A deep dive into the track experience

Cheeky Run Club recognises the everyday we live, work and run on Aboriginal land.

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

Hello Phoebe.

And hello listeners.

Today, we're going to talk about track races for amateurs. What are they? Why does nobody really do them? And then why people should, but also how they could be changed to be made a little bit more accessible. We are also, I'm very excited for this because you have been holding out and not telling me. We're going to race debrief because Phoebe did a 5k track race last night and we want to know how the hell it went.

We will talk through that and then we're also going to add in, so we haven't yet had our cheeky run in Sydney. That is tomorrow morning. We're recording on Friday, but we are going to record a little bit of audio just to debrief post the event and we will pop that in at the end. But first, we'll kick off as always with our notable runs of the week. Anna. I want to hear about your best run last week, because I know you haven't got a worst yet.

My best run is the same run as it was last week. It was the Saturday. Just gone. Well, not just gone. Six days ago. Now I'm already missing it. I went for a big 17 kilometer run and it's the furthest I've gone since July.

Yeah, by quite a bit. Like, what would have been the

Well, I, I did when my hamstring was getting better and pre having to stop for hormonal reasons. I did get up to 15 Ks. Yep. Yep. but it was honestly so good. We, I ran with you, run with, your lovely partner, Sean, Joe, your brother, a couple of girlfriends. We ran along the river, into the park, that you have to be running for a little bit to actually get into

from where we usually

yeah, yeah, and it made me realize how nice it was to not run within a five kilometer

Yes. Of

our cafes that we normally meet at, because I have been only going like three routes because in 6Ks you can't really get that far.

far.

It was so nice. I felt really good the whole

I was

loving life.

it get hard at any point,

Not really, no. Yeah, too happy. I just wanted to keep going.

did?

We were doing grass laps at the end. Just to extend it a little bit. And I was like, anyone else?

Did

run.

you feel, like,, tired afterwards?

Well, we might talk about that in my worst run.

Oh, okay. Oh no.

What, what is your best?

Well, I actually think that run was probably my best run. I had so much fun. However, I'll talk about a different run just to mix it up for the listeners. I would say my best run was the Sunday run, which you also did. which now I'm

my best

run.

But we, we backed it

He backed it up on Sunday with just a little kind of half hour run, with you and our friend Ant. Yeah. And we did, decided to do trails and Ted, how could I forget, and Ted came. And it was a drizzly Sunday morning we didn't really have a route in mind. I feel like there were a few times where we were like, let's go this way, let's go this way.

And

It just felt like, you're so far out of the city. Yeah. And it felt like a little mini holiday,

makes you feel like you're on holidays a little bit because you're just, so far removed even though it's really not that far away.

And then just such a nice Sunday run you don't have to rush off to work or anything. It was lovely.

It was very nice. And there was actually a couple times where you said, oh, you might have to carry Ted over this bit of the run. And then we got there and he was just like, boing.

because there are parts where there's like a plank that you need to walk across or just tricky parts where there's like a

like the footing is a bit

And Ted, I mean, he was so much more confident than

me. Yeah, I know. He didn't

even use the plank, he somehow ran up the wall or something. I don't know what he did to

he did. We were the ones that needed

Yeah, no,

I was

very impressed. Ted did really well. I think he really liked the trails.

I think he loved it. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, that

Yeah, it

odd.

a bit embarrassing for him really and I ran past the poodle. The poodle had an owner there as well. It wasn't just a poodle in the bush.

Wild poodle.

poodle of his. And then Ted All of a sudden froze up and didn't want to run past the poodle and he was

and didn't want

behind me and I was like Ted like come on, come

lying behind me. And

he just like put his head down

Yeah, and then eventually he just, like, put his head down, up.

tell me about your words.

Well, my worst, and this is purely, I actually had a such a lovely morning, as you were just saying, like the trails were beautiful. It was so nice just running with you and Ant and I know, it was only because I kind of got. a kilometer. Cause I ran from home or sort of walk ran. Cause I realized I was running late. Yeah.

late.

and I thought I was okay from the day before I thought I'd pulled up. Okay. But I was actually pretty cooked and it was just hard. I think cause we're going on trails as well.

It just reminded

me how unfit I was.

That was a really big hill at one point. And you were powering up it, you were and I was like, God, she's just got it, doesn't she? And then we got to the top and I heard you're

voice.

and I was like, Oh, okay. God. She's so human. Yeah, this is

Yes, I do. I do know the exact hill that you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah, God, we better decide.

at a map for a

it was still so lovely, but yeah, it was just I found it pretty tough.

Yeah, that is very fair.

what about your worst race? Worst race? Worst run?

Worst race! Wow!

Tell me about your worst run.

It's funny because I actually didn't tell you that that was going to be my worst run, but it was.

what? I didn't know that.

No, it, yeah, I know, which is why it's really funny, free in you said it, yes, yes, yes, yes, my worst, I raced terribly last night, thank you Anna.

Oh, that

that is so funny. Yes. My worst, worst friend was my race. So we may as well do the race debrief now, what do you reckon?

Yep, go for it.

that is so funny. I think it's fine to say that. It wasn't a very good race. I feel like afterwards, cause our friend Izzy raced as well, and she was also just a bit like, Oh man, I was hoping I'd go a lot faster. And we were asking, maybe this is an unfair question, but we, or mostly Izzy, was asking Jaco, her partner who was there

there watching,

Can you rate us out of 10 for those races? rate our performance out of 10.

God, that's really putting him on the spot.

He kept being like, Oh, it's a 10, you know, it's a 10 and we were like, no, it actually wasn't. And that's okay. Like we don't care that we raced badly. It's good to have some bad races sometimes, but then he goes, okay, maybe it's a seven. We're like, that's a bit of a nothing on solid, probably more like a six. then he's like, considering The prep you guys had had and stuff and then we're like, okay, no radar against our potential and he's like, oh, well three

Oh, okay. Okay, wow, I thought it was a

Wow, Jacko

In his head he's like, literally anything I say is not

Yeah So in terms of the race itself, the way that it was set up, it was an all women's track race, which is actually the first time I've raced with all women. So that was exciting and a bit nerve wracking. Everyone looked. Really

said professional. I'm that sounded like Everyone said professional. Oh, 100 percent Everyone, to be fair,

To be fair in my race, you didn't have to wear spikes. So in the A race, which I initially, as you know, got put in the A race, which for context, wave lights are like these pacing lights that wrap around the track that are set at a particular pace. And the wave lights for A race were at 15 minutes.

Because it's all, you wanna enjoy it as much as possible.

well, yeah, and we'll talk about this when we talk about issues with track races, but on the one hand, it would have been so cool just being on the start line with those women, just what a cool thing, but I would have been by myself the entire race. I would, I watched, everyone did a really fast time in that race. I would have been blocked a few times. Like it just would have been a bit humiliating to be anyway. So I got moved into the B race.

do it.

but I just, Literally from two laps in, I was like, no, this is way too hard. I am going to be cooked if I try and keep up with this pace. And there were like one or two girls who were dropping off the back a bit. And I was like, perfect. I'm just going to stick with them.

Yeah.

But we just kind of got slower and slower

Yeah. Okay. And

and slower. And it just felt like it was getting harder and harder and harder. And I was looking at the pace of my watch to start with being like, whoa, I'm off pace. And then I was like, okay, just Forget about it. Run and make it a good effort and then the next thing I saw the 18 minute 30 pace lights and then they went past me and I was like, whoa, I am not running. Well, yes, come on. Come on I felt really weak is how I describe it.

pace. And then got

but I just felt really tired. which is fine. And then I was looking at a lap counter every lap like, Oh my God, I still have so many laps to go.

that is, I've been there. That is not a nice

And I had a lot of thoughts about why people shouldn't do

do this. and

then, yeah, with all up to go, I was like, okay, just give it everything you've got. even though I was so far behind my time, I was like, just still

Yeah, you still wanna,

yeah. And so I ran as hard as I could over the last 400 meters. I just think, yeah, you kind of have to, I

Yeah. Do you reckon it would've been different if you went out a bit slower or do you think you just weren't feeling good?

I don't, I mean, I think I would have had to go out a fair bit slower for it to be

be, for it to,

because it would have only been a few seconds slower per lap to go out at 18 minute pace, for example, which is what I've done

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. if I was to try and make excuses for my performance. I actually will start by saying, I actually don't think I have excuses. I think it was really good

Yeah.

And, I think my training's been decent. I've been really happy with my training I wasn't running by myself. I was running with people for most of it, even if it was just one other person. So I feel like realistically there are no excuses and it's fine to a bad race. It can be a good

I don't think, yeah, I don't really like the whole idea of excuses, but I don't even think this is one, but part of me wonders if your expectations were a little too high considering what's been happening off the track the last couple of months, you've been solo. In Iron that you haven't really been able to run, properly since pre Berlin. You've just got an Iron infusion, you were in for a colonoscopy, literally the week before the race.

I think coach was kind of like, I think you just need a block of like healthy training. I think that I was training pretty well, but I probably wasn't absorbing it that well. My sessions were going well, but as the listeners will know, most of the runs outside of that, I, until recently I've been feeling pretty bad. So possibly I was just doing good sessions, but, cooking myself from them. I've also only been doing one session a week for ages because I've been Too tired by Friday.

in itself.

which I don't, I mean, I think I ate enough and everything, but it's more just I'm so mentally exhausted this whole week has been, um, so intense. And so, you remember when actually we learned a bit about this in the marathon block when we were learning about the impact of cognitive fatigue on perceived, there's that, study that I think you found that was like, If people try and do a whole bunch of difficult problem solving and then do an effort, the perceived exertion is way higher

higher, yeah.

the output is slower. Yeah. And everything. And I think because I was feeling really mentally fatigued, I just felt really fatigued from the start. And I do think your mind can struggle to tell the difference

Yeah, definitely.

mental, emotional. Exhaustion. And physical

Well, it's like when we we have spoken about before the stress as a whole. It's not as though you have allocated bits of stress for each day for physical, emotional, cognitively. Like it's all just grouped into one. Yeah. So If you've been stressed, that's not gonna make, a great build up for a, like, 5k track race where you're about to put your body under stress, even though your

track race? So you don't put your under stress, even though just been under stress for a few It was also hot. We're running in full sunlight. I feel like those factors play into it, but also to come back to I want to be okay just sitting with it and being like, yeah, I just had a bad race. And I think that you can't really have good races if you don't have bad races. And my two track races last year were, I was really happy with both of

Yeah.

And whereas I feel normally everyone has a few track races that they're like. That was so brutal. That was so hard and so it's good to have one of those to know how it feels Yeah, and

I also think that then it makes the good ones even more special. Like I think I did two track races

last year Yeah

of last year. I wasn't happy with either of them. But like that's Yeah. But then I did one I think four months before that

Yeah

and I was happy with that, even though I was a lot fitter last year than the year before, but it just sometimes doesn't

than

perfectly. Yeah. Yeah. And

but sometimes, like, doesn't kind of like, over perfectly. About, being okay with competing or like being in that competitive environment and failing

all the time

like not achieving your goal. I think that's can be something that we feel quite afraid of and almost admitting it. me saying yeah, my goal was to get 1745. I'm like, Oh, I didn't even say my end time is I think 1840, something.

1837, I

1837 I can't remember somewhere around there. and so I was pretty much like a minute off and That's okay

No

as we've said no one really cares

said Nothing special comes from not putting yourself out there.

Also, do you know what this reminds me of? I remember the very, very, very first track race I did. And I'd only been, training for, maybe six months with, an actual coach. And it was that, Bankstown athletics in Sydney, which to me was this intimidating thing to go out. It was so intimidating to go out to an athletics track. Actually, my little

heard of Bankstown.

my little cousin John T paced me, um, because he's a really good runner and he's like, okay, I'll just sit with you. and cause again, I was in a race where everyone was much faster than me. It was a mixed race. So we just pretty much sat at the back behind everyone. But now that I'm thinking, I think my time was really similar. And I was. I was ecstatic with that time. I could not believe. I was like, I'll try and go for sub 20

Yeah.

And then I was like, whoa, like that was so much. Yeah. And so that's nice to think that now that time is disappointing. Yeah, it's interesting how

Yeah. It is interesting how things change. I don't know. I think I said to you maybe in a message, but I reckon. When you are running, you really just gotta embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly because, it's still so cool that you can do it, kind of thing. Do you know what I

completely

So, I reckon, like, the more Yeah, exactly.

if you just

We're really happy every time you race, everyone would do it and then it would like lose its meaning kind of thing. I think you should be proud of yourself.

I think it's fine. I think I'm proud of myself, but I also want

more. Want more, but I'm hungry.

that's

right. Nice. alright, so should we kind of explain what track races are first? I genuinely would not have even known that these were a thing if I hadn't I joined up with a coach and he told go along to one of them. I think you wouldn't know. amateur beginner

space. Not at all.

about a bit more, but so essentially a lot of the time, or in, at least in Melbourne, they're on Wednesday or Thursday night and they're usually at one of two tracks in particular, and you go, so when you enter, you put in what time you would like to go for, and even that I know can kind of seem intimidating, but the reason why they do that is just so they can actually see the races properly to make sure that you're going off with runners around a similar pace. and once you do that,

you need to do that in fun runs too, don't you? Put down your, your time.

I think, well,

you in your

Yeah, I think so Oh yeah. True. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So a similar

Yeah. and then you get there and you like collect your bib and then it's I would say it's almost like a lot more casual in the sense that you could easily miss your race because it's not as though it's just one big fun run. you need to almost be responsible for being okay, my race is at 6 50 PM. I need to warm up now and I need to be at the starting line. before then because not everyone's just gonna flow over because not everyone is like in that race.

start. Well, last night we did our warmup probably started at 15 minutes before the

Before the race, yeah.

rushing after

Yeah, it's hard to

there much earlier and it was quite a far drive. And so yeah, I reckon we did a five minute warmup. Yeah. And then just headed over to the start line, did some strides, did some leg swings,

Yeah, I'm ready to go. And then, you go in your seated thing. They literally normally they have six to ten races. Over the night. Yeah. Yeah. Which is actually kind of fun because I feel like it means that you can, especially if you have friends that are doing it, even if you're not exactly the same pace, they're quite often just running around you so you can stay and watch. and as the night goes on, the like races get. I guess.

they're the pinnacle of the

event.

I think the other things to know is that basically they're mostly for amateur runners, there'll be 5k races. they count down your laps. So that's quite handy. So you start over the other side of the track, but then at the finish line, there's a lap counter that they hold up a sign that tell you how many laps you've got to go. And sometimes they'll have pacing groups as well. they'll have people within the race who are.

Yeah, yeah, which is cool as well. Cause I love it when that happens when you're going for aligns with the pacer. Cause you can literally just sit and not think.

think. Yeah, that is

Yeah. they're the track races that we quite often do. So

So we have done a few of them. Why aren't they more popular? Because they're pretty,

Well, they're pretty small events. Comparatively to fun runs. Yes. There's no hype around them whatsoever. No,

No. And I think generally, not really talked about as something that people are like thinking about doing in the same way that people say, I want to do Melbourne half

do Melbourne Half now. Yeah, I think that's one of the reasons is they're largely marketed to the dedicated runner and as you sort of said like you only found out about one once you started running with the

Yeah, or now they get posted on our running club,

they're like facebook

Otherwise I wouldn't

have no idea yeah so i feel unless you're Running with a coach or a squad, you don't actually really know about them, or of your regional athletics association. And also they sell out really quickly because I don't know if they don't have the capacity, or they choose not to, but not a whole heap of entries and obviously all of the dedicated runners know exactly when the entries come out. So then they're just filled up.

filled up. Yeah, it's, it's funny like to almost paint the picture of last night, number one is it's easily predominantly men running, as opposed to fun runs where you see pretty much equal participation these days. There were two all girls race, which even that, that's really unusual.

'cause I,

only maybe

One, I was gonna say, I was saying to you, most of the time there's only one solely women's race. And then if that, if that, and then they have some mixed races

there's just maybe two to three women in a race of 20 men. And so that's a big difference. But then also the kind of people that you see there, as we were saying before, it's almost the starkest divide between the old runners and the new runners. Don't you reckon? It's like, it's all people who have come through athletics, Victoria or athletics, New South Wales, or whatever that looks like they do cross country. They train with a competitive group and.

Yeah, yeah, I, I appreciate what you're saying. I do reckon maybe that's okay, but I also wonder if they were to be more accessible to the beginner runners, if they would do them because park run, for instance, is so popular. It's not as though people don't want to do the five kilometer distance.

I know I completely agree and I do think whilst not everyone would maybe want to do them there would probably be a really large portion of amateur runners who would love a track night and really really enjoy it if it was done in a way that was a little bit more accessible to

Maybe we should ask the listeners, if you felt like you could and it was accessible and very welcoming, would you actually want to do a 5K

We'll do a poll. We're going to actually talk through some of the reasons why you should want to do it. But first of all, let's go back to this question of A, why do not many amateur runners, but B, specifically women do them? I would say some, when you say largely marketed at the dedicated runner, I completely agree. And one of the things we were discussing is The event pages are just like on Athletics Victoria, which I wouldn't have even known what that was, really.

you, yeah.

of my own terms gone and checked out Athletics Victoria. Do you know what I mean? but even just the way that they're talked about and almost the branding around them is that it's a race, not about getting a distance done as opposed to a fun run,

Yeah, that's

fun runs are all about Come and take part in this thing with the community, hit this distance, and maybe get a PB or whatever, whereas track races, to me, feel a lot more like an actual race than Yes,

Yeah. Yes. Rather than a, let's all, do this together. Yeah. And how cool would it

cool would it

Part of me thinks there more men than women that see themselves as dedicated runners? women don't allow themselves to say that they are a dedicated runner. 'cause even last night for instance, as we were saying, that was the first time that there'd been an all girls second race. Mm-hmm But there are seven men's races and then two mixed, which are Oh yeah. I've looked at the results and predominantly all men. Yeah. what are your thoughts on that? Well,

think? Well, I wonder if there's less. Because women generally stop playing sport earlier,

than

like competitive sport. If that, feeling of competing feels more scary for women, I think that for men that's quite normalized as a really motivating thing, I'm going to compete against other men. And maybe we can talk about the difference between an all woman race versus a mixed race because I found it really different. it's funny when I line up against men, I don't feel like I'm competing with them. I'm like, you will help me get my goal time because I'm

yeah, yeah.

Whereas when you're racing against women, it feels more like a race

is a race, yeah. Yeah, definitely. I have felt exactly the

Yeah. Yeah. And I just think that concept of racing and competing and potentially losing, it's not something that women, like, when do we do that? If you're not playing competitive sports still, which, you know, there still definitely are a lot of women who play competitive sport, but much less so than, men. maybe there is just a bit of a. just like a stigma around that? I think that is

the case. we know that women drop out of competitive way earlier. And then if men are continuing, even if it's in a team environment, then they're more likely to feel comfortable and confident to then go

race. Yes, I think so. Whereas for

that. Yes. Okay,

Yes. Okay, another thing for women, the paces are way too fast for most amateur women. I have friends who I've tried to Do a track race like you'd love it. And they're like, I am not fast enough. and whilst part of me is like, it doesn't matter what speed you go, part of me is like, well, also if you're getting lapped, that isn't an enjoyable experience. no one wants that. It's me last night, not wanting to be in the A race.

able to run with people, that's Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And

Um, so I think a lot of these fun runs, even when they're set at Oh, usually it's there's a 20 minute group and that might be the slowest group,

which is crazy because that is insanely

insanely fast for men, let alone the percentage of women who could run that is so much less. And so I almost think we're talking like have a 30 minute group, have a 35 minute group. Those kind of, and I mean, getting into solutions here, but I do think that the perceived speed that you think that you need to be able to run,

And to be fair,

and to be fair, the actual speed that you'd be able to run if you didn't want to get lapped, is really

it's really hard. Yeah, Well, yeah, maybe it's a bit of the chicken and the egg because maybe they would have more races that do allow for times to like 40 minutes or something if there was,, request for it.

Yes, absolutely. Oh, there's a hundred

people see it and then they're like well I'm not gonna do that because that's almost half the time that I'll take kind of thing

thing. Insane. Um. I think, I think one other thing that I was thinking about as a limiting factor is there are, the requirements on the, Box Hill, which is the race that I did, Box Hill Burn, first of all, they talk about the shoes that you need to wear. And it's really not clear. Who needs to wear them and who doesn't, but it's all spikes.

which is kind of,

yeah, as I learned, it was just for the A race, which was another reason that I didn't want to do it. Cause I obviously don't own spikes and I don't know how to run on them and I'm not about to go out and buy a pair of shoes for, One race, and I feel like the idea that you'd need to wear spikes would just immediately discount a lot of people. And then they also had there that you need a lap counter. I was like, I don't even know what that is, I don't know, like,

Yeah, yeah, there's, there's like a, um, there's like a presumed knowledge even in the, sign up

there's a lot of presumed knowledge. I, yes, I really agree

Yeah, so why do we reckon people should do

reckon people should do them?

We love

love them and there's almost two parts to the solution. If the goal is to get more amateur runners, particularly women doing them. One is to make them more accessible. And then the other one is to work on the collective mindset about track racing and what it is and what it isn't. cause as you said, we love

I, yeah, I just reckon they're so

They're honestly some of my absolute all time favorite

time favourites.

I actually think one of the best things about doing a track race is it is an opportunity to do your PB, your fastest time in that event. For people who haven't run much on track, track is so fast compared to your average park run serves. It's really bouncy. It's just flat.

Yeah, there's no holes or you're never going to have to dodge anything like it's just very, yeah, and I also think some fun runs, it might be, you're not quite sure cause it's a little bit out, it's 5. 3 kilometers or 4. 8 or whatever. Yeah, whereas you know, the 12 and a half laps is five kilometers. So there's not that second guessing of. Whether or not, is my Strava right? Or is the other? Yeah, exactly.

agree. I also think because of what we spoke about before, they're almost always after work, summer evening, it's a really nice atmosphere, okay, some of them feel a little bit more intense than others, some do a really good job of being a little bit more chill, but generally it's a beautiful sunset, your friends can come and watch and support, and over and done with, and then you can sit around and watch some

other families. Yeah, it's, yeah, I think as well because It's daylight savings. There's not that often that, you know, after work you kind of get this whole nother day. Yeah. that. It is, yeah.

It does feel like that. I agree. I also think, no matter how you're doing them, you always feel really good afterwards.

Yeah. I agree. Night,

night, yeah, again, Izzy and I were both like, ugh, not our best race. But, You're just on a bit of a high, like you've given it a go, you've run out there, you've really tried your best at something. And to be able to just do that mid week, school night no less,

I know. Did you get grilled on the way home?

of it? No, but I ordered it to, yes.

I feel

Post stage tradition.

We obviously speak about how there are so many facets of running, as to why we run, but they can be, if you have the right mindset, they can just be so fun.

They can

Like, it's so fun to, able to push yourself and see where you're at where your limit is at the moment It's really you you get a sense of a real accomplishment after doing one. Yeah

I've had a few track races where, as I said before, my very first one, I honestly didn't know I was capable of that. And that is such a rare feeling in life to get that. So I guess that comes back to that, idea of don't be afraid of really challenging yourself. You know what? This kind of comes back to I think it's a conversation we've sort of had before, which is why don't more people do 5k races in general and 10k races like short?

yeah, it is, it's intimidating. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. okay. So we've spoken about why we don't think people do them why we think people should do them. So now let's talk about how to make them more accessible. So.

firstly, um,

this seems pretty obvious, but I think the marketing really needs to change because at the moment, as we've spoken about, it's directed at the pretty serious runners already. You don't really even know about them unless you're mixing in those. Yeah. Yeah, um, I assumes to have it. So let's, let's

I, I mean, and this all assumes that they

was the

let's, let's assume that that was the case and they were like, we want to grow this out to be, a much bigger thing that feels much more accessible and rah, rah rah. I don't think that they make much money off these, it only costs $20 to enter. Yeah. Um, so it would be sort of a, yeah. Community initiative, if you will. but I really agree.

Or 1,

Or 1, 000, sorry. Yeah. And it's just like,

like, you

sell it or you can actually like sell it a little

yeah, yeah.

If that was the goal, I also think there's an opportunity to reframe. I know we just spoke about how you've got to, maybe be okay with racing, but I think the real best part of track races is actually when you work together as a team to get a time. My favorite race ever was the one last year where there was a group of us girls who all wanted to

the same time. The Tracksmith

the tracksmith

fun. We all wanted

all wanted to get the same time and we ran together and worked together the whole race. And he was. It was so fun. if you could set it up so it was all about, how can we all work together as a team to get a PB? And there's a heap of different time options. And they're accessible. Yeah. Then that becomes something that is genuinely really, really exciting and rewarding. Yeah.

yeah, it's like together as opposed to

Racing, yeah, and that can always come into it a bit, like, it just, 100%. Yeah, yeah, put the burners on.

but yeah, I think I'm being a lot more inclusive of a wider range of speeds will get people in because. So many people, you, you look at the times that they're having or the paces and they're just like unachievable,

unachieved un. Yeah.

I mean, even doing that in itself would surely bring in so many more

people and having really good paces who are like really encouraging. I think that kind of thing makes such a difference as

Yeah,

and maybe some more women paces.

Yeah, I think so. And I haven't just like flashing back to our first birthday of the, the six minute group and your brother leading and them just being one big team, that should be what

Yeah. Did I tell you that one of my, one of my colleagues, a girl from work came and she got a 5k PB. Yeah. At the cheeky run club run. So good. That's what happens when you have a pace up.

you have a

and then I guess finally is like they could. Think about how to make the night a little bit more of a vibe. one that's accessible for women as well I suppose.

Yeah. And I reckon, I didn't think it would take that much, maybe a bit more music, maybe some more food trucks or even like places to sit. So people could just hang out and get dinner there while they're watching their friend.

my yeah I

so you don't need the grilled on the way home.

girls on the way home. Yeah, imagine. Yeah, I mean I do think it only works if you've done the effort with the marketing. Yeah. With anything if you want to try and increase women participation, like you need to market it at women. And so it would need to actually have a lean on that. Because you know you're naturally gonna maybe get more men. Yeah. what do you think about women only? I

I like that idea, but I just, sustainably, and to actually get people into running these events. I think it would just be better if everyone could come, because then the women would only come to the women only. And there will still be races like last night that don't have

maybe it's

that representation. Yeah, maybe. I don't know, I like the idea of just like everyone being able to do it together. Yeah, yeah. Let's strive for 50 50.

Yeah.

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

I think it is because very soon we'll cut in with the audio about the event tomorrow.

I know, I'm nervous, but we will see you on the other side. Attendance

numbers are looking good.

I know, they are. So, I wish, yeah, they are

I wish they all come.

I wish that they all come. At 11. 11 today, I will be wishing that they all turn up.

I think we're at nearly, I think we're at nearly 300 rojos, just under. Which is pretty

Pretty insane. Yeah.

so yeah, you are about to hear about whether it was a, um,

was a, um Really the

We're gonna be crying.

Crying or laughing.

no, no, I'm sure

Because if you don't laugh, you'll cry. Alright, okay.

we're back at Friday.

This is gonna be so confusing. Uh,

Hope that went well.

Yeah. So we hope the run went well. Um, as always, thank you so much for listening to us and

Let us know your thoughts on track

Yeah. We really wanna know, would you be keen.

you be keen? Is there something that would interest you? Is there something we've missed in terms of what would make it more accessible? Or why you would or wouldn't want to do it?

Yeah, yeah, we're keen to hear your thoughts. Um, otherwise, we can't wait to be in your ears next Monday. Bye! Bye! what about your worst race? Worst race? Worst run?

Worst race! Wow!

Oh my god.

Okay, why are you telling me? Why don't you tell me? My worst race was

my god. Tell me how you really feel. Tell

Tell me how you really feel about the rice I did last night, which actually I was really proud of.

really tough.