Episode 211 - Waffle

Welcome

00:00:22Melissa Erbacher: Welcome to episode 211 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Mel Erbacher. I am joined this week by the ever lovely Lyndell. Lyndell, welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for having me, Mel. It's been a little bit of a while since we chatted. Lyndell, do you remember when you were last on the podcast? Oh, good question.

00:00:46Lyndell Murray: No, I don't. I think we were in the middle of lockdown. I think I was doing some pretend heel club adventuring. Yeah. Yeah. So I remember talking about that and we spoke to Mark on his adventure around Australia.

00:01:01Melissa Erbacher: And of course, Mark's home now. Last time he was on the episode, last episode, 210, when Northern Territory had just come back, the first state or territory to bring parkrun back in Australia. And since then, we've actually had the return of parkrun in Tasmania, which was the weekend before last. And now last weekend, we just had Western Australia join the flock. That's three out of, is it eight or nine? I always forget.

00:01:31Lyndell Murray: Seven? Eight? Geography is not my strong suit, Mel.

00:01:35Melissa Erbacher: That's all right. Hold on. I'm going to count it. We've got Queensland, the greater state. Then there's Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, ACT, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales. Have I missed anyone? That's eight. I'm looking at eight fingers.

00:01:52Lyndell Murray: Okay. Eight it is. Let's go with that.

00:01:58Melissa Erbacher: I haven't missed anyone. Yes, so that's three out of eight, which I'm a bit excited about. And next week, this coming week, we've actually got the Australian Capital Territory coming on board too. So that's going to be 50%. Hey, we're getting there. We're getting there. We are. I mean, technically it's not 50% of the events we've got in the country, but it's 50% of the states and territories. So you've got to work the numbers, don't you? Yeah.

00:02:24Lyndell Murray: Oh, look, 100%. You can read the data however you like.

00:02:28Melissa Erbacher: Yes, you've got to make the graphs go in the directions you want them to.

00:02:33Lyndell Murray: Now, what have you been up to, Lyndell, since last we spoke? Well, my most recent running adventure was an ultramarathon up in your neck of the woods, actually, Mel, up out from Mapleton, the Blackall 100.

00:02:47Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's a very infamous event, the Sunshine Coast and I've attended a couple of times, never as a participant, always as support crew. Even support crew, it's pretty intense. There's lots of kilometres to drive between checkpoints and things like that. So I can only imagine what the actual running between checkpoints must be like. There's a bit of elevation in there.

00:03:10Lyndell Murray: Yeah, there is a bit. There's a new course this year which added a little bit more elevation than in previous years. A couple of very big hills I think were added in.

00:03:22Melissa Erbacher: And how did you go? I've specifically – we're friends out in the real world, not just in podcast land, but I've specifically not asked you about it because I knew you were coming on the pod and I wanted to hear all about it firsthand over the audio waves.

00:03:37Lyndell Murray: Well, where do I start? I start at the beginning, I guess. Look, overall, I had a great day out. I really enjoyed myself, if it's possible to enjoy pain and questioning your existence and wondering about your life choices. But look, I knew that with all of the challenges of this year, I knew that I probably wasn't quite as trained physically as I would like to have been. And so I Yeah, I was a bit unsure how fast I'd be able to get through the course. And look, it wasn't fast. But I did manage to outrun most of my time predictions. So, Mel, you would be able to, having been a crew before, you'd empathize with this. Phil, my husband, who was crewing for me, had to keep track. calculating and recalculating when to get to the next checkpoint to see me.

00:04:30Melissa Erbacher: Based on your progress throughout the day.

00:04:32Lyndell Murray: Yeah, because I left checkpoint one to get back to checkpoint two quicker than I thought. So I had to actually stop and text him and say, hey, I'm going a bit early. That's a good problem to have. It is a good problem to have. So honestly, I got around the course a little bit quicker than I thought I might. I slowed down a little bit in the last probably 30 Ks because, as I said, I probably didn't really have as much endurance in my legs as I would have liked. But I have to say, what a terrific event, really well organised. The scenery and the terrain is just beautiful. It's a really beautiful part of the world. So I really loved the experience. I was out in the dark for a lot. And so there's times then when you, you know, are really alone actually, because it's pitch black and you're all by yourself out in the bush and You're just relying on your little headlamp to get you to the next checkpoint and find the next marker in the bush. So it's a real range of ups and downs when you're out there for that long and running that far. But it's something that is a really rewarding experience actually and I just had a blast. I had so much fun.

00:05:44Melissa Erbacher: Have you done many 100-kilometre events before?

00:05:47Lyndell Murray: I've done a few. I've done a few. So, never the Blackall 100. So, this was a new course for me. And it's one that I've always wanted to do. So, really fun. Like, when you get to a checkpoint, particularly when you get to a checkpoint in the dark, it's like a beacon of light. Yeah. And invariably, the running clubs that are running the checkpoints have got music going and they're dressed up and have got some kind of little gimmick to just put a smile on your face. So there's plenty of things to smile at. I guess one of the highlights for me was one of my friends and a friend of the podcast, Erica, was at checkpoint four, which was also checkpoint six. So I ran into her a couple of times there. And in between that, checkpoint five was serviced by the nutters, the Noosa ultra trail runners. And they had a disco set up and they were just, it was loud and it was bright and fun. Part of their job was to issue wristbands so that when you returned back to that same checkpoint, the team there knew that you'd gotten to checkpoint five and back again and And the wristband that they gave to me said, only 20 parkruns today.

00:07:00Melissa Erbacher: That's awesome.

00:07:03Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it was terrific. It was a really nice little touch. It put a little smile on my face. And yeah, you know, I haven't been doing not parkruns or freedom runs or anything like that. So it was just a nice thought for me to think that I did 20 parkruns in a day. And it was not an easy day.

00:07:24Melissa Erbacher: to do the Blackall 100 this year. I know there were a lot of DNFs. So congratulations. Well done you for making it all the way through that 100 kilometres. Did you have any vomits along the way? No. I heard about a lot of those too. So your nutrition must have been good and your hydration.

00:07:42Lyndell Murray: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I go into these events knowing what I can eat and what isn't going to work for me. But I'm not too stringent on a specific plan. I think some people weigh things out and think they're going to have a certain amount of fluid and a certain amount of food. And I've never found that works for me in endurance events. You've kind of got to go by feel a little bit and just get to know what your body can handle and what your body needs. So... I think that paid off on the weekend. I drank more electrolyte on the weekend than I probably ever have in a 24-hour period and that's just because I knew that that's what my body needed and that's what my body was telling me. So there's a lot to be said for that I think as well.

00:08:25Melissa Erbacher: Cravings are there for a reason.

00:08:27Lyndell Murray: Yeah, absolutely.

00:08:28Melissa Erbacher: Wow. Good job. I'm very impressed. And yeah, it's one of those events where I've thought, if I'm ever going to do an ultra, maybe I would. And then I see the same crazy, mad friends that I've got do it every year. And or try, there's lots of DNFs spattered, speckled, dotted throughout their experiences. There's lots of finishes as well. And then there's lots of trips in ambulances and ferrying people away and things midway because of injuries, etc. Yeah. So I've seen the reality of it as well and it's very easy. I think a lot of people register for these sorts of things from the comfort of their homes when they're sitting in air-conditioned luxury and having a nice cool drink and thinking, oh yeah, that sounds like a great idea.

00:09:20Lyndell Murray: It's a great idea. Yeah.

00:09:21Melissa Erbacher: Whereas if you were outside in the middle of the day on a really hot day and you were tired and your legs are sore and you were getting bitten by mozzies, you probably wouldn't think in that moment, I'm going to register to do this for 100 kilometres.

00:09:34Lyndell Murray: Yeah, that's a really good point. It is a really good point. Yeah, I think it's a privilege to be able to do these things. We're really lucky to be in a situation where our bodies are able and our situation allows us. So I'm very thankful for that.

00:09:53Melissa Erbacher: And look, hey, 20 parkruns in one day, that's a great way to get a fix. I mean, you mentioned you haven't really been not parkrunning or anything like that. I was not parkrunning, but then the last three weeks, no.

00:10:05Lyndell Murray: Mm-hmm.

00:10:06Melissa Erbacher: I'm just, I have a void at the moment, Lyndell. I'm not missing not parkrunning, but I'm certainly missing parkrun itself. But you know what I'm missing is the volunteering. Yeah. And this is something I hadn't thought too much about before we didn't have it, was the fact that I have volunteered in other capacities and other places throughout my life, but parkrun is such a convenient place to volunteer. Like, not only all the obvious benefits of the satisfaction you get and the joy and the fun and the friendships you build, all the good stuff that comes with volunteering, they're all there, ticks all those boxes, but When you've got small kids and you want to volunteer, there's not a lot of opportunities unless you're leaving them with your other half or grandparents or whoever looks after your kids. There's not a lot of opportunities to actually volunteer with your small people. And parkrun is one of those places that you can do that. and where it's a village and a family and they're welcome and included. And so since I haven't been able to volunteer at parkrun, I've wanted to fill that need in me to serve and I haven't been able to do it. It's been really frustrating and bizarre. But you've had a chance to volunteer. Obviously you've got multiple lives.

00:11:32Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:11:34Melissa Erbacher: You've been volunteering a bit. How is it? Tell me about your volunteering. I need to vicariously volunteer through you.

00:11:41Lyndell Murray: Yeah, look, again, we've been really lucky that events are coming back in Queensland and, you know, I volunteer as a technical official at triathlon events and we have had a few come back over the last few months. So that's been really great to just get back. And, again, you know, we talk about getting our normal back in our life and getting out and volunteering as an official has helped me get some of that normal back into my life. It's been really great. The race directors and the triathletes have just been so thankful to have events running again and being part of that and being able to help that along and be a part of getting them back up and running has been really, really satisfying and, yeah, a lot of fun.

00:12:29Melissa Erbacher: Well, speaking of getting back up and running, we did mention a little bit earlier that WA is the third state or territory to come back in Australia in recent weeks. And a whole bunch of their events, not 100%, although there will be more events this coming weekend, but most of the events in WA were able to return this weekend. And, of course, we have a roving reporter who lives in WA and is a an Event Director at one of their fine events over there. His name is Cameron. We fondly refer to him as Cam. And he's submitted a roving report, the first one in a little while. Fantastic. Let's have a listen.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Cameron Drake — Tamworth Wetlands parkrun

00:13:13Cameron Drake: Good morning, adventurers. It's Cam here saying g'day from WA. That's right. We're back. Can't believe it. It has been a while, hasn't it? Well, let's go talk to some people. I'm here with Gerry. Gerry, what have you missed most about parkrun?

00:13:32Gerry: The camaraderie is one thing, I suppose, seeing everyone having fun together. I have a medical condition that means I only walk with poles and I miss the excitement of having people around me. I've been walking, but on my own. It's not the same as when you've got people around you, you've got a bit of a challenge to catch up to the next person or don't let the person behind you catch up. So I'm glad that's happening. I'm volunteering today, but we've got to start somewhere. I'll be running next week.

00:14:00Cameron Drake: Excellent. All right. Thanks, Gerry. I'll speak to you later. Bye. Okay. Thanks, Cameron. I'm here with Claire. Claire, what have you missed most about parkrun?

00:14:10Claire: I think I've missed the people the most like who you meet from parkrun because you make a lot of friends at the regular when you turn up every week you start to know everyone and then because it hasn't been on for a while you kind of don't see everyone as often so yeah I think I've missed the people as well as the running.

00:14:28Cameron Drake: And you've seen a lot of familiar faces out here?

00:14:31Claire: Yeah, yeah, quite a few. I normally go to Rockingham, so this is maybe my second time at Baldivis, but because it was on today, I was like, couldn't wait to get back.

00:14:40Cameron Drake: Oh, that's great. All right, well, thanks very much for chatting and have a great day.

00:14:44Claire: Thank you.

00:14:46Cameron Drake: I'm here with Bec and Kylie. Ladies, what have you missed most about parkrun?

00:14:51Bec: Well, I've just had the breakfast afterwards with everybody and the 10% discount at Dome on coffee.

00:14:56Cameron Drake: Oh, nice. Make yourself, Kylie.

00:14:59Kylie: No, I miss challenging myself for the fastest 5Ks because when I do it casually, I'm casually running.

00:15:05Cameron Drake: Ah, so you go a bit faster with lots of other people around you?

00:15:08Kylie: Yes, push myself that little bit harder.

00:15:11Cameron Drake: That's fantastic. Well, good luck on the PB and good luck with breakfast.

00:15:14Kylie: Thank you.

00:15:16Cameron Drake: And just like that, we're done. I'd like to thank everyone at parkrun Australia headquarters who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get everything up and running. I'd like to thank all the local councils in WA who were able to get events across the line. And I'd like to thank all the runners, walkers, joggers and volunteers and events teams just for being great people. Cheers, guys. I'll see you later.

00:15:43Lyndell Murray: Wow, that was so great to hear from Cam. And look, I think he maybe got a bit starstruck or maybe he's a bit out of practice as well. Did he even say where he was?

00:15:56Melissa Erbacher: You know, I'm not sure he did. I know one of the people he interviewed said that they were at Baldivis, which isn't actually the name of the event, but that's the location the event is. Perhaps we should fill in the blanks. It's not the first time Cam hasn't mentioned where he was. I know I've sent him a message about this before. But he was at Tamworth Wetlands parkrun on the weekend. A real honest to goodness parkrun.

00:16:22Lyndell Murray: Very exciting. Very exciting. And look, what a great angley talk. I mean, all of us are missing parkrun. It was so great to hear so many different perspectives on what the crowd at Tamworth Wetlands had missed.

00:16:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, really enjoyed listening to that. And I have spoken to quite a few West Australians here, in the days since parkrun just to check out how they went and I've had lots of very happy messages with people still on a high had just a wonderful morning it was like they had never left and you know that gratitude is there Lyndell you were talking about everyone's grateful to be having their events back and things like that even just in triathlon and it It's the same in all the places that are slowly getting parkrun back. Everybody who attends is really grateful. And I think, I mean, there would be some people out there that are just straight up jealous, but I'm pretty sure that, I mean, I'm jealous too. I will admit it. The majority of us, or I could almost speak for everyone, we're so excited for the places that do have parkrun back.

00:17:28Lyndell Murray: 100%. I couldn't agree more.

00:17:30Melissa Erbacher: And we all can't wait until it happens in our locations as well. It's like Christmas came early for WA and, oh, wouldn't it be a Christmas miracle if we all had parkrun back by then? Oh, for sure.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day

00:17:44Lyndell Murray: Ugly Christmas Singlets and T-shirts. It's not going to be the same if we don't have a parkrun to show them off at.

00:17:50Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:17:52Melissa Erbacher: Well, the beauty of the International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day, though, is that you can just run anywhere. You know, it doesn't have to be parkrun, traditionally speaking it's always been at a parkrun on third Saturday but that's okay this year if you've got a parkrun awesome parkrun for your international Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day but if you don't it's okay you can just go for a run with your mates wherever you like and well we know there's going to be a lot of Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts out there because the sales went gangbusters again this year and oh my goodness Lyndell I'm so excited I can't wait to see them out in the wild.

00:18:34Lyndell Murray: I can't wait to get my hands on one. Look, this is a bit of a breach for me. I'll tell you a secret, Mel. I don't like celebrating anything to do with Christmas until at least December. What? I'm not one of these people who gets super excited for Christmas way in advance. But I make an exception. I know the orders are due for the Ugly Christmas Singlet and t-shirt in usually September or October. that's my concession. I'll get excited about the Ugly Christmas Singlet and t-shirt and get my order in. But until then, I don't want to know about Christmas until at least after my birthday, which is at the end of November.

00:19:15Melissa Erbacher: I don't understand. So what do you do? But how? Most people, okay, fair enough. I don't have my actual Christmas tree up in my house until the 1st of December. So I'm on board with that. But If you wait to do the celebrations, all the Christmas shopping needs to start earlier and you need to start eating the Christmas food because it's only available for, what, six months of the year? So, you know, you've got to maximise. Only six months. Thank Christmas, Carol. What sort of Christmas food are we talking now? Well, just, you know, they start selling all those chocolates that you would buy as a box for a gift in the Christmas sort of design wrapping and stuff. They start selling them cheaper. So there's always, if you work in an office, somebody's always bringing in a new box of chocolates this day or that day and you just literally start living off chocolate.

00:20:12Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Well, I'll eat chocolate. I'm not saying I won't eat chocolate. Yeah.

00:20:17Melissa Erbacher: Well, good. I'm glad you're on board with the chocolatey. What about Christmas carols? Where do you sit on Christmas carols happening as soon as Halloween's over? In fact, they've already got the Christmas decorations up in the stores and Halloween hasn't happened yet. So there's a bit of a conflict. You go to this side of the store and it's all black and orange and then you go to this side and it's all red and green.

00:20:37Lyndell Murray: Yeah, I think that's a bit weird. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know about that. I find Christmas decorations in October a little bit confronting.

00:20:49Melissa Erbacher: That's hilarious. The thing is I actually saw the other day – Somebody was multi-purposing. I was Googling Christmas pumpkins for some inspiration for a Facebook post and somebody had repurposed their Halloween pumpkins by painting them white and stacking them one on top of each other and turning it into a snowman. They had three of them stacked. Yes. There's a big one at the bottom and they got progressively smaller so that they could decorate it as a snowman. And I thought that was really clever. It is ingenious, but just put them away for a month and bring them out in December. I'm just not sure that they're not rotting all in the meantime. Maybe that works in cold climate places but in Australia you wouldn't get away with that. You'd be having fruit fly infestations either out on your front porch wherever you were keeping those pumpkins. Oh, I love the festive time of year and I'm a bit disappointed that you don't start until December. Tell me at least you carry on into January then. Yeah, sure, why not?

00:21:52[laughter]

00:21:52Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:21:56Melissa Erbacher: See, I've been listening to Christmas Podding, the only podcast in Australia which is dedicated to Christmas, hosted by Liam Renton and Vanessa Gibson. Vanessa is actually one of the Co-Event Directors at Sandgate parkrun. Mad, mad keen on Christmas. So she's got a Christmas podcast. I think they're in their third year now. In the first couple of years, they only had the podcast on every couple of weeks in the last month or two before Christmas, but this is the first year they've had the podcast all year and I'm loving it, Lyndell. It is so good. I get my little 30 minutes of Christmas fix once a fortnight and it's brilliant. It just keeps me so much in the mood and so excited for International Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day.

00:22:42Lyndell Murray: You sounded a bit surprised that it was the only Christmas podcast in Australia. How many Christmas podcasts do you need?

00:22:52Melissa Erbacher: Well, I actually haven't looked for other ones. I mean, it's entirely possible that it's the only Christmas podcast in the world, but I'm sure that can't be the case.

00:23:01Lyndell Murray: Surely not. Surely not. There's that many people that love Christmas. There are. I'd be surprised if there weren't others.

00:23:10Melissa Erbacher: bringing it back to international Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day which is on the 19th of December 2020 so don't forget about it people you don't have to have one of the official 2020 release Ugly Christmas Singlets or shirts to participate we've got actually a diy video on the Facebook page for people who want to make their own out of running shirts and Christmas decorations you already have just lying around the house. So check that out. It got quite a few views last year. And something else that we've promised on that Facebook page is for an... For a Christmas wrapping tutorial, and I'm going to call it an ugly Christmas wrapping tutorial, but wrapping Christmas presents is actually one of the biggest things that I love about Christmas. Forget about all the mess and chaos of making all the food and eating all the food and then wishing you hadn't eaten all the food that's involved around getting together with your family or whoever you get together with on Christmas Day. The wrapping of the Christmas presents is something that I really love to do. And I had a conversation with Scotty once about things to teach your kids. And one thing he told me that I need to teach my boys is how to wrap presents, not just Christmas presents, but any presents, because he feels like that's a life skill that he hasn't got because he was never taught as a child. And I guess he never had the interest. And that was what I always loved about Christmas as a kid was when the presents started to accumulate under the tree. And it didn't matter if they were for you or not. If you didn't know what was inside them, it was magic. And you could just sit there for hours wandering and staring at this glorious thing. Yeah, so he said that's something I need to teach my boys because when they grow up, it's going to be a skill that they lack otherwise. And to be honest, Adam does lack that skill. He gives me all the presents to wrap because... You can tell when he's had a crack at it.

00:25:05Lyndell Murray: Yeah. I definitely agree. There is an art to it. And a beautifully wrapped present is something to behold.

00:25:14Melissa Erbacher: And I know Christmas isn't all about the presents and stuff like that, but I am big on the giving and, yes, the wrapping. Anyway, we've gone off on a way big of a tangent from parkrun-related things. Yes. And that's the most I've ever talked about Christmas before December, Mel. Oh. Well, I'm glad that the Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts have managed to bring out a little bit of the joy of Christmas from your normally resting Grinch face status, Lyndell.

00:25:46Lyndell Murray: I was pretty excited to dust off my old ones and check the sizes so I could make sure I could order properly for this year. They did bring a smile to my face and I am pretty excited to get my new one. Good, good. I'm glad.

00:25:59Melissa Erbacher: All right. Well, since you're not a super huge fan, Lyndell, let's move on from Christmas, shall we? But before we wrap up, you know, there are a lot of people out there that are still in lockdown, still restricting their movement, staying at home a lot. Have you been watching anything on telly lately, anything on – free to air or Netflix or Stan or any of those sorts of things. I know you're a Survivor fan. I don't know if that's in its like 45th season yet or what's going on. What's keeping you busy outside of actual sporty type pursuits?

00:26:34Lyndell Murray: Yeah, well, there's no Survivor. The 40th season went to air earlier this year and they haven't been able to record any seasons anywhere in the world as far as I'm aware of Survivor.

00:26:46Melissa Erbacher: Oh, my goodness. I was being 100% sarcastic when I said the 45th season.

00:26:50Lyndell Murray: Has it really had 40 seasons? It has had 40 seasons. It's a survivor of TV. LAUGHTER

00:26:57[laughter]

00:26:59Melissa Erbacher: That's more than The Simpsons.

00:27:01Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:27:02Melissa Erbacher: Wow.

00:27:03Lyndell Murray: It's a winner. It's a winner, I tell you.

00:27:07Melissa Erbacher: I'm going to have to up my over-exaggeration numbers, obviously. Okay, so there's no survivor. It hasn't survived COVID thus far.

00:27:17Lyndell Murray: No, it has not. But what I have been watching, and I think this is a winner in your books, I've been catching up on Parks and Recreation, which I've never watched before.

00:27:27Melissa Erbacher: I'm so jealous. So you're watching it for the first time?

00:27:30Lyndell Murray: For the first time, yeah.

00:27:31Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's just seasons and seasons of joy right there. Yes, I'm very jealous, but I 100% approve as well, Lyndell.

00:27:39Lyndell Murray: Good choice. Yeah, it's pretty funny. I am enjoying it a lot.

00:27:44Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. That's what I like to hear. We've been... turning through a few things lately and one that I really loved and we were looking forward to a season four, which had been greenlit. This is on Netflix, had been greenlit, was supposed to start recording soon, but they have retracted. The fourth season, unfortunately, they've decided, no, we're not going to do it. They paid out all the cast and crew, all their contracts. They paid them as if they had done the season, but they didn't do the season. And I'm devastated. It's called GLOW, which stands for Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Have you heard of that one, Lyndell? I have heard of it. I haven't seen it. Tell me more. I can highly, highly recommend that. It's basic premises. It's a bunch of actresses go to this audition for this TV show, which is about wrestlers, and they hire actors to play the wrestlers, but the actors have to do the wrestling. And yeah, it's just awkward and funny and unexpected. And just, just another one of those random joys. It had been on my watch list or, you know, to be watched for a couple of years actually. And one night we were doing the typical Netflix dance where you spend half an hour trying to decide with your other half what you're going to watch. And then you end up, it ends up getting so late that you're tired and you don't watch anything. And in a fit of frustration because Adam can never decide anything. I just went, well, we're watching this and press play. And he's like, no, no, we haven't decided yet. We haven't decided. And then we just sat down and we watched it and we both loved it. So I've been recommending that one to everyone. After GLOW, we got a recommended one from Scott Watkins, many-time co-host on the pod this year. Yes. He recommended one on Apple. I think it's called iView. I'm not up with the different things.

00:29:41Lyndell Murray: There's so many of them.

00:29:42Melissa Erbacher: There are. And you can get a free subscription with your email address, I think, for a month or whatever. And so we've got one of those. And it's called Ted Lasso. And that one's a great one too. It's about an American gridiron coach who gets recruited to coach football, as in soccer, in the UK for the Richmond team. And he is just this beacon of light and positivity and everyone thinks he's – oh, I don't know if I can use the word. I must be able to use this. Maybe I won't use the word. Everyone thinks he's a joke. Let's say that.

00:30:18Lyndell Murray: Okay. Okay.

00:30:20Melissa Erbacher: But it is just one of the most, and I mean this in the best possible way, wholesome shows that you could possibly watch. He is just a wonderful character and there need to be more Ted Lasso's in the world.

00:30:32Lyndell Murray: I've heard good things. I've heard good things.

00:30:36Melissa Erbacher: Anyway, those are my couple of recommendations. We've completely demolished that in just a couple of days, actually. We've moved on to Schitt's Creek. It's early days with that one yet. I don't know if you've seen it, but it's quite amusing also. I'm picking up a bit of a theme here. You're into the comedies. We just decided that there was just too much unhappy in the world that we need something light at the moment. And it's surprising because Adam isn't usually like that. His go-to is the latest serial killer, thriller, horror, whatever is really painful for me to watch basically. And so, yeah. Yeah. We struggle usually with things to watch together. But, yeah, the comedies lately we're both really just needing the comedies. We need other people to make us laugh.

00:31:26Lyndell Murray: Yeah.

00:31:27Melissa Erbacher: It's a good time for it. So those are my recommendations. And you've got a comedy recommendation too, so obviously you're on that bandwagon.

00:31:35Lyndell Murray: Yeah, look, normally I'm a bit of a drama fiend. I prefer a good, well-constructed drama series. But I thought I just needed something light. I've been watching a lot of dramas this year. Succession on Foxtel is one that I love. They say that's a dramedy. So it is meant to be kind of funny. But because it's about horrible people, it's kind of hard to laugh at sometimes. I get it.

00:32:05Melissa Erbacher: But it is excellent. Compelling viewing nonetheless.

00:32:08Lyndell Murray: Oh, compelling. Absolutely compelling. I would definitely recommend that one. And this year I put on my list of things to do for this year, one of my 20 in 2020 was to watch – old series that I'd never seen before. So I've only just finished working my way through Friday Night Lights. Well, how was that? I've heard good things about that too. Yeah, it was fantastic. So a bit of a different tilt. Again, the main character of that series is also an American football coach, probably a little bit more serious than Ted Lasso from what I understand of Ted Lasso. But It's a football show that isn't actually about football. So it surrounds an American football high school team in Texas. And if you know anything about American football, which I didn't before I watched this series, high school football in Texas is a bit of a big deal. And so it really unpacks the characters and the different reasons why these kids play football. The central characters are a couple, a coach and a high school counsellor who, you know, become almost like parent figures to a lot of the kids in the town. So the characters are really well developed and really well scripted and Yeah, I just loved it. I mean, if you watch the first episode, I challenge anyone to watch the first episode and not be breathtaking and hooked, to be honest. It was a really just compelling drama right from the beginning.

Sign-off

00:33:48Melissa Erbacher: And yeah, I loved it. Oh, okay. Well, then I'll put that one on my list too. Well, that's probably, we should probably wrap it up. We've chatted about Christmas. We've chatted about television shows. It's been a little bit of parkrun talk in this podcast. 20 parkruns worth. Oh, at least. 21 if you include Tamworth Wetlands roving reports. Yep. Yes. So we're fortunate in that we've got so many events coming back online in Australia now. In future episodes, we will be returning to having Event Director interviews and having a chat to them, conscious, of course, of all the people who aren't getting along to parkrun at the moment. But we all love a bit of parkrun chat, so that's why we're here. And, yes, it will be coming back more frequently and taking up, let's say, the majority of the podcast in future. So that's something to look forward to as well. It certainly is, Mel. Thanks so much, Lyndell, for joining me this week. I've had a great chat and it's always good to get recommendations for TV, although I am a bit disappointed to hear you're a bit grinchy about Christmas.

00:34:55Lyndell Murray: Well, I'm not overly grinchy. Talk to me about it in December and I'll be a little bit less grinchy.

00:35:02Melissa Erbacher: And if anyone wants to send Lyndell a gift for her birthday or a card, make sure it's in the post before the end of November. Thanks, Lyndell. Talk to you next time.

00:35:15Lyndell Murray: Until then, Mel. Until then.

00:36:12Unidentified speaker: Thank you.