Episode 131 - Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa

Episode details · 320 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:19Scott Trickett: Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast, your weekly Australian podcast all about parkrun. Featuring myself, Scotty Trickett, and my co-host Mel Erbacher. How are you going Mel?

00:00:32Melissa Erbacher: G'day, Scotty. I'm good. How are you?

00:00:35Scott Trickett: Oh, yeah, pretty good. Pretty good. Midweek, we've got a public holiday here in Melbourne. We're the kind of town, we're the kind of city that has a public holiday for the footy finals.

00:00:47Melissa Erbacher: Midweek? Aren't the finals on at the end of the week?

00:00:49Scott Trickett: They are. So we get a holiday on Friday.

00:00:53Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. You're not on holiday today.

00:00:56Scott Trickett: Not yet. Not yet.

00:00:57Melissa Erbacher: Are you in the party mood then if you've got a short week happening?

00:01:00Scott Trickett: Absolutely. Absolutely. I've got footy finals fever. Amazingly, I don't know how this happened, but Collingwood made it grand final again. Two-thirds of my house barrack for Collingwood. And despite not following the footy all year, they're really into footy this week.

00:01:17Melissa Erbacher: Isn't that funny how people's, you know, excitement peaks if somebody gets in the grand finals. Collingwood, they're the black and white ones that have magpies on them, aren't they?

00:01:26Scott Trickett: They are.

00:01:27Melissa Erbacher: I know this from Melissa Ellis getting swooped by magpies last week.

00:01:32Scott Trickett: Yeah. And that's it. So interesting time for them to be peaking because everyone hates magpies at the moment because they're swooping us. And now we actually hate the football club because they're in the grand final. But it's really hard for me to hate them when my two favorite people in this world are really happy when they win. It's a real contrast for me. I struggle with it every day, Mel. So let's not bring the podcast down. I want to hear about all your fabulous adventures from Ballina Coast because that is a gorgeous part of our country that we live in, that we call Australia.

00:02:08Melissa Erbacher: It's beautiful. It is. Absolutely stunning.

00:02:11Scott Trickett: And it's the easternmost point. In our land. And did you... Oh, no.

00:02:19Melissa Erbacher: Oh. Well, this is the thing, see. I went there to figure out whether or not the parkrun course was our easternmost parkrun. Because, yes, Ballina Coast is within Cooee's distance of Byron Bay, which is the actual proper easternmost point of Australia.

00:02:35Scott Trickett: Australian mainland. Australian mainland. Yes, Australian mainland. There are bits off the mainland. Yep.

00:02:41Melissa Erbacher: Um... Yeah, and I needed to put to bed a very old argument about which of, between Ballina Coast and Kingscliff parkrun, is the easternmost event currently in Australia. And I may have the results, I may not have the results. I'm having a little bit of trouble deciphering between the points of longitude or latitude or whichever one is the one that I'm supposed to be deciphering between. I cannot find on the interweb. how to explain which one is further east. Like when the number goes up or the number goes down, whether or not that means it's closer to the east or not. It's very confusing. I have spent a lot of time Googling and trying different variations on the question about how to figure out which one's further east. And I think I've got it, but I don't want to speak out of turn. So I'm going to continue my research. However... I will say that I'm pretty confident Ballina Coast parkrun is not the easternmost event.

00:03:51Scott Trickett: Because you were pretty confident that it was before visiting. No, no, I wasn't. Oh, you weren't?

00:03:57Melissa Erbacher: I was confident that Kingscliff was. Yeah. I'm confused. My understanding is that – or it was – that while the course runs further east – it's mapped from the start-finish point at both events. That's the point that Chris and I decided was going to be the decider because while courses might change and vary over time, the start and finish points are most likely to remain the same.

00:04:21Scott Trickett: Okay, so there is a very important point that you've mentioned there. Yes. Because you guys came up with the club, so this is why we don't ask for advice from the internet because we know we've got some massive nerds who listen to the podcast and they will give you the answer. But we don't want their answer, do we? We want Mel and Chris's answer.

00:04:38Alan: Is that what you're saying?

00:04:40Scott Trickett: Yes.

00:04:41Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely. And that's why I felt it was important that I physically went there so I could compare GPX files from both locations that I had effectively created myself. Yes. But GPS and compass points aside, Ballina Coast parkrun, it's a cracker, Scotty. Have you done it?

00:05:02Scott Trickett: No, I haven't. No, I'm very lacking in events in the north. It's a long way from Melbourne. It's a long way to drive.

00:05:11Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, you should get yourself happening on a road trip at some point. because it's definitely one to add to your list. It's beautiful. The volunteers are friendly, no surprise there. They were at the turnaround point, at the northern turnaround point, because it's got a couple. It's sort of an out and back where you go in one direction, you go south first, and then you turn around and come back and you go past the finish line sort of further north and turn around and come back again. At the northern turnaround point, there were dolphins playing. They were cruising in the waves at the break. It was very exciting. I've never seen dolphins from a course before. I know we've had reports of them at Kawana, but I've never seen them. Yes. So I was very excited to see that happen.

00:05:58Scott Trickett: I think we've got a pretty high quota of beautiful events in this country, I think. On proportion and percentage, if you weigh up our gorgeous events, ones that you have beautiful coastline views or you're in lush bushland, I think we do all right in that department here in Australia.

00:06:19Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. I think you'd be struggling to find one that was ugly, to be honest. But that doesn't detract from the gorgeousness of Ballina Coast.

00:06:26Scott Trickett: Well, that's good to hear. That's good to hear. Did anyone recognize you? Did you get mobbed? How is the podcast received in Ballina Coast?

00:06:38Melissa Erbacher: I flew under the radar for this one. I didn't even introduce myself to the event team after the event this time. I just thought I was participating with my family, with my extended family and So, yeah, we just went along and had a really quiet one. I did, of course, thank all the volunteers, but, you know. I don't feel this need to go up to people and say, hey, guys, my name is Mel. I'm kind of a big deal. I thought you'd want to know that I was here because you might see my name in results later and kick yourselves that you didn't say hi. So, yeah, that's not me. I'm not that person. So, yeah, we just had a nice quiet one, which was lovely. So it was nice not to be mobbed, but I'm sure mobbing would have occurred definitely. Yeah.

00:07:21Scott Trickett: Yep.

00:07:21Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. No ego here, but definitely.

00:07:24Scott Trickett: But that's the thing when you're a podcast host, a superstar, we know your voice, but we don't know what you look like, Mel. I mean, a lot of us don't know what you look like. I do, because I've met you. I've seen you. I've touched you. But yeah, you should have just spoke really loudly to your family, and then you would have got mobbed. Maybe. Maybe. What do you think is your most distinctive character from the podcast? Is it your laugh? People think your laugh's quite nice.

00:07:49Melissa Erbacher: Well, there's a lot of contention about that too. I don't know. I don't know. I don't think I've got anything particularly distinctive. What do you think is your defining feature that, you know, the one word you might say that somebody goes, ah, that sounds like Scotty Trickett?

00:08:13Scott Trickett: Oh, well, they know exactly when I start speaking. I think I've got quite a distinct voice, and I do talk slow and laid back, as we've mentioned quite a few times, and people mention it to me. So when they meet me in person, they go, oh, my God, you really do talk like that.

00:08:30Lyndell Murray: Do they think you talk like that on the podcast?

00:08:32Scott Trickett: That's what I like about you. You always laugh at everything I say, so people know you for your laugh. People tell me I don't laugh enough, but I'm laughing on the inside, people.

00:08:43Melissa Erbacher: And that's probably where Kasia gets it from as well.

00:08:47Scott Trickett: Yeah, she's not a big laugher. She is just like her dad. Well, that's great. That is great.

00:08:55Melissa Erbacher: Where did you go, Scotty?

00:08:56Scott Trickett: I was back at home.

00:08:57Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I know. You had some milestones?

00:08:59Scott Trickett: Yeah, we had some milestones. We had a few of my Westerfoldian legends doing some milestones. The whole family of Burrows ticked off 100, a 50, a 25. I think there was a 10 in there as well. Another one of my mates, John, was doing 100. There were milestones everywhere. So it was a big celebration. And you know what we did? We went back to – we had breakfast afterwards. And as should be your right when you're celebrating your milestone and you invite your friends back to the post-event cafe, the Burrows family are vegan. So they took us to a plant-based cafe. Yum. Yeah, which was fantastic. And the cafe were spot on. They did a really good job. The food was delicious. And I really liked it, because it is taking people out of their comfort zone to present them with a menu that doesn't have eggs on it when you want to have eggs for breakfast. But I had some beautiful tempeh in a Reuben sandwich. Yvonne had this fancy Japanese bowl. It was great. So it was a really great turnout for a post-parkrun breakfast, which, to be honest, the Westerfoldians don't do much. They do it a lot more now. But it was quite enjoyable. And it was just such a gorgeous day in Melbourne on the weekend. It was like spring is here, summer is coming.

00:10:25Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. It always helps to have a bit of glorious weather shining down when you want to celebrate these good things.

00:10:33Scott Trickett: Yep. But unfortunately, you know what? The weather only lasted one day. Because we went back to juniors on Sunday and it was cloudy and it was cold. And I would have thought the kids came out. It was school holidays, all the footies over, netball, all that sort of stuff was finished up for the year. So I thought the mums and dads would be dragging their kids along to juniors. Numbers down. The numbers were down a little, which surprised me. Still a great morning and I was tail walker at juniors, so I got to see the back end of the field. And that's, as you would expect, lots of fun, lots of real juniors like those four-year-olds. One of them was doing their parkrun for the first time, part of a good parkrun family. And their four-year-old daughter did her first parkrun, so it was great to see that.

00:11:21Melissa Erbacher: Cuteness. Cuteness. Well, we decided after the debacle last week that was Scotty's references once more to the Westerfoldians that it was time to get a Zoolander back on the show. So we've popped on over to WA to talk to our next guest who is what we would classify as an uber-tourist in his state. His name is Abdul Raouf Mohamed Issa. Apologies for stumbling over that, Abdul. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers.

00:11:56Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Thank you very much for having me. Glad to be here.

00:12:00Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. That's what we love to hear. Now, UberTourist is definitely what we would call you. You've done quite a lot of runs or walks in the parkrun world. You're pushing your 250 shirt. You're not going to quite get there this year, but I'm assuming it's on the cards for next year. You've done every event in your state. Is that correct?

00:12:21Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, that's right. I just completed Birdswood a couple of weeks ago. And another goal of mine is to volunteer at every parkrun in WA, which I did by scanning at Birdswood just the past Sunday.

00:12:35Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. So you went back on a separate occasion to volunteer as well?

00:12:41Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah. So the ones that I've met where I try to get back and volunteer and run, whereas the regional ones I'll usually tell just to double up because they're a bit harder to get to in WA with the distance.

00:12:55Scott Trickett: That was my next question. So I wouldn't call it cheating, but that's how you get around because WA is a massive state. So I can't imagine you want to go back and forth two weeks in a row to Port Hedland, for example. So you have tailed walked at the more remote events.

00:13:14Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yes. Another way I got around it with Kalgoorlie, that is a six-hour drive. So compared to Port Hedland, it's not too bad. But they had a double with Christmas Day. So, it was a Saturday, Sunday. So, that worked well for me.

00:13:28Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. When you said a double with Christmas Day, I'm like, how does that work?

00:13:33Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So, yeah, the regular one, I think, well, regular one fell on Saturday. Actually, no, I think Christmas is the Friday that we are.

00:13:41Melissa Erbacher: That's a brilliant idea. I had never considered, you know, lining up one of those magic years where it's parkrun two days in a row to head out to one of the more remote events. That's a great, yeah, I'm working out when the next year that's going to happen is making plans.

00:14:00Scott Trickett: Abdul, I'm curious, how early in your parkrun journey did you set about to do this? Was it a goal from the start or was it something you figured out halfway through?

00:14:11Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So when I started, there were only the, well, when I first started, there were only the two in WA and then Canning River started the week after. So it wasn't really on the cards then. I don't think I volunteered until after I'd run about six or seven events. And then I'd say I made the goal when there were about 10 events in WA. And it was just a reason to see the different events and see how, even though it's all the same thing, it's good to see how different events work and how they recruit volunteers.

00:14:45Melissa Erbacher: Can you just clarify for us how many events are currently in Western Australia?

00:14:49Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: 33 and the 34th, Perry Lakes, is starting this Saturday.

00:14:56Melissa Erbacher: That's still an impressive feat and effectively you've been there pretty much right from the start, which is awesome. So, Of every one, you know, you can chart the progress of the growth in WA as it's happened, especially since you're quite the adventurer. Has it spread? I haven't been paying that closely of an attention. Has it spread sort of from Perth outwards or have you noticed that, you know, quite a few more remote areas popped up in the early days and sort of moved back in?

00:15:26Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So I've seen it definitely spread more in the metro area first. Regionally, I didn't see it spread until about two or three years ago. And then I'd say it was people travelling, maybe people travelling from the north or south or western Australia coming up here, seeing what it's about and then thinking, oh, that'd be great to have in our community as well.

00:15:53Scott Trickett: And how did you find out about parkrun? What inspired you to get along? Abdul?

00:15:59Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Ah, so the story goes, I did a cycling event, the Ride to Conquer Cancer, the very first year I was in Perth, and Lady Cheryl, she was in the same team as me, or called Cycles a lot, and it just so happened, one day I was just scrolling through Facebook and she was tagged in a picture at Claisebrook. So I saw the, and I kind of did a bit of research as well, saw the word parkrun and things that I call my way, that it was free weekly and times, and Then signed up for it, had a look at which events were available in WA and at the time it was just Claisebrook Cove and Rockingham. I was living in Forestfield at the time and I noticed that Canning River was starting the week after. So I thought I'd check out Claisebrook and yeah, see what it was about. It was a bit of a bit overwhelming for me being like new and not knowing anyone. I think. There were less than 100 people. But for me at the time, it was quite overwhelming. Like I pretty much did the run and then went home. And then, yeah, that's how my story started really, just finding someone tagged on Facebook.

00:17:11Melissa Erbacher: Even though you found it overwhelming, you obviously thought, well, you know, I can handle this. Were you a runner previously? I mean, I know you said, you know, you did a big cycle. So obviously you're an active person. But where did your running story start?

00:17:25Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: I've always been a runner since I was in primary school. It was more like when I was in school, 400 meters was too long for me. I preferred the one and 200 meter events, definitely more of a sprinter. And then in high school, I was actually part of a WAIS program, the West Australian Institute of Sport. So we trained two, three times a week, hurdles, sprints, and like relay events. So I've always definitely been more of a short distance runner. My first I guess distance event would have been the 12K City to Surf back in 1999. So that was the 25th year that it ran here. And I just, that was more for fun, just running. I did that about five or six years in a row. And the only other kind of running I do is playing team sports like basketball, futsal and netball. So yeah, I've always enjoyed my running, but nothing, nothing too serious.

00:18:23Scott Trickett: I want to get back to the parkruns. I want to know, tell me some of the curiosities or differences you've picked up on your travels. Like what happens at some events that you think stands out or works really well? Have you got some tales from your travels?

00:18:40Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, so one thing I like about heading different parkruns is the, well, that's one reason I volunteer. It's just a different way to meet people because when you're running, you're always around I'm like the same, usually around the same speed, same people. One of the tales I have is actually when I went to Mount Clarence in Albany, I signed up as the tail walker, so I had to get down there. I decided to take my scooter and so I had to leave. I left in the morning about one or two o'clock. filled up, it was full and then I was riding there and there weren't many petrol stations open and luckily about 20km before I got to Albany I filled up and I knew the scooter was pretty much running on empty because the light had come on but luckily there was a petrol station just before I entered Albany and I was able to fill up and get to parkrun in time so that was pretty lucky.

00:19:45Melissa Erbacher: What kind of distance is there between your home at that time and Albany?

00:19:52Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So, Albany, I just lost it off my head. It's about a four-hour drive, about 400 plus k's, I think.

00:19:59Melissa Erbacher: If it's that long on, so when you say four-hour drive, is it four-hour drive for a car? Because scooters, they don't go as fast as cars, do they? They're like 80 kilometers an hour or do you have one of those supercharged ones?

00:20:11Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: I had a 250cc. It was a Cargo. So yeah, it could get up to 100, 120.

00:20:18Melissa Erbacher: And what do you think when, you know, the fuel light is on and you don't know where the next petrol station is? And it's early in the morning after a long night's drive.

00:20:31Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: I pretty much just had to put the head down and just hope that I'd find something and try to keep as aerodynamic as possible. Not that that would have made much of a difference.

00:20:43Melissa Erbacher: You find yourself leaning forward?

00:20:46Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, yeah. So I'm supposed to be for work, so it kind of came – I was kind of used to leaning forward, getting out of the wind. So, yeah, definitely was hoping that I'd find something. But luckily, a petrol station was open on the way, and I was able to fill up and get to parkrun on time.

00:21:04Scott Trickett: And what about outside of WA? Have you exclusively WA or have you done some international parkruns or any over in the east?

00:21:11Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So interstate, I've done a couple in Queensland. I've done South Bank and Stones Corner. Whereas Melbourne, I did Albert Park. So they're the only other ones in Australia I've done. Whereas overseas, I've ticked off East Coast and West Coast parkrun in Singapore. Yeah, so my first event in Singapore was actually at East Coast parkrun, and I was only there for 12 hours because I was actually with my family in Malaysia for the Formula One. So I decided to, I don't know, return flights for less than $100, maybe even $60. So I thought, oh, yeah, I'll just head there for parkrun and come back. Family didn't want to go, but, you know, they just thought I was a crazy fool to do that, but...

00:22:03Melissa Erbacher: I love, I wonder what is the smallest amount of time anyone has ever spent in a country for a parkrun? Because 12 hours, that's got to come pretty close. And you must have flown through the night for that to eventuate, given that parkrun starts in the morning.

00:22:19Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, so at the time it started at 7 o'clock. I think they pushed it back to 7.30 now in Singapore. So, yeah, it was still quite dark. I would have left. It's only about a 50-minute flight. So I think I arrived. two, three in the morning, stayed at one of those hotel places for a couple of hours in the airport and then caught a taxi to parkrun, ran, had coffee and breakfast with some of the crew and then caught a taxi straight back.

00:22:45Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Well, next time you're in Malaysia for the Formula One, you can stick around and they'll have a couple of events up and going by the time that happens, I imagine?

00:22:55Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, hopefully, but I don't think there's a point in Malaysia anymore.

00:22:58Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Well, then you'll just have to go for parkrun.

00:23:03Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: I'll make a reason to go there.

00:23:07Scott Trickett: Mel, you're not up to date with the Formula One schedule, Mel?

00:23:11Melissa Erbacher: I must admit, it's one of the sports that I don't follow among all of the sports.

00:23:17Scott Trickett: I must admit, I knew there were two parkruns in Singapore. I didn't know there was an F1 race either.

00:23:24Melissa Erbacher: There are three parkruns in Singapore. Well, there you go. I don't know anything.

00:23:29Scott Trickett: Hey, what I do know is that volunteering can be pretty fun. I've got my favorite roles and I've got a couple of least favorites. Does that apply to yourself as well, Abdul? Have you got a couple of favorites and some that you avoid?

00:23:41Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: I definitely prefer tail walking and scanning and probably marshalling. I enjoy the tail walking just because you actually get to see the course. Whereas when you're running, usually... following the person in front so you know you get to be do a bit of sightseeing if you haven't been there before and the next time you go you should be able to get a PB um so with the marshalling yeah I just like to see other people smiling and having a good time giving out high fives and the scanning is another good good way because you get to meet new people and see them see how they run went I try to avoid timekeeping and finish tokens. I've done them a few times, but they're the two which I've had a couple of issues with when I do it. So I've actually dropped the tokens a couple of times. And with timekeeping, there was one time where I'd started the watch not knowing, so I pressed it again. And then I realized I'd already started it, so I pressed it a third time. But luckily, it was only a couple of seconds apart. So I'll let the run director know, but don't worry about it.

00:24:57Melissa Erbacher: All these things are very easily fixed. I'm sure the event teams had no qualms whatsoever with your creative volunteering is what I like to call it.

00:25:06Steve Marston: Yeah.

00:25:08Melissa Erbacher: I love how you said before that you started volunteering because it's a great way to meet people because when you run, you generally run at the same pace, so you're always running around the same group of people. I'd never really thought about it that way, but it's true. I mean, it doesn't matter where you fit in the pack. If you are a consistent speed, I guess, you are always going to be around those same people. You also mentioned that you felt quite overwhelmed by the numbers in the early days. Is volunteering or was volunteering in those early days as well a kind of personal challenge for you to, you know, push yourself outside of your comfort zone to get to know some new people?

00:25:54Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, a little bit. And it was also a way to give back because I thought parkrun kind of found my love of running again when I found parkrun. And it's pretty much like a second family to me, parkrun, the number of people that I've met and the new friends that I've made. But yeah, the challenge was there. I tried to do a few of the different roles early on just to see how I liked them and get a feel for everything. Being a run director probably didn't come naturally because I'm not the best public speaker. I've gotten better, but yeah, still... get a bit nervous when I'm out there in front of a few people.

00:26:36Melissa Erbacher: Abdul, we normally ask our guests to supply a photo of themselves that they like. Usually, well, yeah, we like them to like the photo because it's of them running or experiencing parkrun and we use it to promote the podcast. Now, I would say, yes, we may have an expletive from time to time. However, we're mostly a family podcast. Are there any photos of your parkrun journey that you can think of that would not be appropriate? Absolutely. for our podcast picture this week?

00:27:08Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: There are a couple.

00:27:11Melissa Erbacher: A couple? Yes. Plural. More than one.

00:27:16Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: The first one was actually at Pioneer and it was one, I think it was the second anniversary and it had a beach theme and I told some people, oh, I'll do it in budgie smugglers and swim cap and goggles. jokingly, and then come to that, oh, stuff it, I'll just do it. So I waited. I did it strategically. I waited for everyone else to start. So I was still in my shirt and shorts and T-shirt, waited for everyone else to start, and I hid behind a little tree, not that that would have made much of a difference, took off everything except for my budgies, put on the swim cap and goggles and started running. in thongs and a heart rate monitor because I was pretty serious running, you know. And, yeah, got a few wolf whistles and run. The looks people gave me like, is this guy actually running in? It took them a while to even realize who it was next to them.

00:28:18Melissa Erbacher: So the run director on the day didn't record an incident because of your apparel?

00:28:25Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: I don't believe so. I told them you can see the water because we run along the river and it was part of the theme. So, you know, I was just doing it for the fun of it. So, you know, you can see the water and I thought that was the rule with budgie smugglers. As long as you can see the water, it's fine.

00:28:46Melissa Erbacher: That rule ball. I don't know. Scotty, does that sound okay to you? There's a lot of events in Victoria that are near water, I imagine.

00:28:54Scott Trickett: Look, it's perfectly okay to me. I know some people in the parkrun world get a bit nervous when we see some bare skin, particularly on the blokes. But, you know, if you can pull it off, why not?

00:29:06Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So that was the first. Did you want to hear the second story?

00:29:12Scott Trickett: Yes.

00:29:12Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yes, we did. The second one was at Woodbridge, and that's all along the river. So, you know, you can see the water pretty much all the time. And that time I did the same thing. I waited for everyone to start. There were probably a few more people. And once everyone had gone off, I'd taken off everything but the budgies, chucked on the swim cap and goggles, and I even carried a kickboard that time and ran barefoot. No, sorry, I ran in thongs. Whereas the first time I ran in sneakers, so I ran in thongs, I stepped up my game. And that didn't work too well because I started chafing between the toes. I just ran barefoot from about halfway.

00:29:58Melissa Erbacher: Oh, it was between the toes that was chafing.

00:30:00Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah.

00:30:01Melissa Erbacher: I'm glad that you clarified that. Yeah, so...

00:30:08Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: You know, it's only, it's 5Ks though.

00:30:11Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but okay. Was it even a theme?

00:30:13Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Had to take off the thongs, not the thong.

00:30:18Melissa Erbacher: Not the thong. The thongs, not the thong. Thongs, plural. Flip-flops or jandals, depending on where you live. Yeah, but I have to ask, was it a theme run that week or you just decided to do it?

00:30:32Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: No, that was a theme run because someone else had also run with their kickboards. And when they saw me, they actually go, oh, I was going around in my budgies again as well, but I wasn't sure if anybody else would. Okay, another thing I must mention is I changed pretty much, once I crossed the finish line, I was straight into my clothes, so it was just for the 5K, just to clear that up.

00:30:55Melissa Erbacher: Okay, see.

00:30:56Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, afterwards.

00:30:59Melissa Erbacher: You're not a full exhibitionist, only on the course, is what you're trying to clarify.

00:31:04Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah, I'm on the course goggles, swim cap focused, you know.

00:31:11Melissa Erbacher: Do you wear the goggles over your eyes or on your head, on your forehead?

00:31:16Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: No, I actually have the prescription goggles because I wear glasses, so I needed them to actually see.

00:31:24Melissa Erbacher: But they didn't fog up while you were running? No.

00:31:27Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: No, the worst part is actually the swim cap. Taking that up all the sweat, running 5km in a swim cap is not comfortable. I wouldn't suggest it. But yeah, that was probably the worst part of the costume.

00:31:39Melissa Erbacher: Well, I think the next time you do it, you're going to have to step up your game one level more and wear flippers. That might have to be a tail walking role. Although that might be too slow for you to feel comfortable in that outfit.

00:31:55Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: When I'm in that 5K zone, it doesn't matter what's around me. I just get it done.

00:32:00Melissa Erbacher: That's how I feel like when I'm in costume.

00:32:02Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yeah.

00:32:06Melissa Erbacher: Love it. Love it. Yes. Well, people who are listening to the podcast may have noticed by now that we have not used one of those photos. I'm sure Abdul has submitted something with a little bit more clothing.

00:32:21Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yes, yes, I'll definitely find something that's a bit more appropriate for this channel.

00:32:28Melissa Erbacher: Awesome, thank you.

00:32:29Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: All right, that's okay.

00:32:32Scott Trickett: And now I want to know your top three. Have you got some favourites that you visited?

00:32:39Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: Yes, so I'll skip my three homes that I've had over the years, which would be... Good, because that's part of the rules. Pioneer and Woodbridge. So even though they're my three, I thought I'd mention them. They're the three that I've set as my homes during my time. My three favourite, they're all in WA. In no particular order, I'd have to go Margaret River. I do like the trail running and it's just a long river creek up one side, pretty much down the other. And then you finish It's quite unique. You finish in front of the cafe. They've got the, I guess, little balcony. And you finish outside the Hairy Marron Cafe, which is also a bike shop. So it's one of my favourites. The other one is Manjimup. So I enjoy that one because you get to run around the King Jarrah tree and then you run out on the footpath alongside the road. And I enjoy it because it's quite hilly. And one of the times I ran there, they had avocados down the bottom and you could put a dollar in and take an avocado at the bottom of the hill, run to the turnaround and come back. And the last one of my three would be Mount Clarence, just because I do enjoy my hills and it's a very scenic view when you're running along the course there, out back along the coast, and you finish... The start's uphill and the finish is really quick being down. Pretty much the last cave's downhill and you run on the sand for a bit at the end there. So it was something a bit different.

00:34:16Melissa Erbacher: This is fantastic. I'm learning new things. I didn't know. I mean, I've heard about the King Jarrah Tree at Manjimup, but I didn't know it was a hilly course necessarily and I certainly didn't know about the avocados. But Margaret River's a new horse on the course, as it were. So it's good to hear that one's making it there. I would agree with you. It's definitely a beautiful one. Abdul, you are a statesman. You're a volunteer statesman. Do you chase any of the other sort of unofficial clubs? I mean, what's next? It's got to be fairly easy to stay on top of it now, providing they don't keep launching things in really, really far corners of WA. Yeah.

00:34:57Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So one of the goals I've actually got is the Ollie Volley. So I'm assuming you two have heard of that?

00:35:07Melissa Erbacher: Yes, but for the listeners who may not be familiar, do you want to explain it?

00:35:12Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: So the Ollie Volley is volunteering in every state and territory in Australia. And I know that Margie Olsen has done that. So that's something that I'm planning to do. So far I've done it in the three states I've been in, so Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. She's actually planning on coming to WA in September, so hopefully we can meet up and get a picture together. And if I've got the time, I'd like to get that Ollie Volley before she gets here next September.

00:35:52Scott Trickett: Abdul, good luck with that. I think you're a wonderful asset to parkrun with your commitment to volunteering. And thank you for coming on the parkrun Adventures this week and sharing your tales from becoming a WA statesman.

00:36:07Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa: It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me. And it's great to have a good chat and tell you a few of my stories.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:36:22Greta: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Greta here, and I'm at the Stebonheath parkrun launch, and it's a beautiful day, so we're going to do the parkrun and then find some people to talk to. All right, so it's Greta here, and I'm now here with... Simone. And how did you go, Simone, today? Pretty good. Got the 31 minutes, which is about my average for a 5K run. Lovely, lovely. And is this your first parkrun? I think it's about my fifth, but it's my first one at Stebonheath. And where's your normal parkrun? Carisbrook. That's a lovely course as well. It is, but it was nice to mix it up and try something new today as well. And so do you think this is going to be your local? Is this closer to home for you? This is closer to home, so I think I might make a bit of an exchange. And it's such a beautiful day today. It's glorious, isn't it? It's been a little bit cold in Adelaide lately, but the sun's out today, so it's beautiful. It is. It was perfect running weather, so that was good. Well, thank you so much for coming to the launch of Stebonheath and hopefully we'll see you again soon. No worries. Thanks. Okay, so I'm now here with Alan and Alan, you're the photographer today.

00:37:23Alan: Yes, I am. First time.

00:37:25Greta: First time photographer. Yep. Yeah, well done. Thank you so much for volunteering.

00:37:29Alan: My pleasure.

00:37:30Greta: And when did you first get involved with parkrun?

00:37:34Alan: This is my first parkrun.

00:37:35Greta: Is that right?

00:37:36Alan: Yeah, it's my first official parkrun.

00:37:38Greta: Well, there you go. So I know you were at the trial last week.

00:37:41Alan: I was at the two trials and the goal the week before too as a spectator.

00:37:46Greta: Ah, just to check it out, see what was going on.

00:37:48Alan: Yep.

00:37:49Greta: And how did you hear about parkrun?

00:37:51Alan: From my good friend Helen Turnbull. Yep. She's been parkrunning and she's been telling me all about parkrun for the past couple of years. And so when I heard about Stebonheath starting, I thought that I would be part of it. I don't do very much. I can't do the five kilometre course, but I can't walk very far at all. But I still want to get involved in some way. I don't like sitting around the house doing nothing.

00:38:21Greta: How fabulous. And so you come along and volunteer?

00:38:24Alan: Yes, that's what I do. I'm down every week.

00:38:26Greta: Lovely, lovely. And is this going to be local for you?

00:38:29Alan: Yes, I'm very local.

00:38:31Greta: Yep, yep. And so you're obviously really keen on being part of the community here at parkrun.

00:38:35Alan: Oh, yes, I'm really keen. I've heard so much about how much of the family life, parkrun family and all that sort of stuff that I've heard about. My friend Helen, she just keeps going on about things.

00:38:48Greta: So you thought there's got to be something in this?

00:38:51Alan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And after just being here today, even for the trials as well, I can see what a great bunch of people they've got here.

00:38:58Greta: Yeah.

00:38:59Alan: And I'm really looking forward to being here in the future.

00:39:03Greta: Well, look, welcome to the parkrun family. It's so lovely to have you. We love welcoming new people to the parkrun family, so thank you so much for coming along.

00:39:11Alan: Well, thank you too. Thank you so much.

00:39:12Greta: And for volunteering your time.

00:39:14Alan: Okay, thank you.

00:39:15Greta: And I hope you enjoy the rest of your parkrun journey.

00:39:18Alan: I know I'm going to.

00:39:19Greta: Lovely. Thanks, Alan.

00:39:20Alan: Okay.

00:39:21Greta: Okay, so I'm now here with Helen. How are you going, Helen? Great, me hearty. So I should probably explain to the listeners that we had a bit of a pirate theme at the launch today, and you look fabulous. Thank you, me hearty. And you're also tail walker today, so thank you so much for volunteering. And I was talking to Alan earlier, and I hear you're also his inspiration for coming along to parkrun. How awesome are you?

00:39:46Helen Turnbull: Well, parkrun's great. So yeah, he caught my enthusiasm and he just couldn't wait for a local one to start so he can come. Yeah. How good is that? Well done. It's fantastic. Inspiring him. It's great. Yeah. It's great to see him out here and giving a go and lots of people. Yeah. And so what's your parkrun journey? When did you first start parkrun? Precisely two and a half years ago. Really? There's a bunch of parkrun addicts in the UK and they used to do challenges together and then when they started in Australia, I jumped on it straight away. Oh, lovely. And which parkrun do you normally go to? Mostly Gawler, but yeah, Mawson Lakes as well as now here. Yep, lovely. And you also park-runned in the UK? No, no. We were just friends online, online competitions. Ah, you're hearing it. Yeah.

00:40:29Greta: How wonderful. And so will this be your new local or will you go back to Gawler, do you think? Still staying with Gawler. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming along today and especially for volunteering and for everything that you do for parkrun. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay, so we are now at the John McVeity Centre and we're here for a post-parkrun coffee. And I'm here with Cheryl, the event director for Stebonheath. Congratulations. What an awesome launch. Thank you.

00:40:52Cheryl: Thanks for coming along. Can't ask for much better weather and lots of people. How beautiful is it? It was great. Perfect weather. And we're sitting outside here at the front of the John McVeity Centre and they're supporting us. Yeah, they've been really great to get on board with the council and help us out. And yeah, no hassles at all with organising that. Very accommodating. It's lovely and sunny. We've got the tables out the front. So they've really put a lot of effort in for us. Beautiful. So tell me about Stebbin Heath parkrun. Tell me about the course. Okay, well it's a mix of trail and flat bike path. There is a little hill coming back up to the finish. It goes out in a U shape and you can see the turnaround point from the start line. Yeah, it's actually a pretty fast course and it gets a little bit of mix of everything with having the trail. There's a big wetlands in the middle, lots of ducks. That's nice and scenic for the mums and dads that want to walk along with the kids. Yeah, so... A couple of bridges. Yeah, a couple of bridges. Yeah, I can't really think of much else that you would need in a parkrun, really.

00:41:54Greta: And it starts and finishes at a lovely sort of central park area with a playground and barbecues and toilets, and it's a beautiful spot.

00:42:02Cheryl: Yeah, yeah, there's lots of things. Drink fountain, and then we've got the dog park just down the road, so if you want to take your dog before or after parkrun to have a bit of off-leash time, you can do that as well. That's awesome. So tell me about your parkrun journey. Where did you start parkrunning? My very first parkrun was at Lochiel parkrun and that was back in 2015 so I went out there a few times and really enjoyed the vibe and met a few lovely people. Had a bit of a break for a while with family illness then started going again and slowly people convinced me to become an event director out at Gawler which I started 12 months ago. So this is the second parkrun that you've started? Yep, number two. I don't know, call me crazy, but yeah, it's a lot of fun and it just does so many things for people, getting them out in the fresh air and it's great for families as well. It is wonderful. We had lots of families out today with dogs and prams and kids. Yeah, and it was also wonderful to have the men, the mayor, Glenn Docherty, he was out with his two little girls, they're four and five, so he came out and joined us today, as well as Tony Piccolo from Gawler, he came out, so yeah, a bit of local support and a couple of guys from the Playford Council as well. And the council have been really supportive? Oh, very much so, they'll do anything, bend over backwards to help out and hopefully we'll get the little athletics club out and about joining us to volunteer soon as well. Wonderful.

00:43:24Greta: Well, congratulations on a fabulous launch, on a fabulous day, and good luck for the rest of Stebbin Heath parkrun. Thank you very much.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:43:32Steve Marston: Morning, parkrun Adventurers. My name's Steve Marston. I'm an event ambassador, but today I'm doing something a little bit different, a little bit out of my comfort zone. I'm turning the tables on the parkrun Adventurers Channel 5 roving reporter, Lyndell, who's here at Bunyaville, my home parkrun and her home parkrun, and she's just done her 100th parkrun. Well done, Lyndell.

00:43:51Lyndell Murray: Thanks, Steve.

00:43:52Steve Marston: How are you feeling?

00:43:53Lyndell Murray: I'm pretty buggered, to be quite frank. It doesn't get any easier out there, does it?

00:43:58Steve Marston: No, there's no such thing as an easy parkrun at Bunyaville. You go out there trying to take it easy, but those hills get to you. And how did you come to parkrun, Lyndell?

00:44:11Lyndell Murray: Well, I think I've told this story before. I was running, doing a long run one morning in New Farm and I came across New Farm parkrun and of all people Tess from Bunyaville here was volunteering and she told me all about it and said you can join in but everyone had already started so I thought I'll just follow it away and come back later and Then, I don't know how much later it was, one of my friends said, oh, I want to do a parkrun. Will you come with me, Lyndell? So off we went and went to New Farm parkrun. And the rest is history, as they say.

00:44:43Steve Marston: And so how did you come to be the parkrun Channel 5 roving reporter, though?

00:44:47Lyndell Murray: Oh, I just... It sounded interesting, so at that time I was doing a lot of adventuring to different parkruns and I'd been listening to the podcast and they were looking for roving reporters. So I emailed Mel and Scotty and said, do you need any special skills or equipment to be a roving reporter? And they said, no, just yourself and your phone. How easy is that? Well, I'll give it a crack.

00:45:10Steve Marston: I'm stepping outside my comfort zone today. Well, that's what parkrun's all about. I've never done anything like this. I have done a little bit of research. I've been, you know, looking up the interview skills of Leigh Sales, you know, Parky, Norman Gunston.

00:45:22Lyndell Murray: I can tell. I can tell.

00:45:25Steve Marston: I just hope you don't do a Clive Palmer on me and just throw the microphone down in disgust and walk off.

00:45:30Lyndell Murray: Oh, well, I don't see that happening.

00:45:33Steve Marston: Well, I'll have to think of a question and then maybe you might elicit that kind of response. And so have you had any interviews you got to the end of and go, well, that probably wasn't the right person to interview?

00:45:45Lyndell Murray: Oh, yeah, but, you know, everyone's got a story and people tell them in different ways and that's okay. I mean, I think that's what parkrun's about. Everybody's here for different reasons and have different motivations and it's the same when you interview people. People want to tell their story in their own way and it's really, you know, a testament to Mel and Scotty that that's what their podcast is all about, you know.

00:46:07Steve Marston: And what a massive following it has, hey?

00:46:09Lyndell Murray: Massive, apparently.

00:46:12Steve Marston: I hear it's rivaling TEDxTalks.

00:46:14Lyndell Murray: Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

00:46:15Steve Marston: In downloads. Yeah, totally. And so there's a little bit of a story behind your 100th parkrun at Bunyaville because we haven't seen you at Bunyaville for a little while, have we?

00:46:25Lyndell Murray: No, no.

00:46:27Steve Marston: You set yourself a little challenge.

00:46:28Lyndell Murray: I did set myself a challenge. I wanted to get to the... get to 50 on the most events list before I did my 100. And I made this decision a little bit late. So what it meant was that I didn't have much room to do double ups. So I've been venturing around a lot in the last probably six months and not been at home as much as I would maybe like.

00:46:46Steve Marston: So you're just telling Tim, our run director here today, the story. So what have you done? What's this breakdown of your 100th parkruns?

00:46:54Lyndell Murray: So I've done 100 parkruns, 20 of them are at Bunyaville. I've also volunteered here, I've done pretty much all my volunteering here and that's at about 20 or something like that as well. And I've done 50 different Australian parkruns and I've done two overseas as well. Woohoo!

00:47:13Steve Marston: That's amazing.

00:47:14Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun actually. That's probably part of why I thought I'd put my hand up to do roving reports because I was going to all these different parkruns and being not very organized, I'd often make a last minute decision on a Friday night. Oh, I'll go to that parkrun over there. And so I didn't have any friends to, you know, it was too late to organize friends to go with me. So I'd just rock up by myself. Just interviewing people was just a good excuse to talk to strangers.

00:47:38Steve Marston: Look, there is a big thing in the parkrun tourism about the craziest thing you've done to get to a parkrun. And what's your story with that, Lyndell?

00:47:45Lyndell Murray: Oh, the craziest thing...

00:47:48Steve Marston: We all see Tony Jennings. Yeah, yeah.

00:47:50Lyndell Murray: He kayaks to things and, you know.

00:47:53Steve Marston: So have you got any similar stories?

00:47:54Lyndell Murray: I don't know whether I have. I just get in my car and... And go. And go. I mean, probably the furthest I've travelled in a morning was, you know, I made a late Friday night call to go to Toowoomba to their anniversary. So that was a bit of an early morning.

00:48:06Steve Marston: Yeah, that would...

00:48:07Lyndell Murray: Um, you know, I've got a cousin that lives up there. So again, just rang her at the last minute and said, Hey, what are you doing in an hour's time? So, but no, nothing. I don't think there's anything really crazy. I ran to East Coast Park, parkrun in Singapore. I didn't really know where I was going and I was just... running along in a parkrun shirt and hoping someone would find me.

00:48:28Steve Marston: That's the spirit.

00:48:31Lyndell Murray: Yeah.

00:48:32Steve Marston: All right, Lyndell, enjoy your 100th parkrun. It's a beautiful morning for it here at Bunyaville. It sure is. And I'm looking forward to a coffee now.

00:48:39Lyndell Murray: Yep, me too. All right, awesome. See you there.

00:48:41Scott Trickett: Okay, thanks, parkrun adventurers. Bye. Hey, a new voice there. An old voice. A couple of old voices with Greta and Lyndell, but this time Lyndell was being interviewed by Steve out of Bunyaville. Well done, Lyndell. Phenomenal effort.

00:48:56Melissa Erbacher: And yes, yes, absolutely. It's not 100% new voice because we've had Steve on the show before, but it's the first time we've received a roving report from him. Love your work, Steve. Keep them coming. So it's a bit of a skinny calendar this week, Scotty. We've only got one launch and three anniversaries. But if you want to get to a new event this weekend, you need to get along to Perry Lakes in WA.

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

00:49:22Scott Trickett: And if you want to get to a couple of old events, you need to go to Carisbrook in South Australia because they're celebrating their one-year anniversary.

00:49:30Melissa Erbacher: Or there's Oki in Queensland.

00:49:33Scott Trickett: And to round it out, Toowoomba. Now, they're an old event. They've been around for a while, but they're still celebrating.

00:49:39Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, it's not less of a celebration the older the event gets.

00:49:45Scott Trickett: No, it's not. But... To be fair, Mel, the first celebration is the best. That's when the real party happens. No?

00:49:53Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, yeah, maybe it's just because people feel a bit more comfortable at their events. They don't feel the need to blow so many trumpets, et cetera.

00:50:09Scott Trickett: Maybe. Speaking of blowing a trumpet, it's time for the hotline. Yeah.

The Hotline

00:50:16Melissa Erbacher: Do we have a trumpet in the Hotline song?

00:50:19Scott Trickett: No. I'll add one this week. Listen out for it. Listen out for it, okay?

00:50:24[music]

00:50:24Alan: And here we go.

00:50:32Scott Trickett: Hotline. Mel, did you hear it?

00:50:37Melissa Erbacher: I think it was a bit subtle, Scotty.

00:50:39Scott Trickett: It was subtle.

00:50:44Melissa Erbacher: You are the epitome of subtlety. You don't do anything large, do you? It's all just very delicate.

00:50:52Scott Trickett: Now, let's have a question from... Well, let's find out who it's from.

00:50:57Unidentified speaker: Hello, Mel and Scotty. Dorothy Dix here. Do you have any other sporting prowesses, either from junior or non-junior days?

00:51:06Scott Trickett: A very masculine-sounding Dorothy, but as usual, great question. Should I take this away first, Mel? Yeah, you start, Scotty. Yep, because I think I peaked in primary school. School captain, school swimming captain, school volleyball captain. That's pretty big time, isn't it?

00:51:29Melissa Erbacher: Far out. That is big time. All the captain ships.

00:51:33Scott Trickett: Yeah. And it went downhill. It went all downhill. Competition got a bit tighter. I went to a big fancy school in high school and there was like 300 students in my year level. And I got found out. So I... I made the swim team, and I went okay, but nothing fantastic. I dabbled in some triathlons in my 20s. Again, went okay. I think I might have even told this story once before. I was doing okay in triathlons and the Vic tri-squad coach spotted me and said, why don't you come along to a couple of training sessions because we've noticed you're really good swimming and you're really good running, but you sort of disappear on the bike legs. So come and have a ride with us. One Sunday morning down Beach Road. So I went for a ride and got dropped in the first couple of kilometers. And I said, okay, we know the problem. Come again, but it's probably not looking good. So I had a few rides with them and, again, got found out.

00:52:33Alan: So that's pretty much it for me.

00:52:36Scott Trickett: I hope you've got a more glorious tale than that.

00:52:40Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, well, I think you outdo me in the swimming. I remember I got a third place in the 25-metre breaststroke when I was in Grade 4. So I'm not sure you could classify that in prowess. I'm pretty sure there were only four people in the pool. But I did podium finish, so I was very impressed with myself at that stage. I did team sports and things like that in high school, though nothing, you know, overly... Prowess, that's the word I want to keep coming back to. Nothing that I would consider myself to be a pro at. Probably the only thing that I was any real good at was when I was younger, I was a bit of an Irish dancer. Why is this funny? I'm being serious. Yeah, I know. Why are you laughing at me then?

00:53:28[laughter]

00:53:36Scott Trickett: I'm not. It's funny, isn't it? It's not funny. Okay. See, I'm trying to laugh more and I laugh at the wrong places. I'm going to be offended at that. Who do you compete against when you go Irish dancing? I guess you compete against other people, don't you? And they judge you on your... Yeah, you do. Okay. Well, there you go. I'm just highlighting my naivety when it comes to Irish dancing. Please tell me more. Educate us all. What happens?

00:54:03Melissa Erbacher: No, I think you've quashed my spirit enough. Thanks, Scotty. I will move on.

00:54:09Scott Trickett: What sort of levels did you get to in Irish dancing?

00:54:13Melissa Erbacher: State? No, I participated in eisteddfods and I got certificates and things for placing in those competitions. But I went into early retirement when I moved away from the Irish club. Thank you, Dorothy, for that interesting question that's, yeah, just highlighted once again the total lack of respect that I get from my co-hosts sometimes.

00:54:40Scott Trickett: Yeah, that's not true. That's not true at all. I think it was a laugh of respect, Mel. I was just...

00:54:51Melissa Erbacher: Clutching at straws, perhaps?

00:54:54Scott Trickett: No, no.

00:54:56Melissa Erbacher: Anyway. Okay. Moving right along.

00:54:58Scott Trickett: Moving right along. What should we go to next? We've got a list here. Perlustration, level up challenges, streaky September, feedback. Where do we go?

00:55:08Melissa Erbacher: All sorts of stuff. Well, let's start with the poll results, shall we? It's already been published on Facebook. Didn't know Facebook did that. It's quite an interesting little thing. feature on Facebook that when you create a poll, it sort of publishes it and doesn't expect you to do anything else, but it waits the seven days before it gives the results out to anyone. Did you see what the outcome was of the poll, Scotty?

00:55:32Scott Trickett: I did. Not surprised at all. Were you?

00:55:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. Well... No, not exactly. I guess it just goes to show that I am not mainstream. Right. Which I always kind of knew anyway. As it turns out, the majority of our listeners would struggle giving up caffeine versus lollies or chocolate.

00:55:56Scott Trickett: Well, we did a real-life experiment, Mel, and that was the result there. So can we just do a check-in, just checking in on your streak for the Skittles and the chocolates?

00:56:08Melissa Erbacher: I am, streak is intact for the Skittles and the chocolate and the wine. All three of those things still abstaining. It has been a hard couple of weeks recently. I've got respect.

00:56:25Scott Trickett: You don't hear me laughing now, do you?

00:56:28Melissa Erbacher: Well, see, the thing is I only have to stay strong when I'm at the shops. So as long as I avoid the shops, then I'm not strong when I'm at home. It's just that I don't have the opportunity to eat those things because I don't have any Skittles in the house. I do have a couple of blocks of chocolate, which I have managed to stay away from. But Skittles-wise, yeah, I haven't caved probably because they're not in the home.

00:56:55Scott Trickett: You know what I've done with my coffee? I think I've made up for that one day that I went without. And I've sort of, I've had a lot of coffee this month.

00:57:03Melissa Erbacher: So you're on a coffee streak.

00:57:05Scott Trickett: I was coming home from a run last night, like late last night. I thought, well, I might stop and have a coffee, which is not something I do, like at nine o'clock at night.

00:57:15Melissa Erbacher: Okay. How's your sleeping working out for you?

00:57:18Scott Trickett: Oh, fine. Caffeine doesn't affect me that way.

00:57:23Melissa Erbacher: So, well, yeah, we don't really need to check in on your streak in that respect because you have already established that one day, 24 hours was as long as you could go.

00:57:32Scott Trickett: Yep. How are you going with the streak itself, the whole reason for streaky September? Because I'm right on track.

Streaky September

00:57:40Melissa Erbacher: This is the hard question, Scotty.

00:57:42Scott Trickett: I only ask the hard questions, Mel.

00:57:47Melissa Erbacher: I've let everybody down. I'm broken. Yeah. It's all over. Well, it's not all over. I'm going to go back out there today, but I did not streak yesterday. Very sorry.

00:57:57Scott Trickett: Don't be sorry, Mel. Don't be sorry. I think you explained to me early on, you know, if you miss a day, you can still streak after that, I think is how you explained it to me. You're still on a streak. You just restarted your streak.

00:58:13Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I know, and it's just much shorter, but it doesn't – I just – I know everybody is, you know, cheering everybody else on, so I just have guilt.

00:58:25Scott Trickett: Well, no need for that. How did it happen? Was it just a rough day with Wesley and everything got a bit too much or couldn't be bothered?

00:58:33Melissa Erbacher: It was a culmination of, yeah, a big period of – Let's say washing clothes and bedding that had a lot of vomit through it and not getting much sleep.

00:58:51Scott Trickett: Yeah, that's not great. Doesn't sound great. Good excuse. If we're looking for excuses, that's a good one.

00:58:58Melissa Erbacher: Anyway, I feel terrible.

00:59:00Scott Trickett: So let's move on. Let's move on.

00:59:01Melissa Erbacher: But you're on track.

00:59:03Scott Trickett: I'm on track and I'm really enjoying it this month. I haven't struggled at all. What I did do is Friday night – I'm by myself now, so I can't rely on the girls to come with me. And Friday night we started watching the footy, and as I do on the couch, I fell asleep. And the plan was I was always going to do my late night streak, last minute streak on Friday night. And the problem was I slept right through till really close to midnight when Yvonne came in and woke me up and said, quick, you've got to go. You've got to go. So I literally had like 10 minutes or five minutes to midnight to go.

00:59:44Melissa Erbacher: That is leaving it down to the wire, isn't it?

00:59:46Scott Trickett: Yep. Got in my car because I live around hills. So I got in my car. I said, it's midnight. Like I just want to bang out an easy 2K. So I ran to the flattest part of my suburb, got out of the car, went for a run. This is like midnight. So I started at 11.59 on my watch again. Went for a run. Far out. There was another guy out running. Could you not? No.

01:00:11Melissa Erbacher: Was he wearing a balaclava?

01:00:12Scott Trickett: No, no. It's pitch black. I'm in a sleepy kind of quiet part of Melbourne. Nobody around. Barely any cars. And I'm on the main road. And anyway, I'm coming to the end and this guy keeps running. He's running on the opposite side of the road. Did it scare the bejesus out of you? No, no. But pretty weird. And then I drove back home and he sort of kept up with me. He was going pretty quick.

01:00:40Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:00:41Scott Trickett: It was really weird.

01:00:42Melissa Erbacher: And now he knows where you live.

01:00:43Scott Trickett: Yeah.

01:00:44Melissa Erbacher: Do you reckon he went home and went, God, there's some other mutter out there running tonight?

01:00:49Scott Trickett: I reckon he did. Yeah. I don't think he was expecting to find another runner.

01:00:53Melissa Erbacher: You know what? Maybe, Scotty. Maybe that was one of our streakers.

01:00:59Scott Trickett: Maybe. Could have been. Could have been. He looked pretty serious. Well, what are you trying to say? Look, he looked like somebody who was a serious runner, so I think he would have... I don't know what I'm trying to say. Training for something big. Let's move on. Let's move on to the next thing. But the streak is still intact for me. Only a couple more days to go.

01:01:17Melissa Erbacher: How are you doing? So you've got your last minute challenge in. How are you doing with the rest of bingo?

01:01:21Scott Trickett: Yeah, I think I've done everything else except for the Strava art. And I think I'm going to have a tackle at that in the next couple of days too. I know where I'm going. Just got to get my act together to do it.

01:01:35Melissa Erbacher: Is it going to be a big scale thing?

01:01:37Scott Trickett: No.

01:01:38Melissa Erbacher: It's not going to be any 19-kilometre unicorn.

01:01:41Scott Trickett: No, no, nothing like that.

01:01:43Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:01:44Scott Trickett: It will be pretty underwhelming, but it'll be done, so that's good.

01:01:48Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, some of our streaky September Strava art has been a bit questionable, you know. What people are constituting their Strava arts is, you know, akin to a line drawing of a preschooler. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We all have our different levels of creativity.

01:02:09Scott Trickett: How's your Strava art going?

01:02:11Melissa Erbacher: I did a toilet. Didn't you see it?

01:02:12Scott Trickett: Oh, I didn't see it. No.

01:02:15Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

01:02:16Melissa Erbacher: I did a giant toilet. I think it's a four-kilometer-sized toilet, between four and five. I can't remember that day.

01:02:24Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

01:02:26Melissa Erbacher: But it's one I – had done previously, so I knew that it's my go-to Strava art when I need to pull something out quickly.

01:02:36Scott Trickett: Go-to Strava art, of course.

01:02:38Melissa Erbacher: We've all got that.

01:02:41Scott Trickett: Okay, so a couple more days to complete your bingo challenges. There are some people, there are some of our adventurers who have already completed their bingo cards. So for those select few, we have a couple of level up challenges to complete in the last few days of September.

01:02:57Melissa Erbacher: I do love how some people want more and more and more.

01:03:01Scott Trickett: So we've come up with barefoot running. I think that's a nice one to tick off, easy to do.

01:03:05Melissa Erbacher: Well, not so easy necessarily. Two kilometres barefoot, you have to find the right terrain for that.

01:03:10Scott Trickett: This is true. Don't do it on the road or on the footpath probably. Try and look for a nice park or beach to bang out that one. I think I'm going to have a crack at that. I quite like running barefoot. Don't do it often enough, but... Enjoy it when I do. And another level up challenge, this is inspired by you, Mel. So you take it away.

01:03:31Melissa Erbacher: It's a run the date selfie. So we're not expecting anybody to run the many kilometers for the date or run the many minutes for the date. However, we want you to run the date and find the number of the date. So if you're running today, for example, which is the 26th of September, you need to find or create the number 26 somewhere out on your run or walk. and take a selfie with it. Sounds simple, Scotty?

01:04:00Scott Trickett: Very simple, because we want to see our adventures.

01:04:02Melissa Erbacher: We like seeing photos of... We do, and we didn't have a selfie challenge this year. So, time to add one in.

The Perlustration (annual listener survey)

01:04:12Scott Trickett: And next on the list is Perlustration Preview, Mel. Every year we send out a Perlustration...

01:04:22Lyndell Murray: This one's coming out in October.

01:04:23Scott Trickett: Yep, asking our listeners a couple of questions so we can get to know you better and so you can help shape the direction of our podcast. And I think it's fair to say, Mel, we have actually changed the podcast based on the feedback from that perlustration slash survey, whatever you want to call it.

01:04:42Melissa Erbacher: We have, and we've had guests on as well that have come directly from the perlustration. Yep. Because that's what the listeners wanted.

01:04:50Scott Trickett: We give the people what they want. Sometimes. Sometimes, yeah. You've got to put up with us, but we give you what you want most of the time. And last year we gave away a TomTom watch because at the time TomTom were a wonderful partner of parkrun Australia and they loved us and we loved them. We still love them and we're giving away another watch this year. So thanks to TomTom. But more details about that next week. Yeah, next week because it'll be October. We'll share the link and we'll share the details of how you can win that watch. I haven't talked about it with you, Mel, but it's probably going to be the same as last year.

01:05:25Melissa Erbacher: As in the how you win the watch? Yeah. We're going to have different questions in the Perlustration. We will.

01:05:30Cheryl: Yep.

01:05:30Unidentified speaker: Yep.

01:05:31Melissa Erbacher: Yep. We always ask the important questions. Some of them will remain the same just so that we can chart progress over time. But there are always going to be some Pearlers in there.