosphere wise, it was amazing. But at the same time, um, you know, a lot of people in a small room means a hot room and not much air. Um, so it was quite difficult to breathe. It was, um, it wasn't necessarily a warm day, but it was just warm in, in the place where we were doing. Um, so yeah, I mean, that was, that was in many respects, the, the, the toughest one. Um, I think one of the, there's been so many highlights. I mean, particularly I think, um, there's a, there's a moment that I distinctly remember. In fact, there's moments in, in all of them that I'll remember, but one in, um, the marathon in Alice Springs where, um, Um, it's an out and back course and I got to the turnaround point and the winds just sort of died and it was deadly silent in the middle of nowhere and there's no runners around me. And it was just this really, um, sort of quiet moment where I realized that I was, you know, slap bang in the middle of Australia. And, um, as a ginger pom in Australia, I was thinking, this is quite novel. This is quite good. Um, So yeah, that was, that was pretty cool. I really enjoyed, um, the Surf Coast Trail Marathon down in Torquay in Victoria. Um, that was for completely different reasons. There was a, there was a King tide that day. So up on the beach, the water was really, really, really high. And we ended up waiting, you know, knee deep waist deep in, in, um, in sort of ocean ocean water. for parts of the run and it's one of those ones where you just have to kind of laugh because it's so ridiculous but yeah I mean there's moments in all of them that I'll remember but those are sort of two or three that I kind of off the top of my head that I'll remember

00:37:49Melissa Erbacher: I guess I was always aware that, you know, obviously the running calendar has a lot of events on it. But I'm also a little bit surprised that you can find 17 marathons in one year. Were they all in Australia or did you pop overseas to do a couple as well?

00:38:05Chris White: Well, the original intention was to go overseas and do a couple. But no, in the end, I did them all in Australia. I went, yeah, all over the place. But yeah, all in Australia. And you know what? There's some weird and wonderful events out there that we can all try. And so I did a few on the trails. I did some of the bigger city ones. So I did Sydney, Gold Coast, Canberra, Melbourne. And then some trail stuff. I did the Two Bays Trail run down here on the Mornington Peninsula. As I said, I did Alice Springs. So yeah, I've done a fair few. But you know what? Some of the really awesome ones were some of the smaller ones. So I did, um, Lily Dale marathon. Um, it's, uh, yeah, some, some of the smaller sort of, um, uh, there's an organization trails plus they do sort of urban, urban trail running, um, did a few of them. So yeah, there's, there's plenty of choice. I have to say though, the later you get in the year, so sort of November, December time, it does get a bit scarce, um, in terms of options. or marathons, which is kind of part of the reason why I ended up with organizing my own thing, which then ended up being the treadmill marathon. So yeah, December's a little bit tricky, but apart from that, yeah, there's a pretty good range. We're pretty lucky.

00:39:34Melissa Erbacher: if you consider the kind of climate that we have in Australia, you can understand why it gets a bit thin on the ground for marathons toward the end of the year. Apart from the dates, or I should say, was the date specifically the major criteria that you were, you know, selecting your marathons as a result of? Or like, what other criteria did you use to pick where you were going to run at any given time?

00:40:00Chris White: That's a really good question, actually. I think I think it was two or three things I wanted to, um, you know, part of the, I saw this often as a, as a giant experiment, um, to see if I could do certain things. So I wanted to be able to travel a bit more, um, you know, part of the appeal, um, you know, not only with, with this challenge, but, you know, particularly with parkrun as well as parkrun tourism, you know, going around different parkruns, experiencing different, um, vibes, different setups, different people, different cafes, different cultures, all that sort of stuff. And the same thing applies to this. I really wanted to be able to travel around Australia and take a look at some of these places, particularly in the Melbourne winter when it's miserable and cold here. I wanted to be able to get up to the Gold Coast or Cairns or somewhere like that where it was a bit warmer. So yeah, there was a travel component. There was a cost component. It's you know, it's not cheap to do 17 marathons if you're paying for all the entries and all that sort of stuff. So there's a cost component to that. Um, and sort of linked into that, I did try and keep a fair few of the marathons around Victoria, but then once I'd kind of settled on those, you know, I want, I'd always wanted to go over to, to Busselton and to WA. So that was, that was one on the list. Um, And then I picked a few that I kind of knew I would enjoy as well. So the Surf Coast Trail Marathon came in there. Great Ocean Road, I loved that run in general. So I wanted to do that. And then just trying new things, you know. Alice Springs, I'd never been to Alice Springs before either. So that was an amazing experience to go there. So yeah, it was a combination of a few things. Travel, cost, practicality, and yeah, obviously the dates as well.

00:41:59Scott Trickett: This was obviously a personal challenge for you, Chris, but you're also raising money for the Baker Institute. Tell us about that and what's the significance of raising all these funds.

00:42:11Chris White: Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, it was definitely a personal challenge as well as a sort of charity challenge as well. The Baker Institute are based in Melbourne, but they've got a sort of a facility out in Alice Springs as well. So that was part of the appeal of going to Alice Springs when we went there in August for the marathon. The Baker actually sponsor the Alice Springs marathon as well, which is, you know, which is great.

00:42:39Shanon Aitken: So great publicity as well for that.

00:42:41Chris White: So why the Baker? Well, I guess, you know, I've got a family history, particularly on my sort of mum's side of heart troubles, you know, heart attacks, thankfully, but, you know, stroke, angina, high blood pressure, all of that sort of stuff. And my mum had always made us very aware when we were kids of the sort of dangers of high blood pressure and what that meant. So I kind of think it was always sat in the back of my mind. On top of that, I mean, I'd worked in public health or population health for a while, for probably 10 years in the UK, in Belgium and here in Australia. So I knew about some of the sort of community side of what the Baker Institute do around sort of tackling heart disease, diabetes, obesity, et cetera. And then, you know, on top of that, I am fascinated by, you know, the research that goes into that sort of sports side of what they do. So they do sports cardiology as well. So they get elite athletes into their labs and test them and poke and prod and find out what makes them tick and, and also look at their sort of vital signs in terms of their health. So, you know, it was a combination of probably three or four things. And then when I met up with them and we started talking about the, the idea of running multiple marathons and in the one, in the first meeting we went from, as I think I was saying at the beginning, like we went from 12 marathons, I think it was to 15 to 17 within the space of about an hour. And, and, you know, they were the kind of impetus behind some of that. So, You know, the fact that the challenge is as big as it is, is partly due to me, but also, you know, due to them. And yeah, I've loved working with them. I've been in and done, you know, some testing in their labs as well to look at, you know, look at all my health and my heart health and, you know, all the different levels and blood tests and all that sort of stuff. So again, you know, just trying to... walk the walk as well as talk the talk in terms of of what i'm doing here so yeah it's it's been good and i'm really really really relieved and stoked that we've managed to get that seventeen thousand dollars that we've we sort of set out to achieve at the beginning so yeah well 17 marathons is no small feat neither is seventeen thousand dollars so well done i'm sure the baker institute are absolutely stoked with the outcome i hope so

00:45:19Melissa Erbacher: Now, Chris, you mentioned it before, all these adventures around the shop mean you can head to different parkruns. Have you had a lot of opportunity to test some new events this year?

00:45:32Chris White: Yeah, I've done a few, but although I haven't done as many as I wanted to, if I'm being really honest, I kind of had it in my head that, you know, if all the events were on a Sunday, I would go to the place or the area where the event was and then And then go to the parkrun on the Saturday. It often didn't pan out like that. It did a few times, but not all the time. I mean, I'm a massive fan of the sort of whole parkrun tourism movement. I think it is, isn't it? It's huge. So, yeah, I've been to a fair few. Definitely got plenty more to do before I consider myself a proper tourist. I'm very much, you know, I've done a lot at Albert Park, Albert Melbourne, sorry. And a lot of the sort of individual ones around Melbourne. My sister, thankfully, lives up in Sydney. So I've done a couple up there as well. Mosman was interesting for sure. So, yeah, not as much as I want to this year. But, you know, 2018, maybe that's the goal. I don't know.

00:46:44Melissa Erbacher: Okay, well, we have a new question or newish that we ask all our guests these days. If money were no object and you could parkrun anywhere in the world, where would it be?

00:46:55Chris White: Oh, wow. I've seen some of the stuff in – oh, was it in South Africa that just looked amazing. So I think I'd go – I wouldn't – I'd go really abroad, you know, go – Yeah, I'd head to South Africa probably. Or there's some new ones springing up in Europe. Maybe that's an opportunity as well.

00:47:18Scott Trickett: Hey, Chris, I want to get to South Africa too. I reckon some of their parkruns look amazing. Definitely a different vibe than what we experience in cold old Melbourne through the winter months.

00:47:28Chris White: Yeah, yeah. Interesting. No, I'd love to do that. That sounds amazing.

00:47:33Scott Trickett: Before we let you go, you're involved in the team at Albert Melbourne.

00:47:38Chris White: Mm-hmm.

00:47:39Scott Trickett: Tell us how you feel about your home parkrun and being involved there and what the parkrun community has done for you during this journey and just parkrun in general.

00:47:50Chris White: Yeah, I mean, I genuinely credit parkrun with an enormous amount. I mean, I moved to Melbourne five and a bit years ago now and I'd done maybe... two parkruns prior to that when I lived in the UK, Albany and Manchester. And now we're at, I don't know, I think it's just under 150 parkruns I've done now. And I've met a huge percentage of my friends through Albert Melbourne, been involved with the sort of organisational side of it, been involved as a local supporter there. And done warm-ups and all sorts of cool stuff there. So for me, it's almost the first thing that goes in the calendar every week. And whatever state you're in on that Saturday morning, you do try and get there. So to me, it means an awful lot that that sort of community This year in particular, you know, everybody's everybody's got behind it. Everybody's asked me, you know, how am I doing? How are my legs? You know, after the particular marathon, congratulated, donated, supported this sort of 17 marathons endeavor as well. So, yeah, I cannot speak highly enough of. the team behind Albert Melbourne, but also, um, the, the people that go there, the people that go there are awesome. And it's so lovely to see the event growing. I mean, when I started, it was maybe, oh gosh, 60 to 80 people, something in that, in that range. I was, I was actually finishing in the top five or six. Um, nowadays, no, no chance. Um, yeah, there's some seriously quick people there as well as just a, a really amazing range of people that go to that, that particular parkrun. So yeah, as I said, I can't, I genuinely cannot speak highly enough of, of it and how supportive everybody's been of, of what I've been doing. And I hopefully it's, you know, hopefully it's inspired a few people to, to get out and, and do, do parkrun. Not only, you know, I'm always kind of promoting that parkrun as well. So hopefully through the journey, a few more people have rocked up at Albert Melbourne as well.

00:50:18Scott Trickett: No doubt. It's a good one. So you're on a good wicket there. Thanks very much. You can go and have a rest now, Chris. I'm sure you've taken the opportunity already. But thanks for joining us on the parkrun Adventures this week.

00:50:31Chris White: Thank you very much. Cheers. Cheers.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:50:45Scott Trickett: The news crew has been busy again this week. Lyndell is out in force at Cleveland for a quick one. And then we hear from TOC, who visited a launch of a new event in the suburbs of Melbourne. First, take it away, Lyndell.

00:51:01Lyndell Murray: Alrighty parkrun Adventurers, it's Lyndell here reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew from Cleveland. Now Cleveland is in the Redland Bay area, southeast Queensland. It's kind of a southeast suburb of Brisbane CBD. So I've read up on the course description. Apparently there's a surprise in the middle of the course. I don't know what that's going to be but I'll report in at the end and let you know what the surprise is and give you a bit of a report on the course. All right, so I'm back at the start-finish area for Cleveland parkrun. It's a mini roving report today. I don't have a lot of time to be interviewing a lot of people, but I have tracked down Stu, who's run directing today. How are you going today, and how did today go for you?

00:51:47Stu: I'm having a wonderful time today, as ever, thank you. We've had a wonderful parkrun this morning. It's pretty warm, but it's wonderful to see everybody really try their best. I get a lot of pleasure from watching our local community come down, run, walk, just keep fit and be part of the local community. So, wonderful day.

00:52:06Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And are you a runner yourself? And how did you get into parkrun and run directing?

00:52:11Stu: Yes, I'm a runner myself and I guess I got into parkrun like a lot of people I heard about it. Somebody mentioned a few years ago when I moved in the area, have you heard of parkrun? And my answer was, no, I haven't. They said, well, come down and give it a go. So I came down for the first time and I thought, wow, what a great opportunity to keep fit. But also for me, I enjoy being part of the community. I enjoy being part of something where it doesn't matter what you want to do. If you want to walk it, if you want to jog it, if you want to do it by yourself, if you want to do it with your friends, if you want to sprint it, whatever you do, parkruns for you. So I enjoyed the running side, but I enjoyed the community side even more. I've been coming regularly over the last four or five years and I started volunteering and found I got as much pleasure from volunteering as I did from running, so I like to do both now.

00:52:56Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Now I have come across Liv a number of times around the traps and of course on the day that I'm here she's not here so please pass on my hello and all my best for her and are you looking for any volunteers over Christmas? I'll give it a bit of a wrap I think because it's a lovely shaded course with water along there. It's a great place to come for summer.

00:53:17Stu: Yeah, Cleveland, I am very biased here, so for anybody listening, I acknowledge that I'm biased, but I really do think it's a wonderful, beautiful, peaceful course, so if you have never come down, come down and try it. Over Christmas, we've actually had a bunch of people volunteer today, so we are good for the 16th, I think we're pretty good for the 23rd, which is our Juniors in Charge day, where juniors get an opportunity to volunteer with their parents or guardian but I think we are looking for some people on the 30th so if you're thinking of coming down you'd love to volunteer we'd love to see you on the 30th or just come down have a run or whatever you choose to do.

00:53:51Lyndell Murray: Excellent now have you done the kids in charge thing before?

00:53:54Stu: Yes I believe we have now I've never been down there at the same time but yes we've done that before so it's I know that last time it went really well and it's good to see the kids show their parents how to do it and get really involved in the spirit so.

00:54:07Lyndell Murray: It is great. It's a funny thing about parkrun. Sometimes you see the kids dragging the parents along, whether it be running, walking or volunteering, and sometimes it's the opposite. So it's lovely to see, isn't it?

00:54:16Stu: Yeah, it is. It's wonderful. And as I said, it's all about the community. And yes, I see many a time where I think the parent is struggling to keep up with their child. So that's good because the child's keeping the parent fit. So it's good.

00:54:28Lyndell Murray: It is. It's a great outcome. Well, Stu, thanks so much for talking to me today. And thanks so much for all the work that you do in keeping Cleveland parkrun running.

00:54:36Melissa Erbacher: Pleasure.

00:54:37Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, that's it. That's a wrap from me from Cleveland parkrun. The course here is, as Stu says, I'd have to agree, it is a beautiful course. There's lots of lovely shaded sections. There's a lot of boardwalk, Scotty. There's a bridge here, so that's one tick for you. The surprise or something different in the middle of the course is a hill. On the way out, it's a downhill, which means on the way back, obviously, it's a bit of an uphill. But it's not a technical hill. It's not too steep. It's on lovely, beautiful boardwalks. And again, in a lovely shaded area along Moreton Bay here in southeast Queensland. So if you're looking for somewhere to tourist in southeast Queensland over summer and Christmas, get along to Cleveland. Shaded course, lots of water, friendly community and a lovely, lovely spot to run. That's it for me. Roving report light this week from the Channel 5 News crew and I'll talk to you next time on the podcast.

00:55:44Tony O'Connell: Hey, it's TOC. I'm reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew at the Marriott Waters launch. Big crowd gathering here. We've got a sea of apricot and a sea of purple tutus. Quite a lovely looking course around the lake, two laps. And yeah, we're all lining up to get a start going. We'll talk to a couple of people after we've run it. I'm walking along the beautiful Marriott Waters course around the lake with Amanda. Amanda's the Deputy Mayor at the City of Casey. Amanda how have you found parkrun?

00:56:17Amanda: Oh absolutely fantastic this is something the area have been waiting for and now it's come and it's going to be my go-to place every week as I know as time goes on more and more residents are going to be here and being a part of this wonderful event health and well-being outcomes is what we're after and I think this is going to provide all of that.

00:56:33Tony O'Connell: It's an amazing community down around Marriott Waters. When you look at the infrastructure and the facilities that are around here and just having this beautiful walking track around the lake, you know, it's a nice, you know, two lap course around, great views. You're looking over the lakes with all the water birds. Yeah, no, I can only congratulate Council for helping to get it going. You've had a really big input in it. So thank you very much.

00:56:55Amanda: Well, thank you. But I have to give some credit to Villawood. They actually were the developers of this area and didn't they do a great job. We've got a fabulous local school, primary school, Lyndhurst. And we've got these wonderful wetlands and these courses. And now we can enjoy parkrun and a beautiful aesthetic course to enjoy at the same time.

00:57:14Tony O'Connell: No worries. Well, we hope to see you down at parkrun a fair bit more often, Amanda. It's a great community asset. Thank you very much. I'm with Justine, who's one of the co-EDs at Marriott Waters. We're sitting at one of the points where Justine's marshalling, pointing the runners in the right direction. What do you think today, Justine? How's it looking?

00:57:32Melissa Erbacher: It's looking fantastic today. Great turnout for the launch. definitely better than weather last week that we had to postpone so it's definitely looking good yeah it's amazing i think you've got probably 200 250 runners out on the course it'd be good to see their final numbers but um fantastic turnout it's a lovely course you've got out here i ran it once with roger and we had hail and lightning today's looking much better definitely an improvement over the last two weeks isn't it and uh justine what's your background with parkrun have you run at other courses yeah i started at berwick springs about two two and a half

00:58:09Tony O'Connell: Okay, cool. Have you done any interstate tourism anywhere? No, unfortunately not. It's on the bucket list. Oh, come on.

00:58:17Scott Trickett: parkrun tourism is a great thing. It absolutely is.

00:58:19Tony O'Connell: All right, well, I'm going to keep going on my run. Justine, congratulations on what's looking like a fantastic event.

00:58:25Stu: Well done. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your run.

00:58:26Tony O'Connell: Cheers. Howdy, parkrunners. It's Toc just reporting in at the finish of the Marriott Waters parkrun launch. We've had a fantastic day here. 225 runners, walkers and in-betweeners all got around this very scenic course with two laps of the lake. I was going to catch up with Emma, the other co-ED, but Emma's had to duck off for swimming. So we'll leave it at that. But this is one that you want to add to your list. It's a very scenic course and a wonderful group of volunteers. Cheers, parkrunners. Toc out.

00:58:56Melissa Erbacher: Hey, Scotty, I was a bit rude in the beginning of the episode and you asked me where I went, but I didn't ask where you went last weekend. Did you have an adventure?

00:59:05Scott Trickett: That's okay. Look, I had an adventure to Studley, which is always a fun adventure. And love getting back there. It had been eight months between visits. Seriously? I know. That's criminal. And I'm not going to let that happen again because I just love it. Studley's just such a good morning. The park that we run in. I won't carry on, but I had a lovely morning back at Studley. And I'm going to vow that my next visit will not be in August or September next year. But Marriott Waters sounded fun. Another one for suburban Melbourne. To get behind.

00:59:42Melissa Erbacher: Yes, and we had TOC there, our Channel 5 News crew roving reporter, and did a great job.

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

00:59:49Scott Trickett: And we've got one more launch to round out the year. 2017 is going to finish with a launch in South Australia at Reynella East this Saturday. Mel, do you remember the game we played last week where we went through anniversaries and if I'd been to them and I didn't perform that well, how about we reverse it this week and find out? Let's go through the anniversaries and see how many of these events you've been to. Okay. Here we go. Anniversaries this week are one, Mullum Mullum. Have you been there?

01:00:24Melissa Erbacher: No, I haven't. Have you been there? Yes, I have.

01:00:26Scott Trickett: I have.

01:00:28Melissa Erbacher: Wow. So you've done 100% of the anniversaries this week and I've done 0%. Yeah. I really need to pick up my game.

01:00:35Scott Trickett: Well, I just thought that I dropped the ball last week and I wanted to correct that.

01:00:39Melissa Erbacher: You wanted to see if I could catch it. No, it's gone like a lead balloon.

01:00:46Scott Trickett: So one launch and one anniversary this weekend. Any Netflix picks for me this week or any reviews?

Netflix picks

01:00:56Melissa Erbacher: Reviews? I can tell you that The Christmas Prince is just as terrible as it sounds, but in a very satisfying way. So if you're looking for something lighthearted and not very well acted or very well scripted, then that is your movie.

01:01:13Scott Trickett: Okay, so you went the Christmas movie thing as well because we did it too.

01:01:19Melissa Erbacher: Oh, did you? What did you watch?

01:01:21Scott Trickett: Well, we started with Elf that none of us had seen.

01:01:24Melissa Erbacher: I watched that for the first time the other day too. I'm trying to get a new one in every day. But you tell me what you thought of it.

01:01:30Scott Trickett: Yeah, Elf was great. And, you know, Will Ferrell doesn't make too many bad movies. And we all loved it. And we loved it so much that Kasia came to us and wanted another Christmas movie again. And, yeah, it was scraping the bottom of the barrel after Elf.

01:01:48Melissa Erbacher: So what did you watch?

01:01:49Scott Trickett: Well, a bit of a confession. We started watching, I think, the same one that you did and it didn't last long. Okay. And then the girls moved on to something called Dear Santa and I thought it was a good time to have a shower.

01:02:04Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a good plan. I did watch Miracle on 34th Street for the first time this morning and that was cute.

01:02:10Scott Trickett: Okay. So is that worthwhile? Yeah. 2017, is it worthwhile?

01:02:15Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I think so.

01:02:17Scott Trickett: Okay, okay. Well, there we go. We started off in a festive mood and we're finishing in a festive mood. It's like we planned this, Mel.

01:02:24Unidentified speaker: It's great.

01:02:28Scott Trickett: I'll speak to you next week.

01:02:29Melissa Erbacher: Talk to you then.

parkrun adventurer intern (Christmas carol outro)

01:02:50Unidentified speaker: Are you a bit disappointed Mel and Scotty didn't sing any Christmas carols as promised? I am. So to make it up, the parkrun adventurer intern has stepped up. Here goes. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Had a very shiny nose And if you ever saw it You would even say it glows All of the other reindeer They used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudolph Join in any reindeer games Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say Rudolph with your nose so bright Won't you guide my sleigh tonight? Then all the reindeer loved him. As they shouted out with glee. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. You'll go down in history. Hey Rudolph, guide my sleigh Hey Rudolph, guide my sleigh Hey Rudolph, guide my sleigh Hey Rudolph Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say Rudolph with your nose so bright Won't you guide my sleigh tonight? Then how the reindeer loved him As they shouted out with glee

01:03:04[music]