Episode 140 - An Early Xmas

00:00:00[music]

Welcome

00:00:14Melissa Erbacher: Some might think it's come early, but I don't think it has. It's the Christmas episode of the parkrun adventurers, otherwise known as episode 140. We are super excited this week because it feels like Christmas is already here. Scotty, are you joining me?

00:00:32Scott Trickett: Of course I am.

00:00:33Melissa Erbacher: You are?

00:00:34Scott Trickett: Well, we couldn't wait. We usually save our Christmas episode to actually Christmas time, but with the release of our singlet...

00:00:43Melissa Erbacher: The time was nigh. And look, this is actually, I mean, to set the tone for the whole Christmas episode, my favourite part about Christmas is giving gifts to other people. Really? Yeah, yeah.

00:00:59Scott Trickett: We're a good match then, Mel, because my favourite part is getting gifts from people. But tell me why you like giving them and not receiving them.

00:01:08Melissa Erbacher: Oh, it's not that I don't like receiving them. No. It depends, I guess, on the gift, you know. We do a little bit of a secret Santa for the adults on both sides of the family, which the last couple of years I haven't actually wanted to be involved in, only because it's turned into – a bit of a commercial thing, you know, where people just sort of, they don't put the thought into it that I think they should. They just ask you what you want, which I think is effectively the same as everybody just showing up on Christmas day and swapping the same quantity of cash, you know, because if somebody has to come to me and ask me what I want, then I may as well go purchase that thing for myself. And I'm not really particularly interested in in buying things and stuff like that but I do love making things and making thoughtful things and that's why you know it it's it's a bit of a skill and it can be stressful I guess for some people but I do love getting the perfect thing for someone and making it a really thoughtful gift so it's not that I don't love receiving them it's just that I love spending more time into doing that and going through that process plus the wrapping of the Christmas presents which is just the best

00:02:24Scott Trickett: I think your family is quite inexperienced in this field if they've got to the point where it's just, what do you want? I'm going to get it for you. Because we've done the – and I've made the mistake in the past of saying, oh, just surprise me. I don't care. Just surprise me. And – I'm not sure if backfired is the right word, but I kind of wish I had it just was given cash.

00:02:48Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:02:49Scott Trickett: So I get where your family is coming from. I do also get where you're coming from. But you know what? It's all irrelevant this year because all you need to do is buy one of our singlets for every member of your family, all your friends. And if you don't know what we're talking about, pay attention. Mel, tell us what I'm talking about. What is this singlet I'm referring to?

00:03:12Melissa Erbacher: Scotty, you are referring to the 2018 Adventurers Ugly Christmas Singlet, which has materialized like a Christmas miracle. Time for people to order it and receive it in time to wear at Christmas parkruns or anywhere at Christmas if they like.

00:03:32Scott Trickett: So in Australia, we have this problem that we can't really embrace the ugly Christmas sweater tradition because it's so damn hot.

00:03:42Melissa Erbacher: Unless you're sitting inside in the air conditioning, which you've got amped up just so you can wear the sweater.

00:03:48Scott Trickett: Yeah, so I feel that's a real Northern Hemisphere invention that we're going to take ownership of and we're going to create singlets that we can run in at parkrun or walk on Christmas Day because on Christmas Day in Australia, it could be about 30 degrees, maybe 35. And I don't want to do that in a sweater.

00:04:10Melissa Erbacher: And often is, those sorts of temperatures. So, yeah, it's... It's a little bit exciting. In fact, it's more than a little bit exciting.

00:04:19Scott Trickett: But you've got to be quick, people. So we've got a really small window of ordering time, and that's so that we can get it out, turned around, and to you in time for Christmas. Now, we're not guaranteeing delivery for our international friends, are we, Mel?

00:04:35Melissa Erbacher: Well, we can't.

00:04:37Scott Trickett: No.

00:04:38Melissa Erbacher: Mind you, I'm not sure our international friends really want a singlet at Christmas.

00:04:43Scott Trickett: Oh, I think they will.

00:04:44Melissa Erbacher: Okay, okay.

00:04:46Scott Trickett: Have you seen the singlet, Mel?

00:04:47Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I've seen it.

00:04:48Scott Trickett: Who wouldn't want it?

00:04:49Melissa Erbacher: I know, I know. But it might be a little bit cool to wear. I mean, I guess they could always wear it over another thermal layer or two.

00:04:58Scott Trickett: It's a year-round purchase for me. I'll be wearing it in June.

00:05:03Melissa Erbacher: Why isn't there? Yeah.

00:05:05Scott Trickett: Christmas in October next year. I don't care. This singlet's going to be so damn good. You'll want to wear it every week.

00:05:10Melissa Erbacher: I'm looking forward to seeing the representation at palm19 because I think – I think there's going to have to be an Ugly Christmas Singlet group photo.

00:05:20Scott Trickett: And it's a limited edition. So if you don't get it this year, it's not going to be around next year.

00:05:25Melissa Erbacher: No, pretty much if you don't order it this week, that's it. Gone.

00:05:29Scott Trickett: Yep.

00:05:30Melissa Erbacher: Opportunity missed. So I hope you're at least up to date with the podcast. If not, why not? And this is probably a really good reminder that you should keep on top of these sorts of things.

00:05:42Scott Trickett: But you know what? That also makes it a bit special too for the people that do get the singlet because you're our people. You're the ones that stick with us week in, week out and are on ball enough to get it. And if you're dipping in and out of the podcast, you're shit out of luck. You've missed out on the Christmas singlet and you'll have to wait till next year's version of it. But you'll never have the first. You'll never have the original. It's like that guy who was at – hey, this reminds me. Remember when I went to the UK this year? We're going completely off track, but I'm going to bring it back to parkrun. Remember when I went to the UK earlier in the year, and we went along to Junior parkrun, Renee and I, and we sat down, we had breakfast, and we introduced the app to the event team, and we watched over them? Well, what I've since discovered is that the Event Director of Moormead Juniors, which is the event that we were at, was actually one of the original 13. Wow.

00:06:35Melissa Erbacher: Oh, wow.

00:06:36Scott Trickett: Yeah. And here we were lecturing him about parkrun and what they should and shouldn't do. And this guy was probably thinking in the back of his head, who are these jokers? Bloody, they've got a funny accent and they're telling me what to do. I was there day one, but he was so polite he didn't correct us or say anything. But why I was mentioning that, Mel, is because there was probably a guy who wanted to go to parkrun event number one, but for whatever reason, guy or girl decided not to.

00:07:01Melissa Erbacher: And they will regret that always.

00:07:03Scott Trickett: So if you don't buy one of these Christmas singlets, you will regret that decision forever.

00:07:08Melissa Erbacher: Not that we want anyone to feel guilty and we're not putting the hard word on anyone, are we, Scotty? It's a fun thing. It's fun to be ugly and wearing an atrocious, hideous, hideous Christmas singlet. And it's got some little special design features in it too, you know, which, what's the word, pay a little bit of a tribute to previous episodes of the pod. Yeah, the astute members who've listened to the full back catalogue will understand what the extra little features are.

00:07:47Scott Trickett: And the other good thing, locally sourced, locally made. So it's True Blue, Dinky Dye, Aussie singlet as well.

00:07:55Melissa Erbacher: If you're local to Aussie, yes.

00:07:57Scott Trickett: Yes, yeah. But if anybody's wondering about that.

00:08:00Melissa Erbacher: Indeed. But, I mean, we've got plenty of time to talk about Christmas this episode, Scotty. Shall we have a chat about what we got up to last weekend?

00:08:07Scott Trickett: Why not? Why not? Ladies first, as always. Mel, where did you get to on the weekend?

00:08:13Melissa Erbacher: Is it always me first? I don't know. Well, anyway, I was at Kawana. I participated, which I'm not entirely sure. I'm going to have to go back and have a look. But I think it might only be the third time – if the third, it may only be the second, that I've actually done the course at Kawana this year, which, you know, we joke about, oh, it's my home parkrun, et cetera, and I'm always there or whatever. Well, I mustn't always be there because that's not a lot of participation records to rack up. So anyway, I was there. In a beautiful moment of synchronicity, I could not – have planned it if I tried, I received finish position number 149 on my 149th parkrun. And I do recall vaguely seeing people mention things like that on Facebook or other social media in the past where they got a particular token that matched their particular run or it might have, you know, matched up a bit with their time or something like that in terms of the number. But I'd be interested to know how many people have actually done that. They've got the finished position token for the number of parkruns that they've actually done.

00:09:35Scott Trickett: Do you reckon people pay like a lot of attention to what number of parkrun they're really on?

00:09:42Melissa Erbacher: Some of them do. Yeah. Especially if they're working towards like a milestone, an actual proper milestone. I mean, obviously I'm working towards a milestone. It's just, and I don't often even know how many runs I've done. So just the odds of me actually even knowing that it was my 149th and then getting that token, I think they're pretty small. Yeah. I don't know if we had Ian on the show this week. Perhaps he might have been able to tell us. But alas, we don't have Ian on the show this week.

00:10:14Scott Trickett: Should we tell the listeners why Ian's not with us this week? It is on theme.

00:10:20Melissa Erbacher: Is it? Okay.

00:10:21Scott Trickett: Yeah. Well, Ian was all lined up to come on the podcast this week.

00:10:26Melissa Erbacher: Oh. No, no. It's not all on theme. Well, okay. Yeah. You go. Yeah.

00:10:35Scott Trickett: Well, Ian had his Christmas party on Friday night last week, which he was paying for all weekend.

00:10:44Melissa Erbacher: But he was already sick, see?

00:10:47Scott Trickett: He got sick, yeah.

00:10:48Melissa Erbacher: He was already sick, and as his darling wife, Michelle, pointed out, possibly going to the Christmas party was not the best way to get himself better. So he was not also better in time to record the podcast with us this week. However, we have assurances he'll be here next week, which is exciting.

00:11:08Scott Trickett: Locked it in. It's happening. So if it didn't, that means he's had another Christmas party on Friday night.

00:11:14Melissa Erbacher: A lot of people have multiple Christmas parties. It is. We're going into the crazy season. It's time to be in that zone of Christmas parties. But, hey, back to me. I was in the middle of talking about me and my Saturday. I snaffled a bingo time too. How special is that? Well done, Mel. Yeah, I've only got five more. Two?

00:11:38Scott Trickett: You're referring to you snaffled a bingo time two.

00:11:40Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, as well as getting to position 149 for my 149th parkrun.

00:11:45Scott Trickett: Okay, I thought you were alluding to the fact that I also got a bingo time and you were stalking me.

00:11:53Melissa Erbacher: No, I wasn't stalking you. I believe you got a bingo with an E on the end.

00:11:59Scott Trickett: Yes. Yeah, because it was a real bonus. Because remember how we talked about last week, I like the surprise of completing this bingo challenge, and I've got two left.

00:12:08Mark - New Farm parkrunner: Ooh.

00:12:09Scott Trickett: And I know what those two are. And when my results popped up on Saturday morning, it stood out like a shining beacon, that 30 second. And it was a surprise. I didn't time it. You can't really time it unless you go and speak to the Timekeeper and get a countdown. But I think I got a bigger buzz getting that email than a few other things that have happened in my life recently, like coming second to you and the funniest co-host in the Perlustration last week.

00:12:40Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm glad you're getting a buzz on the weekend from your parkrun results email, Scotty. To be honest, it's the fact that you mentioned that you got a bonus bingo point that made me think, hey, I'm going to have a look at mine. Because, I mean, as much as I know that, yeah, I had like half a dozen odds still left to get, I just don't participate often enough to – to figure out whether or not I get bingo points.

00:13:12Scott Trickett: And that was all provoked by our good chat last week with Andy and Laura. Great response to that episode. I haven't shared this with you, Mel. Downloads are really healthy, and I think it's the UK factor. I think our UK parkrunners like it.

00:13:26Melissa Erbacher: Like it when we talk to people from the UK.

00:13:29Scott Trickett: Yeah, they like their own. It's 20 minutes of the podcast that they can really understand, I think.

00:13:36Melissa Erbacher: They don't have to decipher the accents.

00:13:39Scott Trickett: Yeah, yeah. So thanks. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Andy.

00:13:44Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, that's all good for us too because we love having people on from overseas.

00:13:48Scott Trickett: Passionate too. I love the way they just talked about it. It was a long interview, but I listened back to it because I was in Sydney, Mel. I had a bit of travel on my hands over the weekend and I listened to us.

00:14:03Melissa Erbacher: And why were you in Sydney? You've got your stopwatch bingo, but where did you run on Saturday?

00:14:11Scott Trickett: I got a new event on my list, so I haven't been paying attention. How's our battle going?

00:14:15Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, I thought you weren't paying attention because you weren't actively participating anymore. To be honest, I don't know. I

00:14:24Scott Trickett: Maybe our listeners can let us know who's in front. But I got a new one. I went to Kamay or Kamei. Kamei. I think it's Kamay.

00:14:30Melissa Erbacher: This is the thing you were supposed to figure out. We talked about this last week and you obviously didn't do your homework.

00:14:37Scott Trickett: Well, actually, no, that's not true because I did say it a few times and I asked the locals to correct me and they correct me. But you know when you got it stuck in your head that no matter what people say, it's like I want to say it how I think it should be said. But. Having said all that, I think it's Kamay.

00:14:55Mark - New Farm parkrunner: And...

00:14:56Scott Trickett: Yeah, great little course. It's one of those out and back, out and backs. It's by the beach and you run past a cemetery and it's in a really sleepy part of Sydney that I've never been to before. It's down near Botany Bay, I think they call it, or Port Botany. There's lots of – what are those things called, Mel? The big ships, the containers on them, not cruise ships.

00:15:19Melissa Erbacher: Container ships?

00:15:20Scott Trickett: Container ships, yeah, whatever. It's not the – So it's a bit contentious there because they want to build a cruise ship terminal right where the parkrun is in the park. And I think the locals are fighting it. And to me it seems crazy because it's not really near the heart of Sydney. So if you're a tourist coming over from the UK or France or whatever and you arrive in Sydney – You want to land in Circular Quay where you see them. Now, you want to land next to Harbour Bridge opposite the Opera House. You don't want to land down in Kamay, as beautiful as it is.

00:15:53Melissa Erbacher: Well, if it's Botany Bay, that's where What's-His-Face landed, isn't it? Captain Cook. So maybe they want to do it for historical reasons.

00:16:03Scott Trickett: I reckon you'd get over that pretty quickly. You'd go, okay, yeah.

00:16:05Melissa Erbacher: And you want to just go shopping.

00:16:06Scott Trickett: Yeah, we just want to go shopping and see the sights. But anyway, I was at Kamay, and it was their second anniversary. And I don't want to open a can of worms here, but you know sometimes you go to an event. So Kamay was my kind of event. It was a really low-key event. There wasn't a lot of hoo-ha. There wasn't a lot of extras. There wasn't extra bits that sometimes you see at other parkruns. You could tell that the workload was shared by all the Run Directors, really good spirit amongst all the volunteers, and a real great sense of community. And I know I was a visitor, I was flying in for the day, and it was their anniversary, so everyone will be happy. But I got a really good feeling chatting to a few of the people, a few of the local parkrunners, about that event. And yeah, great morning, great morning. I topped it off. I did end up going back to juniors on Sunday. I wasn't going to. I wasn't on the roster, but I was in the parkrunning anyway, and I'd run enough. Not quite running the Ks I used to. So use the excuse of I'll just help out at juniors, and I cracked up my 100th arbitrary volunteer role for the week.

00:17:21Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I don't think there's anything arbitrary about any volunteer. I think that's amazing. Well done, Scotty.

00:17:28Scott Trickett: Again, highlighted because checking out the profile on running challenges and it's there. You can see how many times you volunteered. It wasn't my, like, I know there's a couple of double ups. I know that I've done pre-event set up and Run Director on a few occasions. So it's not 100 individual times, but it's pretty bloody close. And I stood in the rain and high-fived a bunch of kids running through Westerfolds Park. It was a pretty good way to do it.

00:17:54[16 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Interview Vanessa "Ness" Gibson — Co-Event Director, Sandgate parkrun; Co-host, Christmas Podding podcast

00:18:10Scott Trickett: Naturally continuing the Christmas theme, we teased last week that we were going to go away and have a listen to Christmas Podding, the new podcast out by Vanessa Gibson, our... Co-Event Director at Sandgate parkrun do you share the title of Co-Event Director Vanessa with my husband yes yep okay we won't hold that against you but welcome back to the parkrun adventurers you've been on before but this time we're going to talk Christmas you're going to get us in the mood for Christmas because I'm I'm probably in the camp that it's still a little bit early but I think you're going to tell me I'm wrong

00:18:45Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Okay. Yeah, look, it's definitely time to get in the spirit. It's great to be back with you guys. It has been a little while since I've chatted, so always a pleasure to come on the parkrun adventurers show. But, yeah, we have this brand-new Christmas podcast. It's actually the only Christmas podcast in Australia. And we're just running for the six weeks leading up to Christmas. And yeah, it's just a lot of fun. It's a lot of positivity. It's just spreading that Christmas spirit. So it's you know, having a great time with it.

00:19:19Melissa Erbacher: I'm enjoying it so far, Ness. It's, yeah, definitely got me in the spirit and today I was even listening to Christmas carols all day long to introducing Wes because last year, you know, he was only about six months old, so he wasn't quite ready to be immersed in it yet. But I think this year we're going to have trouble with the tree and all the baubles and things. I'm going to have to dumb it down, like, kid proof it, which could be difficult because I've got hundreds of glass baubles. But do you have any tips as the Christmas guru? Do you have any tips for Christmas with toddlers?

00:19:56Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Oh, look, yeah, it's a pretty fun time, I think, once kids come into the equation where, you know, I think it's a chance for us as adults to kind of get back to what it was like as a kid and just that thrill and the excitement and the countdown. So I just really try and embrace it as much as possible. And Yeah, I think the kids at any age just, you know, really get into the Christmas spirit and it's a good chance to kind of really think about, all right, what's it all about? And, you know, you're really trying to instil some of those values of, you know, just giving and thinking about other people, which is a great, great opportunity. But, yeah, the toddler stage is very difficult with the tree. I know I did have to gate ours off for a few years, but, yeah, Now I'm lucky mine are that little bit older where they just love Christmas and love the tree as much as I do. But, yeah, look, I really hope you guys either have your trees up already or are planning to get them up ASAP because, to tell you the truth, I feel like you're a little bit late to the party.

00:21:05Melissa Erbacher: We're at 1st of December for the Christmas tree putting upping in our house.

00:21:09Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Oh, look, mine's been up since October and I can't wait No time is too early to get the tree up. It just, it actually brings me joy every day to have that tree up and all through October and November I just love seeing the tree. I just on the weekend, though, got my lights up on the outside of the house. I do wait, you know, I do Christmas in stages. I get the tree up quite early and then I bring in other things in stages. So this week we've started the advent calendar. Our Christmas elf Coco has come to visit and we've got the lights up on the outside of the house as well. So I just love it. I just love everything about it.

00:21:54Scott Trickett: Now, you tackle the big issues, and in this week's episode, you went real tree or fake tree. Now, I'll give you my personal. So last year, we tried the real tree, and it was an unmitigated disaster. So I was really surprised. I don't want to spoil it for the listeners who haven't listened to the latest episode. No, no, it's true. Give us – well, we're going to spoil it. Give us your take, real or fake.

00:22:18Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Spoiler alert, but, yeah, I love a fake tree, actually. I get it. I get why people like real trees. You know, there's a real – yeah I can see the positives to it but here in Australia I just don't think that they have the same look and they're not that bushy and then you get it up and then by the time Christmas comes around it's a bit droopy and sad and there's pine needles all over the floor that you have to clean up and you know I just actually love the look of fake trees and how bushy they are and perfectly shaped and The branches are just perfect for hanging your decorations. And, you know, I also like a lot of height. I have quite a high Christmas tree. It's 2.4 metres. And so I like having a really high, bushy, fake tree. That's me. But, you know, I don't, you know, if people want a real tree, that's fine.

00:23:17Scott Trickett: No, I'm with you because last year our trunk was wonky so it didn't stand up properly and it pretty much died roughly around Christmas. It was looking pretty sad.

00:23:28Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Yeah, it kind of does put a bit of a dampener on the Christmas spirit when your tree is close to death.

00:23:39Melissa Erbacher: I've enjoyed, I should say, both experiences, but we had live Christmas trees when we were younger here in Australia before we really cared about the symmetry and the pointiness and You make a good point, Ness, that they just don't look the same as the ones that you see in the cartoons and the TV shows and the movies. But we did have one of those real-life beautiful pine trees when I lived in Scotland and it was magic having that smell of it in the house. But you've got a hack for that as well, you know, for having the real pine smell. I know.

00:24:16Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: There are ornaments you can buy. It's a little green stick. And it's Christmas tree scented. So you just hang them on your tree. They camouflage in. It's just like a forest green stick. But it fills your home with this beautiful smell of a Christmas tree. I don't know if it's what a Christmas tree actually smells like, but I love it. I think it's a great addition to the tree. So, yeah, I've done that for the first time this year and I have to say I'm loving it.

00:24:49Scott Trickett: I'm going to look it up because that's what I was, that's why I wanted the real tree for the smell.

00:24:53Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Yeah.

00:24:54Scott Trickett: But it didn't pay off.

00:24:56Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Look, the other controversial topic that we've covered on Christmas Podding, the podcast, is whether you actually decorate your tree with the homemade, handmade decorations that your kids might bring home from school. Because for me, I may sound a bit harsh here, but it's a big no-no. Like if it's. If it doesn't fit my colour scheme, if it doesn't look beautiful, I don't really want your paper wonky cutout star that's red and green when my colour scheme is aqua and silver. I don't really want that on the tree. Sorry. Yeah.

00:25:38Scott Trickett: Are the kids okay with that decision?

00:25:39Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Oh, look, I just – you know, if they bring something home, I'm like, oh, it's beautiful. I love that. That should go in your room because that would look beautiful hanging on the end of your bed. I just try and, like, put them to other parts of the house that's not the tree. But some people, i.e. my co-host on the podcast, Liam – has a second and even third tree in the house so that is something as well that's actually a thing you can have multiple trees and that way you can kind of spread it through the house you can have different colour schemes or different themes if you like um and yes those kind of decorations or the little kind of keepsakes that you've picked up in other countries or whatever You know, you can put those decorations somewhere without ruining your colour scheme.

00:26:35Scott Trickett: That's next level. Liam really does love Christmas. Good co-host. How's six years at Sandgate? You celebrated it on the weekend. How's everything travelling down there?

00:26:47Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Yeah, great. Look, we just can't believe it. Six years at Sandgate and going strong. We had a great celebration on the weekend, superhero theme. So that was fun. Lots of people got into the spirit. Had a beautiful cake made by one of our regulars, um and look six years it's just been what a journey I can't believe it I don't think that when when my husband Dean and I started it up that we really had you know a long time in mind like you just can't really think ahead like that and so to get to six is quite um mind-blowing for me really but um Some of our statistics that we got together is we average now 370 runners a week. So we're quite a large event, but we've had a few course changes over the year, but I think we have just settled into our current course and We've just got an amazing team at the moment of Run Directors and heaps of volunteers who just come along every week. So, look, we've just really hit our stride there, we feel. And just, you know, I love it now as much six years down the track as I did, you know, on day one. So it's just amazing.

00:28:07Melissa Erbacher: That's awesome to hear. Ness, you guys at Sandgate are having a parkrun at 7am on Christmas Day, you've declared. Do you have plans at the moment? I mean, you've got a flag usually at your turnaround point, which is out on the pier for Christmas Day. Have you got plans to put a little Christmas tree there instead? Yeah.

00:28:27Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: That is a great idea. I love it. Yeah, look, there will definitely be a strong Christmas spirit there at Sandgate on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be there on Christmas Day. We're going to be visiting Hobart. So fingers crossed that there will be a parkrun we can go to there on Christmas Day. But, yeah. The Sandgate runners love getting into Christmas. We always have a lot of dress-ups and this will be our third year running on Christmas Day. So we usually pull a good crowd and yet there's dress-ups and people just really, it's just such a nice feel on Christmas Day. There's something so special about that run.

00:29:08Melissa Erbacher: Do you think that's got something to do with why your volunteers are keen to sort of go ahead with it every year?

00:29:14Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Oh, I think so, yeah. And, you know, as well as the fact that we, you know, we sometimes bring along some treats. I often make a gingerbread house and bring it along at the Christmas run. So there's a few little extra incentives, but yeah, It's a great opportunity. We get lots of families come out on Christmas Day and it's just a really nice tradition. I think that people are now working into their Christmas is that Christmas Day parkrun is just part of what they do now, which I just think is awesome.

00:29:48Melissa Erbacher: Well, what we also think is awesome is Christmas Podding. It is certainly getting me in the festive mood. And you know what I discovered with Episode 2 this week is that parkrun adventurers are totally on – I don't want to say on brand. What's the word? Trend is the word. I can find my words. We're totally on trend because we've just this week released a ugly Christmas running shirt. And it's not only is it an ugly shirt, much like the ugly sweaters that you're going to be sporting with your family in your Christmas photos, but it also features pineapples. A little bit for a different reason. I like to think that we're the trendsetters. We've been doing pineapples at The adventurers for a couple of years now. We have... a parkrun adventurers listeners meet up and the trophy for the quiz is a golden pineapple. And I am partial to the pineapple chocolate. So that's why that features on the shirt, but completely in with the trend to have pineapples on the Christmas tree this year.

00:30:50Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: So on trend. And look, I have seen this ugly singlet on Facebook. I did spot it on my train trip this evening home from work. And I've got to say, you have absolutely nailed the brief. It is ugly. It's hideous. It's absolutely perfect. I love it. I just love these ugly Christmas range of things. It's just so corny and cheesy. But what other time of year can you get away with that? It's so great. So I look forward to seeing lots of the ugly running singlets out and about.

00:31:29Melissa Erbacher: As do we. And thank you very much for the endorsement. The fact that you, who is the guru of Christmas, endorse our ugly running Christmas shirt, that means the world, Ness. Now, for people who want to listen to your podcast, where can they find you?

00:31:45Vanessa "Ness" Gibson: Yes, so we are called Christmas Podding. We have a Facebook page where we do post a lot of updates and things throughout the week. But we are on all the major places where you find your podcasts, iHeartRadio is an easy way to find us. But, yeah, certainly keep up to date with the Facebook page as well. Christmas Podding is a great way to stay up to date with the latest.

00:32:10[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Paul Kitching — Mount Barker

00:32:25Paul Kitching: G'day there, Scott and Mel. Nearly forgot your names. How could I forget your names? Is it Sco Mel? Mel Sco? Yes, it's PK here. One of your roving reporters. I've been a bit MIA. Sorry about that. You know. Family, life, hashtag kids. But I'm back to do a roving report for our excellent podcast. Although I'm not actually adventuring, sorry. But I thought, well, I'll still check in because I'm actually at... Mount Barker. I know you guys hear a lot about Mount Barker, but it is our 250th event. So we are coming up to five years and it's our 250, but also it is our Co-Event Directors and founder, Ros Lowe, it's her 250th actual parkrun as well. So a bit of a massive celebration, lots of green going on and lots of fun. So Yeah, why not? Let's go and have a chat. Cheers. Okay, I'm now with the Ros Lowe. Ros, g'day.

00:33:27Ros Lowe: Hi, PK.

00:33:28Paul Kitching: How are you going? So, Ros, as I mentioned, is the founder of parkrun. Mount Barker, and also the Co-Event Director. Am I right in those two assumptions? And celebrating her 250th today.

00:33:41Ros Lowe: Yes, it's taken me six years, but it's pretty good.

00:33:44Paul Kitching: So it was your first parkrun at Torrens?

00:33:46Ros Lowe: Yes, the very first parkrun in South Australia was my first parkrun.

00:33:51Paul Kitching: That is so good. Good on you. So Torrens must be coming up to, how many have they done?

00:33:55Ros Lowe: Next week is their sixth birthday.

00:33:57Paul Kitching: Fantastic. Gosh, look at that. And I was just saying, it's ours coming up. It must be our Fifth birthday coming up in March, isn't it? Yes, but not too much. Yeah, that's right. So it's our 250th today, Roz's 250th, lots of green going on. You've got an awesome green sash on there, made by Min. Love it. Well done, I love it. What do you love about Mount Barker parkrun?

00:34:17Ros Lowe: Well, it ended up, I just like doing tasks to start off with, but now it's the people.

00:34:22Paul Kitching: Yeah.

00:34:23Ros Lowe: And wherever you go, you find Mount Barker parkrunners, and it's really good to have that contact.

00:34:29Paul Kitching: Absolutely.

00:34:30Ros Lowe: And also seeing some of the young ones... who discover that they can run and then achieve.

00:34:36Paul Kitching: Absolutely. And looking at the photos, because we had a Facebook page event, and looking at some of the photos also from your 250, you know, your journey, and how the kids have grown up, you know, through the photos, some of our parkrun family. It's like going to a Christmas event with the family, and then you're seeing kids growing up, and it's like, oh, how are you going? Yeah, so it's great. Well done, and we had a good turnout today.

00:35:02Ros Lowe: I was hoping 250, but I don't think we quite made it.

00:35:05Paul Kitching: Ah, damn, that would have been good. And it's great we've got one of our sponsors here. I'm not sure if I can mention by name, but one of our... two sponsors of parkrun is here today as well giving us um great support which is awesome so um and lots of green things I did notice some green lollies green cakes and green snow peas and broccoli awesome but the broccoli has all been eaten look at that who would who would think that the broccoli would go before the cupcakes There's one cupcake left. I'm going to go and eat it. Well done, Roz. Okay, now I'm here with Wes from The Athlete's Foot, of course one of parkrun's excellent sponsors, and it's great to have them here today supporting us. Thanks for being here, Wes.

00:35:45Wes - The Athlete's Foot: It's a pleasure.

00:35:45Paul Kitching: Yeah, great. Thank you so much for coming out. It's awesome. How's it been today? What's the interest been like in your excellent footwear?

00:35:52Wes - The Athlete's Foot: Yeah, really good. People love to come over and check out the new product and touch and feel and, yeah. They love it.

00:35:58Paul Kitching: It's great. It's really important, and it's great to see the support that you guys give parkrun, and hopefully it rolls back through. So are these all new? Well, clearly they're new. They're not secondhand. Are they a new range of new ranges, et cetera?

00:36:15Wes - The Athlete's Foot: Yeah, brand new stuff. Brought every brand out. So, yeah, good cross-section of what we stock in store.

00:36:21Paul Kitching: Awesome. And so you're from one of the stores in town, I believe? Yeah. Well, not too far away. I mean, I'm way up in Mount Barker today and I live in Adelaide and come up here as well. So it just proves that it's not, you know, everywhere's close in Adelaide, right?

00:36:34Wes - The Athlete's Foot: Yeah, that's right. So, yeah, we're right in the heart of Rundle Mall. Awesome. And a lot of people from the hills love to come down and, yeah, come and see the shop.

00:36:41Paul Kitching: Good on you, Wes. Well, it's great to have you guys here. We really appreciate your support. Hopefully, has the relationship been good for you guys? Have you noticed anything rolling out yet, or is it just starting?

00:36:52Wes - The Athlete's Foot: Yeah, no, really good. So, yeah, no, it's the perfect sort of blend for us to be with parkrun. Yeah, be part of the community and talk to the runners.

00:37:00Paul Kitching: Good man. Well, thanks so much for your support. And, yeah, we love it. And I'm sure you'll get lots of people down there. Thanks for being out here today to help us celebrate 250.

00:37:08Wes - The Athlete's Foot: Yeah, thanks for having us along.

00:37:09Paul Kitching: Cheers, Wes.

00:37:10Wes - The Athlete's Foot: See you.

00:37:11Paul Kitching: And that's it for me. Just a short one today. I hope you guys enjoyed hearing a little bit about our 250th celebration. We had a great time. Lots of green, as I said, and lots of fun. So here's to more excellent parkruns for everyone listening, wherever you are, whether it's your first, your 50th, your 100th, your 250th, your 500th, who knows whether that's your own celebration or your event celebration. It's important to, yeah, to make the most of these milestones. And thank you for listening in. And thanks again, Mel Sko. Sko Mel. Love your work. Keep doing awesome things. This is PK checking out once again for the Channel 5 News team. Keep doing great things.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — New Farm

00:37:53Paul Kitching: Bye.

00:37:54Lyndell Murray: G'day Scotty, Mel and all the parkrun adventurers. It's Lyndell and I'm reporting in today on my parkrun birthday from New Farm parkrun here in Brisbane. Now, I downloaded the Chrome extension and realised that today was my parkrun birthday, 24th of November. Six years ago I did my very first parkrun at New Farm in Brisbane, so today I've decided to come back, revisit, I haven't been here for a little while, and just celebrate my birthday where it all began. So we're about to do the briefing I think, so I'll tune in and have a run and catch up with you after the run. Okay, post parkrun, I've caught up with a few people who are pretty new to parkrun. So what's your name and how long have you been parkrunning?

00:38:42Julie - New Farm parkrun visitor: I'm Julie and this is my third parkrun.

00:38:44Henry - New Farm parkrun visitor: Ah, Henry, third parkrun.

00:38:46Julie - New Farm parkrun visitor: Maddie, third parkrun. Lily, second parkrun.

00:38:49Lyndell Murray: Caroline, second. Now, Caroline, I'm detecting an accent there. You are clearly not a local here at New Farm. Maybe you are. I don't know. I shouldn't make assumptions. I'm married to a Corinda boy, but I'm from San Francisco. Okay, and second parkrun. Have you done any parkruns in the US or just here? No, we need to get it in San Francisco. There's not that many. There's about 20, I think, in the US, so it's growing. And how do you like the concept?

00:39:17Caroline - New Farm parkrun visitor from San Francisco: Wonderful. I think it's terrific. It's great community building.

00:39:20Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Now, how about you guys? New into parkrun, what got you into it?

00:39:24Julie - New Farm parkrun visitor: It was an opportunity for us to exercise as a family and all of our family runs now, which is great. So we've got three sons, they all run, and my nieces. And in fact, my husband and Caroline's husband are doing the parkrun in Hamilton Island this morning while they're over there. So it's something we all like to do on a Saturday.

00:39:44Lyndell Murray: Well, it's a tough life. Why aren't you in Hamilton Island? How about you, Henry?

00:39:50Henry - New Farm parkrun visitor: Family competition. I think it's good to, you know, got brothers, so you've got to try and pace them. It's good. It's good fun, yeah.

00:39:58Lyndell Murray: Well, you're the only one that's here, so you won today, right? Yeah.

00:40:01Henry - New Farm parkrun visitor: Yeah, I mean, Dad did it. He'd probably beat me. But, yeah, other than that, I think so. I'll have it.

00:40:06Lyndell Murray: Yeah, but he's on Hamilton Island. He's not allowed to win.

00:40:10Unidentified speaker: How about you guys? Oh, yeah, I really like catching up with my auntie, uncle and cousins and I love getting coffee and green juice afterwards. Yes, yes, there has to be that as well. I love running with my family and spending time with them.

00:40:26Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Now... New Farm's not your home parkrun, which is?

00:40:30Julie - New Farm parkrun visitor: Well, actually, it's St Lucia, but we've also run at South Bank as well. We thought we'd come over and try this one today. So you're saying you're three times parkrunning three different locations? Not yet. No, we've done South Bank twice. But that's our intention is actually to do all the parkruns around Brisbane so we get to see a bit of the city.

00:40:48Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, so that's terrific. Scotty and Mel, how's that? parkrun adventurers here at New Farm parkrun. Thanks guys, have a great day.

00:40:56Julie - New Farm parkrun visitor: Thank you. Thank you too.

00:40:59Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, I've caught up with two blokes. I'm going to let them introduce themselves because I've tried to do this about three times now and I keep getting their names wrong. So what's your name and what brings you to parkrun?

00:41:10Mark - New Farm parkrunner: My name's Mark and my family bring me to parkrun every week and we've been here for a few years now, really loving it.

00:41:17Tom - New Farm parkrunner: Hi, my name's Tom. I'm a New Farm resident, so New Farm parkrun's my local. I've been going here for about six years now.

00:41:23Lyndell Murray: Hey, me too. High five. So, do you guys do any other parkruns or mainly New Farm?

00:41:33Tom - New Farm parkrunner: I think I've strayed away I've been unfaithful once I did the South Bank around Christmas time just to experience it and uh too busy for me so I came back to New Farm out of about 210 parkruns I've done 190 at New Farm the other ones have been where I've been on holiday so yeah down in Melbourne um Kingscliff yeah and a few others so all right and have you got any favourites from them Well, New Farm's my absolute favourite. And then after that, Albert Park's really good. Albert parkrun in Melbourne. Beautiful.

00:42:03Lyndell Murray: Awesome. And any other running adventures to speak of, guys? I think there's a story here, so who wants to start?

00:42:10Tom - New Farm parkrunner: Okay, I'll start. For me, the running madness, I suppose you could call that, started with New Farm parkruns. So I started with 5K and then ended up with me doing the Western States 100 mile endurance run earlier this year. So yeah, watch how it goes. It goes from 5K to 100 miles.

00:42:27Lyndell Murray: Just like in about six years.

00:42:30Tom - New Farm parkrunner: In about six years, yeah, yeah.

00:42:32Lyndell Murray: And now you're wearing a Western States shirt. So what's the story behind that?

00:42:36Mark - New Farm parkrunner: So I'm the Western States wannabe, but I got to pace Tom in the last 70k of his run.

00:42:43Lyndell Murray: The last what?

00:42:44Mark - New Farm parkrunner: The last 70k of his 160k run. So I'm in the lottery for Western, and as Tom says, I think there's a good saying in running, it doesn't get easier, you get faster. Nothing like parkrun to really tell you that you've still got a long way to go in your running.

00:43:02Lyndell Murray: You either get faster or you go further, I reckon. Yes, yes, yes. All right. Well, thank you so much for talking to me today. All the best when you get to Western States, my friend. And good on you. Well done, guys. Thanks a lot.

00:43:16Tom - New Farm parkrunner: Thanks a lot. Cheers. Thank you very much.

00:43:18Lyndell Murray: Okay, I've found the hard workers here at New Farm parkrun. I've got Andrew and Bella. How are you going today and what are you up to?

00:43:27Andrew - New Farm parkrun token sorter: Well, we're really well, Lyndell. Thanks for coming and talking to us. We're the token sorters. And today's a good day because we've not got so many people here. We usually get 350, 400, and that's a lot of tokens. And today we're up to 280. So an easy day for us.

00:43:47Lyndell Murray: Well, they'll have to dock your pay then, hey? That's right. Now, so you're volunteering. I see that you're also a runner. You've got your 100 shirt. What's the secret behind that?

00:43:56Andrew - New Farm parkrun token sorter: Well, yes, I've got my 25 volunteers up, so I've got my nice shirt. And I've done that, you know, a little trick is to run first and then sort the tokens afterwards. So I can get my number of runs up and token sort and get my volunteer numbers up too. But don't tell anybody that. That's a secret.

00:44:17Lyndell Murray: Secret's safe with us. You know, secret's safe. Don't worry about that. Now, how about you, Bella?

00:44:22Bella - New Farm parkrun token sorter: Do you also run? Yeah, I got into it after Dad. But yeah, I enjoy it and Token Sorting is good. I get to relax and calm down after the hot run and speak and socialise with everyone else that's volunteering. Excellent. And what's the best thing about volunteering? I think you get to interact with others that are here and grow your community base at parkrun. So every time you miss out or you don't feel like you want to come, you remember all the people that are there. Yeah, that you won't see for another week.

00:45:00Lyndell Murray: That's great. And New Farm looks like it's a really nice community. There's lots of people still gathered here sometime after the run. So is that fair to say, you reckon?

00:45:09Bella - New Farm parkrun token sorter: Yeah, definitely. Everyone loves to have a chat, loves to meet others. And we often have weekly things like wear red or something.

00:45:19Lyndell Murray: Events, like themes. Excellent. Well, I better let you get back to it. I know that you said that it's not a very hard job, but I wouldn't like it to be all in the wrong order for next week, so...

00:45:29Andrew - New Farm parkrun token sorter: No, that's right. We've got to get it right. We wouldn't like the first person over the line to get the number 10 token. That would be a catastrophe.

00:45:38Lyndell Murray: It certainly would. You'd have to give them their money back, you know.

00:45:41Andrew - New Farm parkrun token sorter: That's right. No, it's great fun. We enjoy it. Love it. Go parkrun. Excellent. Thank you, guys.

00:45:48Lyndell Murray: Bye-bye. Now, this is something that you don't get every day at parkrun. I've just been given a little flower by a gentleman, and I believe that his name is Happy.

00:45:58Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Is that correct? Yeah, that's right.

00:46:01Lyndell Murray: Why do they call you Happy?

00:46:02Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Because that's my last name, but everybody calls me Hap.

00:46:06Lyndell Murray: Your last name is actually happy.

00:46:07Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Yeah, that's right.

00:46:08Lyndell Murray: Oh, my goodness. That is the best last name ever. So people call you Hap?

00:46:15Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Yeah, that's right. In short form, yeah. I love parkrun here. They're just the nicest people come to this parkrun.

00:46:23Lyndell Murray: Yeah, wow.

00:46:24Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Such a joy to high-five them, yeah yeah well you you gave me a high five out on course and that was fabulous oh well it's so much fun here because the people are they're just special I I drive a long way to get to this particular parkrun because it's so good wow is that right and I've been coming now for five years and it's just been fantastic I love it love it

00:46:48Lyndell Murray: That's great. So you ran today. Do you also help out and volunteer sometimes?

00:46:54Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Yeah, I've got about 60 volunteers, I think, times I've done it. And it's fun volunteering too. You meet nice people there too. Yep, you sure do. And where are you from?

00:47:07Lyndell Murray: Oh, look, my home parkrun is Bunyaville. Oh, yeah. And this interview will be on the parkrun adventurers podcast. Oh, that's neat. Yeah, so you can say g'day to Mel and Scotty if you like. Yeah, okay. All right. Well, thank you for your time today.

00:47:24Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: And thank you very much. I'm glad you did parkrun.

00:47:27Lyndell Murray: You're welcome. Happy?

00:47:28Happy ("Hap") - New Farm parkrunner: Best thing of the whole week.

00:47:30Lyndell Murray: See ya. See ya. Bye. Okay, I've tracked down Karen, the Run Director for today. How are you going? How did today go for you?

00:47:38Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Yeah, it went well. Beautiful conditions to have runners and walkers out. It was a little bit exciting because we had two little first aid incidents, so it kept me busy, but nothing serious, and everybody seemed happy, and that's the main thing, parkrun, I think we've got a happy bunch of runners and walkers. Yeah.

00:48:02Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And New Farm has been established for quite some time in Brisbane.

00:48:06Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Yeah, I think it's, if it's not the oldest, it's one of the oldest around. And we've been involved since 2013. So it gives you an idea of how long that's been going.

00:48:17Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Yeah, well I did my first parkrun here six years ago, so it's definitely longer than that. And how about you? How did you get involved in parkrun in the first place, Karen?

00:48:27Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Well, my husband and I, he's also a Run Director with me. We came along and tried this parkrun thing that we'd heard about and brought our barcodes with, because we were told you had to have your barcode. Otherwise, no barcode, no run. Yes.

00:48:45Lyndell Murray: Well, no time. You can still run.

00:48:46Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Yeah. But we tried New Farm because we just love the area. And, well, we got hooked and we soon got invited in to be a part of the parkrun team, event team.

00:49:01Lyndell Murray: Yeah. And what do you like about parkrun and run directing?

00:49:07Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Well, parkrun, well, what's lovely about it is that you make great new friends and you get to experience the most beautiful scenery running along the river, the Brisbane River. Yeah. It's for anybody. There's no restriction. You can be super slow, you can be a walker, you can be a fast runner that comes in at 17 minutes or you can come in over an hour and everybody's treated in exactly the same way and everyone's cheered in the same way. And that's what I love about it. It's just so accessible to everybody.

00:49:47Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it sure is. Now, the course you have here, you touched on it before, it is a beautiful course, just along bike paths along the Brisbane River.

00:49:55Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Yeah, it's along a shared path, so the bikes have to give way to us. But we try and behave and sort of make sure that we're courteous to other users of the path as well. Yeah. Excellent.

00:50:12Lyndell Murray: Now, thank you so much for talking to me today, Karen. And thank you as well for the wonderful contribution you and your husband have made to New Farm parkrun and parkrun in general.

00:50:23Karen - New Farm parkrun Run Director: Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you so much.

00:50:25Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, Scotty Mel and all of the parkrun adventurers, this is Lyndell signing off on behalf of the Channel 5 News crew from New Farm parkrun in Brisbane.

00:50:34Scott Trickett: All righty is Lyndell's catchphrase. We've got TOC doing howdy. So I think it's quite right that Lyndell stakes a claim at all righty. And she put in a cracking roving report for her parkrun birthday. And at the top of it, we heard from PK doing his thing at his home event. Or is it his home event? I don't know.

00:50:53Melissa Erbacher: I think it's... Mount Barker is his home parkrun, yeah.

00:50:56Scott Trickett: I think he's being drawn elsewhere. Maybe that's something we can bring up with PK next time we catch up with him.

00:51:04Melissa Erbacher: Well, before we move on from the roving reports, thanks very much, guys. It's awesome to hear from you both again. Shout out to Lyndell who, as well as having her parkrun birthday, also had her actual birthday this week. So we hope you had a wonderful time and got utterly spoiled either by yourself or other people or all of the above. And, Scotty, did I hear PK call us something random?

00:51:29Scott Trickett: No. What's he doing there? Pico, well, don't ever associate us in the political field. I think that's what he was trying to do.

00:51:40Melissa Erbacher: Well, was it political or was it more he was trying to do one of those cool celebrity kind of mash-up names?

00:51:48Scott Trickett: Well, you know how Prime Minister is. He's got this ridiculous name at the moment.

00:51:53Melissa Erbacher: I don't really follow politics. I'm not even sure who our Prime Minister is.

00:51:57Scott Trickett: It's a bit like that, isn't it?

00:52:00Melissa Erbacher: Is it still a boy?

00:52:01Scott Trickett: It is still a boy. And he goes, he's got a nickname, ScoMo. Okay. Which, like, he's a fellow, Scott. Come on, represent us a bit better, mate.

00:52:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, Sco and Scott, they're the same amount of syllables. It's not like you're saving any time by dropping the Ts, is it?

00:52:19Scott Trickett: Anyway, ScoMo, ScoMel. No, no, no. Workshop that one, PK. Or just ditch it all together.

00:52:28Melissa Erbacher: I like Melty. Yeah, we could be Melty.

00:52:33Scott Trickett: Melty's better. I'll go with Melty. Meanwhile.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:52:40Scott Trickett: Yeah, let's continue the party theme that Lyndell, I hope she's still partying from the weekend. And if she wants to continue it for another weekend, she needs to be, I reckon she needs to be at Rouse Hill. I know their anniversary is going on, but this is a launch that's going to be, it's going to have a party feel, I reckon. Yeah.

00:52:58Melissa Erbacher: However, it is also in New South Wales.

00:53:02Scott Trickett: She's an adventurer, Mel.

00:53:03Melissa Erbacher: She is. I know. I know. It's possible. She could make it. You never know.

00:53:10Scott Trickett: You know what I want to hear, though? I know we've got listeners who will be at the Rouse Hill launch. I want roving reports. I want fresh voices.

00:53:17Melissa Erbacher: Let's get a roving report from New South Wales. It's been a really long time. We know you guys are there and that you listen. You know, there's no black hole around the New South Wales zone. Super easy, guys. Use your phones.

00:53:32Scott Trickett: Turn it upside down. Voice memos. We'll make you famous.

00:53:35Melissa Erbacher: Also, you don't have to turn it upside down. We've been over this, Scotty.

00:53:41Scott Trickett: It works better. It works better. You can treat it like a microphone and pretend that you're professional and it just sounds better.

00:53:47Melissa Erbacher: Okay. If you say so. But I think you were heading to the anniversaries.

00:53:54Scott Trickett: I was. I was. Because there's anniversaries at Airlie Beach in Queensland and Bunyaville in Queensland. Well, I think this is Lyndell's home event.

00:54:03Melissa Erbacher: It is.

00:54:04Scott Trickett: So it's probably got more of a draw for her. So she's going to be really torn.

00:54:08Melissa Erbacher: But there's also Cohuna in Victoria and Lakeview in New South Wales.

00:54:13Scott Trickett: Mount Gambier in South Australia.

00:54:16Melissa Erbacher: St. George in Queensland.

00:54:18Scott Trickett: And Torrens in South Australia. Yeah.

00:54:21Melissa Erbacher: Are you saying South Australia with a South African accent?

00:54:25Scott Trickett: Yeah, because, you know, there was a question asked in the – there's another Facebook group. Now, if you didn't have enough Facebook groups for parkrun-related discussions, there's one called Stats Geeks that I actually do follow. I kind of like some of the conversations going on in there. And they asked the other day, like, how many so-and-sos are in SA? And I was going, oh, that's a bit niche.

00:54:46Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:54:48Scott Trickett: But no, they were talking about South Africa.

00:54:50Melissa Erbacher: They were talking about the country, not the state.

00:54:53Scott Trickett: Yeah. So that's where it comes from.

00:54:56Melissa Erbacher: I hope you piped up and told them how many were in South Australia.

00:55:01Scott Trickett: No, I don't. I try not to comment too much. I get scared to comment.

00:55:05Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Don't consider yourself to be a stats geek.

00:55:09Scott Trickett: No, I'm just not much of an authority. Yeah.

Top threes

00:55:14Scott Trickett: Yeah, let's move on. Top threes. Top threes. Should we go to top threes first or should we go to the to-do lists?

00:55:22Melissa Erbacher: What are we going to do? Well, no, they are top threes. So let's harken back to previous weeks where we've had some top threes and some people have got in touch with us about what their top threes would be. We mentioned last week that we were going to do it this week. And so let's start with the to-do list, which I think was our very first like official top three once we started having top threes, we won't go over old ground and say what our top threes were, but this one's from Bruce Purdy. And so his first thing on the to-do list is to meet some of the great parkrun brains and watch them at work as Run Directors. And so he says our favourite, so I'm not sure who else he's referring to there, but their favourites so far have been Gareth Saunders, Matt Fullerton, Scott and Joanne Watkins. Yeah. Inspirational. Yeah, I'm not sure who that Matt guy was.

00:56:19Scott Trickett: Three out of four ain't bad. I don't remember that.

00:56:20Melissa Erbacher: Three out of four.

00:56:22Scott Trickett: Gareth Saunders, legend of parkrun, and the Watkins team, and then, yeah, Fullerton. Not sure what's happening there. The other one is to share a coffee or six with tourists and listen to their stories. They're always so vibrant, and they are, Mel. I mean, he's called them tourists, but the adventurers are always the passionate ones. And they're enthusiastic. They love parkrun to the point that they just want to talk parkrun. And I like being around those people because I don't feel – you know when you're talking to regular people, like normal people? Normal people, yeah. And you start talking parkrun and gushing parkrun and you just know that they've either tuned out or whatever and you become a bit self-conscious about what you're saying and have I gone too far? Yeah. But when you're with the tourists and the adventurers, it's a happy place.

00:57:11Melissa Erbacher: I think, you know what, Scotty, I think I've come to the point now in my parkrun journey where I don't even need to filter between the two. Like I just don't talk parkrun with those people who I get that vibe from. So I don't have that awkward feeling anymore. It's just like either I'm deep in a really passionate geek, parkrun geek kind of costume, conversation with someone, or I talk about things that normal people talk about in the outside parkrun life.

00:57:46Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:57:47Melissa Erbacher: But Bruce's third thing...

00:57:48Scott Trickett: I'm glad you've evolved.

00:57:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, it's the next step in the evolution. So, you'll enjoy it when you get to my level. Don't worry.

00:57:58Scott Trickett: Third one?

00:57:59Melissa Erbacher: The third one on Bruce's list is to visit as diverse a range of parkruns as they can. So, small communities, huge attendances, trail, beach, scenic, all of it. He wants to share the love around.

00:58:12Scott Trickett: A great list, Bruce. That's a good one.

00:58:14Melissa Erbacher: That is a good one. I think... more people should go to diverse parkruns and not just visit, you know, the same kinds everywhere they go.

00:58:23Scott Trickett: He was a bit cheeky. He included a fourth. And we only do top threes. So that's just for you and me.

00:58:31Melissa Erbacher: Okay. We'll keep that one to ourselves then.

00:58:34Scott Trickett: But last week we also asked for our top three Chrome extensions and a few of our number one fan, Melissa Ellis, also a member of the Channel 5 News crew. She let us know that her top threes are the Wilson Index, favourite amongst many, Stopwatch Bingo, we're sisters there. She's only got 0-0 to go.

00:58:56Melissa Erbacher: This could be a race between you and that, Melissa. Great.

00:58:59Scott Trickett: Great. I've got another, Melissa, to battle. And her P-index, she's chasing her P-index. So am I. I'm chasing that this weekend. It's ridiculous.

00:59:11Melissa Erbacher: Seriously. See, the P-index just looks like a lot of work to me. I'm trying so hard to get to new events to me. It's difficult to return to other ones. And, I mean, I often return to other ones, but usually I'll volunteer there rather than run or walk the second time because I like to, you know, contribute, I guess, a little bit. Yeah.

00:59:34Scott Trickett: Well, this is it, Mel, the beauty of parkrun. It can be so much to so many people in different ways. And you like to volunteer. I like to chase the P index. Others will just like to get a PB. It's such a simple concept, but it works on so many levels. This is true. And the other one who shared with us was Caroline Southwell, who is another big passionate fan. We love your passion, Caroline. I had a freedom run with Caroline. So this is another byproduct of not only palm18, but just having a podcast, Mel. It's awesome. Our listeners, we get to meet up with them and go for freedom runs in the middle of the day.

01:00:12Melissa Erbacher: We do.

01:00:13Scott Trickett: And I went down to... Where did we go? What was it called? Dolls Point. I went down to Dolls Point. I wanted something nice and flat along the water, and it ticked those boxes. And it was really nice because Dolls Point's one of those events that I've heard a lot about. But, you know, when you hear a lot about something and you make up your mind about what the event is like and what the course is going to be like, but I just wanted to go and run there. And so thanks, Caroline, for indulging me and letting me do that. But she also shared her top three, that she looks at on the Chrome extensions and they are?

01:00:47Melissa Erbacher: The number of different parkruns. She's currently on 29. So one more and she will make the international most events list.

01:00:54Scott Trickett: And what are the other two?

01:00:56Melissa Erbacher: The second one is her tourist quotient, which is currently at 71.79%, which is huge.

01:01:03Scott Trickett: That's massive. Yep.

01:01:05Melissa Erbacher: And the third one is total distinct volunteer roles, which is currently 16. Also an awesome effort.

01:01:12Scott Trickett: So our top three this week. Now, at the end of the year, we do Christmas. We're bucking the trend. We're doing it a month early.

01:01:20Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we're getting in early before everyone's over it.

01:01:23Scott Trickett: The other thing people do at the beginning of the year, around the same time, is they share their goals, their goals for the year. We've done it before. And this year, this week, I'm going to share my top three goals for next year. So I'm getting in early. And I want some of our listeners to share theirs with us as well. Because once you make it public, you sort of make a commitment to it.

01:01:45Melissa Erbacher: You do, but then sometimes the universe conspires against you, as it has in my case, two out of three of my goals for this year. Yeah. So what are your goals for 2019, Scotty?

01:02:01Scott Trickett: That's okay, Mel, because by the end of the year, everyone's forgotten, so you can start fresh. So my goals for next year are, Now, I've talked a little bit about it on the podcast throughout the year. About May, June this year, I just stopped running. And you can have a look on my Strava profile. I was running a fair amount, maybe 60K a week. And then my graphs just flattened out. And I think I'm coming out of that, a six-month lull. But you know a byproduct of that, Mel?

01:02:36Melissa Erbacher: Tiredness? Yeah.

01:02:39Scott Trickett: No, no, I wish. I'd swap being tired for having a little bit of a tummy. I've put on a little bit of weight and the byproduct of putting on a little bit of weight is that I can't fit into my parkrun tops anymore.

01:02:51Melissa Erbacher: Oh, sorry. No, I was a bit confused because you said the byproduct of like, you said you were coming out of it and do I know what the byproduct of that is? It's like, so that's why I was confused. That's why I thought you were tired because you were running more again.

01:03:05Scott Trickett: No, not quite. I've not got to that stage. But no, the byproduct of not running for six months is that I don't fit into my parkrun. So like if I want to wear my purple or if I want to wear my 100 shirt, maybe even the apricot, can't. It doesn't fit. It's a bit too tight. So my goal is to – it's not losing weight focus goal. It's just fitting back into my parkrun shirts.

01:03:32Melissa Erbacher: Redistributing weight.

01:03:33Scott Trickett: Yeah, redistributing. So I'm back at the gym. I've done a couple of sessions at the gym.

01:03:38Melissa Erbacher: How's that working out for you?

01:03:43Scott Trickett: We'll find out. Let's not make a judgment call after a couple of visits. Okay. I'm a bit more committed. I know what I'm doing this time. Good, good. And I've got a pool, so I think I'll do a bit more swimming. I kind of like swimming.

01:03:58Melissa Erbacher: Well, you're coming into the right time of year for that.

01:04:01Scott Trickett: Yep. Another goal is, like, I've had a rough week since last week. I've reflected on myself, my performance on our podcast for 138 episodes. Well, 137 I've been involved in. And my goal next year is to be funnier. I'm sick of this tag of being the straight, boring guy. I'm going to try and be funnier. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that. I'm learning from the best. I'm watching all the comedian specials on Netflix.

01:04:38Melissa Erbacher: Would it just help if I was less funny? It would, yeah. And then relatively speaking, your funny stakes would move up.

01:04:48Scott Trickett: So that's goal number two. Goal number three is probably the most important one, is I want to have the most awesome parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup at the Beaches in April next year.

01:05:01Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's an excellent goal. I think everyone should have that goal.

01:05:05Scott Trickett: I mean, we had a great time last year, but it was a little bit of the unknown. We weren't sure what to expect, who was going to show up. This year, a little bit of experience behind us, like one day, but...

01:05:18Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, there's even like everybody involved is a little bit more experienced. We've already got Simon Mackley, the quiz master, talking to us about how we should structure the quiz next year. We've already got Gary Murphy, who was the major driving force of this year's listener meetup, talking to us about how things should be structured for that next year as well. So, you know, the planning stages I think has started earlier. Yep. Hopefully that means we're a little bit more organised.

01:05:51Scott Trickett: That's my goal. So I've got to get in shape. I've also got a New Year's Day double that I've committed to. So I'm going to run in between my two doubles this year. And how's this, Mel? I've got to do Westerfolds parkrun in about four and a half minute Ks. Then we've got to take off straight away, run 12 Ks sitting on about five minute Ks in order to make it to Darebin parkrun where I can walk or do whatever.

01:06:14Melissa Erbacher: Why would you do that?

01:06:15Scott Trickett: Not for fun. It's a challenge. I've got a month to get in shape because I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I could do it at the moment. So that's all part of my goal number one.

01:06:27Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, no pressure on yourself or anything. Hey, Scotty.

01:06:34Scott Trickett: So they're my goals because I've rabbited on far too long about my goals. I'm going to give you a week to think about yours, Mel.

01:06:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I think I need at least a week because this is a little bit earlier than I start contemplating them. I'm still trying to figure out how I can squeeze in another one of my 2018 goals in the last few weeks of this year. Might be a bit tight. Hopefully still get there because otherwise you are going to catch me on that most events list and that was never in the plan.

01:07:05Scott Trickett: Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm going to get too many new events for the rest of the year. I think you're safe.

01:07:11Melissa Erbacher: That's what you said the last time and then you snuck off to different places. Anyway, I'm not going to hold you to that.

Christmas park dog selfie competition — Bruce Purdy and Tony O'Connell (TOC)

01:07:19Scott Trickett: One more item that we need to get to is last week we had the Santa Fe competition.

01:07:24Melissa Erbacher: We did. And when we stipulated the timeframe, it was kind of based on the fact that we recorded on Monday night and thought the podcast would be out a bit earlier in the week so people would have time to listen to it and actually get the details of the competition. Didn't happen, didn't happen it it went out late Thursday night so people only had that one day to have a chance to to hear about the competition so we're going to extend it aren't we Scotty we are we are but but we had two people submit some wacky photos and and this is what you have to do we'll remind everyone what you have to do to win or to go in the um in the running to win, as it were, you need to take a selfie with a park dog as wacky as possible without causing harm to said park dog because, as we mentioned last weekend, that would be an automatic disqualification if the animal looks like it's under any sort of duress.

01:08:26Scott Trickett: And two of our favourites have already done that. Bruce, who we referred to earlier, who sent us in his to-do list, and Channel 5 News crew member TOC.

01:08:36Melissa Erbacher: So some Scent of Fear books will be coming your way, gentlemen, as soon as you get in touch with us with your postal addresses so we can pop them in the post for you. Congratulations, guys, and well done. Loves the photos.

Sign-off

01:08:48Scott Trickett: And that wraps up our Christmas theme. Speak to you. See you next week.

01:08:53Melissa Erbacher: when the ordering will already be closed for the singlets and they'll be in production. Exciting times. Have we got some Christmas music to go out with, Scotty?

01:09:02Scott Trickett: We do, yep. We opened with Christmas music, so it's only fitting that we finish with Christmas music. Try and sing along if you want. There's no lyrics, but I stumbled on a – I was YouTube the other day and somehow I ended up on an Andre Rieu video. Do you know who that is?

01:09:21Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, of course I do. He's Italian.

01:09:23Scott Trickett: Yeah, he plays a fiddle and they're panning into the crowd and there's no lyrics in Andre's music. He's just fiddling away. But people are singing along with him. They're going... That sounds like the circus music. Yeah, well, I don't know what he was playing. He could have been playing that. But I thought it was funny.

01:09:41Melissa Erbacher: But now I'm wondering if he's Italian or if he's French because it sounds more like a French name, doesn't it?

01:09:46Scott Trickett: I reckon he's Austrian.

01:09:49Melissa Erbacher: Isn't he blind? Yeah.

01:09:51Scott Trickett: No, he's the fiddler guy. Who am I thinking of? I think you're thinking of Andrea Bocelli. He's the blind opera singer.

01:10:00Melissa Erbacher: Who's Italian.

01:10:02Scott Trickett: Yeah. Very different to Andre Rieu, who's, maybe he's German.

01:10:07Melissa Erbacher: Both extremely talented.

01:10:09Scott Trickett: So anyway, if you're in the mood, sing along to the instrumentals.

01:10:17Melissa Erbacher: Talk to you next week, Scotty.

01:10:20[music]