Episode 172 - Rohan Day

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:00:22Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's Toc reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today I'm at the launch of episode 172 of the parkrun adventurers. Hey, hang on, Mel. What do you mean I'm at the launch? How are you, Mel?

00:00:36Melissa Erbacher: I'm great, thanks, Toc. How are you this week?

00:00:40Tony O'Connell: Oh, look, I'm super stoked to have a chance to have a chat to you of an evening. It's really great.

00:00:47Melissa Erbacher: You're not roving this week, Toc. You're on site. You're on the couch.

00:00:52Tony O'Connell: It's a stationary report.

00:00:53Melissa Erbacher: As a co-host of the parkrun adventurers podcast. Wowzers. Did you ever think back in 2015 when you submitted your first roving report that this is where you would end up?

00:01:07Tony O'Connell: Oh, look, Mel, the fame, the fortune. I can't wait for the royalty checks to flood in.

00:01:13Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, you might be waiting a little while.

00:01:16Tony O'Connell: I'm not going to have more money than five sauce for doing this.

00:01:21Melissa Erbacher: Oh. Well, look, Scotty claimed to have left because of other reasons, but basically it was all about the money. He wanted a pay rise and he became a bit of a diva about it, really. We just couldn't afford to keep him.

00:01:36Tony O'Connell: I spoke to Scotty last week. He retired. He's living on an island in the Caribbean.

00:01:42Melissa Erbacher: What?

00:01:42Tony O'Connell: He should make the money out of it.

00:01:44Melissa Erbacher: Are you trying to tell me that I'm the one who's been gypped all this time?

00:01:48Tony O'Connell: Free podcast? No, no, no. Anyway.

00:01:54Melissa Erbacher: Thank you so much.

00:01:54[21 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:02:16Melissa Erbacher: The parkrun adventurers podcast was not even a month old when we first heard from you in Episode 4. Very excited to have you here this week. And let's kick it off, shall we? Where were you parkrunning last week, Toc?

00:02:30Tony O'Connell: Well, I went to the Always Sunny Inverloch. You may have heard me say that before, that it's always sunny, but... You've just got to look at the photos from this week. We had a fantastic day, Mel. We had a junior takeover. The kids did all the roles, and it just goes to show you how easy it is, and particularly with our new app that, you know, we had young kids do it, and they just pulled it off so well. It was bring a friend day, so we had a whole heap of new parkrunners come in. Some of them were brand new to parkrun. I was talking to one lady, Jenny, who hasn't been to parkrun for probably three years. She was one of our real regulars for the first couple. And so she came back to parkrun. I ran into her today and she can't wait to get back next week. So it was just a great day. And following on from your comments from last week, no one got hurt. No one fell over. I didn't trip anyone over this week.

00:03:23Melissa Erbacher: Well, maybe that's because you weren't adventuring. Maybe at home there is no curse. Maybe it's just a Toc-on-tour curse that goes with you wherever you go. But I am glad to hear that there was no claret involved this week at Inverloch. Funny you say that it's always sunny, though, because I couldn't help myself but mimic those exact words when I bumped into one of your locals at my local on the weekend. A gentleman named Nathan Castle from Inverloch was up running at Kawana and came and introduced himself to me after the event, which was really lovely. And I said, oh. You're from Inverloch where it's always sunny. You must know Toc then. Isn't it funny? It's like, you know, when you're travelling overseas and you bump into someone and, you know, they find out you're Australian. They go, oh, yeah, I've got a friend who lives in Sydney. Do you know him? His name is blah, blah. And it's just like… Yeah, Australia is quite a little bit bigger than just one capital city and the odds of me knowing this one person that you know, not very small. But yeah, it's not the same in parkrun world because if you find out that somebody is from somewhere, then immediately my response is, oh, you must know so-and-so who's usually the Event Director or another adventurer from around about the place. But do you know Nathan Castle, Toc?

00:04:53Tony O'Connell: And as luck would have it, Nathan's one of our really regular runners. Nathan's also a really big tourist. I know he's well over 100 different events. He's a statesman in Victoria. And there's a fair chance that Kawana was probably almost his NENDY. He's got that many events done around us. But he's also done quite a few events overseas. In the early days of Inverloch, Nathan was one of our regulars that got there and cleaned our course up. Being right beachside, we have a lot of sand blow over our footpath and Nathan was always there every week cleaning up. So, you know, Nathan's one of the really good blokes. So how was your parkrun day, Mel? You were up at Kawana.

00:05:33Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I was teaching a new Run Director the ropes on the weekend, which was fun. I had a great morning having a chat to all the adventurers from other places. We had people from Tasmania, New Zealand, Victoria, New South Wales, visitors from the ponds as well. It was great to see everyone. And this is the beauty, you know, even when you're not off having adventures to new events yourself, being able to chat to the people who've come from other places and still hear their stories. We had a lovely young lady named Ruth who was up and she was on the Sunshine Coast for a clogging convention. Now, I didn't even know they had clogging conventions. And I had all these pictures of these beautiful, you know, hand carved wooden clogs and people dancing in them but she actually showed us some footage and they're more like tap shoes clogs did you know this, Toc uh no no not a big big footwear choice of mine no you don't have a whole bunch of clogs in your cupboard someplace no no we we do have relatives on jackie's side that are from Holland but no no we haven't got a closet full of clogs no no I was as surprised as the next person to find out that the annual clogging convention was on the Sunshine Coast and some 300 cloggers were up here. So having a great time, although Ruth was missing the early clogging sessions for the days to make it to her parkrun fix for the weekend. I'm glad she has her priorities straight. You've got to get a new event in while you're travelling.

00:07:07Tony O'Connell: Now, if you've got to go to a clogging festival, I guess the Sunshine Coast is as good as anywhere to head for one. Exactly. Plenty of options up there.

00:07:14Melissa Erbacher: I can only imagine what it sounds like to hear 300 people clogging all at once. It must sound like thunder or something.

00:07:22Tony O'Connell: Hail on the roof.

00:07:23Melissa Erbacher: The random things that you learn at parkrun.

00:07:28Tony O'Connell: It is always funny. We had a visitor from Wagga at Inverloch this week and But we heard about her mum and how her mum started running at parkrun And it's just got faster and faster and now she outshines the daughter, leaves her for dead, and she's started to run a lot longer runs. And, in fact, she ran last weekend at the Wonderland run that we'll talk about a bit later. So it's just a really funny little synergy where someone from New South Wales has come down into Inverloch to run their I to get it for the alphabet and is talking about their mum who ran on the opposite side of Victoria the weekend before at an event that I was at.

00:08:09Melissa Erbacher: It's such a small parkrun world. How's that going to Wonderland? Although you did it as a volunteer, didn't you, Toc, this year?

00:08:15Tony O'Connell: Well, we did. We went up there for four days. We volunteered for the first two days and then Jacqui volunteered on the third day as well. On the third day, I volunteered for the first half of a race. I did the... the parkrun Tail Walker version, and then handed over to somebody else midway through the race and ran the second half. Being the Tail Walker for the first bit, we came in just in behind Cut-Off for the event, but they let us run on on the condition that we caught up and got in front of Cut-Off. And so myself and Alicia, who's another parkrunner from Inverloch, we had to put the hammer down and really fly for the second half of the course. And it was really interesting. We were going up over one of the mountains in the course and we got snowed on. It was a sunny day and we got snowed on. So we're trying to go fast and it was cold and it was hot. And we just had a fantastic, awesome day out there. And we got there just before cut off at the end of the course. So we made it in in time to qualify to finish. That sounds very cool. It was the funnest way of doing an event. We had an absolute ball. We didn't have the pressure of running hard to try and beat a time or anything. We just hung around at the back and we stopped at aid stations and we had doughnuts. We had so many doughnuts on the course.

00:09:37Melissa Erbacher: Carb loading.

00:09:38Tony O'Connell: Yeah, yeah. Let's call it that. I think we were just pigging out. we had a great time. We, we stopped and took so many selfies with the people at the end and just had a great day out.

00:09:50Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Now, this is something that I want to ask you about because I've really struggled with motivation and we'll talk about it a little bit later when we get to Streaky September. Um, But just getting out there and moving, and I know you do a ridiculous amount of kilometres on a weekly basis. You've completed run down under. You're on your next sort of leg of run down under, as it were. You're on your second lap of the country. Do you know, just off the top of your head, how many kilometres you've done in the last year?

00:10:23Tony O'Connell: For the last year, for Streaky, for the 365, I've done about 4,500 kilometres.

00:10:30Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so from literally the 1st of September last year until now, you've done over 4,000 kilometres on your legs, not in a plane or in a car, on your legs.

00:10:40Tony O'Connell: Yeah, it feels like a long way when you put it like that, but it was lots of little parts.

00:10:45Melissa Erbacher: How many pairs of shoes is that?

00:10:47Tony O'Connell: About six.

00:10:48Melissa Erbacher: So how – I want to know where you get your mojo from. Is it bottled? Can you share it?

00:10:54Tony O'Connell: A couple of the secrets to it, Mel. I'd break it down into little bits, but to find, like, really good – friends to run with if you can so I've got a really great group of friends that I run with quite regularly and to run in places that are interesting nothing makes a run so to go a lot better if you're looking around yeah I love trail running so if I'm out in the bush and things are out there and I'm running with friends and talking and suddenly you've got a fairly big distance up and you haven't even really thought about running you It's not like it's a chore. It's something that it's a great way to spend a day. So, yeah, I just love getting out into the trails and I find that makes it a lot easier. But having that really good group of friends to run with really makes it easy. If you can get some people and it keeps you accountable because, you know, you're organised to meet at 6 o'clock in the morning or 8 o'clock at night or whenever to go for a run and there's no getting to 10 to 8 and saying, oh, I can't be bothered, I'm going to watch, watch The Bachelor, get out and do it. And look, even going out with a partner and having a walk and just getting out for a walk and that, once it becomes a habit, it becomes a lot easier. And that's been one of the great things about our last year with Streaky September that carried on.

00:12:17Melissa Erbacher: These are good tips. Thanks for that, Toc.

00:12:19[17 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Interview Rohan Day — Run Director, Big Long Run (Wonderland Run, Two Bays Trail Run)

00:12:36Tony O'Connell: Okay, with us tonight, we've got Rohan Day. Rohan is the Run Director at a company called Big Long Run. Rohan organises a couple of great, fantastic runs that a number of us attend. Probably the two main ones are the Wonderland Run in the Grampians last weekend that I want to talk a bit more about and Two Bays Trail Run on the Mornington Peninsula in January. Welcome along, Rohan. Thanks, Tony. Rohan, one of the big things that I love about the runs that you organise, the volunteer culture that you've got, we seem to have the same volunteers turn up every year. In fact, your volunteer spots fill up months in advance. What's the secret to getting your volunteers to come back?

00:13:21Rohan Day: I don't know. I should be asking you and Jackie about that because you're some of the regulars and we really appreciate it. I suppose perhaps one little theory, and that is that you kind of basically let the volunteers go for it a bit and try not to cramp their style and not be... too particular about how you think something should be done, you obviously want to give them the parameters. But if they want to take it in directions, you just kind of sometimes shake your head and kind of go, yeah, well, let's do that.

00:13:53Melissa Erbacher: As well as volunteers, Rohan, I know the Wonderland event has got a big culture and a reputation for being a lot of fun. How do you bring the fun to something like that?

00:14:07Rohan Day: Well, I think, firstly, that you've got to enjoy the running or the event yourself and you've got to kind of believe in the concept that you've put forward. And so that's partially why we've only got a couple of runs in that I don't feel like I could just churn out another event and another event, that I have to sort of be really believing that, oh, yeah, this is a great place to run, these are good courses to run, that kind of thing.

00:14:36Melissa Erbacher: can you give us a bit of a rundown of the different distances and things that people can participate in at Wonderland?

00:14:42Rohan Day: Oh yeah okay so we originally started with a 20 and 36 kilometre event out in the Grampians based on them being large logical loops in the area and then we sort of figured, oh, you've got people out there for the weekend, something else for the partners who don't run, say, as much as their more addicted spouse. And so we had the eight kilometre and then you kind of go, oh, hang on, we've got, we've got families coming out here and there's all these kids around and so that's why the two kilometre run and we always had this notion of trying to get the run longer and eventually taking advantage of more parts of the Grampians Peaks Trail as it as it slowly becomes linked up and hence the 63.5 kilometre distance unfortunately we didn't quite get everything we wanted there and And there was a beautiful section of trail that we couldn't use that was running parallel to a dirt road that we were running on. But it was said that it was not finished, despite the fact that being better than 99.9% of the other trails out there. But hopefully we get to use that one next year.

00:15:58Tony O'Connell: Rohan, I think one of the big attractions of the Grampians, you've got amazing scenery, you've got walks that, The people don't just turn up on the day for the run. Obviously, it's a long drive anyway, but people come up and camp for four or five days. They get out and do the walks and experience the natural beauty that the place has. And it's one of the most stunning places to run that I've been. But you really seem to make it a great family weekend. And Probably just if you can give us a bit of an idea of what you run, especially during the Saturday for the kids with that obstacle course. And then, yeah, I'd really love you to talk about what happens on Sunday night because Sunday night seems to bring a lot of the weekend together.

00:16:45Rohan Day: Now, we can't take credit for all of these things because some of it is just sort of creating the event and then other people go and, sort of add things to it and they say to us oh can we do this and you kind of go yeah yeah yeah again you sort of um try to be welcoming and then so we're getting credit for things like that's muddy hell who organise um obstacle races who are doing that kids adventure course which is basically a large inflatable bit of a run around the park and come up and over things. And that's just because they said, oh, can we promote our event and we'll put this in? And you kind of go, yeah, please go for it. Ditto for like the Run Nation film thing that was on the Saturday night. So that was Will Hudson from the local Live Fast Cafe in conjunction with Cassie and Jono, who are both locals, and it was to raise funds for a Nepalese charity that they're involved in, and they said, You know, you've got the hall booking. Can we go use it? And you kind of go, yeah, yeah, you go for that. And then the karaoke thing on the Sunday night, that's Matty Bell, who is sort of like event. We've never really decided on his title, event manager, Event Director. Anyway, he's an event shaping force and that's his little deal on the Sunday night where it's karaoke, go to the local Indian, sing some songs badly and hang out with other runners. And again, it's just sort of you're creating this space where people can do this thing, latch it onto the event. You don't get all precious about, oh, hang on, this is our event weekend because you just kind of go, oh, please, you know, just go for it. Give the folks some other stuff to do. This is great.

00:18:34Melissa Erbacher: It sounds like a wonderful collaborative environment. Lots of fun things happening. What made you want to become a Run Director and organise these sorts of events in the first place, Rohan?

00:18:47Rohan Day: I didn't want to particularly, but then this is the story that goes back about 10 years ago, and that was Two Bays Trail Run used to be a fat ass event. And I used to be one as in no rules, no anything, no insurance, just people come along and go in this proposed run. And it was organised by a guy who in those days went by the name of Virtual. And this is back in the days when the cool running forums were big before Facebook became a big thing. And he used to loosely organise this fat ass event down on the Mornington Peninsula, one side of the other, Dromana to Cape Schanck and back again. And then he went off to China and it looked like it had fallen a heap, but because I'd run in a couple of times, I sort of put forward, you know, a date and did a one-page website and 86 people turned up. But unfortunately, a couple of trucks from Parks Vic turned up too and said, you're organising an event without a permit. And... Anyway, I wound up being fined and the runners put around the hat and I think there was about $500 worth of fines and I think there was about $550 in the hat. So that was the first event I made a profit on. Anyway, so then Parks Vic said to me, you know, we would actually approve of this. And they were sort of, they were a bit apologetic in saying, you know, we would give a permit for this kind of thing. You don't really need to speak to us and the council. I was going, is it really that simple? And they organised an event, sorry, a meeting and I turned up. And the council said, yeah, yeah, we could kind of look at this, you know, put your plans together a bit. And it's a likely yes. And I thought, oh, this is good. You only have to speak to two organisations. And then it came out that you had to speak to, of course, the police and VicRoads and the Dromana Foreshore Committee, sometimes Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Rosebud Hospital. CFA, and it just kept on going on and on. But because I was invested by that point in the amount of time I'd started to stick in, you kind of go, oh, it's just another hurdle, and another hurdle, and another hurdle, and another hurdle. And if I'd known that sometimes we have to deal with 13 different government bureaucracies to get two bays from one side of the Mornington Peninsula to the other, then I would not have gone ahead. But I just, it accidentally came to pass. And then once you've gotten through the first one and lost money naturally on the first one, like everyone does, but you kind of committed and you see the thing has potential and I suppose it was an event that I loved and I believed in before I, you know, even accidentally committed. So that was kind of how it happened. I accidentally fell into it.

00:21:47Tony O'Connell: That, Rohan, has sort of become now, you know, probably bigger than Ben Hur with the Two Bays Trail Run where you have You have two events down there, the 28K and the 56. What sort of numbers do you get now in those couple of races down at Two Bays?

00:22:05Rohan Day: So last year we had a permit for 1,300. And we had 1,390 people finish. And Parks Vic didn't complain about that. They just bill you for the extra people. So I've put in an application this time for 1,400 people. At some stage, it's going to be limited as to how many people you can really squeeze down that track, and I mean we're probably pushing it close to the limits now because you've got the the two-way nature of the thing where you've got the 56k is sort of heading into the 28ks and that is one of our because the thing sells out um and but that's one of our limitations um And so it also limits that whole qualification thing as well because people said, oh, why don't you let slower people run? You know, you've got the course open and you kind of go, yeah, but you've got the 56Ks coming the other way. So you've got to clear some of those narrow sections of trail. And so you just can't have the sort of more walker end of it out there, unfortunately. or you'd have to do it on a different day or something. It's just not viable the way it currently is. So there's some of our parameters, but at least it shows it's got the healthy demand for it, the Two Bays trail it'd be fair to say that there's a little bit of a bump in the middle of that can you give us a bit of a description of the the course on those on the two tracks that you run the 28 and the 56 so taking it from the 28k as perspective because that's the distance that gets almost 80 percent of the the runners in it and you you pretty much start out with a flat-ish first 800 metres a kilometre and then just kicks up rather savagely to this thing called Arthurs Seat. And you're basically running up Arthurs Seat and so you hit your highest point about 3.25 kilometres in. So it's basically... two and a quarter kilometres of fairly steep stuff really early into the race. And you've really got to warn new people to it that don't fry yourself on the first few kilometres because there's a fair bit of distance after that. There is actually another dip that most people forget about and that's in the Gardens Road Reserve, which is a down then up. But because it sort of pales into insignificance next to Arthurs Seat, Most people don't notice that. And then after that, it's pretty much an undulating burn through the bush. You can do it fairly quickly until you hit maybe a couple of slight sandy sections towards the end. But basically, it's a very runnable course. And some people will say, oh that first little bit isn't and I'd say for the back half of the field no it's not but um definitely the the front third uh you know should be running you know at least 90 something percent of that course you obviously don't have any fear of putting some challenges out there for your participants Rowan do you ever participate yourself in your events No. I've run every single piece of the courses. I felt a bit guilty with the 63.5 at Wonderland because I had not run that in one hit. I've only run that in two halves. And previously I'd always run the things as a continuous run myself to check them out as to how they would be experienced by the runners. These days it's just not possible to organise an event and run in it because there's too many things you're trying to keep track of over the day and you're just not available if you're running in it.

00:26:12Tony O'Connell: Rohan, one of the features I find about a couple of the runs and, you know, people in parkrun know I love a bit of a dress up, being seen out in a tutu once or twice. The costumes at both events, the Wonderland run in particular with the Alice in Wonderland theme, How did that thing come about? I can't imagine that was probably there at the start, but it's really developed to the point now where a lot of people ride into the costume.

00:26:44Rohan Day: You know, I fought against that whole Alice in Wonderland thing a bit at the start, or not very actively out loud, but I just kind of wrestled with it because what had happened was The run was named after the Wonderland Range, which is kind of like a section of the hills right near Halls Gap. But a lot of people were new to the Grampians and thought of Wonderland and Alice in Wonderland and were just going, oh, I'm going to dress as Alice or the Cheshire Cat or whatever. You're kind of going, oh, it's not really about that. And they're going, oh, but I want to be this and that. And you kind of go, this is one of those cases where you're if people have the enthusiasm about something, then don't dampen it, just roll with it. And so in the end, yes, I had a costume as Mad Hatter and, yeah, Because you just kind of feel like it's not all about your vision. It becomes a shared vision and it sort of morphs depending on who's turning up and their different enthusiasms and the way they view it. And so it's kind of that collaboration and you can't just kind of go, oh, I'm the head honcho. It's my vision that counts. It's everyone's vision that counts.

00:28:01Melissa Erbacher: That's a lovely way to look at it, a real community sort of aspect. And obviously we're big on community at parkrun and we're big on adventures at the parkrun adventurers. Rohan, you are a parkrunner yourself and I understand you've done a few different events. Can you give us a little bit of a background on how you first heard about and got into parkrunning?

00:28:23Rohan Day: I don't 100% recollect. I think I probably first heard about it on the old Cool Running forums and then I didn't do anything about it until I think I'd actually registered for Albert Park parkrun and then hadn't been there. Um, first turned up, I think to Chelsea Bicentennial parkrun because it was more in the neighbourhood we were living in. And my sister was on the council at the time and had sort of heard about it. And, um, and tried to be part of the approvals process and that kind of thing and fell into it that way. And also some of my relatives turn up to Chelsea bicentennial parkrun sporadically. So therefore that became the sort of home base one for me.

00:29:12Tony O'Connell: Cool. And, um, I think some of the rest of the family participate, Rohan, as well. Like I know I've seen your wife, Kim, and the kids down at Inverloch. I think you've done Inverloch a few times now, which almost makes you a local down there. Did the family enjoy their parkrun along with you?

00:29:31Rohan Day: They do. Kim in particular, Kim's done about the same. This is my wife, Kim. She's done about the same amount of parkruns as me. And the kids do not to the same extent, but, you know, they're definitely into it. And if we're going interstate or to a country location, they will tend to do it just because it's a pleasant activity to do on the Saturday morning.

00:29:56Melissa Erbacher: Can you give us a top three of events that you've done, not including your home parkrun?

00:30:02Rohan Day: Well, I've got to say Inverloch, don't I, because that's mandatory to say so.

00:30:07Melissa Erbacher: Toc might agree with you there.

00:30:09Rohan Day: So I have noted that Tony's only there half the time because he and Jacqui are too much into gallivanting around the country. Karkarook. I suppose I have some favourite memories of because it was a really fast course. And I've got my parkrun PB there. So that one I kind of like. I think sometimes just because you've been on holidays at places like Phillip Island's parkrun, Certainly not a fast course, but, you know, like almost a trail running course, you know, picturesque and interesting. And they had lots of Easter eggs the day we were there.

00:30:51Melissa Erbacher: Chocolate is always a winner.

00:30:53Rohan Day: Oh, it is. But that day I was going for the win, so I couldn't stop for any of it. And there were some magnificent specimens out there.

00:30:59Tony O'Connell: And I see you've got a fairly quick PB there, Rohan, of about 17.22 at Karkarook, which is fairly well moving around.

00:31:08Rohan Day: Yeah, but that feels like a million years ago, even though it's probably only a couple of years ago. I don't know what happened that day, but, gee, it went well.

00:31:16Tony O'Connell: Well, mate, well, I think we've probably taken up enough of your time tonight. Thanks a lot for coming on board tonight. It's been a pleasure and it's great to catch up.

00:31:25Rohan Day: Well, thank you, Tony. Thanks, Mel.

00:31:26[16 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Point Cook parkrun

00:31:42Melissa Ellis: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Melissa here and I'm back at Point Cook parkrun this morning. I've got with me brand new PD Nikki. Good morning Nikki. Hi. Congratulations on taking over a PD role at Point Cook. Thanks and thanks for coming to Point Cook. It's nice to have you here on such a beautiful morning. Oh you're welcome. So I can't give up a theme, I do like a dress up.

00:32:04Nikki: And would you like to tell everybody what your theme was today? Our theme was Where's Wally? And we We'll put some photos up on the Facebook page, but you can see we had a massive turnout. We've actually broken a record here for attendance, and everyone's in red and white, and we've had lots of new people turn up, and it's been fantastic. We had Bring a Friend today to support Medibank, and that's worked really well as well. So what's your attendance record? How many did you get? I think we got 175. Okay. So, yeah.

00:32:32Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Yeah, it's been amazing. All right. And what's your story with parkrun? How long have you been involved here at Point?

00:32:39Nikki: Well, this is actually going full circle. My husband, Craig Curtis, actually set up Point Cook parkrun six years ago. Wow. And so I've been involved and our family's been involved the whole time. And yeah, so now it's my turn to sort of come back.

00:32:58Melissa Ellis: All right. And being that we're a touristing type of a podcast, have you done much touristing yourself?

00:33:03Nikki: Oh, yes, I have. We've even done some internationals. We've been to Bushy Park. We've done Crissy Field. Loved Crissy Fields. Lower Hutt in New Zealand and lots around Victoria. Portland is probably my second home if you have a look at how many attendances we've done. But there's some just beautiful parkruns. Just get out there and have a look at them. Timboon is stunning. Yeah.

00:33:30Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's good. You have a big involvement. So you've been involved with Point Cook right from the start. From the start, yep. And you've seen it grown and change much? It has probably.

00:33:40Nikki: The faces are still some of the same. Some are new. But I think the environment is the same. It's still really... it's a fun group um people still go down to the coffee shop at the end um and that group seems to get bigger and bigger we seem to need more tables each each week which is which is amazing and some people sort of move out of the area and still come back but um some you know you sort of visit them over at gardener's creek we've got um very close friends who live in gardener's creek so it's a great opportunity to go um across and do some tourism as well there it's funny you kind of get your little favourite parkruns, your home parkruns. Your home parkrun's always your favourite, and that's where your heart is, but they've all got their own little thing about them. They're all amazing, and some of the paths and the tracks are stunning as well, and it's great to get out and have a look at them.

00:34:32Melissa Ellis: I've got to admit, I'm pretty new to the western suburbs, but since I've moved over here, I'm gravitating over to Point Cook.

00:34:39Nikki: It's lovely to have everyone new.

00:34:41Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:34:42Melissa Ellis: All right. Well, thank you very much for talking to us today, Nikki. Thanks for the opportunity. And all the best with your new role.

00:34:46Nikki: Thank you. Hope to see you again.

00:34:48Melissa Ellis: Oh, you will. Thanks. Thanks.

Roving report Greta — Mount Barker

00:34:50Greta: Hi, parkrun adventurers. It's Greta here, and I'm at home today at Mount Barker. I know you guys know a lot about Mount Barker, but we've had a really, really special day here with a really, really special celebration. And I'm here with Fernando, and he's going to tell me all about it. How are you going, Fernando?

00:35:05Fernando: I'm well, Greta. Hello, everyone.

00:35:07Greta: Hello. So, it was a really special day for Mount Barker parkrun, but especially for your family. Now, you have five kids, that's right, isn't it? That's true, yes. Five daughters. Yes, and they're all gorgeous, beautiful girls. Thank you, thank you. But two of them in particular had a really, really special celebration today. What did they do?

00:35:28Fernando: So, our youngest two, who are twins, Harriet and Phoebe, they achieved their 100th parkrun. Right. And I think we believe they're the youngest twins to reach 100 parkruns in the world. In the world.

00:35:44Greta: In the world. And how old are they?

00:35:46Fernando: So I'll be lying if I say I haven't been doing the maths for two years. They're five years and 11 months. And about four or five days because their birthday is coming up.

00:36:01Greta: So they would have started parkrunning pretty much on the first day they could have started parkrunning when they turned four. That's right.

00:36:07Fernando: And I was a bit sad because the parkrun where they turned four was about five days after they turned four because they turned four on a Monday. So we had to wait.

00:36:18Greta: Oh, no. Yeah, we missed it. You couldn't run on their birthdays.

00:36:20Fernando: No, so they were four and, like, five days old. Like, oh, five days gone. That's five days wasted.

00:36:26Greta: That's right. Well, we could have been parkrunners. That's right. And they are also wonderful volunteers, so often you guys tail walk together.

00:36:34Fernando: That's right. I think they've done about two or three tail walks in the last couple of years, which is really great, and they enjoy it. They like going a bit slower sometimes. But they do enjoy, I think, from memory, they've done about... Ten runs where they've run really, really fast the whole way and they've managed a PB of 32 minutes.

00:36:58Greta: That's fabulous. Just such little legs. Isn't it wonderful?

00:37:02Fernando: It's amazing.

00:37:03Greta: And there's cake today.

00:37:04Fernando: We have cake. There is cake. I can't believe it. We actually didn't make a single cake, but we've got lots of cake because the number 100 out of cakes that was Ruth amazing and then we've had all these cupcakes made and that is probably the number one reason we go to parkrun even above fitness

00:37:33Greta: Barker, do you?

00:37:34Fernando: No, we come all the way from Stirling so the community is fantastic and then the fitness is a bonus and the family time is amazing as well because it's probably one of the very few things we do regularly that all seven of us are together. It's really nice.

00:37:50Greta: For me, watching your family enjoy it together and sometimes run together and sometimes walk together but always out there having a good time it just it warms my heart so thank you for being such a fabulous parkrun family running walking doing it together volunteering having a good time and congratulations thank you very much milestone hopefully we'll see you for many many more yeah we will definitely be around and um thank you thanks fernando

Roving report David Moss — Løvstein parkrun

00:38:26David Moss: And I'm with Heidi in Bergen in Norway and Heidi was the Run Director today at Løvstein parkrun. Hello Heidi.

00:38:37Unidentified speaker: Hello.

00:38:38David Moss: And tell me what got you into parkrun in the first place? You actually set up the event here. Yeah, what got you into it?

00:38:46Heidi: That's a good question. I have friends from Denmark who are running, friends, and I just saw their Strava activities every Saturday from parkrun in Copenhagen, and I'd never heard about it. It's been going, it had been going for years and years, but that was the first time I saw it on Strava, and it seemed fun, social. They always put out a few pictures from it, and... Yeah, and then parkrun came to Norway, I think the year later. Started in Oslo and after a few months I tried it in Stavanger. That's my hometown actually and I visited my parents down there and I thought okay let's try this parkrun thing and actually on my first run I decided that yeah we need this in Bergen as well. So that's when everything started for me. So that was a little over a year ago from now.

00:39:42David Moss: Okay and how easy was it to start up in Bergen plus what made you choose the course that we did today?

00:39:49Heidi: It was very difficult actually because when I started I had the course already in my mind because I knew the perfect place for parkrun and that's not where we were today so when I started I thought everything was going to be simple. Alright so I had the perfect course in mind right next to where I live so I knew where I could keep all the equipment and I had the path all figured out so I got in touch with parkrun in Norway and they said brilliant this looks perfect I sent them some photos and everything was great and then just the final step of asking the council, the local council And they said no, because it's very close to the water reservoir, the drinking water reservoir in Bergen. And they said because of that, we're not allowed to have any organised races or events on that particular path, and that set me back along like it took a while to find another course because all of the paths here in Bergen all of the parks they're interrupted by traffic unfortunately so I mean there's a large running community and there are many like brilliant parks places to run and I've been living here for 12 years and I run all of those years and I know great places to run but the problem was the traffic so it actually took me a while to find this path because it's quite new and I didn't know about it I'd never run there before so it was after months for looking for different options and going back and forth with parkrun in Norway it's like oh there's a small there's a small alley for a car to arrive and it's like oh damn it and And it took a while but when I found this path then it went fast from there. I got the okay from the council and all good and started a few months later.

00:41:50David Moss: And how would you describe the course?

00:41:54Heidi: It's hilly.

00:41:56David Moss: Yes I'll confirm that. It's definitely hilly. There's a fair bit of walking going on today.

00:42:00Heidi: But actually, I made the course as flat as I could. So that's why it could have been much hillier, actually. It's the flattest part on that course. And it's out and back a couple of times. But there's a long hill, there's a steep hill, and there's undulating hills. It's quite spectacular. And we call ourselves the unofficial...

00:42:27David Moss: like toughest parkrun in the whole of Europe I'm not sure that hasn't been confirmed but until that I'll claim that yeah so the one you mentioned the town you come from Stavanger yeah okay I was there actually yesterday and it was the course I wanted to do while I was here but they were having a marathon event so it was cancelled so I actually walked around it so this is advertising for Stavanger it's a beautiful course that goes around a lake with a hill at the end there does seem to be something about hills here and the hill at the end of a run as everyone knows is really bad news and this course also finishes on a slight uphill as well Just to put the nail in the coffin. So with the runners here, there are quite a few tourists. Is it still normally a lot of tourists who come?

00:43:18Heidi: Yeah, there's a lot of tourists who come. I mean, this summer, actually, when all the locals went on holiday, we had almost no locals at all. It was all tourists, actually. So, yeah, we get a lot of tourists. But we hope to increase the amount of local people because... parkrun in Norway is still quite unknown and we don't have a big British community here in Bergen compared to for example Stavanger. They have more runners every week than we do but we're slowly educating the people of Bergen to come to parkrun as well.

00:43:52David Moss: No it's excellent and hopefully there'll be a large number of people who come with this one as you say it does have hills it's not the fastest run I've ever done it is a beautiful area and the rain held off today as well

00:44:05Heidi: Yeah, that's, you know, you have to be really tough to come to parkrun here because usually it comes down in buckets. And that's not a joke. And actually, when we had our first event ever, it was the worst rain we've ever had. And it was a storm and it was awful. But people came, people always leaving with a smile on their face. And even though it's hilly, people love it still. So, yeah, people are not scared, I don't think.

00:44:34David Moss: Oh no, well today was actually lovely. The air temperature is great, the rain did hold off. I have seen in some of the tourist things about, oh yes, it rains here 260 days a year. Yesterday it certainly did, but today has been perfect.

00:44:48Heidi: Today has been perfect. Actually, I think it rains here 365 days a year.

00:44:52David Moss: Thank you. Okay, Heidi, on that note, I'll just thank you very much. Yeah, thank you.

00:44:59Melissa Erbacher: more awesome roving reports coming in this week from Melissa Greta and Dave Melissa at Point Cook with the where's wally theme that she she has got some kind of like funder you know a fun radar Melissa Ellis doesn't she she does and that was um in the week following on from her 250th so yeah she's um

00:45:22Tony O'Connell: travelling around a bit, but Melissa always has been the adventurer.

00:45:25Melissa Erbacher: She has indeed. And how are those twins at Mount Barker, Toc? Five-year-old twins running their 100 parkruns. You know, this is something I've never done yet, but it's totally got my brain into overdrive. I'm going to have to get out the calendar and figure out, based on their birthdays... how far away from parkrun day Wes and Emmett will be when they're allowed to get their barcode when they're four years old and then, therefore, how long it might take them to reach a few of their milestones along the way.

00:46:00Tony O'Connell: I can't believe that you've got five-year-olds running 100 runs. I think I was 50 before I ran my 100th run. So they've well and truly outstripped me.

00:46:11Melissa Erbacher: Look, at the rate I do, parkrun events these twins are going to overtake me they'll be on their 250th before I get there They're doing well. I'm impressed. I'm very impressed. And how good is Dave doing with his jaunts around the place? He's got a new flag with Norway on the run list this week.

00:46:35Tony O'Connell: And it certainly looks like an interesting part of Norway as well.

00:46:39Melissa Erbacher: It does. It does. And I loved hearing about the hills and how Løvstein, is one of the less hillier options that they could have had. I know Dave's not afraid of having challenging events, but he manages to sniff out some good ones. So keep them coming, guys. Love hearing the roving reports every week.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:47:04Melissa Erbacher: Now, launches, Toc. We do have a launch this week, and technically last week, even though we didn't announce it, there was also a sneaky launch in Queensland.

00:47:14Tony O'Connell: And I believe the Queensland one might have drawn a fairly big crowd for a silent launch.

00:47:20Melissa Erbacher: I think somebody forgot to tell the Aussie parkrun Tourism Group that when something is on the quiet, or what we like to call a soft launch, that they shouldn't be sharing the details with the whole thousands and thousands of members of that group to head along because there's a reason we have soft launches and I believe this one in particular because it's a suburb of Brisbane and the last time we had a launch in Brisbane, there's a huge amount of people to get along to a launch and they didn't want to repeat that. I think they had about 340 last week at Harris Avenue parkrun, which is, I mean, it's not massive, I guess, but it's still not tiny for a brand new event team as well to be coping with.

00:48:09Tony O'Connell: For a new event team and a new course and a new community, it's still a massive amount of extra people out there.

00:48:16Melissa Erbacher: It's making waves on the first week out anyway, but. Well done to the event team for handling that as well as they did, which I understand was very well. But this week, Toc, where are we launching?

00:48:29Tony O'Connell: This week we're launching in Marina, which is in Geraldton in Western Australia. And I think it may alter some of our clubs, Mel.

00:48:38Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I'm a little bit devastated. I'm happy for this community to be getting the parkrun. It's been a long time in the works for Marina.

The Compass Clubnew tourist club

00:48:47Melissa Erbacher: But this is going to be the new westernmost point of the Compass Club in Australia, Toc. And I already had the westernmost. I already had Margaret River. And I, you know, with my whole Geeveston malarkey. I didn't get the southernmost points. So as soon as Marina launches, that means it wipes out my western one too. So I need to go back to WA.

00:49:12Tony O'Connell: And you've got to head back to Tassie as well.

00:49:14Melissa Erbacher: Yep. Things we do.

00:49:19Tony O'Connell: So pick the furthest two points from where you are and you've got to go to both of them.

00:49:23Melissa Erbacher: I know, right? Like couldn't we just do the northern New South Wales one that I could just drive down to? No, no. We have to. We have to pick the really big flights. Oh, well, there's another excuse to go back to WA, and let's be honest, I'm always happy to go back to WA.

Streaky September

00:49:42Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of fun and games, Streaky September. Toc, are you streaking? Yeah. I know you struck last year, and you've been doing the 365 thing.

00:49:51Tony O'Connell: Yeah, we did the 365. It started off as Streaky September, and then it went to Streak to Christmas. And then I think we might have changed the name to Streak to Easter or something and then it became Streaky 365. So, yeah, no, the streak continues. And there's quite a large group of us and quite a large group of adventurers that are still streaking and are continuing on now.

00:50:13Melissa Erbacher: That's awesome. You know, when we first had the idea for Streaky September, it was mostly to get ourselves out of a bit of a rut, a non-running rut. But it's so awesome to see how it's been adopted and blown up across the years and just impacted different people in different ways. One of those people who it's impacted is Matthew Billington, who did the Streak 365 and he's actually sent us in a little bit of audio about that experience. So let's listen to that.

00:50:52Matthew Billington: Good morning parkrun adventurers, this is Matt Billow-Billington coming to you from West Beach parkrun. Yes, I'm new to you, you have never heard from me before and I just thought I would like to just share my story around the streaky September and where it's got me to here and how it's relevant. Let's turn back the clock. 12 months ago, I came across this podcast which we all listen to called parkrun adventurers and they were talking about this challenge concept called Streaky September. My parkrun journey started back in October 2017 and as you know when you get into it, it can become quite addictive so going back to August, me and my family, Sally my wife, my boys Gus and Jack We were fortunate enough to be involved and launch Muningi parkrun and I guess the passion just grew from there. So let's talk about Streaky September. So as you know, Streaky September, it's all about getting active, walking, running a minimum of two kilometres per day, every day through September. So at first the thought of being able to do 30 days straight was just like wow there's no way I'm going to be able to do that. I was fortunate enough that my partner in crime, my wife Sally, decided she would have a crack at Streaky September as well. So we were already in a positive position there to be able to start the journey together and support each other, and we got through to around the 20th of the month and it was just a little bit challenging we just thought no look I can't do this can't do this so we just kept going keep going and in the meantime Obviously there was a Facebook page called Streaky September and we got to know quite a few people that I'm glad I can now call my parkrun family and friends. Many of them you would know of, they were also doing the challenge. Anyway, so what leads me to this report today? Well today myself, my wife and many others have completed one full year, 365 days straight of doing exercise. What have I got out of it personally? Well, it's pushed me into areas that I never thought I could achieve. Three milestones as such as I was able to tick the box on my first half marathon in April. I was able to tick the box on my first full marathon the end of June. And I was able to tick the box on my first ultra marathon the end of July. It certainly helped with my running, it certainly helped with my overall fitness and I would certainly encourage anybody to consider it. Particularly if you know you've never done something before and you're doubting your abilities, I would suggest give it a crack. You never know what it's going to take, where it's going to take you, and one thing I know is you're going to get a lot of support from your parkrun family and those around you so uh yeah give it a go I'm now going to hand over to Sally and get her to share with you her experience with doing the streak and what she's been able to get out of it I'm now here with Sally and just to share with you her thoughts and experience with the streaky September which led on to the 365 day streak. So Sally, what would you say is the biggest thing you got out of this?

00:55:41Sally: I'm not sure about a thing out of it, just new friendships probably, a commitment to getting my kids fit and myself, that's about it.

00:55:53Matthew Billington: Okay, so the big part is that, you know, Sally certainly helped motivate me in terms of getting me cracking every day doing this. What would be any advice you would give to somebody who's finding it, you know, they're getting to the days that it's particularly challenging for them?

00:56:12Sally: Just do 2Ks. Just think 2Ks. And that's all you need to do. Don't push it. Don't go any further than the 2. Walk it. That's all.

00:56:23Matthew Billington: Would you consider doing it again?

00:56:25Sally: No.

00:56:28Matthew Billington: And why is that?

00:56:30Sally: For me, because I've got kids with disability, it's too much commitment for me. I'm stubborn and I've finished it, but yeah, there's a little bit of pressure on some of my days.

00:56:41Matthew Billington: And that's, I guess, an important point that's actually, I think, the big part that we've got out of it is we've done this as a family. As Sally's mentioned, our son, Gus, has special needs.

00:56:59Sally: And Jack as well.

00:56:59Matthew Billington: And Jack as well, yeah. And it's been great because Gus has got to the stage where it's formed a part of his exercise routine. So there you go. I'm glad we could share our experience with you and certainly wish everybody doing Streaky September the best.

00:57:20Tony O'Connell: And I've got to say well done to Billo and Sally for finishing off Streaky September or Streaky 365 and continuing on. Matthew's been very prolific with his posting on the Facebook group we've got up, and it's really great because watching his journey, he's gone from someone that was doing the shorter runs, as he said, to someone into the half, and then into ultras. And it's very inspiring and it really helps on those days where you just think, I've just had enough of this. You see those posts pop up and you think, oh, no, I'll get out and have another go at it. So congrats to Matt and to all the people that are in that group for helping to inspire and change other people's lives. It's been a really great thing to be part of.

00:58:06Melissa Erbacher: And if you haven't joined the group yet, we did give the name of it last week, which was Streak Your Way Every Day. However, they have changed the name of it back to Streaky September. So if you're Googling it on Facebook, look up Streaky September and you'll be able to find it. Request to join. We would love to have you. It's not too late to join. To be honest, it's not too late to start Streaky September if you're only hearing this now, and it's still the first week of September, just tack on a few extra Ks to some of your streaks and we'll call it even. There's no better time to start a streak than right now. You probably don't struggle like I do, Toc with just the plumbers. We already talked earlier about how you manage to do such a high K count, but that's It was day two today of Streaky September and I had a bit of a rough day with both my boys. I think they're trying to get over the weekend and they've just been a bit sad and had Monday-itis. And I almost didn't make it out. I was like, oh, my goodness, Streaky September. I'm a co-creator of this thing and I can't just – break my streak I didn't make it through the whole of the month last year and I'm determined to do it this year I did manage to get out there very slowly I let Wes walk and he was pushing Emmett in the pram along with me so I think the first 200 metres took about seven minutes so

00:59:40Tony O'Connell: I think one of the really great things about it too is like jump on board, jump onto the Facebook group. We have challenges and that during the month as well. that get you out there. And some of the challenges last year were just a really fun thing to be part of. So it gives you that extra bit of motivation to get out and around.

00:59:59Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely. And there's nothing like having fellow streakers to hold you to task. Join the group. We would love to have you. But you know what else Streaky September has done? This is a world first for Streaky September. I got a message from one of our streakers yesterday who is a police officer and working around their personal, you know, family life and other commitments with children, et cetera, and their job working night shifts. They managed to sneak in their streak while they were on duty and convinced one of their colleagues to, um, go on a beat with them to do their streak and while they were out there they actually made an arrest

01:00:49Tony O'Connell: Did they arrest someone for streaking?

01:00:53Melissa Erbacher: No, wouldn't that have been magic? But, you know, you never know. It could happen by the end of the month. No, this was actually a drug bust. So, they pinched somebody who was doing a dirty deal in a park. And I'm happy to report that they also managed to, around and about the arrest, still get their two kilometres in for the day. So... We can now proudly say that Streaky September is fighting crime since 2019.

01:01:18Tony O'Connell: And I don't think that's going to become one of the challenges, though, for the everyday streaker, Mel, is to go out and arrest someone.

01:01:27Melissa Erbacher: No. No, we will not be encouraging citizen arrests as part of Streaky Bingo this year. We do not encourage people to try this at home. We haven't released the Bingoe card, but I think it'll be out this week. so people have enough time to start checking off those challenges. But oh, something else I want to do. I want to give a shout out to Pippa White and her daughter. Pippa has been working on catching up on the pod in time to join us for Streaky September this year. And she made it. She finally caught up midway through last week. So she has joined us for Streaky September. I want to shout out to her daughter as well because Pippa mentioned that when she joined the Pirate Club, her daughter was the parrot on the shoulders to her pirate, which I thought was so sweet and really cute. And I had visions of creating parrot costumes for my little boys as well. And then she shared a picture with me. And her daughter was 17 years old and she's on Pippa's shoulders dressed as a parrot.

01:02:31Tony O'Connell: Wow. That's a fair effort.

Sign-off

01:02:34Melissa Erbacher: It just takes it to a whole other level. But welcome to Streaky September and welcome to all the newbies this year as well. It's very exciting to have you guys along for the ride and we hope you really have fun and enjoy the streaking with us. Hey, so Inverloch is your home run. Would you say you spend 50% of your time there a year? Because you and Jackie do get out a lot and travel around to different events.

01:02:58Tony O'Connell: Yeah, normally we try to get there a couple of times a month. This year we've probably done a little bit more travelling, looking at the Statesman goal and a couple of other things up our sleeve. But this week we've got an adventure. We're going down to Torquay down on the surf coast. Jacqui's going to tail walk and it's going to be our 99th event, 99th different event. So we're getting close to the Cowell.

01:03:23Melissa Erbacher: Oh, you are close to the Cowell. Torquay's the 99th. But where have you got planned for your 100th? Do you know yet or is it a secret?

01:03:31Tony O'Connell: We're not really sure. We have another adventure later in the month down to Lorne, down on the surf coast as well. So that possibly will be the 100th down there. But we might slip one in in between, so we're not sure.

01:03:46Melissa Erbacher: Well, we'll have to keep an eye on you.

01:03:48Tony O'Connell: We might get to Studley for the cow. Who knows?

01:03:51Melissa Erbacher: Have you not done Studley yet?

01:03:53Tony O'Connell: No, Studley would be our NENDY, I think. Saving one up nice and close into Melbourne for one of those Melbourne weekends.

01:04:01Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a good plan.

01:04:02Tony O'Connell: Yeah. And what about you, Mel? Where are you off to this week?

01:04:06Melissa Erbacher: We are headed to my NENDY, actually, which is Glasshouse Mountains. That's one up your alley. It's a trail event.

01:04:14Tony O'Connell: I love the sound of it.

01:04:15Melissa Erbacher: Should be interesting with a pram for each of us. Although, no, actually I think I might do it with Emmett in the carrier because his pram's not got big wheels and just in case. Yeah, but looking forward to it. It'll be fun.

01:04:29Tony O'Connell: And you're on a mission for the month.

01:04:31Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. Well, this is what you call a perfect month. So I wanted to get one of these this year and I think I got one in February from memory, but I'm going for two.

01:04:41Tony O'Connell: So adventures to be had. Sounds great.

01:04:44Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, there are. And, hey, before we wrap up this episode, it's been heaps of fun, but I did want to mention, and I probably should have mentioned last week and I didn't, that there have been lots of really lovely comments and messages coming in for Scotty, thanking him for his contribution and for bringing the pod to everybody, et cetera. Yeah, it's just been... Wonderful to see that, obviously, he's made a big impact on a lot of people's lives, and it's been lovely to see all those comments and messages come in. Thanks, guys. It's always lovely to hear from you. Hey, you know, we get reviews and stuff, and this is something that I discovered. Toc. Somebody – I'm not sure who the listener is, and I apologise to them – if they are still listening, for my abrasive voice. I got half a star for my abrasive voice on one of the reviews. Scotty never mentioned that one to me. I'm sure he must have read it.

01:05:47Tony O'Connell: Surely not now. Surely not. Yeah, yeah.

01:05:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, I mean, nobody really likes to hear their own voice, so I can't say I disagree with them, but I I would have thought abrasive was a little bit strong. A bit harsh. A bit harsh. So I'm trying.

01:06:06Tony O'Connell: Hang on. Maybe saying abrasive and harsh is not the right thing. No, it's not right.

01:06:11Melissa Erbacher: Well, anyway, I'm trying to tone it down and not be so abrasive.

01:06:19Tony O'Connell: We love your voicemail.

01:06:20Melissa Erbacher: Oh, thank you, Toc. Thank you. We've all got something to work on. Except you. You're doing amazing and I have loved having you as a co-host this week, Toc. Thank you so much for joining me. Episode 172 has been a lot of fun.

01:06:35Tony O'Connell: It's been my pleasure. Thanks very much and love your work.

01:06:39Melissa Erbacher: You are all kindness, Toc. Come back any time.

01:06:42[music]

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