My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Cargoton woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Friday, the twentieth of October. I'm Zara, I'm Sam Sam. Welcome back to the part. Thanks nice to be here here for a short time. Not a good time because you're off to the US.
Yeah, I'm headed off to Washington, d C. Over the weekend. Anthony Albanezi is landing in Washington early next week for the state visit with President Joe Biden and I'm going to go and see what's going on.
But for today's podcast, we are casting your minds back a year ago this week to the moment that a little known Sparky finished Erase the gripped Australia.
An electrician who had a big light bulb moment.
My idea of running from Perth to Bondie seems insurmountable.
Thousand kilometer journey across the stret.
Please welcome Ned Brockman. We wanted to sit down with Ned Brockman to understand what happens to people who are in the news a year later when the dust settles and the headlines slow down, how they feel about their time in the sun.
Before we get to our editor, Billy's chat with Ned Brockman, Sam what's making headlines.
The government has requested Australia's consumer watchdog to monitor domestic airlines in an attempt to improve competition in the sector, currently dominated, of course by quantas. Over the next three years, the AH Triple C will investigate the cost of airfares, passenger demand, the frequency of cancelations and delays, and profits reported by carriers. Findings will be included in reports to be released every three months.
Unemployment fell slightly from three point seven to three point six percent in September. That's according to the Australian Bureau of Detistics. The youth unemployment rate remained at eight point one percent. The rate of underemployment, which is those who worked for less hours than they wanted to, also fell last month.
AFL player Joel Smith has been suspended after failing a doping test. Smith, who plays for the Melbourne Demons, tested positive for cocaine after the Demons played Hawthorne in August. Sports Integrity Australia is now investigating the matter.
And the good news Scotland's largest offshore wind farm is now operating full capacity. The project could generate enough electricity for two thirds of all Scottish homes and make a significant contribution to the country's net zero goal by twenty forty five. The milestone has been hailed as an important achievement for clean energy in the UK.
Let's get started. St ned Brockman, thank you so much for joining.
The Daily OS Billy, thank you for having me.
I don't know how else to start this interview other than to ask, how the hell did you do that?
It took me a lot of training the lead up, and a lot of mindset and a lot of yeah, sacrificing. I think you know the price I had to pay. I was completely willing to pay that, whether that be in a physical, mental, whatever sense, but yeah, I was willing to put it all on the line to get it done. And that's why I'm probably here talking me today.
I want to understand what it's like to be at the center of a massive media storm. For weeks, you were all anyone could talk about. You're on the front page of every newspaper.
What is that like? Yeah, it's weird. I think while I was in it. While I was in the run,
I didn't really take much notice of it. I saw like social media starting to kick off and things were starting to blow up a bit, but to what I was doing, Like, you know, I was doing the run because I wanted to do the run, and I was doing because I want to inspire, I want to motivate, also want to raise money, and all the other stuff comes from that, and so for me, it was all about just getting the run done and so whatever was happening outside it kind of I didn't really asked how
large it was until I got to Bonday and fully realized what actually went down.
And then when you're out Bond die, and then the days after there must have been a moment where you realized how big it had gotten. What was it like to like to be that person at the center when everyone's talking about you.
Yeah, it's it's weird, and like you have this, I would call it like imposter syndrome, like a why me and I think I'm just an average dude going out doing something extraordinary. But yeah, when I when I was running down Bondi Road, probably like as I come down and I saw saw the beach, that's when I realized like the enormity of it all. Like up until that point, you know, there was helicopters above me and like everyone hunky on the street, but I didn't really grasp like
the size and the sheer scale of it. And then I saw the beach and I was just like, oh my god, Like this isn't fucking real, is it? This is not real? And then yeah, ran down. It was just like yeah, if you can bottle that up and everyone could take a sip at it, it would be the most rewarding thing for people. Because that moment is what I think Livin's all about.
After the media storm ends, the media cycle inevitably moves on what happened next for you.
I think a lot of the Olympic people have this, Like you have the competition, you finish it, you're running off the high you know, whether you get the gold medal or whatever it is, and then you have the post Olympic blues. I feel like I had my post event blues pretty well about two weeks after. I was still caught up in it. I was getting going to events that all the people go to and it's like, oh my god, this is so cool, and then it all, you know, the clock ran out and I crashed pretty hard.
But I can say that like I was low, and I think we all need to be able to acknowledge that I've done something pretty epic like run across the country. But I can also go, you know, I'm not feeling great right now. I'm quite depressed. I damaged my body big time on the run, so I had to spend time sitting out, and someone like me, Billy doesn't like sitting down a lot, so I had to find peace in that as well, which taught me a lot too, just sitting out and being okay with it. And I
had to put twelve kilos back on. So I hate my body weight and probably be an extra, but I've dialed that back in there, so real good.
What did that low look like?
It got a bit better this time around, because in twenty twenty I did the fifty marathons where I kind of had this rush and I felt invincible, and then I got injured and I kin'd had this crash and I was a proper crash, like I was not well and I'd been through it all. So when I got to the run, and I knew this would happen, so I was kind of like waiting for it to happen.
It happened at two weeks, but when I was in it, it was just like acknowledging it, journaling, writing down that all the thoughts and feelings, you know, I'm feeling, and just accepting it and doing things you could do. So I started doing things that got me out, but not physically out, you know, not punishing my body every day. And yeah, like there's always light at the end of the tunnel. You always find something to do.
You've said a lot already that you're just this average person, but you simply can't be to achieve what you've achieved. And I'm really interested in this idea of mental resilience and whether you're born with it or whether you can develop it. Do you think that anyone could just get up tomorrow and train to run across the country or is your brain why differently to ours?
You can absolutely train mental resilience, mental toughness, you know, getting up and getting up. That is something you teach yourself. That is something we can be taught. However, I don't think everyone can go wake up and go right today, I'm going to start training for a run across the country because I just don't think, like, you know, physically a genetic makeup, I probably can run a bit better than a lot of people. But in saying that, like,
if that was your goal, I think anyone can. You know, every day from my last three years, I've chosen the more uncomfortable option of everything I do. So whether it be like I'm standing in the shower this morning and I'm looking at the hot water tap and the cold water tap, and I go, the easy option here is to turn the hot water on and have a shower. That would be comfortable. That is the nice thing to do.
And then I look at the cold water tap and go, that will be uncomfortable, and this will make my day better because I've won this shower, and that's what I do. We're so inclined to pick the easy option these days, and if it doesn't come to us quickly, we'll go for the other easy option, the next easy option. If it's too hard to you know, get We'll just go for something else. If you can intentionally put yourself in uncomfortable scenarios daily, it puts things in perspective, so things
aren't that bad and that hard. And then you also start to go, oh, what else can I do? What else can I do?
You talk a lot about wanting to be uncomfortable or choosing the uncomfortable option. Do you like pain?
I like what it gives me. I don't love being in it, but I love knowing that when I'm in it, I'm going to get so much out of it. I think we all need to evolve as people, and we really If you're not evolving, you're just wasting your time. We're here for a very short period of time. Growth comes from uncomfortable scenarios, not necessarily physical, like it can be in anything uncomfortable. But if you're not learning from that, then you're wasting your time.
We've talked a lot about your mental journey, but what did running across the country do to your physical body?
Pretty well, from about day three I was starting to show signs of wear and tear. Basically, when I got back I had. I had pretty pretty bad gluten meat tendons and when I got back to BONDI we kind of, you know, I took the two weeks off and then I went right out. Now I've got to start looking at this. I had ten MR eyes from the belly button down on different parts of my body. Basically burstis in every joint.
What does that mean?
My burses, which like the sack around the joints and the tendons were just so inflamed from repetitive overuse. But but I'm not a runner, Like I'm not I started a runner. No, I'm not. I started three years ago. Like this is people A lot of people, do you know think this is like a big dream and this is this is what this is how I start all my conversations is like, I'm not a runner. I'm just a guy who started running to lose weight three years ago. Who's gone, how do I make the most of my
every day? This is where it ended.
You just said that you started running to lose weight, and I've heard you talk before about having body image issues. Can you talk about that?
Yeah, I think it's a funny thing that that only that comes from. And when I'm not doing the things I go and talk about. So probably in the times where I'm injured and I'm struggling to get out motivation wise because I can't because of an injury. Usually it's only rare occasions that I go, oh, you know, I'm not happy with this, I'm happy with that. But I'm pretty good at it now. What my body has done for me, It's allowed me to get up and go again and go again. It's like he can do it at once.
It's twelve months on since you're finished. Has your body recovered?
I don't think my body will ever recover fully like I think if I I think if you speak to a lot of athletes, they are always borderline injury performance and it's just a balance dealing with those niggles. But I was probably like seventy percent going into the run, so when I got the end, I was probably about twenty. But in saying that, if I had to run another thousand and k after I would have been I would have absolutely done that.
No worries, You'll basically put your body through a form of torture. What is you scared of? Like, do you have any fears?
Yeah, just not reach my potential the opportunities. That's my only fear. I don't. I don't fear like injuring myself. I don't fear you know, what people think of me. I don't fear much on like that side of things. But I fear not ever reaching what I was probably put here to do.
I've heard you say that you don't think that you've reached your limit yet. Are you going to keep going until you reach that limit?
I don't think you ever do. I don't think as humans we ever do. I think again, I'm touching on the evolving thing. But like what my limit was four years ago, I've surpassed that ten times already. So now it's like, well, where does this? Where is the limit? I think the limit is death. I don't think you actually get to you'll. There will always be something else you can give. There'll always be another pricing and pay, And I think, yeah, I don't think i'll I'll ever reach it.
Lastly, in your book, you do say that you have a new challenge coming up that you're planning that you say will be even tougher than running across Australia. What can you tell us about that?
I can say for me if I every year, every second year, for five more years, can live that moment I felt in BONDI then I've ticked off what I need to do in my life because that moment and that that feeling I got was just like I can't even explain it to people because unless you've been there, you can't. You will never understand. And so for me, even in the book, I tried to explain, but it's nearly impossible because I can only associate with people who've done things like it, and it's very few.
Do you think now that you've experienced that extreme high, you're going to be constantly trying to get to that high again?
I want to say, is very carefully what it's like with like going to war and you go, you come back into society, you try and assimilate, but nothing's the same. So for so long I was out there just like grinding away at this thing, grinding away, and there's no normality to what we're doing. It's all just freaking psychotic out there, like every day was just a struggle. And then you get there and then you try and associate back and you're in this whole new world in your life.
Like I've ran from being relatively unknown to being you know, one of the most prominent mullets in Australia. And then you're like, now this whole life's completely different. It's like you just want to be back in there when you're in it. You just want to be out of it when you're out of it, or you want to be is back in it. You want to be back in that because that is the most alive and most joyous things you'll ever feel.
So do you think you'll feel that extreme, extreme high again?
Absolutely? The high wasn't getting the Bondai. The high was achieving what we had to to get there, like that whole journey of across Australia, knowing what we went through. That's what made Bondi so special. You know, whether there was two people in Bondai or the however many were there, it was the same. It was the exact same special moment.
So there is something that you're planning that will be even tougher than running across Australia. That will be in the next few years.
Yeah, it'll be. It'll be next year. September.
Ned Bruckman, thank you so much for joining the DAS.
Good thank you, thanks for listening. To today's episode of The Daily Os. I've always thought it was interesting to think about what happens after you are at the center of a news cycle. And I guess now.
I know, And there's other stories like that out there.
Let us know who you want us to chat to about this, but until then, have a great weekend and we'll be back on Monday.