Episode 124 - parkrun and not single

Episode details · 338 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:15Melissa Erbacher: One times two is two. Two times two is four. And that is a lot of maths to get to episode one, two, four of the parkrun Adventurous Podcast. My name is Mel. I am co-host of this wonderful feature. I'm joined by Scotty Trickett. Scotty.

00:00:33Scott Trickett: Hey, hey, hey.

00:00:35Melissa Erbacher: Thanks for hosting me today.

00:00:36Scott Trickett: Yeah, I'm here. I'm wacky. I'm zany.

00:00:39Melissa Erbacher: Wacky and zany. That might be a little bit too much. Could you tone it down a touch, do you think?

00:00:45Scott Trickett: Should I go back to my straight and boring role that I usually play? You knew I was going to bring it up, Mel. Maybe you didn't know I was going to bring it up so soon, but I couldn't let that one.

00:00:57Melissa Erbacher: People don't realize how deeply their words cut, do they, Scott?

00:01:00Scott Trickett: No, they don't. They don't. Throwaway comments hurt people. They hurt and they fester. I fester. No, they fester.

00:01:10Melissa Erbacher: All right, everybody, you need to hashtag ScottyWeLoveYou on all your posts this week. Please tell him that you don't think he's straight and boring because I'm sure that that's not the case for 99.9% of our listeners. Yeah.

00:01:26Scott Trickett: So I'm not going to do the zany and wacky role because it's not me. Sorry. That was it. That was it?

00:01:35Melissa Erbacher: That's the extent of your zany and wacky?

00:01:38Scott Trickett: Yeah. Yeah. Look, I – Anyway, how are you coping, Mel? This is parkrun podcast number two for the week.

00:01:48Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, I'm pretty sure we'll get about five minutes in and I'll run out of content, Scotty. There's only so many stories I can fabricate, especially when you don't go to parkrun on the weekend.

00:02:00Scott Trickett: So let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. So you didn't go to parkrun last weekend. I'm not going to go to parkrun this weekend. And it is completely... messed up our lives. So I had this thought, I was having an afternoon shower, don't judge me.

00:02:17Melissa Erbacher: Why would people be judging you for that? Not everybody showers in the morning, you know. I actually shower at night time so I'm clean to get into my bed. And I don't get dirty overnight by lying in my bed. So I don't see the need to shower in the mornings. Are you going to judge me for not showering in the morning?

00:02:35Scott Trickett: No, no. Plenty of people don't. That's fine. But I think it's either morning or night.

00:02:41Melissa Erbacher: Some people shower both.

00:02:43Scott Trickett: I had a 3 p.m. shower.

00:02:45Melissa Erbacher: Did that mess you up? Maybe that's what's messing you up. No. If it's not usual for you.

00:02:51Scott Trickett: Let's not go there. But what I had this thought is that my week is off and I know I'm not going to parkrun on the weekend. I know in advance that I'm not going to get there. And it just, you know, I'm a little bit off and I think it plays a lot that it has a big impact on my life.

00:03:10Melissa Erbacher: We are creatures of habit and we like our routines.

00:03:13Scott Trickett: It's creatures of habit, so sometimes you don't get your run in, but you still get to volunteer and you still get to go and experience the parkrun. But what you've been going through a bit more than you'd like the last couple of months is missing out completely. For me, it's just one weekend a year. Well, actually, I had it a couple of weeks ago too. And, yeah, I don't like it, Mel.

00:03:37Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, something's off kilter. I think the last time we spoke about this, we were talking about balance and saying, oh, you know what? It's okay. You've got to have some balance in your life. Well, I think the scales are tipping in the opposite direction now. The balance is out of whack and there is no balance.

00:03:55Scott Trickett: It's bullshit. This balance is bullshit.

00:03:57Melissa Erbacher: No. Saturday, I was so cranky, really, really cranky, and it just – It took a lot to move past and I hate the term snap out of it because, you know, somebody tells you to snap out of something and that actually makes me angrier and I'm not going to snap out of it because that's not how things work. But it did take some concerted effort to turn the tables around. I will admit, though, I still feel, yes, like trying to figure out what day of the week it is and things like that. It just... It's not quite right. I did miss my parkrun on the weekend, Scotty. And you know in advance it's going to happen. I don't know if that's worse or better because you can prepare yourself.

00:04:43Scott Trickett: Yeah. Well, no, because I'm thinking about it all week that I'm going to miss it. And it's, you know what it is, Mel, it's the social connections. I know I'm going to be spending Saturday morning with my beautiful wife, and that's going to be fantastic, but I want the social connections that I get at parkrun. I couldn't care less about the run. I just want to hang out with my friends, and I'm going to miss that.

00:05:05Melissa Erbacher: Maybe what we need to do this week to bring back the joy into our lives is have another sing-along at the end of this podcast.

00:05:15Scott Trickett: Because I – It didn't go unnoticed.

00:05:17Melissa Erbacher: That we missed one last time. Yep. Yeah, I was enjoying them, I have to say.

00:05:23Scott Trickett: Well, it wasn't a thing. Definitely enjoying them.

00:05:26Melissa Erbacher: I know. We did it two times in a row. That kind of makes it a little bit of a thing.

00:05:30Scott Trickett: Okay, I'm all for it. We're bringing it back. We've already had a recommendation. Yeah, it's a beauty. Again, it's one of Kasia's favourites. It comes on the radio. We're whistling along. So I don't know about Yvonne, but tough luck, sweetheart. On my recent visit to the UK, I met two lovely people who absolutely love parkrun, and they met through parkrun. So welcome to the parkrun adventurers. Vicki Cooper and Stuart Henderson.

00:06:02Unidentified speaker: Hello. Hello.

00:06:03Scott Trickett: Hi, guys. Now, tell us your role. Before we get on to your story and why, the real reason you're on the podcast this week, tell us what role you guys do in the UK.

00:06:14Stuart Henderson: We're both parkrun event support ambassadors, and I'm also an adjudication ambassador.

00:06:19Scott Trickett: Okay, so the adjudication ambassador. This is what I want to get onto. So I picture you guys as being the spies of parkrun. You go around and check out all the events, and they don't know who you are. Is this what an adjudicator does?

00:06:34Vicky Cooper: Scotty, let me just clarify, there's only one spy in this household.

00:06:39Stuart Henderson: No, we're the adjudication ambassador. We let the events know well in advance when we're coming. I actually send them out what we're checking as well so they're fully aware. We ask them not to do anything different that they wouldn't normally do. And it's all looking at things such as I'll check their risk assessment before I go out and make sure if they say they're going to warn about the large river with crocodiles, they do warn about that when they get there. Not that there's many of those in the UK. We also encourage best practice and pass it on between all the events that we go around and see.

00:07:20Melissa Erbacher: Do you have a particular set of events that you support in that role or do you just spread yourself across? the whole country. How many adjudicators are there?

00:07:30Stuart Henderson: So, no, for the adjudication ambassador, we adjudicate events that we don't support. So, we're not sort of biased that way. I've adjudicated events as far south as Jersey in the Channel Islands and as far north as Ganavan Sands up in Scotland on the west coast. There's, I think there's about 15 adjudication ambassadors in the UK.

00:07:57Scott Trickett: So this is linked to insurance, am I correct? So you're protecting parkrun through the insurance deal they've got with Athletics UK?

00:08:06Stuart Henderson: It's changing slightly now, and it's more we're just making sure that the events are actually running as they say to parkrun on the... on the website how they say they'll do so, whatever they're saying in the risk assessment, making sure it's as safe as possible. So it's more about on the parkrun now that we'll report back to rather than solely for insurance purposes.

00:08:31Melissa Erbacher: And when you do that, when you pop along to those events in an adjudicated role, Do you get to run or can you volunteer or you're not allowed to do those things as well at the same time?

00:08:41Stuart Henderson: Yeah, no, that's a great thing about it. I get to run around the courses as well. I'm a bit of a tourist, so it's an ideal role to go around and you don't get a better feel for the course rather than go around. I'll also help with pre-event set up, post-closed down if they need it as well.

00:09:00Scott Trickett: So you hinted there you're a bit of a tourist, both of you a bit of a tourist, and you headed over to Australia this year, early this year, and something happened.

00:09:08Vicky Cooper: No, it was December last year.

00:09:10Scott Trickett: Okay, December last year. And you had a good trip, I imagine, but also it was good for a few reasons. Can you tell us what happened?

00:09:18Vicky Cooper: I'll just give you a little bit of background. I used to live in Australia and like you do when you go anywhere, you make some terrific friends and you find you can't live without them so you have to go and visit them every now and again. I quit my job last year in November. at the end of November. I took off for a week to Sydney, met up with my friends there, did a parkrun. I flew up to Brisbane to be with my family. Stuart came out the following day and we started doing some freedom parkruns. And then on the 16th of December, we decided we were going to visit Redcliffe parkrun. And we shipped up, parked the car, went merrily down to the parkrun, introduced ourselves to the core team that we always do because we like chit-chatting to the volunteers and, you know, finding out what they like to do. And Stuart says, oh, you know, let's get a photo. That's something we always do with the parkrun flag in the background. And I'll let Stuart take it from there.

00:10:24Stuart Henderson: Yeah, so I asked the volunteer photographer on the day, can you just take a photo of us? I hadn't let on what, but I took an engagement ring all the way over from the UK. So I'd planned, we met through parkrun, our first date was at a parkrun Freedom Run, so I planned somewhere special to propose and I'd already sort of picked we'd go to Redcliffe and propose at the parkrun. So just before the core team were there, before most of the runners got there, I got down on one knee and proposed to Vicky. I'll let her say what her response was from then.

00:11:00Vicky Cooper: I was quite, well, I wasn't expecting it at all, so I was very, very, very surprised. And I looked at him and I thought, what's he doing down there? I couldn't figure out. And then it dawned on me and I was like, oh, really wasn't expecting that. And what else can you say but yes, obviously. So I did.

00:11:21Melissa Erbacher: Was that, so it was a D-F-Y-E-R. D-F-Y-E-R. That's very cool. Stuart, were you nervous at all? I mean, and did you know that you wanted to do it before the event, just in case, you know, she'd say no to a sweaty mess afterwards? What was the reasoning?

00:11:45Stuart Henderson: Yeah, I knew I was going to do it at the event, but because I was very nervous, I thought before more and more people arrived and I did it in front of everybody, as soon as we got there, talked to the core team, when numbers were just building up, I thought, oh, I'll do it then. before the nerves got the better of me, which I did.

00:12:03Vicky Cooper: To be fair, he did have a speech already, but it failed him and it came out a little bit garbled, bless him.

00:12:12Melissa Erbacher: Did you have, so was the photographer's photo good? Did they get a good shot?

00:12:17Stuart Henderson: oh he's got an amazing photograph um we've never seen the photographer since so we'd love to thank him for that photo and it went on the global newsletter as well it's such a good photo it literally went viral unfortunately half of australia knew about it before my family in the uk these things happen my parkrun family that's fine

00:12:41Scott Trickett: So I want to know, so you met at parkrun and so you caught it at parkrun. Give us some tips for people that are looking for love and maybe parkrun's the place to find it.

00:12:51Vicky Cooper: I don't know what you've got in Australia, and I don't know how popular online dating is, but in this country it's quite popular. And on Facebook there is actually a dating site called parkrun and Single. It's a Facebook page, and you just request to join, and obviously you have to be single. And if you do meet up with anybody, then you have to come off the Facebook group. You have to come out of it. And when I saw Stuart on there, I was like, I didn't realise he was seeing, because I already knew him because I'd met him at the ambassadors conference I think twice and I didn't realise he was on there so I started stalking him a bit, oh I mean checking him out, looking at his Facebook page and initially he had a photo and he had this hot blonde chick in his photo and I thought it's a bit inappropriate if he's looking for a bird, why is he photographed with somebody? And I looked into it a little bit more, and I could see there was a couple of young children in the photo as well. And then I looked even further, and I thought, oh, she looks a bit young. So my first opening line to Stuart was, do you really have two grandchildren? And his response was, yes. So that hot blonde chick was his daughter. It wasn't some eerie ex from somewhere. But it was his daughter and his grandchildren, which I thought was a lovely photo to have as your profile. So we just took it from there. It was great.

00:14:18Melissa Erbacher: I didn't know that Facebook page existed. That's pretty awesome. I don't think we've got an equivalent in Australia. My brother and sister-in-law met online through an online dating and they're expecting their first baby now and been married for just under a year. Also very cute. It's the way of the future, I think. But parkrun also being a place to play, what made you decide, well, obviously you both knew you were parkrunners, how do you choose which parkrun to meet somebody at for the first time on a first date?

00:14:54Vicky Cooper: So Stuart loves his touring. At the time I was a support ambassador for Hampstead Heath. London is a great place to come and do quite a few in one day. So we decided that he was going to come along with me to parkrun at Hampstead Heath. I was volunteering because I'd either just finished doing Valencia Marathon or I was tapering for it. And he came along. I volunteered and he ran. I can't remember if you were first finisher, but you were certainly top five. And then we went around London and did a few more. And while he was running around doing his freedom runs, I was reading a magazine. And then we'd travel to the next one. And we were chatting in between and getting to know each other on the trains and the underground. It was quite relaxed because he'd run for a bit, so you get a breather. And then you come together when you travel to your next parkrun. It was great. It was a great first day.

00:15:55Scott Trickett: So you just watched him run around, Vicky?

00:15:57Vicky Cooper: Well, I waved to him. If it was a two or three lapper, every time he passed me, I'd look up from my book, give him a little bit of a wave, and then go back to my book.

00:16:06Stuart Henderson: There was one course we did, and she said, you can't go lost, just keep going round, and I got lost.

00:16:12Vicky Cooper: It was five laps. It was Highbury Fields. It's five 1K laps. You honestly cannot get lost, and he did.

00:16:21Scott Trickett: Stuart, I'm guessing you're obviously an impressive runner. Obviously, enough to impress Vicky, but you obviously love your running as well.

00:16:27Stuart Henderson: Yeah, I do love my running. I do everything from marathons, ultras. to parkrun but as much with parkrun I love the social aspect of it it's more than a run to me well to all of us but I really like the social aspect catching up with all my friends with parkrun as well So you love a bit of freedom running so you've obviously run a lot of courses and toured a lot give us some of your highlights of courses around the UK before we get back to your favourites in Australia Yeah, the UK is so varied and love them all i quite like some of the ones on the coast um so penrose with sea cliffs in the southwest and keswick along the old um railway line in the lake district um of some fond memories of aberdeen beach but um in snow and really cold about minus five i was just so many um to think of seven that we went to The one where I volunteered. It was Lanhydrock or Mount Edgcumbe. No, Mount Edgecombe. Mount Edgecombe, yeah, that was another good one. A lot of the National Trust ones are very picturesque. Even Mill and parkrun, it was five laps on a waterlogged, boggy field. Came in there and I was head to toe in mud. Really good fun.

00:17:54Melissa Erbacher: Who doesn't love a little bit of mud?

00:17:56Stuart Henderson: Yeah.

00:17:57Melissa Erbacher: We're all about the Freedom Runs this week. Have you actually done a Freedom Run this week?

00:18:03Stuart Henderson: Oh, no. I haven't done one this week. I did one last week.

00:18:09Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Where did you go?

00:18:11Vicky Cooper: Oh, no. He's just going to consult his spreadsheet.

00:18:17Melissa Erbacher: That's okay. You've got to keep track of these things in different ways. Do you log them as Freedom Runs on the website as well?

00:18:23Stuart Henderson: I do, yes. So I've got just under 200 Freedom Runs logged. So I've done 190 different Freedom Runs, different areas.

00:18:37Vicky Cooper: Mel, just let me interject here. We're looking at the computer and I'm just going to read to you what he has noted on the computer. And these are parkrun stats as of the 6th of October. Total parkruns including Freedom Runs, 403. total parkruns excluding freedom runs 207 different parkruns including freedom runs 290 different parkruns excluding freedom runs 112 still to do estimated 231 volunteer 135 separate days is run directed 39 times is volunteered at 19 different events excluding adjudication visits and is adjudicated 15 times now this is a man that likes his parkrun stats I couldn't tell you how many times I've done a freedom run or volunteered or I don't even know how many bathrooms I'm on. I just love doing it.

00:19:33Melissa Erbacher: Stuart, do you have like a little system like blogging or that stuff? Do you have a day of the week where you do it? Yeah.

00:19:42Stuart Henderson: It's normally the Saturday after a parkrun or whatever. when I get that email, when the result, I'll log it straight away there. Because we're looking after a lot of events as well, the reason I thought I'd like to do as many part runs as I can, but I'd still like to volunteer, so doing freedom runs, I can go other days of the week whenever I'm traveling around the country. The last one I did was actually in Thurso, the very most northerly part of the mainland UK, and I was up in holiday. So I popped up there before flying back down to England.

00:20:16Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:20:17Scott Trickett: You love your stats. You love your freedom runs. Tell us about the freedom runs you did in Australia and a couple of the parkruns that you officially got to.

00:20:26Stuart Henderson: Yeah, so the only one we officially got to was Redcliffe Square. Oh, wow.

00:20:31Unidentified speaker: No, did you film?

00:20:32Stuart Henderson: No, no. You did. Oh, I did? You did one, and then I came out after.

00:20:37Vicky Cooper: Which one did you do? Oh, what's the one near Sydney? It's not St Pete's. It's the one near that really posh area, and there's a bit of a hill in it. You do it three times.

00:20:45Scott Trickett: Oh, Mosman? Mm-hmm.

00:20:47Vicky Cooper: Yeah, it was. It was Mossman. So I did Mossman, and then we did Redcliffe. But we did a few Freedom Runs, so we can go through those for you. So we did Sandgate, South Bank, Bunyaville, North Lakes, New Farm, and Petrie.

00:21:07Stuart Henderson: And I was only there a week, so we got about six in. That's pretty impressive.

00:21:12Melissa Erbacher: Nicely done. Yeah, you knocked off a lot of, southeast Queensland and the Brizzy events, so good job.

00:21:17Vicky Cooper: We wanted to make the most of our time there.

00:21:22Melissa Erbacher: As you do. And do you come back to Australia often or not so much?

00:21:26Vicky Cooper: So I've got relatives in Brisbane and I've got a cousin over in Perth. So we've got scope to return and do some more. We're hoping to have our honeymoon in June Sydney and New Zealand. So we'll probably do some more Freedom Runs when we're over there next year.

00:21:51Melissa Erbacher: Oh, excellent. Well, you'll have to make sure that you look up a whole bunch of parkrun adventurers while you're here. I have one more question. And if you're a listener to the podcast, then you'll be familiar with this one. If money and time were no object, where would you parkrun? And I'm expecting, half expecting a different one from each of you.

00:22:13Vicky Cooper: There's one that, well, I sort of do intend to do it. There's one that is done the day before Comrades. You know the Comrades marathon in South Africa?

00:22:22Melissa Erbacher: Yes, we do.

00:22:23Vicky Cooper: So there's a parkrun that most people do the day before. So that's the one I'm hoping to do in a few years' time when we attempt to do Comrades. So that's the one, you know, money no objects and distance no objects. That will be my one.

00:22:40Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. Stuart?

00:22:42Stuart Henderson: Yeah, and the one on my wish list is Crissy Field, San Francisco. Just always fancied that one.

00:22:50Vicky Cooper: You see, I sort of want to change my mind as well. Well, there's one in Ireland and you have to, it's called, is it Bere Island? And you have to take a ferry to get there. I really, really, really, really want to do that one.

00:23:04Stuart Henderson: I think we'll do that one as well, though. We'll go get that one sometime. Yeah.

00:23:09Melissa Erbacher: I think that one's on a lot of people's lists, Bere Island. It's on my list.

00:23:13Vicky Cooper: Yeah, and Zillmere for our Z for the alphabet.

00:23:17Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, there you go. That's not too far from family in Brisbane for you to do next time here.

00:23:21Vicky Cooper: I know.

00:23:22Melissa Erbacher: If you manage to pop to Brisbane, too.

00:23:24Vicky Cooper: Well, yeah, it started about three weeks after we left. Of course it did.

00:23:29Melissa Erbacher: It's always the way, isn't it? The last time I was... like properly overseas to Europe, I was in France for four weeks and this was pre-parkrun in France. I was a bit agitated that they didn't have them over there and I had to go without it for four weeks, but wouldn't be a problem now if I went back.

00:23:47Vicky Cooper: No, well Mel I'll tell you what we did. So we wanted to go to Croatia on holiday this year but of course they don't have parkrun there. So we flew to Milan, did Milan parkrun, in between we did Split and Dubrovnik and then we flew to Venice and then we went to Treviso and managed to squeeze in Treviso parkrun before we returned to the UK on the Sunday.

00:24:10Melissa Erbacher: That is an efficient use of time. Well, it sounds like you guys have got it all worked out and I don't know how you managed to fit it all in as well as being ambassadors. So thank you for everything that you do for parkrun and for giving back as much as you do as well as enjoying it for what it is as runners and participants. It's awesome to see people like you guys out there and, you know, bringing your personal lives into it, getting engaged. That's very exciting.

00:24:41Vicky Cooper: Mel, it's just a way of life. Our weekends do not start without parkrun. It's part of our life. It's going to be part of our wedding. We're very excited about it. We love it.

00:24:52Stuart Henderson: Yeah, all the guests will be told, parkrun first and then the wedding later on in the day.

00:24:58Vicky Cooper: Yeah, if you can't run, walk or jog it, then we'd really like to see you volunteering.

00:25:03Melissa Erbacher: And if you can't do that, you're not invited.

00:25:06Scott Trickett: Precisely. So before we let you go, guys, when is the wedding? Should I be looking out for my invitation in the mail?

00:25:15Vicky Cooper: July next year.

00:25:16Scott Trickett: Oh, well, this is good timing. Can you time it with the parkrun conference again?

00:25:21Vicky Cooper: Well, we just need to make sure it's not on the same weekend. Otherwise, we'll just have to have a parkrun wedding with the whole of the ambassadors and everyone else that works at parkrun.

00:25:30Stuart Henderson: Yeah, we've actually said it's jazz. Please deconflict.

00:25:34Scott Trickett: G'day. Guys, thanks very much. It's lovely chatting to you guys and seeing your faces again. And hopefully we'll see you next year.

00:25:41Vicky Cooper: Okay, that's great. Thank you so much for interviewing. We've really enjoyed it. Yeah, great to talk to you. And I love the show. Thank you. Yeah, really enjoy listening to you guys. You light up our week. Very amusing.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:26:07Greta Wilkinson: Morning parkrun Adventurers, it's Greta here and I'm just arriving at the Pakapakanthi launch which is in the city of Adelaide. So it's in the sort of city centre on a park that's known as Packer-Picanthi or Vic Park or Victoria Park. So Victoria Park used to be where there was horse racing. in the centre of Adelaide, and it's now been converted as a sort of a multi-use space with cycling and running paths, and it's also where the V8 cars come and do their racing when Clipsal comes to Adelaide. And Pakapakanthi is launching today, so I think we're expected to have fairly large numbers, so I'm going to go check it out. Okay, so it's Greta. I'm here at the Packer-Picanci Lodge, and I'm here with Brendan. How are you going, Brendan? I'm really good, Greta. Thank you. And this was actually your first parkrun today?

00:27:02Brendan: Very first one. Very first one. Yeah. Yep, I'm glad I came out.

00:27:05Greta Wilkinson: Yeah? How did you go?

00:27:06Brendan: Oh, yeah, not too bad. Not too bad. It was a nice little jog in the morning. I'm not usually up this early in the morning, so I'm glad I got up early. It was a great event.

00:27:13Greta Wilkinson: Who knew that 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning existed? I know.

00:27:16Brendan: The sun's actually up at 8 o'clock. Amazing. No, and there's a lot of people here. I'm actually amazed at the diversity of the people at the run. It looks like everybody's having a good time as well.

00:27:26Greta Wilkinson: And what made you come to parkrun today?

00:27:29Brendan: A friend. I won't say dragged, but a friend encouraged me to come out. And this is the first one down here, so we thought we'd come to this one.

00:27:35Greta Wilkinson: Lovely, lovely. And so, do you think you'll be back?

00:27:38Brendan: I'll be back, I'll be back. We'll be going to Mount Barker next time, I think, but we'll definitely be back to this one.

00:27:43Greta Wilkinson: It is a lovely course, isn't it? It's nice and flat.

00:27:45Brendan: And it's flat, yeah, you're right. It's definitely flat, which is also... And I'll tell you a secret as well.

00:27:50Greta Wilkinson: Mount Barker's also flat.

00:27:51Brendan: Is it flat? Okay, good.

00:27:53Greta Wilkinson: Believe it or not.

00:27:54Brendan: Yep, yep, excellent.

00:27:55Greta Wilkinson: Now, in the name, you'd think it was hilly, but it's not.

00:27:57Brendan: I like flat. Flat's good.

00:27:58Greta Wilkinson: Well, look, congratulations on your very first parkrun, and thanks for coming to Pakapakanthi. I've been practising that all week.

00:28:05Brendan: Thanks, Greta. Thanks, Greta.

00:28:07Greta Wilkinson: Okay, I'm now here with Naomi and Ethan. How did you go today, guys?

00:28:11Alicia: Really well. It was really good.

00:28:13Greta Wilkinson: You enjoyed the course. How did you go, Ethan? It was a bit windy, but it went really well. Made it. And so do you guys normally parkrun on a Saturday?

00:28:22Alicia: We do occasionally. This one is really good because we've got sport across the road, so we can now make it regularly to parkrun.

00:28:28Greta Wilkinson: Oh, that's fantastic. And have you done any other parkruns in South Australia?

00:28:31Alicia: We've done Torrens a few times and I've done Largs Bay and Ronella. Lovely, lovely.

00:28:36Greta Wilkinson: So this might be a regular one. And what sport have you got across the road? Is that your sport, Ethan?

00:28:40Unidentified speaker: Yeah, it's my football. Football.

00:28:43Greta Wilkinson: So you come here for a warm-up and then go across the road and do your football? Yeah. Oh, awesome. That sounds like a great idea. Well, hopefully we'll see you back at Pakapakanthi. parkrun sometimes to learn how to say that one thank you very much for coming thank you okay i'm now here with anthony and charlissa and anthony and charlissa are doing barcode scanning how awesome are you guys today yeah pretty good there's been more than 300 people coming through so it's keeping us on our toes we've got two scanners today because we're expecting some big numbers

00:29:17Unidentified speaker: Yeah, a third scanner for a little while to help us out because it got pretty busy. Yeah, it's all going well. Yeah, it's going great. There's only two people that couldn't scan, but we've written their numbers down to make sure they get a registered result.

00:29:30Greta Wilkinson: Because they brought their printed barcode, didn't they?

00:29:34Unidentified speaker: They did bring them, but it didn't scan properly.

00:29:36Greta Wilkinson: Well, good on you guys for volunteering. Thank you so much for contributing to the launch of the Packer McCarthy parkrun.

00:29:43Unidentified speaker: No worries. Thank you.

00:29:44Greta Wilkinson: Thank you. Thank you. And I'm now here with Peter. How are you going Peter?

00:29:49Peter: I'm going really well, thanks.

00:29:50Greta Wilkinson: And you've just put your name down to volunteer. What a legend.

00:29:53Peter: Yeah, well, I've got several parkruns a bit closer, but they're calling out, so let's give them a hand.

00:30:00Greta Wilkinson: Well done. Good on you. How did you like the course today?

00:30:03Peter: Oh, it was brilliant, yeah. Even the puddles weren't a problem. You just go around. No, no, it was really good. Nice, fast course, I think.

00:30:11Greta Wilkinson: Yeah, beautiful. Likely location, isn't it?

00:30:14Peter: Yeah. It's one of the best, I think. Yeah, very scenic and local, as in central.

00:30:19Greta Wilkinson: That could be controversial. Oh, no, no.

00:30:22Peter: I think really good, really good.

00:30:23Greta Wilkinson: Yeah, it's going to attract a lot of people, I think, isn't it?

00:30:25Peter: Yeah, and I think it'll help out Torrens because that was getting a bit crowded.

00:30:29Greta Wilkinson: Yeah, relieve some of the numbers from there.

00:30:31Peter: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:32Greta Wilkinson: Well, thanks for coming today and thanks for putting up with me. No worries.

00:30:35Peter: Thanks for having me. Cheers.

00:30:36Greta Wilkinson: Okay, so I'm now here with all of the South Australian States people.

00:30:40Peter: Hello.

00:30:42Unidentified speaker: Hello. Hi.

00:30:42Greta Wilkinson: Woo! And so you've all retained your statesmanship, statespersonship today at Packer McCarthy? Yes, we all have. Congratulations on retaining your statesmanship. Thank you.

00:30:55Unidentified speaker: Cheers.

00:30:57Greta Wilkinson: So how many of you are there?

00:30:58Unidentified speaker: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

00:31:04Greta Wilkinson: And what are you going to do in a couple of weeks when we've got two launches on the same day?

00:31:07Unidentified speaker: We've written our letter to parkrun to protest about having to lose it for a week. A whole week with no South Australian states people.

00:31:14Greta Wilkinson: How are you going to cope?

00:31:16Unidentified speaker: Oh, the tears will be there.

00:31:17Greta Wilkinson: It's going to be the longest week in our lives.

00:31:20Unidentified speaker: The longest week ever.

00:31:22Greta Wilkinson: Well, thank you for coming to Packer McCarthy parkrun.

00:31:25Unidentified speaker: I think I said that right.

00:31:26Greta Wilkinson: And retaining your statesmanship.

00:31:28Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:31:30Greta Wilkinson: Yay! So I'm now here with PK. Hey, PK.

00:31:33James: Oh, g'day, Greta. Nice to see you.

00:31:34Greta Wilkinson: Nice to see you. And James. How are you going, James?

00:31:37James: I'm good. How are you?

00:31:37Greta Wilkinson: I'm good. And you guys are timing and tokens. Yeah, I'm handing out the souvenir tokens.

00:31:42James: How's it going? They're not souvenir tokens. No, no.

00:31:45Greta Wilkinson: You don't take them home, do you?

00:31:46James: We're up to 3.52.

00:31:47Greta Wilkinson: 3.52. And how's the timing going?

00:31:49James: Well, we're on par. We're working together. It's working. It seems to be working. It seems to be great. We're using the old system, not the new system. Old school. We're old school.

00:31:58Greta Wilkinson: Old school. You know it works, don't you?

00:32:01James: Yes, we know it works. It's the old faithful.

00:32:04Greta Wilkinson: And look, James, you were involved in setting up Packer parkrun.

00:32:08James: Yeah, do you need help there?

00:32:11Greta Wilkinson: That was the first time I stumbled.

00:32:13James: Yeah, Pakapakanti parkrun. Yeah, it's been a while in the making, but here it is. Yeah, finally made it.

00:32:20Greta Wilkinson: So tell us a little bit about the course. We're on Victoria Park.

00:32:24James: Yeah, so we start Victoria Park, which is traditionally called Pakapakanti.

00:32:30Greta Wilkinson: And what does Pakapakanti mean?

00:32:32James: trotting means trotting so yeah we're here it's the park is a fantastic area tree-lined and then in the center of the park you've got the you've got the track where the V8 cars start so when the clips all on it they'll be full of the cars roaring around the track and and maybe us roaring around the outside so yeah it's a out and back course quite a lot of it is well it starts out for first KSO on bitumen and then it goes through the trees and follows the tree line and trees through tree line round and then goes around in a J shape and then comes back yeah

00:33:10Greta Wilkinson: It was a really lovely course. I ran it this morning. It was beautiful.

00:33:13James: Yeah, a few puddles about make it interesting. That was good.

00:33:17Greta Wilkinson: And the council, I hear, have been incredibly supportive.

00:33:19James: Yeah, so the council backed this. We were able to apply for a grant, which, thanks to Ojo from Torrens, he saw the opportunity for a grant. And, yeah, we were successful in that. And, yeah.

00:33:35Greta Wilkinson: Yeah, well, congratulations. It's been a fantastic day. Beautiful weather. I thought it was going to be a bit wet, but the sun's come out.

00:33:41Unidentified speaker: The sun is out now.

00:33:42James: Lovely, the sun's out. It's gorgeous.

00:33:44Greta Wilkinson: Yeah, it's lovely. And actually, it's beautiful standing here looking back at the hills. It's such a gorgeous view. So well done. Congratulations on a successful launch.

00:33:53James: Thank you.

00:33:54Greta Wilkinson: All right, so I'm now here with... Karen Bentley. And... Janet Reid. And what were you guys doing today at the launch of Packer McCarthy Park Ride? Oh, we were having it up as marshals. Feline marshals. I was going to say, you're going to have to, for the purpose of the podcast, you're going to have to describe what you're wearing. So I'm dressed as Cheshire Cat in a onesie, so I've got pink and white stripes with a hat that's got a ridiculous grin on it. And I've got a very large tail that when I walk has a habit of popping out in awkward places. And Janet?

00:34:28Melissa Erbacher: I'm in a black and white onesie dressed as Sylvester the Cat, also with a lovely hat and a beautiful pink nose.

00:34:34Greta Wilkinson: My tail is shorter than Karen's tail. And you guys were an awesome cheer squad today. You were at about the 1K mark? I think it would have been about 1K, then 4K's coming back. 4K's coming back, yeah. And you guys certainly kept me going. Thank you. We're glad. We love it. The more noise we make, the happier we are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you were putting smiles on everyone's faces. So thank you so much for cheering us on today. You're very welcome. Lots of high fives out there this morning. It was good fun.

00:34:59Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it was great fun. And lots of smiles, lots of happy faces. And Packer Picanthy is done and dusted for the launch. I know, how wonderful that is.

00:35:06Greta Wilkinson: How well did I do that? I know. Packer Picanthy. Have you been practicing like I have?

00:35:11Alicia: Just runs off my tongue, darling. It's a bit of a tongue twister, isn't it? It is, it is. Too many P's in it.

00:35:18Greta Wilkinson: Well, thank you, guys.

00:35:19Alicia: Thanks, Greta. See you. See you next parkrun. Bye.

00:35:24Greta Wilkinson: Okay, so I'm now here with Alicia. And, Alicia, you're the ED for Packer McCarthy parkrun. Congratulations. What a wonderful day.

00:35:31Alicia: Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's been really exciting. It's been a fabulous launch. Yeah.

00:35:35Greta Wilkinson: Absolutely beautiful. And we're now here having coffee at the – so what is the kiosk here?

00:35:40Alicia: It's called Kiosk on 16. It's a family-run business. And they've been incredibly supportive of Packer McCarthy since we – started um talking about starting one here um they're absolutely wonderful they make great coffee too they do they do i've just had a coffee and i've just had breakfast and it was really really nice we're very impressed so yeah and they're so friendly too they're lovely yeah they're all they're just wonderful they're exactly i think they really kind of get the parkrun ethos i know you know i think they're just a perfect fit for us so hopefully and you were happy with the launch today Really pleased. We had such a great turnout. We had over 350 come out. We had so much support as well, which is just fantastic. We even had the Lord Mayor here to start us off. But everyone's really positive, so I couldn't have asked for a smoother launch.

00:36:32Greta Wilkinson: And lots of people are hanging around after, having coffee, chatting. You've already got a great community starting.

00:36:37Alicia: Which I'm really excited about. For me, parkrun's all about the community and I feel that we've started off really well and it's only going to get better from here, I think. And tell me about your parkrun journey. Oh, so I started, like many, parkrunning at Torrens and I went out because it was a free run that I could do with my dog in the mornings. And then very quickly, Lochiel Park started up within a couple of months of me discovering parkrun, so I moved there because that was closer to home. Volunteered about six weeks later, got roped into run directing by a certain John Laurie, who obviously saw me coming, and within a year became event director there, so... You know, and if that wasn't enough of a challenge, I decided that starting a new one would be just that next tick on the box. So parkrun's become a big part of your life then? parkrun is a huge part of my life. I can't remember what it was like before parkrun. I think the people that I've met, you know, one of my best friends, I met her through parkrun. My partner in wine, Janet Reid.

00:37:46[laughter]

00:37:46Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:37:47Alicia: We're not the healthiest parkrunners out there. She was fabulous today in her outfit, cheering them on. Yeah, so very lucky. The Lochiel Park crew have been incredibly supportive, as have the Torrens crew. But, yes, I did have a particularly snazzy pair of marshals out on the course today in their onesies. They were gorgeous. They were great, yes. And you had such a lovely team of volunteers. It's been really lovely. A lot of regulars from Torrens have been very keen to form part of a core crew here. And they're all so enthusiastic and really keen to help out and see this parkrun succeed. And that's really lovely. A parkrun's never about one person. It is about a team and a community working together. And I think... you know, we've got that in spades already.

00:38:39Greta Wilkinson: You're definitely on your way to developing another beautiful parkrun community.

00:38:44Alicia: And it's a beautiful community and it's a beautiful parkrun. And I think that's one of the things I got from a lot of people as they crossed the line today was it's so beautiful. And a bit unexpected, you think the city, you're not going to have that, but it is pretty. So come out and check us out. You'll be impressed, I think. I second that.

00:39:05Greta Wilkinson: Congratulations on a lovely, lovely launch and all the best for the ongoing success of Packer McCarthy parkrun.

00:39:12Alicia: Oh, you did it. Well done. Thanks all so much for your support, Greta, and for everyone around the state. The EAs and EDs and RDs in this state are an amazing bunch and they just make it so worthwhile.

00:39:26Greta Wilkinson: It's great fun, isn't it?

00:39:27Alicia: It is fun.

00:39:32Scott Trickett: Pakapakanthi sounds like a raging success. And Greta, as always, got around and I think she interviewed almost everyone that was there. Well done, Greta.

00:39:42Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it's been a little while since we had Greta report in for the Channel 5 News crew. Glad to see she's still on board.

00:39:48Scott Trickett: Yeah, but when she's on board, she's on board. Like she comes with the reports. So she may have some time off, but when she comes back, wow. She delivers. So there was one launch last weekend and to continue that trend, we have one launch this weekend over in WA, Tamworth Wetlands. Not in New South Wales, not in a different part of Tamworth. It's in WA.

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

00:40:14Melissa Erbacher: It is in WA, yeah. So probably less likely to be confused for those who are in Western Australia.

00:40:20Scott Trickett: But what if you're in Tamworth and you think finally we've got another parkrun and they've got wetlands in Tamworth, New South Wales.

00:40:28Melissa Erbacher: I'm not sure they've got wetlands in New South Wales, Tamworth. It's country music festival kind of land. I don't know that there are wetlands in that sort of country.

00:40:43Scott Trickett: I reckon there have been plenty of country songs written and sung about wetlands.

00:40:47Melissa Erbacher: Okay, maybe in the deep south of America where, you know, they have crocs living in those swamps and things like that.

00:40:56Scott Trickett: They have alligators. Alligators.

00:40:58Melissa Erbacher: Well, there you go. See, wildly inaccurate already. I think we need to move on from this launch. Tamworth Wetlands, get to it in WA if you're there.

00:41:07Scott Trickett: Okay. Anniversaries are in Greenbank in Queensland.

00:41:12Melissa Erbacher: Torquay in Victoria.

00:41:14Scott Trickett: And Wishart in Queensland. Now, I've got a question. Have you been to Greenbank? I know I ask you this about every parkrun in Queensland.

00:41:23Melissa Erbacher: I have neither been to Greenbank nor Wishart yet.

00:41:27Scott Trickett: Because I've seen some really nice photos from Greenbank lately.

00:41:30Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Photos of, like, nice photos of the runners? Yeah.

00:41:35Scott Trickett: It just looks like a really nice parkrunner, and I wondered if you could confirm that.

00:41:39Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, I will put it on my list to report back to you at some point. Good. In the future, Scotty. And I'll let you know. But, hey, we've come to a little bit of a sad moment.

00:41:52Scott Trickett: It is a bit. But we knew it was coming. I think we got the most out of this segment, probably more than we ever expected.

00:42:01Melissa Erbacher: Definitely more than you ever expected.

00:42:03Scott Trickett: What segment are we referring to, Mel?

00:42:05Melissa Erbacher: Are you going to play the music now, Scotty? It's got its own jingle.

00:42:09Scott Trickett: I know. It's the last time we're going to hear it. Here we go.

00:42:12[music]

Poem Zone

00:42:14Melissa Erbacher: The Poem Zone. And who are we going to read for the very last time, Scotty?

00:42:22Scott Trickett: Well, again, no surprises. It's our old mate, Caroline Southwell, who has delivered above and beyond her quota of poems to the Poem Zone.

00:42:32Melissa Erbacher: She's kept it head above water for many weeks. Thank you, Caroline, for all your contributions. We've really enjoyed them. And personally, this one I think is possibly my favourite one.

00:42:45Scott Trickett: 300 and counting. But how do you choose when you're an adventurer with nothing to lose?

00:42:51Melissa Erbacher: We can go up to the north and soak up the warm or brave it down south where the cold weather's born.

00:42:57Scott Trickett: We're spoilt for choice with beaches and hills and parks of all sizes. There's more options still.

00:43:04Melissa Erbacher: We can explore our own state or stay close to home, or we can start where we are and let it naturally grow.

00:43:10Scott Trickett: There's options for everyone, whatever you like, as long as you like running more than your bike.

00:43:16Melissa Erbacher: If you're going to adventure, if you're determined to explore, to keep it up long term and never get bored.

00:43:23Scott Trickett: You better know why, you do what you do, so you can carry on parkrunning, but stay true to you.

00:43:29Melissa Erbacher: Good reading, Scotty. The only thing is that you missed out a little winky face at the end of the previous line. Well, how do you say that? Well, you could either say semicolon close bracket. Or you could say winky face emoji.

00:43:49Scott Trickett: Yeah, look, I made the call on the fly there and just went without it. I think it still worked. I think it still worked.

00:43:56Melissa Erbacher: I think it did still work.

00:43:58Scott Trickett: But we're ending one segment, Mel, but we've got to replace it with another one. We need segments.

00:44:04Melissa Erbacher: We do. But you know what? I think we've got a really exciting one to replace it with.

00:44:08Scott Trickett: Before we get to that, I know we've got a run sheet, and this is the only time we refer to the run sheet, and I'm going to change it up even though we discussed it two minutes ago. We also asked for Freedom Runs, and it'll all become evident why I've changed it up now. So we asked, so this is the Freedom Run month. Remember, we talked about that. I haven't done any yet, but I'm going to do some this week.

parkrun adventure challenge (freedom run challenge)

00:44:30Melissa Erbacher: One a week in August.

00:44:32Scott Trickett: This week is fluid.

00:44:34Melissa Erbacher: This week is fluid. It doesn't matter that we're already at the 8th. By the time you're listening to this, it's the 9th or the 10th of August. Hopefully somebody will have done one by then.

00:44:44Scott Trickett: So we asked you to record audio on Freedom Runs. Now, we know that's not for everyone, but it's definitely for Melissa Ellis, who sent us in her recording. And so this is one way you can be part of our show. So take it away, Melissa.

00:44:59Melissa Ellis: Hi Scott and Mel, it's Melissa here coming to you from Toolan Creek parkrun where I've just done a freedom run. So I was listening to last week's episode a bit late this week. For anybody who knows me I have just moved house and I am no longer Melissa from Berwick Springs, I am Melissa from Toolern Creek. I've changed parkruns. So got up this morning, thought I'd go down to the parkrun track and I actually did a bit more than parkrun. I did about 12k so I could explore the other ends of the track that I haven't seen before because Toolern Creek parkrun is on a trail that runs through the city of Melton. And so I had a lovely run and saw some things I hadn't seen before. And I've also just joined the local running group here, which is the Melton City Runners. So big shout out to MCR. Hope to get to your training sessions very soon. And yeah, you'll see my Strava. Thanks. See you soon.

00:45:57Scott Trickett: Okay, that's one way. And we'd love to hear more audio from out and about on your Freedom Runs this month.

00:46:05Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but Scotty, I notice while you haven't done your end of the deal, let's say, with going along with the challenge that you set and said this is what you wanted to do for the month and I had no bar of it, I actually went and did a Freedom Run this week. I know. In a vain attempt to redeem my absenteeism from parkrun day, I went for a freedom run of a course that hasn't been launched yet. I've already discussed it a little bit on another parkrun-themed podcast that you may or may not have heard about.

00:46:39Scott Trickett: Let's just go to the audio, shall we? Oh, no. You've already used it for some other podcast, haven't you?

00:46:49Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, oh, I didn't get the audio for us. I got the audio for With Me Now. Right, right.

00:46:57Scott Trickett: So another way, so this is where I was going with this, Mel. So another way is giving us your Freedom Run audio or let's introduce a new segment called the parkrun Adventurers Hotline.

parkrun Adventurers Hotline

00:47:10Melissa Erbacher: Dun, dun, dun. We need some really good music for that.

00:47:13Scott Trickett: Yeah. Don't worry, next week there will be because I'm confident people have got questions that they want answered. So for this one, people, if you're listening right now and you're thinking, oh, I really want Scotty and Mel to answer this, I really wish I could ask them this. So just record the question into the phone and send it to us.

00:47:31Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it's super easy. Most smartphones actually already have some kind of voice recording feature. function or app on them. I know iPhone has got voice memos. I don't really know what's on Android.

00:47:46Scott Trickett: You can send a Facebook message as audio mail.

00:47:49Melissa Erbacher: Can you? You can.

00:47:50Scott Trickett: Wow, that's very impressive. So just record your message in Facebook Messenger and send it to us.

00:47:57Melissa Erbacher: Yes, so we need, we can't have you on the hotline unless we have your voice. And you'll learn all about how it's going to work next week. But even if you've got a double or triple barreled question, just record it, send it to us. You can either email it to parkrunadventures at gmail.com or as Scotty has just informed the world, you can Facebook messenger it.

00:48:20Scott Trickett: And we need at least one because I'm making the jingle regardless. If by the middle of next week we don't have any, Mum, you've got to ask me a question.

00:48:30Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Well, you might have to keep your mum in the loop on that one. Otherwise, I do have a violin in the house, and if we don't get a question, you might just hear some very sad screeching as Scotty and I play some very terrible violin, or when I say Scotty and I, I mean me. So please don't let me go there. I do not like the screeching of a violin. I don't play it. It's not my instrument. So, yeah, send us something. You've just got a burning question or even if it's not so burning, just send it in. We want to hear it and we will answer it to the best of our abilities.

00:49:08Scott Trickett: If you want tips from me on styling your hair, send that in. Anything. We're open to any sort of questions.

00:49:14Melissa Erbacher: This is no holds barred, no limits, just, yeah.

00:49:18Scott Trickett: How is the fiddling going, Mel? You still fiddling? I am still fiddling. We don't hear much about the fiddling these days.

00:49:24Melissa Erbacher: Well, because we have a podcast about parkruns, Scotty. I don't anticipate everybody really wants to hear updates on how my cello is going.

00:49:33Scott Trickett: Yeah, good point. Do you want an update on my soda intake, my soda experiments?

00:49:38Melissa Erbacher: Well, I do, especially after we had Kelly Hodges on the podcast recently and talking about juice being practically equivalent to a drink of Coke.

00:49:49Scott Trickett: She didn't recommend drinking it, did she?

00:49:52Melissa Erbacher: Not so much, but that's okay.

00:49:54Scott Trickett: Well, I combined it. So I tried the Coke. I've got this new experiment. We're happy to take Coke's money, by the way, because Stan never came after us, but listeners did get back to me. And you know what they call it in the UK? Battery acid? No, I'm talking about Stan.

00:50:10Melissa Erbacher: Oh, sorry.

00:50:11Scott Trickett: I call it Dave.

00:50:14Melissa Erbacher: Oh, it's another male name. Yeah. Dave. Oh, the Dave's Running Club would love that. And that might be why Dave Moss is over there. He heard that they don't have Stan, they have Dave. God, the UK get all the Daves, don't they?

00:50:28Scott Trickett: They do. But anyway, so Coca-Cola, they're trying a new experiment where they're adding fruit.

00:50:34Melissa Erbacher: For the title of their drinks?

00:50:35Scott Trickett: Well, no. So it's raspberry. So there's raspberry cola and now there's orange cola. And I think they had lime cola for a bit.

00:50:44Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:50:44Scott Trickett: And I succumbed because, you know, I like to experiment cola. If ever I see anything really weird, I'm like, I'll try it. And that's why Dr. Pepper is my weakness because it tastes like marzipan.

00:50:57Melissa Erbacher: Marzipan is awful. It is awful. That's the one thing that I have to peel off cake. Like, it just ruins so many good cakes.

00:51:03Scott Trickett: But how do you feel about cough medicine, cough syrup?

00:51:06Melissa Erbacher: No, not a fan.

00:51:07Scott Trickett: What about if it was carbonated and mixed with a little bit of Coke?

00:51:10Melissa Erbacher: Oh, God, no.

00:51:12Scott Trickett: Because that's what raspberry Coke's like. It's like carbonated cough syrup. And the first time I had it, it was horrible.

00:51:20Melissa Erbacher: You say it like you had it again.

00:51:21Scott Trickett: Yeah, well, I did because it's delicious after a few.

00:51:27Melissa Erbacher: After it's coated the back of your throat and you stop coughing.

00:51:31Scott Trickett: Okay. It worked really well because it coincided with how I was coming out the back end of it, a little bit of a bug.

00:51:36Melissa Erbacher: And now the bug is coming out the back end of you with the raspberry Coke. Can you tell me, did you look at the ingredients list? I know the name of a fruit is in the title of the drink, but that doesn't mean that there's any of that fruit actually in the drink. Flavorings can be created from all sorts of interesting numbers.

00:51:56Scott Trickett: No, no, no, but they're also marketing it that it's 70% or something less sugar because it's got the sugars from the fruit, so I guess that's something, or it's, I don't know. I didn't pay that much attention, Mel. Anyway, it's going to run out soon, so it's okay.

00:52:13Melissa Erbacher: It's limited edition. That's what attracted you as well, isn't it?

00:52:16Scott Trickett: Yeah, so I just wanted to warn our listeners that if they do like cough syrup, you can now get it in Coke form.

00:52:22Melissa Erbacher: carbonated and cold. Carbonated, refrigerated cough syrup. That is a public service announcement, Scotty. You really do do good for this world. Yes.

Sing-along

00:52:31Scott Trickett: And to continue doing good for the world, our sing-along for the week. It's a bit of a slow burner, Mel, but I think by the end of it, you'll be singing along. What sort of mood are you in the mood for? Because you don't know what's coming.

00:52:46Melissa Erbacher: I have no idea. Oh, I don't know. I don't know what I'm in the mood for. Surprise me.

00:52:54Scott Trickett: Okay, and I'll surprise you all. That's it for this week's episode of the parkrun Adventures. We will be back next week. God knows what day we'll be releasing, but fingers crossed, it will be within the week.

00:53:05Melissa Erbacher: We've got some very special reverse freedom madness for you next week.

00:53:09Scott Trickett: Do we?

00:53:11Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, that's next week.

00:53:13Scott Trickett: Well, I'm in the dark now. Count White.

00:53:18[music]

00:53:18Unidentified speaker: I hear the drums echoing tonight. And she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation. She's coming in 1230 flight. Moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me toward salvation. I stopped an old man along the way Hoping to find some old forgotten words Or ancient melodies He turned to me as if to say Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you

00:54:10Unidentified speaker: Nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do I bless the rains down in Africa We're gonna take some time to do the things we never had

00:54:38Unidentified speaker: The wild dogs cry out in the night As they grow restless longing for some solitary company I know that I must do what's right Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I seek to cure what's deep inside Frightened of this thing that I've become

00:55:18Unidentified speaker: That a hundred men or more could ever do

00:56:01Unidentified speaker: Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

00:56:45Unidentified speaker: Take some time to do the things you never had