Episode 99 - Patrick Tiernan

Episode details · 286 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:18Scott Trickett: It's Tuesday afternoon, or maybe it's Wednesday afternoon, could be Friday night. Welcome back to episode 99 of the parkrun Adventurers. I'll just check, um, Mel, are you with me this week?

00:00:32Melissa Erbacher: I'm here, Scotty.

00:00:33Scott Trickett: Okay, good, good, good, good, oh. You sure? Didn't need a reminder.

00:00:41Melissa Erbacher: Alarms don't work on me, Scotty. Oh, really? I am impervious to alarms.

00:00:47Scott Trickett: Well, that's the rumour going around town.

00:00:52Melissa Erbacher: You came prepared, didn't you?

00:00:55Scott Trickett: Yeah, because this is the parkrun Adventurers podcast. What we like to do on this podcast and what we've done for the past two and a bit years is just talk about parkrun in general, our adventures at parkrun and what we get up to each week and so on and so forth. So Mel, ladies first, what did you get up to this week? How was your parkrun adventure on Saturday? Yeah.

00:01:22Melissa Erbacher: Saturday. The one just gone.

00:01:25Scott Trickett: Yes.

00:01:26Melissa Erbacher: That's the one you're talking about.

00:01:27Scott Trickett: Let's keep it current.

00:01:29Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, the plan was to go to Golden Beach parkrun because they were having their fourth anniversary. That sounds like fun.

00:01:43Scott Trickett: Sounds like a great adventure.

00:01:45Melissa Erbacher: I had managed to procure and build some fabulous costumes. It was a P party theme. So even though we've had a couple of those before, we decided we're not going to crack out the old pea costumes. We're going to get some new pea costumes. And I had actually got something that when I got it, I thought, oh, Adam's going to kill me. He's going to fight me tooth and nail. He's not going to want to wear that. even though it'll be amazing and look very cute when there's the three of us all dressed as these beings. And I got home with said costume and he was, I don't know what he was doing. He was vacuuming or something. And so I quickly grabbed a piece of the costume out of the bag and I put it on and I just stood there waiting until he turned around with the vacuum cleaner and saw me. And then when he saw me wearing this piece of costume, he's like, oh my God, that is so cool. And so I got out the same piece and gave it to him. And I said, there you go, there's one for you. And he was actually really excited. And I'm like, oh my God, this never happens. I thought that was going to be a much harder sell, but he was amped. He was amped for this costume. And so I had to stay up a little bit late on Friday night, adjusting Wes's costume, because obviously he's a different size than other people. And He's needed some modifications. And so I got to bed at about quarter to one, I think, which isn't too bad for a Friday night before an anniversary. I've had later. And then Wes woke up at 4 a.m. for a feed. So I had about three hours sleep, I think, and fed him. He went back to bed. I went back to bed. Adam, of course, slept through all of this. And then my alarm went off at 5.30, allegedly. I didn't hear it. I don't have any memory of it going off. And at 10 to 7, Adam woke up, sat bolt upright and said, oh my God, it's 6.50. And I just, I also sat bolt upright and looked at him and then looked at my watch and then looked at the sleeping baby who was still out to it and I was It takes us 30 minutes to drive to Golden Beach. It was 10 to 7. parkruns start at 7 o'clock in Queensland. My Nendi is Nambour parkrun, which is a 15-minute drive away. there was no chance I was going to get there.

00:04:19Lyndell Murray: And I didn't know what to do.

00:04:22Melissa Erbacher: It's like somebody has just slapped you across the face. And I was just thinking, I can't go anywhere. Where do I go? But it's parkrun day. It's like, oh, well, if we get dressed in like 10 minutes and then in the car and then that's 40 minutes and then no, we've got no chance of being able to start late and still finish. I actually had something that I was supposed to take for the event team to use during the pre-run brief, which was probably already happening when I woke up. So in the end, I phoned the event director, Rochelle, and apologized profusely that I wasn't going to be able to get the thing to her that she had needed. And also for the fact that we weren't going to make it. And then after I hung up the phone, I just looked at it and was like, well, now what do we do? What do you do when you don't go to parkrun on parkrun day?

00:05:21Scott Trickett: What do you do? Go back to sleep?

00:05:25Melissa Erbacher: Cry yourself to sleep? I'm going to be messed up for the next week, seriously, because it's my clock. It's how it's like the week starts for me or ends for me. All the other days it's going to be like, what day is it again? Are you sure? We haven't done parkrun yet. So, yeah.

00:05:46Scott Trickett: And the bigger issue here is that the costume that Adam was excited about was wasted. I hope you get to use it again.

00:05:54Melissa Erbacher: It's, yes. Well, we're not going to tell anyone what it was in anticipation that someday, some event somewhere is going to do another pee-themed parkrun. Or another theme that we can... realistically say, oh, well, that's what this costume's for. Yeah. Next week, for example, I'll be going to Kira parkrun's anniversary, and that's a green and gold theme, and I cannot, no matter how I twist and construe it, make the pea party costume work, unfortunately. So I could get in touch with Emniko and ask her if she could change the theme just for us, but I'm pretty sure at this late notice they won't be able to do it.

00:06:38Scott Trickett: Well, it's worth a try. We know Em listens to the program. So, Em, come on. We've got the pot out early this week, so we're giving you a few extra days' notice.

00:06:50Melissa Erbacher: Just to let everyone else know that their best laid costume plans need to be changed to suit my whim.

00:06:54Scott Trickett: But you could still just rock up in this outfit and if people ask, just put it back on them and say, guess. And they can guess and guess and guess and you just never tell them what you're dressed as. You leave it up to their imagination.

00:07:10Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I'm not sure.

00:07:12Scott Trickett: Maybe not.

00:07:12Melissa Erbacher: You'll understand in six or 12 months' time when I finally get to wear the costume, you'll understand how that wouldn't work. Yeah, so, well, I know the last time before this weekend that I missed a parkrun and I was in labour giving birth. Oh, of course, yeah.

00:07:26Scott Trickett: Jeez, you're setting a precedent.

00:07:28Melissa Erbacher: But before that, it was 2013 when I was also going – well, I was not on a plane, but I was overseas in France before they had a parkrun. So I didn't have any –

00:07:44Scott Trickett: choices in the country at the time to to get to a parkrun but you know what I survived I'm thinking about making a t-shirt that says I survived not going to parkrun yeah we don't want to encourage people to skip it we want to build up the the idea that it's horrific that if you don't go to parkrun that your life will well maybe not end but it won't be as fulfilled as what it could be

00:08:09Melissa Erbacher: Well, yeah, but you know what? My brother messaged me because finally the rest of his family made it to the most events list after the weekend. They got to another event, which was their sixth sea. So now we're all going to sail the seventh sea together. I've been waiting for them to catch up. And that's all awesome. But when he found out that I hadn't gone and I was a bit gutted, he's like, it's okay. There's going to be another one next week. And That actually gave me a lot of perspective and I thought, okay, I am not going to sort of mope around the house for the rest of the day that I've missed parkrun because he's absolutely right. These things, they happen every week. And thank goodness for that because otherwise it could have been messy.

00:08:57Scott Trickett: No, we do joke. It is perfectly okay to miss parkrun. I didn't.

00:09:03Melissa Erbacher: No, where did you go? I need to live vicariously through everybody else.

00:09:08Scott Trickett: Well, I headed down to Albert Park because, as we know, the Commonwealth Games are coming up and they've got the Baton Relay going around the country at the moment. And on the weekend, it was Melbourne's turn. And I knew a couple of people who had managed to secure a spot in this relay and they were going to do their turn there. with the baton. And so I thought, let's head to Albert. I really like going to Albert. It's a bit of a drive for me to get there, but I really like it when I'm there. I arranged to meet my sister, so she's on the other side of town now. So this was a nice meeting point. And we had a run at Albert, which is, as I said, always good fun. And the timing worked well because the baton relay was coming past Albert to Lakeside Stadium, and so I'd get to see all that happening. But we finished Albert Park, parkrun, had a little bit of a chat. The girls walked, so they came in around an hour's time. We ended... We managed to walk around the stadium and at the same time we were walking around one side of the stadium. I think the relay was happening on the other side of the stadium that then went inside the stadium and we completely missed it. So when we'd figured out that we, you know, we'd seen all the cars go past, we'd seen all the police. Cars go past, so we thought we must have been close. But then they all disappeared, and then we thought, well, let's go inside the stadium. It must be happening in there. And it was. As we walked into the stadium, they were running out of the stadium with the bat on the other side of the stadium. So we missed it there too. But that's okay. I saw it on the news. Yeah, well, exactly.

00:10:49Melissa Erbacher: Fortunately, there's media coverage of these sorts of things, and I imagine the people that you knew that were actually doing it probably had people taking photos and whatnot.

00:10:59Scott Trickett: Are you going to be all right to carry on for the rest of the episode? Are you going to be able to stay awake?

00:11:05Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Okay. It's the middle of the day, Scotty. I'm okay most of the time with the middle of the day. Okay. That's good.

00:11:12Lyndell Murray: In my defense, you know, a lot of people said to me, oh, well, you obviously needed the sleep.

00:11:16Melissa Erbacher: And I'm like, what? Four hours of broken sleep isn't enough for a normal person. Gee, do you think?

00:11:25Scott Trickett: Yeah, no, I was reading during the week. Some people don't need eight hours sleep. There's some people that have got some sort of chromosome or drug or body composition and they only need four hours sleep. So maybe you're one of those.

00:11:41Melissa Erbacher: Well, I can't.

00:11:42Scott Trickett: Well, actually, no, we know the answer to that.

00:11:44Melissa Erbacher: You're clearly not. But I have been surviving on not much sleep for a while now. And as I pointed out to my husband when I was very tired on Saturday night, you know, the thought came into my head. You know how when you're like completely knackered and you think, oh, I'm so tired, I'm really going to sleep well tonight? Like that's the thought process that happens.

00:12:06Bev: Yeah.

00:12:07Melissa Erbacher: that happened and then i thought oh wait a minute no i'm not because it's not up to me it's completely up to an eight month old person who is happy to see me every two to three hours and so even though i had this thought that i was so tired and i'm gonna really gonna sleep well i then i realized i wasn't and that actually was worse it's lucky he's so damn cute yeah i'll just say that and you've only got a few more months to go

00:12:36Scott Trickett: I think.

00:12:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, like how long is it till he's 18? No, no. Isn't that when people start sleeping well?

00:12:42Scott Trickett: No, no, no, no. It happens way before that. Okay.

00:12:46Melissa Erbacher: I won't count my sleeps before they happen.

00:12:51Scott Trickett: Our next guest joining us on the podcast this week has represented Australia at the Olympics and the World Championships. and runs really, really fast for 5K and 10K. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers, Patrick Tiernan.

00:13:10Patrick Tiernan: Thanks, Scott. Pleasure to be on here.

00:13:12Scott Trickett: By the time some people listen to this podcast, they may know the answer to this, but you've got your trials coming up for the 5K for the Commonwealth Games. Are we pretty confident going into that that you're going to be running the 5K in April?

00:13:29Patrick Tiernan: I don't know about that. Pretty confident about my hip, but I'm optimistic. I think if I do the best I can, then I'll, yeah, I should secure my spot for that. So, you know, just try to show up on the day and hope everything is in working order.

00:13:45Scott Trickett: Hey, I'm confident. I think you'll go all right. But if you don't, you've got the backup, you've got the 10K as a backup.

00:13:54Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, so, I mean, the 10K was always going to be our main focus going into it. And then if I made the 5K as well, that would work out well with the schedule. So, yeah, there really wasn't a losing situation there for me trying to do both. So we figured we'd give it a shot. But, yeah, I already secured my spot in the 10K. So worst comes to worst, I'll be able to give that 100%.

00:14:19Melissa Erbacher: What kind of times are we looking at that you need to run? to be able to get in, like, as a qualifier?

00:14:26Patrick Tiernan: So the selection trials themselves, I'm not actually sure what it is for the 10,000, but the 5,000, I think the time's around 14 minutes, 25 seconds on the track. So trying to translate from, like, a parkrun, that's probably the equivalent of about a 15-minute parkrun. And then from there, basically there's an A standard and a B standard to make the Commonwealth Games team. The A standard is 13 minutes and 22 seconds and the B standard is 13 minutes and 35 seconds. So basically at some point in the 12 months leading into the trials, you have to hit one of those two times and then, I mean, if you hit the A standard, that puts you in the box seat. And then come the trials, you have to finish at least in the top three in order to give yourself a chance to make the team.

00:15:28Scott Trickett: Pat, I think this is one area that actually does fascinate our listeners. Because parkrun is 5K, we can all kind of relate to the times now that you're talking about. So when you say a 15-minute parkrun, the national record we've got, Liam Adams holds that at 14.22. For you to do a 15-minute parkrun, are you working hard? Like, is that a challenge for you or is that pretty easy?

00:15:54Patrick Tiernan: I mean, it probably should be easy, but it's a – no, it would definitely be – it's a decent effort. I mean, because at the end of the day, with the mixed terrain and whatnot, anything under 15 minutes is a really good run. But, yeah, it's hard to tell – compare times in in events like a parkrun i guess because um well just there's so many variables on the course whereas it was running it on the track it's just it's flat um you're doing 400 meter laps so you're getting your splits evenly each time um and you've got the option of having people to pace you through it which which is a lot easier to do there because you can get into single file so

00:16:44Scott Trickett: um honestly i think anything around that 15 minute mark in a parkrun is a pretty impressive effort um regardless of regardless of where you're at i tend to agree i think 15 minutes is not too shabby for 5k yeah no i think i think 15 minutes is a pretty good effort so now you headed along to toowoomba parkrun a couple of weeks ago and you didn't give it a go um but how did you find your first parkrun at toowoomba

00:17:11Patrick Tiernan: It was great. Yeah, I was very surprised at the numbers that came out. I thought it was a really big crowd that was out there and then the organiser came up to me and told me to apologise that it was a smaller showing. So, no, I was very impressed with the set-up and how everything was handled. I think everybody there really enjoyed themselves, you know, which is... which is the main thing. And I think that's the hardest part about getting into running is a lot of people just don't find it enjoyable or they don't really see, I guess, see the point in doing it. And as well, it's, I mean, the fact that you can just show up and each week run the same course and try and best your time is just, I think that's a really good way to get people into it rather than having to pay... anywhere between $50 and $100 to run a half marathon once in July or something like that. So I had a great experience there and I think everybody out there really enjoyed themselves.

00:18:19Melissa Erbacher: And what got you to go along? Did you have a friend sort of say, hey, Pat, you know, there's this 5K run that I do every week, you want to come along with? Or how did you get involved?

00:18:29Patrick Tiernan: So my dad actually, he's a school principal out here and I think he knows the lady who organises the parkrun here quite well. And when he told her I was back in town, she actually knew of me and knew what I'd done and asked if I could come out and... Yeah, asked if I could come out and jump in. I think she was expecting me to give it a bit more of a crack than I did. But no, it was a great experience and I'm really glad I went.

00:18:59Melissa Erbacher: And will you be back?

00:19:00Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, I'm hoping to. I mean, I'll be around the area for the next couple of months at least leading into the Games. So you never know, maybe a Saturday I'll line up with one of my harder opponents harder running days so i might be able to give it a crack at some point um leading in but no i'd love to go back out i think it's a great way to get to know a few people in your community and um yeah it's also just a lot more fun than running by yourself so yeah

00:19:28Scott Trickett: So, Pat, you've moved around a bit lately. You've spent the last few years at Villanova, a college in America, probably more well-known for their basketball team than their track team. And then you came back to Australia and you've been based down here in Melbourne. What are the plans for you moving forward? Where are you going to be based?

00:19:51Patrick Tiernan: So I'm actually still based over in Philadelphia. So I graduated there in December of 2016 at Villanova. And my college coach agreed to take me on professionally. So I've been training under him for the last, yeah, bit over a year now. But yes, I'm pretty much based out of Philly and then only really come back to Australia over the Christmas period. So yes, I'm in Philly for probably, I'd say five to six months of the year, Australia for two to three months and then over in Europe for another three months and that's pretty much the routine that I'll be in for the next couple of years at least.

00:20:33Melissa Erbacher: You, as well as being in all different places, you also compete at a lot of different distances. Obviously, we've talked about you know the five and the 10k at com games but you also do not just track but cross country while you were at college do you find there's a lot of difference um in terms of the training that you need to do in preparation for different distances is one like is training for a 10k a lot different than training for a five and do you have to stop training for one to focus on the other at any given point or can they be complementary

00:21:08Patrick Tiernan: So I think they can be complementary, but you also have to figure out which one you want to specialise in because, yeah, it is slightly different training. So a 10K, you'll be doing a lot of longer repetition work and it's more sort of working on building strength in your legs more so than speed, whereas the 5K, when it gets to world championship levels and Commonwealth Games type events, the race isn't always going to be a strength matter. It can come down to the last lap. So you do have to touch into your speed a bit there, which makes the training for both the 5K and the 10K a little bit tricky at times, which is why, like I said before, you do have to figure out which one you want to specialise in and focus on in the lead-up. So for these games, the 10K... is my focus, so we'll be training for that. But we'll add in a few 5K sessions here and there, so I'm as ready as I can be for both. But, yeah, I mean, it definitely does help focusing on one event rather than two.

00:22:22Melissa Erbacher: What does a typical week of Pat Tiernan training look like? If any of our listeners out there want to go and train like they're going to get in the Commonwealth Games, what do they have to do this week?

00:22:32Patrick Tiernan: So this week... Well, this week's a bit of a different week because it's a race week, but a standard week. So I'll have a – Monday will usually be two runs. I'll go for an hour run in the morning and a half hour run in the evening. And then in between those, I'll go to the gym and do some strength and conditioning exercises as well as some sprinting drills. And then Tuesday will be a session day. So usually we're on the track on Tuesday doing either – 800 repeats or 1K repeats. So that'll be in the morning. Then I'll go to the gym after that, do some more strength and conditioning stuff, and then a half hour on the afternoon again. Wednesday is a very enjoyable day, just the one run in the morning, usually between 50 minutes and an hour. And that's it for the day, just recovering the rest of it. And then Thursday is very similar to Monday. In fact, it's exactly the same as Monday. Friday is the same as Tuesday except instead of doing a track session, I'll probably be out on the trails doing a tempo or a longer effort sort of run. And then a half-hour run in the evening again. Saturday is probably the easiest day of the week, so I'll just go for a 45-minute run in the morning, once again a recovery day. And then Sunday is long-run day, so that'll range anywhere between 90 minutes and an hour 45. and I'll usually cover about between 22 and 26 Ks for that run. But, yeah, so that traps off my week.

00:24:04Scott Trickett: So are you enjoying it, Pat? You know, you've become a professional runner now. What's life like as a professional runner? It's not too bad.

00:24:14Patrick Tiernan: You have a lot of free time, so you've got to find ways to fill in your time and whatnot. But, no, I'm really enjoying it. I mean, I've got a great group of mates that in my practice running group and also socially just in philadelphia from some college so no i mean they're always there to hang out with and whatnot so it makes the time go pretty quickly but but honestly i mean throughout i don't actually have a whole lot of just sitting around time during the day um i mean between the runs sessions gym work uh speed work it fills in your day pretty well so i'm basically the time i have away from training i'm just trying to recover as best i can so no it works out pretty well and i'm a pretty um laid back slow going kind of guy so it's it's a lifestyle that definitely suits me but yeah while we're overseas definitely a lot of reading a lot of um if you want to know a good netflix series to watch i'm usually a guy to tell you which one to go to but um no i mean you find different things here and there to fill in your time and um I haven't got bored of it yet at all. So no, I'm really enjoying my time running for Nike.

00:25:28Scott Trickett: What about the pressure of running for Nike and the pressure to perform to effectively keep your job, I'm guessing? Is that a burden or do you thrive under that pressure?

00:25:40Patrick Tiernan: I kind of like it. I mean, I think if there wasn't any pressure to it, then there wouldn't be any sort of drive for me to try and be better so I think if there's some sort of I mean that's that's like an incentive to keep you going I guess and um make you want to get to the to the top of the top of the game so no I really enjoy it I think it's a great great environment um Nike always strive for the best out of their athletes. I was very happy to be able to sign on with them and become a part of that legacy there.

00:26:15Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of pressure, I know a lot of people in the lead-up to road races, for example, they'll stay the hell away from trails lest they roll an ankle or something. But you mentioned in your training that you head out on the trails once a week. Is that not something that you're cautious about?

00:26:35Patrick Tiernan: injury like yeah i mean i guess the um the injuries we're more worried about are overuse injuries so stress fractures and whatnot um and that tends to come a lot from doing all our kilometers on the road and um so i mean the trails are actually a very very welcome um that's a very welcome site for us um and i mean yeah you do run the risk of rolling your ankles while you're out there but Honestly, I think if you're paying attention to detail and you're doing all the little things right, it acts more as sort of a strengthening exercise for your ankles and your calves and feet running on the trails. Yeah, I think a lot of people can just get too caught up running on the road and that's what eventually can lead to overuse injuries and bone wear injuries and whatnot. Yeah. No, I mean, I'll try and run on trails as much as I can. There's not a whole lot of them up here in Toowoomba, but, yeah, there's a few that I'll try and run on at least once a week.

00:27:36Melissa Erbacher: We're a fan of trails. Scotty has difficulty staying vertical sometimes, but I'm sure he appreciates the view sometimes. Only in races, generally speaking. um speaking of overuse injuries though you also mentioned that you know you do a long run which is obviously like twice or more the distance of your 10k runs what's the benefit of doing a long run like that when you are training for speed over shorter distances um so i think that's where you're combining um

00:28:14Patrick Tiernan: you're combining sort of both areas, your aerobic and your anaerobic capacities. So a long run's a very easy way to build up your aerobic capacity without taking away too much from the anaerobic one because, yeah, so you're going to build up your anaerobic capacity in those sessions that I do on Tuesday and Friday. And so by doing a long run on Sunday, it means I don't really have to incorporate too much aerobic stuff into my Tuesday and Friday sessions. So... it's sort of, it's an easy way to take care of, of that. And it also builds up a lot of strength in your legs by, by being out there for 90 minutes or longer. So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's something that is very common amongst professional runners. I don't think there's many guys who are running the 1500 meters or above who don't do a long run. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's sort of like the bread and butter thing to do at the end of your week. Um, But, yeah, so that's the best way I can explain it for you.

00:29:11Scott Trickett: Now, your focus is obviously on the Comm Games at the moment. Can I take you back to the World Championships last year? Yeah. You had an interesting week.

00:29:21Patrick Tiernan: It was a very interesting week, yeah.

00:29:23Scott Trickett: Yeah. Let's take it back to you were out in front a long way. You led the whole pack. What was the thinking there and what was going through your mind when you were miles in front of all these? The world's best.

00:29:35Patrick Tiernan: I mean, what was going through my head was that I'm not quite as quick as them over the last 400 metres. So I was trying to do something a little different. And, yeah, I mean, it paid off. I mean, I think it would have paid off if I'd run it a little differently, approached it slightly differently. But, no, I mean, I don't regret doing it at all. I think I gave myself the best chance I could to win or medal. And at the end of the day, that's why. That's why you go to events like that. You don't go there to finish eighth or ninth. You go there to try and win it. And, yeah, that's what was going into my thought process by making that move so far out. But, yeah, I mean, as far as leading them goes, it was, I mean, I guess it didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time just because I'd raced a lot of those guys in the months leading into that race. So it was a nice little change, I guess, to be in front of them instead of trailing behind at that stage of the race. But, you know, at the end of the day, everyone's competing. Everyone's got the right to compete there and you're on even terms when that gun goes off. So... I think you've got to treat it like that when you're racing.

00:30:54Scott Trickett: So did you cop any criticism? Me as a spectator, I loved it. I loved seeing an Aussie out in front leading the rest of the world. Did people question you, your tactics? Did you cop any criticism? Like, what the hell is he doing? Yeah.

00:31:08Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, I mean, everyone's got their – everyone can sit at home and say how they would have won the world championships. Yeah. I've been sitting at home for the last three weeks saying how I would have won the one-day internationals between Australia and England, you know. But at the end of the day, I'd go out there and I'd be useless. So, no, I mean, yeah, a lot of people did have criticism for what I did. I think a lot of people thought I was a bit too bold. I went into it sort of a little arrogant as far as they saw it. But, no, I mean it. When it comes down to it, I talk to my coach, my family, my agent. And to me, they're the three people that are going to help me progress and they're all happy with how I ran it. So, yeah, I mean, their opinions are the ones that I hold the highest. So if they're all happy with it, then I'm happy with it.

00:32:09Melissa Erbacher: Isn't it funny how we all become experts when we're on the couch? I'm pretty sure I'd make an excellent figure skater. I could, like, skate rings around those guys in the Winter Olympics at the moment.

00:32:20Patrick Tiernan: So could I, mate. We just didn't get the opportunity, did we?

00:32:24Melissa Erbacher: Well, obviously, we just chose the wrong path.

00:32:27Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, we just chose the wrong sport.

00:32:32Melissa Erbacher: Now, the performance that you had, and I don't know how far out from any given race you know who your competitors are going to be, but does that sort of feed in a little bit to any kind of strategy that you do pick? Because you would be familiar with how other runners run that are sort of moving in your circles. Does it inform your strategy or do you just try to run your own race and hope that your strategy is different or going to be the winning one on the day?

00:33:02Patrick Tiernan: I mean, you've got to do a bit of both. So, obviously, you want to be able to run to the best of your ability. In order to do that, you've got to run to your strengths. But, like you said, you've also got to be able to know what your opponent's strengths and weaknesses are. So, I mean, there might be races where you've got to do something a little bit different in order to hurt them. And it might hurt you as well. But I think if you're mentally prepared to do it, there's a chance that you can catch them off guard and whatnot. So... Yeah, definitely leading into it, you look at who you're up against and you try and plan out the race to the best of your ability to win it or to put it in your favour. But, I mean, you can just never really predict what's going to happen when you're out there because realistically they're sitting at home doing the exact same thing that you're doing. So, yeah, I mean, you can go in with a plan and you go in with knowing what what your strengths are and what their weaknesses are. But I think you just try to be prepared for any sort of situation that can happen out there. Because as much as I'd love to say you can always dictate the race, you can't. But you can, I think you can adjust during the race and make it work in your favour. So, yeah, I mean, you've just got to have an open mind and do a little bit of research before you go there.

00:34:26Melissa Erbacher: A little bit off on a tangent, but sort of related. I'm always fascinated by people who go to university and they study something that's not, you know, what they're actually doing. So obviously you were running at college, but you were also studying like the book learning type stuff, but you weren't studying running. You did, you majored in math. or mathematics if you're in Australia. Was that, is that always been an interest of yours or did you think I'm going to be really good at maths and it's going to help me with my splits and my training and, you know, what was the motivation there?

00:35:02Patrick Tiernan: So, yeah, I guess with the math it wasn't, didn't have anything to do with athletics when I initially signed up for it. I was just very interested in it and studied a lot of, I loved math when I was in high school and, yeah, I mean that was just what took my interest because initially I did try to do something similar to what you were suggesting there. So I studied at the University of Queensland for a year in 2012 and I did exercise science and had these big aspirations of – being able to become a physio and being able to know um like really understand my body and whatnot and basically the degree was all based around my running career but I mean I signed up for it and just really did not enjoy it so yeah I went to the US and tried something a little different there and yeah I mean math and economics were the two things that really caught my eye um We had a big interest in them. So, yeah, I went with that and honestly had nothing to do with running. It was just something that I really enjoyed outside of it. And, yeah, it was a really pleasant break from all of it, to be honest. So, yeah.

00:36:31Melissa Erbacher: I can understand the pleasant break. Do you think having balance, like something that was so completely different to what you were absorbed in all the time with your running, helped you with your running? Like to actually have something that was a break to get away from it?

00:36:48Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, everybody needs an escape from what they're doing in order to, I mean, you can't be on the job 24-7. You know, I think people just, go a little mad when they do that so it's um no it's definitely nice to have something outside of running to keep me distracted and um yeah just i think it's it just makes you a bit of a more interesting person as well so it's um yeah nice to nice to have things to talk about outside of outside of running um when i come home at the end of the day and whatnot

00:37:27Scott Trickett: Are you looking forward to going back to Philly, Pat? I mean, they've just won the Super Bowl. I know Villanova, as I mentioned, is doing really well in the college basketball. Are you ready to go back to a town that's in party mode?

00:37:41Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, I mean, I was going to say I don't think they'll be in party mode when I'm back, but knowing Philly, they probably will still be celebrating it. I think they're still celebrating now, so. Yeah, yeah, so it probably won't change in April, but. Yeah, and I am looking forward to it. I mean, like I said before, I've got a great group of mates back there that I do miss a lot. I have a girlfriend over in New York, so I'm really looking forward to being back with her. And, yeah, just generally being back in what I would consider to be home right now. I think it's just where all my stuff is and it's the place I sort of return to all the time. Yeah. No, it'll be good to get back there and spend a couple of – I'll probably only be there a couple of months before heading out again. But, yeah, it will be nice to be back at least for a little while.

00:38:34Melissa Erbacher: Well, we've loved having you here and having a chat. But before we let you go, I do want to know what your top three picks for Netflix are.

00:38:42Patrick Tiernan: Top three picks for Netflix, all right. I mean, I'm sure you already have. But if you haven't, you've got to watch Stranger Things, seasons one and two. No, I watched one the other day. I've got to make sure I get this right. It's a foreign TV show, similar line to Stranger Things. It's called Dark. I don't know. Have you watched it at all?

00:39:03Melissa Erbacher: I haven't. We came across it the other day and it was a funny conversation because my husband and I will often just sit there for 30 minutes scrolling through different things on Netflix trying to find something we both agree on. And he literally said, oh, what do you feel like? And I said, oh, nothing dark. And he said... so not dark then he actually had it highlighted and i hadn't i hadn't been watching the tv and i was like yeah probably not that but if it's along the lines of stranger things and then i'll be in for that i was just not wanting anything that was all about uh death and killing and that sort of dark yeah i mean it's not i mean there's a little bit of death involved i won't lie to you but um but no i mean it's it's more actually to do with the main concept around it is um

00:39:49Patrick Tiernan: time travel and how it's not necessarily going back, like going back in the past can affect the future, but how the future can affect going back sort of thing. So it's a show that makes you think a lot, which I really enjoyed. But, yeah, I would definitely recommend that. And then third pick, the movie with Will Smith that they did called Bright. I thought that was great. Really enjoyed it.

00:40:17Melissa Erbacher: Really? That looks very oddball to me.

00:40:20Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, it's odd. But, I mean, I'm just a big Will Smith fan. I mean, I could have a very biased opinion there. But, yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very interesting.

00:40:32Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. I'll add it to the list.

00:40:33Patrick Tiernan: There you go.

00:40:34Scott Trickett: You've convinced me too because I've seen it there and I've just kept scrolling past it. Like, it looks interesting but then it looks a bit too weird.

00:40:41Patrick Tiernan: Yeah.

00:40:42Scott Trickett: If it's got your tick, Pat, I'll look it up this week.

00:40:46Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, I was going to say you might jump back and tell me it's weirder than you thought.

00:40:50Scott Trickett: Hey, thanks for coming on the parkrun Adventurers and having a chat to us this week. Best of luck coming up for your trials and super best of luck coming up for the Commonwealth Games in April.

00:41:04Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, no, thanks, guys. I mean, it was great to chat to you. No, it is good to be able to explain what I do to people that might not Well, people that probably won't fully understand it makes me understand what I'm doing a little better as well. So, no, I appreciate the opportunity.

00:41:21Scott Trickett: And we're going to look out on the parkrun event list to see if you can have a crack at Liam's 14.22.

00:41:28Patrick Tiernan: Yeah, I'll have to register online for it.

00:41:31Scott Trickett: Yeah, register it and then have a crack. I think you've got him covered.

00:41:35Patrick Tiernan: Sounds good.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:41:47Lyndell Murray: Good morning, parkrun Adventurers. It's Lyndell here reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew, and I'm up at the fourth anniversary of Golden Beach parkrun, where they have a pea theme. So there is lots of pink and lots of purple. I myself am head-to-toe purple, including purple zinc cream all over my face. I don't know whether anyone will want to talk to me after this, but we'll go for a run and have a chat a bit later and see if I can find anybody to interview. Okay, so Ethan and Cherie, how are you going today?

00:42:21Cherie: Let me know what you're wearing and what you've come as today. Okay, so today I have come as a princess and I'm wearing a tiara and a princess mask. I was following you out on course and because you had it on the back, it really freaked me out, can I just say? It is a bit freaky. It is a bit freaky mask. It was a bit too hot to wear on the face, so yeah, it went on the back. Yeah, you would have tripped over for sure. Yeah.

00:42:43Lyndell Murray: And how about you, Ethan? I've been dressing up as a punk. And so what have you got? I see you've got your hair all up in a mohawk and it's different colours. What colours can you remember? Purple and green. Well they sound like great colours. I myself am dressed in purple so I approve of your colour choice.

00:42:58Ethan: And that's my favourite colour.

00:43:01Lyndell Murray: Purple's my favourite colour. Hey, me too. Awesome. High five. Now, how long have you been coming to parkrun and what do you like about it?

00:43:10Ethan: Well, I've been coming to parkrun I think for, it's been 12 weeks and I like about this park is that when you run you can have fun and you can talk with your friends while running and also that I like pacing all the way up to the end and then start sprinting.

00:43:32Lyndell Murray: So you start sprinting and leave everyone behind? Kind of, yeah. Kids like you at every parkrun that I go to. How about you, Cherie? How long have you been coming to parkrun and how did you get into it?

00:43:43Cherie: Yeah, well, I've been coming to Golden Beach parkrun for 12 weeks, but I used to do Kawana parkrun a few years ago with friends, and then I decided to start back up again when my son got interested because of his friends. So, yeah, off and on, really. Excellent. And what do you like most about parkrun? I like it that you can try and beat your time every week. You're only racing against yourself and no one else. So you just try and better yourself, really, and you're running with a group of people wanting to do the same thing. And you can wear a costume every so often, right? That's right, and cake today.

00:44:17Lyndell Murray: Cake, that's always a bonus, isn't it? Well, thanks for your time today. Thanks for talking to me, and have a great Saturday. Okay, so now I've caught up with a couple of ladies in wonderful costume. What's your name and what are you dressed as? Hi, I'm Sheila and I'm a prisoner. And I'm Lisa and I'm a police officer. And thank you for waiting to talk to me. I yelled out to you on the run and said, hey, make sure you talk to me at the end.

00:44:43Sheila: Yeah, and we said, oh, there's a lady in purple with a purple face. She probably wanted to talk to us about our running technique because it's terrible.

00:44:50[laughter]

00:44:50Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER We thought you were a trainer, so we thought you were going to give us some tips on how to run better.

00:44:57Lyndell Murray: Well, as you can tell, I've finished about the same time as you, so clearly I'm not that much better a runner than you guys. We did it. Yes, we did it. Yeah, we did it.

00:45:08Sheila: 36-36, so we're happy with that.

00:45:10Lyndell Murray: We've not been for a while, but yeah, it was great. And is Golden Beach normally your home parkrun?

00:45:16Unidentified speaker: Yes, we love it here. Because the scenery along the water is beautiful. And yeah, some of it's shady, some of it's sunny. So yeah, we really love it.

00:45:25Lyndell Murray: Yeah, so that body of water is the Pumicestone Passage, which is perfect for the Peapark one today. Oh yes, that's right. Did you click?

00:45:32Unidentified speaker: No! And we were joking that you wanted to do a pantomime when we got back.

00:45:39Lyndell Murray: well i mean you're a policeman chasing your prisoner and you did catch her but i've noticed that you didn't actually handcuff her so you had all the gear you got a gun you got handcuffs and you've got your ball and chain so just just describe what you're wearing and what you've got on

00:45:55Unidentified speaker: I am in a blue officer shirt, sort of, with a badge attached to me and I have a black belt which was holding my gun and the handcuffs and wearing a police hat. Excellent.

00:46:09Sheila: And how about you as a prisoner? I've been very sadly, my husband won't even stand with me, coloured in some black marker pen stripes on an old t-shirt and written something on the back that says...

00:46:20Unidentified speaker: golden beach parkrun fourth anniversary prisoner and then it's got your running number if found return to prison you should have said if found return to park one that would have been a happier ending wouldn't it i don't know prison's not too bad eh

00:46:38Sheila: I don't know, I've never been. Well I've been coming here for on and off four years now because I had a stroke about five years ago so I decided to get back to running. So I've been on and off but Lisa and I have been coming probably for a good year now because we're running buddies and we live near each other so I just love the community feel that people really support you. and my time's always around this generally but i don't think it matters how fast you go as long as you're moving so and i think everybody just motivates you and dressing up is just a bit of fun isn't it i love the parkruns and yeah i love the community spirit and doing it with us yeah we do it all the time together yeah well it's a great philosophy which is another p word for the parkrun anniversary today

00:47:20Lyndell Murray: You're on fire. I was trying to think of a P word. It's just perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Well, thank you, ladies, for participating today and for being such good sports for the podcast. I think I should stop now because I think I'm running out of P words. But thanks very much and see you next time at Golden Beach. Thank you. Thank you very much. No, we need a P. A P, yeah. Yeah. Now, I've found the fiercest parkrun pirates going around at Golden Beach today. I've got Ian and Daryl.

00:47:55Daryl: Hey, how are you?

00:47:58Lyndell Murray: How are you blokes today? And how's your run?

00:48:01Daryl: Yeah, it's very good. Very good run. Yeah. I'm a walker.

00:48:06Lyndell Murray: Excellent. That's okay.

00:48:06Ian: Yeah, the wooden leg, you know, playing up.

00:48:08Lyndell Murray: Your wooden leg's playing up? Yeah. Well, that's a good... Big leg.

00:48:12Ian: Yeah.

00:48:14Lyndell Murray: Did you manage to find a parrot?

00:48:17Ian: No, no, the parrot guy wasn't here today.

00:48:20Lyndell Murray: There was a pelican out there though.

00:48:21Ian: Oh, there's plenty of them, yeah.

00:48:24Lyndell Murray: And are you regulars here at Golden Beach Park one?

00:48:26Daryl: We certainly are. Been here a few years now.

00:48:29Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And regular most Saturdays?

00:48:31Daryl: Yes. Yeah. Done over a hundred runs.

00:48:35Lyndell Murray: Over a hundred runs. Excellent.

00:48:37Ian: About 40.

00:48:38Lyndell Murray: You're up to about 40, Ian?

00:48:40Ian: 40, yep.

00:48:40Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And why did you decide to come dressed as pirates today?

00:48:45Ian: Because it was a pee day. The ladies told us. The ladies told us.

00:48:51Lyndell Murray: Oh, the ladies told us.

00:48:52Ian: So they're all dressed as princesses.

00:48:55Lyndell Murray: So they're princesses, you're pirates, and you've got your eye patches and your bandanas and you're all decked out in black and you've got your wooden legs. That's it.

00:49:03Daryl: As you can see, they dress this.

00:49:09Lyndell Murray: Perfect. And what do you like best about parkrun?

00:49:13Daryl: It's just a community. It's really good to get together and do the parkrun. And everybody seems to come as regulars, so it's really good.

00:49:20Ian: That's great. We'll get together later on for a coffee and a chat that seems to go on forever. Yeah, it's very good.

00:49:26Lyndell Murray: Excellent. So a nice community here at Golden Beach Park. And certainly I'm visiting here and the course is beautiful. Do you find you get very many visitors?

00:49:35Ian: Yeah, you get a lot in the holidays. Yeah, very busy. We've just done one in Queanbeyan. Oh. And there's a couple of hills that are pretty cruel. And they say, go through the letters of the alphabet. To earn your Q, you really do earn it. Yeah. At Queen Behan. Thank you.

00:49:53Lyndell Murray: Yeah, right.

00:49:53Daryl: The numbers can go from 200 to 300 people to the visitors. So, yeah, the numbers can come up to 300 people to the visitors.

00:50:00Lyndell Murray: Yeah, wow.

00:50:00Daryl: So there's quite a few turn up.

00:50:02Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Now, since you've mentioned the Alphabet Club, I will have to mention the Pirate Club. Do you know about the parkrun Pirate Club and are you guys parkrun Pirates?

00:50:12Ian: We are this week. We might get adopted into that. Yeah. Yeah, I have heard something. Yeah.

00:50:20Lyndell Murray: there's quite a few that we're learning about yes yeah there is so um but not pirates at this point in time no it's a bit of it you've got to travel a bit because you need seven season so there's it's a bit of traveling all right then well thanks very much um for dressing up thanks for your wives and partners for dressing up and we'll see you next time i'm at golden beach thank you very much we will we'll be there somewhere All right, so Rochelle is here. Rochelle is the event director. How are you today? How did your fourth anniversary go?

00:50:52Rochelle: It went really well, thanks, Lyndell. We had, oh, I think we're up to about 300 and something now. We've still got a few people coming through the funnel. So, yeah, it's been a great success. Cake, everyone loves cake.

00:51:04Lyndell Murray: Everyone loves cake. Everyone loves costumes too. So there's a lot of pink. There's a lot of princesses, quite a few pirates. And what else was there out there? Lots of purple. And yourself, now I'm getting a peace theme here. Is that where you're going, Rochelle?

00:51:21Rochelle: Peace out. It's what parkrun's all about.

00:51:23Lyndell Murray: It sure is. So, your anniversary, you got a few extra than you'd normally get on a normal parkrun day?

00:51:31Rochelle: Yeah, generally. On the 6th of January, we had 377, which has been our course attendance record. So, we haven't hit that today, but it's well up there. So, yeah, plenty of people.

00:51:43Lyndell Murray: Yes, plenty of people on your P parkrun. And being on the Sunshine Coast, the beautiful Sunshine Coast here on Queensland, that's why you get the tourists during tourist season, yeah? Yeah.

00:51:52Rochelle: That's right. We get a lot of tourists through Victoria. We had Melbourne, Sydney today. We had a few England. We tend to see a few people coming from England. So, yeah.

00:52:01Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And your nearest park one for here is how far away?

00:52:06Rochelle: Well, not far. It's got Kawana and Brightwater, which is about a 10 to 15 minute drive up the road. And then Central Lakes is the one south of us.

00:52:18Lyndell Murray: Excellent.

00:52:18Rochelle: So a few not too far away, but they're still a little bit sparse on the Sunshine Coast. Yeah, we're keen to get another one down this end. So, yeah, we're piquing interest at the moment from community and seeing if anyone out there would like to start one.

00:52:30Lyndell Murray: Oh, just a tip. It would be great for you to get a Caloundra for your seven Cs. So for the pirate club, because I'm up to six Cs and an R, and I need to go to either Coffs Harbour or Cairns to get a C. Oh, we need Caloundra. What about Caloundra West?

00:52:46Rochelle: Oh. either will be as long as it starts with c i'm in all right now how did you get into parkrun yourself are you a runner and how long have you been involved how did you go yeah i'm certainly not a runner well i am now but i wasn't i um i started going to kawana because i had my first bub she was 10 months old i thought i probably need to do something for my um mental health right now so i started going to kawana parkrun and quite quickly um noticed that I was driving there every Saturday and why do I need to drive when we could have one in our own community down this end? So a bunch of us, including my dad and some best friends, got together and started it up. So yeah, it's a really supportive community. We've got loads of people that help out every single weekend.

00:53:28Lyndell Murray: And had you done much volunteering before you started to start this one?

00:53:32Rochelle: I had actually through university. While I was studying, I did some volunteering, but nothing quite like this. So Yeah.

00:53:39Lyndell Murray: Well, look, just from being here this morning and having a chat to some of the parkrunners, the regular ones, it's clear to me that you've been really successful at building a really nice community feel here. And look, we say that about all the parkruns, but it comes from you guys who started to just get that friendship groups going and the coffee afterwards. So well done.

00:53:57Rochelle: Thanks, Lyndell.

00:53:58Lyndell Murray: Thanks for everything that you've done for parkrun here in Golden Beach.

00:54:02Rochelle: Oh, thank you very much, Lindahl.

00:54:04Lyndell Murray: See you later. See you. All right, that's it. Golden Beach parkrun anniversary done. I've run the course. I've had some cake, chatted about costumes, and now I think it's time for a coffee. What can I say? The course, beautiful coastal course along the Pumicestone Passage on the southern end of the Sunshine Coast. Great place to come if you're touristing around in southern Queensland or the Sunshine Coast at any time. See you next time, guys, on the podcast.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:54:39Melissa Ellis: Hello parkrunners, it's Melissa here from the Nill Launch. Nill is a little town in the Victorian Wimmera area. It's located about halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide. We've got a small crowd building here this morning and I've found Patsy. Patsy, where are you from?

00:54:59Patsy: We're from Tweed Heads. We're from the Twin Town Running and Walking Club, which is actually based in Tweed Heads. It's affiliated with the... Tweed Heads Services Club. Okay, and has parkrun brought you here today to Nhill? Well, yes, but as a bonus along the way, we've all been to Bellarine down at Portarlington and done the Bellarine Sunset Run.

00:55:24Melissa Ellis: Brilliant. I was there last week too. It was a wonderful event. It's a great event. So you've got the nice blue tops. How many of you are here? I can see quite a few.

00:55:32Patsy: I think there's about 10 of us here. There could be between 10 and 12 of us here. Wonderful. Well, have a good run. Okay. Super. Lovely to be here. Thank you.

00:55:43Melissa Ellis: Okay, I'm out on course now. We're just passing beautiful little still... Is this the swamp?

00:55:49Bruce: This is Lake Nhill.

00:55:51Melissa Ellis: Lake Mill. Oh, sorry. I do beg your pardon. And I've got Bruce here. Bruce is the ambassador for the area. That's right. Yep. Yep. And we've got a nice little turnout today, Bruce.

00:56:00Bruce: I reckon we're just going to hit 100 today here at Mill, which is absolutely fantastic. This event was originally a walking event with about 13 people. And now, with the launch, we've suddenly hit 100, I reckon.

00:56:12Melissa Ellis: That's great. So did you have a group of locals that walked here regularly?

00:56:16Bruce: So the lady who is the event director, Bev, she's 80 years old and she had a group of friends who used to come together every weekend. And they'd simply walk around and have a cup of coffee afterwards, which is very much the parkrun model. And, of course, you heard about parkrun, and this is where we are 12 months later.

00:56:33Melissa Ellis: That's brilliant. And you've obviously done a few tourist runs yourself.

00:56:38Bruce: Yeah, I'm one of those people who's addicted to parkrun, and, yeah, you'll see my ugly face at a lot of events.

00:56:44Melissa Ellis: I saw you at Bright. Oh, yeah. And you're sporting the lovely red 50 shirt today.

00:56:50Bruce: Yeah, aiming for the 100, as we all do. That's a few runs away. Okay, thanks very much, Bruce. You're welcome.

00:56:58Melissa Ellis: Okay, so the event's finished now. We've had a great morning here and I've got the event director with me, Bev. How are you, Bev?

00:57:04Bev: I'm fantastic, thank you. And how did it go this morning? Oh, I'm thrilled to bits. Absolutely thrilled to bits.

00:57:09Melissa Ellis: Yes, how many numbers did you get?

00:57:11Bev: There was 104 runners and we had probably 12 volunteers, so about 116 all up. I think it's going to be a really strong community here. Hopefully, it will grow.

00:57:20Melissa Ellis: Your course is beautiful. Yes, we're happy with it. I'd call it a trail. Yes, yes. Double out and back. And you've put on the eggs and bacon here for us this morning, which we appreciate.

00:57:30Bev: That's lovely.

00:57:31Melissa Ellis: We had to feed all these wonderful visitors who came. Yeah. And you've got quite a good story yourself about travelling for parkrun, I heard at the start.

00:57:39Bev: Well, yes. I first became involved in parkrun in Kingscliff probably three years ago and thought how wonderful it was. Didn't think I would ever be able to start it here. Said to my daughter and son-in-law it would be great for Nhill, but didn't think it would ever happen. And as we travelled home, I saw all these little towns that had... What do you call it? Walking parts. Yep. And we had nothing in nil. So that's sort of where I started. And then my little granddaughter, two years ago, came home. She'd been up there and she had done it and she was so excited. And she said, Nana, we've got to have a parkrun in nil. So that was the thing that really said, right, we have to go. That's good. Yep.

00:58:21Melissa Ellis: So you're doing it for the next generation to have the benefit for. Yes. That's great. Well, thank you very much for talking to me, Bev.

00:58:28Bev: You're welcome.

00:58:29Melissa Ellis: And that's a wrap from me. Melissa, signing off from Neil.

00:58:32Melissa Erbacher: A whole bunch of awesome roving reports this week. Thank you to Lyndell, who was at Golden Beach's fourth anniversary, since I obviously couldn't be there. Fortunately, we had a roving reporter on the ground. I knew she was going as well, so I failed to mention a little bit earlier that after I called Rochelle, I sent Lyndell a message to say, I'm sorry, I won't be able to catch up with you because I'm not going to be there. But she did a great job. And Melissa Ellis was at Nil Launch, which sounded like it was awesome. And congratulations to Bev. That's another one out in the sticks that's going to get a great community around it. So awesome job out there.

Dad joke

00:59:11Scott Trickett: Wouldn't it be funny if one week they don't get anyone to come to parkrun?

00:59:17Melissa Erbacher: Like any of the parkruns ever.

00:59:20Scott Trickett: No, no, no, no. At nil. Like they had nil parkrunners.

00:59:24Melissa Erbacher: Oh, God, Scotty. I'm not sure they would think it was funny, but yes, I get your dad joke. Nice. Nice work popping that one in there.

00:59:36Scott Trickett: Hey, so it's episode 99, Mel.

00:59:39Melissa Erbacher: It is, Scotty.

00:59:41Scott Trickett: Episode 100 next week. So it's, in a way, it's the end. of something. It's the end of me naming my files with two digits.

00:59:51Melissa Erbacher: It is. It's the end of the two digits. Yeah.

00:59:53Scott Trickett: So we're moving into a different, we're moving into a new phase next week. And one thing that I think this will be the end of Where's the Cake? Because while I've mentioned before, I don't really like cake.

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

01:00:06Melissa Erbacher: You have mentioned that from time to time. You're a donuts guy.

01:00:09Scott Trickett: I'm a donuts guy. But then I know some people don't like donuts, and I know that there's not donuts at every anniversary. So for maybe just one last time, I'm going to ask, where's the cake?

01:00:22Melissa Erbacher: This week, the cake is likely to be at Dalby in Queensland, Darebin in Victoria, Kirra in Queensland, and Wyndham Vale in Victoria.

01:00:34Scott Trickett: Hey, you've already mentioned you're going to Kira, so you're getting your party gear on again. I'm going to Darabin, so we're going to celebrate on Saturday. Yep.

01:00:44Melissa Erbacher: But there are also a couple of launches, some new events joining the team, and even though we've already got two anniversaries in each of Queensland and Victoria this weekend, next year we're going to have three.

01:00:56Scott Trickett: Yes, because Plantation parkrun, funny name. Where's Plantation parkrun, Mel? It's in Queensland, Scotty. Whereabouts in Queensland? Big State?

01:01:05Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I knew you were going to ask me this because I don't actually know where Plantation is.

01:01:10Scott Trickett: Well, let me fill in the gap. It's in Eyre.

01:01:15Melissa Erbacher: Ooh.

01:01:15Scott Trickett: Yeah.

01:01:16Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Yes, that makes sense. Northern Queensland.

01:01:19Scott Trickett: Yep. Far north Queensland, parkrun. Nice and hot and sticky up there for their launch.

01:01:25Melissa Erbacher: And there's another one of Vicky. Yep. Rosebud. You tell me where Rosebud is. Well, maybe I should tell you where Rosebud is.

01:01:32Scott Trickett: I tell you where the events are in Queensland. You tell me where they are in Victoria. That makes sense.

01:01:38Melissa Erbacher: In some kind of weird upside down world, that might make sense. Yeah. Rosebud is in the general area of – help me out here, Scotty. You're not helping.

01:01:58Scott Trickett: So Rosebud is on the Mornington Peninsula. So it's a good holiday hotspot in summer. Lots of Melbournian families venture down there for their summer holidays. And again, filling a nice gap in the part of Melbourne.

01:02:15Melissa Erbacher: Cool. Well, that will be good fun, I've no doubt.

01:02:19Scott Trickett: Yeah, lots of people are excited. 71 to the trial over the weekend, so I think they're ready to launch this week.

Shout-outs

01:02:29Melissa Erbacher: And speaking of fun, we want to give a couple of shout-outs to some people. So our roving adventurer and Channel 5 News crew member, TOC, did a bit of a big deal of a race this weekend, as did Central Lakes parkrun event director, Tina Kirwan. And there's a whole other bunch of parkrunners who are over in New Zealand at the moment. And they did the Tarawera Trail Marathon, which I understand was just between 60 to 100 kilometers of mud.

01:03:00Scott Trickett: Took him a long time, like some of the finishing times. I know Toc did it in 14 hours and got a top three. He was on the podium for his age category.

01:03:09Ethan: Oh, well done, Toc.

01:03:11Scott Trickett: Double kudos there, but like 14 hours on your feet. Come on.

01:03:16Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, and I'm not entirely sure they were on their feet all that time. I think a lot of it they were sort of slipping sideways down muddy mountains. So, you know, the whole sides of their body were probably...

01:03:29Scott Trickett: being utilized i think i went for my long run on sunday and it was two hours and i didn't feel like doing it another six times after that up mountains and in mud yeah yeah speaking of which scotty how is your marathon training going are you having people ask you thanks for thanks for asking me you're not the first But it's going really well. I'm on track. I think I'm into week three. And I did miss one session.

01:03:58Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:03:59Scott Trickett: That were for reasons outside of my control.

01:04:02Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:04:04Scott Trickett: But as the coach says, just let it go. Like, you're not going to make it up.

01:04:09Melissa Erbacher: No, you can't catch up on those sorts of things.

01:04:12Scott Trickett: No. So I did. I just let it go. And luckily it wasn't a super crucial session, so...

01:04:19Melissa Erbacher: And this far out, I imagine, you know, missing the odd one or two. They're not super crucial, as long as you don't make a habit of it.

01:04:25Scott Trickett: Absolutely. But really enjoying it, really enjoying the idea of every day, my thought process is, how do I get my run in today? And with that mentality, I know that my rest day can fall on a day where everything goes to crap and I can't get out. So thanks for asking. Thanks for asking.

01:04:44Melissa Erbacher: That's my pleasure.

01:04:45Scott Trickett: Are you on track for your unicorn virtual run?

01:04:49Melissa Erbacher: Oh, my Unicorn Virtual Run's all done and dusted. The medal is winging its way to me as we speak. In fact, it might even be at the PO Box by now. So I have another one in March, which is the Time Lord one. But for February, I'm just trying to move. I'm just trying to remember to get out and make time to move because I really need to keep moving this month. But speaking of moving... We have one of our listeners who moves about 20 kilometers a day in his day job. His name is Pommy Andy and we're giving you a shout out, Pommy Andy, because you're binge listening to us at the rate of three episodes per day at the moment. You've gone back and started at episode one. We love binge listeners. I think we mentioned early on, I believe it was episode 12, we mentioned if you've just started listening and you're binge listening, welcome. But anyone who's starting now at Episode 99, it's a great episode to start at. We encourage it. So well done, Pommy Andy.

01:05:56Scott Trickett: Yeah, I do worry about the binge listeners. I have one concern. Mel, I don't think we've got the greatest memories. So I wonder if we've said stuff like one episode and then completely forgotten it and brought it up again or mentioned it, that we were going to do it and we never did it. I think we might have done a bit of that.

01:06:18Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know what, Scotty? Something else that got mentioned in episode 12, which is pertinent to this episode, is you promised. You promised something. Would you like me to play what you promised so you can hear what you promised and you can remember and you can make good? Okay. Are you ready?

01:06:38[other]

01:06:38Scott Trickett: Yeah. I tell you what, if it's not in German, I don't sing it.

01:06:44Melissa Erbacher: Somebody asked me if you knew 99 Red Balloons.

01:06:49Scott Trickett: I'm going to save that for episode 99.

01:06:51Melissa Erbacher: Oh, yes. I can't wait. It's going to be a long two years to get there, but looking forward to it.

01:07:02Lyndell Murray: Excellent.

01:07:07Melissa Erbacher: Now, do you need the lyrics, Scotty? Would you like me to Google and send you the lyrics?

01:07:16Scott Trickett: No, no, I'm sure I can do that.

01:07:17Melissa Erbacher: We'll go for it.

01:07:18Scott Trickett: Come on.

01:07:19Melissa Erbacher: I'm ready. I'm ready. I think all our listeners are ready too.

01:07:27Scott Trickett: Wow. Well, look, because I obviously didn't think we would ever make it this far.

01:07:34Lyndell Murray: Oh, I love your faith in us.

01:07:40Scott Trickett: And in celebration of making it this far, Maybe it's best for our listeners if I don't.

01:07:47Melissa Erbacher: No, that is not best for our listeners. This is what they want, Scotty.

01:07:53Scott Trickett: I'm sure of it. Episode 12. Yep. Have you been holding on to that since episode 12, or did you go back and binge listen this week?

01:08:04Melissa Erbacher: I may have had a gentle nudge from some people, but I did make a mental note of it at the time too. So, yeah.

01:08:13Scott Trickett: Okay. Okay. Hey, look at the time. We've got to go. This has been a long episode. Mel, thank you again. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

01:08:22Melissa Erbacher: Well, thank you for joining me for Episode 99, Scotty. It has been a wonderful 99 episodes.

01:08:29Scott Trickett: It has. Can't wait to crack the ton next week.

01:08:50[music]

01:08:50Scott Trickett: Hast du es verseid für mich? Singelig von lieb für dich von 99 Luftballons. Und fiel man weg zum Horizont, das gefallen gerade nackt. Singelig von lieb für dich von 99 Luftballons. Und das war so. [German: "Then I'll sing a song for you about 99 balloons. (sung; garbled rendering of "Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich von 99 Luftballons")"] [German: "Then I'll sing a song for you about 99 balloons."] [German: "And that's how it was."] [translation uncertain]