Episode 186 - J.O.G.I

Welcome

00:00:23Lyndell Murray: Episode 186 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. All I can think of is 86, Agent 86. Mel Erbacher, does that mean we have a license to kill?

00:00:33[music]

00:00:51Melissa Erbacher: We should have a different theme song this week. I wonder if the lawyers will come after us if we try to get smart with our music.

00:01:00Lyndell Murray: Get smart. I see what you did there, Mel.

00:01:06Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I'm a big fan of it.

00:01:07Lyndell Murray: I was just about to say Inspector Gadget, but no, Get Smart, obviously.

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: Good old Max.

00:01:14Lyndell Murray: Good old Max, exactly. He had all the gadgets.

00:01:17Melissa Erbacher: He had all the smarts. Lyndell, people might have recognised your voice, but I don't think you said who you were. Everybody, we have got the effervescent Lyndell Murray joining us this week as co-host on the parkrun adventurers podcast. Welcome, Lyndell. Thanks, Mel. It's great to be here. It's awesome to have you back, as always. A little bit less of a pirate this week. Are you? I'm noticing a voice change.

00:01:45Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Well, it was possibly a one-time only, the Lyndell pirate. Yeah.

00:01:53Melissa Erbacher: Well, it was much enjoyed by many, I can tell you that much. We had a lot of very positive feedback about Lyndell the pirate. Lots of lols, I think, were had by listeners in random places when your report started. So thank you for doing that. We love that you are willing to go above and beyond with your roving reports.

00:02:14Lyndell Murray: Oh, look, it was pretty fun, I have to say. I mean, we were dressed as pirates out there, my friend and I, and because we were both joining the Pirate Club out at Cormorant Bay. So, you know, why not talk like a pirate? I always forget about talk like a pirate day until it's happened. So, you know, what better excuse than joining the Pirate Club to get out my arrrs?

00:02:34Melissa Erbacher: Exactly. I mean, I don't think anyone ever needs an excuse. Did you know you can actually change? Well, it's on Facebook, but you can change the language to pirate. Yes, I do.

00:02:46Lyndell Murray: And I did that for a little while. It was pretty fun.

00:02:50Melissa Erbacher: The wonders of modern technology.

00:02:53Lyndell Murray: Exactly.

00:02:54Melissa Erbacher: Now you weren't becoming a pirate just last week because that's not where, that was a few weeks ago, your roving report from Cormorant Bay. The poor team out there, they've suffered a bit of a devastating blow with the recent bushfires and their course has been damaged and has been deemed dangerous, too dangerous to run on in its current state. So unfortunately their event is cancelled now at least until January. Cormorant Bay team, our hearts go out to you and we hope that everything comes back more vivid and vibrant and beautiful than ever after this. Well, hopefully some rain. Everybody needs some rain.

00:03:39Lyndell Murray: We really need some rain. Look, even at my home parkrun at Bunyaville, there's usually a really lovely creek crossing there and it's just dirt and dust at the moment. So I know that's a first world problem when you're talking about the impact that the lack of rain has had. But I guess for city folk, sometimes that's the only evidence that we really see that we are in drought, you know, that... Some of our local surroundings have changed, but it's just a reminder to all of us that people are really doing it tough in these drought conditions with not only the bushfires, but also our farmers not being able to get on with the business of running their farms and their businesses, I guess. Yeah.

00:04:22Melissa Erbacher: It's just devastating. And, you know, it's so important that parkrun is continuing in these areas to help people to be that beacon, that consistency. Every week is a place, you know, where they can all get together and be a community and support each other. Very important.

00:04:41Lyndell Murray: I think absolutely, you know, I really felt it. You know, my recent trip out to Nanango to Ros Gregor Trail parkrun, you know, it was really apparent out there at that time that a lot of the people in the community were really feeling the strain of the drought and the strain of, you know, the bushfires that have been in the local area. So, Yeah, definitely. parkrun definitely gives that consistency and that community and that feeling of togetherness that is probably even more important in times of hardship than it is just in regular life. So totally agree.

00:05:18Melissa Erbacher: We got really serious. We were really lighthearted and we got really serious really quickly. So let's spin it back. Let's. Let's go back to being a little bit crazy. And, well, I didn't do anything particularly adventurous or interesting on the weekend. So let's skip over me and head straight to you, Lyndell. Where did you parkrun on the weekend? Did you do anything fun?

00:05:41Lyndell Murray: Well, I wore a milestone tutu at my home parkrun of Bunyaville. I didn't do a run though. I finally ticked off my volunteering milestone of 25 volunteers. And Bunyaville, the tradition we have there is that when you run a milestone, you wear a tutu and everybody wears tutus, whether you're a man or woman or woman, grown up or a child everybody just takes it for granted that if whoever's wearing a tutu is doing a milestone so um I time kept in a tutu this weekend at Bunyaville um it was extra special as well because it was our birthday there as well sixth birthday so um and a really good turnout of I think it was 158 across the line which is a really big turnout for Bunyaville so um And look, no adventuring, I guess, to speak of, but it was a really special day to tick off that milestone with my parkrun family at Bunyaville.

00:06:38Melissa Erbacher: Is it a BYO tutu situation or does Bunyaville just randomly have a supply of tutus they bring every week just in case somebody's running a milestone?

00:06:47Lyndell Murray: Bunyaville has a supply of tutus that they bring every week for any milestone runners. So it's totally part of what we do at Bunyaville.

00:06:58Melissa Erbacher: Engrained, ingrained in your community.

00:07:02Lyndell Murray: Engrained in the community there and it's just really lovely. Good to know, good to know. So, yeah, so if you're a closet tutu wearer and would like to wear one but you're just too, you know, a bit too shy, Bunyaville's a good place to do a parkrun milestone because they'll give you a tutu before you know it. Awesome, that's my style of parkrun. One of our Run Directors is very persistent with his theory that we are the friendliest parkrun. Look, I would say that's probably, we're right up there. It is a very friendly parkrun. I'm wondering whether he's, you know, throwing that into the mix because we seem to be losing our grasp on the toughest parkrun with Nambour and Ocean View and the new one over in Western Australia. Mundy Regional. Yeah. Yeah, there's a few toughies out there now. I don't know whether Bunyaville, hopefully we still make it into the top five of toughest parkruns.

00:08:03Melissa Erbacher: So you've got one RD who says you're the friendliest. There's the sort of reputation that precedes that, that you're one of the toughest. Do you feel like parkruns in general need a tagline or, you know, a descriptor almost just so people can go, oh, Yeah, I've heard of that one. It's supposed to be a da-da-da.

00:08:24Lyndell Murray: Look, not really. I mean, parkrun's parkrun, parkrun is a – parkrun attracts people anyway, doesn't it? Like, you know, I guess there's some marquee events that people want to do for different reasons. You know, toughest, most picturesque, you know, people like cooler parkruns in summer and all those kinds of things, but – I think most parkrunners would agree that parkrun is just a pretty great thing all around and they're always going to parkrun on a Saturday.

00:08:57Melissa Erbacher: The lists are really kind of subjective too though, aren't they? Absolutely. Because what one person might deem to be tough, another person, you know, that might be their favourite thing to do ever.

00:09:07Lyndell Murray: Yeah.

00:09:08Melissa Erbacher: And they're fraught. You know, it's.

00:09:10Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it's really true. And, you know, I mean, I guess the evidence of that is on this podcast, you often ask people what their top three is and there's never been the same top three, has there?

00:09:20Melissa Erbacher: No, I don't think we've ever had an exact same top three.

00:09:24Lyndell Murray: So it is very subjective.

00:09:25Melissa Erbacher: In almost 200 episodes.

00:09:27Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it is very subjective and people are attracted to different things and, you know, we're talking to a bunch of people right now that are really attracted to parkrun. So, you know, do you need a point of difference or do you need to be the toughest or friendliest or no, just be yourself. Yeah, and we're ourselves and we're here for the weirdos.

00:09:52Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:09:53Lyndell Murray: Just like parkrun is. parkrun's for everyone.

00:09:55[17 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Gungahlin

00:10:12Melissa Ellis: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Melissa here and I'm coming to you from Gungahlin parkrun in the ACT. Now I wasn't going to do a roving report this week, I was going to have the week off because I know that both Mark and TOC have filed roving reports from Gungahlin, but at the briefing, what did I spy? The Ugly Christmas Singlet, and also last year's version was on show as well and I'm wearing mine proudly as well today so I finished my run and I'm coming back out on course see if I can track down those other ugly singlets and chat to our pod listeners all right So, I've tracked down last year's model version of the Ugly Singlet and what was your name? Nicole. Hi, Nicole. So, you're obviously a listener to the podcast. I certainly am. Very good. Have you ordered the new version? Yep, yep, yep. I think it's here today. I think someone's collected them all and I've just got to go find it. That's great. It's a good way to... recognise each other.

00:11:11Nicole: It is the best. And are you a bit of a tourist? I try and get down. I'm a Melbournian, so I try and get down and do some in Melbourne. I've done a couple in Sydney. Mostly do here in Gungah, where my parkrun friends and family are. You've got your dog with you today. Yeah, reason she's a big parkrunner. She must be, I think, doing her 100th either this week or next. So it's her favourite day of the week. Oh, great. All right. Well, thank you for chatting to me. No worries. Enjoy the rest of your walk. Yeah, you too. Thanks.

00:11:49Melissa Ellis: Okay, so now I've tracked down the other ugly singlet that was at Gungahlin this morning, and welcome to the podcast, Hayley. Hi. And I know that you've said you haven't listened to the podcast before, but you'll have to now. Yep. You're part of the crew. I am. So a group of you from Gungahlin all went together and got singlets?

00:12:10Hayley: Yes, so the Gungahlin runners, we got into the Ugly Christmas Shirt because Christmas spirit. Anything to, yeah, make parkrun or running more exciting. That's good.

00:12:20Melissa Ellis: It's really good. They stand out. And I know out on course today, I got lots of compliments. Yes. Did you as well?

00:12:25Hayley: I did, yeah, even on the way here. Lots of strangers gave me a thumbs up for it.

00:12:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it's good. And I think it puts a smile on people's face when they see the little cute koala in the Santa hat. So have you done different parkruns? Are you an adventurer at all?

00:12:40Hayley: Yes, I have done different parkruns.

00:12:42Melissa Ellis: In whereabouts have you been?

00:12:44Hayley: Some in Sydney. Most recently I did Merimbula last week, Batemans Bay, all around the shop. Yeah.

00:12:50Melissa Ellis: So what's one of your favourites that you've travelled to? You got something that you like? Do you like courses around water?

00:12:57Hayley: Well, I actually love the Gungahlin course here. It's probably my favourite. I love that it's around the water, that it's one loop. Yeah, it's just beautiful any time of the year. I love that one. It is very nice.

00:13:09Melissa Ellis: And we had a warm morning this morning. It was a bit of a shock for me. I'm from Melbourne, so... Yeah, okay, great. Well, I guess next week you will have even more ugly singlets hanging around. I heard that a delivery has arrived. Christmas has come early. Yeah, all right. Well, enjoy your parkrun and thank you for talking to me today. Thank you.

Roving report Cameron Drake — Tamworth Wetlands

00:13:31Cameron Drake: G'day everyone, I'm here with someone very special who's done something pretty cool today. What's your name and what the heck are you doing today? Hey Cameron, my name's Craig Lawrence. Today is the last in my journey to do every parkrun in WA this year. Pretty cool. Every parkrun, really? Well, I can't include Wandoo Prison. So which parkrun has been the one you've had the most fun at, hint, hint? Well, certainly Tamworth's been fun. There's a lot of people in here that have been great, made it really enjoyable. But Margaret River was probably one of my favourite runs, closely followed by Tamworth and Mundy. Mundy last week. That was a killer. I hear Mundy's got some hill. Oh, mate, very, very hilly. It was a brutal course, but great fun, something very different. Oh, fantastic. That's a great achievement. And I'll see you around at Rockingham. Nice. Thanks, Cameron. Cheers. See you.

00:14:18Lyndell Murray: couple of roving report lites there as I like to call them from Melissa Ellis who is at Gungahlin and Cameron Drake who was at actually I'm not sure where Cameron was do we assume that he was at home yeah I think I think it sounded like it could have been Tamworth wetlands

00:14:38Melissa Erbacher: Pretty sure. Cam, now, I'm no roving reporter, but I have heard a few roving reports in my time over the last four years, and I know you're new, and I don't want to be harsh, but maybe just let us know where you're roving from.

00:14:57Lyndell Murray: But, look, we don't want to be too hard on you, Cam. We're loving your work.

Statesmen update

00:15:01Lyndell Murray: And, look, exceptional work finding a Western Australian statesman. It can't be easy. They must be a rare beast, Western Australian statesmen, because Western Australia is a pretty big state. I don't know how you get from Kununurra to Mount Clarence very easily.

00:15:18Melissa Erbacher: No, it's bigger than a lot of continents. Well, no, not continents. It's bigger than a lot of countries. I shouldn't say continents. No.

00:15:26Lyndell Murray: You could probably fit a good 10 or 15 of the smaller countries into Western Australia, surely. A lot of Europe would go in there, definitely a lot of Europe.

00:15:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. Yeah, and WA currently has 38 events. So that's almost a year of adventuring, which is not shabby, and that's if you don't repeat an event all year. And as you say, Lyndell, geographically, It is quite an undertaking. So congratulations to Craig for joining the list of statesmen in WA. I don't know. Somebody keeps lists of these things somewhere.

00:16:02Lyndell Murray: So, yeah, well done to Craig and well done to Cameron. You are doing a great job and great work tracking down Craig.

00:16:11Melissa Erbacher: Plus, you know, we've got to be a little bit cheeky. You are the newbie. You're going to get a bit of stick for a while, Cam. Just get used to it, okay?

00:16:18Lyndell Murray: Yeah, and we're just probably getting brownie points for Melissa here who, as she said last week, is pretty upset that you got in straight away.

Ugly Christmas Singlets

00:16:28Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of Melissa, how excited was she that she happened upon some Ugly Christmas Singlets at Gungahlin on the weekend? pretty happy but I mean I would be too definitely sparks joy every time I see them it doesn't matter if it's online or in person in the wild at a parkrun or hearing tales of them going to a salon midweek you know what's the term that I love and it it sort of conveys the level of excitement I get beside myself. And do you reckon that means like you are beyond excited to the point that you have left your own body and you can sit there and look back at yourself and see the big grin and the agitation and just the charge?

00:17:16Lyndell Murray: That description brings a smile to my face, Mel. It really does. Because of the crazy? It just is a really – really lovely depiction of what being beside yourself is. Okay, well, thanks.

00:17:30Melissa Erbacher: I'll take that. Yes, so when I see the Ugly Christmas Singlets out there, whether or not it's the new ones, which have just started to go out, make their way in the world, or if it's last year's classic vintage limited edition, which I know are a hot item. If you had one, well, I know you've got one, Lyndell, but if you were willing to sell it, I reckon you could get some good coin on eBay. Okay.

00:17:59Lyndell Murray: Well, I am pretty attached to my retro edition Christmas singlet. I don't know whether it's up for sale.

00:18:06Melissa Erbacher: Look, I wouldn't recommend it either because definitely a collector's item. And... If you are fence-sitting, you're wondering about whether or not you should get one of this year's limited edition Ugly Christmas Singlets. I know we said it would be a one-time only offer and it turned into a second-time only offer, which we'll talk about in a little while. But... Get off the fence. Buy the singlet. You won't regret it. FOMO is real. So you need – what's the opposite of FOMO? Embracing life and taking every opportunity. It's the JOGI. It's the joy of getting in instead of the fear of missing out. It's the JOGI. I have never heard of that before. I've never heard of the JOGI. That's because I just made the JOGI up right now. I mean, I don't know if you've heard of JOMO, which is Joy of Missing Out, and that's something that people like myself who you may or may not believe this. I'm actually quite the introvert. So the Joy of Missing Out is a real thing as well because, you know, some things you just don't want to take part in and you are very satisfied that you're not taking part in that. However, you want the JOGI in this situation.

00:19:25Lyndell Murray: You definitely want the JOGI. You definitely want it. What is there not to like about the Ugly Christmas Singlet?

00:19:30Melissa Erbacher: They are splendiferous in their uglitude. They really, really are. And I do promise that next year's is going to get uglier.

00:19:37Lyndell Murray: Well, I don't know how you're going to do that, Mel, because this year's is perfectly horrible as it is. Oh, thank you, Lyndell.

00:19:44Melissa Erbacher: That's a lovely compliment.

00:19:50Lyndell Murray: I guess the good news for anyone that thinks they are potentially a FOMO, orders have reopened. They are ready to go. You can order them right now up until Wednesday midnight. Is that right, Mel?

00:20:05Melissa Erbacher: Midnight Wednesday, the 11th of December. If all goes according to my plans, as she says as she rubs her hands together, this podcast will be out to give people who listen to it immediately a a couple of hours to be able to still order. So we have been promoting it on the Facebook page or we posted about it and I should probably do that on Instagram and Twitter too just to make sure that we don't miss anyone. Without a doubt.

00:20:33Lyndell Murray: I mean, I know last year there were lots of people that – We saw the singlets out and about, and it was too late to order. And people, you know, seemed genuinely disappointed that they were no longer available. So I think getting it out there by as many avenues as possible is really just a PSA, to be honest. Well, yeah.

00:20:54Melissa Erbacher: I mean, they are so hot right now. It is the in thing this festive season. And if you haven't got one, then get one now. And if you're listening to this pod. After the second round of orders have closed, I can guarantee you they will be the last round for these. And I'm sorry that you missed out. However, we will be doing something just especially for you guys. If you still want to participate in the inaugural International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day 2019, which will be held on the 21st of December this year, it's a parkrun day. If you want to participate, you haven't ordered a parkrun adventurers Ugly Christmas Singlet. It's okay. You can make your own and I'm going to show you how. Look out for the Facebook post on that this coming week.

00:21:46Lyndell Murray: We're in for a treat. Mel has a particular flair for DIY costumes and decorations. So, look, if anyone can make a DIY Ugly Christmas Singlet and if anyone can teach others how to do it, it is definitely Mel Erbacher.

00:22:04Melissa Erbacher: It's going to be a Melster class.

00:22:06Lyndell Murray: A Melster class.

00:22:07Melissa Erbacher: I love it.

00:22:08Unidentified speaker: That's great.

00:22:10Melissa Erbacher: Because I am the master of nothing, but I am a Melster. And yes, it'll be my first Melster class. Ugly Christmas Singlet.

00:22:20Lyndell Murray: First of many, I'm sure.

00:22:21Melissa Erbacher: Well, we'll see how this one goes, Lyndell. I'm not going to make any promises. I might 100% crash and burn. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

00:22:32Lyndell Murray: It'll be fun anyway. It sure will. I can't wait to see that. Maybe I should make one just, you know. I mean, I've already ordered my Ugly Christmas Singlet, but maybe I should DIY as well.

00:22:41Melissa Erbacher: You can never have too many Ugly Christmas Singlets. You've got one from last year. You could have a costume change every 1.75 kilometres at parkrun.

00:22:51Lyndell Murray: I could have the trifecta of ugly parkrun singlets.

00:22:56Melissa Erbacher: You could. I mean, the whole festive season there's a New Year's Day double. It's still perfectly legitimate to wear an Ugly Christmas Singlet on New Year's Day. Oh, without a doubt. You could wear one Christmas Day. There's just the opportunities are endless.

00:23:11Lyndell Murray: Having said that, I haven't dug mine out yet. I shouldn't say that. I've dug out last year's Ugly Christmas Singlet. haven't quite dawned this year's just yet. Oh, I'm saving mine.

00:23:22Melissa Erbacher: I know there are people out there and I love that they've already started wearing them. Some people are wearing them for the whole month of December, which I think is just brilliant. Others have been wearing them at other Christmas running club, you know, meetups and other running events and things like that, which is awesome. But, yeah, I'm saving mine for Ugly Christmas Singlet Day. It's going to be a big special day for me, the first of the International Ugly Christmas Singlet Days. So, yeah, it's going to be a very special one.

00:23:53Lyndell Murray: It's going to be a special one for everyone, Mel. We're all looking out for it.

palm20 destination announcement

00:23:56Melissa Erbacher: And speaking of special things, I think it's time that we talked about palm20 next year. We gave a bit of a teaser last week, Lyndell. Did you hear the pod?

00:24:07Lyndell Murray: Oh, of course. And I felt very overwhelmed because I'd –

00:24:11Melissa Erbacher: received your invitation to co-host and then found out that we were announcing the palm20 venue I was just a bit concerned that whether I could handle the pressure of that well it's it's another kind of a big deal thing isn't it it sure is and because it's such a big deal I'm going to let you announce where it's going to be

00:24:33Lyndell Murray: Okay, so long-time listeners of the podcast would know that it is going to be in South Australia. There's no secret there. We've spoken about it a couple of times and in your tease last week, Mel, I'm pretty sure you mentioned that as well. So without further ado, the official announcement that palm20 will be At Mount Barker parkrun.

00:24:54Melissa Erbacher: Yay! Insert applause and roaring crowds, sounds and noises here. If I was better at editing, I could possibly insert applause and clapping. Maybe I'll try to do that.

00:25:07Lyndell Murray: Well, if you don't, the parkrun adventurers are very creative and very imaginative, I'm sure.

00:25:13Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I'm sure you guys can all paint yourself an ear picture. Does that make sense?

00:25:19Lyndell Murray: Yeah.

00:25:21Melissa Erbacher: I'm not sure that makes sense. Theatre of the mind. Theatre of the mind. Paint yourself an ear picture. You heard it here first on the parkrun adventurers. So will Mount Barker be a first time for you? Have you been there before, Mel? It is. It will be my first official time parkrunning at Mount Barker, providing I remember my barcode, which I have promised the event team that I will do. I've promised the event team that everybody will be on their best behaviour. So adventurers, I'm talking to you. If you're planning on coming, look, it's a done deal. You guys are all awesome anyway. We know you'll behave. We know you get what parkrun's all about. We know you're the passionate ones. We can't wait to see you. It's just going to be amazing, another amazing weekend. And Mount Barker, of all the events in South Australia, of which there are many wonderful, incredible events that are on my bucket list and can't wait to do, but Mount Barker makes so much sense for palm20. You know, we've got two roving reporters on the Channel 5 News crew whose home parkrun is Mount Barker. I can't think... of a more apt place for us to congregate and share the parkrun joy next year.

00:26:37Lyndell Murray: It sounds amazing. PK and Greta will take good care of us, I'm sure, as will the rest of the event team there at Mount Barker. It sounds fantastic. Look, PK and Greta have both talked about it on the podcast before with a lot of fondness. So what a great choice and looking forward to it.

Running challenges with the co-host

00:26:59Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of things that we spoke about last week, TOC and I were doing a little bit of a dive into our challenge progress and we thought perhaps maybe it would be a good idea if every week whoever was co-hosting brought a different aspect of the running challenges to the table and And you listened, Lyndell, so I'm assuming you've come prepared. What have you got to lay down?

00:27:29Lyndell Murray: Look, for sure. Now, just as you said, following on from last week and comparing parkrun latitudes. Mel, you and I aren't too far away because my parkrun latitude is about 50km north of Roma in Queensland's west. And from memory, you were not far from, was it Miles or Charleville?

00:27:50Melissa Erbacher: Miles. Miles is where I am. I'm at the turnaround point, almost at the turnaround point at Miles.

00:27:55Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Oh, that's right. You've got to get to the turnaround point. Yeah, um so look I think Roma and miles aren't too far apart so we are you know geographically not too far away in parkrun terms oh there you go yeah um but I guess to bring something new I was looking at my clubs um and look something else that we've talked about a lot on the podcast is our goals for 2019 and One of my goals was to join the Pirate Club, which I did this year, not too long ago. But in looking at my challenge progress, I realised that it took me nearly two years from getting my sixth C to get my seventh C. So I don't know what I was waiting for, really. But it seemed like that was a really, really long time to wait to make that final to walk the plank, I guess, and end up being a pirate.

00:29:00Melissa Erbacher: When you did your sixth C, the Pirate Club was already in existence by then, so you would have been aware of it? Yeah, I was aware of it.

00:29:07Lyndell Murray: Yeah, I knew all about it. When I did my sixth C, to get my seventh, I had to travel. So I would have had to either go to Coffs Harbour or to Cairns. And so I was plotting a trip to Cairns, but for different reasons, it just didn't happen. I And then Cormorant Bay launched, and I thought, okay, well, that's closer to home. Maybe I'll go there one day. And again, it was sort of on the list, on the list, until one of my buddies, Tracey Wood, a friend of the podcast, also expressed interest in joining the Pirate Club, but she had a few more Cs to get. So I waited for her, and we joined the Pirate Club together.

00:29:52Melissa Erbacher: I don't know when it was, maybe a month ago out at Cormorant Bay. Okay. It's always great to do these things with other people. We waited a little while for some family to catch up with their Cs as well so that we could all join the pirate club together.

00:30:04Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it's a really fun one. So, you know, why not do it with friends, dress up, talk like a pirate for a day. Would have been nice to do it on Talk Like a Pirate Day. I should have done that.

00:30:19Melissa Erbacher: You know what, I bet there are people out there now that next year that's their goal or, you know, the parkrun that's closest to the date. You might be struggling otherwise if you really want to get it right bang on international talk like a pirate day.

00:30:33Lyndell Murray: Yes, because it might be on like a Tuesday or something.

00:30:36Melissa Erbacher: Exactly. Okay, so you've joined the Pirate Club. It took you a long time to get there. I'm not sure I've – I mean, at the moment it's taken me a long time to get my parkrun bingo and I just, coming back to Agent 86 and Get Smart, I missed it by that much. Again. Again. That's all I do is miss it by that much. But what's – okay, goal attained, level unlocked. You are now a pirate. You're a swashbuckler. What does that mean? What have you got on the agenda for your next club?

00:31:18Lyndell Murray: Well, the next club that I have that, interestingly, I, again, like the pirate club. I only need one more. And it's been nearly two years since I did my last one in the club, the Stayin' Alive Club.

00:31:33Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I'm a big fan. Big, big Bee Gees fan.

00:31:37Lyndell Murray: Yes. What's not to like, right? I've got my three Gs. I just need another B, and there's a B just up the road. When I say just up the road, maybe an hour or a bit over away. So that's nothing in parkrun adventuring terms, let's be honest. But I have this ambition, like the Pirate Club, where I wore my hat and I took my – little dagger and ran around Cormorant Bay. I want to dress up when I do my Bee Gees club. That is a noble endeavour. Yeah, yeah. And so avid followers of the parkrun adventurers or, you know, anyone that knows me knows that I have these – Well, I was going to say fabulous gold tights. I don't know whether they're fabulous.

00:32:28Melissa Erbacher: I would definitely say they're fabulous. It's like somebody melted C-3PO and then spray painted him onto your legs. That's how fabulous they are.

00:32:38Lyndell Murray: Yeah, they're pretty shiny and they're pretty – yeah, they're pretty much like C-3PO. Yeah, I like that, Mel.

00:32:46Melissa Erbacher: That's good.

00:32:47Lyndell Murray: Anyway, I have this ambition to wear gold disco tights when I do my Stayin' Alive Club. But something I've learnt from wearing these tights a couple of times to parkrun is that they are not for running in and they are not for the Queensland summer. Winter tights. Winter tights. So I am going to need to wait a little while if I am to fulfil my ambition to join the Stayin' Alive Club in gold disco tights.

00:33:16Melissa Erbacher: see now I'm a little bit sad I'm already in the club but you know what I think I might have to take this on board and when you do join the club I need to be there to officially welcome you into it as already a member being already a member I need to welcome you in because I I don't need an excuse to get dressed in disco and I will do it at any possible opportunity um What a better, I mean, mirror balls, all of it. There's just, oh.

00:33:49Lyndell Murray: Yeah, big hair, you know, sparkly, mirror balls. What else? Oh, glow mesh.

00:33:57Melissa Erbacher: The chunky shoes. Oh, yes. I mean, I wouldn't recommend people run or participate in parkrun in those necessarily. I have done a two kilometre event in very high heel shoes and I do not recommend that. It's not for the faint heeled. However, you know what I was thinking though, a little bit random but still on topic, Redcliffe needs to be some kind of honorary side event that should be part of the Staying Alive Club because that was the home of the Bee Gees. You know, that's where they formed. That's where they started. If you go to the town centre, there is a bronze statue.

00:34:40Lyndell Murray: A bronze statue of those guys in the main street. Yes. I think you're right. I reckon Redcliffe should be an honorary additional requirement.

00:34:50Melissa Erbacher: It's got to be some kind of bonus. Yeah. I don't – what could you call it? Here's us, you know, making things up again that nobody else is going to agree with or validate.

00:35:01Lyndell Murray: Well, especially all the people who live in other parts of the world that, you know, probably don't have a hope of doing Redcliffe parkrun.

00:35:09Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:35:10Melissa Erbacher: In the UK. All the people in the Staying Alive Club in Europe and the UK. Sorry, guys. When you come to Australia, you're going to have to go do Redcliffe parkrun. I mean, it's a gorgeous parkrun. Oh, it's a great parkrun. You can do a lot worse than go to Redcliffe parkrun.

00:35:25Lyndell Murray: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. But definitely not doing Redcliffe in gold tights in any part of the year because it gets pretty warm at Redcliffe.

00:35:34Melissa Erbacher: No, Queensland, it's really not a good state to live in if you own gold tights, I'm thinking. There must be, and I don't know what the technology is that goes into fabrics and stuff like that. The extent of my knowledge about it is the Ugly Christmas Singlets are excellent technical tees for running in and that was very important to me that they weren't going to be hot and sweaty and all that sort of thing. And we've improved on it even since last year, the fabric that gets used. But there must be some fabric out there that is both shiny and moisture-wicking, surely.

00:36:12Lyndell Murray: There must be, but you're not buying them for $10 at Spotlight.

00:36:17Melissa Erbacher: Probably not, no. $10 Spotlight, that is a good find. Good find, indeed. Well, Lyndell, please, please do not forget to let me know when you are planning your final B because I will have to dust off my disco shoes and disco ball and head out there to welcome you.

00:36:41Lyndell Murray: I will do that, Mel. It is likely to be in your neck of the woods at Baringa or Brightwater. Well, that's very convenient. Very convenient. I will take that as a challenge accepted. And I'll see you at my staying alive.

00:36:59Melissa Erbacher: club entry. Absolutely. I mean, I'm sure I'll probably see you around before then. It's great. It's, you know, that time of year when everything's starting to wrap up and people are getting into the festive mood. We've only got a few more episodes for the end of the year. And obviously our Christmas episode is going to be in there. There's going to be extra parkruns between Christmas and New Year's and all that extra fun stuff. It is an awesome time of year. And starting to think about New Year's resolutions for 2020 and looking at running challenges a bit closer to see where some gaps are that might be achievable to fill in for the next year. What are you looking forward to most in the next four weeks, Lyndell?

00:37:41Lyndell Murray: What I'm looking forward to in the next four weeks is definitely International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day 2019, the first ever of the International Ugly Christmas Singlet Days. It's going to be huge, the world over.

00:37:57Melissa Erbacher: It's going to be massive. Absolutely. This is the first one, but people are going to hark back on this day in 20 years' time and think, wow, what it would have been like to have been at the first one, you know?

00:38:11Lyndell Murray: Exactly. They'll have their 21 Ugly Christmas Singlets hung up somewhere in a pride of place in the pool room, because they're, you know, treasured items, as we all know, and just be looking back and, yeah, remembering where they were on the inaugural day. I'll be at Bunyaville and I'll be celebrating my unofficial milestone of 150 parkruns. Ooh, that's nice. So many celebrations bringing together all the fun toward the end of the year. Absolutely.

00:38:44Melissa Erbacher: Why not cap off the year with a few parties and celebrations? And anyone who hasn't and is going to be participating at International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day this year, if you haven't joined the event on Facebook, please look for it. It is... aptly named international Ugly Christmas Singlet Day 2019 so please check it out and say you're going and that's where we're going to be looking for a lot of the photos of the day etc and yeah it's going to be just a central point online to celebrate together both pre and post the event yeah and even during if if you're that way inclined that's right it'll be really great to see um how many parkruns

00:39:28Lyndell Murray: have an Ugly Christmas Singlet, gracing it with their presence, you know? How many can we get? What do you reckon? Oh, Lyndell, it's going to be massive.

00:39:39Melissa Erbacher: It's just, it's going to blow everything that happened last year out of the water because, yeah, the orders have been huge and the interest in the reopening of the orders has been massive.

00:39:53Lyndell Murray: And from all over the world, so... It truly is an international day of celebration.

Sign-off

00:39:58Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of celebrations, Lyndell, thank you for joining us on the pod again this week. It's always a party to have you around. I love being here with you, Mel.

00:40:09Lyndell Murray: I love talking parkrun and it's really great to be part of the podcast.

00:40:15Melissa Erbacher: So, Lyndell, this is the part where if this was an episode of Get Smart, we would go get in the elevator with all the doors and everything that close and we would go back up? Yes. That's it. We would. That used to be my, well, I mean, actually the starting sequence used to be my favourite thing to watch, just watching all the doors open and close and watching Maxwell go down. Yeah, me too. In the phone booth elevator. Oh, yeah. Yeah. How many times do you reckon they shot that so it made it look like, because obviously he was just crouching down on his knees and things like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The floor wasn't a real elevator. How many times do you reckon they shot that to make it look like legitimate footage?

00:40:58Lyndell Murray: Well, they had to time all the doors and everything to just open at just the right time as well. So I don't know. I don't think it would have been an easy cut. But also knowing what film production was like back in the day, they probably did it in two takes.

00:41:14Melissa Erbacher: Probably.

00:41:14Lyndell Murray: I mean, nowadays they just CG everything. Exactly. Exactly.

00:41:21Melissa Erbacher: But there's nothing CG about this podcast. We are all real people. Except for the editing part where we make ourselves sound better afterwards. Of course. Just so everybody knows how real we are, Lyndell, I think we should just end this with an um. Give me your best um.

00:42:34Unidentified speaker: Thank you.