Cheeky Run Club

Aaaand we out! Happy holidays!!!

• Anna Coldham

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Happy Holidays Cheeky crew!

 

For our final episode of this year, we are sharing the community's favourite running-related products of 2025 – we’re talking shirt, shorts, shoes, and more – so if you’re looking for a last-minute gift idea, this one’s for you!

 

We’ll give you a quick Cheeky Track night update too, and share our personal Cheeky highlights for the year (namely meeting you all, hosting amazing events, and getting to do what we love!).

 

Thank you so much for all the love you have given us this year – we are so grateful for this community, and we wouldn’t be here with you! We’ll be back in your ears in January.

 

Thanks to Dairy Farmers Australia for making this episode of Cheeky Run Club possible!

 

LINKS:

-   Dry shampoo

-   Christmas wish list

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.

phoebe vid/audio:

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

Anna vid/audio:

This episode is sponsored by dairy farmers and their newest flavor additions to the protein smoothie range, mango and vanilla. Our drink of choice this summer.

phoebe vid/audio:

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

Anna vid/audio:

Hello, Phoebe.

phoebe vid/audio:

And hello listeners. Is

Anna vid/audio:

This week, we are reviewing and awarding some of the best running related products and moments of 2025. We're also gonna jump onto our new favorite segment, the weekly wattle new FI mean favorite for some of us, the weekly wattle to get a pregnancy update from myself. Get a much anticipated cheeky track notes update and ran out the year with some listener questions. But before we get into all of that, feeds from Japan, can

phoebe vid/audio:

Mm,

Anna vid/audio:

give me your worst run or running related activity this week?

phoebe vid/audio:

yes. Okay. My worst my worst is a run that I went on in Tokyo two days ago, and it was meant to be, I was planning on doing not like a full, long run, but a long-ish run because I'm now, in a different part of Japan skiing and I know that there's nowhere that I can run here. So I plan on getting my long-ish run done earlier in the week. But I've had, basically since I went on holidays from work, I've had a sort of lingering, oh no, not lingering, just like a low level sickness, like nothing too bad. It was sort of like getting a little bit worse and a little bit worse each day. And yeah, I woke up two days ago and I felt really rubbish, but I decided to run anyway, which is maybe silly, but I was also like, oh, I'm not, I'm not gonna be able to run for like a week after this. I'm, I've been so excited to run in Tokyo.

Anna vid/audio:

Sorry, this sounds like my worst,

phoebe vid/audio:

does it.

Anna vid/audio:

how my worst run started last week. How or running related activity, how I was like, oh, I'm not gonna be able

phoebe vid/audio:

It does.

Anna vid/audio:

of the week, so I'll do a

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh my god, how did I not learn from that? So Sean and I planned out this route that would like loop us through a heap of the parks and everything and I just felt so bad from the first kilometer, like my chest was so tight and you know when you're like trying so hard to enjoy a run.'cause it was, I can't tell.

Anna vid/audio:

Mm. Yeah.

phoebe vid/audio:

perfect day. It was really cold though, which like didn't help my chest. My chest was burning. But it was so nice and I was trying so hard to be like, this is amazing. I'm having so much fun. But then also every kilometer, I was literally like, can we just walk for a bit? I'm just feeling so tired. Anyway, so ended up doing like an hour. So cut the long run short by quite a bit, but it was the longest hour for. Not of my life, but it was a really long hour. but yeah, it is tough. I feel like if I was home, I actually wouldn't have done it. I would've just been like, oh, well who cares? just rest.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah,

phoebe vid/audio:

'cause I'm, you know, when you're on holidays, you like, wanna make the most of everything. You're like, okay, no, just get out, give it a go. And then yeah. Well I'm, as I said, I'm not gonna be able to run for a little while now, so hopefully I haven't done done

Anna vid/audio:

it is also hard because I feel like running is such a great way to like see some sight

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

and get a real feel of where you are before everyone else kind of wakes up and that kind of thing. So yeah, that

phoebe vid/audio:

God. Yeah. It's the, it's Tokyo use amazing city to run in, like even. In my head, it was everywhere would be really, really busy. And then maybe there'd be parks that you could run in. But even like busy streets, assuming you're not in the, you know, a really like central work area, even most streets have like big wide foot pods, heaps of space. It's really flat. There's trees everywhere. It's so clean. there's amazing public bathrooms everywhere that are so nice and like perfectly maintained. so I feel like it is a really good running city. I just appreciate it on that day as much as I wanted to. tell me about your worst running related activity.

Anna vid/audio:

mine is from a swim that I was going to go on a couple of days ago where I'm in Seal Rocks at the moment, which a few is a few hours north of Sydney, for a little holiday anyway. And then'cause I, which we'll get into later, but I can't run at the moment. So I thought I'd take myself for a swim. And the reason why we didn't go in the open water here is it's just a bit sharky. And so I drove up to the Forster. Forster or Foster, it's spelled Forster, so I'm just gonna go with Foster, but it's probably pronounced Foster anyway

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

the things I've been thinking about recently, uh, anyway, I went up there'cause they have these ocean pools, so I thought that would be really nice. I got there and it was closed for cleaning. It's been closed for cleaning. Guess how many times this year?

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh, oh.

Anna vid/audio:

For the whole year?

phoebe vid/audio:

does it close every week for cleaning?

Anna vid/audio:

no, it's, it's been clo close seven, seven days this whole year. And

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh no. This was one of them.

Anna vid/audio:

the day that I, it's like a 45, 50 minute drive.

phoebe vid/audio:

It was really

Anna vid/audio:

anyway, but I was really sad. I actually had a few tears.

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh, well I,'cause I remember,'cause we were talking on the phone on the way up and you were so excited for your swim. Um, heading on to foster and then, yeah. I was very sad for you. It's quite funny right now, like, and even like looking at where we're, we're recording, like you are in the most idyllic look. So Australian blue skies behind you, these massive gum trees. It looks so warm. And then we should actually take a screenshot. we should take a screenshot so we can show the listeners. But then when my window behind me is like snow everywhere, looks absolutely

Anna vid/audio:

Yours. We literally couldn't. We look worlds apart.

phoebe vid/audio:

I mean, we are literally on opposite sides of the world right now, so it does make sense.

Anna vid/audio:

but yes, so that was my worst running related activity this week. Gimme your best.

phoebe vid/audio:

My best, I'm gonna say, um, I did have one really good run in Tokyo, but I'm actually gonna say an on the onset that I went to, which I feel like. I was kind of aware that the, yeah, there was, there were these things called onsens, which are essentially like traditional Japanese bathhouses. But I don't think I appreciated how cool they are and how different they are to where I would a bathhouse that we would go to in Australia, which a lot of the one in the studio sense of self, like they're very either like performance focused or, I guess sense of self is a lot more like relaxing. But these ones, um, they're like essentially like community bath houses, but there's a lot of like tradition to them. Anyway, it was so cool. So we booked in, Sean and I booked in, in one in Tokyo. You go into separate, male and female areas and you have to go completely naked. Um, sorry. You go there in your clothes and they give you.

Anna vid/audio:

You have to arrive completely naked.

phoebe vid/audio:

you have to go completely naked. You own your clothes, They give you an outfit to wear. So for example, I was given like a pink dress with a little like shoulder sho thing and I go into one change room and you get fully changed into that and that's how you enter then your section of the bathhouse, you get into your section of the bathhouse, you strip that off so you're entirely nude. You then go into a little station and you have a shower head and you like wash yourself really thoroughly. Like they've got everything there that you need to like wash yourself. They even have razors and stuff. Just like everything there. Yeah. And then, then you went to the actual bathhouse. There would've been 18 different types of baths. or I don't even know. There would've been so many. And you just, everyone is entirely. Nude and you have a little towel that you can, you kind of like pop it on your head when you're in the bath.

Anna vid/audio:

What's that

phoebe vid/audio:

I don't, I don't exactly know why, but everyone did it. So I just, I just followed suit. You just pop it on your head. Yeah, and you just, there're just all these different types of baths. Like some are hotter, some are warmer, there is a cold, cool bath, but the, their cold bath is like 17 degrees,

Anna vid/audio:

yeah,

phoebe vid/audio:

still feels cold, but like, no, it's not an ice, ice ice bath. But it's still super refreshing. She really liked it. There's a sauna. The sauna had a TV in there like blaring out like a game show.

Anna vid/audio:

Oh, weird.

phoebe vid/audio:

interesting. So different. Everyone just like chatting. Everyone is so comfortable. Just being naked. I don't know how that would, I'm interested, how do you think that would play out in Australia? Like do you think people would be as relaxed about it? Because I was quite surprised by how quickly you'd becomes like, feels like super normal.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. I don't know if I should say this. I feel like we're almost a bit like we're prudes in a sense. with, I feel like you're always just trying to cover up, which is kind of strange. Like even if you think about, change rooms at swimming pools and everything, you never

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, no.

Anna vid/audio:

always, I always kind of admire, it's the older generation that just kind of gets their kids off and is still chatting to their friends or whatever. But just like moisturizing naked, I remember my mom and her friends'cause they would just be so comfortable, whereas. I always try to, I don't really know why. I feel like maybe as you get older you get a bit more comfortable, but yeah, it'd be interesting to

phoebe vid/audio:

Maybe as you get older,

Anna vid/audio:

Mm.

phoebe vid/audio:

was like,

Anna vid/audio:

like a cultural norm to not do that, like I wonder if just having one sort of spa in Melbourne

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

be able to change that, or if people would just not go,

phoebe vid/audio:

Well sense of self used to do like nude nights or something.

Anna vid/audio:

oh, did they?

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah. And I actually don't think they, I can't remember. Maybe that was gendered, maybe it wasn't, but it was called like there'd be groups of girls, like our age, not groups, maybe like two to three. And they're just all sitting there naked chatting. And I do feel like, it would be so good for everyone's, sense of, it sounds weird, but like body image, just

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe vid/audio:

they're just bodies. you get desensitized so quickly. Like everyone just has bodies. Everyone's bodies look a bit different. That's all good. It, it's not like,

Anna vid/audio:

it'd be quite liberating, I imagine.

phoebe vid/audio:

I think so. anyway, we'd love to know how, I would love to, like, I would love for there to be some of those in Australia, but I really enjoyed it. Felt super relaxed afterwards and during, Yes, I'll be visiting many more incenses before my time in Japan is up. Give me your best running related activity.

Anna vid/audio:

My best running related activity was on Sunday morning in Sydney. I actually went to the Bondi Icebergs for the first time, which for like any, um, I mean, I feel like even international listeners, they might have actually seen, it's this ocean pool that's right on, Bondi Beach and it's got this like, amazing view. I don't think I've ever swam in an ocean pool before with the salt water. Kind of like coming in, it's just like got such a, like much more relaxed feel than swimming chlorine.

phoebe vid/audio:

hmm.

Anna vid/audio:

and I took this, I took this beautiful photo and I genuinely thought to myself, oh my gosh, like, no wonder people love living in Sydney and like love living in Bondi. and then it was literally seven hours later that then there was like the tragic, mass shooting that happened down there. So obviously we are a running related podcast. But also, yeah, just wanna acknowledge how tragic that was on Sunday, and how devastating the attack was on the Jewish community while they were just, it was their first day of celebrating Hanukkah. And yes, our thoughts go out to. Everyone in particular the Yeah. Jewish cheeky community.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, I can imagine that. Like what a strange contrast, I mean, for

Anna vid/audio:

Mm

phoebe vid/audio:

also I can imagine for everyone, like how quickly it went from being so peaceful to so terrifying is so hard to wrap your head around. But yeah, well said. Yeah. I guess it's hard to know what, what to say in these situations, but I guess all we can say is that our hearts are with everyone and our thoughts are with everyone and

Anna vid/audio:

I mean, yeah, we obviously chat about running and quite a few like frivolous things. And we'll continue to do that and hopefully that can put a smile on people's faces during this tough time where we just really don't expect something like that to happen kind of in our backyard.

phoebe vid/audio:

No. Yeah, not at all.

Anna vid/audio:

Alright, moving on. One more thing actually, I wanted to tell everybody to remember, especially everyone in the southern hemisphere to Slip, slope, slap. And she seek shade. my sister-in-law, earlier this week She's just had surgery that, lasted for hours to get the skin cancer off her nose. she always puts sunscreen on her face. And has still got a, B, C, C at the age of 34. So just a cautionary tale to, it's so nice being in the sun, but just remember to protect yourself because, your health is really all we got.

phoebe vid/audio:

And get those skin checks.

Anna vid/audio:

Get those skin checks.

phoebe vid/audio:

I love it. Okay, let's jump into the weekly wattle. I don't know if you remember Anna, but a few weeks ago I promised that I would create a jingle

Anna vid/audio:

Yes, you did. Oh my gosh.

phoebe vid/audio:

I am

Anna vid/audio:

Little did we know it would actually turn into a waddle very quickly.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, literally. Okay. Oh, stop. Stop. I what that second,

Anna vid/audio:

my God, that is so good.

phoebe vid/audio:

I don't know why it's so annoying,

Anna vid/audio:

I've gotta have, that's stuck in my head now.

phoebe vid/audio:

they're weekly, waddle,

Anna vid/audio:

And update

phoebe vid/audio:

and,

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slow.

phoebe vid/audio:

Weekly model, give us an update. You are now almost 28 weeks when this comes out. You'll be 28 weeks pregnant. What has the 27th, 28th week of pregnancy been like?

Anna vid/audio:

I think this has been my worst, I'm gonna be honest. I

phoebe vid/audio:

starting strong.

Anna vid/audio:

I am now on crutches. I cannot really move at all. Um, I'm just like in constant pain, particularly going to bed is really bad. it's around like the lower part of my back or right side of my pelvis. So I spoke to Laura from since physiotherapy on the phone.'cause obviously I can't go and see her and she kind of thinks it sounds exactly like pelvic girdle pain. And I honestly did not know it could be so debilitating.

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh.

Anna vid/audio:

swimming, I can't really kick because it hurts. And I think now from, I really have been such a potato, like really not doing anything. Which has been interesting in itself because I feel like we just, I mean you sort of mentioned in your, run of one of the runs of the week how you're just gonna be skiing and won't be able to run for the next week or so. And it is, I feel like for me it's sort of strange'cause normally when I haven't been able to run, I still try and do other things, but because. As I mentioned, we are like quite a long way from a pool or anything. I'm really trying to just embrace, not doing anything and just like, kind of like giving my body a bit of a rest. But even just like waddling literally

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

and like crutching around the house, it's putting more pressure on my back. So it's like strange. I now just, I don't know if it's just from that and just like the weight of the little gal, but that pressure has just made it so I like constantly have an aching back, kind of like the midsection of my back, no matter what position I'm in. And then I just get these kind of crippling pains when I sometimes move my purpose. It's just not very nice being in pain all the time.

phoebe vid/audio:

No,

Anna vid/audio:

And I think I was also like looking forward to being on holidays and like gonna the beach and everything, but I can't really do anything. So when I have gone to the beach days, like driven me right down to the sand and then I just kind of crutch like 20 meters and sit down. But even there's like not really a comfortable spot

phoebe vid/audio:

oh.

Anna vid/audio:

on the sand, like lying down's, not comfy, but then sitting ups not comfy either.

phoebe vid/audio:

Do you feel like it's settling down or I guess, I guess I remember you saying that it was kind of maybe settling down, but then you went for like a 20 minute walk and then that just made it, this is before you got the crutches.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah, that flare it up. I'm not really sure. I, I've only been on crutches. I think this is my, second day on crutches. So it's definitely not as, I, I would say it's probably getting better, like not, not improving to the point where like I feel like I can walk around, but I feel like the pain is probably like a little less intense.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah. I wonder do you know why it came on so suddenly? Or like, is that just how it happens?

Anna vid/audio:

so I don't know if, last week I famously went for a run on the Wednesday rather than swimming, and it was so weird. I remember on the Tuesday after the track, I remember my back felt like a little bit stiff, but I've kind of been getting that quite a bit and it's like up higher, more so where now it's just like constantly achy.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah,

Anna vid/audio:

and then within, I reckon five minutes of the run, it literally went from. Just being feeling completely normal to barely being able to do anything. And it was like right at the end as well. So I didn't really actually appreciate how bad it was until I like got up from coffee and kind of

phoebe vid/audio:

yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

to get to work and then it really just like hasn't budged since then.

phoebe vid/audio:

oh, I kind of wonder if like,'cause I feel like you,'cause she didn't really get much of a bump. Until like 20, 22 weeks kind of thing. You then you finally started getting even a tiny bump, but then you went from like, you went from like nothing to having a big bump or not a big bump, but like having a bump like really quickly. And I almost wonder if like, in that time it was like within the space for a few weeks and I wonder if like it, has changed and shifted your load quite a lot.'cause you were able to run really comfortably up until all of a

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was so strange. Yeah. I wonder if it's like, I've been reading like a few different things and some things sort of say, it's like, they're like increased pressure on the, lower part of your spine and then it can't kind of like hack it anymore. So then it just like goes to your pelvis. but yeah, it is, it is really weird. But I guess, yeah, aside from that, she's like moving around and everything and like I'm feeling quite good. Like I feel like I haven't really been needing to like sleep as much, um,

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh, that's

Anna vid/audio:

maybe that's also'cause I'm not doing anything.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, true,

Anna vid/audio:

Aside from that, it's been good. I actually, I showed you before, like I feel like I'm really like people really know. I am pregnant now. Like someone at the coffee shop, like I feel like a couple weeks ago, even Evelyn was a bit like, is she pregnant? Or has she had a big meal? Whereas like

phoebe vid/audio:

yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

lady at the coffee shop this morning was like, oh, like how much, how far along are you?

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh,

Anna vid/audio:

Just like with no qualms whatsoever. So it is like kind of fun. Like I actually really like having the book now.

phoebe vid/audio:

yeah, yeah. A more, a more defined bump. let's talk about, how you can like manage it. And maybe this is a nice segue into the cheeky listener question of the wake.

Anna vid/audio:

Mm. I asked on Strava, selfishly, people's best tips and tricks for pelvic gill pain or like, if it wasn't for them in particular, if it was for a friend or a loved one. And we actually got some really good answers. so thank you for everyone who sent something through.

phoebe vid/audio:

What was the most helpful answer?

Anna vid/audio:

So Trish Griffith wrote, oof This hurts to even read. I would say one dotting husband hip massage. No happy endings. Required two hip ice, ice baby. Three floor elastic band hip strengthening exercises for avoiding any exercise that involves whole body weight on one leg by the end. Dot crutches, which is a little alarming'cause I'm not at the end and I'm on crutches. She said she couldn't run by 25 weeks. So I'm al I well, I feel weird reading this, so you were already a star in my eyes, but I would listen to your body and don't do anything that hurts.

phoebe vid/audio:

It's a very well

Anna vid/audio:

so yes, very, very well-rounded answer. So Trish is getting some milk. Um,

phoebe vid/audio:

Yes.

Anna vid/audio:

I haven't gone really hard. I probably need to go a bit hard on the ice'cause we are in an Airbnb, and sharing with quite a few people. And it's like quite hot. I don't really wanna steal all the ice and we don't have like, frozen peas or anything, but when I get home I'll be going heavy on that.

phoebe vid/audio:

Go out on the ice. Yeah. Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

Oh, I will also say if you ever want sympathy or people to be nice to you in public. One, be by yourself, two be pregnant, three be on crutches. When I was in Foster the other day, I don't think people have ever been so friendly to me. They were so nice.'cause I was crutching around the supermarket by myself and so many people just kind of gave me this endearing smile or would speak to me and be like, can I help? Or Oh, like one lady was like, oh, you poor dear, like,

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh,

Anna vid/audio:

just so nice. One guy let me like go in front of him at the checkout and he would've been probably in his like seventies or like early eighties

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh.

Anna vid/audio:

and I was like, God, this is one way to make friends.

phoebe vid/audio:

Anna's swapping out her daily run for a daily lap of the supermarket just to get some sympathy for the locals.

Anna vid/audio:

Just, anyway, it was pretty funny. So yeah, if anyone ever wants people to be nice to them or if anyone's ever like, strangers just aren't that friendly, go on, like put a, put something under your T-shirt so you look pregnant and go on crutches and

phoebe vid/audio:

Don't do that.

Anna vid/audio:

it, everyone will be really nice to you. But yes. Back to the, question of the week. So Trish is lucky enough to be receiving some of the new flavors, vanilla and mango from the dairy farmers protein smoothie range, which we have tested on air before both flavors and they are absolutely delicious. So Trish will send you a message and get that sorted.

phoebe vid/audio:

And thank you so much dairy farmers for making this episode of Cheeky Possible.

Anna vid/audio:

Nice.

phoebe vid/audio:

All right.

Anna vid/audio:

Alright, let's get into the thick of it. So we, this year have decided to run some People's Choice awards. and so currently on Instagram, we are doing a People's Choice Awards for the best running products of 2025. And it's actually been so interesting. So we popped up a story to get people's feedback on what they thought the best short sports bra tee, everyday running shoe and race shoes were. And the most popular of those have then been going to battle with each other,

phoebe vid/audio:

It is a very, it's a very complicated pro summer. I feel like we've overcomplicated this process, but it's actually been

Anna vid/audio:

anyway,

phoebe vid/audio:

we

Anna vid/audio:

we're on the grand final.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, we are, we grand finals today. But basically we, yeah, we put them in like a grid tournament against each other so people could vote. And each day we progressed from quarterfinals, semi-finals, and now, as Anna said, but in the actual finals, we'll go up later this afternoon'cause it's currently Friday. So we don't know the, we actually don't know yet who will win. But maybe we'll give, we'll talk through the finalists for each category maybe, and then maybe give our pick,

Anna vid/audio:

It's actually been really interesting. IFI found it really interesting, hearing what people's favorite things are because some of which, like I've never tried. So it kind of makes me wanna try some new products, the 2026, but, okay, let's start with the Best Everyday trainer. So in the Grand Final, It will be the Asex Super Blast versus the Asex Nova Blasts.

phoebe vid/audio:

blasts. She's crazy.

Anna vid/audio:

Asex must be pretty happy at the moment.

phoebe vid/audio:

ASIC is clearly killing it. I haven't actually tried the Novo Blasts. Have you?

Anna vid/audio:

No, neither have I. Um, so maybe it's something that we need to try for 2026, I will say, even though I haven't tried it. So it is a very skewed answer. I love the super blast, so I am gonna, that would be my pick. I mean, that would be my pick anyway, even out of all shoes.

phoebe vid/audio:

You and I have recently been testing the Mega Blast. Um, which for those who don't know, is like a newer released shoe, which is kind of framed as almost like an elevated version of the super blast. What are your thoughts?

Anna vid/audio:

I really like it. I prefer it for, I don't think I would wanna do, um, like easy runs in it. I like it for like a long run or a session. But yeah, maybe I still think the super blast for the everyday issue.

phoebe vid/audio:

I agree. I really like the mega blast, but I completely agree. It feels weird to do easy runs in it. Like it doesn't feel good to go slow in. It feels really good to do a longer, harder run or a session,

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah,

phoebe vid/audio:

super stable and bouncy. But yeah, super blast also have the edge for me there. about re ratio?

Anna vid/audio:

So, ratio in the grand final, we have We have the Nike Alpha Fly versus the Asex Meta Speeded Asex again,

phoebe vid/audio:

I six

Anna vid/audio:

I've actually never run into. Meta speeded.

phoebe vid/audio:

well, there's two, there's like two different types of meta speeds released this year, the Edge and the Paris, I believe. So we did sort of cheat a little bit by combining them into one, but we had a heap of heap of, combinations for both. We, sorry, we had a heap of nominations for both. I think that Nike will probably win. I just feel like the Alpha Fly has the biggest, it almost just has like, it owns like the Super Shoe brand. It's like what

Anna vid/audio:

Hmm. I agree.

phoebe vid/audio:

super shoes. They are so good. Um, I have to say my personal favorite this year was the Puma Fast rs. That's what I did the marathon in. That's why I did my half in.

Anna vid/audio:

yeah.

phoebe vid/audio:

so, they're

Anna vid/audio:

you love them. Yeah. You did love them actually. Yeah.

phoebe vid/audio:

them. I, my bet is that the Alpha Fly will take out this category.

Anna vid/audio:

yeah. And then, so for the best running tee in the Grand final, we have the Nike Drive hit versus the Lululemon swiftly tech. I think the Lululemon swiftly tech will win this by Country Mile. I just think they're so comfortable, they're breathable and. They feel and look good,

phoebe vid/audio:

this is

Anna vid/audio:

either.

phoebe vid/audio:

yeah, the Lululemon swiftly tech got, definitely got the most nominations. We also did have someone message us saying the Nike dry fit isn't a shirt. We, but we had so many people write in with nominating Nike there, as in, sorry. It is, it's a type of material basically. And there are a few different shirts that fit in

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. But I think that's fine. Like, it's like the same, yeah. It's like the umbrella term.

phoebe vid/audio:

Uh, yeah. Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

It's the material that they use and it is good.

phoebe vid/audio:

it is, it is really good.

Anna vid/audio:

and also we could say, you could argue as well, but the Lululemon, it's the same. They have singlets, they have long sleeves.

phoebe vid/audio:

long sleeves. Yeah, it's the same. We're just, we're just bucketing them together. Do you know what actually we got the most nominations for? Um, that I didn't put in There was the cheeky run club tea.

Anna vid/audio:

Oh,

phoebe vid/audio:

I reckon we got, I reckon we

Anna vid/audio:

put that

phoebe vid/audio:

hundred people. No.'cause it honestly would've won and it would've been ridiculous. I was like, I can't put this in.

Anna vid/audio:

alright, so next cab off the rank is the best running shorts for 2025. In the grand final we have the Lululemon, fast and free again, again with the Lululemon. and then they'll be coming up against the LSKD fusion. So I haven't actually tried the fusion shorts, but I do love the fast and free. What about you?

phoebe vid/audio:

I really like the fusion shots. I actually think they were my short of the year last year. I think fast and free, just have a stronger fan base, but I would, I don't know, ls, KD. Has had, there's a very vocal minority who are like, everyone needs to be wearing these shoes. Also nimble in tempo. I was surprised, got beat out by it because there were so many people who nominated Nimble. I don't know if they just then didn't vote, which I haven't tried them, but yeah. I actually wonder if Lululemon might take this one out as well. Uh, I love the fasted phrase, wore them for the marathon. They're such a good all round. Running, running bike. Short, so many pockets. Super comfortable. Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

you, you know what? I, I do wanna acknowledge how. I reckon last year or the year before, the only nominations that would've been in, even like the semifinals are, would've been from the big brands like Lululemon, Nike, new Balance, Aidas, asic maybe on, but also like a couple years ago, probably not. But I love how, the diversity now in brands like doing cool stuff. Like Bandit has Bandit, nimble, LSKD, Londoner, there's Muscle Republic, like all of these other brands. I feel like it goes to show how, up and coming these other brands are, but also just like how much competition there is, I guess, for people to make the, like, the best kind of stuff. And like kind of meet performance and comfort

phoebe vid/audio:

Yes.

Anna vid/audio:

I really, I, I think it's really good.

phoebe vid/audio:

and specifically for women as well, like so many of these brands are really focused on like, how can we create products that women love? Women feel really confident running in, women feel comfortable in, like they give women the support they need. That's such a, yeah. I, I almost wonder what this list will look like in year, two years time.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Which is, yeah, I don't know. I just reckon it's kind of cool. Okay, so lastly, speaking of women, the last community vote was the best sports bra. So the products in the grand final are going to be,

phoebe vid/audio:

I think it is the, it'll be the Lululemon energy and the LSKD accelerate.

Anna vid/audio:

so what do you think?

phoebe vid/audio:

I don't actually dunno, I haven't worn either of these brows before. I think the Ls KD Accelerate might win. I feel like that has had a stronger, every, both the quarterfinals and the semi-finals, it's just like dominated. So I, I'm really keen to give it a go. I must be a really good sports bra.

Anna vid/audio:

yeah,, they are the grand finalists for the community vote of best products for 2025. And thanks to everyone who voted in, but I feel like it's really good to, like, we'll share the list of the winners as well because it is hard to navigate if you like, wanna try something new. It's hard to know kind of like where to start or what you should be trying. So hopefully this can be a little guide. Could even be a little gift guide for you pre Chrissy.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, true. Well I feel like we, we should take the winners and we'll do maybe like a post or something like that summarizing like what, which one? Each category so that everyone can see.'Cause yeah, good starting place. If you're like, okay, I know that I need to branch out and get new running shots, but I dunno where to start. This would be a great starting place.

Anna vid/audio:

yeah, yeah, for sure.

phoebe vid/audio:

while we're going through our running awards for 2025, we actually just thought we'd do some cheeky reflections, some highlights and low lights, of 2025. Anna, gimme some of your cheeky low lights to start us off.

Anna vid/audio:

Oh my cheeky low light for this year. It's probably not even a low light. 95% of the brands that we work with, uh, absolutely amazing, to work with. But I think it's probably like a good thing for us, like moving forward to make sure we're aligned with people and kind of have similar expectations, and are authentic to ourselves before, like, getting involved with some, just because it, it can take the enjoyment out of it. And at the end of the day, they love running and we want this podcast to be fun and also like authentic. So yeah, I would say that's a, that's a learning kind of

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, it's, yeah, it's almost like I feel like the learning is we sometimes have upfront, super trusty, and we're like, yeah, yep, yep. All looks good. Let's get into the partnership. Because at the end of the day, like all the brands are awesome. It's so great that they want to get around running and sponsor us, but actually what we learned is like, it is really important upfront to basically be like, oh, let's align on like, how do you think about content? Who has, like, how much creative control do we have, et cetera. Because that stuff, matters then, like we're the ones who then have to like get up in the morning and record it and figure out how it all works. So

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe vid/audio:

good,

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. So I think it's more of a, yeah, and I feel like that's on us, like, we'll, like learn things as we go. But that has been good. What's the low light for you?

phoebe vid/audio:

I'm gonna say merch has been a bit of a low light. I think

Anna vid/audio:

Oh

phoebe vid/audio:

agree with me. I feel like we started off so bright eyed, bushy-tailed about merch, The first few

Anna vid/audio:

actually I wanna swap mine. Mine's merch.

phoebe vid/audio:

They were so painful, but they were so fun. But now it's the last few merchants we've done, it's so hard to get the right amount of stuff at the right time. The packing, I don't know why this is so hard, but the packing and mailing of them, it's just really easy to make mistakes. And I don't know if it's because we don't necessarily have like world class attention to detail and we must just like get it wrong sometimes. But the process of then. Of course people can and should and do return it and we will then send the correct size or maybe they just try and it doesn't fit them or whatever, but just like you think it's gonna be this finite one weekend of sending things out. But it's literally six months of just like ongoing back and forth and pass parcels going. Missing. My living room has had boxes of, merchant for months now. Especially those we, we like custom made that long sleeve tees, which people will recall us talking about, that just came out like the weirdest shape, which we've given away a heap of them, but there's still like two boxes left of all weird sizes. Dunno what to do with them. I just feel like, I feel like we haven't nailed the merch side of it. And it's hard'cause we still get messages all the time from people being like, please bring back your cheeky tees. I'm like, we need to get rid of the jumpers and long sleeve tees.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. I think as well, it's one of those things which is probably, again, just a learning for us and a bit naive of us to think like people do merch and stuff. It's like a full-time job running a clothing brand, which you can kind of understand when you have the logistics side of things. Like it's all well and good printing stuff, like creating stuff, handing stuff out. But then it's like, there's always career issues, um, as you said, like people wanna change sizes, which is fair enough that like, as a, like very small business who's like predominantly a podcast, we don't have a exchange policy. So that kind of thing is, difficult. And yes,. I mean, even just like different, using different careers. We really noticed a difference in like quality. Like one, at one stage we were using a career and people were getting their stuff, and it was moldy,

phoebe vid/audio:

that's right. Oh my God, that was so bad.

Anna vid/audio:

because

phoebe vid/audio:

That was so

Anna vid/audio:

just like left stuff out in the rain. Like it's absolute ridiculous. But yes, that is, that's a good, that's a good low. I, yeah, I think I'm, I'm in on that low.

phoebe vid/audio:

I would say another low would be, we both had times this year, which we had actually spoken on the podcast where we tried to go down to four days a week at work because we felt like, we do feel like it's. It's a big workload trying to fit full-time work on top of, oh, sorry. Fit the podcast on top of full-time work. Um, should be the way, should be the right

Anna vid/audio:

slip.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah. Trying to fit full-time work on top of the podcast. But like, yeah, you tried first and then you, you did it for like maybe a month or two or Yeah, six weeks or something. And then you had to go, your work said you had to go back up to full time. And then I tried in like, October, November also for like four weeks and it was so good. But then I also had had to go back after full time and I feel like it's almost just disappointing'cause like you have a vision of a future where you're like, oh, this is amazing. Okay, we're gonna have a whole day of week to like, get cheeky stuff done, don't need to do it after hours or on the weekend, which as you've said, oh it's all good. We love doing it, but just would be nice to do it. Not, you know, in our own time. And then to have that kind of taken away is a bit. A bit grim.

Anna vid/audio:

Gosh, it would be so nice to like, yeah, do this as job, which we've spoken about many times. But anyway.

phoebe vid/audio:

Um, okay. On that other low light technical difficulties, we just never seem to be able to, I mean, listeners will remember the episode from a few weeks ago where we just, had to use the video audio, sorry, the audio from our phones, which are videoing us because we plugged. The, the microphones into the wrong sockets of the audio recorder.

Anna vid/audio:

there's just always something.

phoebe vid/audio:

there's always something today we got on to record and it took us like half an hour just to like get the set up right. I, I feel like we just have never quite, it's just never quite been our strong suit. Although we've come a long way since last year.

Anna vid/audio:

Have we?

phoebe vid/audio:

Well, yeah. I reckon we've had fewer episodes this year that we have just totally not

Anna vid/audio:

It only seems to really be when we are traveling, when we're like, set up at your

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah. We are pretty good. But that's actually true. That's actually true.

Anna vid/audio:

All right. Now let's go into the positives.

phoebe vid/audio:

let's do some give, gimme a highlight.

Anna vid/audio:

I reckon our first birthday was a bit of a highlight. I think just in itself, making it to one year, I, I think we were both just like personally really proud of, and the amount of people that showed up as well, and just the whole setup, like having Frankie from Crop do the food. It just, it felt very much like us. Like we love those bowls. It was like so fun and like fitting to have it there. We do most of our runs from Richmond. That's where the event was. So yeah, that was definitely a high that and also I guess, yeah, the other event that I absolutely loved was the pre Melbourne marathon shakeout that we did with Lululemon.

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh my God. Yeah.

Anna vid/audio:

I feel like that was a bit of a pinch me moment as well. But yeah, I feel like it's the, for me, it's the events and like meeting the like cheeky community that is probably a highlight. And just like getting to know people and I don't know, there's something that is just like something so rewarding about that.'Cause obviously like, it's like so fun like talking to each other and everything, but it's fun actually meeting people that enjoy cheeky and like, I don't know, like hearing about their own stories and that kind of thing.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, I agree. I I feel like, the big events definitely such a highlight, but then also we've done a few, like smaller events with like 30 people at sense of self. A small little lemon event and like the small events are really, really nice as well. Um, I would say other highlights to add, definitely. Yeah, events are so good. Other highlights, launching cheeky track nights definitely has been super exciting. And I'm, I'm, I'm excited to give a little bit more of an update there, but just so cool. The concept I'm so excited about. But also I'm really proud that we, we kind of had this idea and it felt not a bit beyond our scope, but I feel like it was something that we were kind of sitting there being like, can someone do this? Can someone do this? And then I think it was a cool like mindset shift for us to be like, okay, why, why can't we just do this?

Anna vid/audio:

don't we do it?

phoebe vid/audio:

just try and like put it out there in the world. And there's still a long way to go before it's fully brought to life. But, I don't know. That was, that was quite a cool moment. And I think another highlight was the episodes we did on your, fertility journey and pregnancy. And I feel like that was such a kind of a nice way to end the year in a sense. But that has been such a like through, not through line, but That has been like a constant in almost the whole cheeky run, like it's been a constant undertone in almost the whole cheeky run club journey is this, this other journey that you've been going on in parallel. And I feel like for you to be able to talk about it, for everyone to respond the way they did. And obviously, you know, that journey's very much still ongoing, like, like everyone heard in the weekly waddle update today. But, yeah, that was, I feel like that was such a amazing thing for you to be able

Anna vid/audio:

Mm.

phoebe vid/audio:

share it and for everyone to respond the way they did. And also I was just like, I was so proud of you. I mean, the whole time in how you handled it, but then hearing you reflect on it and hearing your thoughts and reflections and how you shared it and how considered you were in sharing it. Yeah, that was a really, that was a really nice moment.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah, it was quite, I think I mentioned like it was quite cathartic doing that. I also, I really enjoyed because I feel like I, because yeah, as you said, it has sort of been ongoing since we started Cheeky. I almost feel like I have been like keeping something, I don't know, it's nice. I just like share it and kind of let people in a little bit more. Um, so yeah, like I found that, yeah, I found that myself, very rewarding and like, I'm so, I, as you know, like I was really nervous about doing it, but like, I'm so glad that we did it.

phoebe vid/audio:

yeah. And that almost makes me think like, yeah, if I was to reflect on like broader tiki highlights, I feel like this year we've gotten in a much better, like last year we recorded, we were all over the shop. We'd record pre-work after work any day of the week. We'd just like each week be figuring out. Whereas this week we got into a much better routine of like when. We'd recorded how, and like I loved the, like normally on a Thursday night. Yeah. Like, you'd come over, we'd, we'd order grilled, we'd plan the episode together. We'd reflect on the week. And it was such, there's such like, it's like one of my favorite times of the week each week.'cause do like, okay. I know we, we'd obviously talk about cheeky, but also just like have a big catch up on everything going on in our lives and plan the episode and Yeah. They're

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. I feel like quite a few times they turned into like therapy sessions and then we're like, oh shit, we have to record.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah. It's 9:00 PM

Anna vid/audio:

And then we both pretend that we like, weren't sure what we were gonna eat and go through Uber Eats, but like literally, I reckon every time we end up getting grilled.

phoebe vid/audio:

I know. It's just so good. One other highlight was that we actually had, we had a editor come on board for our podcast this year, in Kiara, who was a listener who reached out and said, that she was happy to help out with some of the podcast production. And so we've been working with Kiara for I feel like most of the year now, and she's just been amazing. I feel like it has been such a massive help for us to not have to spend half our weekend editing the podcast, you know, from scratch ourselves. She's just been like, she's so talented at what she does, she's so great to work with and we feel very lucky to have her helping us out. So thank you, Kiara.

Anna vid/audio:

Yes. Thank you Kiara. all right. I've, I've only got 5% left in my battery,

phoebe vid/audio:

Okay, well let's jump into our Cheeky Track nights update. We did just wanna give everyone an update before the end of the year because. We know we launched, the expressions of interest closed almost like three weeks ago now. And we have been basically trying to lock in the actual track bookings, but to give everyone a bit of an update, we're going to launch first in Sydney and Melbourne. It actually looks like we've flipped the dates around a little bit because we had been planning on doing them like late Feb, early March. It's all just a little bit too much with Anna's due date. So we're actually now pushing them back to, both gonna be in March in Sydney and Melbourne, but just a little bit later in March. So we're aiming for the 21st of March in Melbourne and the 28th of March in Sydney. They are the dates we are working towards. We haven't secured or finalized bookings for either of them, but um, it looks like it should be possible. And then pending how they go and our lessons and learnings from them, our goal is to then do some in Brisbane and Adelaide, which I don't wanna overcommit. So that's still, a whip, but that's our goal. And they would be later, sort of more in May, which honestly works better with, temperature wise, especially for Brisbane as well.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah. So definitely put, yeah, if you are in Melbourne or Sydney, put those dates aside. So the 21st of March for Melbourne and the 28th for Sydney. We are, yeah, we're really pumped. I feel like it won't be too long before we're actually talking about it. Way more, we've just still got a few things that we're working through, but very exciting.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, we should have registrations hopefully open in the next couple of weeks. We'll also be looking for volunteers to help pace on the night, which should be a really fun gig, and they'll be a little bit more involved with that, which we'll be able to, we'll be able to explain in a little bit more detail once a few key partnerships are locked in. But, we'll keep everyone updated with how that's all going, but as Anna said, put those dates in your calendar. If you are keen.

Anna vid/audio:

Yes. Alright, so let's round out the year with a couple of listener questions. Couple of quick fire listener questions,

phoebe vid/audio:

Samantha has asked, this is one for you, I assume Anna baby names that you love but won't be using.

Anna vid/audio:

Oh, I love Samantha. Thank you so much. Because that in Sydney, that suggests that you think I have a lot of baby names that are locked. Uh, a couple that are locked and loaded. No, I think we think that we know the baby name, but then I also were not completely sure. So it could be some of the others. I really like, kind of like old fashioned names, ones that I don't think we will be using'cause they've been vetoed by David. Like I really like Matilda. I really, really like Matilda. I really like Cleo. I feel like that's a really cute name. Um, Maggie.

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh,

Anna vid/audio:

Um, but yeah, I'm not gonna say the other ones'cause. It

phoebe vid/audio:

They still

Anna vid/audio:

that she's called that,

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

Anna vid/audio:

but yeah, they're probably the ones that we're not gonna use. But I, yeah, I feel like anything old school, I really like Jean, like Jeanie, I feel like

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh, that is really

Anna vid/audio:

Um, but yes. So there we go. There's, well, all four names. Sorry, I can't be more helpful there. Oh, I really like Clara. I really like

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh yes. I remember you telling me you liked

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's about it. Uh, all right, let's go on for you. This is from Jess and she wants to know about hair routines.

phoebe vid/audio:

Yeah, she did. She, I think the question I asked about like, yeah. Busy lives, running work, like what do you do with your hair? We've like loosely discussed this on the podcast before, but I feel like a real, groundbreaking moment for me was learning that you didn't always need to wet your hair after runs. I think I just thought, I always used to think as a rule, even though I wouldn't wash my hair post run often, I would always like soak it in water in the shower and like rinse what I thought was like essentially rinsing the sweat out.

Anna vid/audio:

Mm,

phoebe vid/audio:

And now I've learned that you don't actually need to do that, so you can just leave a little. If you've just gone for an easy run and you haven't sweated a crazy amount, then you can just leave it, which I actually feel like has been helpful because I do feel like constantly rinsing my hair with water wasn't always amazing for it, but I reckon I probably wash it once a week. Rinse it

Anna vid/audio:

you only watch it once a week. Oh my God.

phoebe vid/audio:

How many times do you wash it a week?

Anna vid/audio:

Oh, I'm free at least, but I don't do the rinse. I don't do the rinse.

phoebe vid/audio:

So you either wash it or you leave it dry.

Anna vid/audio:

Yeah. Yeah. I also think with the leaving it dry, it, and it being a little bit dirty is really helpful when you want a slick back look. So it's actually like, it's way easier to get a slick back look when your hair's a little bit dirty. So running can actually be really good for that and'cause it kind of makes you look quite like smart,

phoebe vid/audio:

um,

Anna vid/audio:

back look, but

phoebe vid/audio:

I'm, I don't rock a slick back rock slick back look very often. So maybe that's why. But yeah, I don't, I also feel like I am lucky that my work, I don't need to like have my hair blow dried or anything. Like it's fine if I have wet hair when I rock up to work, which I know some people feel a bit awkward about rocking up to work with soaking wet hair, which we should be allowed to do. That should be fine to have wet hair. I don't know why that's considered not. Very professional.

Anna vid/audio:

mm Yeah. I'll als also say get a good dry shampoo. No, but dry shampoo is like amazing.'cause also if you're a bit worried about it being a bit sweaty and like smelly, I feel like a lot of them smell so nice. The chlorine one smells really nice. So

phoebe vid/audio:

chlorine dry shampoo.

Anna vid/audio:

no chlorine it's called, um, and it actually makes it smell nicer than a lot of time you wash your hair. So definitely give that one a

phoebe vid/audio:

I need some dry shampoo tips.'cause I, I don't have any

Anna vid/audio:

Mm.

phoebe vid/audio:

I, I would like some chlorine. Okay. Maybe let's link it in the show notes. Should we do one final question? I wanna know, sorry. We did wanna spend more time with these questions, but we have run out for a little of time. I wanna know what's on your Christmas wishlist.

Anna vid/audio:

A new pelvis.

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh, all I want for Christmas isn't you Pelvis?

Anna vid/audio:

I want for Christmas is a new pelvis. I actually don't really have anything on my Christmas wishlist, which is strange. I feel like I normally have like so many things that I want, but maybe it's because my body's changing shape that I almost just think there's no point buying anything.'cause I'm not gonna, like, it'll just be a couple of weeks. My like change in mindset over clothes because things that I would normally like don't really, what's that Regina George quote. It's like, sweatpants are the only thing that fit me right now. I'd feel like, like stuff that I would normally look at and be like, oh, that's really nice. I'm just like, oh, well it's just not feasible at the moment. Um, what about you? What's on yours?

phoebe vid/audio:

It's literally I have nothing. I have nothing on my Christmas, Christmas wish list.

Anna vid/audio:

Oh my God, we are so bad.

phoebe vid/audio:

we are literally so bad. I think because I'm away for Christmas, I just haven't thought about it. I haven't done Christmas shopping. I haven't thought about what I would like for myself. I feel like moving back to Sydney, a good beach towel. I don't know. I dunno. I honestly don't have anything on my list. So boring. I

Anna vid/audio:

this? So is the piece actually I do have, I really want these shoes. I'll pop them in the show notes. They're these kind of ballet flat sand things and I reckon they're sick. So, and they come in heaps of different colors, so that, they're definitely on my Christmas wishlist. This will actually, this will actually be a good test for Dave to see if he. He listens to the pod.

phoebe vid/audio:

what brand are they? Did you say?

Anna vid/audio:

cause I haven't actually told him. I don't, they're like this weird brand. Let me, They're called K sandals. They're really, really cool. Maybe I'll pop the link in the show notes, and then so everyone can get a pair. They're also on sale at the moment as well,

phoebe vid/audio:

Oh, cool. Okay. Well, really sorry to listen to Sammy. I feel like apart from Anna's tip at the end there, that was a pretty shocking, Christmas wishlist response.

Anna vid/audio:

Thank you everyone for listening to us this year for coming to our events for liking or following us on Instagram for whichever way you supported Cheeky, honestly from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And you help us make it so we can continue to do this. So, but the final time this year. Oh no. I was gonna say we'll be back in your ears next week, but we won't be.

phoebe vid/audio:

No, we will be back in your ears next year. Crazy. Have a great holidays everyone.

Anna vid/audio:

hoo.

phoebe vid/audio:

Bye

Anna vid/audio:

Stay safe and we can't wait for cheeky 2026. Bye.

phoebe vid/audio:

bye.

Anna vid/audio:

Still.