Episode 322 - Rise of the Machines

Welcome

00:00:24Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 322 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie and I am joining from Dharawal Country.

00:00:32Melissa Ellis: And I am Mel and I'm coming from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:37Oliver Spake: Mel, I've just realised, I think I've gone in without the surname. So it's party at the front and party at the back tonight.

00:00:44Melissa Ellis: I thought that was deliberate. I went with it, Ollie.

00:00:48Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, letting the hair down, front and back.

00:00:51Melissa Ellis: Are we keeping it that way? We are. We're going all informal on the listeners.

00:00:56Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. Yeah, we've got bigger issues to talk about than to worry about our surnames. And I guess to get straight to the point, Mel, is it green? Is it blue?

00:01:06Melissa Ellis: Or is it red and white striped?

00:01:07Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:01:08Melissa Ellis: What is Facebook doing to us?

00:01:10Oliver Spake: Yes. And look, apologies for those of you who are unable to see the Facebook post that we are indirectly referring to. But with some of the exciting developments of the last week, our merchandise, which we'll talk about very shortly. Yeah, look, these shirt emojis aren't as simple as they seem.

00:01:34Melissa Ellis: I don't know why. Depending on where you look, they appear in different colours. So on my mobile phone, the emojis are a nice little blue colour. In the feed of our Facebook page, they are green, but in the featured posts, they're red and white striped, like where's Wally? But you said that you've got different coloured stripes.

00:01:55Oliver Spake: I had a blue and white, no, a blue and white stripe? Yes, I had a blue and white stripe somewhere and a green and white stripe. So, yeah, I'm baffled. I was putting it down to maybe a developer that's colourblind, but no, with patterns involved as well. Someone's clearly got a very intricate formula in the programming here that we all need to know about.

00:02:17Melissa Ellis: But fear not, listeners, we are not releasing merchandise with multiple coloured stripes.

00:02:23[laughter]

00:02:23Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:02:25Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:02:25Melissa Ellis: But we are very excited that we announced, when was it, Ollie Saturday. After last week's pod had been released, we got the okay that the portal was ready to go, so go it did.

00:02:40Oliver Spake: Yes, there you are. So Adventurers Shirts and Singlets. Which is a new development.

00:02:48Melissa Ellis: In what way?

00:02:48Oliver Spake: Well, I suppose, you know, we have been fortunate to have our Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts and buffs and visors over time. Oh, I see where you're going with this. I think our community have embraced, but this is the first vintage of any Adventurers shirts.

00:03:06Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. Yes, and it's taken us a while to get here. We first had to redevelop our logo.

00:03:12Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm. That's right.

00:03:14Melissa Ellis: Which was designed by the Office Lady's son, Julian.

00:03:18Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:03:19Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Julian. And then we had to get some ideas for the actual design, which we can describe. I guess Ollie's got our logo on the front, the new logo with the three, well, it's the three of us. It's yourself, me and the Office Lady doing a zoomie in the middle of the logo.

00:03:40Oliver Spake: Running with our arms outstretched with a slight tilt. With the tip to the aeroplane.

00:03:45Melissa Ellis: Correct. And the adventurer's name at the bottom. And then we've got the wording business at the front. Is that, is that, was it business? Yeah.

00:03:55Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Unlike this pod. Yes. Business at the front.

00:04:00Melissa Ellis: And then the rear of the shirt is all casual. We've got a nice relaxed cursive font saying party at the back with some palm trees, all in a nice sort of Hawaiian-themed relaxed vibe.

00:04:13Oliver Spake: Yes, because obviously that imagery of palm has grown, dare we say, and I definitely think of palm trees now and link that thought with the pod. So... Hey, look, a huge thank you to our Office Lady and to everyone involved. And it is wonderful to see, you know, as a longtime listener and occasional host of this podcast, it's wonderful to see a tribute to the community that's followed along for all a part of the ride.

00:04:46Melissa Ellis: It's being embraced, Ollie. Everybody's very excited and people are ordering, so that's good. It's always stressful, isn't it, to see how it will be received. And we should also say that we picked a sky blue for the design. Well, we didn't really. Ventu helped us out with an option, but we liked it because it doesn't currently clash with anything officially parkrun.

00:05:09Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. As an unofficial parkrun podcast, we're here to support the community. We're here to obviously respect the efforts of parkrun and what they do for our community, but to give people something different. So yeah, if you are interested, the opportunity is there. It is once again, a limited window for ordering and orders close at midnight on the 17th of February.

00:05:34Melissa Ellis: That's right. And that's predominantly so that we can get them collated and made and delivered in time for Palm in April.

00:05:44Oliver Spake: That's right. And with a few special notes that are on the Facebook post sharing that, if you're an international listener and you are travelling, please message the Office Lady just to make sure if you're after that, by palm timing but for all our non-facebookers all our non-facebook users that are part of the listenership if you'd like some information yeah let us know and I'm sure we can email that through to you as well absolutely that was big excitement for the week but going back to last Saturday Ollie how was your parkrun day My parkrun day was sunny and pleasant. Thanks, Mel. I was not volunteering and I was in fact parkrunning, which was, yeah, harder than I remember. I took the opportunity with things still being relatively busy at home and after a very tiring week to run at Shellharbour, which is a rare treat, and I certainly enjoyed the time out there. I did have to stop and walk as I don't think the muscles were too accustomed to running up some of those hills, and I was very kindly encouraged on by one of the new parkrunners at Shellharbour who's moved down from nearby Wollongong, encouraging me to keep going. So I ran along with him and made a new parkrun buddy there. So, yeah, all the good things, really. Fantastic volunteers, lots of coffee, nothing much else to report, though, I'm afraid.

00:07:15Melissa Ellis: Well, I'm glad to hear that you got a run. Good to see you back out there.

00:07:19Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel. But how was your parkrun day?

00:07:22Melissa Ellis: Oh, this week I travelled to Calembeen parkrun in the town of Creswick on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Creswick is in west central Victoria, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne and is a former gold mining town established during the Victorian gold rushes in the 1850s. I think I mistakenly cited it as Ballarat's third parkrun last week or the previous weeks, which is technically incorrect as it lies in the Hepburn Shire. The original Victorian School of Forestry was established in 1910 by the Department of Forestry. It was the first institution set up in Victoria to train and accredit young foresters. The campus now forms part of the University of Melbourne and, as well as being a centre for forest science and research, is home to the Mathematical Research Institute, known as MATRIX. The Matrix Institute is a partnership between the Australian National University, Monash University and the University of Melbourne that provides key infrastructure for facilitating and supporting research in the mathematical sciences in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Brainstorming deep discussions and collaborations foster new ways to tackle mathematical problems including modelling COVID-19 and the mathematics of string theory. How is this relevant, Mel? I'm glad you asked, Ollie. It's fascinating. It turns out that the local chef responsible for catering to the mathematicians on their retreats is none other than Calembeen Co-Event Director Adam Crutchfield. Hmm. Let me tell you about the course. The event is located in Calembeen Park, which is home to two beautiful lakes abundant with bird life and water lily displays. There is also a toddler's pool at the site, which is open during the summer months. Chinese miners first mined here for shallow alluvial gold between the 1850s and 1860s, and it became a Chinese settlement. The first recorded use for swimming was around 1910 and Calembeen Park's lakes are now popular for swimming, fishing, walking and cycling. A multi-level dive tower is a dominant feature along the water's edge, which was saved from demolition in 2015 by the local community. Now minus its top tier the restoration of the historic dive tower in recent years has seen many visitors return to the reserve. The parkrun event begins at the picnic shelter adjacent to the toilet block overlooking the lake and apart from a small section of pavement at the start is predominantly all trail. The course loops around one of the Lakes turning back on itself to create an out and back which you do three times. While the surface is somewhat uneven and I had to be very careful of my footing in the damp conditions, it does make for a very social course. I had not expected to know anyone, but was very quickly surprised by an array of familiar faces, including regular father and son parkrunners from Juniors, Daniel and Logan, fellow greatsmen, Derek and Linda Allen, world tourists, Rachel Axton and Philip Caldwell, and adventurer Larry April. There were 50 participants supported by eight volunteers. And although much of Victoria was blanketed in rain, Creswick appeared to miss most of the rain front. So although damp underfoot, we were not hampered by any participation, precipitation even. Afterwards, on the advice from E.D. Adam, I headed to Smokytown Cafe in the main street to join Larry, his son Helix, and new adventurer Adrian Heawood for a coffee and some park faff. Oh, and I should say, all this in my little green parkrun mobile that I happily took possession of the previous day.

00:11:24Oliver Spake: Back on the road.

00:11:25Melissa Ellis: Back on the road. So happy to be back in my own car. So there you go. There's Calembeen. There's Calembeen parkrun.

00:11:33Oliver Spake: Oh, very nice smell.

00:11:34Melissa Ellis: So a hub for mathematicians. Who knew?

00:11:37Oliver Spake: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, you paint a fascinating picture. So do we – I should stop before I ask questions because, yeah, I don't have the answer to what other comparable parkrun experiences might there be. So pause. Okay.

00:11:54Melissa Ellis: university theme to it.

00:11:56Oliver Spake: That's true. That's true. Yeah.

00:11:58Melissa Ellis: It might be a stretch, but it's there. I like to find the hidden details, Ollie. You do. Bring me little gems of knowledge that you might otherwise miss.

00:12:08Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. It is about the experience. But Mel, so we did get a bit of feedback from the last episode, a few comments in relation to the episode post itself on Facebook. And amongst those comments, I suppose I have to call out from Tracy, our very own Tracey in a Tutu, who did offer us a bit of an invitation after we were talking about our alphabet, saying, Dear Melissa and Oliver, you are most welcome to come to Queensland to get your I. However... It is expected to hit 38 degrees at Ipswich this weekend, so that might be a bit too warm for your liking. Love a warm run.

00:12:46Melissa Ellis: Although I do run better in the warm.

00:12:48Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, yeah, you do.

00:12:50Melissa Ellis: It's been a common theme with me this summer, but anyway.

00:12:53Oliver Spake: Yeah, but thank you, Tracey. Thank you. I appreciate the invitation and we'll rain check on that one.

00:12:58Melissa Ellis: But I've been busy doing some research, Ollie. That's right.

00:13:02Oliver Spake: You have been very busy.

00:13:04Melissa Ellis: I have. So, Ollie, I discovered this Saturday just gone we had two new members to the homegrown 500 Club in Australia. We had Colin Chow at SS Koopa Trail, parkrunner A174380, who did his first parkrun on the 6th of August in 2011 at Main Beach. We also had Ken Stewart over in WA at Burswood Peninsula, parkrunner A307334, who did his first parkrun on the 4th of August in 2012 at Claisebrook Cove. So there is now six homegrown Aussies to reach the 500. There also was the previous week one that we missed, which was Carolyn Vandermeer, parkrunner A395473, who did her 500 at Homestead Park. And coincidentally, Ken was present for that, the aforementioned Ken Stewart. And Carolyn did her first parkrun on the 24th of November 2012, also at Claisebrook Cove. So there are two other parkrunners that appear on the Australian Most Events list, but they are not homegrown Australian parkrunners, but they are John Matthews with 557 events, 25 of those being in Australia, and David Piper with 549 events, 22 of which being in Australia.

00:14:35Oliver Spake: Wow. Well, yeah, some big congratulations there for our 500 clubbers and a huge thank you, Mel, for your excellent homework.

00:14:43Melissa Ellis: Well, you might ask me what led me to do all this research, Ollie.

00:14:46Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:14:47Melissa Ellis: And to discover this week's 500 clubbers. Well, our very own Michael Schultz is approaching his 500th. So I was working out when it would be, and I have learnt... that it will be on the 4th of March at Kedron parkrun.

00:15:06Oliver Spake: Of course, yes, at Kedron. So that's very close.

00:15:10Melissa Ellis: It is, yes.

00:15:11Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:15:12Melissa Ellis: And Kedron being Michael's home parkrun, I do believe. Yeah, that's it. Michael, that sounds shortsy. We should call him shortsy. Known to all.

00:15:21Oliver Spake: Yeah, what did we say? Yeah, party at the front, party at the back.

00:15:24Melissa Ellis: Yes. Yes.

00:15:24Oliver Spake: That's right. So we'll be looking forward to that.

00:15:26Melissa Ellis: But that's not all the stats I found, Ollie. I've got some more for you. So last week we talked about events that have closed. But I have some stats for events that opened in Australia and New Zealand in 2022. So over the last year, Victoria had 11 new events. New South Wales had eight. South Australia had six, five in WA, four in Queensland, three in Tassie, one in the ACT, but none in the Northern Territory. And over the ditch, New Zealand had six. So I just thought you might be interested in that little gem.

00:16:04Oliver Spake: Very interested, very interested. No, look, again, thank you for all of the research, Mel. And it is lovely to see quite a healthy growth in our events across Australia and New Zealand and across the globe, of course, that we haven't called out. But it is nice to see parkrun back to its growth phase and to see new events popping up over time in all except one of those territories there.

00:16:29Melissa Ellis: I was checking Victoria because we do usually average about 12 a year, one a month. And so I was going back to confirm how many we had. So I thought while I was there, I'll check everybody.

00:16:43Oliver Spake: It escalated. That's great.

00:16:45Melissa Ellis: Yes. But that's probably enough waffling on for our intro, Ollie.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:16:50Melissa Ellis: Time to throw to our roving reports. So let's have a listen to Alison.

Roving report Alison Fraser — Russell Park parkrun

00:17:03Alison Fraser (King): Kia ora koutou, it's Alison here reporting in from across the ditch and today I am trying out Russell Park parkrun in Waipukurau in the Central Hawke's Bay and this has been my NENDY since April last year so I'm really looking forward to giving it a go and meeting some of the locals and yeah see if I can get the Run Director and I think I spy a tourist who has done quite a few parkruns so let's see if I can get some audio I'm at the finish line with today's Run Director, Florrie Kerr. So welcome to the podcast, Florrie. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for being here. It's a great day, a great morning for me. Can you tell us about your involvement with Russell Park, parkrun? How did you end up being a Run Director here? [Te Reo Māori: "Hello / greetings to you all (addressed to three or more people)"]

00:17:51Florrie Kerr: Oh, I got voluntold, as you do often. I used to go to Anderson Park. So when we started here last April, and this Easter is our anniversary, they were just looking for Run Directors. And I said, I'll live locally. I'd moved down to the area. So I said, I'll help. And it was as simple as that. Awesome. Well, we're very glad to have you as a Run Director. It was a great day today.

00:18:12Alison Fraser (King): Yeah, thank you.

00:18:13Florrie Kerr: Beautiful weather after the thunder and lightning last night. Yes, absolutely. We were a bit worried this morning. We have had flooding on the track before at the turnaround, but we had the course checked this morning and the path stayed dry, thankfully. Yeah.

00:18:26Alison Fraser (King): So how did you get into parkrun?

00:18:28Florrie Kerr: Gosh, 2018 I think it was. I had just, well separated actually, marriage breakup, wanted to do something different, something for me. My son used to be a runner, I didn't think I could run and so I thought I'd give it a go and yeah, so now I can occasionally, comfortably run 5k. Awesome. Well, we're very glad that you discovered parkrun. Yeah, thank you, Alison.

00:18:52Alison Fraser (King): And we have met before at Kapiti Coast. We just mentioned before we started recording, and I think you were on the pod then when I visited. Yes, I think I am. I am becoming a regular, obviously. So you are a bit of a tourist. Yes, I am. What are your three favourite parkruns, not including Russell Park or Anderson?

00:19:11Florrie Kerr: Oh, okay. I recently did Whangarei on New Year's Day. That is fascinating because you go across two bridges and they lift the bridges if there's a boat coming through. And it was great weather. So loved the festive double at Whangarei. So I would put that up there for New Zealand. Also New Plymouth. Love New Zealand again along the water. So anywhere along water. And I have to mention a Scottish one, of course, because that's where I'm from. Loch Leven. Hello, Loch Leven. Running round the loch. Love that. I have heard that's a good one. Yeah, really nice.

00:19:43Alison Fraser (King): So anything with water. Cool. Thank you so much for your time, Florrie, and an awesome parkrun morning. Thank you very much, Alison. Thank you for coming.

00:19:51Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:19:51Alison Fraser (King): And today's visitor who's probably run the most of anyone here is David Capel. Welcome to the pod, David.

00:19:57David Capel: Thank you very much. Thank you. Nice to be here.

00:19:59Alison Fraser (King): And you're on holiday from the UK, I understand?

00:20:01David Capel: We are. We're an 11-week break, so we're escaping the British winter. Yeah. Although the weather we've had over here recently has not been brilliant either.

00:20:10Alison Fraser (King): No, it has been a little bit wet.

00:20:12David Capel: It's better today, though. Lovely day for a parkrun. Yeah, and how many parkruns have you run all together oh 440 something wow so quite a few and I know you're a bit of a tourist too yeah I've done a hundred and nearly 140 I think different parkruns and how many have you done while in New Zealand uh I've done all the Auckland ones and Whangarei um a couple down the South Island probably probably 11 in total

00:20:41Alison Fraser (King): that's that's a pretty good trip yeah yeah not all this time though I know working on it yeah I know I have a couple of other British tourists who are spending a long UK winter here doing the same trying to you know climbing up the most events table so yeah it's a good effort yeah it's it's a nice thing to do on a Saturday morning so uh certainly over in the UK we've got so much choice Well, there are, what's that, 700?

00:21:05David Capel: Something like that, yeah. At least in New Zealand, you can achieve them all. You can't possibly in Britain, however many years you're going to keep running for.

00:21:16Alison Fraser (King): That is true. Now, today's parkrun is Russell Park. How does this one compare to your home parkrun?

00:21:22David Capel: Well, it compares in the sense that it's out and back. Beyond that, it is totally different. The one, Ashton Court is my local run, which is in Bristol. and basically it's two and a half k uphill and you turn around and you come two and a half k downhill it's in a deer park a beautiful setting but really tough it's about 100 metre climb oh wow and today was today was very flat really yes yes no deer no deer no nice river but uh no so it's same but different same yeah I think that's um true for all parkruns isn't it I mean they're all 5k and they all have volunteers but they're all so different I think with all the ones I've done 100 and we're coming on 140 now they are all different and they've all got something to attract you towards them now what would be your top three not including your home parkrun really hard um one of them would have to be uh Fountains Abbey which is up in North Yorkshire, which is a gorgeous run around a very old abbey. And then there's one called Whinlatter, which is up in the Lake District, which is a very tough trail run. The only one where I've got snake photographs, because you look over and you see the snow-topped mountains. Absolutely gorgeous. That's the sort of parkrun that... It's hard, but once you've achieved it, you think this is fantastic. Beyond that, I mean, there's too many to think. You can't think of a final one. A final one that I really enjoy. I have to be one of the Welsh ones, because being in Bristol, Wales is just across the bridge, and I suppose I have a fondness for, oh, maybe Cardiff parkrun, which is, again, similar to this one. It runs along the river. It's out and back, it's flat, and you get some very fast runs there.

00:23:12Alison Fraser (King): I think there was the UK or the World Women's 5K or parkrun record was set there once.

00:23:20David Capel: Yeah, quite recently, I think.

00:23:22Alison Fraser (King): I don't think it holds at the moment, though.

00:23:24David Capel: Right, right.

00:23:25Alison Fraser (King): But, yeah, obviously a fast course.

00:23:27David Capel: It's a very fast course, yeah.

00:23:28Alison Fraser (King): And do you have any more parkrun adventures planned while you're here in New Zealand?

00:23:33David Capel: No, just to complete all the Auckland ones yet again.

00:23:36Alison Fraser (King): Yeah.

00:23:37David Capel: So when we go back to Auckland, we'll make sure we... do the ones we haven't done yet on this trip yeah and sadly missing one last week with the floods that was uh that was sad yeah but yeah because it means I can't do my 450th in New Zealand I'll be up to four four nine before I go back I'll come and stay another week no I think what I'll do I'll go to Ashton Court and do my 450th there yeah which would be nice my home course yeah thank you so much David thank you

00:24:04Alison Fraser (King): I'm back in the car, ready to begin the long drive home. I think it's about four hours. I do have to make an amendment to Florrie's interview. We were sat in the cafe and she was like, oh no, I've given the wrong run for the one around the loch, she um meant to say Lochore Meadows which goes around um a loch up in Scotland but we'll keep lochleven parkrun in there as well um it was a really really good parkrun um today like the cafe was awesome there was quite a few of us there I think there were about 53 finishers in all which is quite a high number for Russell Park uh they've been getting in the 20s the last couple of weeks so um actually got a higher token number than I anticipated but it's such a really really cool run it goes along an out and back alongside a river it was quite misty today or foggy because it's been quite humid and it was a tad warm for me but you can't really complain when you get a good parkrun day like this so that's it from me and I hope to speak to you all again soon

00:25:16Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to Alison and congratulations on more progress around the country. Mel, we should also acknowledge, well, sorry, backtracking. Alison was chatting to David Cappell and the RD Florrie. That's right, yes.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Chermside

00:25:34Oliver Spake: But we should also acknowledge not one of our roving reports in the podcast this week, but one we can share on our socials, is sent in from Tracy, which was a video of where Tracey, having recorded herself at her home parkrun in Chermside with her friend Cherie, who in the video is using Auslan to provide sign support. Tracey and Cherie are both studying Auslan through Deaf Connect, so it was wonderful for them to be able to bring us that roving report through a visual medium.

00:26:07Melissa Ellis: And we will attach the video to our published post when the episode is released so that you can have a look.

00:26:15Oliver Spake: That's right.

Dazza's

00:26:17Oliver Spake: But, Mel, I think it's time for Dazza's. So at Dazza's this week he said it is ice cream for breakfast day. The Office Lady did not make this up. This is a real thing. You all have to eat ice cream this morning. Bon appetit. Come on in to Dazza's. Tell us about it. about your parkrun morning and give a shout out to your favourite ice cream flavour. And I think we did have some very accepting participants in that, but someone who did check into Dazza's was Martine Barrot, who was touristing and said, Such a friendly event team and a really nice course. So pleased for the team, they have their parkrun back finally. Too cold and wet this morning for ice cream, sausage rolls and doughnuts were the go. And Martine shared a photo of herself and Andrew Crouch beside the timber post engraved with Euroa parkrun Start.

00:27:23Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. Good to see them back at Euroa. Next we heard from Richard and he was bringing news of a challenge of sorts and he said, made our way to Avondale University College parkrun to meet up with Michael Gentle as he completed his cow, which in brackets, half Cowell Club. And there was a photo of Michael in the selfie frame and another photo of Sally in the selfie frame. So we just wanted to wish a big congratulations to Michael for his achievement. 50 unique parkrun events now.

00:28:00Oliver Spake: That's right. Very impressive. And yeah, there was a bit going on at Avondale. I did notice that a certain Paris was celebrating her birthday there. So happy birthday, Paris. Yes. We heard also from Thomas Martin, who on the challenge side of things, headed out to Altona Beach this morning to complete all parkruns in the western suburbs of Melbourne by Werribee Mansion, which is still closed. So well done, Thomas. And Mel, Werribee, any suggestions?

00:28:30Melissa Ellis: Oh, Werribee had flood damage to their bridge. I have not heard that they are anywhere close to coming back. I don't think that bridge has been repaired as such, so no word out there. But nice to hear that Thomas has completed the Western Wanderers Challenge. Well done, Thomas. I snuck that in, did you notice?

00:28:52Oliver Spake: You did, you did.

00:28:52Melissa Ellis: Well, it's got a West theme, Ollie. See?

00:28:55Oliver Spake: Oh, well, there we go. There we go. You've got to come to Palm now, Thomas.

00:29:01Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, Karen Hamilton, also on the challenge front, she said, I must have known subconsciously because it was out of character for me to feel like blueberry pancake and ice cream after regaining capitalist status at Umbagong District parkrun today. But here we are. And we had food porn from Karen showing us her delicious brunch. But I also should mention that Karen was joined at Umbagong by John Graham, Will Barlow, Brendan Peel and Jodie Maisie. Also worth noting, also completing his capitalist out at Tuggeranong in the ACT this week was Bill. Well done. Bill from Goulburn.

00:29:44Oliver Spake: So great work, capitalists. We heard also from Heather Hunter, Mel, who for the time being at least was doing a (not)parkrun in Hawaii. So Heather said, it's still Friday here in Hawaii, but I'm planning a nottie tomorrow morning with a hike up Diamond Head Crater. Pretty sure I'll be craving any kind of ice cream by the time I'm finished.

00:30:05Melissa Ellis: You know what I like about this post, Ollie? Hawaii is all about palm trees.

00:30:09Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:30:11Melissa Ellis: So that's on theme.

00:30:12Oliver Spake: It is on theme. And with the expression of interest going out for a parkrun in Hawaii, I mean, yeah.

00:30:18Melissa Ellis: That was another reason I put it in. So we could bring it up and we could tell people. There's hope, people. There's hope. Hawaii is on the horizon.

00:30:28Oliver Spake: Pacific Island parkruns, yes.

00:30:31Melissa Ellis: Oh, how good would a palm be? Maybe for our 10th anniversary palm we could go to Hawaii.

00:30:37Oliver Spake: That would be something. That would be something.

00:30:40Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Michael Sharp, who was at home, and he said it was 3-2-1 parkrun at the Beaches. Sound up to hear the ocean. And Michael shared a lovely video on the beach of the beach's start. And there was a nice little reference there to our discussion last week about how you call the start a parkrun. Peter Pohlman had commented on our post to say, when I start the crowd, I count down three, two, one, parkrun, accompanied by fingers counting and then a point gesture down the beach in the direction of travel.

00:31:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, okay. Well, it's been great to see some of the feedback and some of the ideas. A three, two, one, parkrun is not one I remember hearing. However, having been to the Beaches, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention.

00:31:32Melissa Ellis: No, we probably were just too excited with the sound of the waves.

00:31:35Oliver Spake: That's right, yes.

00:31:37Melissa Ellis: But a few people did say that they also use that, so it must be a widely accepted way to start a parkrun. So thank you for everybody for letting us know.

00:31:46Oliver Spake: Not that I don't appreciate some of the very creative starts too. There are some good ones there. But moving along, Mel, we also heard from Christine Imbert who said, no ice cream this morning but plenty of snow and ice on the course. Completed. Zielonia parkrun in Krakow in Poland. No, as part of a group of 13 from the UK made very welcome by the volunteers and did a Zumba warm-up before starting. And Christine shared a photo of herself with the selfie frame. And apologies for my pronunciation.

00:32:25Melissa Ellis: We're getting a lot of lovely selfie frame photos from Christine all over the place. I'm a little bit jealous. The parkruns I've been going to lately haven't had selfie frames.

00:32:34Oliver Spake: Well, the parkruns I've been to do.

00:32:38Melissa Ellis: Yes, yes. But how's Zumba for a warm-up? That's cool.

00:32:44Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, warm, really, but yeah.

00:32:48[laughter]

00:32:48Melissa Ellis: You're so funny. Okay. We also heard from Helen Rutter in the UK who said, North Wales for parkrun today for someone's cow slash Bailey. Three Bailey members, the original Bailey and a bottle of Bailey's, all about the social and parkfab. Did I even run? Photo says yes and ha-ha with a sort of, is that a sweaty face emoji?

00:33:15Oliver Spake: Puffed. Puffed, I would say.

00:33:17Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Sorry, Helen. Sorry.

00:33:20Oliver Spake: That's the reference to the emoji. Exhausted. I'll cross-check with the photo. Yes.

00:33:25Melissa Ellis: Anyway, Helen shared three photos. The first one was aforementioned puffed face photo. The second was... Three people, which was the Bailey founder, Gregory Bailey, with Helen's hubby, and the newest Bailey achiever, which we believe to be Deborah Cassar. And the third pick was Helen with the bottle of Baileys, which would be a good prerequisite for a Bailey run. We have a different meaning for our Bailey, don't we? We have our Bailey shots, yeah.

00:33:57Oliver Spake: That's true. But at some point, potentially, the two shall merge. They will fuse together.

00:34:03Melissa Ellis: Oh, how cool will that be?

00:34:05Oliver Spake: And then forthcoming shall be Baileys everywhere. Why not?

00:34:08Melissa Ellis: Well, because a Bailey is 100 different events in your first 100 parkruns. It's niche.

00:34:15Oliver Spake: I should have stopped and actually thought that through, of course.

00:34:18Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah.

00:34:20Oliver Spake: Missed the point completely.

00:34:21Melissa Ellis: So there'll have to be another generation of Baileys that can do that.

00:34:27Oliver Spake: so so so I am correct but I'm playing I'm assuming there's a long game here yeah yeah yes okay no well thank you Mel uh I just see more reason to enjoy um a bottle of baileys but um I guess coming back to an earlier point Helen you didn't look puffed so that's uh incorrect emoji

00:34:47Melissa Ellis: but thank you for writing in.

00:34:49Oliver Spake: Yes. And Mel, we also heard from Dennis Peden, who at home, who said, very late check-in, but reporting that the Tough Dadders assembled and ran in formation to celebrate our founder and first member reaching the 250 milestone, in brackets, Jeff Robinson. and approaching 50 volunteer credits. And Dennis shared a photo of himself and three fellow Tough Dadders in their club shirts running with coffees and books in their hands. Very cool picture that. And Jeff wearing a 250 cape.

00:35:25Melissa Ellis: We should say that that was at home at the ponds.

00:35:28Oliver Spake: Yes, I should have mentioned that. Absolutely.

00:35:31Melissa Ellis: And that the Tough Dadders were formed, I believe, from a Tough Mudder team in 2017. Am I correct, Ollie? I do believe that's the research that the Office Lady got us from quickly from... Yeah, that's absolutely right.

00:35:47Oliver Spake: You'd think when the Office Lady can do the research, the least I can do is just keep it on the screen. But that computer crash earlier... Made due to that. But yes, having encouraged more blokes to join the group and do some regular training, it's morphed into more of a social running group. But I think showing that there's some solid support there and fellowship and great to see it out there for the celebration.

00:36:12Melissa Ellis: And we had Graham Wilkinson also coming to us from the UK. He said, Hi, Dazza. Late stop in after a busy weekend with work. But I did find time in Saturday to squeeze in a visit to Strathclyde parkrun for a Nelson 555 and my 58th stopwatch bingo number. Sunday morning was at Stirling junior parkrun marshalling and taking a few pictures. Too cold in the frozen north for ice cream, so it's a latte for me to warm back up. We had a lovely landscape shot for Graeme, who made it into Dazza's this week because he mentioned juniors.

00:36:47Oliver Spake: And a very frosty-looking landscape, yes. Yeah, so well done, Graeme. And we heard also from Stephen Jackson on the Touristing Front, who said, Rocky Road for this roadrunner. And a marvellous parkrun day was had. Jen and I ventured from Bathurst to Wentworth Common parkrun in Sydney. The reason being that my old running club, the Sydney Striders, for the first time happened to have their monthly 10K starting 100 metres from parkrun and conveniently an hour earlier. So a 3 a.m. departure from Bathurst saw us make the 7 a.m. start of the 10k. The bonus was that my eldest son, Chris, joined Jen and I along with my youngest son, Josh, and the race was on. Chris, I ran scared but prevailed with a sub 40 10k. Josh ran back-to-back 5k pbs for just over 40 and Jen and I watched the battle from the back a bit further. Even more coincidences. The Striders course was effectively the parkrun course twice. So after a short break, parkrun set off at the prescribed 8am. As the saying goes, age and rat cunning will prevail and I managed to get the age group record and get home before either of my boys. A marvellous morning with the family and a photo there shared of Team Jackson near the scanning area. Good to hear from Jen and Steve. That's right, that's right. And on shirt spotting, I did spot the Striders shirt and the Punished shirt. So, yeah, a bit of representation there.

00:38:18Melissa Ellis: That's it for our Dazza's posts. Let me quickly switch back to the right tab.

the Obi Award — Martine Barrot

00:38:26Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, you must have that envelope to announce our Dazza's winner.

00:38:31Oliver Spake: I certainly do. Unfortunately, it's buried under the post-its. Give me a second. Here we are. So our winner at Dazza's this week of the Obi is... Martine Barrot. Congratulations.

00:38:53Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, Martine. Thank you for posting and bringing us the news that Euroa parkrun is back after their flood pause. And send us a message with your address because you are the final recipient of the Office Lady's snazzy stickers. That's right. Which are called something else, but I always forget. So I call it snazzy. And that's the final week. Classy. Classy challenge card. That's the final week that is going to be awarded. So that was really lovely. Thank you to our mystery benefactor who provided those for the last five weeks. It's been nice to have something to give away. That's right.

00:39:31Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel.

00:39:32Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, this is where we usually pause for one of our newer segments, but we actually forgot that we haven't got Rachel this week.

00:39:43Oliver Spake: She's ditched us.

00:39:44Melissa Ellis: She's ditched us. Maybe she's off, I don't know, doing something more exciting.

00:39:49Oliver Spake: That's right. Maybe she'll pop up later. We can edit her in.

00:39:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, she's probably, she's hot. What do you call it when somebody's doing something else?

00:39:59Oliver Spake: Moonlighting.

00:39:59Melissa Ellis: Moonlighting. Yes. She's moonlighting on my 80s radio station. I heard her the other day.

00:40:05Oliver Spake: Oh, right. She's doing an ad. Oh, wow. Wow. Don't we pay well enough?

00:40:14Melissa Ellis: Not impressed with those stickers. Anyway.

00:40:16Oliver Spake: No, no. Okay.

00:40:18Melissa Ellis: Let's move straight into our outro.

00:40:21Oliver Spake: That's right. And that's a good thing to do because we've got mail.

Emails

00:40:24Oliver Spake: You've got mail. We do. That's right. We have a few emails. So where do we start?

00:40:30Melissa Ellis: You start.

00:40:31Oliver Spake: Okay. So our first email comes from Erica Leota, who said, Hello, podcasting legends. Long time listener, first time emailer. Thanks to Office Lady in the challenge chart. As I progress in my New Year's resolution of becoming a statesperson for Queensland, I've become aware of something pretty cool. Think big. One of the greatest things about parkrun adventurer road trips is all the giant things. Stanthorpe has the big apple. Rosgregor, the big bucket. Going past Charleys Creek parkrun in Chinchilla, they have the big watermelon. Roma, the big rig. Graeme Andrews, the big chair. Emerald, the big painting. Coffs, the banana, which got me thinking. parkruns with big things. How many have something giant and could we make this into a challenge? Collect 10 big events to complete. The adventurers at Large Challenge. Special thank you to Lyndell from the news crew for helping with the challenge name. Above, I've listed seven events. Do we know of any others? Looking forward to hearing what we can come up with. Love your work and keep on potting on, adventurer Erica.

00:41:44Melissa Ellis: I like this one.

00:41:45Oliver Spake: I like it too.

00:41:46Melissa Ellis: because I went to Bega and they've got a big ram, so we can add that one.

00:41:51Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. It's a bit hard to potentially claim the big spud up at Robertson for Shellharbour. Bowral's probably got a, or Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens probably got more of a claim to the big spud, but it's got big potential, that's for sure. Yeah.

00:42:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, where else did I go? Mildura? Mildura. Mildura. I'm sure Mildura's got a giant fish. I'm sure Billo was there recently. Get back to me, Billo. Is there a big fish at Mildura?

00:42:23Oliver Spake: But while we're thinking, special congratulations, obviously, at Dazza's report. We didn't read out was Erica's 300th parkrun at Mackay. So, yeah, well done, Erica, on the milestone. Well, arbitrary unofficial, but well done. Arbitrary.

00:42:39Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Patio Shimo this week, Ollie, and he says, Hi, team. Thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm for bringing your excellent news on Everything podcast.

00:42:51Unidentified speaker: You're welcome.

00:42:53Melissa Ellis: I've recently been made aware of a service known as OpenGPT, a bot, if you like, which allows you to ask anything and it replies in an artificially intelligent manner. You can ask it to write an essay or even a computer program. I've had a lot of fun with it and I most enjoyed the responses it gave when I asked it to write an essay about podcasts that talk about parkrun. See the response below. Congratulations, you're in the top three. And there was a link, I think it was a link, to the open chat GPT response. Now, the response was, I need an automated voice. We should have got Rachel to read it. Oh, she's too busy this week. Anyway, it says.

00:43:40Oliver Spake: Do your best impersonation there, Mel.

00:43:42Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:43:43Melissa Ellis: There are several podcasts that discuss parkrun, a global community of free, weekly-timed 5K events that take place in parks all over the world. Here are a few popular ones. Number one, The parkrun Show. This weekly podcast covers all things parkrun, including race reports, interviews with parkrunners, and discussions on the latest parkrun news and events. Number two, the Global parkrun Report. This monthly podcast offers an international perspective on parkrun events with reports from parkrunners across the world and interviews with parkrun organisers. Number three, parkrun adventurers. This podcast features parkrunners sharing their experience of participating in parkrun events, including their training and preparation, their race day experiences and their reflections on the parkrun community. These podcasts provide a great opportunity for parkrunners and fans of parkrun to stay connected with the global community and learn about the latest happenings in the world of parkrun. Regards, Patrick. Wow. So there's a few things to unpack here.

00:44:49Oliver Spake: There are. There are. Firstly, thank you, Patti.

00:44:51Melissa Ellis: Yes. It's a great conversation point. So the first thing is I don't dispute the parkrun show being number one. But where's with me now?

00:45:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Look, I can see, I suppose if we're marking this as an essay and really the Office Lady would be the right person to mark this one. But OpenGPT maybe has a bit of work to do. I think maybe they left a bit of their researching out until last minute, didn't quite do a thorough job there.

00:45:26Melissa Ellis: I think I see the problem.

00:45:28Oliver Spake: What's the problem, Mel?

00:45:30Melissa Ellis: I think they've picked things with parkrun in the title. And because With Me Now doesn't have parkrun in the title, it's been overlooked. So that's sloppy. That's a bit sloppy. I'm not really, I'm not sold. But the second thing is, Ollie, I searched. I'm like, what? There's another parkrun podcast I don't know about. So I searched the global parkrun report does not exist.

00:45:49Oliver Spake: Yeah, making up facts.

00:45:51Melissa Ellis: If somebody can find it, please tell me because I cannot find it. Does not exist.

00:45:57Oliver Spake: Are we seeing the flaws in artificial intelligence here? It's making up statistics. This is what we would call in our household a Cathy statistic, something manufactured for the point of making a point, nothing else, with no substantiation.

00:46:14Melissa Ellis: The platform for this, Ollie.

00:46:19Oliver Spake: um moving swiftly on but yeah if you're listening I did not say that don't tell mummy um yes happy to be in the top three is that where we were going yeah

00:46:32Melissa Ellis: happy to be in the top three of this rather dubious result.

00:46:37Oliver Spake: Oh, I have said that my, yeah, sorry.

00:46:40Melissa Ellis: Oh, I was just going to say I think With Me Now probably should be at the top of that list with the parkrun show and I would be very proud to take third position.

00:46:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, look, I read it literally. A few popular ones. It's not claiming to be the most popular ones or to be all-encompassing. It also talks of 5K events, which I thought you would pick apart. Ooh.

00:47:01Melissa Ellis: Ooh, they didn't mention juniors.

00:47:06Oliver Spake: But, look, it's a solid effort.

00:47:09Melissa Ellis: It's so unusual for juniors to be ignored.

00:47:12Oliver Spake: Okay. All right. I suppose, yes, on the theme of apps and technology, one of the comments we did skip past in feedback from last week's episode after our thanks to Johan was a comment from Johan who had previously transcribed the episode before last. I've forgotten the term for that so that Catherine Pirotta could enjoy it. But Johan said in response to our episode of last week, now why did I not think about a podcast app? that can do automatic transcriptions. Turns out it is not a common thing, but there is indeed one that does transcriptions in app. Not very fast, but the quality on this episode was really good. The only slight drawback is that one cannot identify the different speakers in the transcriptions or edit mistranscriptions. edit uh to johan's original post added and one major plus any transcription in the app is also available to anybody else downloading the episode without the need to transcribe it themselves so that's quite positive and look you're definitely always going to get uh missed transcriptions with me talking clearly oh dear

00:48:33Melissa Ellis: Well, but that's good to know. So, yeah, is it Catherine Pirotta that Eman, Eman, I'm looking at a photo of Eman, that Johan, he did the transcription for Catherine. So, Catherine, you might be, oh, no, she won't. Can somebody tell her?

00:48:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, I think we have a bit of a tech team here forming. Patrick and Johan, you're certainly announcing yourselves as our experts in AI and apps. So we're getting there. We don't need to rush brilliance, but there's certainly an opportunity there.

00:49:08Melissa Ellis: Good, because we'll be happy to reach more people and then we could end up at number one on the East.

00:49:15Oliver Spake: In the next essay, yes. Oh, dear. I think you gave away who our third email is from. I think I did. Yes. So Eman said, Hi, team. Following Roberta Winters' footsteps, we ventured to the top end this morning and completed Nightcliff parkrun. Great community, volley team and lovely water views, especially if it's not wet and windy. Nice to chat with their RD, Karen Strong, and meet up with another Toowoomba parkrunner stationed here for the next couple of years in the Army. Regards, Eman. So thank you very much, Eman. And Eman did send through a photo, the photo that you were previously looking at, of Eman and Christine and baby Juno holding the nightcliff photo frame there for, I believe, Karen and the other Toowoomba parkrunner.

00:50:06Melissa Ellis: Fabulous. So I should also mention I think they were away for Christine's birthday. Oh, yes. And happy birthday for your recent celebration, Christine.

00:50:16Oliver Spake: Happy birthday, Christine.

00:50:18Melissa Ellis: And Nightcliff is getting an influx of adventurers. Is that not the third week in a row that they've had an adventurer at their event?

00:50:27Oliver Spake: I think so.

00:50:27Melissa Ellis: I wonder if we can go for four.

00:50:30Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:50:31Melissa Ellis: Anybody out there going to be in the top end? You never, never know if you never, never go.

00:50:35Oliver Spake: Is that the right territorial state?

00:50:39Melissa Ellis: Don't say the other one. Oh, yeah, it is, isn't it?

00:50:42Oliver Spake: Yes, of course. Yeah, I remember that one, that particular tourism campaign for those that weren't familiar with it.

00:50:48Melissa Ellis: Yeah, if you were born back then. Oh.

00:50:53Oliver Spake: But that was our email.

00:50:55Melissa Ellis: It was, yes. Good to hear from Eman.

Consolidated Club Report

00:50:58Melissa Ellis: Moving on to our Consolidated Club Report, Ollie, for Saturday, the 4th of February, 2023. Of a total of 383 members, 314 took part on this date at 169 locations. There were 15 locations in the U.K., three in South Africa, two each in the USA and Poland, and one in Eswatini. Locally, we had adventurers at 39 events in Victoria, 34 in New South Wales, 29 in Queensland, 12 in WA, 11 events in South Australia, eight events in Tassie, six in the ACT, five in the North Island, and one each on the South Island and in Northern Territory, as we just mentioned.

the Frond

00:51:49Melissa Ellis: The largest frond this week was at the ponds with nine adventurers, Jeff Robinson, Dennis Peden, Penny Prosser, Sonja and Peter Pohlman, Jarena Gearan, Lisa Spencer, Mary DeLuna and Rio Lambino.

00:52:05Oliver Spake: Yep, great turnout at the ponds.

00:52:07Melissa Ellis: Hmm, still have to get there.

00:52:10Oliver Spake: Ah, yes, well, it's still on my list as well.

00:52:13Melissa Ellis: You know what, Ollie? The Ponds is going to be one of those events that gets the special Medibank. You know, there was a list in the email the other week of where Medibank was going to be.

00:52:22Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, that's true.

00:52:24Melissa Ellis: I'm pretty sure the Ponds was on that list. I put it on my calendar. I'm not saying I'm going to get there. You never know.

00:52:32Oliver Spake: Judging by it.

00:52:34Melissa Ellis: It is the 1st of April, so it would be the week before I leave for Palm. Ah, okay. But if anybody else wants to go.

00:52:41Oliver Spake: Yeah, true, true.

00:52:43Melissa Ellis: It's the party week, so it'd be worth it.

00:52:45Oliver Spake: I suppose so. No, well, thanks for the reminder, Mel. I haven't got any plans.

00:52:49Melissa Ellis: I'm here to please. But, Ollie, looking forward... We did promise this week that we would bring you the Party Planner with news of the activities to look forward to at palm23. However, we didn't organise it in time. So we've got to put it off to next week.

00:53:10Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. But rest assured, it will be worth the wait and we do look forward to sharing all of the fun and plans for Palm 2023.

00:53:21Melissa Ellis: Also coming up, though, Ollie, is some Pride events that are going to be happening around Australia on the 18th of February.

00:53:29Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. So a number of events may be opting in, and I'm aware of several that have already announced that they will be opting in to a Pride-themed parkrun on Friday. As you say, Saturday the 18th of February to mark World Pride being hosted in Australia, the first time the event has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere. So parkrun Australia works closely with Proud to Play, an organisation that is dedicated to increasing LGBTIQ plus engagement in sport, exercise and active recreation through events such as parkrun. And for a bit of context, World Pride is a global LGBTQIA plus festival that has been staged since 2000 with cities competing to host the event. Sydney was chosen by InterPride members to be the host in 2023, marking, as I said, the first time in the Southern Hemisphere. And Sydney World Pride will incorporate all of the beloved Sydney gay and lesbian Mardi Gras events, plus a broad festival offering across arts, sport, theatre, concert parties, First Nations programming, and a human rights conference, and of course, parkruns. In total, it is expected over 200 events will be staged as part of the broader festival to be enjoyed by over half a million people. So, yeah, it's obviously going to be a huge occasion. I am looking forward to seeing a number of I think what is likely to be very colourful parkruns on the 18th of February.

00:55:01Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. And I do believe Toolern Creek is going to be celebrating and so is Wyndham Vale in my local area. But there are many, many events getting on board.

00:55:11Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:55:11Melissa Ellis: So thank you to parkrun. It's a great initiative to partner with that.

00:55:17Oliver Spake: Yeah, with the body to support it. And certainly Shellharbour will be announcing its support as well. So I have to get my colours ready.

Sign-off

00:55:26Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Yep, yep. But wow. Seeing as that's been a very long section, should we think about wrapping up? Ollie, where are you next week?

00:55:40Oliver Spake: I don't know.

00:55:42Melissa Ellis: You said that last week.

00:55:45Oliver Spake: I did say that last week. I did say that last week. I will have another week before I am run directing. I'll be run directing at our World Pride event. But this week I have not set any plans yet. So it depends how the week pans out. There may be, yeah, there may be a plan.

00:56:06Melissa Ellis: Okay, he's being cagey. He's not putting anything in writing.

00:56:11Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:56:11Melissa Ellis: Keeping his cards close to his chest. How can people come along and meet you, Ollie, if you don't tell us where you're going?

00:56:17Oliver Spake: Well, that's true, Mel. Yeah. Well, I don't want to give any false hope that I'll actually do anything, to be perfectly honest. But it would be nice to take a bit of a trip. Yeah, so I am looking north if I can do that.

00:56:33Melissa Ellis: Right. Yeah. Well, that's exciting because it does pay to say where you're going to be going because last week I mentioned that I was going to be going to Calembeen and when I was there, Larry April came up and introduced himself and said hello because he'd been listening to the pod on his drive to parkrun, coincidentally already planning to go to Calembeen, but heard that I was going. So it was really nice to have a chat to Larry.

00:56:56Oliver Spake: No, that is true. And apologies, I don't mean to remain coy. I just need to get better at planning.

00:57:04Melissa Ellis: Yes, you can see which one of us is the planner, can't you?

00:57:07Oliver Spake: Speaking of which, have you a plan for next parkrun day?

00:57:11Melissa Ellis: I was going to use some smart-ass comment, but I better not. for fear of saying anything offensive. All the ones I can think of are rude. Does a one-legged dog swim in circles? What about that?

00:57:28Oliver Spake: Fair enough. Okay. Fair enough.

00:57:32Melissa Ellis: So I am heading out to Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve parkrun. It will be my second visit to that event, and I am going to be meeting Brendan Peel and Jodie Maisie out there, and I've got a travel buddy this week.

00:57:48Oliver Spake: Ooh. Oh, that's exciting.

00:57:51Melissa Ellis: It is. It is. I will be travelling into the city to pick up Chris Fraser and bring him along on my travels. So we'll have a little friend out there at Franger.

00:58:04Oliver Spake: That will be most excellent. Chris has been a wonderful support locally for us, in particular the last few weeks, but, you know, plenty of times before as well.

00:58:13Melissa Ellis: Spoiler alert, he won't be there this week.

00:58:15Oliver Spake: Yeah. That's all right. He deserves a good travel. So I hope that you guys have a lovely parkrun day.

00:58:25Melissa Ellis: Thank you. We will. It's always nice when we've got all day to park faff.

00:58:30Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

00:58:31Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, that wraps us up.

00:58:34Oliver Spake: It does.

00:58:34Melissa Ellis: It wraps us up in pale blue parkrun shirts. No, it wraps us up in pale blue Adventurers tops. How about that?

00:58:42Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, yeah, it absolutely does.

00:58:45Melissa Ellis: As always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. We're also on Insta and Twitter. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.