Episode 146 - Kirsten Molloy

Welcome

00:00:18Melissa Erbacher: It's episode 146 times, Scotty, parkrun adventurers coming at you two weeks in a row, three weeks in a row even, if you sort of clarify that last one was in just by a hair's breadth. My name is Mel Erbacher. Scotty Trickett is my co-host, who I'm assuming is on the other end of the line. Are you here, Scotty?

00:00:39Scott Trickett: I'm still here. Can you hear me, Mel Erbacher?

00:00:43Melissa Erbacher: I can hear you. It's been a big weekend, Scotty.

00:00:49Scott Trickett: It has. We spent the weekend together. And just to clarify, 145 made it out last week.

00:00:56Melissa Erbacher: It did. It was released on Saturday. That's totally last week.

00:01:02Scott Trickett: Yeah. We were talking about... stuff that had happened in the past, but we were talking about it to happen in the future, but it still went out on Saturday. And the reason why it went out on Saturday is because I was having too much fun hanging out with you. I didn't have enough time to sit down and edit.

00:01:20Melissa Erbacher: And the thing is, most people, well, I shouldn't make generalizations like that, but we do understand that some people listen to Episodes are a week later anyway, so I'm sure the actual timeliness of us talking about where we were going and what we were doing was probably not very important in the grand scheme of things. We'll try to do better this week though, won't we?

00:01:44Scott Trickett: It is important this week, so let's talk about where we were on Saturday. Well...

00:01:51Melissa Erbacher: Where would you go if you were an adventurer that loves orange and purple because that's the colour of your Ugly Christmas Singlet?

00:02:01Scott Trickett: I'd try and find an anniversary that was celebrating an apricot and purple theme.

00:02:07Melissa Erbacher: Was it apricot and purple? I just thought – or apricot and aubergine. I thought it was just orange and purple because of the orange fluoro volunteer vests and the purple. Actually, you're right. Yeah.

00:02:17Scott Trickett: No, you're right. That's what they said on the day. So we went to Sirromet. Mel and I had ventured to Sirromet, which we did say in last week's episode, but we said it. after we'd been there. But you're right. It was a purple to celebrate the volunteers, the aubergine, and the orange, not for apricot, it was to celebrate the orange vests that we wear here in Australia. That's an Aussie thing, you know.

00:02:39Melissa Erbacher: Doesn't everybody in the world wear orange vests?

00:02:44Scott Trickett: No. I think you should know this. Don't they? They wear yellow in the UK.

00:02:49Melissa Erbacher: No, I'm sure I've seen orange in the UK. Well, I mean, I can't honestly say that I was there in person. I thought I'd seen them in pictures. Maybe I haven't. That's okay. I mean, I guess it's all right for everybody to have different colours.

00:03:01Scott Trickett: Yeah, it is. It is. So, Sirromet, explain the course to us, Mel, and let us know your thoughts of the morning because I had a great morning.

00:03:12Melissa Erbacher: You know what you want to do when you are six months pregnant, Scotty, is you want to find a very, very hilly course that isn't pram-friendly, that isn't – isn't flat, definitely not flat. And you want to walk that as fast as you possibly can. And that's Sirame. Sirame is definitely a hilly course. And you know what? One of the hills comes right at the end between the four and a half or the four and the four and a half K mark. And that's lovely and delightful, but not unexpected because you actually go down said hill at the start, obviously too, after the first 500 metres. So It's one of the few events that I've been to that has actually like properly starts on an incline like you run across a field or an oval. It's not an oval. I guess you'd call it a field, wouldn't you? Yeah. Yeah.

00:04:11Scott Trickett: It's an open amphitheatre where they have Day on the Green concerts and various other concerts.

00:04:15Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:04:16Scott Trickett: So, vast expanse of green stuff.

00:04:18Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, which is lovely. There were wallabies there when we started. They had kind of snuck off more into the trees as the day wore on a little bit and more runners accumulated. But then, yeah, so you go up a hill and then you go down a hill and then you go up a little bit more of a hill and twist around to the… and you follow this, I guess it's access tracks through the farmland there and the grass either side of the course is just amazing and beautiful and very serene and it's head height. So it's like something out of one of those movies where, you know, the aliens are hiding in the cornfields or something like that. And I can imagine it would be quite eerie if you were out there on your own.

00:05:04Scott Trickett: That's what I did. I compared it to the children of the corn. I had that feeling of running through the cornfields, even though it was tall grass. And there were snakes in there. I know there were snakes coming out to attack me.

00:05:16Melissa Erbacher: At one point, it sounded like the grass was talking to me, but it turned out I was just approaching a corner and there were parkrunners around the other side who were oncoming on their way back and they were having a chat as they were running.

00:05:28Scott Trickett: Hey, can I go back to the hill? Because it's a cross-country course, so it's all on grass, uneven surface. So at the start, all I'm doing is concentrating on my feet, making sure I can stay upright. I don't remember going down that hill. Not at all, really. Barely, barely. I remember I looked at my watch for the first K and I thought, that's pretty quick. I must be doing okay. And then it all came into sharp focus when we got to Paul.

00:05:56Melissa Erbacher: Wait a minute.

00:05:58Scott Trickett: Yeah. Honestly, I got to that. You come around the corner and we've got one of our volunteer marshals there. And I'm thinking, we're nearly done. And then there's this

00:06:08Melissa Erbacher: goddamn hill that I just completely blew up on I think 15 or 16 people must have overtaken me maybe more the added technical part of it is you go diagonally up the hill so you've got the camber you're not going straight up a hill where you're just straight elevation you're going to cross it so you've got the camber like away to your left and um yeah trying to run sideways that's probably why you didn't notice it on the way down too because of the camber of it as well but You know, the volunteers on that part of the course, they certainly have a nice view of the office on the day, which is always good.

00:06:45Scott Trickett: It's not an easy course, old Sirromet. But I love the setting. Any time you can put a parkrun in a setting like that gets a big tick. Love the wallabies at the start. But it seems like every time I go to Brisbane in the summer, there are the Zooper Doopers.

00:07:00Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:07:01Scott Trickett: I resisted one for a while. I went for the oranges. To keep on theme.

00:07:06Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, with the colour scheme.

00:07:09Scott Trickett: But after the event, I wanted to go to the turnaround point where they had a nice little set up with all the volunteers, thank the volunteers there, get a bit more of a tour of the grounds with our ambassador, Alan. And when I came back, I couldn't resist a pineapple Zooper Dooper.

00:07:26Melissa Erbacher: Well, at least you chose a good flavour. Yeah. I didn't partake of a Zooper Dooper. I'm not too much a fan. Like, it's ironic. Give me a slab of cake and I will eat it, you know, baked sugary goodness. Absolutely. But just, you know, an ice block, a sugary ice block after parkrun is not really tickling my fancy.

00:07:48Scott Trickett: The sugar content is high, isn't it? Like, it burns your throat, doesn't it? It's so sweet.

00:07:57Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but that's okay. You know, it's a lovely gesture from those people who like to bring them along to share.

00:08:04Scott Trickett: Absolutely. It was their anniversary, so people were in celebrating. They were.

00:08:08Melissa Erbacher: They were. And it was a really friendly crew as well. I found, I mean, obviously volunteers are almost always friendly, but I found them to be a particularly friendly bunch, this lot. So great job to the Sirromet team.

Event review ranking system

00:08:22Scott Trickett: So what are we doing? We started the review ranking system last week. What are we doing? Five out of five?

00:08:29Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. I thought you were referring to the most events list. I'm not. I'm not. I wasn't on board with that last week and I'm pretty sure I'm still not on board with that, Scotty. So if you want to rank it.

00:08:40Scott Trickett: I'm giving them five out of five.

00:08:42Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Is this whole ranking system just a means for you to give every event five out of five every week or...?

00:08:48Scott Trickett: Well, you'll have to listen every week to find out.

00:08:49Melissa Erbacher: Is that a trend? We'll see. Well, I would like to mention because this podcast is all about you and me. Self-indulgent here. I did get 148 for my Wilson Index. And for those playing along at home, I also got a stopwatch bingo, which means I've only got two left to go. And it was only mildly fabricated. Because you know what I did again, Scotty? I was going for a different number. And it turns out that's not the number that I needed. So I think it's working in my favour that I only have a rough idea of whereabouts I need stuff. And look, to be honest, all I did was slow down for about two seconds at the finish line. So I was already in the ballpark anyway.

00:09:34Scott Trickett: I swear to God, Mel, if you get it before me...

00:09:36Melissa Erbacher: How many have you got left to go?

00:09:38Scott Trickett: I've got one. I've got one. I've been stuck on that one for a while. And again, I missed it by a mere second. So I blame the hill again. Not my fitness. Lack of fitness for blowing up.

00:09:48Melissa Erbacher: I should probably not laugh because chances are I'll be stuck on one for like three years.

00:09:54Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:09:54Melissa Erbacher: Just won't be able to get it.

Interview Kirsten Molloy — Elite marathoner and running coach, chasing the Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star…

00:10:03Scott Trickett: Our guest this week has run and won a bunch of marathons around the world and is currently on a quest to get her six-star medal. In a couple of weeks, she's heading to Tokyo, so we're going to find out all about that. Welcome to the parkrun adventurers, Kirsten Molloy.

00:10:17Kirsten Molloy: Thanks so much. It's great to be here today.

00:10:20Scott Trickett: Kirsten, tell us exactly what the six-star medal is because I think that's a highly achievable and highly sought-after medal, award. What exactly is it?

00:10:31Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, so it is actually a medal. It's a huge medal, in fact, and it represents the six marathon majors, the six biggest races in the world as far as marathon goes. And so it's New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo and Berlin. And I'm really lucky in that I had the opportunity in a week and a half's time to go to Tokyo, which will be my fifth of the six. And yeah, I've been working on this for quite a few years now because obviously you can't go to all six international races in one year due to finances and annual leave and work and whatnot. So it has been a few years in the making.

00:11:17Melissa Erbacher: Kirsten, you're a little bit of a speedster on the running shoes. Can you explain to me, with the six-star medal, when you participate, do you have to win or do you have to come in really high or is it just literally like a participation medal and even us slow smucks can have a chance at it if we've got the time and the money to get along to these events?

00:11:43Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, absolutely. Anyone can go to it. Having said that, there is a few ways to get in. So you can qualify for each of them through a time, which is how I've been fortunate enough to get into each of them. You can fundraise a certain amount to get into them or you can go in a except Boston, has a lottery set up. So you can throw your name in the ring and try and get pulled out. And the statistics are huge, particularly somewhere like New York, where there's hundreds of thousands of people that go into the lottery each year and you know, a few thousand names will come out. So if you do want to go, it's not just for fast runners. It's anyone can do it. Anyone, I believe, can run a marathon with a bit of hard work and dedication. So, yeah, anyone can possibly do it. It's just, yeah, you've got to either fundraise or lottery or qualify.

00:12:44Scott Trickett: And you're heading to Tokyo in a week's time, a bit over a week's time. Which one after Tokyo have you got left to do?

00:12:50Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, so just London, which will be next year, 2020. London next year actually will act as the world marathon or world championships for the Masters, so 40 years and over, um it's the first time we've had anything like this like that and I'll actually turn 40 in a few months time so I will hopefully be able to get enough points to qualify for that so it'll double as my final leg of the six star but also um a 40 plus Masters run I'm hoping

00:13:27Melissa Erbacher: Do you know off top of your head, Kirsten, if or what the numbers are about people who've actually achieved the six star? Is there sort of a record or a list of those people somewhere?

00:13:38Kirsten Molloy: Oh, there is actually. Off the top of my head, I don't know the numbers, but it's certainly they do have a Hall of Fame. And if you do get your six star, you do go on to the Hall of Fame. And I feel particularly in Australia, the momentum is really building because it is quite attractive to a lot of people because, you know, you go to these events and it is a total experience, but then a lot of people make a holiday out of it as well. And you're seeing amazing things in amazing cities like, Can you imagine the whole of New York, the whole city, all of the boroughs closed down for a day? Like it's unheard of. And the same thing will be in Tokyo. And same with all these cities, but just the size of New York. Tokyo, to give you an example, the population of the whole of Australia is the population in Tokyo. So it's going to be incredible to see the city shut down for a marathon. Yeah.

00:14:33Scott Trickett: Can you take us back to 2016 when you ran at New York? You were in the elite field. How was that experience?

00:14:41Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, so it was really an emotional thing for me, to be perfectly honest, because never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be able to stand on the start line of the elite race in the New York City Marathon next to the likes of Edna Kiplagat, who is the fastest woman in the world and Mary Keitany, you know, these amazing Kenyans that you see on TV. I really only wanted to run the New York marathon and I didn't care how I ran it, but to be asked to be part of the elite start and New York's one where the women's starts 30 minutes ahead, of the men's start and the main the main start so there's literally 30 of us on the start line and honestly it was incredible I was in tears because it was like you know as a kid in a candy candy shop you see these women on tv and yeah it was just it was incredible I didn't have the best run As my career, I think I did get caught up in the day and the emotion of it. But to this day, it is the most incredible experience I've ever had. And, yeah, it was just a memory that will last forever. And everyone I talk to, I've said to people, you know, you have to go and run the New York Marathon. If you do nothing else in your life, go and run the New York Marathon. This year, I actually, sorry, in 2018, I actually ran with my partner who is very new to running and we actually ran it together side by side just in the general start. And I'd been rabbiting on for so many years about how incredible it was and I'm a member of the Newcastle Flyers Running Club and we had, I think, 10 of us running in the same event. And I was telling them all how incredible it was. And when I finished, I thought, oh, I hope they're not all disappointed. And every single one of them said, Kirsten, you really pumped it up bigger than anything in the world, but it was even bigger than that. Like it was even better than what you said. And I thought that was incredible because I'd really pumped it up. Yeah, it's just the catchphrase, phrase in New York is the race that will change you. And it absolutely changes you because you go through all the boroughs and everyone doesn't matter who you are, you know, black, white, Hispanic, English speaking, non-English speaking, police officer, fire brigade, everyone comes out and the whole city just comes together. And it's just, Like I'm getting goosebumps talking about it now. It's just, it just, it does move you and it hits you right in the heart. It's just, it's incredible.

00:17:12Melissa Erbacher: Far out. I can hear the passion and the love for it in your voice. And I've only done one very, very non-serious marathon in my life so far, but you're even starting to pique my interest, I have to admit. Yeah. Now, one thing New York hasn't got is a parkrun that you could do before the New York Marathon. However, Berlin, which you've also done, has got a parkrun. In fact, they've got several parkruns around and about the place. And I understand that you popped along to Hasenheide parkrun before Berlin Marathon last year. Yeah.

00:17:48Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, so it was incredible. It's probably one of my top 10 memories in my whole running life. And so Hasenheide, which is, it's in a park in Berlin, but just out of the main city. It was about, I think, an 8K jog for us to get there to the start line. So they'd only kicked off 12 months or less than 12 months before that. So they hadn't been going a year. And they averaged around about 40 runners a week. Obviously, the numbers do drop off in the snow. And on that Saturday morning, the day before the Berlin Marathon, there was more than 500 runners and they ran out of tokens. They did five separate runs, briefings, five separate briefings in numerous languages, English, German, Spanish, I think. But yeah, it was incredible to watch more than 500 people and then them to panic about not having tokens. And it was just, it was incredible. And to see the passion of the volunteers and the race director and Just totally in shock of what happened and how many people came to do it. It was just, it was out of this world. It was a beautiful course in a park, like a, yeah, like a park where you'd go and walk your dogs and do things like that. But it was just, yeah, it blew my mind to see that amount of people there.

00:19:14Scott Trickett: And you're one of our elites who does attend parkrun fairly regularly, even volunteer from time to time. Your local is at Port Macquarie, but you've travelled around to a few other parkruns around Australia. How do you enjoy the parkrun experience?

00:19:26Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, I love parkrun. I don't get there as much as I'd like to, but I've kind of been swept up in some of my running friends here in Port Macquarie's passion to go and do the parkrun tourism. So I do try to get to, if I'm holidaying or out and about, I try to get to the odd ones here and there. You know, we've come a long way since Newy parkrun and I reckon that was about, oh, it'd be six or eight years ago when I first did my parkrun there. And, yeah, it's just, it's totally exploded in Australia. It'd be nice to see it rolled out, like, in the States where, you know, there's so much potential. But it has absolutely exploded in Australia. Like in Newcastle where I regularly run, you know, we start out with Newy parkrun and there's bucket loads there now. It's just incredible and parkrun is such a community event because it doesn't cost anyone anything. No one has to do anything. You know, you rock up on a Saturday morning and parkrun changes lives. Like I've seen it firsthand where people, you know, aren't fit, do no exercise and then parkrun comes to town and, and it explodes, like it literally explodes and people, whether they're walking, jogging, running, you know, it's just, it changes the whole community. It changes generations because parents go with their kids and a lot of the time I'll run with, some of my friends and some of the people that I'm coaching and those sorts of things. So I generally don't go to parkrun to look for a PB or look for a fast time. On occasion, I might go hard, but for me, it's about the experience and catching up with the friends and running with other runners.

00:21:11Melissa Erbacher: And you have tripped around quite a bit across different states and things like that. Have you got any highlights from the Aussie parkruns that you've done, Kirsten?

00:21:20Kirsten Molloy: It's always nice to go to the ones in Queensland, usually before the Gold Coast Marathon. So the Kirra one's pretty cool, you know. Bowral was pretty awesome, actually. Boweral was the day before I ran the Canberra Marathon. And I spent a lot of my childhood up that way. So it was almost like coming home. And that was really cool. A lot of people there. And yeah, it was a beautiful course. A lot of these towns and cities that parkrun's in, it's really showcasing the town and people go, oh, you know, I would never normally go there, but how amazing is this place? And then they tell their friends and family and, you know, then they might go holidaying then. So it is good for tourism.

00:22:06Scott Trickett: Tell us about the Newcastle Flyers. They've probably got the second best running uniform in Australia. Do you have to be fast to run with the Flyers? Because every time I see them at a parkrun, they're usually up the front and flying.

00:22:18Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, I'd like to ask you a question back first. So if it's the second best uniform, who's the first best uniform?

00:22:24Scott Trickett: I might be biased there. I might be biased, but it's my own running club, the Westerfoldians.

00:22:29Melissa Erbacher: Of which he designed the uniform.

00:22:30Scott Trickett: Of which I designed, yes.

00:22:32Melissa Erbacher: So it's all relative, really.

00:22:35Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:22:36Kirsten Molloy: I'll let you get him over that one. Thank you. No, absolutely not. You don't have to be amazing to be a flyer, a Newcastle flyer. I was sort of... One of the... Early Newcastle Flyers when, you know, on a Sunday morning, you'd get three or four of us to the Sunday morning long run. And I went down there recently and I think we had 50 for the Sunday morning long run, which is just incredible when we've come so far in really in a matter of less than 10 years, particularly in the last five years, it's just exploded. But the really interesting thing, and I hope I'm not sharing secrets, but how they run the long run, for example, is... because the Newcastle Flyers is from the old Flyers train, there's three trains, there's three train lines and there's a red, blue and white, which is our colours and it's a different pace for each one. So you do go as a group and if you're not feeling amazing, you might, and you're normally in the faster group, you might go to the second or third group and vice versa and there's no judgement. Everyone runs together and looks after each other and there are other sessions during the week, where, you know, we'd get together. But you don't have to be fast. It is all inclusive. But I think there are some amazing athletes coming through and there are some very quick people in that club. So you do see them running around the place at parkrun and also at other big events. The uniform does stand out, so there is a bit of, you know, eyes on it. But, yeah, you don't have to be fast. Anyone's welcome to join. They'll literally take anyone. It's about empowering people to move and run and be with like-minded people. So anybody's welcome to join the Newcastle Flyers, that's for sure.

00:24:30Melissa Erbacher: I'll be honest, Kirsten, I don't recall ever seeing the uniform. Can you paint me a bit of a word picture of what it looks like and for those of our listeners who haven't seen it either?

00:24:41Kirsten Molloy: Sure. So it's white, although you may see the black singlet at parkrun at non-parkrun. bib events because the rule is you can only wear your white bib at an event. You can only wear the black at not an event. You have to wear the white one. And it's basically red, white and blue. And it symbolises the old Newcastle flyer that ran from Newcastle to Sydney, the fast train, which unfortunately we don't have anymore. But it's a really interesting story. I'm not 100% on the history of it, but there was a school assignment for a particular school in Newcastle where they had to do a business, basically a mock-up of business for the Newcastle Flyers. And they had to design a logo and design. Put a business case, and the president of the club and a couple of executives actually went to the school and interviewed them, and that became the Newcastle Flyers logo. So it was actually a high school student.

00:25:48Scott Trickett: I love it. It's great. Now, another thing I love, Kirsten, is I've got a little bit of an obsession with shoes. I have far too many, but my shoe of choice at the moment is the On Clouds.

00:26:00Kirsten Molloy: Yep.

00:26:01Scott Trickett: And these are a bit of an innovative shoe and you've been wearing them for a while. In fact, you go back to the early days with this brand. Can you tell us a bit about that?

00:26:11Kirsten Molloy: Yeah, so I've been in on since 2010 and one of the first in Australia to have them. And a friend of mine was obsessed with them and basically forced them onto me. And I love them. From the first minute I put them on, I did love them. I've been lucky enough to go to headquarters in Zurich and see some of the prototypes. I went there about five years ago now, maybe four, and some of the prototypes they were working on back then are coming out now. I love them because they allow me to do a lot of kilometres without injury. They're also very pretty. They're a very attractive shoe and they do stand out. I personally like the cloud surfer. It's a little bit heavier than, for example, the clouds, but I like to have a bit of shoe around me just for the amount of kilometres that I do. Yeah, so back then they were really state-of-the-art and very out there to the point where I think it might have been 2014 or 2015, there was a question mark over at the New York Marathon, are they legal? Are they springs? They are legal. They do feel like springs and they make you run faster, so... Yeah, I'm obsessed with them too, and I think I've got nearly every shoe in every colour.

00:27:40Scott Trickett: Yeah, I'm a massive fan. I'm not sure if they've made me run faster just yet, but, yeah, I'm with you. They look great too. So the Swiss do things design-wise really well, and I guess that shows in the shoe.

00:27:53Melissa Erbacher: At what point do you think, and this is a question probably for both of you, that things like equipment should become illegal for using? Like it's not like they're battery powered or, you know, they give you propulsion. It's still a manual thing running. So at what point does clothing become too performance enhancing that it gets ruled out?

00:28:18Kirsten Molloy: I think that's the beauty of running, that unlike some sports like cycling or swimming, the technology isn't everything, particularly in the marathon. I think if you're running a 100-metre sprint or 200-metre sprint, yeah, absolutely. Technology, every gram or 0.1 of a gram is very, very important. I think when you're running the marathon, yeah, technology is a little bit important, but it's not a major factor. I guess in the top end it is. We saw Kipchoge break the world record with, you know, a bit of technology. But it's not imperative, and that's the beauty of running, that anyone can get a pair of joggers. Some people don't even wear joggers. They go barefoot. But you don't need a lot of things to run. You know, a lot of people make out that you do. You need your fancy watches. And don't get me wrong, I do like a nice watch. but you don't need it. You can put on a pair of average shoes and go and run, which is kind of what I really like about running. It makes it affordable for anyone.

00:29:33Melissa Erbacher: An excellent thing to remember when we're all looking at strapping fans to the backs of ourselves so that we can get propelled forward. I often do events in fancy dress with wings, and every single time somebody makes a comment about, that's being cheating because you can just fly. So important to remember that running is not about the doodads and the gadgets and we can just get out and do it. Thank you for joining us this week, Kirsten. It's been lovely chatting to you and hearing all about your goals and all the fun you've been having, tripping about the world and participating in marathons. Your enthusiasm is definitely infectious. So I think I might have to go look up the New York Marathon lottery and see what's involved. Certainly not for next year because I'm not going to be ready for that. But in the not too distant future, perhaps.

00:30:27Kirsten Molloy: I might hold you to that. I'm a coach, so when you're ready, I'm happy to provide you with a program and do some coaching. Awesome.

00:30:35[21 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:30:56Scott Trickett: Over our summer break, we had a bunch of roving reports come in that we played a few weeks ago. But somewhere in the universe, we lost one. And it was when Lyndell visited Queen's Domain, which would have been really cool because Lyndell was there, I think, the week before I went. So we could have learnt about it before I went. But we're going to extend the time travel episode to go back in time to when Lyndell adventured to Queen's Domain.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Queen's Domain

00:31:26Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, g'day Scotty, g'day Mel. It's Lyndell and I'm checking in this morning from Queen's Domain parkrun in Tasmania. Now I'm here of course for my Q but I've lucked out. It's their anniversary and it's also a new course so there's a real buzz of excitement here today. So their birthday's on so there's cake. There's also a theme. Their theme is Q because there's so many people that come here to get their Q. So I'm dressed as a Queenslander today, all in maroon. We've got a queen here. We've got a question mark. We've got all kinds of things here. So anyway, I'm going to just, we're not far off starting. So I'm going to check in, do the run and I'll have a chat later on.

00:32:10Nicholas: It's hard to believe that 12 months ago we took a leap to provide you with a parkrun so the benefits you can reap. I told the council I wanted to start a parkrun in the city. They said, we don't know what that is, but it sounds kind of pretty. Jokes aside, our local council gave us their full support, which is good, because without them we'd have to abort. It also helps that our national sponsors were there. Medibank supporters, even when Matthew called them Medicare. Who could forget our wonderful volunteers? All 344 of them this year deserve our cheers. The Queen's Domain course has been modified. I hope you can see the changes as an upside. Before we start, make sure your course is familiar so you don't run along thinking, oh, this is all very peculiar. So we can all enjoy our parkrun day, I do have some reminders I'd like to say. When you finish, give your finishing tokens to our scanners. Really, it's just good manners. If you need to use the toilet, head over to the club rooms before you soil it. If you have a puppy, keep him on a lead, and children must be with you always. Are we all agreed? Yep. If you have a pain behind your rib, there's no need to panic. We've got a defib. Please keep left along the track. Yes, I'm talking to you. We don't want any collisions, but that's nothing new. If you're celebrating a run milestone, come up in a minute so I can take a picture of you on my phone. This event starts at 9. If everyone was listening, we'll all be fine. Remember, today's about having fun and doing your best. So good luck and enjoy from all of us in an orange vest.

00:33:51Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, I've tracked down Nicholas, the Event Director here. Now, Nicholas, I captured a fair bit of your rhyming parkrun briefing. Is that a regular occurrence here at Queen's Domain?

00:34:02Nicholas: Yeah, it is. So of the three Run Directors that we have, myself and Joe read out a little poem just for something a bit different to get our message across to our athletes. Matthew's not all that confident, though. He doesn't like doing it. So two out of three weeks, we've got to rhyme to begin the parkrun, yeah.

00:34:20Lyndell Murray: Excellent. So what inspired that?

00:34:23Nicholas: So I'm a teacher when I'm not a parkrun director apparently. And I was procrastinating when I was report writing. Excellent. So yeah, anything to avoid doing reports. And I said to my wife, I said, I don't like just droning on these same sort of instructions that everybody hears everywhere else. Let's do something different. And I think I started off rhyming.

00:34:45Lyndell Murray: um run with fun and it just went from there I said I reckon I can do two like three lines that rhyme four lines and then it just became the whole thing so yeah well it's great it's a lovely touch um very unique to queen's domain now you get a lot of people coming for your Q yep um and that was your theme today how did the theme go and how was the anniversary

00:35:06Nicholas: Oh, look, it was great. I was a little bit nervous because Q's an awfully hard letter to find a costume for. But I think we had about a dozen runners sort of put in a fair bit of thought into what they're doing. You're a Queenslander and we had some Quidditch players. A couple of people had a barcode attached to their front and outlined the quiet space around a barcode. And, you know, that's pretty creative for a dodgy letter. But, yeah, no, it was good. We had some cake to finish off. And I think our numbers have tipped maybe 50 extra numbers above our average, which is, yeah, which is really nice.

00:35:39Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And you're being a bit shy about your own costume here. You've come as the Queen of Queens Domain.

00:35:44Nicholas: Yeah, that's, yeah. So I've got my wife's dress on with a little $2 tiara from the reject shop. And I think having my hair out with the beard is really what makes this costume.

00:35:54Lyndell Murray: Absolutely. Topped off with your lovely orange volunteer vest as well. Yeah, exactly.

00:35:59Nicholas: It all sort of matches.

00:36:01Lyndell Murray: It does the job. Look, Nick, thank you so much for talking to me. Thank you so much for everything that you and the other volunteers here do at Queen's Domain. It's a wonderful, beautiful run through the bush here. I was actually really taken. This is the Botanical Gardens, yeah? Yeah.

00:36:15Nicholas: uh not quite it's it's uh the botanical gardens is just down here but it's it's the same postcode same area and that same sort of uh sacred nobody's allowed to build up here it's just for the runners walkers cyclists uh there's a nice little mountain bike track these people are using it's just it's a gorgeous area and to be honest when I was looking to do a parkrun I thought why hasn't somebody already started one here like it makes perfect sense it's two minutes from the CBD but you wouldn't know it like you think you're in the middle of nowhere yeah

00:36:44Lyndell Murray: It's a beautiful spot. You've done really well. Thank you so much for having me. My absolute pleasure. Thanks so much for having a chat. And hopefully I'll see you again sometime. Absolutely.

00:36:52Nicholas: You're more than welcome. And so is everybody else listening. Come along.

00:36:54[music]

00:36:55Scott Trickett: Thanks, Lyndell. And because I've already played the theme music, Mel, tell us where you were on January the 5th. Just an ordinary day in the life of Mel Erbacher?

00:37:04Melissa Erbacher: No. January the 5th is never an ordinary day in the life of the Mel Erbacher. January is the celebration of the life.

00:37:13Scott Trickett: You refer to yourself as the V these days.

00:37:14Melissa Erbacher: Well, you just did it to me. I'm just repeating what you said. No, January the 5th is the celebration of the life of the Erbacher because that's my birthday.

00:37:28Scott Trickett: Did you have a good birthday this year? It coincided with parkrun, so I'm sure it would have been the best kind of birthday.

00:37:33Melissa Erbacher: It did, just for the second time in my personal parkrun history. The very first, well, because I started parkrun in October, the first January I came across in the parkrun world was also my birthday. So that was a great one. This one, I didn't actually tell anybody it was my birthday, so... I managed to sneak that in under the radar. However, I did take across four watermelons. And I had chopped them up the night before, removed all the rinds, had them just in perfect pick-up, eat-and-go pieces, and had them in the fridge overnight. So they were beautiful and icy cold on a really hot summer's day while we were still doing the beach course. And they were much appreciated by everybody who ate them. So that was nice.

00:38:22Scott Trickett: I want to go on record. I'd much prefer... Cold slice of watermelon over a Zooper Dooper.

00:38:27Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:38:29Melissa Erbacher: Notice for the record.

00:38:29Scott Trickett: Just next time I'm in Brisbane. Yep.

00:38:31Melissa Erbacher: Not that we told anyone we were coming, so it's not like they were preparing for you specifically, Scotty.

00:38:37Scott Trickett: No, no, not the general parkrun audience. I'm directing this really at you, Mel. Oh, okay. If the general parkrun audience wants to play along. Watermelon. Watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, all those summer fruits. Okay. Rockmelon? Rockmelon. That's cantaloupe. Is that cantaloupe? Yep.

00:38:56Melissa Erbacher: Is that really? I think so. Why do you call it cantaloupe?

00:39:01Scott Trickett: Rockmelon, you're referring to the orange fruit.

00:39:06Melissa Erbacher: Well, the flesh is orange. It's like honeydew.

00:39:08Scott Trickett: Yeah. We call them cantaloupes.

00:39:11Melissa Erbacher: Is that a Victorian thing or is it just a Scotty Trickett thing?

00:39:15Scott Trickett: I hope so. No, I'm pretty sure it's a cantaloupe. I'm going to Google it while you tell the rest of your story about your birthday parkrun.

00:39:22Melissa Erbacher: Well, that was pretty much the rest of my story. Just, you know, I took some stuff to share. My co-ED called me when I was on my way home to berate me for not letting him know that it was my birthday and he just realised on Facebook after the event. So, yeah, but it was nice to just go and have a warm, sunny summer's morning with all my parkrun friends and share some watermelon.

00:39:50Scott Trickett: Awesome. And just to confirm, the cantaloupe is the world's healthiest fruit, and it is what I'm talking about.

00:39:55Melissa Erbacher: It's the world's healthiest fruit.

00:39:57Scott Trickett: Good source of vitamin A.

00:40:00Melissa Erbacher: But the healthiest? Like, on what scale?

00:40:03Scott Trickett: That was the third result that popped up on Google.

00:40:06Melissa Erbacher: Okay. I might have to look into that more later. I do love rock melon. A little bit more expensive if you want to give it to people en masse than watermelon is, but... Yummy, all the same. Where were you on the 5th of January, Scotty, if you can hark back and remember?

00:40:22Scott Trickett: Look, I can. That was the weekend where I said I was going to go to Mansfield parkrun, so they were launching. But I didn't realise how far away Mansfield actually was when I made that public statement. Because when I looked it up the day before, it was like going to be over an hour to drive there through I think what looked like windy sorts of roads. And I just said, no, we're not going to do that. So sorry. Sorry to all the people that were expecting us at the Mansfield launch, which was none. But instead, we went down and got a new event in the Melbourne suburb. I think it was my NENDY at the time called Marriott Waters. And again, I went through a streak of catching up with our event ambassadors and got to run the course with Roger, who has just stepped down as an event ambassador to concentrate on his other life outside of parkrun. Not sure what that is. Something to do with netball or something. But he was listening back to us. So he was going to try and catch up to all our episodes, but working in reverse.

00:41:24Melissa Erbacher: Oh, really?

00:41:25Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:41:26Melissa Erbacher: He was doing a Benjamin Button on us.

00:41:28Scott Trickett: Yeah. Oh, God. He was fully across all the parkrun adventure episodes. So it was a great morning to catch up with Roger. Marriott Waters is in a new estate. So there's houses being built up around it. So at the moment, I think they probably average around 70 to 100 parkrunners every week. But in a few years' time, once all these houses are built, that number's going to grow to double, triple, and it's going to be I mean, it already is a nice, friendly, good event, but it's going to be a very popular one, I imagine. Awesome. So it's a nice and flat two-lap course.

00:42:03Melissa Erbacher: It's called Marriott Waters. Do you run around or beside or near any water?

00:42:07Scott Trickett: No. That's just the name of the estate. Not that I was aware of. Yeah, that's just the name. I'm sure there's waters within somewhere around there, but we don't run around them as such. Okay. Kasia had a fall. She tripped over.

00:42:21Melissa Erbacher: She's taking after you, Scotty. What's going on here?

00:42:24Scott Trickett: Well, the thing is, I was running, and Ivona and Kasia were walking. So I'm not even sure how it happened. But I went back to collect them, and Kasia's pants are ripped. So that's the biggest tragedy. She wasn't really hurt, but her favourite running pants were ripped. Aw. And there was much. Hullabaloo. Yeah. Wasn't happy. And the thing is, here's the attachment. They were just Kmart pants. I don't think they were anything fancy. So we said, don't worry. We know you love them. We'll just go and get you a new pair. But it wasn't about the new pair, Mel. It was about this pair. And you can't just replace it with something new that looks like it and feels like it. It has to be these pants that she has a history with. Apparently. Oh, okay. So are these like PB pants or something? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But she was upset that the pants couldn't be worn anymore because they were ripped.

00:43:19Melissa Erbacher: You know what? I can understand that because I have a history with certain things that can't be replaced. And then when they get damaged or destroyed, it's very upsetting. Yeah.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:43:33Melissa Erbacher: No new launches coming up this week in Australia, Scotty. However, we've got a handful of anniversaries to celebrate across the country. A couple of Territorian events and some New South Walians and then, you know, a couple from the states that you like to call the greatest.

00:43:55Scott Trickett: Yes. So let's head there. Let's lead off with Newborough celebrating their anniversary as well as Nightcliff, in the Northern Territory, an event you've been to.

00:44:06Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Have you not been there too? No, you weren't there that weekend. Then we've got Panania in New South Wales, an old podcast favourite, Studley in Victoria.

00:44:18Scott Trickett: And Tuggeranong in the ACT. So it is the weekend of celebrating Studley this week. It is. So you'll know where I'll be on Saturday.

00:44:29Melissa Erbacher: Ah. See, this is the thing. Because you have changed the rules on the most events list situation, you were quite close to me. However, we both got a new event last weekend, but it sounds like you're going to go back and work on a P-index type of event this weekend, and I'm going to bag another one. Another newbie. So you're going to have to up your game, Scotty Trickett, because you can't just change the rules to make up lost ground every now and again. There are no more rules to change to help you.

00:45:02Scott Trickett: The competition doesn't end next week. It doesn't. You've got to give me a bit more chance. But I'm not going to miss an opportunity to go back to Studley and celebrate three years.

00:45:15Melissa Erbacher: You say it like you're asking me the question. Are you sure this isn't the fourth year?

00:45:19Scott Trickett: No, no, it's three years. Yeah, because I know we've done. We did Under the Sea theme one year and… Ah, yeah, you can't count.

00:45:30Melissa Erbacher: It's like zero the first year because we're in our fourth year of podcasting and Studley, I kind of consider it to be a sibling of the podcast because it happened in the very early days of our podcast journey.

00:45:44Scott Trickett: Yep. So, and I'm not going to get my P-index, Mel. Thanks for your concern there. Because I've done Studley heaps of times.

00:45:53Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's okay. That doesn't mean that's not contributing. Like 20, 30 times. Oh, really? Okay, that is a lot.

00:45:59Scott Trickett: Yeah, not going to happen. Not going to happen.

00:46:01Melissa Erbacher: Well, you never know. If you're going to run, you might just get yourself a stopwatch bingo.

00:46:06Scott Trickett: Where are you heading this week?

00:46:07Melissa Erbacher: This week, I'm going to be in Brisbane at Stone's Corner parkrun. All going well. There's a bit of an ambassador catch-up going on, so I'm going to go and catch up with said ambassadors in southeast Queensland. Looking forward to it.

00:46:23Scott Trickett: Now, Mel Kirsten, I think she almost inspired you to do a marathon, and I'm also not paying fully aware of where we're up to with who knows and who doesn't. But you also dropped the bombshell that you're six months pregnant in the intro.

00:46:39Melissa Erbacher: Is it a bombshell, Scotty?

00:46:40Scott Trickett: I don't know. I think it would be to some. I don't know. Have we announced it on the podcast?

00:46:46Melissa Erbacher: Well, no. I'm not an announcer person. I don't even tell people I'm going to parkrun. So, no. Now you've just drawn attention to it. It's awkward.

00:46:56Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:46:57Scott Trickett: Well, let's focus on the fact that you're going to be inspired to run a marathon.

00:47:00Melissa Erbacher: Yes, of course.

00:47:01Scott Trickett: And it was reminded to me this week that I said in previous episodes of the podcast that I was also going to run a marathon, like a three-hour 30 marathon, that I have since changed that to say that I will never run a marathon again. Where are you sitting? Are you changing your mind? Where are you sitting right now?

00:47:17Melissa Erbacher: Are you going to come to New York with me?

00:47:20Scott Trickett: Well, so this is it. So let's put it on record for reference. Yeah, definitively, like, line in the sand sort of stuff, are you going to run another marathon?

00:47:31Melissa Erbacher: Oh, definitely, yeah. Médoc is on my radar.

00:47:34Scott Trickett: Okay, 100%.

00:47:35Melissa Erbacher: 100% that's happening. Not this year.

00:47:39Scott Trickett: And New York?

00:47:39Melissa Erbacher: But 100% that's happening. New York, well, see, the way Kirsten spoke about it, there was so much joy and admiration for this event. And I'm not a huge big city person, but Yeah, she definitely sells it. She definitely sells it. You know what? If you agree to come with, I would say let's make that a yes.

00:48:06Scott Trickett: Okay. I'll go along with that because if I was ever to run another marathon, I think it would only ever be in New York because I'm with you. Kirsten had good things to say about it. But a mate I'm going to catch up with this week at Studley, Adam, he ran it last year and he was a big fan and his stories have inspired me. So maybe.

00:48:32Melissa Erbacher: Okay, say.

00:48:32Scott Trickett: Maybe if we ever get back to New York and if we can get an entry that both of us do on the same year.

00:48:38Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, if all the stars align, let's make it really difficult but at the same time commit.

00:48:45Scott Trickett: Exactly. There we go. So is everyone clear on that?

00:48:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, by everyone, do you mean you and me? Because there's just the two of us here right now and all our listeners who can't pipe up.

00:48:58Scott Trickett: Yeah. So there we go. New York Marathon, here we come.

00:49:03Melissa Erbacher: Talk about setting goals.

Sign-off

00:49:06Scott Trickett: Mel, thanks for this week. Great to chat to you a couple of days after I've chatted to you in person. Great to see your name and waveform appear in front of me. On the computer screen.

00:49:18Melissa Erbacher: It was my pleasure, Scotty. Let's do it again next week. Yeah.

00:49:22Scott Trickett: Let's do it. 147.

00:49:24Melissa Erbacher: Or 113. You never know.

00:49:29Scott Trickett: That would be nice. That would be nice.