Episode 214 - Festive Frivolity

Welcome

00:00:20Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 214 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm joined once again by my partner in crime, Olly Spake. Hi, Olly. Hey, Mel.

00:00:33Oliver Spake: How are you?

00:00:34Melissa Ellis: I'm good. Hey, we got the keys to the Ferrari.

00:00:37Oliver Spake: The Ferrari. I must admit I've had to Google. I don't know whether I should be ashamed or proud as a kid to not know the references of our adults. Ferrari, I think, is right rather than a Porsche. In either case, I obviously have some movie watching to do. But yes, we have the keys.

00:00:55Melissa Ellis: And we're referring to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which I will also admit that I've never seen either. That's just a movie that the parents have watched.

00:01:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, I'll put it on the list. But realistically, who takes movie references from parents, right? Sorry, just kidding. Just kidding. Look, we are once again entrusted with this very fine automobile or pod, as it were. Yeah, fantastic to be back.

00:01:18Melissa Ellis: I think we've graduated from L plates to P plates.

00:01:20Oliver Spake: I think so. I hope so. We're close enough, right? What's a test?

00:01:26Melissa Ellis: We'll be back on the 1st of January.

00:01:28Oliver Spake: Yes, that'll be the proof of how well we drive this, I suppose.

00:01:32Melissa Ellis: I know. And thank you to Mel Erbacher for entrusting us to take the pod forward into hopefully a more prosperous and park runny 2021. And we must also thank Danny and Nicola for welcoming us to the parkrun fold. That was very nice words and warm welcome from them.

00:01:51Oliver Spake: Absolutely. If we can have even half as much fun and enjoyment as Mel has and obviously Scotty when he was on the pod and all of the Channel 5 News crew in their fantastic time being a part of the co-hosting menagerie. And I say menagerie in the kindest way possible, by the way. Big shoes to fill. We have absolutely loved and adored what Mel has done. And it's an honour to be having this opportunity to continue. Likewise, Danny and Nicola and all of the people that have been just lovely in welcoming us, despite our chats around all things that really aren't too much about parkrun this year.

00:02:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so back to the co-hosts that aren't parkrunning. Last week when Mel and Mark were both fortunate to have actually done a real-life parkrun.

00:02:40Oliver Spake: Yeah, what wasn't that special? I'm assuming it's close to nine months since we've had two legitimate parkrunning co-hosts, but... In the spirit of sharing it around, not everyone's fortunate enough to have a parkrun right now. Many of us still have our (not)parkruns. So we're here to certainly to continue the love for the (not)parkrun as well, save the fact that many of our Channel 5 News crew and many of our parkrunning family out there are enjoying real life parkruns.

00:03:08Melissa Ellis: Yes. And while we're at that, love goes out to our friends in the UK who are back into the some sort of form of lockdown and finding it tough and returning to their, not parkrunning, I suppose, but isolation, I guess. I certainly can understand that being from what we've been through recently in Victoria. It's hard going back into that. Mentally, it's hard. Once you've sort of done it once, knowing that it's got to happen again, it's a bit tough. Yeah, so to our UK listeners, we are thinking of you and hope to give you a little bit of encouragement that your efforts will be beneficial. And yeah. parkrun hopefully can return in the near future.

00:03:49Oliver Spake: It's not easy pulling yourself out of bed for a (not)parkrun. I can't begin to imagine what it's like in the snow. So hats off to anyone taking that on. Obviously, yeah, any of that northern hemisphere weather right now will be a challenge for the motivation. Keep sending in the thoughts, sharing your experiences. We'll send all the love we can your way. I suppose on the theme of parkrunning and doing real-life parkruns, Mel, have you done a real-life parkrun yet?

00:04:17Melissa Ellis: I did. I did, I did, I did. So it wasn't last week, but it was the week before, and I went to Tasmania. I had four nights away in Launceston in Tasmania with my mum for her 75th birthday.

00:04:31Oliver Spake: Oh, happy birthday, mum.

00:04:33Melissa Ellis: I know. So Ellis Palace parkrun was put on pause while we visited Kate Reid parkrun for event number six. Kate Reed is in a nature recreation area in the southern outskirts of Launceston, and it's only about a 10-minute drive from the CBD. The nature reserve is a network of mountain bike trails, so they're narrow and tight and twisty, which made for lots of leaping over roots and rock. Yeah, poor mum, like 75, and I went, happy birthday, mum.

00:05:01Oliver Spake: Mum didn't make the Stack Club, did she?

00:05:03Melissa Ellis: Don't trip over.

00:05:05Oliver Spake: No, she didn't, no. She did really well. Is the course hilly, Mel?

00:05:09Melissa Ellis: It is, yeah. And, you know, it's beautiful. So it's in amongst eucalyptus, so very Aussie bush. I didn't see any wildlife, but mum told me she saw an echidna rustling off the side of the track. To me, as a Victorian, the course is very Wonderland two bays, which is... for our fellow trail runners will appreciate that. Quite a mix of those two events combined. It was, yeah, very beautiful. It was only a small course too. It was only 42, I think was the total for the day.

00:05:45Oliver Spake: A more intimate parkrun.

00:05:46Melissa Ellis: Yes, it was. And so the RD Ruth recognised my ugly singlet and happily told me about meeting Mel at a visit to Kawana parkrun. Oh, right. And so I mentioned to her that it was mum's birthday and then as mum crossed the line, the volunteers all sang happy birthday to her. So she felt really special.

00:06:04Oliver Spake: That's lovely. That's true intimacy there. You're already part of the family.

00:06:08Melissa Ellis: I know, right? But we had to hurry off. There wasn't too much hanging around afterwards because we were told that the boom gates shut at 10am. So we had to hurry out and take ourselves off for a brunch. But yeah, but I've got to say, so the best part and the unexpected part, the feeling of excitement to get that results email, because as much as I have tried my hardest to recreate parkrun from my own home, that is something that I hadn't, you know, you can't really recreate getting that results email and seeing your stats change on the website. You can't fake that. So the little thrill that I got when that results email came in, that really took me by surprise actually, like just getting that feeling back.

00:06:58Oliver Spake: Is that when it really hits your mouth? You know, you're back at parkrun with some fellow parkrunners. I mean, you've recreated some of that at Ellis Palace, but the results email is the point of difference?

00:07:09Melissa Ellis: It was. Yeah. And I hadn't really expected that. Like we turned up and I was like, oh, yeah, it just felt normal. Like, oh, yeah, back at parkrun. Oh, yeah, there's the flags. There's people in high-vis. Have a chat to, you know, the people standing around. And, of course, mum wants to go around telling everybody we're from Melbourne. Everybody that we saw, we're from Melbourne. I'm like, would you stop telling people we're from Melbourne? You know, to the rest of the country, it was like, oh, Victorians. Yeah.

00:07:35Oliver Spake: in time, don't you?

00:07:36Melissa Ellis: Yes. I just wanted to tell everybody. I was like, keep that a bit quiet, mum. But no, it was really good.

00:07:43Rebecca: And definitely, yeah, getting that results email was really the catalyst.

00:07:47Melissa Ellis: But it was a brilliant weekend. The weather was really nice in Tassie. It wasn't too cold, which it can be because that's obviously- That's Tassie? It's Tassie, yeah. So yeah, no, we had really good weather and I just wish I could go back every week.

00:08:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? Is that a parkrun you had picked out for some time? What drew you to Kate Reed specifically?

00:08:07Melissa Ellis: I don't know. I was chatting online to Brendan Peel about touristing and I don't know, I think he said he was going. He actually went last week. I saw Brendan met up with some other tourists and he also did Kate Reed. So Kate Reed's had a busy couple of weeks.

00:08:23Oliver Spake: They'll be used to the Victorians now, that's for sure.

00:08:26Melissa Ellis: And being that it was due to launch prior to the COVID lockdown, but didn't get to launch. So it has only launched since Tassie's come back from their lockdown. So yeah, they've now done seven events. We were there for event six.

00:08:42Oliver Spake: I mean, that's fantastic. Well done to the Kate Reed team. It certainly takes a lot of effort to start a parkrun, but to start one in this post-COVID and obviously COVID safe framework from parkrun, yeah, great work.

00:08:56Melissa Ellis: And here's the funny thing. So I booked this accommodation. I just went on to Airbnb and booked my accommodation and didn't really pay too much attention. I just wanted somewhere reasonably priced and close proximity to Launceston. And once mum and I checked in and I sort of just opened up Google to have a little look about where the local supermarket was, I realised that our accommodation backed on to Windsor Precinct parkrun. I couldn't have got closer, to another parkrun if I had tried. But ironically, that wasn't the parkrun we were doing. Anybody out there needs to go to Tassie to do Windsor Precinct, I can put you onto a really good little Airbnb.

00:09:34Oliver Spake: Excellent. Obviously, there's some good choice in Launceston. So it sounds like Kate Reed's one for the trail runners, maybe. Yeah, those that want a bit more undulation.

00:09:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah, if you're clumsy, you don't want to go there. Stack club.

00:09:48Oliver Spake: Mel, the trip to Tasmania, there may have been another reason why you took that trip. Why was that?

00:09:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, yes, Olly. The plan was I was supposed to be graduating from uni. I completed a degree mid-year, but during COVID, The pandemic, all university graduations were cancelled. So when I got an email to say I could do a December graduation, I thought, beauty, there's an excuse to go to Tassie the same weekend as my mum's birthday, because I do generally take mum away for a weekend for her birthday. And I can get a parkrun in because Tasmania's back. And it all seemed like it was falling into place. And I had to request leave from work, which took probably a couple of weeks. And by the time I did get my leave granted and went back to the uni and said, right, I'm coming. They said, oh, we've changed the dates. No uni graduation that day. So I didn't actually get to do my graduation, sadly.

00:10:47Oliver Spake: So a not graduation.

00:10:48Melissa Ellis: A not graduation. Oh, well, you know, after the year that we've had, I've well and truly put that to bed.

00:10:56Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, look, congratulations, Mel. I hope you celebrated that graduation another way.

00:11:02Melissa Ellis: Thank you.

00:11:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's fantastic. And incidentally, what did you graduate from?

00:11:07Melissa Ellis: I did a degree in dementia care. Excellent. Learned a lot about neurology and just how the brain is affected. And you know what? I've got to say, during my study, a lot of my assessments, I related back to parkrun just with the evidence that there is with the benefits to the brain from physical activity, social connectiveness. In my last unit, I did base my main assessment around the benefits of parkrunning. I'm sure my tutors were absolutely sick of hearing about parkrun.

00:11:44Oliver Spake: It's very true. And then, look, it's not for everyone, of course, but there are obviously many different angles to enjoy and to embrace a parkrun and opportunities for those benefits.

00:11:55Melissa Ellis: Well, in the UK, parkruns actually partnered with Dementia Research UK. I've forgotten the exact terminology of it, but, yeah, they are partnered. Excellent. That's my aim in life is just to get more people more – yeah, the more people we can get active, the healthier our brains will be. Absolutely.

00:12:12Oliver Spake: Absolutely.

00:12:13Melissa Ellis: There you go. It can help with your cognitive health.

00:12:16Oliver Spake: No, that's brilliant. And again, well done, Mel.

00:12:20Melissa Ellis: Thanks. So anyway, Olly, New South Wales parkrun, it's coming back.

00:12:24Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:12:26Melissa Ellis: This weekend.

00:12:27Oliver Spake: We're in a very exciting week for me personally as a New South Wales-based parkrunner. So for all of our listeners out there, I'm sure many, particularly our Australian listeners, would know, but New South Wales parkruns have been given the green light to get all of their ducks in order and where possible to kick off from as early as this weekend right through for the next few weeks into the new year. So we've got a smattering of real-life parkruns coming up and a few over the Christmas and New Year period. But yeah, just in time for some very special dates, Mel.

00:13:02Melissa Ellis: Shellharbour, how's the preparations going at Shellharbour?

00:13:07Oliver Spake: Look, the excitement's there. A lot of the preparation's done, like many of our events. It's just a matter of waiting for all of the right permissions to be in place. We obviously want to start with the right framework and make sure that the environment there is set up for everyone's safety and wellbeing. But, you know, Can't wait to have everyone back. So whether that's this weekend, we still don't know. Hopefully by the time that people are listening to this podcast, we'll know because it may be this weekend. But at the very least, some good opportunities for people to get out and get their barcode scanned other than in the ACT for those New South Wales parkrunners that have already found themselves scanning in our local neighbours there.

00:13:51Melissa Ellis: All the borders in Australia are now open. So we are free. If we wish to visit the other states that have started, although I guess it's not encouraged to go touristing at the moment, to overwhelm event technicians, post-COVID?

00:14:12Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. And obviously, there are some great opportunities for anyone that is finding themselves there to volunteer as well. Obviously, there's a good, well, a healthy need for Barcode Scanners with the new app, which I haven't tried yet myself.

00:14:28Melissa Ellis: You haven't used the app?

00:14:29Oliver Spake: I haven't used the new app yet. I'm very eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get in and try it in action.

00:14:37Melissa Ellis: It's fabulous because Juniors is app only, so it's brilliant. I can highly recommend it.

00:14:46Oliver Spake: Yeah, no, look, I look forward to it. Whether it's Shellharbour this weekend or another option, we'll see. I mean, I had, you know, we all had our own thoughts around when parkrun's coming back and, you know, I had the opportunity at least for some freedom runs. But as you say, there's nothing quite like the real thing and I look forward to that results email coming soon.

00:15:08Melissa Ellis: That's right. You had a holiday recently.

00:15:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, I went campervanning up the trip. Sorry, up the trip, up the coast. LAUGHTER Yeah, we had a few trips and stumbles along the way, but it was a great adventure. Certainly not Mark's scale, but absolutely Mark-inspired. And we went up the New South Wales coast, up through the central coast, the Hunter, and up as far as Port Macquarie, turned around, returned, and took in some of the local parkrun sites. Along the way, I have to go back, simply.

00:15:15[laughter]

00:15:39Melissa Ellis: I enjoy that when I go on a holiday, going and visiting all the parkrun courses that are within reach and doing freedom runs. So I assume that's what you did.

00:15:48Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, only one legitimate freedom run up at Fingal Bay, which was lovely. Certainly took a few glimpses at some of the other courses as we passed by. Couldn't quite convince some of the lilies to step out. And yeah, my legs weren't quite in running condition at that point anyway. So yeah, it was good to... Yeah, good to see the sights and just start making the plans.

00:16:11Melissa Ellis: So have you lost some fitness during COVID?

00:16:15Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, look, the COVID journey, I suppose everyone's journey has been varied, hasn't it? I've gotten a lot of motivation and have been jumping on the virtual run bandwagon. So I was fortunate to enjoy the – you did it too, Mel, didn't you, the virtual city to surf? I did. Yeah, way back in October. But, yeah, we had a great turnout locally and did our own version of the City to Surf in Shellharbour and went on to the virtual Point to Pinnacle, which makes me very jealous to hear you travelling to Tasmania, Mel, because that's absolutely on the bucket list for next year now, to take on the Point to Pinnacle up kunanyi / Mount Wellington.

00:16:56Melissa Ellis: I've had friends that have done that. That's, I believe, quite a challenging event. Yeah.

00:17:01Oliver Spake: Yeah, looks amazing. And if my own version is anything to go by, I need a lot more preparation.

00:17:08Melissa Ellis: I reckon those Shellharbour legs will stand you in good stead, Olly.

00:17:12Oliver Spake: But in the meantime, I, yeah, look forward to some free weekly timed 5Ks and probably the odd not parkrun in there as well, obviously, yeah. There may be another week or two before things get up and running. So I'll still enjoy listening to some of our Channel 5 News crew parkrunning along the way. And Mel, we've actually got a roving report to listen to.

00:17:35Melissa Ellis: We do. Yes. Let's listen to that, Olly.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:17:38Melissa Ellis: Who is it?

00:17:39Oliver Spake: Yeah, so TOC has had the results emailed. So TOC was fortunate enough to visit Mount Ainslie parkrun in the ACT just this last parkrun day gone. So, yeah, let's have a listen.

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Mount Ainslie parkrun

00:17:54Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today I'm coming to you from a real live actual parkrun and I am so excited. My heart rate is going nuts today. This is so good. I'm standing at the start line of a parkrun. I'm looking at about a hundred or more parkrunners Everyone's fairly well isolated and distanced, which is fantastic to see. Everyone's following the rules. We've driven up the highway to Canberra and we've come to Mount Ainslie. We're just in behind the War Memorial. I can see Parliament House from where I'm standing at the moment. And this is a cracker of a course. I'm looking at a dirt course that goes out over some rolling hills through a forest. So it's going to be an awesome little run to get into. And Did I tell you I am so excited to be back at parkrun? Chat later, guys. Howdy, parkrunners. We've finished Mount Ainslie parkrun. It's a mildly undulating parkrun, but I'm with a couple of parkrunners here. I'm with Brett and Lee. Where are you guys from? We're from Shellharbour. So you might know one of the hosts of the parkrun podcast, our young Mr Olly.

00:19:05Unidentified speaker: We do know Mr Olly. We know him very well. He's a very good man.

00:19:08Unidentified speaker: We do. Hi, Olly. Hi.

00:19:10Tony O'Connell: And, of course, Brendan and my favourite person in parkrun, Em.

00:19:14Unidentified speaker: We all know Em. We all know Em. You can't go to Shellharbour parkrun and not know Em.

00:19:19Tony O'Connell: That's fantastic. And what did you think of the course today?

00:19:23Unidentified speaker: Well, that's our first parkrun in nine months after the lockdown and everything. And we always find runs at Canberra. This is only our third run in Canberra. We always find them a bit tougher because of the higher altitude from what we're used to. So it was good. It was tough because we're used to quite undulating. I'll go quite hilly.

00:19:43Tony O'Connell: And up on the surface is pretty good. The bit of gravel and that, it's just a little bit softer than running on concrete.

00:19:50Unidentified speaker: Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, being from Shellharbour, we're used to running on the gravel. It's a fair bit of gravel and beach there. So sort of similar in a way. But yeah, not bad at all. Not bad.

00:20:00Tony O'Connell: It just doesn't have that lovely little beach section that Shellharbour has. It's one of my favourite courses.

00:20:04Unidentified speaker: It's a beautiful little beach section, but geez, it gets in the legs. It's soft sand.

00:20:09Tony O'Connell: And first run in nine months, so happy with the time you come back in?

00:20:13Unidentified speaker: Yeah, it's well and truly outside PB, but PB was on a flat run down at Batemans Bay, so this is very different to that. But yeah, happy enough with it being the first run back. Got under 30, so happy with that.

00:20:27Tony O'Connell: And Big Smiles back at parkrun again. We're both in black 100Ts, so we've obviously done a few. Yeah, I think Lee's done... About 150, I think.

00:20:37Unidentified speaker: I don't know, I've done about 130 or something, something like that, yeah.

00:20:40Tony O'Connell: It sounds like you've done a little bit of touristing on different events with a couple of spots.

00:20:45Unidentified speaker: Yeah, we've done Cairns and Noosa, a few in Canberra, Tasmania, one in Hobart. Yeah, probably done about eight or nine different ones apart from Shellharbour.

00:20:58Tony O'Connell: Oh, cool. It's always good to get around and experience a different course and a different run. And some of the courses you'd get to would be a little bit flatter than Shellharbour.

00:21:06Unidentified speaker: Batemans Bay is the flattest we've done and Cairns.

00:21:08Oliver Spake: And most of them are flatter than Shellharbour.

00:21:12Unidentified speaker: Most of them are flatter than Shellharbour, yeah, yeah. But it's always good to go and do the different ones. We kind of try and plan trips away around some of the different parkruns. So if we're going somewhere, we try and find out where the parkrun is and if we can get to it because it's always nice to do something different. I can't.

00:21:28Tony O'Connell: All right, guys, well, thanks for the quick chat and enjoy your day and, yeah, we'll catch you around the traps. Good on you.

00:21:34Unidentified speaker: Thanks very much.

00:21:36Tony O'Connell: Thank you. Hey, guys, we're just past the finish line. I'm sitting here with our two lovely Barcode Scanners today, all dressed in orange. Guys, is this your home parkrun?

00:21:47Unidentified speaker: It is for me. Yeah, I guess I've moved to Canberra now, so it is for me.

00:21:50Tony O'Connell: So you've moved to Canberra from... WA. WA. So where was your home over that way?

00:21:55Unidentified speaker: Ah. Canning Bridge.

00:21:59Tony O'Connell: Okay. I know a couple of people from over that way. Funny how you have a small park around the world. And volunteering today, there's a good crowd that's come through.

00:22:07Unidentified speaker: Yeah, it's been really good. It's been nice to see how many people have come back since we started back again a few weeks ago.

00:22:13Tony O'Connell: And I should have said your name's there.

00:22:16Unidentified speaker: I'm Danielle. I'm Wendy.

00:22:17Tony O'Connell: No worries. Yeah, no, look, it's a lovely course. We've done a couple around Canberra, and I love the little rolling hills that you've got here.

00:22:25Unidentified speaker: Yeah. Rolling hills. It's deceptive. I think people think that it's going to be an easy one, but, yeah, there's a few little quite hard hills in there.

00:22:35Tony O'Connell: And what sort of numbers do you think have come through today, judged from your normal?

00:22:38Unidentified speaker: More like 150. Yeah, about that. About 140, 150. I think that's pretty normal. I think so.

00:22:44Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:22:44Tony O'Connell: Yeah. Yeah. And how long have you been doing parkruns?

00:22:49Unidentified speaker: Well, I've been doing it since probably about late 2018. Yeah. Sort of off and on. Thank you. Yeah, what about you?

00:22:58Unidentified speaker: I think I started at the end of, like, midway through 2019. Yeah. And I very, very intermittently. Yeah.

00:23:09Tony O'Connell: It's one of those things people seem to get a little bit intermittent to start with and then it just draws you in and draws you in.

00:23:14Unidentified speaker: And then draws all your family in and your friends.

00:23:17Tony O'Connell: And suddenly your weekend is planned around parkrun and it's your existence.

00:23:22Unidentified speaker: Yeah, exactly, exactly. No, I was pretty happy to hear that last weekend my mum up in Toowoomba went back to her first parkrun post-COVID as well.

00:23:32Tony O'Connell: Excellent, that's really good.

00:23:33Unidentified speaker: Yeah, it's nice to see everyone getting back on the horse.

00:23:37Tony O'Connell: And so other than Mount Ainslie, have you done many other courses around?

00:23:42Unidentified speaker: I've done a couple in – like I've done a few in Canberra and a few up in Queensland as well. I've done Burley Griffin as well. Okay, yeah. Trying to get out to more of them.

00:23:52Tony O'Connell: Get out and become a Territorian, do all the Canberra events. Yeah.

00:23:56Unidentified speaker: There's not that many in Canberra and they're pretty close together, so it's easy. Yeah.

00:24:02Tony O'Connell: Well, guys, enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for the quick chat.

00:24:05Unidentified speaker: Thanks, you too.

00:24:09Tony O'Connell: Howdy, guys. I'm here with Rebecca. Rebecca was RD today. And I've got to tell you, it did my heart real good to hear a run brief today. After nine months, it was just awesome listening in. Well done. You did a great job.

00:24:22Rebecca: I know. It's so good to be back, isn't it?

00:24:25Tony O'Connell: And for the listeners at home, give us a bit of a course description of what Mount Ainslie is like.

00:24:30Rebecca: Okay, so it's a trail, a fire trail mainly, with maybe, shall we say, a few undulations? Well, you ran it today. How did you find the undulations? I've been calling it undulations.

00:24:41Tony O'Connell: I've had various descriptions from mountains to undulations depending on who I'm talking to.

00:24:45Rebecca: Yeah, that's right. I try not to mention it too much in my run briefing because you do see people, the horror on their faces, especially when people think that that first hill is the hill, but no, it gets worse than that.

00:24:57Tony O'Connell: No, no, it's a lovely course. Actually, it's been one of my favourite ones to run around. Yeah, it's a lovely course. I love the rolling hills and that, and it was just a sensational little course.

00:25:07Rebecca: Yeah, it is. It's good. It is one of my favourite. Actually, it's definitely best in Canberra.

00:25:13Tony O'Connell: I didn't see any of the promised kangaroos out on site. No, I know.

00:25:16Rebecca: I think we've upset them too much being back. There was a few the first weekend we came back after the shutdown. There was a few around. I think they got used to having the place to themselves. But yeah, I think they know that we're back now and they leave us alone.

00:25:30Tony O'Connell: Yeah. And this is obviously a home course. Yeah.

00:25:33Rebecca: Yes, yes. It's not my closest one to home, but this is my home course.

00:25:36Tony O'Connell: This is your home course, yeah. Now, we came up here in New Year's Day to do Mount Ainslie, and we got to enjoy a very lovely breakfast at Poppy's with, I've got to say, there was probably 100 people in for breakfast on that day on a non-parkrun.

00:25:53Rebecca: Yeah, I think we did their business quite good with all the cancellations we were having because of the smoke. But, yeah, that was a shame. We were like when we just left it and left it and left it right to the last minute to cool it off. But, yeah, we couldn't have done it. Yeah, we couldn't have done it. No, it was horrible.

00:26:06Tony O'Connell: But it was well worth the trip to come back up because this has been a cracker of a course. I've really enjoyed it.

00:26:12Rebecca: Yeah, no, like I say, it's a lovely course. Best one in Canberra and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I hope to see you again soon.

00:26:18Tony O'Connell: No worries. Thanks a lot, Rebecca. Thank you. Cheers.

00:26:22Melissa Ellis: How good was it to hear TOC's voice coming from Mount Ainslie parkrun, Event 101, and Ollie, the emotion in his voice, like he was dead excited to be there.

00:26:35Oliver Spake: Understandably so, but it was, yeah, it was lovely. It's nice to hear, obviously, TOC getting his turn to rejoin official parkrun and get that experience. Thank you very much, TOC.

00:26:47Melissa Ellis: And Jackie ran a PB. Yes. A parkrun PB at Mount Ainslie with the elevation. Well done, Jack. Hats off to you. You've obviously been getting fit and not like me. My times have gone the opposite direction over COVID, but yeah, brilliant. So big pat on the back to Jackie for doing that. And, Olly, there were some familiar voices in there. Brett and Lee from Shellharbour.

00:27:09Oliver Spake: That's right. It's always lovely to hear some of the Shellharbour family or see, hear. And, yeah, what a nice surprise. Brett and Lee, obviously, camping out there at the moment. And well done, Shellharbour. Team Shellharbour, as it were.

00:27:22Melissa Ellis: And, yeah, it's 152 at Mount Ainslie. So that's pretty good attendance by all accounts.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:27:28Melissa Ellis: And for the very first year... TOC has embraced the ugly singlet. It's the first one he's bought.

00:27:35Oliver Spake: Yeah. So what do you think is the point of difference this year, Mel?

00:27:38Melissa Ellis: FOMO, definitely.

00:27:39Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:27:41Oliver Spake: Oh, look, I think the Ugly Christmas Singlet just epitomises the FOMO experience, doesn't it?

00:27:47Melissa Ellis: Look, it might have been the bright colours. TOC's a little bit partial to bright colours, especially with his costumes. So, yeah, maybe that's what got it over the line. They definitely look stunning in the photo that I saw in their Ugly Christmas Singlets. Having said that, Ugly Christmas Singlets, Olly, they're flooding my Facebook feed. They're popping up everywhere and it's just absolutely fabulous to see. So it's next weekend.

00:28:10Oliver Spake: It's a very exciting time, yes. Potentially by the time that our listeners are hearing this, they're out there enjoying it or if they're listening in advance, they're enjoying it in advance. You're right.

00:28:22Melissa Ellis: You've got to listen in advance before the podcast is out. Yeah.

00:28:26Oliver Spake: I think COVID's done something to my grasp of reality and time here. Or maybe it's just the bright colours. Yeah.

00:28:34Melissa Ellis: The time-travelling listeners.

00:28:36Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. Well, look, it's a very special singlet and it's been fantastic to see so many people enjoying it. I'm really looking forward to parkrun Day and not parkrun Day, this, I asked, or International Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day, December 19th. It's almost here.

00:28:54Melissa Ellis: It is. So I did a little bit of searching to see all these photos and I noticed in the Streaky group... Streak to New Year's Day, we are now. Previously, Streaky September, I noticed Pippa White from the UK posted photos of herself wearing her Ugly Christmas Singlet, doing her run together but apart with her running buddy, Christine Imbert. And Christine also posted her photo in her Ugly Christmas Singlet. She attempted the, let me say, oh, I've got to get this right. The Haldon Forest parkrun route. That was really good to see.

00:29:27Oliver Spake: Oh, it's lovely. Well done, Pippa and Christine. Absolutely love seeing the singlets and don't they stand out nice and bright?

00:29:35Melissa Ellis: The singlets on a streak.

00:29:36Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:29:37Melissa Ellis: Streaky singlets. And over on Insta, there was a couple of posts too I found. My Glory Box said, we launched the Ugly Christmas Singlet before the official International Ugly Christmas Singlet Shirt Day because we can't wait. So that's people getting ahead. Maybe they're like your time travellers, Olly. That's right.

00:29:56Oliver Spake: That's right. Any way to enjoy it, just for that little bit longer, if it involves time travelling, then, yeah, it just has to be.

00:30:03Melissa Ellis: And then also on Insta, Crazy Scottish Running Girl said, when you're trying to read through ALS stuff and get happily distracted by international Ugly Christmas Singlet arriving. So, Olly, I don't know what ALS stuff is. Do you?

00:30:17Oliver Spake: No, can't say I do. Okay.

00:30:20Melissa Ellis: Well, it sounds important. But she was distracted by mail. So Ugly Christmas Singlet mail. So that's got to be a good thing.

00:30:28Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Look, hopefully it helped focus in the long run. I can understand the distraction.

00:30:33Melissa Ellis: And over on the International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day Facebook page, we had some posts. So Michael Lyttle posted a photo of himself and said, drowning in an Ugly Christmas Singlet at the Brisbane Roadrunners annual Dash and Splash, today known as Splish and Splash. So, well done, Michael. Looking great in your Ugly Christmas Singlet. And Gabrielle Nair said, Fluffy's Northern Hemisphere cousins in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, had splendidly attired visitors today. They seemed underwhelmed. And the photo is Gabrielle and a friend in a photo with emus in the background. So, that must be a wildlife zoo in Nottinghamshire that's got emus. Oh, yes.

00:31:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, hopefully they appreciated the connection. We've obviously seen the connection in recent weeks with our koalas, with the koala type. So it's nice to see some emus connecting with Fluffy there via the singlet.

00:31:27Melissa Ellis: And Jennifer Nutchie, I hope that's how you say it, Jennifer, added a photo of herself and a friend with two little Lego men running in ugly sweaters.

Poem Zone

00:31:36Melissa Ellis: and wrote a poem. So I thought I'd read you the poem. Would you like to hear the poem, Olly?

00:31:39Oliver Spake: Oh, yes, please. And I have to say that Lego picture was spectacular.

00:31:44Melissa Ellis: I know. Little Lego men in ugly Christmas sweaters. How cute's that? So anyway, Jennifer's Christmas parkrun poem. With matching shirts and barcodes ready, we spread the Christmas cheer. Another parkrun, slow and steady, with thanks to the volunteers. Today was wet with lots of rain with puddles and mud and mess. However, we dare not complain for parkrun's back. We're blessed. With a bit of distance and extra discretion, Saturday feels right once more. Now that parkrun is back in session, our fitness we must restore. So all the special Christmas treats will not need to turn away because we'll have earned our feast from parkrunning today. How good's that?

00:32:32Oliver Spake: No, that is fantastic. It's almost like a throwback to the poem zone. No, just a lovely one. Well done. And thank you.

00:32:39Melissa Ellis: Yes.

00:32:40Oliver Spake: Certainly the one that stood out to me. Look, I don't think you can get much more appropriate at the moment than combining the Ugly Christmas Singlet with someone by the name of Mel. There seem to be lots of Mels at the moment, I think we've discussed. And Fluffy himself. But yeah, Mel from Nambour posing with the real star.

00:32:59Melissa Ellis: Fluffy himself.

00:33:00Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:33:01Melissa Ellis: And can an emu look handsome? Because, like, he's just looking right at the camera and he does look pretty handsome. So I think he knows that he's famous.

00:33:09Oliver Spake: I think he's getting the idea. I mean, I think Fluffy gets parkrun. Obviously he's seen this tribute, so...

00:33:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but that's a brilliant photo. Anyway, it's nearly Christmas too, Olly.

00:33:20Oliver Spake: Yes, it's that time of year, possibly when an extra parkrun or two helps with all the Christmas food. I know it does for me, usually, when I can drag myself out. What are your plans for Christmas this year, Mel?

00:33:32Melissa Ellis: Family, family coming to my place. The house while I was away in Tasmania, I came back and, you know, the Griswolds. Surely you've seen that film. Yes.

00:33:44Oliver Spake: Yeah, that particular one I have seen. Yep.

00:33:47Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so that's what my house I came home to. Paul got a bit excited with the Christmas lights while I was gone. It's the first year we've decorated the house with Christmas lights. It lights up the whole street at night.

00:33:59Oliver Spake: Fantastic.

00:34:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so that's a bit of Christmas cheer and tradition-wise, I don't know, just the kids are coming over, hopefully. Yep. Do you do real tree or fake tree?

00:34:10Oliver Spake: We are certainly, for the last few years, we're on the fake tree line at the ledger. We did have real trees, and I remember the days growing up in Tassie with a pine forest, you know, grow your own tree. Yeah, it's fake now, so we don't have that wonderful pine scent floating about the house, and we're getting very good at knowing the order of those branches, even now the labels have fallen off.

00:34:36Melissa Ellis: I got to tell you that I have always been a big fan of the fake tree that you just get out of the box whenever you feel like putting it up. And, you know, there's no having to go and get it or nagging to go and get it and then having the dead tree for weeks and weeks and nagging to get rid of the dead tree and the pine needles all over the floor. So I've always been like, no, fake tree. It's just a lot easier. But my kids have always wanted the real tree. My adult kids, mind you. I've always wanted the real tree. So this year I was like, oh, it's been such a tough year. Let's get a real tree. So we do. We have this. And Paul was in charge of that again this weekend when I was in Tassie. He was in charge of going out to get the real tree.

00:35:20Rebecca: So, yeah, that's what we've done this year.

00:35:22Melissa Ellis: But the house doesn't smell of pine. So I don't know. We must have an unscented tree. I don't know what went wrong with that.

00:35:28Oliver Spake: Desensitised. Well, maybe that comes a little later, hopefully before it reaches that slightly brown stage.

00:35:36Melissa Ellis: And it's dying.

00:35:39Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, that'd be lovely.

00:35:41Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And so any other traditions, Olly? Is there maypoles involved with Christmas?

00:35:48Oliver Spake: That, yeah, that overdue maypole. Well, look, yes, traditions, absolutely. Yeah, certainly on my wife's side, they're very much embracing the Scandinavian traditions. At least that's, you know, that's their version of the Scandinavian traditions where it's Christmas Eve and that's spread into Christmas Eve day. So it's a day of fun rather than a night of fun these days. Yeah, look, we get up and do it all again on Christmas Day, head on down to my auntie's farm after probably two lunches by about 2 p.m. for another lunch at about 6 p.m. Spend some time with the horses and the goat and the kangaroos, you know, and, you know, It will be a much calmer Christmas this year, we hope. Obviously hope everyone's well, stays well and feels well given the year we've been through and obviously the risks that continue to face us all. But it'll be nice to have a Christmas not looking up and watching the firefighting aeroplane shooting over us at about 30 metres. I'm a poor judge of distance, maybe 50 metres every five minutes.

00:37:02Melissa Ellis: Yes, let's hope for a safe Christmas and safe from fires and national emergencies and COVID. Yeah, we're very lucky here in Victoria too. There was a very long time where we thought that we wouldn't be getting to see our family for Christmas. So Again, our thoughts go to those in other countries that are not having it as easy as we are and that will not maybe have the freedom to catch up with their family. So we wish you all a very Merry Christmas as well. And hopefully that it will pass. Yeah, and the vaccine is getting run out in the UK and America. So hopefully that will make a big impact soon.

Sign-off

00:37:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, hopefully it brings some good news and helps us find a bit more stability out there. Yeah, look, I certainly encourage everyone to keep in touch. For those enjoying a Christmas Day parkrun or something similar, enjoy, share the love with us. For those who might be missing out, reach out and, you know, and be there virtually. Will you be Christmas Day not parkrunning, Mel?

00:38:21Melissa Ellis: I don't know. I'm still in the sulky I can't parkrun on Christmas Day for real corner. Probably my kids will be quite happy because they've not been real fans of Mum nicking off to parkrun on Christmas morning. So I don't know. Maybe, maybe. I suppose... Maybe I've got to dress Daryl up and maybe it'll be the final Ellis Palace parkrun because I tell you what, I'm ready for it to finish. I'm getting slacker and slacker. Last week was just no frills parkrun. Yeah, didn't do any dress-ups or anything. Zoe wasn't actually home, so she was at families for the weekend. So I was like, oh, I'm off the hook.

00:39:09Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:39:10Melissa Ellis: Because she's still encouraging me every week like, oh, we've got to do it, Mum. And I'm like, oh, okay. But, yeah, no, I'm probably nearly extinguished all my ideas for dress-ups and themes other than I've potentially got enough country flags to do a closing ceremony.

00:39:32Oliver Spake: Oh, well. There we are. So next year you're covered. Yeah. Maybe there's just a volunteer version this Christmas and Daryl can have a quick barcode scan.

00:39:46Melissa Ellis: I'll put him in a wheelbarrow and Paul can run him around the course.

00:39:51Oliver Spake: It's obviously an opportunity maybe for a bit more balance. And, look, I'm not sure if we'll be Christmas Day parkrunning. I've only done it once myself. So the family very much not in the habit to get dragged out on Christmas Day. I was like the dog let out the gate last Christmas. Quick, off you go. Yeah, hurried back. But, yeah, I think this year it might just be a more casual one.

00:40:15Melissa Ellis: Very good. Well, we probably should wrap up and I will see you in the new year.

00:40:22Oliver Spake: Yep, certainly look forward to it. Thank you, Mel.

00:40:25Melissa Ellis: That's about all from us this week, Olly. We can hand the reins back over to Mel for next week and she can give you all the lowdown on how International Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day went. Merry Christmas, Olly.

00:40:36Oliver Spake: Merry Christmas, Mel, the bush and the Ferrari back in the garage, safe and sound. We hope that you all have a safe and merry Christmas. We hope that you take care and to hear from you all in the new year.

00:41:49Unidentified speaker: Thank you.