Cheeky Run Club

Introducing Cheeky Track Nights

• Anna Coldham

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Happy Monday Cheeky Crew!

This week, we are making the case that for far too long, the 5km has been neglected in favour of the popular marathon (looking at you, Phoebs) …

We’ll chat about why the marathon is so popular for the modern runner, and why this summer, we should all be training for the speedy, wonderful, undervalued AND Cheeky 5km!

As promised, we have some very exciting news in this week’s episode, which may have something to do with a link down below… and everything to do with the topic of the episode *WINK*

LINKS:

 

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts + Instagram, TikTok, Substack, Phoebe's Strava + Anna's Strava, and join our Strava community 🩵

Music produced by Hugh Raper & logo design by Michael Cotellessa. Podcast edited by Kiara Martin.

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Cheeky Run Club recognizes that every day we live, work, and run on Aboriginal land.

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Welcome to Welcome to Cheeky Run Club, the social running podcast and community for your everyday amateur runner. Hello Anna.

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Hello Phoebe

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and hello listeners.

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Today we are going to talk about why there is such a huge focus in the amateur running community, on running longer distances from the 10 K to the marrow and even to ultras, rather than working on your speed and efficiency over a shorter distance event,

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which may sound hypocritical coming from us and how much we have talked about the marathon over the last, couple of months. However, we also have an extremely exciting announcement that is absolutely guaranteed to knock your socks off. But first of all, we need to dive into our notable runs of the week. So Anna, kick me off with, Gimme your best.

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My best was a swim. been in Noosa for the weekend up for the Noosa triathlon. I was spectating and it was so, I don't know if anyone hasn't been, which I'm sure a lot of you haven't been to Noosa for the triathlon weekend. It is just such a vibe. There's everyone around there is just Up and about. They're there for the triathlon or they're doing it in a relay or they're doing one of the other events.'cause the events run from like Wednesday to Sunday. It's actually crazy. Yeah. They have a kids triathlon one day and then like a run swim run another day. and it was so much fun. The weather was really nice. I kind of feel sorry for anyone that actually raced'cause it was so hot on Sunday morning. The run.

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I really crazy. I saw them like all pumping up on my Strava in so many of the captions just being like, oh my god,

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It was So what?

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like what temperature would it have been?

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I reckon it would've been about 30 degrees when majority of our friends were running at about 11:00 AM and I, I think it was about 30 degrees. But you know, the Queensland. Heat, 30 degrees there is very different to 30

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It's very different. It's unbearably hot.

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And so humid. special mention to my husband Dave. Yeah. He's a try guy now.

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He is.

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He rode around on his little reed bicycle. and I think he took seven minutes in transition One. No, maybe seven minutes transition overall, because he told me that I'd bought him. He'd never had, he's never had a gel before. And, Anyway, so I was like, don't have a gel.'cause it would just be so gross. So I bought him those little energy chews. The

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yeah, yeah, yeah. They're good.

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that you were talking about. Anyway, and then he was saying that in transition one, instead of just putting the whole thing in his, in the back of his tri suit, he, opened the packet and was like piling

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The individual

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one by one

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Oh, they would've

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And then he like had to like sit down and dry his feet and like put his socks on and stuff. so yes. Anyway. Good job Dave. Yeah.

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a normal transition amount of time to spend at transition?

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Oh, I don't even know. We did have a competition for the slowest transition of the group and he, he, it actually wasn't him. I can't remember who it was, but only just, but I think our other friends were doing it in a couple of minutes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So he really took his anyway, back to my best run of the week, it was actually a swim, which I did with a couple of friends up there. Nas and Mel, we did an open water. We did a couple of open waters. Swims and it is just so, it's so beautiful swimming out there. I'm quite, I don't know, I get a bit scared of sharks in some open water, but up there I just, Especially this time I was just not in the slightest bit concerned. So I was just swimming very freely anyway, and then all of a sudden see this shadow. And I was like, oh gosh. And then I realized there was this huge sea turtle

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no

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that just swam underneath me. And then I was yelling out to the girls TA tail. And then it kind of let us,'cause they move, they just look so.

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so peaceful. Peaceful.

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anyway, so it was swimming. It's not as though I was swimming quickly at all. And it kind of like, let us follow it for a little bit. No, it was so cool. Yeah, it was like one of those, yeah, I'm just always, I don't know, I just, there's something about seeing wildlife Yeah. Actually in the wild.

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In the wild. Yeah.

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yeah. It was so cool. So yes, that, oh, is, that is awarded my, oh God. Yeah. And yeah, I was trying to work out I don't know, wondering how old it was or

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anything. Yeah.

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thought it might've been a teenager in turtle terms because it was big, but not really, really big. But then I don't really know the growth of turtles, like,

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I wouldn't know,

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yeah.

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but yeah, maybe they, I feel like the old ones are massive. Massive,

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yeah. Yeah. like the Galapagos

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Yeah. That's

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Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. anyway, what is your best run or running related activity?

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mine was a run, it was my, session on Tuesday morning. Yes. Which for a couple of reasons. first of all, it was a run crew session, which I haven't done one of those ages. I was in Sydney

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Oh, so good.

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yeah, I went back and the crew is so much bigger. Yeah. There were so many

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Yeah. Like how many people are we

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I reckon there would've been a hundred people there doing the session. Unlike it's such great group because it ranges from Elite crazy fast. Particularly the women. There are like five women there who are crazy. Literally just amazing, amazing, amazing runners all the way through to people who are kind of in their sixties and seventies, like who have been doing run crew for 10 years and it's just like everyone everywhere in between. So it feels. different to the run clubs that I see and maybe in Melbourne more, which are more like social run

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clubs. Yeah.

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and everyone's kind of quite similar and in a similar stage of their life potentially. Whereas this is more like, a training group and so there's a big diversity and like the type of people who are there.

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People are there. Can I ask like how does it work then if there are like so many different paces? How does that Yeah. How does that work in a

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Yeah, so basically Gary gets us all together and so Gary's the coach and he gives everyone the session. So for example, this was 2K, three minute rest. Five by 800 with a walk recovery, which there was all

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code. Yeah.

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and then optional final 2K. And he kind of told you if you would do the final 2K. and so he just has it set up. So you all know where the 2K cone is. You kind of time your own rest. It's just roughly like. And then you do it. So you kind of find a group, you fall in with a group and you end up doing the session with people who are around your pace. Yeah. Which works really well. It's really fun. but the even better part of it was that, leash and Goldie were

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Oh my gosh. Of course.

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of course. Yeah. So our friends who just have come back from the uk, they're back for about three months and they're getting married

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Woohoo.

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couple of weeks, which is really exciting. And yeah, I obviously haven't seen them in ages, so it was

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oh, I didn't realize that they were there for that, that would've been so good.

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it was such a fun morning. and then even after the, so we all did the session, which was just like so fun and then afterwards. I reckon we stood there for like an hour before I finally like, ran back. Yeah. Home of, to the hotel to get change and ready for work. Just like

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just being like.

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That was just, it was just so nice like that pro session vibe, but also just catching up with Yeah. A friend you haven't seen in ages and

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and it would've been her first session there as well, and she would've been so

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oh yeah, you can imagine. Oh,

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that honestly sound, that sounds so

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cool. Yeah. Yeah, it was real. It was lovely. See, I was running back, ran back to the hotel afterwards and I was just like, God, it was a good morning. Like, it was really hard run, but like, felt good, or like felt fine and then just, yeah. It was, it

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It was. I was gonna say, you feeling a bit better than last week?

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Still not feeling fast. Yeah, but I didn't feel. So tired per

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Yeah. Yeah. Yay.

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Yay. Um, what about your worst?

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Oh gosh, mine is my sore foot. Yeah. I went away, as I was saying, I went away for my dad's 70th birthday, and I wore these sandals that I bought that were like, meant a bit. They're meant to be podiatry. I'm blaming sandals. There's obviously a lot more to it than just the sandals. But this was like the trigger. This was the catalyst

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feel like this is the catalyst?

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Yeah.'cause my foot, started getting sore after I'd been wearing them for a couple of hours and then I was out. So I had to continue to wear them. And then by the end I feel like since then it's gotten quite sore. but yeah, they're like meant to be podiatry. I got them because I know that sandals can be like, not great for your feet. So I was like, I'll buy these ones. They're meant to be good. I mean, one of our friends has them and she wore them all over

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here. Are they're the bad ones?

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No, they're the tubes. but

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They're cool. They

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they look cool. Yeah. But one of our girlfriends has them and she looked all over Europe and was completely fine, but, so I don't know, maybe it's just my feet. anyway, so that has been a little bit annoying. It kind of like flared up quite quickly, but now it's gone. Fine. Again, I went to the physio before and it was okay. and he said try and run again tomorrow. I've only had a couple days off. but yeah, that was just a bit annoying'cause I feel like I've just been enjoying

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You've been in blissful? Yeah. Just like return to run. Is it the same place that your foot hurt last

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No. Completely

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different. Okay. That's probably a good

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Yeah, yeah. he thinks it's sort of the perineal tendons that go up the side

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Oh,

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of your leg. Um. Yeah. But then the pain is actually kind of in the outer part of my foot, just below my like ankle. Yeah, yeah. yeah. But it seems to warm up as well. Like when it was the worst, it was in the mornings I was hobbling, but then after a few hours it was fine. But now today I like bounced outta bed

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completely fine. That's good. Do you know since the marathon, pretty much, my planter has been so bad.

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bad. Really?

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Yeah. I wake up every day and I'm like, hobbling, hobbling. But then

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but then, and then it's fine.

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of the day or like in runs or anything. But it's just the first steps

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You're like, ow. Well, that's actually what I thought I had originally. I've never had planted before and'cause it was kind of on the bottom, but now it's kind of removed around. But yeah, I've heard planners sort of similar. It's so bad at this beginning of the day. Yeah. Yeah.

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it, and I forget about it immediately because it goes

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away. Mm

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it is annoying.

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mm what is your worst run?

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My worst is a running related ish activity. Mm-hmm. Which is, I briefly lost my AirPods, but when I lost them, it was just before I got on the flight to Sydney and I was like running around and around the house looking for them and I couldn't find them. And then I checked my phone and I realized I'd left them at my friend's place. And so I was like, okay, I'm just gonna. I can do a Sydney trip without AirPods. surely. Yeah, surely. Like, it's a, it's a flight. I'm gonna be so busy.

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like I rely on them so much.

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But I was like, I need to decrease my reliance I have to have them in my ears at all times. Always, always,

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Yeah. Same when you're by

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yourself, this would be good for me. I've been wanting to have more time off AirPods anyway. Uber ride to the airport. Gotta the airport. And I was like, I'm buying headphones. I can't, I can't do this anymore. And so I bought$30 wire headphones. Yeah, yeah. which broke no joke. 30

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later. Oh no.

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such rubbish. But one of the, one of them still

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work. Okay. So you could, so just

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I clung on to deal after these like rubbish.

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rubbish. It is strange, isn't it?'cause I feel like whenever I'm by myself, like I was sort of running around today and whenever I was by myself, I pop my headphones in.

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Yeah.

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So it's either like I'm talking to someone or I need headphones. It's like I can't be with my

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it's cra Oh, I And

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she? For another time.

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an issue time, but yeah. I find the more stressed or overwhelmed I am, the more I'm like, yeah, I wake up in the morning and immediately I'm like, podcasting,

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just something.

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I'm like that can't be.

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no. Mm. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, help us.

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help.

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Um, all right. Should we get into the main all Should we get into the main topic Actually, wait, how are we gonna do this? You announce it? Well,

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Well, no, because shouldn't I feel like the announcement's gonna have to come at the

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end. Oh, true.

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It is not to give any hints, but there will be some hints dropped as to what the announcements are as we go through our main

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Mm-hmm. But we'll go through our main topic as levelheaded. Yeah. Very measured

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Oh, you know

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like we normally are.

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So, as Anna said at the top, the main topic we wanted to discuss is why are we all doing marathons? Because I think one of the things that well everyone can see with the running boom is it's all really centered around really the, the marathon and the half marathon as the main events. And Why is, why is that the trend? Why has that become the goal for running? what's the problem with that and, suggest a solution? Yeah. So Anna, why do you think we're all doing marathons?

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Well, I feel like one of the reasons why we're also drawn to running is because we like doing, challenging ourselves and doing hard things. And I feel like it's a, culturally significant and like socially significant to be like, I'm doing a marathon. Yeah. cause it kind of, you know, like, turn sets you like, whoa. Like that's amazing. And I feel as if it's like an achievement that, not that you're like gonna write on your resume. Once you've done a marathon, no one can like take that away from

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Yeah.

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of thing. So I almost feel like socially it's, Pinnacle in a sense. Yeah. Of like,'cause it's a long

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distance. It is, yeah. Yeah. It's so, it's so clearly associated with prestige

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Yeah. Yeah.

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and Yeah. I think it draws people to it as a result. I feel like the other thing is just the amount of effort that are put into marathons mm-hmm. From brands and sponsors and obviously the event itself just makes them such and half marathons makes them such appealing events to go to, It feels like there's so much hype around them. There's so much money pour into them. if you're gonna participate in an event, and especially if you're gonna pay money for

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Yeah. Yeah.

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of money for them. for a lot of people, I've definitely thought this before. I'm not gonna pay till 10 k. Like I can do a 10 K whenever. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas gonna

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like go out and run 42

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Yeah. It feels like, especially'cause like they're, they're pretty expensive to do a lot of these

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Yeah. Yeah. If you think about all of the events that we go to, we go away and stuff for different events, but you can't, which is kind of sad in a sense. You can't justify going. To do a, the five or the 10 K you have to do something big. Yeah. And I guess in comparison, the 5K events that we've done in the past, they've been so low key. go there after work and then are done and then it's just a normal day

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the next day. Yes.

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Yes. Whereas like we, you kind

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of make a

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bigger deal out of

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I agree. Yeah. It's almost like longer has just become synonymous with more important as a result. And I kind of think. It's not a bad thing. Like it's such a, it's almost like an amazing magnet for running. Is this big goal of doing a half marathon or a marathon? I think so many people would fall in love with running or build a relationship with running through, having that first goal of doing that

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event. Yeah. Yeah.

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coming into it. but I feel like what we're seeing now is almost not marathon burnout, but. Well, sorry, speaking for myself, probably a bit of marathon burnout. Like, the idea of signing up for another marathon, even half marathon right now is so, unappetizing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel like we're seeing, well, I'm projecting, but it does seem like it is kind of relentless once you've done one and then you sign it for the next one and it's kind of fun for a while, but then it's like. We're just become on this cycle of like marathon training. Yeah. And we, we had a bit of a think about what are the challenges with that?

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Yeah. Well, I mean, speaking from experience, a major thing is injury. I've not been able to for like all different reasons, but like haven't been able to run the same since before. when I was training for the Berlin Marathon,'cause you're obviously putting your body under so much more stress than if you were doing a 5K or so. Yeah. and I feel like that in itself, obviously you are resilience for injuries and everything, is like. I dunno, there's a certain threshold and then you, you're just kind of like, well what's the, why do I keep doing

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Totally.

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you, I feel like you do, a lot of people will, one of the reasons that I love running and like do it so much is'cause you think you're doing something good

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yourself. Mm. Healthy.

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But then if you have a lot of injuries, it kind of, you start questioning whether it's actually good for you to continue to

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try. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And even injuries, also, constant sicknesses. just getting run down people's cycles being impacted. Yeah.

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it, or even just missing out on social things or just sacrificing stuff constantly. Yeah. Because you do have to, and we have spoken about how cool that

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is. Yeah.

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how it's good to lean in, but I feel like over an extended period of time to constantly be prioritizing and potentially sacrificing other fun things or random events or like sports that you can do, like I even know myself, Dave and I joke about it a little bit. Semi joke. Um, but like I've said,

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like, I'm not joking.

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like I've said no to like, skiing trips before.'cause I'm like, I'm running heaps. I don't wanna

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like Yeah.

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and like get injured.

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marathons force and this is one of the, be part of the beauty of them as well, but they force total commitment. Mm-hmm. with that as well. Yeah. the time commitment required. just a weekend of during the week, not just the training, the fueling, the recovery. I feel like that, and amongst a myriad of other reasons, they're so inaccessible for so many runners. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I know so many runners who would love to be doing events, but like, I don't have time to train for a marathon or like,

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and like, I don't, I'm don't

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really, I don't really want to and there's just no alternative for them. It's just they're the big, fun, exciting events. Yeah.

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well, I looked up the, um, there's a fun run in December, uh, 10 K along Beach Road. I can't remember. I think it's beyond blue. Mm. But it's already sold out.

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Yeah. They're hard. They're very

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Yeah. So I feel like when they are, when they do come up, they're like, I mean, I know that marathons are hard to get into as well, but I feel like a lot of people that might just try to like jump into a 10 K, you're not sort of thinking about it like a

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months ago. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then I think the other problem with constantly training for marathons is it's very easy to get into a. Rut in your training or a plateau where if you're just always doing the same thing with your training, you are always running longer distances. You're doing the big long runs, you're doing big sessions, you don't actually necessarily get faster.

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Yeah. You just kind of

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you can.

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the one pace.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can. But I definitely think people can kind of plateau in their training and just constantly doing the same thing and the same thing. and yeah. Yeah, it can be so helpful to mix it up and see better results off the back of it as well.

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So. So why don't we all just do five Ks? Why don't,

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we, yeah. We wanted to talk about the distance of 5,000 meters specifically. We feel like there's a couple reasons why people should be thinking about doing a 5K. One is that I am such a proponent of this, but speed training or training for a 5,000 meter event is so fun.

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Yeah, it's so doing like two hundreds and whatever, just like trying to, trying to run fast. It's fun.

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trying to run

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it's kind of comical, but it's, also fun. it's,

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it's it's challenging in a completely different way to long sessions. I can't believe how some of my marathon sessions would so long and so hard. And then I'd have a, some of my 5K sessions earlier in the year would be 10. 400 meter reps with a big standing recovery. Yeah. Yeah. And that they're the hardest sessions. Yeah. Like you feel like you're gonna well, that makes it sound really, I just probably push myself too hard, but they are challenging in your body in a way that is really hard, but is not draining in the same way that the long stuff is. I just. FI honestly feel so much better in myself when I'm doing 5K training than marathon training.

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Well I feel like it's not all

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consuming No.

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the sense that you're not completely cooked for the whole rest of the day. you're tired, you're really tired at the time, but then you kind of recover and you're completely fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Yeah.

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I think they're five Ks because you can do a lot of them. It keeps your motivation quite high. Yeah. As in. If you do mar, you're only doing a handful of marathons a year kind of thing. And also as we said,

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or even that

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there's so much like at stake, whereas I feel like the five Ks you can bounce off one another and I feel like it is so some of the best times running is over summer and you're, you've got a 5K and then there's just not that same pressure. On it.'cause it's oh, well if you stuff up, you can do another one in two weeks. And like, your body's gonna be fine three days later.

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The bounce back off of 5K. I mean, I've been for weeks now being oh my God, I'm still cooked for the marathon. Yeah, yeah. You just don't have like, it just doesn't take a toll on you in

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in there. Yeah.

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think from a motivation perspective as well, like it's just so motivating to have a different kind of goal. Mm. always having the goal of running big events or. I'll say for people who haven't been running big events, having a goal around an event at all is so motivating. It's,

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It's, yeah. Having something to do with,

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for, something different. You're mixing it up, all of a sudden you start improving.'cause if you all of a sudden start incorporating. a lot more speed work, then you start getting faster. Mm. Which is really fun. And that leads to another reason why we should all do five Ks, which is that you'll get faster and more

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it will actually benefit when you do go back to the marathon or whatever, it does benefit that. Yeah, yeah,

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yeah. It's like speed training you just get, so you get more efficient in your form.

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Yeah, and I think it when you're doing it as well, because as you said the volume is isn't as much. It means that you can, you know, you have the energy to also make sure you are like getting into the gym and

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Yeah.

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other things that will.

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balance you out

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a Yeah, yeah. And improve performance, but also just increase the longevity of you, as a

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Yeah, massively. I also think, especially over summer, I haven't really spoken about this, but trying to do long runs in summer. I mean, I'm sure some are already feeling this in the northern states. Yeah. But God, even like recently just being in Sydney, how hard it is

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Yeah. I feel like Sydney would be hot

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moment. Oh and yeah, like Queensland. I can't even imagine. who's got. Time or energy for that over summer. Whereas if you're doing shorter, faster sessions done, you get your workout, it's efficient. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. And you're not just getting so like exhausted and dehydrated and so on and so forth.

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Yeah. Um,

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so why don't we all just do five Ks?

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we don't really have the opportunities to, obviously there's pa, there's park runs every Saturday, which are, which are so great. I love the idea of. park runs and I've done heaps before. but I, think if you have a goal, for an event or something, you kind of almost I was just sort of saying how sometimes it can be a bit daunting and the stakes are quite high with the marathons, but the stakes need to be is a certain level for you to actually have the motivation to train. Whereas like park run is just it's so good, but it, for me, I don't think it, I think I need more

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

I agree. It doesn't have the atmos, not the atmosphere, but the pull to be like, yeah, it doesn't have the weight. Yeah. To feel like it's just not that motivating. In the same way that an event does, almost going to an event justifies you putting more, more effort into even thinking about like the taper and the cardboard and all

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

definitely. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

there are 5K events out there. Track nights generally. Yeah. Um, which we've spoken about heaps on the pod before. We love them, we get around them, and everyone should, the challenge to them and the reason probably. Not many people do, at least women is well for one, they're quite hard to get access to or even know that they're on the track nights. You sort of need to know oh, I know this specific one is coming up. Maybe if you're part of an athletics club, you find out about them. Yeah. Yeah. And you can get into them, but then you need to figure out where on the, random Athletics Victoria, new South Wales website They

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah. Often they're not that easy

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

find. Yeah. Also,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I feel like they're just not super accessible like a lot of the time. It is people that are running like 25 minutes

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

under. Oh, a hundred

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

percent Or, or maybe

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

even they're not accessible

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

most people'd be like, why would I even

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

yeah. I actually even 25 minutes is probably, yeah. A bit of a stretch. I would say most of them you are like kind of, it's for the runners that are like 20 minutes and under, which just isn't,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

the broader population of runners, that's just not them. Yeah. Like they, it's just excluding them before they've even started. Well,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

yeah. It's not made for them. And some, there are some track night events, which are I know Tracksmith did one a few last year. I think that it was really fun. but they are quite intimidating. Yeah. Cliquey, sort of male, massively male dominated. Mm-hmm. Like there would've been two or three women in the race kind of thing. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

yeah. That's right.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

and yeah, it is again, it's fun, but it's just you're really putting yourself out there to do it. Mm. and I think what we're seeing is just that most women amateur, amateur women aren't doing 5K track

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

races. Yeah. so do we have a solution?

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Well, yeah,'cause I guess summarize all that, obviously we're not poo-pooing the marathon. We love the marathon. It's more just we need more options for people because yeah, as we said, you can get marathon burnout. It's just not sustainable to always be training for marathons and it's not accessible. Same with half marathons. So we thought someone's gotta solve

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

this. Someone who on earth

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

someone help?

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

how someone has answered our questions.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

like, Kiara, if you can insert like drum roll siren, in 2026, we are launching cheeky track nights. cheeky track nights.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

track racing for the girls, creating the funnest, most welcoming community driven five Ks across Australia.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Woo.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

woo.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Sorry. We're gonna tell you a little bit about these events because Anna and I have been scheming for a little while now about what this could look like, and we are so ridiculously excited. So we've got five things that we wanna tell you about how this event is actually gonna look and feel and work. First one is

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

it's women only. Mm. So, as we were saying before, we feel like a lot of the track nights, they feel quite male dominated and quite intimidating and hyper competitive. So this is designed by women for women. Mm-hmm. We want everyone to feel as comfortable as they can and just get around each other. And we just love women, so why not make it all women?

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

We love it. We literally thought we took, what's the classic idea of what should a 5K race or what, how does a 5K race look right now? Kind of threw that out the window and we're like, if we could design our own dream event for the girls, how would we think through? And that leads us to the next point, which is the first kind of major change I would say we're making to how these track races traditionally run. Which is that we're redefining track racing as a team sport. Mm. So the way that this will work is often with track races, you have PACE groups. Do you wanna explain how pace

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

usually. Yeah. So a, a lot of the time, I mean, you put.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

put your

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

time in or what you think you're gonna run and they kind of like seed you in different races. And then there might be one pacer within that race and you try to follow them but everyone is trying to do the same thing. It can quite often be super messy. and then a lot of the time it's just I know everyone's just For themselves kind of

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah. They still can, they still can be amazingly helpful

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Oh yeah, a hundred percent.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

they happen to be racing the pace that you want. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

It is like, so, so

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

But usually

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

essentially the idea of them is that you have someone almost hair and you just follow them around so you don't have to think

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

it does make a massive

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

so good. So if you know what time you're like aiming for or what you wanna do, then that'll be running at that pace and then all you have to do is look at their butt

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

and yeah, not move. So what we're going to do to kind of take this, take the usefulness of a pacer, but again, make it a more fun, accessible and team oriented basically, rather than you submitting, what time you've done before. Mm-hmm. For a 5K, which is what you normally need to do.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

You will self select into a team depending on what time it is that you want to do. That is your goal time. So for example, you might. Decide to be in the 35 minute team. Yeah. So you'd select that team. That team then has a team captain who's the pacer. So you guys, not only you all meet before the race, you chat to each other. Everyone who wants that time, you maybe even do a little warmup together. You run. Obviously at the end of the day, everyone's running their own race, but for most of the run you're gonna be running together. Yeah. Working as a team, the team captain, AKA pacer is going to be super supportive, encouraging, like getting around you. Yeah. And kind of pulling the group along.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah. Yeah. I think it would be really cool. I mean, obviously we don't have to make this compulsory, but it would be, I just have this vision of, it would be cool for like all the different teams to do a little warmup or something together or just so they like, know each other

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

a little high five chat to each other. Yeah. But I, one of the reasons I love this is like we've talked a bit before about how racing women can be really intimidating. Mm-hmm. And that's not a good or a bad thing necessarily. It is just recognizing how you tend to feel when you're lining up on the start line. I feel like it can be kind of triggering of high school, cross

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

country. Yeah. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah. But this would be, this is like. The, you are working together. It's like chacha, you all wanna get a great time. Yeah. And actually if you work together, you'll all be more likely to get a good time. so, and the idea as well is there'll obviously be a series of races across the afternoon, evening, and we're gonna really encourage the teams who are running earlier to stick around and support the later races and the teams who are running later to get that early and support the earlier

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah, because what often, what quite often happens now at track races is that people go for their event and then just leave. So there's not that, it's not a, uh, vibe or atmosphere like it is at the like bigger fun runs and marathons and everything. Exactly. So the idea of this, it would be like to have. a night out. Yeah. Kind of thing. Like have like food and everything, which we will get into in a second. We'll

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

into actually our next point. Tell us about

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

segue. So the atmosphere will be super inclusive and fun, and it's design so that you want to stay, you don't want to actually leave and go and eat or go home because all of the fun will be happening at the actual event. we don't wanna give too much away, picture this. Okay.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

so you rock up. Imagine we're hoping thinking maybe a Saturday afternoon evening will be the goal. It will be sunny. It will be sunny, it'll be summer, sunset, hot. Oh, probably not. Maybe a little bit hot, but it's 5K, so it's fine. there's music going, but like sometimes these events have music, but it's really cool DJ music. This will be like fun music that

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

like singalongs.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

sing alongs, literally.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

food trucks. Drinks. we want like people's, like family and friends to come along and just sit down with their picnic rug. Have a great time. come and support you as well.'cause everything is just so much more fun when you've got a whole team

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

around, got a big

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

you even were saying that one of the highlights of the Melbourne

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Marathon.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

was just that there were so many people around all the time. and also. if you're a mom and like worried about the kids, bring them along, it's a family affair. It will be amazing.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yes. we're gonna try and do some really fun prizes slash giveaways from sponsors. TBD. We we're yet to reach out, to any sponsors'cause this has been in stealth mode for a while now. But yeah, like we, it'd be fun to have prizes or giveaway based on like, best sign best cheer squad or best like team outfits, whatever that looks like. Yeah. we also thought in terms of thinking what happens on a normal race event and like making it better, we thought, you know, those t-shirts that you get at the end of a fun run, which are great to get, but like they're usually pretty lame and, and they get one is like. Bed shirts. What if we gave cool t-shirts? Cool bed. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah. Wow.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Novel.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

and then another thing that we were thinking, I don't, I think we've posted our race photos sometimes, like in the Strava group or even on Instagram, but they are, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a race photo anyway. So there will be photographers, but the whole preface is that we want you to Feel and look amazing. There's not gonna be any bloody downward

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

steps. No photographers

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

like Voldemort.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah. Like briefed on like make these women look fast.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah. Yeah. And we'll send them all around for free afterwards of course, as well. Yeah. So

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

so

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

do you wanna tell us a little bit about the lead up?

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah, we will. So what we're thinking, well obviously. we are hoping to run this in Feb slash March, because what we wanna do is. Over the summer, let's not train for big long events, or even if you didn't have anything on the schedule, put a 5K on your schedule. We can all sort of train for this over summer. Over summer. We can all work on our speed rather than slaving away in the sun over long runs. we'll do a heap of 5K content. We're thinking we could even do you know, news load with training tips,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

sort. Yeah, yeah. Trying

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

to really, let's all focus on how do we improve our speed and efficiency. And depending on how it all works, we might even try and make some sort of community around this, like Strava group, WhatsApp group, whatever it is. Not sure yet, but it's not just about the event itself, it's about the entire lead up to the event. And that kind of experience of training for

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

something

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

like this.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

yeah. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

and lastly, sort of It achieves our goal of having the best time and well, like trying to like, hopefully make, you have the best time. And then also as well, it means that you might be able to get a 5K pb you might've never done a 5K on a track before. and you know, we, we wanna do that, but in a like, super fun and inclusive way. Yeah. so there'll be paces. The track is just it's so much faster than like running around the block or like running around a lake or something like this. there will be like official results and proper race logistics as well. So

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

yeah, it will actually be a good event to get a PB as well as just like, obviously as you say, be super fun.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah. Yeah. so

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

who is this event for? Me? Yes.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

No. So it's for, people that wanna mix it up, maybe you're sick of trying to increase your mileage or like sick of getting injured or not having like a heap of motivation to get back into the long runs. Post, maybe an event you've done or maybe you're just like, not that into long runs. Or maybe you wanna have a super social summer. Yeah. Have like a couple weddings on and you just you wanna keep running, but you're like not really vibing the longer stuff. So this is for you.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

It is for you. I think it's, yeah. It's also for people who haven't, haven't ever been to a fun run before. Mm-hmm. This could be, this would be the best, first, fun run

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

experience. It would be so cool.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Or even someone who maybe has done one in the distant past but hasn't had time over the last like decade to be like training for

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

event. Yeah, yeah. make this your

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

event. Your event. Yeah. And then also as well for all speed demons out there, so people who just wanna work on the speed and maybe get a 5K pb, it is also for you.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah. Really anyone if you listen to and enjoy this podcast.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

it's for you. It's for you.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

it's for you. Yeah. Sorry men, but men come and support. Yeah, yeah,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, obviously. so as we've sort of highlighted beforehand, we always think that running is a team sport. So we want this event to be co-designed with our community, which is you guys. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna put a link in, we'll put a link in the show notes and then also in our Instagram bio, of more just like an expressions of interest. ask for your details, what city you're in, what would you want to see in this event, and what are your for the like, best running event you could ever imagine. and pretty much if we get enough interest in a city, in any city, we'll. Host an event

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

there. I hope we do.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I hope we do too.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

I hope we do. Yeah. So if you are in Yeah, whatever city you're in, if you're like, this would be great, and my friends would all get around this, like, share the link with your friends. Get people to sign up because Yeah. We'll, we'll use that info a to like co-design the event alongside. You guys as the community, be, be able to actually figure out where we're gonna run this when get organized with logistics. So as Anna said, we'll put the link to our brand new website

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Oh, is that launching?

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

I reckon. Okay. Hopefully if

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

is a hard launch, it might be We have a website,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

um, it's a whip right now, but I think get it ready by Monday morning. Fill that out. Express interest. We'll leave that open that form. Open for two weeks. Yeah. And then after two weeks, we'll basically able to announce, okay, cool. This is where we're gonna run it.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Huge,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

huge. Tell your friends. Yeah, tell your family. Tell your friends. Tell everyone.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

get around it. Yeah. We'll be, we'll post a little bit on socials about it as well. Yeah, yeah. Um,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Um, but we, yeah, we are so, so excited. So yeah, please. get around us. Please get around us. Please,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Please get around us. It's gonna be so fun. It be so fun if we can pull this off.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I know. Gosh, it'd be amazing.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

It would be. It

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

the best running event ever.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

It would. Seriously.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I think that's all we've got time for today.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

I think it is. thank you so much everyone who tuned in and listened. so pumped to bring this to life alongside. All of you, some of you, some of the more astute listeners may have noticed. That's just one announcement. So there is one to come still, but still it's, it's

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

work in progress.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

It's, it is a, it is very much a work in progress, so hang tight. Hopefully next week. Yeah, couple more logistics for that

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

sleep without it. Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

but would you say that, I would say that announcement's even more exciting than this

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

one. Oh, do you reckon? Yeah. Oh, I don't

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Don't you reckon?

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I don't know. Probably equal to on par.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

More exciting for some.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

okay, we'll leave you with that.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

All right. We can't wait to be in New Year's next Monday.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Bye. Bye.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Oh, I don't

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Don't you reckon?

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I don't know. Probably equal to on par.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Yeah.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

More exciting for some.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Um, okay,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Wait, are we gonna just Yeah, yeah. In

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

20, 25.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Oh no, you do it. You do it. You

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

it. No, no, no. Let's do it together. Let's try it together.

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

I feel like this is so cringe. Okay. Okay. In 20, oh,

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

I was,

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

Okay.

ZOOM0016_Tr3:

Maybe we'll just do sentence for

ZOOM0016_Tr4:

sentence. Yeah. Nice. You go.