Runbelievable: Real Runners, Unreal Stories

Ep 19: Santa Suits, Scooters, and Six Marathons... Rodney Law’s Running Life

• Josh Rischin • Season 1 • Episode 19

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Rodney Law might be the most recognisable face in the local running community... and not just because he’s routinely dressed as Santa.

Since being talked into a 500km relay back in 2014, Rodney’s running journey has been filled with highs, humour, and a truly impressive list of setbacks. Narcosis of the toes, a torn meniscus, bike crashes, and a near on-course collision with a car... yet he keeps coming back with the same grin and willingness to give back.

In this episode of Runbelievable, Joshie and Matty sit down with Rodney to talk about parkrun, volunteering, photography, and why staying connected to the community mattered just as much as staying fit. From six marathons and countless injuries to becoming Event Director at Chermside parkrun, Rodney’s story is a reminder that running isn’t just about performance... it’s about belonging.

In this episode:

  • Being talked into a 500km relay and paying the price
  • Narcosis of the toes and early injury lessons
  • Discovering parkrun and falling in love with the community
  • Volunteering, photography, and staying involved when injured
  • Torn meniscus, bike crashes, scooter run-ins, and recovery
  • Why parkrun became home

Runbelievable: real runners, unreal stories.

Interested in being a guest on the show? Hit us up!

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Email: joshua@runbelievable.au

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Rodney:

And then got into that last lap going through Cotton Tree. And I could hear some yelling behind me, car reving, more yelling. Then I hear this car screaming up beside me. I looked to my right, so she decided just to drive through the course.

Joshie:

Hello everybody and welcome to Run Believable, the podcast that celebrates the human side of running. I'm your host, Josh Christian, and I'm here to bring you stories of grit, glory, and overcoming adversity. Each episode we'll dive deep into what first got people running and what keeps them lacing up day after day. From the laughs and the lessons to inconsistent truth quality, this is why we run and how it shapes who would become. And coming up in just a few moments, you'll meet a runner who's perhaps the most recognizable face in the local running community and actually played a pivotal role in me joining a run club. So strap yourself in and get ready for some laugh, folks. He is quite the character. Maddie, welcome back. Thanks, Josh. Good to be here, mate. Yeah. Well it's good to have you as always. Um just about to kick off your marathon plan. How are you feeling about that, bud?

Matty:

I'm feeling pretty good. Um, you know, of course I'm a bit a bit nervous, but um, you know, no, I'm feeling good. Uh it's gonna be a challenge, but it's also gonna be a lot of learning. And I think learning about myself as well, um, a bit more, um, which I'm really looking forward to.

Joshie:

Yeah. Oh, we all wish you the best of luck, dude. Now it's time for the Run Believable Rundown. And just a reminder that this is where we share little mishaps, misadventures. It's really it's the kind of stuff that humanizes the running experience. However, today we're going to do things a little bit differently. I actually want to share my insights on credit card security of all things. Now, I'm one of those people that still likes to use a like a physical card. Um, but I've all I'm always paranoid about losing it because they have the CVV on the back. So if if you fit lose your physical card, it's got pretty much all the information on there for people to hack your um uh well to use it. Yeah, to basically use it. And um I very rarely run with my phone, but I do like to take a credit card occasionally, so I can buy a coffee or a granola. Yeah, yeah. So, what do you think happens when I get home? Um you forget to take it out of your pants and it goes through the wash. Four times now. During the week it happened again. Um it's quite literally money laundering. But look, here's the thing, my friend. Not only does the card still work after having gone through the wash four times, the CVV has faded so badly that you can't read it anymore, those three numbers on the back. I know. So I think I have found the solution to credit card security, everyone.

Matty:

Or just get just get just get um Apple Pay or phone or uh Google Pay, whatever it is, on your phone.

Joshie:

I don't like to take my phone when I run. So yeah, so having a little physical card, I think, is uh is the way to go. Always had my my phone when I run. Yeah, or I could just rub the three numbers off the back and just destroy it to memory. Yeah, anyway. Another quiz, Maddie. I know you love them, and we're gonna try and keep those regular um fixture. And gosh, you've got to redeem yourself. It's been quite some time since you've got all correct. But look, I think you're a shoe-in today. Do you know why? Because about shoes. Close it's your next favorite thing, um, Jess Hull. Now, nice one, yeah. Yeah, these are all, once again, true or false questions, all about Jess. Question number one. Her best finish position at the Olympics is a bronze medal. I'm gonna say false. You are correct.

Matty:

What made you go with false? I'm just trying to think. See, I love Jess Hull, but don't know much about her running. Um that's what she does. Yeah, I know that's what she does. But um, I know that she holds uh she holds a world record. Um, and I'm just thinking I'm sure she would have won uh higher, either a silver, a gold or silver at the Olympics.

Joshie:

Yeah, uh she has indeed won a silver medal, and that was in 2024. Um who was that? Paris. Paris. Yeah. She won the uh silver in the 1500 metres um, yeah, I think second to Faith Keep Yeagon. Yeah. Question number two, and I think you've already got this one in the bag, my friend. True or false, she currently holds no world records.

Matty:

Uh she holds one. I think she holds the um 3,000 metre or the 1500 metre.

Joshie:

Um I'll let you get it um only because you answered correctly. It's not three, that's the 2,000 meters. Oh okay. Monaco 2024. Gosh, um you didn't ask that in the question, so I got it. Yeah. No, that's true. I didn't answer. Um gee, 2024 was quite the year for Jess, and she goes from strength to strength. Um yeah, her her time was five minutes 19 and uh 0.7. So that works out to I think 245 pace. That's incredible, isn't it? Yeah. Question number three. At the World Athletics Championships last year, she tried her hand at a new distance, five thousand metres. True or false? It was true. Incorrect. Jeez, you were so close. It was the 800 meters that she made.

Matty:

I knew she tried something different. Yep.

Joshie:

She um oh, look, if memory serves correctly, I think she made the final, but um, yeah, kind of struggled over the shorter distance. Um yeah, look good on her, love her versatility, and yeah, she goes from strength to strength. Yeah, she's right. So two from three, Maddie. Not a bad effort. Listeners at home, how did you go? Feel free to let us know. The term larger than life gets thrown around a lot, but today's guest truly fits the bill. He's completed six marathons, is a parkrun event director, and just as likely to crack a joke as he is to turn up as Santa at your Christmas party. Can we please welcome Rodney Law? Thanks, James, for having me. Oh, it's our pleasure. Now, Rodney, you may not remember this, but uh back in 2021, I think it was April, maybe May, uh, I attended my very first parkrun. You flew past me at roughly the second K mark, and I was like, who the hell is this bitted old fella going past me? And I actually approached you after park run. Um, we had a quick chat, and that's what ultimately set me on my path to becoming part of the in-training run club. Wow, that's good. So truly grateful for you for that. Now, you grew up in Wagga. Can you take us to what life was like back then? Um, and whether or not running or yeah, and whether recreation was a big part of your life.

Rodney:

In Wagga, there was not a lot to do. So you had to go out and do sport. Um during winter, I'd play rugby league. Um, Wagga's a town fairly close to the uh Victorian border, so either rugby league or Aussie Rules, and there's one of them I hate, and then there's rugby league. So people work that one. But um in that I had to get fit uh a bit. So I used to do a lot of running at school, so uh I've always run, uh whether it was on the grass track uh or cross country. Um I used to get out there and run a bit. Uh as I mentioned, I wasn't um we weren't flush with cash. So I used to run in basically moccasins as opposed to running shoes. So it was a bit of an education.

Joshie:

So you took up running, I think, 2014, but I wouldn't mind just exploring a little bit that sort of period between sort of when you were growing up in in Wagger and um 2014. Like was um recreational sport uh much of the fixture of your life? Not really.

Rodney:

Uh once I finished high school, um, I played a little bit of squash and then I realized that's bloody hard work. So we got out of that fairly quickly. And I basically did nothing uh until about oh 2012. Um I started going to the gym a little bit up at the hospital. And then from there I just started to do a bit of cross-training and that sort of stuff. Um, and yeah, I just sort of fell into running after that.

Joshie:

So when you say you fell into running, it sounds like it was almost uh, you know, I might might not um be averse to giving it a go. I think you were uh asked to run in 2014, but it turned out to be a little bit more than what you bargained for. Yeah, exactly.

Rodney:

Um I was at a lions convention, I was in the lions for about 10 years, eight years, ten years, and I was at a convention down in um Tamworth. A young fella came up to me, he was one of the Leos and he said, Oh, we've got this run happening. We need someone, we need some lions involved in it, um, need some help. And I think, oh yeah, I can help out, that won't be a problem. What he meant was he needed me to run. Now, this is a five and he didn't actually explain it that well to start with. He said, Oh, it's a relay. Okay. And then he coaxed it out and I said, How far? He goes, Oh, 500 kilometres in November in Brisbane, in Queensland. Okay, and how many people? He goes, Oh, six to ten. And oh dear. That math that math doesn't sound good, does it? No, it doesn't, it doesn't. And um, as one of those ones where I went into it thinking, okay, I can do that. So only he said, there's 5k. You'll probably do 5k twice a day, if that, and we'll get some other people involved as well. So yeah, it sort of started on, and then I um coaxed my stepdaughter into joining us, um, which was quite good because uh she was doing a little bit of rain at the time, so she decided to come along. And what we didn't realise was they call it the Endeavour Summer Classic, and they run in November, and you do a little bit of work around uh QUT campus at uh Nathan there. It's a bit of a relay there to start, then you go out to Bow Desert, and then you keep going west out to Dolby and Toowoomba and Crow's Nest and all those lovely places. But it was a weekend of the G20 in Brisbane, so if anyone was here for that, I realize that was the hottest weekend known to man in Brisbane. And we were hot, very hot. So we'd run 50 metres or 500 metres, and people would be there with sponges trying to cool you down. Oh, yeah. But yeah, it was a fun event. So we started working towards that. That was in April I was asked to do it. November was a run, so it was all about charity, raising a lot of money, and uh we ended up raising sixteen and a half thousand dollars, and we only came second. Uh, that's awesome.

Joshie:

So that was for the Endeavour Foundation, is that correct? Yep.

Rodney:

Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. And we're talking the best runners in Southeast Queensland were there. Um we had Team Victory uh down from the Gold Coast uh in training, had a couple of teams in there, uh Ashgrove, uh which our team was based on Ashgrove, were there, and yeah, it's a lot of club teams. Do they still do the event, do you know? No, unfortunately the guy who was running it pulled out of it uh and then it basically died. Um but yeah, I think a few of us wanted to die that weekend too.

Matty:

How how far did you actually end up running yourself?

Rodney:

Um I think it was about 45 odd K over the three days. What I didn't say though, some of those times I was running in a uh a costume, a lion's costume with a head and everything also. So Rodney. Yeah, I I don't mind dressing up.

Joshie:

Was that perhaps a factor in you ending up with correct me if I'm wrong, um, narcosis of the toes?

Rodney:

Yeah, um that run. Um obviously I just sort of started running and um I was running and yeah, I got to the end and my feet were I was actually sore just before starting the run anyway, but by the end of the run, I could hardly walk. And then I went off to the doctor and he sent me to a specialist, and um they had x-rays and scans and everything. He goes, Oh, you've got narcosis of the toe. And I said, What's that? And he goes, Oh, there's no blood getting to your toes, so we should probably stop this running for a little bit uh so you don't lose a toe. Did you mention that you're running in moccasins? No, no, no, then I was running in real shoes. Like admitly, uh then I could run in real shoes. I've had money then. Um, but the problem was he then turned around and said, Oh, this is a very common um injury for a ballerina. Now, if anyone's seen me, I'm not a ballerina.

Joshie:

No, well, unless you moonlight as one without us knowing.

Rodney:

Oh, I'd be like that um the elephant in fantasia.

Joshie:

Oh costume for me. I just I just got a visual rodney with you, which I won't share. Um so it was so during that period you couldn't run. Um, it sounds like it was a few months. You leaned into volunteering, and I think in particular you decided that um, you know, photography was was something that you really enjoyed. Um what can you tell us about that experience and and how it helped you stay connected?

Rodney:

Yeah, it was that sort of thing that in that whole training period I started going to Parkrun. I I found out what Parkrun was and went along to Parkrun. And at that stage there was no churn side. Um, so I was at North Lakes. And yeah, when I was injured, I thought I've got to give back. I've said all these people do it, so I picked up the camera and started taking photos. And then I thought, well, that's not too bad. Yeah, if I'm not running, I can actually do something else. So I sort of got into um volunteering that way.

Joshie:

Yeah. And uh I encourage everyone to check Rodney's photos out. Um, you're a fantastic photographer and capture some incredible moments. Um, so you decided to have a crack at North Lakes, like you say, is your first park run. Um, I think was it 25-25 was your your very first um uh time, uh official time for a park run, which is a decent start. That's fine. Um what was it that hooked you on running a particular made you go to North Lakes? Was it the um the people, the fact the course measures short? That helps.

Rodney:

Uh no, it was the fact that since I was tracking with my daughter and she lives over at Launton Way, uh, yeah, that was a closest one for both of us to actually get to. So we went over there, we started running there. And um, if you've ever done North Lakes, yes, it is short. Um, and you get those three laps of the uh the pond. And yeah, it can be mind-blowingly boring um or fun. But my goal ended up being after I started a little bit, I got past a couple of times on that third lap. Um, someone was fishing before I started my third lap, and I thought, this is not going to happen again. Uh so and it just kept getting quicker and quicker. Um yeah, so I yeah, quite enjoyed Northlakes. I've got about 24 runs clocked up there. I've got to get back and actually click out of that 25th. Um, but yeah, it's when I feel like a boost of um doing 4.9k, I'll go there.

Joshie:

Yeah, it is a lovely course. Um yeah, if anyone's ever visiting Brisbane, I encourage them to check out Northlakes. I do love the the three lap course, although I've I have been lapped there before and is quite um dem demoralizing. Um now Parkrun became and still is a permanent fixture of your life. Um in particular uh Chermside Parkrun, you've volunteered there countless times, I think over 150 um times you've volunteered, and many that you haven't officially even claimed. Um you you both r run there for a period of time you were a a run director, and now and now the termside event director. Um what is it about the running community that um means something to you? Yeah, it's just watching people achieve something.

Rodney:

Um, but not every week is a a special race to everyone, but it can be at Parkrun. And it's the sort of thing you can go there just to chat to your friends uh and go for a walk or you know, run. And that's the thing, you see so many people meet there for the first time and form those bonds. Like obviously you met me and you uh joined in to in training. Uh it was the same with me. I was going there and there was this old man who I used to pace myself against, and um, I used to be able to beat him quite easily, and then he started getting faster than me and kept going past me. So I caught up to him and I said, Well, Peter, what are you actually doing to get this fast? And he said, Oh, I've been going to in training. And I thought, well, if I can't beat you now, I will come and join you. And that is obviously Peter Jardine, who is uh now one of the coaches of in training champside. Yeah, yeah.

Joshie:

Yeah, and he's um 75 now and um yeah, back running, and it's yeah, just just fantastic to see the support that the running community affords people, um, like you say, especially those that are either just starting out or those that are you know returning from injury or or a health um health-related issues. So yeah, you you do a great job of helping people feel that they're genuinely part of the community. Now, um what what is it in particular that made you take on the event director role?

Rodney:

Uh well it's more starting back at the run director. Um that was again just to give back because I thought, well, yeah I can see they need extra people all the time. They always need volunteers and they need someone up there who can actually talk, uh, who's not scared to talk and organise and do things like that, and not scared to miss out on a run. Um and that's the thing, as being a run director, you don't actually get to run on the day unless you're crazy and go out at um 5 30 in the morning and get your run in early in the middle of winter. Which you do great. Yep. Um but yeah, so then uh then our event director left us, unfortunately. Um and then there's this moment of silence between the rest of the run directors of uh who's gonna step up? And um then I just say I'll I'll do it. It's not that hard. I'm sure it's not that hard. And it's not. Um, especially if you've got a good team below you, that makes it so much easier.

Matty:

Yeah. I think I think one of the things too, Rodney, that I that I've seen over time, I I knew of you before I even um had run park run or had um trained with in training. I'd seen you at events or seen you in photos, and um I used to always say to my wife, Oh, that that guy with the big beard was there again. Um he was at this event, that event. But I think you um what what you actually bring um to the run community is that there's a vibe when you are the run director at um and with everyone, every run director at Chernside um brings a certain vibe, but there's a vibe that you bring along um that sort of seeps through that that run, that 5K run, and that community. Um, and it's quite infectious. So, you know, obviously you saw that, you know, they needed someone who could stand up and talk. Um, but are you aware that you bring that to the group and the community?

Rodney:

Um yes and no. I just like to get a laugh. Now, that doesn't always happen. Yeah. Some of my jokes do fall flat.

Joshie:

There's humor in that as well, Rodney. Um yeah.

Rodney:

It's usually there's a lot of people who don't want to marshal at Cherm Sober Nomon. I don't know why.

Joshie:

Uh we'll talk about that a little bit later on. Um so look, uh Rodney, your um your attitude to setbacks. I mean, we haven't talked much about your setbacks. I mean, obviously, there was the period between 2014 and I think 2022, where I think you had a reasonable run of um luck, but quite recently you've had your fair share of setbacks. Um I can say this in all sincerity that your attitude to those setbacks is as healthy as I've seen. You seem to do a really good job of putting things in perspective, um, but at the same time still being committed to getting yourself um back on track. Um and there's also this almost um sinister connection between your recent setbacks, and I think it all started in 2022 when you tore your meniscus. Um, can you tell us about that?

Rodney:

Yeah, it was one of those ones where I I was running along, I felt something in my knee. I thought, this is not good. Um did I finish that park run? Yes. It's quicker to run than to walk uh back. Yep. But uh yeah, I got back and I realized it was sore, and I was just limping around a bit. Um, had a chat to a few people that I knew, and I knew what I'd done. Uh I've this is the third time I've torn my meniscus, so Oh wow. I I fell off a motorbike many years ago, um when I was twenty and stupid. And then I've done it a second time being stupid, but working stupid. Um but yeah this time was a running incident. So yeah it got torn. Um friend of mine luckily works for a very good orthopedic surgeon um who fixed me up and yeah so I um got an appointment in the January uh or December sorry got an appointment then I um he said get fit uh by riding don't run just ride so I um bought a wind trainer like a trainer uh like a push bike but it had a training setup so I bought that and I thought oh I can just sit out the back watch YouTube and uh pedal away and then I decided so was it it's a road bike so let's go on the road.

Joshie:

Was that when you took on I think it was the 99 bikes challenge that's what started February 2023.

Rodney:

So can you tell us about what the what the challenge was yeah so 99 bikes had a challenge and it came up just before I had the surgery and I was riding a a fair bit that at that time I was riding to work and back trying to get fit and um this popped up said we want nine average Australians from all over to commit to riding to work three days a week for nine weeks so to get to 99 days. And um I said I can do that. So I did a video um which is quite funny. So if anyone goes on to my YouTube channel it's probably better than the three videos that are on there but um they thought it was quite funny so they uh signed me up for it which was great. Yep so I got the green shirt I got a five thousand dollar pushbike and a few other things that went along with it for free and it's an electric push bike but it's still quite a nice push bike and um yeah so I used to ride that to and from work. So for the first month it was going great. You'd have to make a video uh on the topics they told you to so I okay started doing the riding and it was great and then um came one filming day I had to do had to go and um get the bike service so off I toddled off to Strath Pine dropped the bike in went back the next day to pick it up I was riding home and I was coming down South Bine Road down from one team if anyone knows that hill back down into Brendale and I was doing about 60 odd K an hour and I thought yeeha this is fun but it's gonna hurt if I fall off now I shouldn't have thought that so I was the challenge still going at this stage had you completed it or were you still midway through no it was midway through okay so I was I finished that ride I got close to home like in front of my house and I seen my neighbour's new Porsche and I thought I want to have a look at that and I may have grabbed a little bit too much front brake and I got spat off the bike doing about 30 onto the road out the front of my house it hurt. You know Rodney until today I thought you just simply fell off your bike like that's catapulted yeah and the funny thing was he just sort of said oh do we think we should get Joe your wife and I said yep yep I can't get up and uh yeah we finally got up I checked the bike out first like anyone would bike seemed to be okay and then I was off to the hospital on the green whistle for a while and then they decided they wanted to cut off my shirt and I said there's only one of these in existence so no they hand me a second green whistle and said have another crack you're gonna need this and they pulled it off I can't imagine the pain of having that thing reefed over your head as you um because you've broken your arm in two places is that right yeah it was actually the humorous so it's up near the shoulder uh it was not humorous at all at the time I had made a video whilst waiting in the waiting room before the green whistle uh to send off to the other people in the challenge but then the adrenaline waned uh but yeah so I had weeks like I had eight weeks in a sling uh I had 12 weeks before I was allowed to run again um I couldn't drive so I did a lot of walking including parkrun which I'm proud to say by the time I ended my walking sent stints at parkrun I was doing 40 minutes that's not too bad and I think you said that you um made a relatively quick return like once you were given the all clear well did you even wait for the all clear or you just got straight into it I waited just I think it was about six hours difference between getting back to running but yeah no so it was one of those ones where you thought oh well I can't do anything I was volunteering a lot um as well at the same time um I couldn't hold a camera so I couldn't do my favorite role but I could barcode scan um I could tail walk but I hate tail walking um because it was too slow. So yeah I just started doing some volunteering and yeah more and more running uh or walking fast um trying to get back to um full activity and then back to riding as well.

Joshie:

And so it looks as though uh from the chat that we had um not long before our call today that you had a an injury free 2024 pardon me um but it didn't see you completely out of the woods um was it July or August last year I think you'd been training really hard for the Sunshine Coast marathon um you had a very nasty incident.

Rodney:

Yeah it was um straight off the back of Gold Coast actually uh which wasn't my greatest run by any means um but yeah it was off the back of that and um I thought oh Gold Coast was only a bit practice for Sunshine Coast anyway and my car was getting serviced so I took my bike to work and I thought I'll just ride home. And um I rode home and I got to the FEMA nose term side I got to the two and a half K turnaround point to come just arrived to that point. And then all I heard was someone yell out watch out and the next thing I know there was a scooter uh coming out from the cul-de-sac straight across the running path and collected my rear tire and dropped me to the ground and um then it was sort of ouch I realized that Sunshine Coast marathon last year was over.

Matty:

That must have been so disappointing um you know it it coming off the back of Gold Coast as well where it wasn't your ideal race and you know you so you focus on sunny coast and then something happens that you're not even running like it's just something out of the blue happens. How did that affect you, Rodney? Like um you know we we we run a lot we focus a lot we train a lot and we sort of prepare ourselves and then all of a sudden it's like taken away like it's just happens.

Rodney:

Yeah that one there was just out of the blue I couldn't do anything about it. I actually considered running I was only three weeks shy of Sunny Coast. I considered it because since I'd come off the bike so badly and hit my leg um it basically was a bone bruise that I had.

Joshie:

So the physio said no he knew I I was training for it and he said no best not um I had to ride the bike home after that because I couldn't walk so I had to ride yeah that was the hard part um but yeah it was that sort of thing and I thought oh well it's not like I've I can't run again yeah it's just a minor setback just another minor setback it's not a problem um and yeah it it was a minor setback at a terribly inconvenient time though what was it three weeks you said before marathon yeah it was a week after Dog Coast yeah and that was a bad run because I reckon the night before the people I had dinner with spiked my food I had dinner with I don't remember being there um let's let's move right along Rodney now um you'll have to bear with me as I get through this you sent me some notes before the call which I um I I must read out so you'll need to bear with me as we get through them all you run six marathons and I do like your annotations alongside them your first marathon was the Gold Coast marathon in 2018 you ran a half PB to start out congratulations your second marathon 2021 was the GC virtual where's my car you're gonna have to explain that to us in fact can you explain that to us now?

Rodney:

Yeah that one there um because of COVID uh we had to run it virtually and because I'd signed up for that um then I ended up transferring the entry to the following year uh but we were doing it as virtual because uh one of our friends Nicole one of your previous guests um wanted to run her marathon there so I was just there to pace her uh for a little bit and we're between her uh husband and myself and a few others we're just gonna pace her so I just started off running with her and I just kept doing the loops because we did it down at Sandgate on the foreshore and um no one realised I was actually running a marathon that day I didn't tell anybody I was going to do it and then as I kept running past our coach John I just kept saying where's my car Keats where's my car went to leave my car I'll just keep running once they clicked I was actually running a marathon for it so I knew I had it in the bank the um fitness in the bank so I just uh went out and ran with Nicole and a few friends and we had a lot of fun your third marathon 2021 um Sunshine Coast marathon hot as hell no I don't know that uh yeah that was the year that they pushed it back to October or something yeah and it was just there was just people dropping like flies um I've never seen that many people on a course fall over uh except for my first marathon at Gold Coast which was hot but that Sunshine Coast marathon that was just next level hot uh they ran out of ice uh on our uh second lap so that was pretty impressive pretty impressive um people are just pulling out whenever they could um it was just that bad I finished it but it hurt really hurt and I think anyone who was there that day knows how bad it was oh wow um your fourth marathon we'll come back to that in a tick actually 2022 I do want to explore that one because it was quite an eventful one for you your fifth marathon was um the Sunshine Coast marathon 2024 and I think you were riddled with cramps that day wasn't your most ideal um event. Oh no that hurt um when I got back to the finish line um I if anyone looks up my Strava goes back and has look at the videos from that year they'll see it my legs look like they had aliens inside of them trying to get out oh I have seen the video oh yeah the way it's like bubbling away I have never seen oh I I thought I'd eradicated that from my memory Rodney that is off it's fun it's like things are trying to get out of your legs and it just wouldn't stop that went for about 15 20 minutes after the run. My legs were still going oh wow I I completely forgotten about that I'll tell you what we're gonna have to dig out that video at some stage with a well with a very heavy disclaimer I might add um now your sixth uh marathon uh quite recently 2025 this needs some explanation Gold Coast marathon what do you mean a bloody Lisa um your first ever guest Lisa and I are quite good friends we were running together above the pace that I had had in my head and yeah it just I've got photos got me yeah I know I did see you out there Matt and not long after I seen you is when it went bad I was probably looking for you the second time to take me home um but yeah I just started to feel ill um so I backed off and it turned into be a run walk run spew run walk spew oh and it's Lisa's fault yeah it was the people I had dinner with that night someone's missing something for Ruby what's um yeah and that's the other part because I got up to the um tram at the Gold Coast and I looked at it and I thought I could just catch that back pull out of this race I don't need to finish it I don't need to be a hero uh but then it got to the point where I remembered that my granddaughter who was four at the time um she wanted the medal and you don't get a medal unless you cross that line and you don't get your t-shirt either which really sucked so I thought well I better go and get it so I continued on I did a run walk um and my wife and my daughter were watching for me to come across the line uh though still back here in Brisbane and once I didn't cross the line in roughly the time I told him I would Sarah looked up the live um tracking and then realized oh dear this is not good it's gonna be a bad one and um but I crossed the line um well I just about crossed the line uh you know how they have the um legends tents at Gold Coast on the blue carpet where anyone who's done 10, 20, 50, uh 25, whatever um I got to there and someone handed me a bag uh because I was violently ill uh on the blue carpet in the bag. I thought I can't run across until I do this.

Matty:

So I probably spent about two and a half minutes saying so if anyone was at uh the Legends tent the old guy with the beard that was me can I can I just say Ronnie I think there's actually it's more impressive what you actually did to get to that finish line than if it just all went to plan. I think the fact that you like mentally got to that point where you're like I have to do this for the medal and the t-shirt is impressive. Like do you look at it like that or do you look at it as well that one was a failure.

Rodney:

I think you've got to look at it the other way around it's more that yeah it it was a failure uh but I did learn probably more from it than what I would have if it was perfect. So yeah. No it's one of those things it's just one of those things that happen and that's why I thought I always had sunny coast. That was the next one on the list. I've got sunny coast in a month. This is not a problem obviously as we've discussed Sunny Coast didn't happen in a month it'll happen this year. Yeah gosh and you were you were robbed I mean you'd obviously trained really hard you had your Gold Coast experience that you were prepared to sort of learn from and build off the back of I mean at the very least you were you had really good mileage in the bank so yeah you were you're truly robbed unfortunately um what I wouldn't mind doing is returning to 2022 your uh fourth marathon in particular stands out can you talk us through that race perfect race lovely weather all those nice things it all started off nicely plodding along nicely tracking a bit too quick potentially uh the coach would say but um it was all good and then got into that last lap it's before the new course which I'll get to do this year um going through Cotton Tree and I could hear some yelling behind me car reving more yelling then I hear this car screaming up beside me I looked to my right and I could see a car on the course uh within about a metre of me and other runners who are there lucky we're over to the left uh but yeah this woman decided that um she didn't want to wait for the course to reopen so she decided just to drive through the course and it was so close to hitting a few people and it was sort of oh dear that's not good. I might not have used those exact words at the time. Yeah yeah yeah but yeah I can't imagine that would be harrowing uh yeah at the time it was okay like I was just upset frustrated um but I was still on the way out to do the turnaround to come back and I was still on a reasonable pace and then I um I turned around out at the sugar farm there or the um sugar cane and was coming back and when I got to the area again at Cotton Tree and it's if anyone's been there you'll know it's a fairly tight area um that's when it hit me that oh sugar this was close yeah uh this time it's close but I had you um managed to stay focused Rodney because what at that point when it hit you you were what three Ks from the finish line or thereabouts? Uh no uh when it went past I was 3K from the loop like starting on that last loop so it was probably about seven or eight K. So I had a little bit of time to think when I got back that was 3K to the end from there. And um I'd seen Linda who we all know waved to her um she wasn't there at the time uh because I would like to have seen the photos um but yeah so I was coming back and it just sort of shook me and I thought oh dear and I just kept running um and then luckily uh a friend had come out to run me back in he'd done the half uh he was coming in to pace me in for the end of it so I had a a quick debrief with Craig uh then we just kept going and then it was sort of okay let's keep going let's keep going um and got to the last K and I started to pick it up a bit and um then I ended up getting a PB so half does one six the other not only did you get a PB you cracked the uh four hour milestone by a handful of seconds I believe. Handful of seconds that's all that matters that's all that matters yeah that's all that matters uh but yeah it's one of those things and um when I ran the next year uh up there I only did the half and um when I got to that point um Lisa will tell you that I was a little bit concerned I'll tell you what um what what an incredible experience.

Joshie:

I mean do moments like that change your um perspective of racing at all? I mean you seem to be quite resilient and move past things but has that sort of impacted you in in any way shape or form?

Rodney:

Well I keep an eye out I keep an ear out more so uh for my surroundings uh didn't help with the scooter either uh but yeah it's one of those sort of things where it just happens things happen um I wasn't injured in that one it was more mentally challenging towards the end of the run yeah um and uh like when you see what happened in Boston yeah you think what happened to me was bad but it wasn't as bad as that there's always someone worse off than you still can be quite yeah quite unnerving um now as much as you enjoy uh running um like you say you're quite happy to be on the other side of the the lens um as a photographer you get to see runners at their most vulnerable in their um rawest moments uh what is it about photography that appeals to you so much um it's just capturing the moment um and it's just yeah being a runner and taking photos of runners is easy in that I know how to use my camera um so I can take a half decent photo uh I've been told so yeah and it's more just capturing those moments because a lot of the guys who are at the events they do a great job but they're not worrying about where your foot is when you're yeah where if you're in flight or anything else or capturing that expression on your face where they're trying to get a whole body uh sometimes I'll go out and just try to capture the expression on someone's face uh a lot of the time especially at Parkrun I'm usually taking the Mickey out of people as they're running past me uh trying to get a good face out of them uh when they're doing it as well um and yeah I but the problem is any photographer on course who's ever had me run at them they get scared uh because I occasionally say watch out for the seagull is usually me going straight at their head into their lens and uh that's usually a lot of fun I've I've seen you pose at uh at different events mate in different races um and you take an unreal photo very very impressive yeah that's so true um look Rodney looking back over the last um decade plus of your running journeys um is there any particular moment that stands out to you as being you know in a in a hall of fame and was was it that Sunshine Coast experience in 2022 or an uh another always stand out to me uh I I won't forget it um I did run in Vegas I did a half marathon on the strip at night uh fishing in front of Treasure Island with the volcanoes going Going off. Um, that is so cool. That's awesome. Best races in the country or in the world for fun. Because they close off the entire strip and you just run down the strip and then it comes back at night. So you go down to old Vegas, you run back up, and then you're coming down the strip at night uh with all the lights. So that one's one to remember. Um one of the best ones um was a a relay that I did, um and it was River Run relay. And this one started uh down on the edge of the river, um, but it wasn't the South Bank side, it was um Coro Drive side. So we ran um, so you do a 5k loop or you know 10k loop down at the botanical gardens and back. And it was just such a fun night. We had two teams um from in training. We basically had the Tuesday and the Thursday group, and um it ended up being a very much a challenge uh who could do the best job. So uh we had a fairly good team, which was very relaxed, I can assure you. Uh with me involved in it, there's not a lot of um structure, and the other team had a whiteboard. Everyone's name was listed when they'll be running expected times. And we didn't have any of that. It was just, oh, who's gonna run? Okay, let's go. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And yeah, it was a funnest night because we started about three o'clock or four o'clock in the morning. Yeah, and we ran through into the into the daylight. And uh it was a group of friends, and we just had so much fun overnight. Um, so that's probably the the pinnacle. If I could do that one again, if they had that event again properly, uh definitely do that again. But that's the thing, group events are the fun events to do.

Joshie:

Yeah, I haven't done any, I haven't done any unrealized. I'd I'd I'd love to. Um, it might be something to try and tackle, um, tackle this year at some stage. Um and look, Rodney, before we finish up, um, aside from Sunny Coast Marathon this year, is there any anything else that you've got in your sights? Try not to get injured.

Rodney:

That'd be a good start. Don't fall off my bike again, uh, all those sort of things. No, it's basically just trying to get a bit of pace at Park Run. Um I'd like to get a little bit of pace. I shouldn't lie about what times I'm going out to run. Um, I should actually acknowledge I'm gonna might have a little crack, like this morning. Yep. Yep. Yeah.

Joshie:

And ran three minutes quicker than I expected to. I'm happy to make listeners aware that Rodney and I uh ran park run together and uh I ran a bit quicker than what I thought I was capable of, but I get to the turn. I think I was on about maybe 4.15, 420 pace. And mind you, Rodney said that he was going to run 27 and a half minutes, but I see you about 20 seconds after the turn, like you weren't that far behind me. I was like, yeah, 27.30, bud, how's that going? Uh the 5k warm-up beforehand helped. Yeah. Um, well, honestly, Rodney, um sincerely wishing you all the best for your running goals this year, and thanks for joining us on Run Believable. Uh, you're truly a quality human, a fantastic runner, and I really appreciate the many happy birthday messages that I get when volunteering as Marshall at Germ site. Um we've had a we've had a ball speaking to you. Yeah, thanks, Rodney. Thanks.

Rodney:

No, thanks for having me, fellas.

Joshie:

Well, Maddie, I don't know about yourself, but I feel as though there are some really cool lessons of resilience to be learned from Rodney's experiences.

Matty:

No, I totally agree, totally agree. I think um one of the things with Rodney that that that I've seen um is, and it comes back to what I mentioned um in the podcast is you know, he's had some some issues or some injuries or some some unfortunate events, um, especially even in even in runs um such as Gold Coast, but um the hit the way he looks at it is is quite positive. As he said there, it just happens and it's on to the next one. I think that sort of- You're a bit like you're a bit like that yourself, aren't you? I think I I I might be I'm not, no, I'm not. I'm not. And I do take lessons out of out of my failures. Yeah. But it takes me a long time to actually realise those lessons where he he sort of takes them straight away. So yeah, yeah, um, I'm not one.

Joshie:

I love your honesty. Um now look, that's it for today, folks. If you have a run believable story of your own, we would truly love to hear it. And if you're interested in being a guest on the show, then hit us up. Finally, this podcast relies on your continued support. So if you can please take the time to follow Ray and share the podcast with your running mates, we'd really appreciate it. And we'll see you for the next Run Believable Adventure.