In the beginning, we're back. Courtney, where are you? Where are you? We're doing this remotely today. Where are. You it's one of those weeks. I'm I'm in Port Stephens at the moment, flew into Newcastle yesterday. Beautiful part of the world. Hey, you remember when I sent you up on that on Matt Hall, a world champion acrobatics plane, and you chucked up? Hmm. Remember that? Remember that? Well, I went up with Matt Hall yesterday and the Red Bull acrobatics. Fine. Yeah.
Do you want to talk? I did. I. Didn't I? Didn't Chuck up. But you know what? I also wimped out. I only went to six G's so. OK, quick, quick catch up for anybody who doesn't know about Matt Hall. If you've ever seen that Red Bull playing, racing between those pylons or looped loops, if you've been to any event on the Gold Coast or basically probably anywhere in Australia for that matter, Matt Hall's the bloke making it do all that incredible stuff.
And yeah, what was it probably two years ago now, Courtney, you extended me an invitation to go and have a ride in Matt Ball, in Matt Hall's Red Bull plane. And I'll tell you what we'll get, we'll get the footage. I'll get you the footage of what happened to me, because Matt did everything and it ruined me. It ruined me for the day. Like I was gone. I threw up in the plane. I threw up. I threw up when I got out of the plane. I threw up on the drive back to the studio after the plane.
I I just, I was green. It was amazing and I'm so glad I did it, but never again. Well, you know what, I reckon I've sent probably 20 people up with Matt, I've sat through the briefings and I've managed to avoid it till yesterday. And, and the irony of it is I didn't actually go there with Red Bull. I went there with Subaru and had to go and do it. So there you go, full circle. But I survived. You're down in Port Stephens with doing some stuff with. Super.
I'm on a I'm on a filming trip with Subaru and we're heading out towards Lightning Ridge. Now remember early on, like when I flipped over to Mauritius not long ago and I said I have no idea where Mauritius was? Well, till yesterday I had no idea where Lightning Ridge was either. I thought Lightning Ridge was out near Broken Hill, but looking at a map, it's up. It's up on the Queensland border nearly, so I may as well drive home.
Right, so you're, you're out and about, you're doing stuff with Subaru. You're gonna be no doubt we'll have some stuff to talk about next week. But let's jump into the biggest story in the running world. And it's not tomorrow's London Marathon. It's not last weekend's Boston Marathon. We want to talk a little bit about those in a minute. It is Strava. Strava and, and what they acquired this this week, I suppose.
And that's the runner app. Now it's interesting because there's not a lot of information that they're giving beyond that they've just acquired it. We don't know whether they're going to integrate it or, or how it's going to work. But it's funny because the runner app, I probably had never really heard of it until we started doing this podcast.
And then when we started, obviously we're doing a running podcast and you know, we'd turn up in the running charts and this thing called the runner app kept also showing up in there. They've got a podcast themselves. And I was going, hang on, I don't know about this in Australia, but is he obviously a UK based app that does well in Australia? And then it clicked because those who use the AI, is it an AI training app? And obviously they've got a great big audience who use their
app. And then that obviously translates across to the podcast as well. So and here they go. They've obviously been picked up by Strava. So this is an interesting that's just, let's just pull the thread on this for a bit and what it might mean for for running, because you've got the social media platform for running in Strava now essentially bringing in under its umbrella the dominant training plan creation
platform. So suddenly Strava goes from being simply a place where people can share their races, their runs, what their training is, to suddenly you can now share all that information as well as staying on that platform for your training needs. So suddenly Strava as an environment stretches beyond what it was now currently is to yeah, I mean, I guess from an online digital perspective, it almost becomes a one stop shop for running for runners and and that sort. Of well, I wonder, yeah.
I mean, like I said, we don't know exactly where it's gonna be. Will they keep, you know, they may acquire it and then just keep it separate to the app and just profit off the fact that it's a training base. I mean, you'd hope they don't. I would love to see it integrated. I read an interesting thing around, you know, obviously Strava, we've talked a lot about they have their free platform and then obviously they're paid,
paid tiers. Interestingly, and I'm assuming I'm reading at the moment it's going to be U.S. dollars, but $80.00 a year for the premium unlocks of premium features on Strava Runner is a paid app and the subscription costs 120 per year. So the Runner app's actually more expensive than a Strava premium service at the moment, which then makes me think, you know, how do they integrate that in? Do you get a discount?
And, you know, so many questions, but I think this is a great thing for running and, and those who, like we always say, having a coach and having someone to individualise everything's, you know #1 but you know, if they can integrate this into Strava in the right way, I think it's going to be a
big benefit to most people. If you read the press release from Strava announcing this, acquiring, the other thing that I I find interesting is they say, I mean according to Strava's year and sport data, running is the fastest growing sport globally. Of course it this their data is going to support their business model.
I get that. But the next line on the press release is the one that grabs me because it says Gen Z in particular returning to running to create community and connection, which has then created a sharp increase in race participation with 43% of Strava users wanting to conquer a big race or event in 2025, which is then leading to this demand for training plans. So that to me, I think you then start to see you get a little bit of an insight about how Strava will utilise what runner does.
But also, I think you then right now in my mind, my mind immediately goes Strava and Runner will be sitting down with every major marathon, with every major running event slash adventure race of note and going, Hey, sit down with us, advertise with us. We can we can offer your potential participants not only training programmes, but a community to be a part of online in the lead up to this event.
Yep. Well, it's definitely, you know, you talk about domination, you know, there's a lot of different apps out there. There's a lot of different training programmes, online coaches and everything else we're seeing too now. I suppose with the the Strava platform, it really puts this on a pedestal, you know, will they rebrand it? Will will Runner as an app disappear and just be integrated? These are all the questions I've got.
Yeah, just quickly I do want to talk a little bit elite running because for those not obsessed with following marathons around the world, there is has been a bit of news last week and we had the Boston Marathon, which is one of the real storied events on the the running calendar. John career, I'm not sure if I'm saying his surname correctly. John Courier from Kenya took out
the men's race in 2/04/45. And the women's race was won by Sharon Lake Eddy in 2/17/22, which I think was a women's record for Sharon. But just going back to John, the men's race winner, I'm not sure if you've seen it, Courtney, there's a, there's a real going round at the very beginning of the race. He gets flattened. He gets absolutely smashed, basically completely trampled through the elite in the elite pack and spat out the back.
So you see the elite pack take off and then you see John pick himself up off the deck and then have to run and catch up. And he goes on to win it in an incredible time. I just, I loved it because I was like, what an awesome metaphor for running in general. Well, I no, I didn't, I didn't see that one, Liam. But I mean, that just shows you like if there anyone who's racing, I mean, you don't want you to fall over at the beginning.
But I think it's doesn't matter what level you're running, whether it's the lead or whether you're just out there. I mean, go, if the start of the race doesn't go to plan, if you're not feeling great at the start of the race, all of those things in distance running, not just marathoning, but any of these distances, you know, there's time to come back. You can relax, you can regroup, you go through the ups and downs and you know even the best look like they go go through that and
can come back. Shout out to Aussie Paddy Tin and who ran the second fastest Boston Marathon time by an Australian ever. He ran a 2/08/08. He had a stint at the front of the lead pack but he ended up finishing 11th. Still an epic run by Paddy Tin. And but I wanna talk about as we record this, the London Marathon is happening on Sunday, tomorrow if you're listening to this on Saturday, maybe today if you're listening on Sunday, or maybe
it's already finished. But Courtney, the reason I really want to lean into it now is because of the Alex Yee storyline heading into this. This is, if you don't know Alex Yee, we've talked a bit about him on the podcast before. He's the reigning Olympic gold medallist in your sport triathlon. That incredible finish over Hayden Wilde, the New Zealand athlete where he was behind him by 15 seconds. I think can he ran him down basically in the in the finishing shoot.
It was one of the moments of the Olympic Games and he is making his marathon debut tomorrow in the marathon. I've got some comments that I want some quotes in an interview that he's done that I want to share with you, Courtney. But first up, how do you feel about because he's targeting an incredible time to, I think he's targeting somewhere between 2:06 and 2010. So it's right up the pointy end. But I mean, are you interested to see how he goes?
Yeah. I mean, I like if you use Boston as the example, I probably wasn't really across it. I mean, I kind of looked at a bit of the results at the end of it. But I am interested in London for this story. And from what I've kind of heard on the Grapevine as well, there's another and I've forgotten his name, but the other young Brit who Alex raced against as a junior and they were very similar. He's racing as he's head kind of like I think the headlining kind
of guy as well. And you know, there's a race within that itself. But the fact he's actually going to go out by the sounds of it and really attack a 205206 and that's what he's training is kind of, you know, pointing towards, I think it's super exciting. Look, even if he gets out and blows up and he gives it a crack, everyone's going to, well, most people are going to be interested who follow triathlon at least to see how he
goes. I know Alistair Brownlee and a couple, I think Johnny Brownlee might have did it as well. But definitely even some of the Spanish guys would rock over to the US and they'd done a couple of the big track races in the US to get 10K times. So this is the first time I've really seen someone in their prime from short course triathlon going over into the marathon. So yeah, it's super exciting mate, super exciting.
I just want to share he's done this interview and just I'm going to read through some quotes and I want to pick your brain because I think it's interesting seeing his mentality heading into this. I think he's done this interview with the Guardian. Apologies if I get it wrong, but source? Honestly, it's an excitement about the unknown. As elite athletes, we're used to hurting ourselves and going through that pain.
I've been in some dark places before and in a weird way, I'm probably quite looking forward to experiencing this different kind of pain. I'm excited rather than daunted. Courtney, you've raced Olympic triathlon, you've run marathons as part of an Iron Man. You've never straight up race an Iron Man. Can you, can you talk us to a little bit about the pain difference between when you are redlining during an an Olympic distance versus what Alex might
experience in the London Marrow? Yeah, I think, I mean, at least in the Olympic distance, we're talking, right? You're at that red line, but you're only there on the run for 10K. So yes, you've had the bike before it. Yes, you've been taxed in the swim. But yeah, actual muscles are only running. You're running muscles are only running for that 10K. So you don't generally get that breakdown in those single muscles as much as what you know Alex will go and face in a marathon.
The flip side is if you're in longer course triathlon, yes, like I mean, in the Iron Man, you're running a marathon, but you're nowhere near the speed of being at red line. So the breakdown again, it's a it's a different, it's a different, I suppose, feeling and it's a different attribute. You'll get what your face or what Alex is going to face in a marathon is simply, you know, he's got the fitness. I mean he's out on bikes riding five hours every week.
I heard he's still swimming 5 sessions a week when he goes into this race. So he hasn't lost any of that base. If anything, he's probably got, he's going to go into that with more aerobic pace than any runner there. But what he hasn't faced and what he probably hasn't even maybe done the load of running that some of the others will do is how do you just tax that muscle for just over 2 hours and how does that breakdown? And then that's going to be the big question.
You know, once he gets to that, I've got no doubt, you know, he should be fine to get through, you know, 20-30 K. It's then how do you face that last 10K And like, you know, the marathon as I know have been at the top end from here from Australia, they all say the same thing. You know, it comes down like a tonne of bricks and it's all it
all matters in that last 10K. Well, and then he, he went on to say in this interview, he's talked about he's run parts of the London course and he's gone out and he's run his goal race pace for that 30 KS. And he said I felt under control. But there's an element of the unknown. And that's one of the big reasons I'm doing the race, to feel that excitement. It's a massive stab in the dark for me to even have the audacity
to try this win, lose or draw. I think there'll be personal growth, hopefully physical growth too. This is the other part I wanted to talk to you about because we love, we're jumping ahead. We normally save a bit of shoe chat and gear chat to the end of the pod, but I want to bring it in quickly here before I get to Alex's quote, the Boston Marathon. I just want to run people through what was on the the feet of the podium finishes.
So in the in the men's race, John Career, the Kenyan who won it was running Meta speeds, ASICS meta speeds, the silver and the bronze were both wearing Adidas Adios Pro, the Evo Twos. Then in the women's race was really interesting because Sharon Laketi, the winner was wearing Under Armour Velocity Elite 3, so she was wearing Under Armour shoes.
Second was wearing on Cloud Boom Strike LS and the third place was wearing Nike Alpha Flies. But it's a real mix of shoes on the podium in Boston. Alex tomorrow in the London event has said keep an eye on what I'm wearing on my feet in the marathon As I've been working very closely with New Balance on a new shoe. I've been involved in the little with the development and testing and it makes me feel like I'm in
the best shoe for the marathon. So I am as interested in what Alex is wearing on his feet in the race as I am in on his time. I'm I cannot wait to see what shoes he's wearing. Yeah, I mean, yeah, everyone's looking at shoes at the moment. They so many companies are dropping them so much faster, these super shoes at the moment and they keep coming. It makes me think I just going off on a tangent.
New shoes at the moment, Jordan. So night Jordan just did a great YouTube clip of the trial of Luca. I think, I think the basketball's name is hopefully I've got that right, but literally he's just got a new shoe and they did a 7 minute. Luca Doncic, yes. Done a 7 minute video about he's the bad guy basketball, but the jury kind of can't get over his shoes and that his shoes overcome his Vadnais all the time because they look so
brilliant. That made me think of running at the same time, because at the moment, every time there's a race on, like you just said, you just mentioned I want to know what shoes they're wearing. We've often said on the podcast that we don't know necessarily who is winning the races, but you can all because this, you know, maybe we don't recognise the names as much unless you're like fully in the elite side of
marathoning. But what we all do, no matter if you're a beginner or you're in the intermediate or like us talking about it, everyone wants to know what shoes they're wearing. So the shoe nearly becomes more important than the name sometimes in these cases. But when you put the shoe and the name together, that's when the magic happens. So I'll be really interested to see this New Balance shoe. Well, I mean maybe may, you know, we saw Noah Lyles after he won the 100 metres in in Paris
last year. He said he wants a shoe and he doesn't want a track shoe. He wants a trainer, a Jordan style. He wants a name branded trainer. Maybe tomorrow we see Alex Yee running in the Alex Yee model of New Balance. Who knows? We'll we'll keep an eye on that, but let's move on because we Speaking of equipment, Speaking of gear, I don't know how to describe this best, but I want to share a message with people that we got on the the show page Claudio.
Claudio has messaged the podcast and said hello, Courtney and Liam. My name is Claudio or Claudio. I live in Madrid. Shout out to our Spanish listeners, Claudio has said. I started listening to the podcast when it appeared in my feed after a family trip to Australia. Thank you to Spotify, thank you to Apple Podcast for pushing out our podcast to international business when they come to town, Claudio said.
I have listened all the episodes already and right now I'm tapering for my first marathon ever in Madrid through the course. Tough course, hopefully goes well. Awesome Claudio, this is great news I'm excited to see. Please tell us how you go in your marathon. But this is what I want to get to. Claudio said. I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a post from Ivan Rainier or Rana, an old school Spanish athlete who competed against our very own Courtney Atkinson.
Courtney, how do you feel about your old style? I'm sure some young fellas would think this is quite trendy nowadays. Courtney, you do the editing on this. I insist that right now this photo gets put up of you in your Dick stickers and a tight bond looking singlet. And what I mean, talk us through the look and what do you remember this race? Do you remember Ivan? Tell us about this picture. Oh. My I, I saw Ivan actually tagged
me on this. So I saw it myself and I posted it. And I don't often post old things that have happened in the past, but so this was back in 2000 and Ivan was pretty much around World juniors was, you know, my main competitor, I suppose, when I was racing at that time. And we we made the we made the jump, I suppose, into the senior ranks pretty quick. So this was a World Cup at the time on both probably only 1920
years of our of age. But I think what everyone's looking at is what we're wear, what we're wearing, right? So yes, we did race in Dick Toks. That's number one #2 though, and why I was more and more interested in the thing. And thanks, Claudio, for saying, Courtney, you won the race, so don't let Liam embarrass you. So I can't remember this race. I do know it was in a place called Ishigaki. And I did win a lot in. I had a good run of World Cups down in Ishigaki.
So tangent, Ishigaki, for those who don't know. You think Ishigaki's an island in Japan? Most people know Okinawa. So right down in the South, like right in the southern islands of Japan. Now Ishigaki is right over towards TA, Taiwan. It's miles away from Japan, but still in Japan. So it's like a tropical island that we'd go once a year to go and racing. What I mean here though is a pair of speed dealer, Oakley, It's just like you, I showed you
last week. What everyone's been telling me is this is exactly what Gen Z are wearing right now out there. Pretty much 5 panel hats, 5 panel hats, pair of speed dealers. OK, maybe not the Dick stickers, but you know, singlets nearly shirts out. This is this is vintage. But they were like they say hey, everything vintage comes back round and this is in fashion right now. But we'll let I'll put the picture up and we'll let everyone decide. Yeah, well, just quickly. So what year was this?
This would have been 2000 so. Yeah. OK. So by that metric, what we need to do, what the podcast needs to do in the beginning, we need to go and check out what you were wearing. We need to go into your archives and figure out what you're rolling in sort of 2005 because that's what's gonna come. That's what's gonna be hot again next.
That's what in the beginning, if we start doing some merch from the podcast Courtney, it needs to be whatever you were racing in in about 2005. Alright, I've got some homework then. Triathlon definitely are always what would you say? Never been shy of lycra, have they? And this is this is pre pre full lycra days. This is where we're wearing Pretty Little. I'll tell you what, when you crashed you knew it. He had skin coming off
everywhere. Ohh. Can can I ask then, before we move on from this, do you what's the worst crash you've ever had? Like what's the most in terms of bark off the legs and the arms? What was the worst one you ever had? The. Worst one, actually, the worst crash I ever had was probably my first crash and I remember it plain as day coming. And those who are on the Gold Coast and right around the Gold Coast will know the first corner on Springbrook after the water
tower. And it's literally, it's a sweeping left hander. I'd never come down a mountain in my life. I reckon I would have been probably 1415 riding in a pair of trackies of all things. And I came around that first sweeper and just literally laid the bike down straight across the gravel, sorry, straight across the bitumen, straight across the gravel into the grass. And I read that that's how you learn. I mean, crashes really.
In the end, you learn from it. OK, can't go that far next time. And, and here you go. But I reckon I did another thousand repeats up Springbrook over my lifetime and that was the only crash I had on that one. All right, quickly before we move on to loose ends and I've actually got a first ever unboxing to do here on in the in the beginning podcast. Do we need to fix the store gift? Oh. Look, I'm gonna be transparent. I did not watch the store gift, but I've seen the aftermath of it.
I OK, I'm gonna tell a story first before we get into this. I had a masua back in. I had a masua who, I won't say his name. He came from Melbourne, came back up to the Gold Coast and every week, this is probably through the early days of my Olympic campaigns, I'd go up the surface, get a rub off him. Now he coached, he was A and he was the coach of the VFL boundary umpires. So he's pretty handy runner himself was a good coach. He also used to get those boundary umpires ready for the
store gift. Not in the hundreds, but it's a similar situation in the mile and the 3000. Now they used to. Now this is where I know it's like a bit rotted. They used to, some of those runners would nearly fox or sandbag in golfers terms for up to two years to make sure their handicap was ready for that one day and then all the money would come lying down on them on that day. It was a it was a scheme, it was
a scam. Now, I don't know if it still is right now, I don't know that information, but what can I can tell you is where there's money and where there's bedding, there's always going to be some funny business. So if and if you're like one of those, if you're like Courtney and you actually didn't, you're not across the what happened at stall over the Easter long weekend. I love the the heritage. I love the nostalgia of stall. I love the fact that it's this iconic athletics meet in the
middle of nowhere. The town has nothing else all year round except for this Easter racing weekend. It's cold as charity. I just I love it. I do love the all the storytelling around this event, but everything needs to progress, everything needs to move forward. And if we don't adapt, things die. And I wonder whether what we just witnessed this year with the race is the sign that the
stall gift needs to adapt. And I'm talking about the fact that the most exciting sprinters that we've had in the history of Aussie sprinting for who knows, maybe ever in the case of Gout Gout, but certainly for a very long time with Gout Gout and Lockheed Kennedy. This is a 20 year old and a 17 year old who are both if running sub 10, touching the 10 sub ten with wind assist. Whatever. The point is, we're excited about them and we know their
name. And neither of them make the men's final Shout out to Bree Masters near Rizzo. Who, or might be the other way around, who took out the women's event off scratch? I loved it. Again, we've talked about Brie and what a star she is of women sprinting at the moment. To do it off scratch. You saw how much it meant to. I love that. I actually thought it was one of my favourite sporting moments of
the year so far. But for the mainstream to have this young man gout gout capture all our attention. We've talked about what a noisy athlete he is, some of it his own choosing, some of it by our choosing. For him not to be in the final because he had to run off the handicap of scratch and he didn't make it through. I wonder whether stall and the people that run it and organise it need to step back and go. Do we need to make some changes
here? Well, after listening to everything you just said, I would go, well, that would make sense. But I mean, this is an event that's been running for a long time and the nature of handicapping is, hey, should gout gout win? We everyone wanted to see the race and see the handicap and make it work. But the reality is the whole purpose of handicapping is that everyone has an equal chance of winning. And the reality is what we just
said. There's there's there's other athletes there who are turning up and store gifts just as important to them. The public want to see one thing the store gifts been going a long time and I'm sure this has happened over and over again. And how? My question would be, how can you have a perfect system next year? They could flip it and go too far the other way and gout runs in by 10 metres. Are we going to be happy then this? That's my question. It's a good point.
It's a good point. Anyway. Look, hey, it's the first time. I think the store gift has probably made as much noise since. Have you seen that clip that always does the rounds at this time every year where Kathy Freeman, I think she's starting off like a 56 metre handicap and she runs down the 400. It's an awesome, awesome clip. Yeah, I mean, the one thing we can all agree on, you know, there's we talked about the Grand Slam track and different ways of running track.
Like this is a unique Australian. I mean, there's obviously handicaps all around the world, but still has a lot of history. Everyone knows that TV supports it, the public support it. And, you know, maybe there's a little bit of a hiccup this year with some of the big stars, but it's not going to, you know, it's gonna go on, I reckon, for years and years. And with athletics growing like it is, too, it's gonna grow with it. So it's only a good thing. Alright, let's let's RIP into
some loose ends from last week. Courtney, get us into it. Yeah, so I've got on mate. We're getting called hard and this has happened a few times. I've, I've ignored it up to now, but Zucconi we obviously keep saying very strongly, like an Australian accent. Zucconi sock on E. Is that how you pronounce it? Sock on E look sock on. EI think we should just stick with how we pronounce it and everyone, if, you know, like it, I've called it that for 20
years. Make your brand's name easier to pronounce if you've got an issue with it. But yeah, so so John boy 76, he was only just one of many coming in. Thanks mate. We, we do appreciate everyone writing and the messages and everything and we acknowledge, yes, we're probably saying it wrong, but my mind just goes straight to Ciccone every time. So but mate, the shoes at the moment, like we said last week are going can. I can, I can I jump in quickly with a story about the great Mark guy.
This is the first time MG has and may ever. It may be the last time MG the wild Panther, the Penrith legend gets mentioned on a running podcast. I did a radio show with MG for four years and the amount of times I had to pick him up or correct him on the things he was saying. But as he pointed out to me, after every time he made up a word, stuffed up a word, used the wrong word, he said, but did you know what I mean? And I said, yeah, he said, then what's the problem?
And when we say Sorconi, you know what we mean. Too too true Liam, too true. Now Jordan Mcgow has written in Hey guys, listen to this weekend's app as I typed this, talking around the pacing at Canberra. So this is what you brought up, Liam, straight up. It's unacceptable to be that fast. 10 minutes fast and people have dropped off and failed. Their goal is pretty poor, especially when often these are free entries as volunteers.
Now, I'm not, I don't completely agree with that because look, yes, they're volunteering. It's not about the free entry. They're actually doing a service to everyone. So let's not jump on our paces. We appreciate our paces. Just my thoughts. It's good to be a little head like 30 to 60 seconds buffer, but that's far. But you know, 10 minutes is far too quick and sort of shame they
missed their goals. I had a few people ride in like this and talk about a few Pacers who actually said to me as well that when they finish, they've heard about Pacers slowing up like right before the finish line. No go either. If you're gonna run in, run in. But Pacers should. You know, there's enough technology now that Pacers should be on, on, on point. But you know what? I've never paced. I'm assuming you've never paced, Liam. So we're just talking through stuff we don't know.
Let's jump straight into Wade from the Sunny Coast here. Wade's sent us a message saying playing catch up on the potty while painting the house. You were talking about how Powerade uses high fructose corn syrup versus Gatorade, but Powerade uses succross in a strategies. I feel like we're heading down a science tunnel here. Courtney, I hope you're paying attention. So Powerade uses high fructose corn syrup versus Gatorade, but
Powerade it uses sucrose. In Australia, high fructose corn syrup is usually used in the USA. This is because we grow a lot more sugar cane versus USA who grow a lot of corn. Another example is we make more rum made from sugar cane versus the USA who make bourbon made from corn. PS Worked for Coke for 24 years and was born in Bundy so I grew up on a full sugar diet. Keep up the good work fella. Shout out Wade. That's a good This is good insight from Wade.
Thank you. Wade, does that make sense to you? It does make sense and I'm going to put my hand up that I obviously when I went to look at those or someone actually think wrote it, just send it in to us and I was just relaying the information. But that's what you get for just looking online. You should go and pick up the the bottle or the cans and look for yourself. Obviously different ingredients in different countries, but yes, thanks Wade for sending that one
in and and setting us straight. Now, we've talked about the robot half marathon in the past. I don't want to spend too much time on it, Liam, but just touching on it, that happened over in, where was it China, they had the race half marathon, the robot champion, 2 hours 40. He's not. They're not beating us just yet. So there you go, we'll put the reel up and show everyone what happened. But I'm glad to see they. Lift your game, robots, you got a long way to go. That they do now mate.
I want to hear what's going on with you. What's how's your running week been? So quick catch up and if you're playing along with the Wednesday EPS where we're preparing for Gold Coast Marathon, lace up running with Benita Willis at the helm. At the moment I feel like I'm wasting Benita's time because we are two weeks into this marathon prep and I'm not running because I've gone down with a Soleus strain after week 1.
Basically the long and the short of it is I didn't recover well from Konani and I've tried to jump back into a week of, of, of kilometres that my calves weren't ready for and I'm paying the price now. So I am, I'm sort of playing, I'm literally playing it day by day at the moment. I'm talking to Benita regularly, I'm talking to my physio. I'm trying to. And look, the reality is, and I'll talk more about this on next Wednesdays because I'm sitting down with Benita and Bronte again.
But the reality is I am having to re probably reassess the marathon goal because I could persist and naively train for this, but I just don't think I'm already, I'm down to A10 week prep instead of a 12 week prep and I'm recovering from an injury and I'm not up to like 100% running capacity. And it's just going to be probably beyond me. That being said, I'm not making any decisions. I'm going to wait for Benita to instruct me on this.
But yeah, it's, it's been really frustrating and disappointing because, I mean, I've start, I'm on a bloody running podcast and I can't, I can't get myself running right at the moment. It's, it really is frustrating and I just, I just want to be running. I really want to be invested and, and, and into this training programme as much as I can and I can't at the moment because my calf doesn't want to play ball.
All that being said, if you run, you're going to get injured and if you're not doing the strength work, you're going to get injured. And if you're not recovering properly, you're going to get injured. And all these are lessons that people out there are probably banging their head against their their phone or their radio. What however, they're listening to this because they're going through similar stuff or they've been through similar stuff.
So essentially, right now, my running is day to day. It is limited. And I'm hoping that I'll, I'll be able to give people an idea of what my new marathon goal is soon. But for now I'm I'm a day to day case. I, I wouldn't, it sounds, yeah. I mean, I can tell you motivations right down, but I, I
was out before you. So there's, I think the main thing is we will, we will continue to move forward because there will be people, there will be other runners in the same situation and there will be other runners who will face the same situation as they get closer to the marathon. So everything that you'll be talking about with Benita, we're still going to be learning along the way.
And for those who are listening, you know, in the next few episodes on the Wednesdays with Benita, we're still going to go through, we still want to extract all that information for everyone out of Benita as well. So we want to make sure that we're going to go through different scenarios. We're going to go through tapers, we're going to go through nutrition. We're still going to have plenty
of information for you. But I think it is key that, you know, everyone at some point in that marathon is gonna have to go through some, you know, gonna go through a little niggle or go through something that's gonna face them. And motivation, mate, is the hardest thing to get around. So, you know, it's not lost views. Get back. You've done plenty of running and we're gonna keep going. Absolutely.
And in fact, next this next, the episode that's gonna drop on Wednesday, we've had a lot of people ask about strength training specifically. And you can bet your ass that that's going to be a big part of my conversation with Benita about strength training and cross training as part of a marathon programme. When you might be limited on running, A, because of injury or B, because of time or B, you know, because of weather, for whatever reason, you might be
limited on your running. There are, you know, things you can still be doing, and we'll be hitting those with Bonita on Wednesdays at a. 100 percent, 100% today. I'll tell a bit of a running story and when we talk about races and we said each week we're going to try and catch up on some local races. This is one that goes back. It's a bit of a vintage race, but I was out at the Stockton
Sand Dunes today. I don't know if you know Stockton Sand Dunes, it's kind of down in Newcastle once you're up on the top of them. I was on a quad bike doing doing a some filming up there and crazy enough I got to the same spot where we started the tour and it's where I did A10 kilometre soft sand race. Or this would be going back well before Covad, but it was a 10K soft sand race called Red Bull June Dusters in the Stockton Sand dunes.
And what I remember about it. So like when you talk about unique races and what you go through, think of those who've seen Dakar Rally and the motorbikes and the cars in the sand dunes at Dhaka. In this run race, they'd put these high flags at the top of each June and you literally ran
off up the sand. And then you have to make a decision when you got to the sand June, do you go straight up the guts in the soft sand up the steep face, or do you run around and kind of use the angles of the ridgeline a little bit better to get to that, to those through those flags. When you got to those flags, it was only then you saw the next part of the course because obviously there's big valleys
between the sand dunes. So then you went to the next set of flags, did the same thing, the next set of flags and the next set of flags. It was probably one of the hardest run races I did. And talking about shoes, it's the only time I've ever worn those Vibrams, those, what are they called, barefoot running shoes and they didn't go too bad and I didn't burn my feet. So everything may go, but that's
where I am at the moment. So not much running news, but I sitting down around the Newcastle area at the moment doing some stuff. That race sounds horrible that I have 0 interest in doing that race. No, no thank you. Feel free to not invite me ever to Red Bull Sand dune Busters or the hell on earth as that race sounds like it was called Righto.
Let's keep rattling through. We'll we've talked a little bit about the shoes everybody's going to be running in in the marathons last weekend in Boston and tomorrow in London. So we might move on from a bit of gear chat today on this app. But more listener questions. We love all this. Keep sending them in. And also, can we just say? As the subscribers to this channel continue to fly, keep it going, keep sharing the love, keep subscribing, keep commenting. It's what drives the podcast
into people's feeds. It allows us to get more audience, it allows us to continue to grow. So if you haven't already subscribed, please do. If you've got friends that are running, share it with them and tell them to get involved and flick us any questions they've got. These questions come through anonymously and we more than happy to keep you Anonymous if you would like. Anonymous has says firstly, awesome podcast. Thanks so much :) emoji.
I've got a moral dilemma type situation when I ran a Mila at around a hunter and a Mila, If you're not familiar with the lingo, A Mila means 160 kilometre race, 100 mile race. So Anonymous has run a Mila and this person has said at around 120 kilometres in, there was another runner with a pacer. We got to a section where you had to go through a very technical section of Bush. It was only around 1 kilometre, yet due to the tree roots, rocks, etc, it was almost
walking only. So really slowing down through a technical section of this 100 mile race. Anyhoo, a person was waiting for the other runner with their pacer and took them through a shortcut saying you don't have to worry about that section, it's only short.
So my question for the podcast and listeners, do you just run your own race or do you dib a dobber anonymous has said that they did, by the way, knowing that they did the 464 kilometres and context here was that they were at the back of the pack. So essentially, to summarise, someone they were running in this 100 mile with has has cut some of the section to make it easier for themselves. Courtney thoughts. Well, my first thought is you never cut the course.
That's cheating. This is as simple as that. I don't have too much to say on it. It's as simple as that. Now, the dobbing element of it is the interesting part. So oh man, I don't even know. I'm going to have to sit on the fence on this one. I I just say you don't cut a course like you're really only cheating yourself in that case. Now, if the course is backed up and this is 100 and what did she it wasn't a mile or 120 K rate or it was 100 mile. I mean, you couldn't be moving
that quick at the same time. So if for someone to get off course knowingly and just miss a section that's just not on mate, not on. I'm I'm, I'm with you, anonymous. Totally agree.
My footy, we had a footy coach way back in the day who used to when we do running sessions, used to, you know, he'd love shouting out, you know, you're only cheating yourselves as though when we were doing running sessions, if you were pulling up short or, you know, basically trying to instil some level of responsibility on us as individuals about what we were running and, and and it it annoyingly, it's always stuck with me that, you know, we take the piss a little bit, but
you're only cheating yourself. And the reality is that person who's cut the corner on the 100 mile lives with that. Now they know that they cut a kilometre off the course. They're the ones when they put their head down at the end of the night, they know they cut the course. So as far as anonymous needing to DOB, I wouldn't waste your time. I wouldn't waste your time. Your thoughts, right? You didn't enter that race to
beat that person. You entered the race because you wanted to see if you could complete 100 mile race, which you have. If anything, that somebody on your level of running needed to cut the course and cheat to get through it. I mean if you want to be not petty about it, but it should give you extra an extra boost that they weren't capable of what you were. Good, well said Liam. Mate, I love that that last bit of it, you know, look after yourself, look after yourself
now. Lincoln Jones wrote in to us gents. Love the podcast. In one of the episodes I heard Courtney mention triple top mountain race on Mount Roland in Tasmania. Yeah, so this is the one I was talking about that I would one of the few left races I want to do in Australia or haven't got to yet. You got three mountains, super technical and finishes with A5 Ki think you drop 1000 metres in 5K to finish it. So you thought your legs hurt after Kanani? This is, and it's a technical
descent as well. So yeah, pretty much. He said. I ran this last year and it is by far the hardest, most technical mountain race you will do in Australia. He's going OK 4K you descend over 1000 metres, so even worse Cliff, a Cliff face at some points. To give you an idea, it's roughly 19 K. The guy who did it last year won in just over 2 hours, so 19 K to it. Yeah. So she's tough.
Since Liam is the mountain runner now, I reckon you guys need to make your way back down to Tassie and give give what is it, triple top a crack at the end of the year. What's your thoughts, Liam? Lincoln, if you're listening, you've just heard what Kanani's done to my calves. So no, I don't think I need to find something that's even more taxing on my legs just right now. Unless I get my my legs and calves bulletproof with a better strength training programme, in which case, why not?
I'd like, hey, I'm all for trying stuff. And if it's a race that Courtney you've got on your radar, let's go do it. Yeah, Yeah. Well mate, I've I've got an entry that I've had for three or two or three years now and the kind organisers down there keep rolling it over for me so I can get down there and, and I will one year, I still promise it's one race that I want to do in Australia that I haven't yet. So I will see you down there at some stage. Lincoln. So thanks for that. Kate Jones.
Hold on, hold on, I. Can't finish yet? Hold on because we have to do we have to make history for the podcast today, Courtney, because for the first time we are going to be doing an unboxing. Now this, I know this was a trend about six years ago, but we are bringing it back and we have a package to open courtesy of.
I would go as far as to put him if he's not on the, if he's not the number one, he's certainly on the leaderboard, on the Strava leaderboard of #1 fans of this podcast, Ryan Kelso, this is the organiser of the Armadale Running Festival, which he's trying to recruit us to be ambassadors for, for next year. And he has sent us a package. OK, I'm going to do this in a very Wheel of Fortune style. Ryan has sent us some drink bottles and. With my name on it. Beautiful. What's on the back?
With more than just your name on it, Courtney. Now This is why I'm going to do it. Wheel of Fortune style. I am going to, and we'll have to turn this into all videos so people can see what we're talking about. But as I spin this, I want you to describe what you're looking at, OK? Because as I rotate it for the camera. Oh, I think someones been, I think Ryan's been playing on AI. Hey, look at that. That is Matt. That is gold. That is gold.
Ryan has taken what looks to be a steel shot of the podcast, chucked it into one of those AI animator things. It has spat out logo of the two of us in the beginning podcast. He's whacked it on a couple of Yeti bottles that he's personalised for us. Firstly, thank you Ryan. This is ridiculously, this is never in our wildest dreams. Did we think this podcast would lead to us getting personalised drink bottles. But can we just talk about the logo for a second? Courtney, you look like a
lumberjack. You, it's giving you the thickest, richest. I don't know if anybody out there is old enough to remember Home Improvement, the the Tim Allen sitcom from the 90s. You look like Al Boland, Tim Allen's assistant from that show. Your beard is that thick and dark and you look like you're hosting a hardware podcast more than a running podcast. But I, on the other hand, look worse. I I look like a I I look like a middle aged unemployed man who has a very quickly receding hairline.
Ohh mate it's it's gold. I love, I love this. Thanks Ryan mate, that is a lot of works gone into. That these are amazing, Ryan. Seriously, thank you. Mate, mate, thank you, thank you. And you are, you are. I agree with Liam, you definitely, you've been there from the beginning, mate. And we, we appreciate everyone's support and you've been there right from the beginning. So thank you. Now we're gonna let me do this one, Courtney, please, because Katie Jones has sent this into the show.
And and I think this beautifully. You'll never understand what this is like. This is very much the every person runners mentality. I want them to remember this because most of them will never win the race. But all of us are capable of this. This is Kate Jones to share this. It's come through from Instagram. Nellie Oheha has shared this on Instagram and the saying is if you're a runner, keep this in mind. Win the event and they'll forget you by next year. Shit your pants and they'll
remember you forever. Be memorable that is. I couldn't agree more. And the perfect example. I don't know if Paula Radcliffe won the London Marathon, but I remember that she shit herself during it. Yeah. Make sure you're ready to go for Wednesday. Thanks for staying patient with us through this one. Our remote episodes are always a bit tricky for us. A few little technical gremlins. We appreciate your persistence and again, share the love. This thing is building, it's growing.
People are sending us stuff now. Subscribers are going through the roof. The numbers are climbing. We'll see you. And we'll see you on Wednesday for the Marathon specific app.