Episode 206 - Pause?

Welcome

00:00:23Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners and welcome to episode 206 of the parkrun adventurers. My name's Toc and I'm coming to you from near sunny Inverloch in Victoria and with me today we've got Mel from the Sunny Sunshine Coast. How are you today Mel?

00:00:38Melissa Erbacher: I am sunny on the Sunshine Coast today Toc. How are you doing?

00:00:42Tony O'Connell: Oh look we're just cruising down here. The weather's been fairly ordinary. It's been keeping us indoors and that's probably been a good thing given the current circumstances.

00:00:54Melissa Erbacher: Well, we are in the last few days of winter. Spring is very soon to be upon us. Cannot wait for that. You know, there's fun things happening in September, as always. I'm sorry, though, that, yeah, you are in Victoria. You guys are having a bit of a rough time at the moment. How are you keeping with all that?

00:01:14Tony O'Connell: Look, Mel, I think we're keeping as well as can be expected. Yeah, there are positive signs out there. People... doing the right thing generally. And I think we'll come out of this pretty well. It's interesting you talk about spring coming up. We've already got like the daffodils are out, the wattles are already blooming and the magpies are already starting to swoop down here. And it's not even September yet. They're early this year, Mel.

00:01:41Melissa Erbacher: They are. Yes, they're already out and about up here. Actually, I've seen baby magpies for the last kind of four to six weeks already getting around.

00:01:53Tony O'Connell: Oh, wow, that's early.

00:01:55Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, I think we've had a fairly mild winter. It's been pretty warm, so they must have been getting all cozy up in their nests and having some eggs a little bit early. But fortunately, we haven't had the swooping that is usually, well, no, actually by the time we get the babies, the swooping is usually over. But I read somewhere that it's actually only 10% of breeding males that tend to swoop.

00:02:22Tony O'Connell: We're very lucky with the magpies up in our street. They get that used to humans that they just don't swoop at any stage. We're pretty lucky here, but yeah, there's a few nasty ones around, but it's only for a couple of weeks a year.

00:02:35Melissa Erbacher: And it's only if they feel threatened. So you obviously have good people in your neighbourhood because I also understand magpies. They remember a lot of faces and they can remember them for years and years and years. So if somebody, you know, tries to chase one around with a stick, well, they're probably going to be aggressive to that one in following seasons.

00:02:54Tony O'Connell: We could be in a bit of trouble in Victoria then at the moment, Mel, because they can't see our faces. We're all under masks.

00:03:00Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's the thing.

00:03:01Tony O'Connell: I wonder if this year is going to have an increase in swooping.

00:03:06Melissa Erbacher: Or it might be a decrease in swooping because everybody looks the same. Or maybe without, you know, your little smiling faces, you will look less intimidating or more intimidating. Hard to know really, isn't it?

00:03:22Tony O'Connell: Well, let's see what happens in a month when it's all over.

00:03:26Melissa Erbacher: Now, Toc, before I ask you what other adventures you've been up to since last we spoke, I just want to interject here with a little bit of an explanation for the listeners as to why there's been a bit of a lapse in time since the last episode. I'm afraid it's not earth-shatteringly exciting or mysterious. The fact of the matter is there's just been – A lot of snot and related sickness in my house. Not COVID-19 sickness. Have had those tests. Negative. Not COVID-19. However, still not much fun to be had in the Erbacher household with various lurgies doing their rounds and taking out household members, including myself, pretty drastically. for a big chunk of time. I can't remember the last time or if I've ever actually been so sick for such a prolonged period of time. So yeah, it didn't leave me in a very good position to be able to record anything, let alone edit anything. So Not much fun and I'm sorry that we haven't been around to have a bit of a random chat and give people some nonsense for an hour or so to listen to, to break up whatever else has been going on in their lives. But we're here now and so we hope you forgive us for the absenteeism and we will try to do better and boost our immune system so that it doesn't happen again.

00:05:02Tony O'Connell: I'm happy to say, Mel, you're sounding a hell of a lot better and it sounds like you might have left Snotfest 2020 behind you.

00:05:09Melissa Erbacher: One can only hope, Toc. We are snot free for five days in this household now and literally counting them because just when you think we're over it, a new one comes home. But to more fun things. Where you live, Toc, you are still allowed out for a little bit of exercise. I hear not parkrun is quite a bit of a deal for Inverloch parkrunners. Are you getting some not parkruns in at the moment?

00:05:37Tony O'Connell: Mel, I'm really loving not parkruns. I'm recording one every day. I'm a little bit obsessed with it. You're doing them every day.

00:05:45Melissa Erbacher: Do you know how many you've done altogether so far?

00:05:48Tony O'Connell: I've done 70, Mel.

00:05:51Melissa Erbacher: You're going to be in the 100 Club in about four weeks.

00:05:54Tony O'Connell: I'm going to make my own little black T-shirt, I think. We're allowed out of the house for four reasons and exercise is one and not parkruns become the highlight of that getting out. And as you said, Inverloch, we're on top of the world. We've had the most not parkrunners in Australia for three weeks in a row. And for a little small seaside community with only about 5,000 people, it's really great to see people getting actively involved and out. And it's not a matter of being the biggest or the best or anything. It's just great to see our friends on Facebook putting comments up, encouraging each other. And again, like like they do for normal parkrun. So it's really great to have that sense of community back again. And I know I've really been missing it and I just, it's great. I can't run with my friends, but we can all run together if that makes, it doesn't make sense, but that's what we're doing. We're, we're running, we're talking, we're commenting on each other's run and encouraging others to get out. And I think that's a great thing about this, not parkrun. And, um,

00:07:00Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we're enjoying it. The running together but not running together, that does make sense to me because it's just like when the lockdowns happened in the earlier stages and people turned to things like Zoom and were having a lot of online hangouts with friends and things like that. You weren't together, but you were together because you were doing it virtually. And that's kind of what Not parkrun is doing for people.

00:07:24Tony O'Connell: The best thing about it is things like going to the Inverloch results page and go and have a look every couple of days and just seeing all your friends that you've parkrun with for years, seeing their names up there again. And I know we can't go out and run as a group, but it's just great to see all those. And you can imagine all the faces and the conversations and, you know, the laughter and everything from the finish line. It's just great to see all those names. I'm really loving it.

00:07:55Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's awesome. I hope more parkrun communities take up the challenge and follow in Inverloch's footsteps. So, Toc, can I tell you a little story about something I did recently? Lots of running events are going virtually. Many of them did before Not parkrun popped up and there are more following on as they realise their event dates are getting closer, that they're not going to be able to participate in mass groups. One of those was my favourite running event of the year, which was the Sunshine Coast Marathon Festival that happened just a couple of weeks ago. They obviously had to cancel, but they went virtual this year as well. They have a whole bunch of different distances. Every year there's a marathon, a half marathon, the 10K, the 5K and a family 2K. And there's also a onesie run, which I think it's probably about.

00:08:52Tony O'Connell: Hang on, now you're talking my language.

00:08:55Melissa Erbacher: Well, see, that's on a different day. That's kind of like the opening of the festival weekend. They do that on a Friday evening. You register and you actually get provided with a onesie, but of course you can wear whatever onesie you like. So, yeah, you should come up for it next year. For the past couple of years, we've done the family 2K with the boys in fancy dress, which has been fantastic, a lot of fun and I did order costumes for that this year as well but I registered for the 10k because this is a distance at the event that I have avoided and this is the eighth year that the event has been running and I've participated every year the very first year I did the 5k and it was my first ever five kilometre running event because this was pre-parkrun So that was kind of a big deal for me. It was pre-parkrun for me, in my parkrun journey anyway. But the 10K, I've been avoiding it actively. I've literally registered and done the half marathon twice to avoid doing the 10K, which I know doesn't seem to make any sense because you're running more than twice as far. However... The 10K starts at 10 a.m. And on a beautiful, sunny August morning on the Sunshine Coast, it's winter, yes, but 10 a.m. is too late in the day, in my opinion, to start a 10-kilometre run on the Sunshine Coast. I don't care what month of the year it is, it's too late. It's going to be just uncomfortably hot by the time we finish. Whereas the half marathon starts at 6 a.m., So even if you take three hours like I do to run 21 kilometres, you're done by 9am and you're back in the shade and you can sit down and be comfortable and cheer on everybody else that are doing the five or the 10 or the two. So I took the opportunity because it was a virtual event. You could run it over the Saturday or the Sunday at whatever time suited you. And I thought, yes, this is it. I'm getting my 10K in because I have aspirations to run the marathon in the 10th year. And I wanted to have done all the distances in the preceding years before that. So the only ones that I had left were the 10 and the marathon. And so... Tick, 10K has been done. I was completely not trained or ready for it. But I registered Adam as well and told him, okay, we're doing this as a family. We're going to have the boys in the double pram, the bobsled, and we're going to do this 10K. And we're doing it at my pace, so it's practically a walk for him. And he was told not to complain. And he did a really good job, actually, of not putting pressure on me.

00:11:42Tony O'Connell: Well done on the 10K, but the most disappointing thing I take out of that, with it being virtual, is I look forward to the annual family photo of the Erbachers with Adam in costume and in the past years, the boys in costume. It's been a great family photo every year. This year, no costume photo.

00:12:04Melissa Erbacher: Well, here's the thing, Toxie. So I did get the costumes, combination of online purchases through my most frequently used costume stores and some creativity and sewing for the boys and the dogs and some extra accessories for myself and adjustments to Adam's costume. You know, nothing ever fits. Nothing, hit a bit of a snag when on principle, partially because I didn't actually ask him and probably mostly because he's constantly telling me he doesn't want to dress up, Adam refused to get fancy dressed. Also, I mean, there wasn't a 2K event happening anywhere and I may have sprung the costumes on him at the eleventh hour, which funnily enough he did not appreciate either. I know Scotty would say that the showman won't suit up if there's no official crowd to put on a show for and, you know, there might be some truth in that. For me, I'm just sad that there's going to be a hole in my family album showing the evolution of Fancy Dress, at the Sunshine Coast Marathon each year, which will be a very conspicuous hole, a gaping hole if left unfilled when you see the age jump in Wes and Emmett. You know, last year they, what were we dressed as last year? It was a Wizard of Oz. So Emmett was the cutest little lion, cowardly lion in the world. He slept through the whole thing. Wes was Scarecrow. And just the height difference and the age difference from being a baby to being a two-year-old and from being a two-year-old to being a four-year-old, it's just immense. So if we don't take a photo this year, it's... It doesn't bear thinking about. Anyway, so I haven't given up entirely. I'm refusing to put the costumes away, and so they're just sitting on top of the bookcase in our living room at the moment. I still really want that family photo for 2020, even if it didn't actually happen at the festival. Although now that I think of it, our medals did just arrive in the mail this week. So perhaps I can convince myself I was just waiting for the bling to show up so we could complete our ensembles. And so I don't feel like I cheated. Maybe I'll do the 2K, at least with the boys, because they wear whatever I put them in and they don't question me, unlike their dad. Maybe I can do that when streaky September kicks off. That'll be festive. And then I can share the pics. Meanwhile, I'll talk about off at a tangent. We'll chat more about Streaky September later. Things we do, hey? That was a very long-winded way of telling you that I didn't get fancy dressed.

00:15:01Tony O'Connell: But there's still the opportunity, so it's all good. Righty-o, Mel. I think we're pretty well caught up on all the things that have been happening since we last had a chat. How about we introduce another adventure and go on with the show?

00:15:15Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a plan, Toc.

00:15:17Tony O'Connell: Cool. Let's do it.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Interview Mark Scarborough — Channel 5 News Crew roving reporter, mid-way through an extended caravan trip around…

00:15:19Melissa Erbacher: We heard from him in our last episode and while we might not always have the opportunity to chat to him in person due to locations and Wi-Fi and internet connections and whatnot, we are lucky enough to have him back on the pod again today. We've got Mark, of course, one of the Channel 5 news crew on the pod to discuss where he's at in his adventures. It's been a little while since we chatted to him and I think he's done about a bazillion parkrun events as Freedom Run since then. So Mark, welcome back and tell us where have you been?

00:15:58Mark Scarborough: Yeah, thanks, Mel, for having me back on to have my roaming, roving report. So I think the last time that we spoke last month, we were in Dubbo. And yeah, we've moved on from Dubbo well and truly now. That seems like a long time ago. But we're actually up in Mount Isa now.

00:16:17[other]

00:16:17Tony O'Connell: And by the sounds of things, Mark, you've got half of the cicada population of Mount Isa over your shoulder. Sounds great. Very Australian.

00:16:26Mark Scarborough: Yeah, no, look, you know, here we are out back Queensland and, you know, it's a beautiful night. So I'm sitting outside the caravan under the awning doing the podcast with you. And yeah, the cicadas are singing along in the background.

00:16:39Melissa Erbacher: And for those who are not familiar with the geography of Australia, Dubbo is in New South Wales and Mount Isa is actually in far north Queensland, northwest Queensland, I should say. So we let you in. The borders did close just after you snuck across. How did you go with getting your passes? Obviously, you made it through.

00:17:04Mark Scarborough: Yeah, no, I think that we were lucky with our timings. Obviously things got pretty heated in Victoria. We were a bit concerned about the borders closing in Queensland. So we were prepared to kind of move a little bit faster that way. The original plan was to head to South Australia, That was closed before we got there. And so we diverted from Dubbo to the coast. And, yeah, we got across easily. You know, we did the right thing, filling in the paperwork and getting the permits done. It was the first day of the Defence Force actually helping on the border. So we were processed pretty quickly. And then it was probably about three, two or three weeks later that the borders were closed again in Queensland. And, look, I do want to acknowledge too that, you know, we are... very fortunate to be able to travel. Obviously our parkrun family and friends in one of the greatest states of Australia are in severe lockdown at the moment and I do appreciate that we are very fortunate that we are able to undertake this trip at this time and we do value it. It's been a fantastic trip.

00:18:11Tony O'Connell: So, Mark, you've been doing the who's who of parkruns going up the coast. Which direction are you headed now?

00:18:17Mark Scarborough: We're actually packing up tomorrow and we're heading into Northern Territory. We've got our forms filled in for there and hoping we'll get the stamp tomorrow and allow us to cross into Northern Territory.

00:18:29Tony O'Connell: And once you cross into the Territory, which direction are you headed from there?

00:18:33Mark Scarborough: Yeah, so we'll start heading toward Darwin. So we've got some time initially at Kakadu and then a week in Darwin and then we'll head into Litchfield and then start heading south towards Uluru into South Australia and then head home from there.

00:18:47Melissa Erbacher: That's all very exciting, Mark. But I want to know, can you give us a bit of an overview of the courses that you've freedom run at on your journeys since we last spoke to you when you were in Dubbo?

00:18:59Mark Scarborough: Yeah, so while we were in Dubbo, the family and I did the Narromine Wetlands parkrun. That's a really nice course actually around, as the name is, some wetlands and lots of bird life there. That was good. And then the next morning, I actually went out and did the Dubbo one on my own. And quite funnily enough, here I am in nice warm temperature. That was a pretty cold morning. Next on the agenda was Tamworth and Armidale. Didn't actually plan on stopping at Armidale. We had a bit of car issues that forced us to spend the night in Armidale. Funnily enough, I found out that that was also... meant to be their anniversary that weekend so in a way it was kind of nice I suppose to maybe get out there and mark that for them. It was a parkrun day but we respected the parkrun guidelines and didn't run at parkrun time. We did that a little bit later in the morning but we did see a few other parkrunners out there. That was an interesting course because it was more of a test of orienteering than anything trying to understand their course. I'm not sure how accurate we were on it, but hey, we got a 5k running. And then we went to Coffs Harbour and I went and did that one on my own. And interestingly, that one, it's an out and back course. And at the turnaround point, you do that twice. There's a doughnut and coffee van. And I do wonder if there's a few people that don't make it back to the start finish line there at Coffs Harbour.

00:20:13Melissa Erbacher: I don't remember doughnuts. I wonder if that's new.

00:20:17Mark Scarborough: Maybe it is. But yeah, I had a bit of a chuckle to myself when I saw that. And I thought there'd be a few people there maybe that maybe have an extended turnaround.

00:20:25Melissa Erbacher: On course. What do they call it? Nourishment. Nutrition.

00:20:28Mark Scarborough: Yeah, a bit of a sugar hit. And then from Coffs Harbour, we crossed over the Queensland border and we spent a bit of time at the Gold Coast. So they gave us a bit of time to explore some in the local area. One of them being Broadbeach or Broadwaters? I always get it confused.

00:20:42Tony O'Connell: Broadbeachwaters.

00:20:43Mark Scarborough: Broadbeachwaters, yeah. And then thankfully, because we were staying with friends, we were able to leave the kids behind, with them a few times and Nicole and I were able to sneak out and put a few in together which was nice just to have some quiet time running together so we did Varsity Lakes, Surfers Paradise and Paradise Point there on the Gold Coast. When we did talk on the podcast last time obviously Lyndell was on the on the pod last and it was talk about trying to catch up with her while we're in Brisbane but The timings just didn't work out for both of us. It was only a very quick stop in Brisbane for us. Unfortunately, yeah, couldn't catch up with Lyndell, which was a bit of a shame.

00:21:15Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, you kind of managed to skip from Goldie to quite far north in a very short space of time. I think next time, next trip, you need to do a bit more planning so you can be in the Sunshine Coast area a bit longer.

00:21:28Mark Scarborough: Yeah, but like I said, you know, we didn't actually plan to be in Queensland at all. So we were really making it up on the fly. We did kind of, yeah, a quick hop, skip and a jump, yeah, from there. And we did spend an extended weekend on, I think you call it the sunshine coasts. But to me, it was more like the rainy coast. Here it comes. So our friends came up with this from the Gold Coast up to the Sunshine Coast. And I'm doing air quotations. Obviously, it doesn't work.

00:21:58Melissa Erbacher: The one weekend of the whole year that it actually rained.

00:22:03Mark Scarborough: Oh, and did it rain. Wow. Yeah, it was pretty good. We did sneak out, I think, on our last day when the rain eased. We went out to Nambour, one of the famous park-run courses in Australia. Yeah.

00:22:18Melissa Erbacher: This is high on Toc's list of must-dos. How are you feeling, Toc?

00:22:23Tony O'Connell: Insanely jealous at the moment. That's high on my list.

00:22:27Mark Scarborough: You know, like I said, because we weren't planning on being in Queensland, you know, I thought the Nambour would be something we'd do along down the track. And it's a challenging course. I would love to be a Marshal or a photographer on that course and to see the locals take it in full flight. That would have to be the longest Freedom parkrun we've done to date. But yeah, thoroughly enjoyed it.

00:22:52Melissa Erbacher: But did you see, I think you did, the world famous icon of Nambour parkrun?

00:22:58Mark Scarborough: You know, I did warn Nicole and the kids about Fluffy and, you know, they were quite cautious about, you know, coming face to face with an emu. We were 500 metres in and I just sensed some movement over in the bushes. And yeah, sure enough, this emu comes out and it was a bit, it's quite daunting. Like I've seen the photos and I've seen the reports and things like that. And I know what he's like and I know he's friendly and things like that and does get right up close to you. But it is quite daunting when this emu is right there and the noise it makes. So it was kind of, yeah, it was really quite exciting, Nicole and the kids talking. We're at a distance, but yeah, he came straight up to me and I was able to get some photos and some good video. So that was really cool. Like from everything that everybody said, extremely lucky because we were not there. Like we were at the late end of the day. So not even the morning. So we were told that we're very, very lucky to get to meet Fluffy. So that was really cool. And he kind of, you know, walked along with us for a little while. And then ducked off through the bushes and I thought, oh, maybe he's taking a shortcut and we might see him on the other side. But that was the last we saw of him. So that was a real privilege to see him.

00:24:09Melissa Erbacher: We must be almost at 50% of the Channel 5 News crew have met Fluffy now.

00:24:13Mark Scarborough: Yeah, that's a good success rate.

00:24:16Melissa Erbacher: We should work on that, Toc. We need to get you up here.

00:24:18Tony O'Connell: Yep, definitely. I'm keen for that. Open the borders, let me come.

00:24:24Mark Scarborough: Yeah, so then after Sunshine Coast, we kept moving north and now ticked off Hervey Bay and Yeppoon. And then we kept moving north and did Rockhampton, Airlie Beach and Cairns. So Cairns was just the other day. And on the way to Mount Isa, we did stop at Cloncurry and that's on the real red dirt. And I was kind of like, oh yeah, I want to do that one. I want to tick that one off. But there was quite a fair bit of construction going on in the area and it didn't look like it was that accessible. So we skipped Cloncurry. And then this morning I got up and went and did Mount Isa parkrun. So that's where we are now.

00:24:58Tony O'Connell: Righto Mark, so you're six weeks into a trip away and So far, you've managed to tick off 13 letters of the alphabet with Freedom Runs at parkruns. So you're batting above 50% of the available alphabet. You've got eight weeks to go. I know you're heading into a remote area, but here's a challenge. I want to see you at the end of your trip. You're heading down to South Australia, so you've got a fair bit of potential there. You've only got 12 letters to go. How many are you going to be able to tick off before you get home?

00:25:31Mark Scarborough: Oh, look, there's three available in Darwin. So I'll give those three a red hot go. But then there's not much opportunity for us from there, to be honest. When we hit South Australia, we'll be going to really start heading home from Port Augusta.

00:25:49Tony O'Connell: Those three in Darwin are going to be letters that you've already got. You're going to have to put the thinking cap on, mate, and come up with something a little bit more creative.

00:25:59Mark Scarborough: We'll see what happens as we head through New South Wales back home.

00:26:03Tony O'Connell: Yep, you've got a couple on the way back through there. That'll be...

00:26:05Mark Scarborough: interesting little trip as well through the centre of new south back across yeah it's a shame that you know we haven't been able to get our our barcode scanned on this trip but look you know we're like I said we're very fortunate we've been able to do this trip and be able to visit some of these parkruns and

00:26:21Melissa Erbacher: just do a freedom run anyway so but yeah we're enjoying it well thanks for joining us once more mark to give us the update on where you've been because there's a lot of people around and about the place who who can't get much further than five kilometres from their house at the moment safe travels good luck with heading into the no service areas and and I hope the kids don't mind the lack of the internet access and there's beautiful beautiful parts of this country Litchfield National Park which you mentioned a little bit before you know absolutely stunning stunning place to go so enjoy yourselves and stay safe and we look forward to when we can catch up with you again thank you talk soon

00:27:13Tony O'Connell: During the break, we were lucky enough to get a roving report from Steve Darby from over in New Zealand. Steve's brought us a report from Millwater. Over to Steve.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Steve Darby — Millwater

00:27:24Steve Darby: So today in New Zealand, we're on the third run back after the COVID break. And we're at Millwater parkrun, which is in Silverdale, about 20 kilometres north of the centre of Auckland. So that skyline that becomes famous on New Year's Eve every year, about 20 kilometres north of there. Today, out of the 30 parkruns in New Zealand, two are actually not running. There's Hobsonville, because it hasn't restarted after the break yet. And unfortunately, we lost one late last night because Whangarei got badly flooded. I think about five or six people turned up on the start line this morning, but it wasn't an official event. So... What that actually means is for the first time ever, and probably the last time ever, Millwater is actually the most northern parkrun in the world this weekend. Alongside me right now, we've got the co-EDs, who... I don't actually know how to pronounce your surname, Rhys, but I'll let you pronounce it. Go ahead. My name's Rhys Spivey. Spivey. I think I probably would have got it right, actually.

00:28:48Rhys Spivey: Yeah, it's spelled Spivey.

00:28:51Steve Darby: Okay. And Claire Taylor?

00:28:54Claire Taylor: Taylor, yeah. That's easy.

00:28:55Steve Darby: Okay, so... Today, third run back, but if we go back to the first run, we had all those link-ups with different international territories, and Millwater linked up with Italy. I remember being very impressed by the run brief that day. Someone delivered part of the run brief in Italian. And the question we've got really is, did you already know Italian, Rhys? Or were you like someone swatting up for an exam in the week before?

00:29:32Rhys Spivey: Yeah, I've never spoken Italian before in my life. And I was sweating on it, that's for sure. But I just thought it would be a really cool thing to do and have a bit of fun. And I'm sure the Italians would have got a real giggle out of the accent and the way I pronounce things.

00:29:48Steve Darby: So how did you go about learning that Italian then?

00:29:53Rhys Spivey: Was Google your friend? We did Google Translate and... We found out the way the computer was saying things wasn't 100% right. So with the help of my daughters who have got a great ear, they could help pick up on the pronunciation that I couldn't pick up on. And we got a different app where it was actually an Italian lady speaking. And then we got it right. But the rehearsals and my family listening to that for a week prior was a bit of a laugh. But no, it was really good.

00:30:31Steve Darby: I'm impressed that you went to so much effort because we wouldn't have known whether it was good or bad, you know. So in that week, Claire, did you make contacts with Italy at all? Any parkruns in Italy?

00:30:48Claire Taylor: What I thought we'd do, we chose Italy, we were quite late to the party with choosing a country, so I contacted Rhys and I said, what do you reckon, Italy's still available, that sounds like a pretty cool choice, so we did that. And I just went straight to the top actually with Giorgio.

00:31:03Steve Darby: Did you agree with the other EDs which countries you were going for, or...?

00:31:07Claire Taylor: There was a document that went round. I think it was first in reverse. So I know Cambridge quickly snapped up the UK, I believe. That obviously would have been my first choice.

00:31:19Steve Darby: I think it was England, actually, not the UK.

00:31:21Claire Taylor: Yes, sorry, it was England. Because Pegasus did Wales. Pegasus, yeah, my friend Jackie is an ED down in... The Daffodil? Yeah, she was the Daffodil, down in Texas. Yeah, so we chose Italy. So I went straight to Giorgio Cambione, who's the, I probably didn't pronounce that right.

00:31:37Unidentified speaker: Right, sorry.

00:31:38Claire Taylor: Giorgio Cambione. Who was really lovely. I messaged him and I told him what we were doing. His English was great. And we just, we were in touch all of that week. And he put out all of our posts that we put on our Facebook page into the Italian parkrun Facebook pages. And we had so many contacts from over there. People were emailing us with messages of support

00:32:03Steve Darby: The questions have been, you know, in the minds of Event Directors and Run Directors across the UK, Australia, the territories is, is there any difference to the way you run events now after the break or is it exactly the same as it was before? I mean, I know probably sanitizing tokens and things like that, but is there any other differences?

00:32:26Claire Taylor: We've got the contact tracing QR code available. I don't know how many people are using that. It's there.

00:32:32Steve Darby: It's kind of optional though, isn't it? It is. You know, in terms of sanitising too, because it's probably a good idea at the best of times anyway, so that's not necessarily a burden.

00:32:45Rhys Spivey: But it's back to normal, wouldn't you say? We just run events as they were. It's pretty much back to normal, but I think everybody's just got this huge appreciation that we can actually be doing it. And all the Kiwis are very sort of mindful of what we've been through and the hard work that we did with our distancing, sanitising, the whole works. And the fact that we do have that facility at parkrun, I think it's comforting for them, the ones that want to use it and make use of it. But otherwise, I'd say we're pretty much just back to normal.

00:33:24Claire Taylor: It was quite emotional, that first day back, wasn't it? It was. Lots of people hugging and laughing and chatting. We were late to leave, and it was really good. It's good to be back. It's good to see everybody.

00:33:35Steve Darby: It's like I said previously, we actually started getting nervous that week, realising it was a big deal across the world, wasn't it? Yeah. So if we just think about Millwater in general, just tell us a bit about the event, you know, what's the course like, what are the facilities that we have at Millwater? You go, Claire.

00:33:57Claire Taylor: Okay, so it started back in, I think it was September 2014. It was a slightly different course back then. We had to change the course recently, a year and a half ago, two years ago, because the hockey field was going in and a road came into play and we couldn't cross the road so we had to investigate a new course. So we've been running that course now for a wee while. So we start off on Millwater Parkway, which is a bustling little suburb just outside Orewa.

00:34:28Steve Darby: Which is growing quickly.

00:34:29Claire Taylor: It is growing quickly. Lots of houses popping up at the moment. So we run around the sports fields, past the hockey fields and then around on the Millwater Estuary, which is Orewa Estuary.

00:34:41Steve Darby: It's actually a nice course. It's nice and a little flatter now, actually, isn't it?

00:34:47Claire Taylor: A little bit flatter, yeah. We're known for our undulating hills, and we get lots of visitors, especially from the UK, that come in huffing and puffing, saying, oh, your hills are terrible, but they're not that bad, really.

00:34:58Steve Darby: And facility-wise, plenty of car parking?

00:35:00Claire Taylor: Lots of car parking, yeah. We've got a nice toilet block right next to the start line now, which is not so nice in the summer when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.

00:35:09Rhys Spivey: Makes you get away from the start line faster.

00:35:15Steve Darby: So you've sold the parkrun well. Unfortunately, I don't think anybody can come at the moment. I know. Have you... Do you noticeably miss the fact we don't have international visitors at the moment? Yeah, we do.

00:35:32Rhys Spivey: Because each week, and I'm sure it's like every other parkrun, that you do have international people. And it's great to catch up with them after the parkrun and share stories of where they're from. But that is something that we are missing and we look forward to...

00:35:49Steve Darby: You see, that's the one thing that I would point out as being different, you know, the fact that, you know, when you're doing a poll of people at the beginning, there's no international hands going up, you know.

00:36:04Claire Taylor: There's one lady from Australia visiting.

00:36:05Steve Darby: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I know Mel Ellis is prepared to go into quarantine to come into a parkrun. But I don't think you can even do that, to be honest.

00:36:15Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:36:16Steve Darby: So it might be a while before we get international visitors. Yeah. But we're thinking of them. You know, we want them back as soon as possible. But, of course, this is an adventurers podcast, so where, if you could travel now, and you had, you know, freedom of the world, where would you choose as your... We'd have to go to Italy. Any particular event in Italy?

00:36:46Claire Taylor: Any of them. All of them?

00:36:49Steve Darby: All of them. Yeah, no, it'd be pretty cool. Stay for a few months.

00:36:54Claire Taylor: I've been planning to go back to my first ever parkrun as well, which is in the UK. Which was? Kesgrave in Suffolk. My dad introduced me back in 2014 and it was because of that that I got into parkrunning. I was over for my sister's wedding and he introduced me to parkrun so I had a look to see what was out here and I think Millwater had just started a couple of weeks prior.

00:37:16Steve Darby: So are you both tourists? I know you're obviously at Millwater a lot of the time but do you like to go to different events?

00:37:25Rhys Spivey: Yeah, I've done a couple around New Zealand, three different parkruns. But my first ever parkrun was when I was over in Australia on holiday because my daughter was living over there. And her and her boyfriend at the time, he was a professional triathlete. And my daughter got into running because of him, which was a great thing. And when I got there, they said, oh, you should come to a parkrun. I had no idea what it was. What's parkrun? Exactly. And when they told me, I said, oh, I don't know how I'd go there. And yeah, I went there. And thanks to those two guys getting us involved, It's been brilliant. We've come back to New Zealand, the same as you. Where's the nearest parkrun? No order was it. And off we went.

00:38:20Steve Darby: And that's why 13 people turned into 7 million people.

00:38:24Rhys Spivey: Yes, exactly.

00:38:25Steve Darby: And counting. Okay, well, thanks very much for joining us today. Any messages for all the guys in Australia, the UK, and other territories who are, well, obviously Italy, who are watching with envy at the moment? Hang in there.

00:38:44Rhys Spivey: Yeah, that's exactly the word I was going to use. Hang in there, guys. It'll come right, we don't know when, but when it does, we'll all become this global family again and we'll be travelling.

00:38:59Steve Darby: And we'll be meeting up in person. Absolutely, yeah. Okay, well thank you very much.

00:39:06Rhys Spivey: If I could just say just one big shout out to the guys here at Millwater. It's quite a team that we have. And Cathy. Kathy's sitting next to Steve here. Being a part of our crew, I've got Cathy, Vivian and Claire, and without those three girls, Millwater would be pretty slack because it would be left up to me. And the results that these girls do every week, the time that they spend, Frank and Laurie, they're also sitting here at the table with us, behind the scenes, incredible work that they do. And it's like other parkruns around the world, I know it's only successful because of the great people that you have around you. So I want to say a big thanks to these guys and everyone else that's volunteered and made Millwater what it is. Well done, guys. Awesome.

00:39:59Steve Darby: Okay, so from Millwater, it's goodbye from us. Thank you very much. Thank you.

00:40:05[other]

00:40:05Melissa Erbacher: Well, how's that for a little bit of post-parkrun authenticity? You've got all the noises of the cafe in the background, the guys making the coffee, the people clinking the plates. Awesome to hear from the team at Millwater parkrun, Rhys and Claire, and thank you very much to Steve for bringing us that little slice of post-parkrun catching up. Now, of course, parkrun New Zealand is back on pause, as most people would be aware, and it's just a sign of how insidious this virus is and what a rollercoaster it's been for so many people in and out of lockdown. parkrun on pause and then unpaused excitingly and then taken away again for hopefully a very short period of time. Fingers crossed that it's the shortest possible pause for our New Zealand family.

00:41:02Tony O'Connell: Mel, I think this is going to be the nature of things for a little while. We might be off pause and on pause a few times over the journey, but they'll be back again. Their numbers have definitely declined. They're on the improve. So let's hope to a short pause and a back in.

00:41:19Melissa Erbacher: Yes, well, I mean, they've got the right attitude about it. I do know that some of the Event Directors over there are vying to be both the first and second country back off pause. So, yeah, they're taking it all in their stride, which is really great to see. But thoughts are with the world, the parkrun world at the moment, because we're missing our parkruns and hopefully it's not much longer until we can be back out there. But to keep people motivated and having fun and adventures in their own backyards.

Streaky September

00:41:56Melissa Erbacher: In the meantime, we are on the precipice of another Streaky September, Toc. This is Streaky September number, is it number three or number four now?

00:42:07Tony O'Connell: I think this one might be number four. I think we had... This is number four. Yeah, so I wonder if there's anyone out there that's actually been on the go all the way through. I know there's a number of people that are coming up to the end of their second year streak, so they're up to 731 days of streaking. There's a huge number up to the year. They've kept it going from last streak in September up I know there's people like Carolyn Vandermeer out there that's coming up to 800 days. So she started at a different time to everyone else. But it's great. There's a Facebook group and everyone sort of keeps a little bit involved. I know Cassie from over in WA just posted some incredible photos of sunrises over in Perth. They must not have wind any day of the year at sunrise over in Perth. Just amazing photos. And we're lucky in the group. There's people from all around the world. So you've got people like Pippa White from the UK and different people from around the world that you can interact with in the group. And everyone just keeps everyone else motivated.

00:43:12Melissa Erbacher: It's a great little group. Yes. Well, so for those who haven't heard of Streaky September before, even though we are just about to host our fourth year of Streaky September, basically this is what you've got to do to be involved. You need to walk or run or hop or skip or jump however you want to move two kilometres every day, for the entire month of September that's it you don't have to be naked it's not that kind of streak it's also not about bacon which I know Janet Reid thought it was about it's just about moving and originally came out of Scotty and I looking for some motivation to get our mojo back many, many years ago and wanting to take everyone else along for the adventure. And it is one of the fun things that I love about this podcast and that I hope will continue for many, many years to come. And we do fun things like Streaky Bingo and have little challenges for people along the way to keep you motivated. So if you want to join and what's the name of the group?

00:44:21Tony O'Connell: The group name is Streak365plus1.com. At the moment, we have updated the name a few times, but, yeah, at the moment, if you look for Streak 365, you should be able to find the group from there.

00:44:33Melissa Erbacher: Excellent.

00:44:33Tony O'Connell: Some of those bingo challenges and that, we have some really great fun challenges

00:44:38Melissa Erbacher: activities designed to get people out and about but having a bit of fun as well and the things you can involve the family in if you want to they're just a bit of fun absolutely and we are very cognizant of those people who are in lockdown scenarios this year too so there will be challenges that are aimed specifically at being able to include those and it's going to be a bit of a lockdown level up special this year. So there will be things that people can do in their houses, in their backyards, around their neighbourhoods, just to get involved with Streaky September. And I'm really looking forward to it because I know, as I mentioned, my (not)parkruns have been, you know, I might be doing one a week kind of thing, but I'm really looking forward to having the excuse to get out there, hopefully make it through the whole month. Now that we've got the extra, I'm not even sure, I think I made it through the month last year, but I did break my streak the year before that, I think.

00:45:40Tony O'Connell: I think you did, Mel. I think last year you got through, but the year before, I think you only got a few days in before you broke it from memory.

00:45:48Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I did have like a two-month-old baby at that time. So I'm going to use that as the excuse. But this year, actually, no, that was last year I had the two-month-old baby. What was my excuse the year before? I've got no idea. It doesn't matter. It's bygones. So this is a fresh new year. If you've broken a streak one day in, it doesn't matter. And in fact, you know, we've always taken the stance that even if you break your streak, it's streaky September. Just start it again. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

00:46:18Tony O'Connell: You keep going. You get started again. It doesn't matter at all.

00:46:22Melissa Erbacher: If it's 14 days long by the end of the month, then that is much better than zero days.

00:46:27Tony O'Connell: Yeah, and that's all it's about is just getting out and doing a little bit of exercise. Yeah, two Ks, not unattainable. Even on a wet day, you can get out in between showers and get your couple of Ks in.

00:46:39Melissa Erbacher: And, you know, if it wasn't a little bit of a challenge, then what would be the point? So... We will share the details on our Facebook page as well. We'll share a link to the Streak 365 group too just so people can find it a little bit more easily. And I'm sure you guys, even though you streak every day of the year, the group did start out as the Streaky September group and evolved into the Streak 365 group. So you'll all be welcoming of people who might just be dipping in for a month or so, yeah? Yeah.

00:47:09Tony O'Connell: Yeah, definitely. No, the idea is it was Streaky September. It was just about the month of September. The first year in particular, we started with that. Now, people, if you want to come along, if you want to streak for a week, come and streak for a week. Yeah, just get involved. It's a bit of fun.

00:47:23Melissa Erbacher: It's a supportive community to get involved with as well.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:47:27Melissa Erbacher: Now something else that is big and super important on the parkrun adventurers calendar every year, Toc, is of course International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day. And this year, 2020, this day will be the 19th of December. Now Toc, I know that you don't do Ugly Christmas Singlets, so it's possible you are not the right person to be talking to about this. But did you know this year there's also going to be t-shirts?

00:47:57Tony O'Connell: Mel, I nearly went one last year. I nearly went the quality singlet. The year before it didn't grab me. I didn't get the whole ugly theme. But last year's was pretty cute.

00:48:10Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm not going to divulge what this year's design is going to be, but it will be different, of course, than both previous years. There will be a different colour scheme. I know last year we were the more traditional Christmas colours, but this one I think is going to grab everyone's attention. And yeah, I don't want to give away too much about it.

00:48:31Tony O'Connell: And I imagine like all years, Mel, when the orders come out, they're only open for a limited time and it's never to be repeated. You can't go backwards and buy one in the last years.

00:48:41Melissa Erbacher: Exactly. There's never going to be another quality singlet. There's never going to be another of the original release year in the purple and orange colours. So, yes, if you snooze, you lose and we will never be going back. I mean, maybe... I know we say never, but maybe after 10 years of International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day, we might release some of the back limited editions or something like that. I don't know. It depends on how big this gets.

00:49:11Tony O'Connell: Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's keep it to this year. We're looking eight years into the future.

00:49:16Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Well, the growth has been exponential in the two years we've been doing it. I can tell you that much.

00:49:22Tony O'Connell: Oh, imagine 10 years and you're going to have half of the world running around in an ugly singlet.

00:49:28Melissa Erbacher: That's the dream, Toc. That's the dream. And look, the 2019 release of The adventurer's Ugly Christmas Singlets was very popular. And I think the world is ready for more Ugly Christmas. 2020's been a bit of a Meh year for a lot of people in a lot of ways. And the parkrun adventurers are determined to help everyone finish the year strong and on a happy note. And we're going to do it with International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day. May have to change the name because we're also offering shirts this year. So if singlets aren't your thing, if you don't like having your guns out, you just want a little bit more sun protection for your shoulders, it's given me an excuse to put some designs on sleeves, which I'm a bit excited about. We'll be releasing more details, obviously, of the design and when you can order and things like that in the coming weeks, because it's not too long until we're going to have to open the ordering up so that everyone can get their deliveries in time, pre-Ugly Christmas Singlet Day, which of course is before Christmas.

00:50:32Tony O'Connell: And now it's not just Ugly Christmas Singlet Day, the singlets got worn and worn at so many different events, they're almost like their own group.

00:50:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I was pretty excited. We had a lot of them out there last year, but the amount of photos I saw, and I'm doing it now, I'm grinning and it's starting to make my cheeks hurt because it brings me so much joy that something so random as this has been embraced by the larger community and not just parkrunners you know I think running groups in general who love Christmas and love running and hey this is technical kit that they can wear and and look very fetching in

00:51:12Tony O'Connell: When you go out on your adventure too, you see someone in an ugly shirt, you know not only are they a parkrunner, but you know they're someone that listens to the pod and someone that gets what you're talking about.

00:51:22Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. And they're the shirts that people love to hate. And I promise, and this is a promise that I make every year, but this year they're going to be more ugly than ever before.

00:51:34Tony O'Connell: Bring it on.

Sign-off

00:51:36Melissa Erbacher: Well, Toc, I don't think there's anything left to say for this week except stay safe and well. And thank you for joining me on the pod. It was so lovely to hear your voice, especially as it's not muffled by a mask or anything like that.

00:51:51Tony O'Connell: It's been awesome chatting to you, Mel. It's always great to hear your voice from up there in the sunny Sunshine Coast, regardless of what Mark says. Every time I've been up there, I've seen sunshine. So it's always great to hear you again.

00:52:59Unidentified speaker: Thank you.