Episode 100 - Lyndell Murray

Episode details · 387 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:16Melissa Erbacher: We made it, Scotty. We're in triple digits. Welcome everybody else to the parkrun Adventurers episode 100. I'm hoping you've all had a good week. Have you had a good week, Scotty?

00:00:31Scott Trickett: Next question.

00:00:33Melissa Erbacher: Next question.

00:00:34Scott Trickett: Are you all in black? Are we wearing black tonight? Today? This morning?

00:00:39Melissa Erbacher: Are you looking at me in a camera?

00:00:43Scott Trickett: I have intuition. I'm plugged in, Mel.

00:00:48Melissa Erbacher: You're plugged in. I think I might have to cover up my camera. I didn't think we had camera stuff going on. That could be awkward. Yeah, I am all in black. Black for the hundred. And it was completely inadvertent. I did not mean to do that. Are you wearing all black?

00:01:04Scott Trickett: No black whatsoever.

00:01:06Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Well, you dropped the ball there, didn't you?

00:01:10Scott Trickett: Hey, speaking of, speaking of black.

00:01:15Melissa Erbacher: Yeah?

00:01:16Unidentified speaker: No.

00:01:18Melissa Erbacher: Where are we going with this?

00:01:21Scott Trickett: Let's start on a somber note. Have you ever thought about your own funeral, Mel?

00:01:25Melissa Erbacher: I have, yes.

00:01:26Scott Trickett: Would you wear black to you? Would you want everybody to wear black at your funeral?

00:01:30Melissa Erbacher: No. My husband and my family and my close friends are all very well aware that I fully expect everybody to be in costume. It's not going to have a particular theme. I just want them to be in the costume that they like. So, I mean, a lot of people only have one costume. Pretty much everyone I know has at least one costume. So they should be able to find something to wear. And, yeah.

00:01:55Scott Trickett: Yeah, I like that idea. So me and my wife had this conversation the other night about our funerals. And I have one condition that everybody, all the men, have to attend my funeral in shorts. And so I like the way you're thinking that everyone has to do it in costume. But they can be colourful shorts. Or they can be black shorts, as long as they are shorts.

00:02:18Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Okay. I see where you're going with that. That's very you. Do you think it's a bit inconsiderate of us as the dearly departed to expect people to potentially be uncomfortable in what they're wearing if they feel like they should be more traditionally respectful and wear other clothing?

00:02:38Scott Trickett: Well, but it's our funerals, Mel.

00:02:41Melissa Erbacher: It is. It's about us, isn't it? Yes. We can be selfish this one last time.

00:02:45Scott Trickett: I think so. I think you don't. Attending a funeral is one of the selfless.

00:02:50Melissa Erbacher: Shittiest things anyone ever has to do. Yeah.

00:02:52Scott Trickett: And I think you do it for the person who has passed, not for yourself. But this podcast, we ain't going nowhere.

00:03:00Melissa Erbacher: Not yet anyway.

00:03:01Scott Trickett: We've got to 100 and we're going to crack on.

00:03:03Melissa Erbacher: Do you reckon we'll make it to the green shirt? Do you think we'll have this conversation in like three years' time and be like, 100, that was so long ago.

00:03:12Scott Trickett: Well, I know that you're keeping track of everything I say after last week. So I'm going to go on the record and say no. No.

00:03:26Melissa Erbacher: No, to 250.

00:03:27Scott Trickett: I don't know, three more years?

00:03:30Melissa Erbacher: Well, it's a big commitment. It is. I understand. I'm not going to hold you to a definitive yes, but I'm going to take your no as a maybe. What do you think? To be honest, I had not thought that far ahead. I don't even know what age I'm going to be in three years' time, let alone whether or not I'll be podcasting.

00:03:50Scott Trickett: Exactly.

00:03:53Melissa Erbacher: Certainly will be parkrun adventuring though. I can tell you that for sure.

00:03:57Scott Trickett: Did you adventure on the weekend?

00:03:59Melissa Erbacher: I did. Last weekend, it was Kirra parkrun's anniversary. So I chuffed off down to the Sunshine Coast. Not the Sunshine Coast. That's where I am. To the Gold Coast this time and knocked off another one of their events down there. And you know what? I know we've had Em Niko on the show before. Sidebar, she did not change the theme to something that would be more appropriate for the costume that I had purchased for the week before. Mm-hmm.

00:04:25Scott Trickett: Did you bring it up with her?

00:04:26Melissa Erbacher: But I'm not going to hold that against her. No, I didn't. I didn't. She would have had a lot on her mind. The cake was excellent, though, that they had. Very tasty. I may have had three pieces, but we won't talk about it. Well, you know, you don't. The ED doesn't want to take all that cake home, so you have to do your bit for the team. I'm getting off on a tangent again. Distracted. What was I talking about? Oh, yes. So I know we've had Em on the show before and heard about the course and everything, but I just want to reiterate how beautiful it is. It reminded me a lot of my home parkrun. except that it had wider paths and a little bit less shade but lots of beautiful vistas of the ocean and sunshine and happiness that's like those three words ocean sunshine and happiness that was what my parkrun experience was on saturday

00:05:22Scott Trickett: It is a nice spot. I have run the parkrun there as well. And we have friends who live up there. It's the closest event to where we usually stay. And, yep, there's no arguing. It's a great little stretch. Great little stretch of path to run along.

00:05:38Melissa Erbacher: But you went to some place with some celebrations for an anniversary too, didn't you, Scotty?

00:05:42Scott Trickett: Yeah, we celebrated one year of Darabin parkrun, which... It was fun, you know, a great morning, really enjoyed it. Naturally running with some friends and I let myself down a little bit. The theme was country, bring a little bit of country to Darabin.

00:06:00Melissa Erbacher: Ooh. That could have been so much fun. I know.

00:06:03Scott Trickett: It could have been, but I didn't do anything to dress up.

00:06:06Melissa Erbacher: Oh.

00:06:07Scott Trickett: So I was just with Kasia and myself this week, and we didn't get dressed up, and we were both commenting on the way home that we should have got dressed up.

00:06:14Melissa Erbacher: We wish you had. Yeah.

00:06:18Scott Trickett: Because I do own flannel. But no, definitely a fun morning at Darabin, and great to see that event grow over a year from where we started. Awesome. Awesome.

00:06:34Melissa Erbacher: We are super excited and amped this morning to be talking to a very special guest. You'll recognise the voice because she is one of our very own Channel 5 news crew. Lyndell Murray, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast.

00:06:51Lyndell Murray: Thanks, Mel. It's a bit of a surprise to be here, but I'm happy to be here.

00:06:58Melissa Erbacher: Glad to hear it. Where do we start? Lyndell, you've been on the show. Do you remember when your first episode, your first roving report was?

00:07:08Lyndell Murray: I don't actually. I remember contacting you and saying, do I need any special equipment or skills or experience to be a roving reporter? And before I knew it, I was recording one, but I actually don't remember where it was from.

00:07:22Melissa Erbacher: Do you remember, did we tell you that our standards were very low, so anything you could do would be amazing?

00:07:30Lyndell Murray: You told me all I needed was a phone and a voice really, so I thought, oh, well, I can give this a crack. I like talking to people and hopefully they'll talk to me, so I'll just give it a go.

00:07:43Scott Trickett: But give it a go you have. How have you found the experience of walking up to people you don't know at parkrun, shoving a phone in their face and asking them questions?

00:07:54Lyndell Murray: I actually really enjoy it. The reason why I started doing the roving reports is that mainly because of my organizational tendency to not really plan too far ahead. I would often make very late decisions to go to different parkruns, like late on a Friday night. And so I didn't have anyone to go with me because it was too late at nine o'clock to say, hey, do you want to come to this new parkrun with me to any of my friends? So I'd quite often find myself traveling by myself to different runs. And So doing the roving reports was a good excuse, actually, to go up and have a chat. I mean, parkruns are always really friendly and people are happy to talk to you. But for me, I guess just having a reason to go up and talk to people made it a bit easier for me to do that.

00:08:40Scott Trickett: But the other thing is, Lyndell, you're really good at it. So do you have a background in this or are you just a really friendly, happy, nice person?

00:08:49[laughter]

00:08:49Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:08:52Lyndell Murray: Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just a really friendly, happy person. I did work in radio for a little while a few years ago, but I never really interviewed people. I just used to do live crosses from places. So maybe I've got a bit of a background, but I'm not a journalist or anything like that.

00:09:15Melissa Erbacher: I love that you use it as a means of meeting new people on your adventures. Have you had a lot of fun since you started roving reporting?

00:09:24Lyndell Murray: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's kind of funny. Now people are like, oh, you're Lyndell. I know who you are, which is really surprising. So that's kind of fun as well. But, yeah, I mean, I don't think I've ever had anyone say no, that they didn't want to talk to me on the podcast. Um, even if they don't listen to the podcast and I've never heard of it, they're always happy to have a chat. So, um, I guess that's just another, um, you know, another way that you can tell how friendly parkrunners are in general.

00:09:59Scott Trickett: Can we go back and find out your parkrun story, Lyndell? How did you first hear about it and when did you first go?

00:10:08Lyndell Murray: uh yeah so i had a look back at my results and the first time i went to parkrun was back in 2012 at new farm parkrun so um i remember coming across new farm parkrun when i was on one of my long runs on a saturday morning and i saw it there a couple of times in new farm park and on the i think the second or third time i thought i need to find out what this is so i just went up and had a chat to one of the marshals and said, what's going on? What's parkrun? And found out what it was and she said, oh, they've just started. You could join them if you like. And I thought, oh, there's no way I'll be able to catch everybody, so I won't do that. Maybe I'll just put it in my back pocket and think about it for another time. Um, and then not long after that, one of my friends sort of contacted me and said that she was interested in starting running and wanted to do a parkrun and would I go with her? And so we did, we registered and went along to New Farm parkrun and yeah, that that's, that's how we got into it. And interestingly, that lady that I spoke to at New Farm parkrun is now a regular run director at my now home parkrun of Bunyaville. It's just a really nice connection that I have with Tess Odsey, one of the run directors there.

00:11:30Melissa Erbacher: Of all the people you could have a chat to about parkrun, Tess is one of the ones that will suck you in, that's for sure.

00:11:38Lyndell Murray: Yes, she was really enthusiastic. said, go, you can catch them. Go, go. Join in now. You don't need to be registered. But I was a bit too overwhelmed to do that. So I waited for next time. And I recognised her immediately when I first turned up to Bunyaville. I thought, I'm pretty sure that's that lady from New Farm. And sure enough, it was. So... So that's that.

00:12:03Melissa Erbacher: It's a small parkrun world. So 2012, the first event for you, that's, you know, quite a while ago in parkrun history. What's the story been since then? Have you been one of those people who uses the cliche that they were hooked kind of thing? Or did you just dabble a little bit to start with before you got really involved?

00:12:26Lyndell Murray: Yeah, I did really just dabble for quite a while. At the time I was training for sort of long distance triathlons and a 5K run on a Saturday morning just didn't quite fit with my training schedule at the time. So it was a bit tricky to fit it in at the time. But then when I stopped doing so many long distance triathlons and started doing trail running, I then discovered Bunyaville parkrun and started getting back into it and You know, Bunyaville isn't the closest parkrun to my house. There's lots of others between my home and my home parkrun. So I started going to different events and just really enjoying that. And yeah, I've probably been doing more parkruns just in the last few years than I did earlier on.

00:13:21Scott Trickett: Now, sometimes you miss a parkrun because you are involved. You are still involved in the triathlon world. What is your involvement there? Because you're kind of a big deal, aren't you? I've seen you in an official uniform.

00:13:36Lyndell Murray: I volunteer as a triathlon technical official and I officiate at local events but I also officiate at international standard events and it's funny that you say that I miss events. I missed Devonport parkrun just on the weekend because I was down refereeing at the World Paratriathlon and Oceania Championships down in Devonport this weekend and parkrun was like literally 50 metres away and I couldn't go. So that was probably the closest I've been to a parkrun and not done one ever. So that was quite disappointing because I don't have a Tasmanian parkrun. I would have loved to have got one of those for the Peel Club but it wasn't to be.

00:14:21Scott Trickett: So you've obviously got a love for this triathlon business. Explain exactly what a technical judge does at triathlons. I'm curious.

00:14:33Lyndell Murray: Yeah, okay. So we're like the – there's a few different roles. I guess the main role we have is to make sure that triathlons that have been sanctioned by Triathlon Australia or by the International Triathlon Union are run – to the standards that are required both from a safety perspective in terms of making sure that the course is appropriate and people are not going to hurt themselves going down big hills on the bike or tripping over things on the run course and things like that. So there's definitely a safety perspective to it. But there's also a fairness perspective. So what we do is we enforce the rules of triathlon. triathlon seems like a pretty simple sport where you just swim a bit and cycle a bit and then go for a run but there's actually quite a lot of rules to triathlon that we make sure that competitors follow and obviously that differs you know if it's a corporate triathlon or a kids triathlon we're pretty lenient with the rules I guess that's more about participation a little bit more like parkrun but As you get to sort of state championships, national championships and international elite competitions, you have to be a little bit more particular about the rules aspect. And that's when sort of there's a bit more pressure, I guess, to do the right thing and uphold those kind of standards as well. So it can be pretty tough from that perspective as well.

00:16:05Melissa Erbacher: What kind of rules are we talking about? Because I know I've been to like a cross-country triathlon and there were some young kids participating and one had like unzipped his cycle shirt or something like that and it was flapping open and they completely freaked out about that and said it wasn't appropriate and he wasn't allowed to cross the finish line until he did his shirt up. Is that one of those kind of rules? Yeah.

00:16:30Lyndell Murray: yikes it is one of the rules you do you have to have your torso covered in a triathlon um so what's that all about um real look i there's a couple of reasons why that's a why that's the case obviously if you have a stack um off the bike or on the run and you don't have any covering on then there's a bit of a safety issue um but part of it i think is also about the um the look of the sport people the the You know, we want people to look neat and tidy and so therefore having a torso covered is appropriate. The other aspect is gender equality because obviously women do have to have their torso covered for reasons of, you know, I guess public decency and so therefore men have to as well.

00:17:20Melissa Erbacher: Thank you for explaining that. What other kind of rules do they – so do you have a lot of people that break those rules that the – I guess, higher levels, the more elite levels?

00:17:33Lyndell Murray: No. Look, interestingly, as the seriousness of the competition increases, there are generally less rule infringements because people who are competing at the elite level, it's their livelihood. So they make sure that they know the rules and their coaches make sure that they stop at the penalty box to serve any time penalties and that kind of thing. Probably the the hardest is sort of in between where you've got the young juniors sort of starting off in their, you know, precursor to their elite careers and they haven't quite got all the protocol right and sometimes they don't know all of the rules at that level and that's sort of where, that's where it's hardest I think because they're, you know, you're sort of talking about, you know, late teens sort of age where, you know, they're really trying to give it a red hot go and see if whether see whether they can make it as a professional triathlete and unless they understand all of the little bits and pieces that go with being a professional triathlete sometimes they don't quite make the mark so yeah it can be can be tough having those conversations with athletes when they don't understand the rules and um you know if they've had a time penalty or they've been disqualified or something like that it's it's pretty tough

00:18:53Scott Trickett: Lyndell, have you got a comment on the state of triathlon in general? I've got a little bit of a background in triathlon and it probably was my introduction to running. But I look at it now and it's not as accessible. Like there are lots of barriers to participation for triathlon and I think from my viewpoint the sport is suffering. Like the numbers are down, the events seem to be a lot less than they were when I was involved a long, long time ago. Is that your view from the inside of the triathlon world?

00:19:34Lyndell Murray: That's not my observation. In Queensland, I live in Queensland and we have, I don't even know how many events every year and every week. So This weekend, for example, we have five or six triathlons on in Queensland that we have to cover with our technical officials. So I don't know. I guess I'm not that involved from an administrative point of view to really comment on that.

00:20:00Melissa Erbacher: I feel like you can't turn around without there being a triathlon on this weekend. But that's just an observation for someone who doesn't even participate, isn't... ever probably going to participate because I would drown in the swim and therefore it would be a one-athlon that I DNF'd.

00:20:18Scott Trickett: So it's... Maybe it's the climate is one of the barriers to participation. So it's colder down here, so nobody wants to go for the swim. It was more a comment also on the... The expense of the bikes is really expensive. The time invested to train, the races can be quite long. And I wonder if that's hurting the sport. And I just wonder if the sport has ever thought about making something for the more casual recreational triathlete, if they exist.

00:20:52Lyndell Murray: Yeah, look, there's plenty. I mean, from my perspective as an official, I officiate it. you know off-road triathlons and duathlons and the triathlon that I'm going to on Saturday so I miss another parkrun is a corporate triathlon so I think there'll be all kinds of people there with all kinds of bikes whether they're $100 mountain bikes up to $10,000 time trial bikes so I get your point I mean at the pointy end and at some of the longer triathlons it is hard to find a daggy old bike and there's a lot of money involved there. But it's not always the case. I mean, you don't have to have all that equipment to do a triathlon really, but it just seems to be that there's a lot of competitors that do have all the flashy gear. I don't know.

00:21:45Melissa Erbacher: I think it's one of those addictive things. Once you get into it, it's all about the bike. I've got triathlete friends who have taken photos of their bike sleeping in the double bed with them kind of thing. They love their bike that much. So I think it's a slippery slope.

00:22:05Lyndell Murray: Yeah, I've certainly never done that, but my bikes have names, so.

00:22:11Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's fair enough. You know, you spend a lot of time with them. I'm sure there's conversations that happen there and, you know, you want them to be friendly, especially, you know, I don't understand the whole seat thing. I don't think one of those seats could possibly be comfortable. However, my brother informs me it's all about the pants that you wear, which have all the padding, so. I think I'll just leave that for now but I do know some people who train for their triathlons and they do some sort of weird mixy-uppy thing where they they chuck a parkrun in there as their run leg so often they'll do like a reverse or a mixed up one where they'll cycle to parkrun they'll do parkrun and then they'll go for a swim afterwards do you know too many people that do that?

00:22:55Lyndell Murray: I've seen it at parkrun lots of times people arrive in their cycling gear um I don't know that I've seen anyone do a swim afterwards, but it's not a bad idea. There's plenty of parkruns near water, right? So it sounds like a pretty feasible idea.

00:23:08Melissa Erbacher: Probably not too many people can swim after Bunyaville. What makes Bunyaville your home parkrun, Lyndell? I know you mentioned that you've got other events that are closer, so it's not obviously the convenience for it. What draws you to Bunyaville?

00:23:23Lyndell Murray: I like trail running, so... I don't do as many triathlons anymore, but I still do trail runs. And when I discovered Bunyabil, I thought, oh, yeah, this is what I like to do from a running perspective. But then the people out there were really friendly. And, you know, I sort of went a couple of times and people already remembered my name and said hello to me and things like that. So I guess I just felt like I belonged there, I guess, a little bit more than other parkruns that I'd been to. So, yeah. So that was it. I was just hooked then and thought, yep, I'm going to make Bunyaville my home parkrun.

00:24:02Scott Trickett: Okay, let's get into the nitty-gritty. We want to hear your top three, Lyndell.

00:24:08Lyndell Murray: Oh.

00:24:08Scott Trickett: Have you thought about it?

00:24:09Lyndell Murray: I started to and I thought, oh, I don't know whether I should pick a top three from all of – because people know who I am now and know that I've been to their parkrun. They might be cranky at me if I don't pick theirs. Yeah. So, yeah, look, I can probably give it a go, but I am a bit unsure about it, Scotty, to be honest. Okay, okay, scrap that.

00:24:32Melissa Erbacher: We're not in the people-pleasing business, though.

00:24:35Scott Trickett: Give us the if money was no object answer. If you could go to any parkrun in the world, where would you like to go?

00:24:42Lyndell Murray: Ah, yes, I did think about this one, actually. So, if time and money was no object and I could go anywhere in the world, I would definitely go to a Scandinavian parkrun just because I've never been to that part of the world before, and I understand that it's a pretty nice part of the world. So I did a little bit of research, and I found a parkrun in Sweden that is a gravel parkrun called Orebro (Sweden). I don't know whether I'm pronouncing that correctly, but the pictures look absolutely stunning. It's a gravel road across a body of water, so it just looks absolutely beautiful. So that's where I would go.

00:25:25Melissa Erbacher: I like that you've chosen some place that's a little bit different. You know, we get a lot of people saying that they'd like to go back, they'd like to go to Bushy and things like that. But you actually went searching for, you know, I think that should be a little task we set everybody to figure out, like get the maps out, look at all the events in the world and figure out where they might like to go and do a little bit of research so they can start manifesting that.

00:25:52Lyndell Murray: Yeah, well, Bushy's a pretty obvious one. And, of course, you know, if I was in the UK, that would be the first parkrun that I would do just for the experience of being at the spiritual home of parkrun. That would be awesome. But, you know, that's the kind of place that I would probably find myself sometime and probably will get there at some point. So I thought, oh, well, if time and money was no object, I'd find somewhere really out of the way and go there. Yeah. So, yeah, that's the one I'd pick. It looks really, really nice.

00:26:25Melissa Erbacher: One day we'll find a really rich benefactor to pay for everybody's ultimate parkrun dream and we'll all go. We'll be all going in separate, you know, directions all over the world, but that's okay. We can report back afterwards.

00:26:39Lyndell Murray: I was going to say, we should all go on tour together and go to all of our ideal parkruns.

00:26:46Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that would be a very cool Contiki type tour.

00:26:49Lyndell Murray: It certainly would be. We'd have to find a very, very rich benefactor, wouldn't we?

00:26:53Melissa Erbacher: We would. And I anticipate there would be a lot of travel involved.

00:26:57Unidentified speaker: A lot.

00:26:59Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of reporting, however, Lyndell, I know we probably have some listeners out there that wouldn't mind having a crack at roving reporting, but aren't really confident or sure what they would talk about and things like that. Can you give

00:27:15Lyndell Murray: those people any tips on on how you approach your roving reports each week uh yeah so um sometimes i'm a little bit more organized than others and do a bit of research on the place so um and have a few prepared questions but other times i just go up and ask people you know how they got involved in parkrun and what they like about parkrun um if it's a theme it's a pretty um easy icebreaker I guess because everybody feels for some reason when people are dressed up they feel a little bit more open I guess I don't know whether you've noticed that because they're a little bit out of their comfort zone already and and happy to just have a chat and have a laugh I guess so and again that's a easy sort of opening question isn't it what are you dressed as today and why did you choose that costume and what do you like about dressing up kind of thing Um, so just if, you know, if it, if it helps to feel a bit more prepared, just, just spend five minutes writing down some questions, um, and thinking about what you're going to ask people. Um, but, and also have a bit of a plan as to who you want to talk to, make sure that you do. I, one thing I always do is make sure I talk to the run director or the event director to just get a bit of a background on the parkrun. And, um, and I also like to thank them for their contribution as well. I think they feel really special. to get that acknowledgement, I think as well. So that's something that I like to do as part of my roving reports. But I think just getting involved and don't be shy. The thing that I remember is that I don't have to do the talking. I just have to ask a couple of open questions and the other parkrunners will do all of the talking. So don't worry about being prepared with too much to say. You just have to have a couple of good questions and And hopefully the magic will just happen.

00:29:17Scott Trickett: I think that's some great tips there, Lyndell. I think just having a couple of questions. So when you get tongue-tied or when you get a bit awkward, you can just call on those trusty old questions that you've got is a great tip. The question I've got for you, though, that I prepared earlier is when are you coming to Melbourne? We hear a lot about these Queensland events. When are we going to have a triathlon event that will bring you down to Melbourne?

00:29:46Lyndell Murray: Well, if I go down there to a triathlon event, I might not get to parkrun anyway. So I don't know. I would love to go to Melbourne, but... I need to do a C for my pirate club at some point, so I know that there's a couple of sea parkruns in Melbourne. And, yeah, I guess I'd love to get down there sometime. I don't need a Victorian parkrun anymore because I've done a Victorian parkrun now, but I'll be down there at some point, Scotty.

00:30:17Scott Trickett: Okay, I'm waiting for you. Lyndell, thanks very much for coming on. It's great to have one of our family as our guest for our 100th episode. So I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about Lyndell Murray.

00:30:31Lyndell Murray: Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. I was really excited to be a part of it.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:30:51David Moss: Hello, this is David. I'm at the Mitchelton parkrun and with me I have Steve York. Steve, Steve. So we've just finished doing the run here. Tell me, how many runs have you done at Mitchelton?

00:31:02Steve York: About 100. A bit over 100 now. Quite a few. Out of how many? 120 something. Getting up there, so he's up to the black shirt. And tell me, what got you into running parkrun? parkrun? Well, I was starting to get into running and I happened to be running past a parkrun on a Saturday morning and a bloke that I know from the soccer club just nearby, he... He was running in the opposite direction and said, hey, you should get into parkrun. And a couple of weeks later, yeah. And yeah, he's still running parkrun. I saw him here today. Okay.

00:31:39David Moss: That's a great way of advertising.

00:31:42Steve York: Yeah, people you know. So you do a few other runs besides the parkruns. Some races? Yeah, I've done a few marathons since I started running. So I've been probably going about two or three three years now yeah oh that's excellent and what do you like specifically about mitchelton uh i like the trees the trees and it's a nice kind of meandering course that has a few undulations but nothing super major oh i found a few of the undulations they're certainly there Yeah. I think they sort the men out from the boys in a way. If you've got a steady pace on you, you get to catch up to a few people.

00:32:22David Moss: There were certainly a lot of people out there today.

00:32:24Steve York: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think today might be a record. It's over 400, I'd say. Oh, great.

00:32:30David Moss: Okay. Look, that's all.

00:32:32Tim Jamp: Thank you very much. Awesome. No worries.

00:32:35David Moss: And hello, we're still at Mitchelton and we've just caught up with the 301th runner today. And what's your name?

00:32:42Karen McComb: Karen McComb.

00:32:43David Moss: Karen, well done. You have just run the 60,000th run at Mitchelton. Tell me, how many runs have you done here?

00:32:50Karen McComb: About 29.

00:32:52David Moss: About, that's very good.

00:32:54Karen McComb: Yeah, and I've done a couple at different places with my other children. Oh, okay.

00:32:58David Moss: So it's a family thing for you.

00:32:59Karen McComb: It's a family thing. I ran with my grandson today.

00:33:01David Moss: I saw him come in just in front of you. And I think it was your daughter-in-law, was it, who was doing something with the tokens?

00:33:07Karen McComb: Yeah, and my son and daughter-in-law are doing tokens today. And my other daughter, she's trying to do the Apollo Bay Marathon in May.

00:33:16David Moss: Definitely a family thing.

00:33:17Karen McComb: And my husband now, he has a sore hip, but he still walks it.

00:33:21David Moss: Oh, good on him. So he's still out there at the moment.

00:33:23Karen McComb: He's still out there at the moment.

00:33:24David Moss: So it's a big family affair.

00:33:26Karen McComb: It's a big family affair, yeah.

00:33:27David Moss: So which other parkruns have you done beside Mitchelton?

00:33:30Karen McComb: Redcliffe and Central Lakes up at Caboolture. And that's where my other two children live.

00:33:35David Moss: I should have guessed, really. So what do you like about parkrunning, Derek?

00:33:40Karen McComb: It's fun. It gets me up and moving. I'm getting to the age if I don't do something, I'm going to lose it and I need to keep moving.

00:33:47David Moss: I think we all know that sort of feeling.

00:33:50Karen McComb: And our family, I get to see my children on a Saturday morning and we have a chat and it's a family affair.

00:33:56David Moss: No, I do. That's a great thing. Thank you very much and congratulations on doing the 60,000th run.

00:34:02Karen McComb: I am trying to get under 300. I've had 301 for the last three weeks. So I'm still trying.

00:34:08David Moss: There are so many people here. It's quite amazing. Out of interest, what sort of times do you try to go?

00:34:13Karen McComb: About 35 minutes.

00:34:15David Moss: Okay, beautiful. I think that's about average for here too.

00:34:17Karen McComb: Okay, thank you. Well done.

00:34:20David Moss: Okay, I'm now with the Mitchelton parkrun Director of the Day, whose name is? Tim Jamp. Tim, thank you. It was a very good run this morning. Loads of people. Massive turnout. How did you become involved in parkrun, especially Mitchelton?

00:34:35Tim Jamp: Well, I started at New Farm parkrun with my boss in 2012, I think. I ran, I think, 25 parkruns out there. North Lakes opened up. I started running out there. Mitchelton then opened up. It was the closest one to home, so I've been here since day one.

00:34:50David Moss: This is sort of the one in the middle.

00:34:52Tim Jamp: This is home parkrun.

00:34:53David Moss: Okay, and how long have you been run directing?

00:34:56Tim Jamp: Ah, run directing. A couple of years now, I think. Yeah, so good fun.

00:35:00David Moss: And what do you find is the best sort of thing about Mitchelton?

00:35:06Tim Jamp: I think we've built up just a good bunch of people, you know, a good bunch of friends now. So there's regular runners here on a, you know, It's just good fun.

00:35:14David Moss: There were a lot of smiling faces out there today. There is. At least there was at the start. I'm not too sure at the finish.

00:35:19Tim Jamp: A few red faces at the finish, a bit of puffing. It's a good course, though. Lots of shade. It's not too hilly compared to other courses. So, yeah.

00:35:28David Moss: No, they rather like it. This looks like being one of your larger crowds, I assume.

00:35:32Tim Jamp: Well, it looks like we're in the 400s again, so I think we hit the peak of 460 about a month ago. So the numbers are constantly increasing. It's great to see lots of first-timers every week. I noticed a few of those.

00:35:46David Moss: And I also noticed you've got a few large groups that often make an appearance. I think there are about 150 people from the in-training group who are actually registered for here as well.

00:35:57Tim Jamp: Lots of different groups coming along, I suppose.

00:36:02David Moss: Okay, that should about do it. Thank you very much. Not a problem at all.

00:36:06Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's TOC reporting in from the launch of the magnificent Rosebud parkrun. We're down here. Rosebud, for those that don't know, is on the Mornington Peninsula. It's about an hour from Melbourne. It's a bit of a tourism hotspot. And the course that we've run today is a magnificent section of asphalt and boardwalk that runs right along the beach so you see water the whole way. And I'm with Nadine. Nadine is the event director. What a sensational launch. Well done.

00:36:35Nadine: Thank you. Yes, just trying to catch our breath now. We had 402 parkrunners this morning at our launch, which was very exciting for somewhere that's a little bit out of the way at times. And we're really excited to have parkrun here in the local community.

00:36:50Tony O'Connell: And we're just making our way over to the coffee at the moment. But as you said, 402 runners and everyone was pretty well behaved out on the course. I actually liked that everyone was keeping left. So the message is getting out there, you reinforced that nice and early, well done.

00:37:05Nadine: Yes, tried to uncover everything in the briefing. Lots of high fives out there and trying to encourage people to keep left, but also encouraging lots of high fives and a nice friendly course.

00:37:16Tony O'Connell: And most importantly for the Victorian aspect, it's our R. It is our R, and we did have a couple of pirates.

00:37:23Nadine: Toc may have been one of them.

00:37:25Tony O'Connell: And we did have the pirate flag flying, which was good to see. But no, it's fantastic. It gives people the option. We only have six seas in Victoria. We need another sea. So come on out there if you're in a town that starts with C. We need you to get our Victorian pirates.

00:37:42Nadine: We've had a bit of a blank spot in parkruns down this side of the peninsula. So it's going to be great to give options for the whole southern peninsula to be able to attend parkrun.

00:37:52Tony O'Connell: It has certainly filled a big hole on the map and it's going to be very popular. I think come summer you're going to be run off your feet with the number of people on here.

00:37:59Nadine: Definitely, no pun intended.

00:38:00Tony O'Connell: No pun intended. But yeah, no, look, it was a magnificent launch, Nadine, and everyone's really happy. Everyone's headed for coffee, so why not?

00:38:09Nadine: We've had lots of volunteers. We've probably had about 20 volunteers today, several marshals out on course and lots of people helping to control the chaos around the finish line. So obviously we appreciate those and... Yeah, it's made for a really beautiful morning and the weather was perfect. I put in my request and the weather has been magnificent. So we can't complain at all. It's been perfect morning.

00:38:33Tony O'Connell: And a really high percentage of first timers, which is good because it means you've got a lot of people from the local area that look like they're interested.

00:38:39Nadine: Yeah, when we asked for first timers, there were a lot of hands shot up. So that was really exciting to see because it means that we've got a community there ready to go and people are excited about being involved in something locally.

00:38:50Tony O'Connell: Cool. Well, congratulations on the launch. Fantastic day. And I look forward to coming and having a bit of a run on this one when it's a little bit quieter out on the course.

00:38:58Nadine: Thank you. Come and visit us. We would love to welcome you down here on the beautiful peninsula.

00:39:03Tony O'Connell: And come down, Victoria, for your... I'm with Bec Howe. Bec went over to New Zealand last week for a bit of a holiday. She decided to go for a bit of a stroll around some mountains. And Bec, I think you ended up doing 160 kilometres at Tarawera.

00:39:19Bec Howe: That's right. Yeah, first miler. So very exciting stuff and had an awesome race. So really good day.

00:39:26Tony O'Connell: And your time, Bec, your first mile, that was a brutal course out there. That was so muddy, it was wet, but it was fun. But to get through that in 27 and a half hours, I'm amazed. For your first mile, that's just simply awesome. How'd you feel out on the course?

00:39:43Bec Howe: Yeah, no, look, I sort of going into it, obviously, you know, the nerves did come and I think for me, I definitely was really prepared to hit some really low points out there. But funnily enough, I honestly had a great day and felt strong throughout. So yeah, there were challenging bits where you were, you know, sinking into mud and almost losing your shoe and You know, definitely we had some things thrown at us and also the weather being so wet as well. But, you know, just to keep moving as well as I did and feel as good as I did. Yeah, really, really happy.

00:40:23Tony O'Connell: About 27 hours on your feet. How do you plan nutrition and that for that course? Do you carry stuff with you or do you rely on the aid stations?

00:40:34Bec Howe: I had really well stocked drop bags and with the drop bags I find I put way too much food in there but my theory is I'm not sure what I'm going to be feeling like. I'd rather have a choice from five things than two. The fruit at the aid stations was amazing so I really smashed oranges, watermelon, ginger beer, coke. So really fuelled up and loaded up on those things was really good. And I'd spoken to a couple of guys who were quite experienced and they were really good in their advice that small amounts of food and often and start early in the day and that'll set you up really well going into the night. So I didn't ever feel hungry, which was really good.

00:41:16Tony O'Connell: I think that starting early is the key. You see, a lot of people, and myself included, at a lot of events, we're not until halfway through and it's too late. So eating early is a good advice there.

00:41:26Bec Howe: Yeah.

00:41:27Tony O'Connell: And running through the night, you didn't have any issues coming into the dark? No.

00:41:32Bec Howe: It went surprisingly quickly. I'd hope to have covered a bit more of the course because we probably lost daylight after the 100km aid station and that was a pretty muddy slog to get us up to Miller Road. So that was a bit tough but I picked up a cup of soup at the 100km checkpoint and that actually went down a treat. And just something different food wise as well. Travelled surprisingly well going into the night given how sparse the field was because There weren't, there was only 140, just over 140 milers. So when you think about that many people spread out over that distance, there's not many people around you. So yeah, no, just head down and kept working and yeah, it seemed to pass quickly.

00:42:27Tony O'Connell: So did you have a favourite part on the course? For me, it was coming around the corner and looking at Tarawera Falls in the background and just...

00:42:34Bec Howe: every run a stop for a selfie yeah that's sort of a yeah yeah um lots of beautiful some beautiful running sections probably before we hit Tarawera falls and that was really nice that reminded me a lot of the Dandenong so that was just yeah just beautiful just trekking through these sort of nice open fire trails the falls were beautiful and they were absolutely pumping weren't they after all that rain it was um yeah pretty pretty special to see them um in full full action yeah definitely

00:43:05Tony O'Connell: Once again, Bec, massive congrats on your miler. That was an awesome achievement.

00:43:09Bec Howe: Oh, thanks, Tony, and thanks so much for everything you do for parkrun and running in general. You're an amazing bloke, and congrats on your own 100. It was super, super work. Cheers, Bec. Thanks.

00:43:18Gary: We're at Rosebud parkrun on the beautiful Port Phillip Bay, and we've just completed the five kilometres of an out-back, out-back, out-back, out-back course, and that sounds really technical, but it's actually beautiful and lovely. And I've got three legendary parkrunners with me. Introduce yourself. Mark Carney.

00:43:39Jessica Kelly: Jessica Kelly.

00:43:40Gary: Frank Palomo from Westerfolds. Westerfolds.

00:43:43Frank Palomo: Hey, what time do you have to leave to come down from Westerfolds today, Frank? Just after dinner time last night. Missed out on dessert, but I'll make up for it at a nice cafe in Rosebud with a bit of cake.

00:43:53Gary: Beautiful.

00:43:53Frank Palomo: Before you come.

00:43:54Gary: No, on the way home. On the way home, yeah, of course. And how long from Laylaw?

00:43:59Jessica Kelly: I didn't drive from Laylor actually, I came from Rye this morning, so 15 minutes. Last week we're staying over here.

00:44:06Gary: And you're wearing the awesome LRC running top, very popular club in the north of Melbourne, doing great things. And Mark, where's your home parkrun?

00:44:16Mark Carney: Albert Park, but I live in Broadmeadows. Okay, so what time did you come down this morning? I left at 5 o'clock, no sorry, 5.30.

00:44:24Gary: Beautiful.

00:44:25Mark Carney: And what did you think of the course? Yeah, it's a really nice course along the foreshore. Like you said, it sounds a bit technical, but you kind of figure it out, like out, back, out, back, and then back in again. So yeah, no, it's a really nice flat, so it's pretty quick if you want to go quick. If you just want to take your time and enjoy the scenery, yeah, you get that as well.

00:44:47Gary: And did you have any highlights today of anything that happened out on course? No.

00:44:51Jessica Kelly: The awesome high-fives coming out and back were really good, yeah.

00:44:56Gary: That was really good, wasn't it? Yeah. It was super. What about you, Frankie?

00:45:01Frank Palomo: I heard a rumour that you lost your hat in one of the... Yeah, in one of the trees. I did hear the run director say at the start, watch out for low branches. That was okay. I stopped, had a breather, took off again, and it was just good seeing the familiar faces.

00:45:16[crosstalk]

00:45:16Gary: yeah you're getting all the shout outs it really you know makes you want to run that little bit quicker yeah and speaking like of faces and the atmosphere i hope everyone can hear in the background the murmur i love that murmur just the people talking and chatting in the background guys thank you for talking to me well done today and we'll see you at your next adventure we shall enjoy I'm roaming amongst the crowd and I've been attracted to a beautiful green Tribe Shirts 250 shirt and I have found... Danielle Stewart. Hi Danielle, nice to meet you.

00:45:45Danielle Stewart: Nice to meet you.

00:45:46Gary: So where are you from?

00:45:47Danielle Stewart: I'm from Albert Park Lake.

00:45:48Gary: Ah, terrific. And so how many more than 250 have you done?

00:45:52Danielle Stewart: I think today might be around 280, give or take. Wow. Yeah, so we clocked up the 250 in August last year.

00:45:58Gary: Congratulations, that's fantastic. So what did you think of the course today?

00:46:01Danielle Stewart: It was great, great to see so many people and I really noticed a lot of people were smiling and it was nice to have the out and back because at Albert Park Lake we don't have that so it was nice to see some smiling faces.

00:46:12Gary: It really was, we were talking before about how it's out and back, out and back, out and back and it sounds confusing but for that atmosphere it's actually really great.

00:46:20Danielle Stewart: Really easy and it's good to have the high fives and encourage people along and see people improving as they go. Yeah, it was really good.

00:46:26Gary: So in your 250, have you done a lot of adventuring?

00:46:28Danielle Stewart: Yeah, I think I've done around between 20 and 25 other courses and, yeah, really enjoyed it. And a few courses I've gone back to. So I've done a few at Geelong, quite a few at Studley Park. So, yeah, trying to change it up.

00:46:41Gary: Studley, there's a lot of good people at Studley Park around.

00:46:43Danielle Stewart: Yeah, yeah, Studley Park's great. And we went to Mullum Mullum and that was a memorable launch as well. That's quite an interesting, intricate course. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, been around the traps and really enjoyed it. Yeah.

00:46:54Gary: Great to meet you. You too as well. Thank you for talking to me. Thank you. And all the best for the next 250. Appreciate it. I'll be looking for your blue shirt.

00:46:59Danielle Stewart: Yeah, I know. I can't wait for the 500.

00:47:02Gary: Well done.

00:47:02Danielle Stewart: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

00:47:05Gary: All right, now I just met the person that's done 250 parkruns and she's got a green shirt on. And so I'm like a magpie attracted to a shiny thing on the ground. I've been attracted by the beautiful running divas shirts. So I've found a bunch of divas. They've just finished Rosebud parkrun. How did it go, girls?

00:47:23Unidentified speaker: Fantastic.

00:47:25Gary: So shout out your names.

00:47:26Unidentified speaker: Nicole. Gemma. Judy. Debbie. Erica. Michelle.

00:47:31Gary: Therese. Therese. Therese is one of the founding event director, run director. Yeah, yeah, one of them. She is the one who actually set up the course.

00:47:42Unidentified speaker: Course. Yay!

00:47:45Gary: Hats off.

00:47:45Unidentified speaker: Only one of them. Only one of them. It's a team effort. It is. Team effort, Gary, every time.

00:47:50Gary: Well done. And it's a beautiful course. Do the divas agree?

00:47:53Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:47:53Jessica Kelly: Excellent work.

00:47:54Unidentified speaker: Spectacular.

00:47:55Gary: So how did it go out there today?

00:47:56Unidentified speaker: It was great. Fantastic energy out there. Lots of people on the way. High fives. It was great.

00:48:01Gary: And so are you guys all from the same parkrun?

00:48:03Unidentified speaker: No, since this is my first one, this will be my parkrun.

00:48:07Gary: Congratulations, first parkrun.

00:48:09Unidentified speaker: It is. Now I've had my barcode for four years. Get out. And this is the first time it's been scanned. Well done. It's a very long day, very exciting.

00:48:18Gary: So it would have been a bit awkward if you'd left it at home today after having it for four years.

00:48:21Unidentified speaker: Very awkward. That would have been highly embarrassing.

00:48:25Gary: Well done. And some Paco Road Runners I noticed here too amongst the Divas.

00:48:28Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:48:29Gary: Very good.

00:48:29Unidentified speaker: Absolutely.

00:48:30Gary: What was the atmosphere like out there today?

00:48:32Unidentified speaker: Brilliant. It really was. You didn't feel alone, especially with all the Divas out there and the colours, which we did discuss. But just to see even the young kids out there as well, it's just great. It really is. It's a support that everyone gives each other.

00:48:46Gary: And do you do much adventuring together, go to different parkruns?

00:48:50Unidentified speaker: We're still trying to get them into it. Come on. Erika's done her first. Gemma's done her first.

00:48:55Unidentified speaker: Yes, Gemma's first as well today.

00:48:57Gary: Well done, Gemma. Congratulations.

00:48:58Unidentified speaker: Yeah, I loved it. We actually have a young diva who's not here with us who did a PB today.

00:49:03Gary: Oh, well done.

00:49:04Unidentified speaker: Yes, so she's just over here. Taryn's just over here. Taryn. She's just done a PB, one of our young divas. Hello, Taryn.

00:49:14Gary: Well done.

00:49:15Unidentified speaker: She's the superstar of the future. Well done, Taryn. How old are you, Taryn? I'm 12.

00:49:20Gary: Congratulations. A young running diva.

00:49:23Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:49:23Gary: We love that. Good job.

00:49:24Unidentified speaker: What do you love about running? I don't really know. But you're good at it. And that feels great. Yeah. Yeah, she's a superstar. She is. Well done. Well done.

00:49:34Gary: Divas, thank you so much. Congratulations. Well done today. You look amazing. We'll see you at a fun run somewhere for sure.

00:49:42[crosstalk]

00:49:42Unidentified speaker: Happy 100th Podcast from the Running Divas!

00:49:49Gary: I found doing his hundredth and a lot of people a lot of listeners would remember Mark from the videos that he's done around different parkruns around the around the country around the state around the world mainly in South Africa sorry I'll introduce so here's Mark okay well done Mark on your hundredth parkrun thanks very much how did you find today fantastic scenery is beautiful

00:50:10Mark: Awesome day and a lot of smiley faces and yeah, absolutely stunning. In South Africa, obviously because we've lived there, I've done quite a few videoing that side and then on the way we did Singapore, we've been a few in England and then a lot in Victoria state. So we're living here now and we're traveling all over and I try to do as many parkruns as possible to video. about to show people what it's all about people that are sitting on the couch maybe they'll come across my video and say wow I can actually do that because as you notice in my videos I'll show a lot of smiley faces I'll go old Fast runners, slow runners, it doesn't matter. It's right across the board. Just get out there on a Saturday morning and do it. And hopefully you can pick up and say, well, I'd like to go to Portarlington or I'd like to go to Hamilton or I'd like to go to Torquay or whatever, you know.

00:51:02Gary: Yeah, that's terrific, Mark. That's really good. The videos are incredible. They're really good. So how many different parkruns do you think you've done in your touring?

00:51:12Mark: I think it's probably around about 36. I'm not sure. I lost count, but you'll have to ask my wife. She got the stats on that.

00:51:20Gary: I've got the beautiful Cheryl here with me. Cheryl, do you know the stats on that?

00:51:23Cheryl: Well, according to the parkrun website, it says that he has done 33 different events, but we'll have to check that out. They could be wrong.

00:51:31Mark: Yeah.

00:51:34Cheryl: I've done 93 different events.

00:51:36Tony O'Connell: Wow.

00:51:36Cheryl: But then I have a problem. A parkrun problem.

00:51:41Mark: And I'm only the driver.

00:51:44Gary: And listeners will notice your distinct South African accent. So how long have you guys been out here parkrunning for?

00:51:50Mark: We've been out for 10 months. A few days ago, we arrived 10 months ago and we're absolutely loving it.

00:51:55Gary: What's your home parkrun back home in South Africa?

00:51:57Mark: Big Bay. Big Bay, it's in Cape Town.

00:52:00Gary: And we will change it eventually. And what's the, do you notice the difference between parkruns in South Africa to here in Australia?

00:52:08Mark: Not at all. They're still very much the same. Smiley faces, a lot of people, the same enthusiasm that you find in South Africa, you find it here. And in England. So basically wherever you have a parkrun, same people, same atmosphere. Yeah. Fantastic.

00:52:25Gary: Yeah. All right. Mark, thank you very much for talking to me. That's brilliant, mate. Much appreciated. Thanks for talking to the parkrun adventurers. Pleasure. And lovely Cheryl. Thanks, Cheryl.

00:52:35Cheryl: It's a pleasure. Thanks, Gary. Congratulations, Mel and Scott.

00:52:39Gary: On your 100th podcast. From Rosebud parkrun and the Victorian chapter of the Channel 5 News crew.

00:52:46Unidentified speaker: And your number one fan.

00:52:47Tony O'Connell: Happy 100th podcast, Scotty and Mel. Well done, guys. Woo-hoo! Mel and Scott, happy 100th podcast.

00:52:57Scott Trickett: More roving reports. Nice work from the boys this week. Double effort from the Rosebud launch. 402. That's a good-sized launch. And we had Dave Moss visiting Mitchelton a couple of weeks ago, but he was getting all nerdy with his stats. So nice work, team.

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

00:53:18Melissa Erbacher: Now, Scotty, there's a lot going on, obviously, every week on the parkrun calendar. Where do we need to go this week, or what should we be putting in our diaries?

00:53:27Scott Trickett: Well, let's have a look at one launch we've got this week. It's event number three for the Northern Territory at the very coolly named Nightcliff parkrun.

00:53:39Melissa Erbacher: That is a very cool name. Does that always make you think of, like, Knight Rider?

00:53:44Scott Trickett: No, I think nightclubs. Nightclubs? Yeah, I just think it must be just like a party.

00:53:48Melissa Erbacher: That's not as cool as David Hasselhoff with a bloody... No, it wasn't David Hasselhoff. It was Tom Selleck.

00:53:55Scott Trickett: No, it wasn't. It was David Hasselhoff.

00:53:57Melissa Erbacher: No, it was David Hasselhoff. We're sticking with the German theme two weeks in a row. The Hoff likes himself a bit of German. What are you talking about? He is very popular in Germany.

00:54:11Scott Trickett: Apparently he is, yes.

00:54:14Melissa Erbacher: But no... Like a car that can talk and do all these fancy things is much cooler than nightclubs. I'm pretty sure that's what they were thinking when they named the town Nightcliff. Or the area.

00:54:25Scott Trickett: Yeah, look, maybe. No, actually not maybe. They weren't. But Nightcliff, hey, it's another, it's a new point on the compass club, which has just gone to... What's the word?

The Compass Club (new adventurer club)

00:54:37Melissa Erbacher: It's become a very expensive club.

00:54:39Scott Trickett: Yeah, yeah.

00:54:40Melissa Erbacher: Like, you know, the Peel Club, okay, go to every state or territory. Great. You only have to do one. You can choose your one in that state. The Compass Club, nah. Points are getting replaced every week these days. It's crazy.

00:54:51Scott Trickett: Did you think that through when you came up with it?

00:54:55Melissa Erbacher: No. Well, no, I think we did understand that the points could be replaced. I just don't think we really foresaw how – parkrun Australia would grow and at the extremities. Maybe we thought the extremities would stay fairly stable for a while and people would move further inland. But no, we seem to be wanting to get closer to the coasts here, there and everywhere.

00:55:21Scott Trickett: I mean, we are going to reach the boundaries at some point. We will run out of land.

00:55:27Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, and then we'll have a whole bunch of island parkruns and things like that. Hey, so the third event in the Northern Territory, How massive do you think it's going to be and what do you think it's going to do to the numbers at the other events this weekend?

00:55:40Scott Trickett: In the Northern Territory?

00:55:42Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I want your predictions for numbers.

00:55:44Scott Trickett: I'm not an expert on the running population in the Northern Territory, I've got to admit.

00:55:50Melissa Erbacher: That's okay. I'm willing to take your amateur opinion.

00:55:54Scott Trickett: Let's go with 148. At Nightcliff? Yes.

00:55:57Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I think you're underestimating them.

00:56:03Scott Trickett: Well, this is your opportunity to prove me wrong.

00:56:05Melissa Erbacher: Well, I think it will be more than that. That's as far as I will say.

00:56:10Scott Trickett: It doesn't work like that. And you can't say 149. I reckon 308. What? Yeah.

00:56:14Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Mark, make it happen.

00:56:26Scott Trickett: Let's see. Let's see what happens. Launches are one thing to get excited about. So to anniversaries, we have four this week. I'll start us off in Newborough in Victoria and Panania in New South Wales.

00:56:43Melissa Erbacher: And then we've also got Studley in Victoria and Tuggeranong in the ACT. So as the former Studley event director... Will you be attending Studly this weekend, Scotty?

00:56:56Scott Trickett: Of course. Of course I will. Two years. That needs to be celebrated.

00:57:01Melissa Erbacher: How fast has that gone? Yeah, hasn't it?

00:57:03Scott Trickett: Like when we started this podcast, that's what I was doing. Yeah. I was getting ready for launch.

00:57:07Melissa Erbacher: It was like the podcast's twin. It was your other baby.

00:57:10Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:57:11Melissa Erbacher: At the time.

00:57:12Scott Trickett: Yep. And now we're in the terrible twos. But I tell you what, Studly's going from strength to strength. The numbers grow every week. The event team grows every week. And we're having a rock star theme.

00:57:27Melissa Erbacher: Ah, that's perfect. So if any parkrun adventurers out there would like to hear a live rendition of 99 Red Balloons, you can request it at Studley this weekend because that's where Scotty will be.

00:57:39Scott Trickett: I don't know what you're talking about.

00:57:42Melissa Erbacher: I'm not going to let it go, Scotty, because that was my favourite episode of all time. Do you have a favourite episode? You know, we've been here for 100 now. Have you got, like, something that you fondly remember from our time on the Podwaves?

00:57:55Scott Trickett: Probably episodes 1 to 98 were probably my favourites. It took a swift downhill last week, but we're on an upward trajectory this week, so that's a positive. But like I said, if you ever have any doubts of whether we've got listeners, Mel, after last week, I know we've got listeners because I think multiple messages kept coming from Tuesday onwards.

00:58:27Melissa Erbacher: Excellent.

00:58:28Scott Trickett: From around the world, which was great.

00:58:31Melissa Erbacher: Fan mail, I'm sure.

00:58:32Scott Trickett: Some people I didn't even know.

00:58:38Melissa Erbacher: Oh, there's been so much joy. So much joy.

00:58:41Scott Trickett: But where were we? Yeah, Rockstar. Rockstar theme. So I think that's a first for me. And I'm not going to rehash an old outfit. I'm committed to coming up with something fresh for this week. You know what I also have to thank our listeners for? Is they're also checking up on me.

00:59:01Melissa Erbacher: Oh, and how is your marathon training going? Almost forgot.

00:59:04Scott Trickett: I've missed a couple of days. I've missed a couple of days and I don't want to miss anymore because I know people are watching. So it's really working.

00:59:13Melissa Erbacher: That's good. I'm glad the pressure is working for you.

00:59:16Scott Trickett: Yeah. So thanks for that. Keep it coming. I'm never going to get sick of it. But I've lost my toes, Mel. I've lost toenails. So that's my commitment to this training.

00:59:28Melissa Erbacher: Long runs, you've got, they're taking away your, What are toenails even for? Like, seriously.

00:59:36Scott Trickett: They get in the way.

00:59:37Melissa Erbacher: Obviously, of socks and shoes. So the socks and shoes put paid to them.

00:59:43Scott Trickett: Yeah. Have you ever lost a toenail? I mean, you're not a real runner until you have.

00:59:47Melissa Erbacher: I have, actually, yes. I'm pretty sure we've discussed it on this very podcast. Really? Because I was super proud, yeah, when it came off. I was just like, yeah, and I got some weird looks.

01:00:01Scott Trickett: Okay. Well, as we discovered last week, I don't remember everything we've said on the podcast. So I apologize if we're going over old ground. But I'm really surprised with how robust my toes are because it just popped off. and it wouldn't know any difference. Like, there's no pain. Did it go black first? Oh, yeah, it went black straight away, both of them. So my big toes, I've lost one. The other one's almost coming off.

01:00:29Melissa Erbacher: The big toes have come off?

01:00:30Scott Trickett: Yeah, they're the ones that have gone.

01:00:33Melissa Erbacher: Okay, tell me, so is it making you rethink your shoes or your socks? Like, was there a particular thing, like a traumatic event?

01:00:42Scott Trickett: Well, it was from that Ballerina Sunset run, and I think I wore thick socks on a hot day.

01:00:48Melissa Erbacher: Were there a lot of downhills? Because I find if your feet are being slammed into the toe box or whatever they want to call it.

01:00:56Scott Trickett: No, it was dead flat. It was dead flat. But I was wearing my cap backwards for the whole run, so I think I was going a bit faster than normal.

01:01:03Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

01:01:04Scott Trickett: And my shoes couldn't keep up. They weren't used to it.

01:01:08Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Okay.

01:01:10Scott Trickett: That's the only way I can explain it.

01:01:13Melissa Erbacher: So maybe bin those socks or only use them for winter warming.

01:01:17Scott Trickett: But you know, see, there's a thing with the socks. They were $2 socks from the $2 shop.

01:01:23Melissa Erbacher: And heaven forbid, they're not any good for running.

01:01:25Scott Trickett: I'm on this eternal quest to find good running socks. You know where you can get the best running socks?

01:01:31Melissa Erbacher: Okay, is this a rhetorical question? Because I know where I get my running socks.

01:01:35Scott Trickett: Is it the same place I get them?

01:01:37Melissa Erbacher: I don't know. Probably not if you're wearing $2 running socks.

01:01:42Scott Trickett: Aldi. If you ever see running socks at Aldi, snap them up.

01:01:47Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:01:47Scott Trickett: That's my hot tip for the week. Do you have Aldis up there?

01:01:53Melissa Erbacher: Yes, we have Aldis in Queensland. It's funny when you ask me if we have things here sometimes. It's like you think I'm in a foreign country or something.

01:02:06Scott Trickett: Anyway, is that where you get your socks from?

01:02:09Melissa Erbacher: No, that is not where I get my socks from. But thank you for that hot tip. I will... You know what? I have to admit something here. I never shop in Aldi. I'm not an Aldi shopper.

01:02:22Scott Trickett: Well, you need to get in there and hunt down the socks.

01:02:27Melissa Erbacher: But stuff isn't in logical places. And there's a whole bunch of random things that you don't need.

01:02:33Scott Trickett: Yeah. Look, I'm not going to go to bat for Aldi. Apart from their socks.

01:02:38Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:02:40Scott Trickett: I think, yeah, socks is about all we go there for.

01:02:45Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:02:46Scott Trickett: But yeah, so I got my $2 socks from the $2 shop. And they're now my new favorite socks. But they are thick socks. So you just never know. The world is full of surprises, Mel.

01:02:57Melissa Erbacher: Well, thank you for sharing that surprise with us, Scotty. I was not expecting to have that conversation with you today. So I hope – hey, I didn't notice. So when I lost my toenails, it was on my pinky toe. And they're pretty tiny, those little toenails, so you don't really notice. But I imagine when the toenail grows back – because it grows from the bottom up, doesn't it? It doesn't just like appear like a shell and then thicken over time. It actually grows up.

01:03:26Scott Trickett: Yes.

01:03:26Melissa Erbacher: From the bottom. Is that weird?

01:03:29Scott Trickett: Not to me, no. I think that's how toenails work. How would you expect them to? Grow from the top?

01:03:35Melissa Erbacher: No, but like to look at it when it's only half grown and it just looks like this tiny, like you've got all this extra bit of toe left on the end of it. I'm not going to Google toenails because I reckon there's a lot of gross things out there.

01:03:49Scott Trickett: I'll just send you a photo of mine.

01:03:50Melissa Erbacher: Oh, could you? Would you do that?

01:03:53Scott Trickett: Take it as a given.

01:03:54Melissa Erbacher: That was my sarcastic voice if you couldn't tell, Scotty. Please do not send me a picture of your toes.

01:03:59Scott Trickett: Okay. Do you think people are hanging on to the end of the episode hoping one of us will sing again in a foreign language and they're having to endure our conversation about toenails?

01:04:11Melissa Erbacher: I think if they've got through this conversation about toenails, they deserve. You should just pop in your little 99 red balloons again this week.

01:04:19Scott Trickett: I still don't know what you're talking about. You keep mentioning it.

01:04:25Melissa Erbacher: On that note, I'll talk to you next week, Scotty.

01:04:30Scott Trickett: I'll speed a spin.

01:04:39Melissa Erbacher: No, that wasn't even the words. What is it? Auf Wiedersehen. That's what it said. It's Auf Wiedersehen. Auf Wiedersehen. No, you didn't. [German: "Goodbye (literally "until we see each other again")"]

01:04:46Scott Trickett: That's Auf Wiedersehen.

01:04:48Melissa Erbacher: No, there's too many S's in there. Questioning my German? It's Auf Wiedersehen. And now somebody's going to correct me.