Run To Paradise: Recent Episodes

Tarkine

Hosted by Pond’s lead singer and runner extraordinaire, Nicholas Allbrook. Nick has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and will be chatting with some of the world’s best runners, musicians, historians and more on his quest to deliver a unique, educational and inspiring take on the multidimensional world of running.

Pond: Is one of Australia’s most loved bands with up to a million Spotify listens globally a month.

Supported by Tarkine.com - The world’s most eco-friendly high-performance running shoes.

Tokyo World Athletics Championships
Why is Jess Hull not a household name?
Photographing massively boring politicians
Getting "punched" at a hardcore show
Drowning in running clubs

Luvyas! Sorry its been a while :)

This is very silly episode, soz legends. But maaaybe it'll give u a vague idea of what its like to do a 85k trail relay race. Its wet, serene, turbo, fun, painful, rewarding, grouse.

It was PTS collie river ultra relay. Our team is called the Walyalup Woylies. It was a lot of immature dumb fun, and i highly recommend doing it yrself, with your jog dog pals.

Cheers for waiting, its been ages. Thanks Tarkine Athletics for putting into this pod and encouraging me to keep doing it. Mainly thanks to whoever listens, i would've stopped ages ago if people were genuinely enjoying it.

Back v soon,

Nick

:)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a bazillion times - this is a very special episode of Run To Paradise. Not only is it a gajillion times more hi-fi than any of the other episodes, but it contains two ACTUAL experienced broadcasters. They may not be runners, but goddam the Movie Squad can field a conversation. I can’t describe the relief, the feeling of containment and safety, knowing that Simon or Tristan would deftly guide the conversation back on track, with a laugh, without any awkward silences, and without me having a minor panic attack while I scramble for a relevant question while realising I haven’t been listening to anything my guest has said for the last 5 minutes.

This is The Movie Squad X Run To Paradise! We review and discuss running in cinema. Not running in cinemas, but feel free to discuss that among yourselves :)

We cover Chariots of Fire, The Jericho Mile, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Tracktown, Run Fat Boy Run, Brittany Runs A Marathon. We also discuss the running techniques of Tom Cruise and…well mainly Tom Cruise, and whether hitting the wall a shitting yourself should be represented more in cinema. The answer? Absolutely! As my ol’ Dad used to say “there’s always Tom Cruise”

Thanks for listening! Run To Paradise is a Tarkine sponsored production, and was recorded in Boorloo on the traditional, unneeded lands of the Nyoongar people. And enormous thanks to RTRFM and the movie squad. I love you so much.

Another running episode! Come with me and Noah Dillon - Perth musician and notorious mad dog - on an early autumn morning run around a lake. More of these half hour conversational pace jog episodes coming up :)

Noah is a fabulous musician, mean cricketer, runner and most excellent bloke.

We talk about writing songs, Peter Jackson’s Beatles doco, testosterone, Noahs EP Soft, his best mid-tour runs, and compare playing footy and participating in a local trail race, and playing small bedroom music and gigantic rock band music.

All Run To Paradise is supported by Tarkine Athletics. Thanks to them and Noah and mostly you lot who listen! Luvya.

Timberlin Henderson is an elite ultra runner for Tarkine Athletics, a coach, teacher and a proud Navajo man. Despite being an incredible and competitive athlete, he regards running as medicine and a spiritual endeavour, a way to honour the four mountains and connect with his land and his ancestors.

He has moved away from using modern, high carb nutrition in favour of the staples of his peoples traditional diet, corn, beans and squash.

He has also moved away from representing marijuana companies and identifying as a "cannabis athlete" to be a role model for the youth of the reservation which has been blighted by addiction problems, and to better connect with his spirituality and cultural practices.

This was a huge privilege and deeply inspiring for someone who is sick of feeling sick of gels, and tired of feeling frustrated by training setbacks.

Peter Bibby and Nick Allbrook watch Gout Gout, Lachlan Kennedy, Jess Hull and Seth O'Donnell run really, really fast.

Shit a brick it’s been a while! Most grovelling apologies sweet handsome princes and princesses, I’ve been so busy being a "musician" that I simply have not had time to make podcasts about running. Lets call this a little appetiser - a tiny bowl of audio pretzels, a small platter of sonic antipasti - to wet your ear before the steaming hot main course is poured right into your auditory canal (yum!)

Here’s a tastefully lo-fi catchup with Jonty Brown, just weeks before he embarks on the notoriously chaotic, painful and sort of punk-looking-guerrilla-ultra-race, ‘The Speed Project’… SOLO. Gross. Thats 550 kilometres through the desert from LA to Vegas. Bugger that for a joke. You’ve gotta be an absolute mentalist to do that, or Erchana, who probably did it while playing hoop stick because apparently she's made of some very kind, caring, enthusiastic alloy.

In the very competitive race to be the most elite athlete from Yorkshire who is also a barber, surfing instructor and motorcycle mechanic, Jonty is probably the winner. It’s not a hard competition, but he is the winner none the less. Congratulations Jonty!

Oh he’s also the first type 1 diabetic to run a 100k ultra marathon, which (unlike being the fittest surf instructing, motorcycle repairing barber from Yorkshire that I know) is a very very hard thing to do.

If yr in London or have the internet, check out his shop/community hub Runlimited. Unless you’re not interested in running in which case I’m so sorry you’ve read this whole piece of silly writing. Now get out there and seize the day! Or just search for something you’re actually interested in on the internet. I positively don’t care.

This is a podcast for Tarkine, the West Australian running company :)

more eps coming more regularly soon x

Ho Ho Ho Mo Fo Fo Fo’s!! Its Crimbo time and it is haaaht hot hot. We revel Erchana is the first runner/politician who isn’t a complete jabroni*. If u live in Burleigh Heads, Vote 1 suckas! Get the most ultra-ready environment focused independent on the cross bench and I promise we will never touch politics again :)

On todays agenda…

Joe Strummers 1982 Paris Marathon performance
Erchana casually circumnavigating her entire electorate (which is 229 sq ks, so go figure)
How to run through the holiday season
Tips for beating the heat (again)
The benefits of cold exposure and winter running (theoretically, we have literally no idea)
Why do women look so much less broken after ultras than men?
Minimalist shoes?
The Citizen Runner
A bunch of other bs :)

Thanks for listening we luvyas

Support Deo Kato!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/first-person-to-run-from-cape-town-to-london

Listen to Keanu Nelson!

https://mississippirecords.bandcamp.com/album/wilurarrakutu

Erchana’s just done the most idillic marathon in the world, the Queenstown marathon, while Nick is recovering from dancing related injuries amid the endless frozen death that is the Minneapolis winter, with only the funky, funky latent heat of Prince for warmth.

Also on the agenda is …

-obscene Strava art

-Sinead “the funniest troll in running” Diver

-the Park Run world record

-the content creators testosterone circus that was Noah Lyles v Ishowspeed

-Kendrick Lamar is a runner!!

-pop stars training for tour

-flexibility and mobility and stretching

-dealing with DOMS and injury

Thanks!

RTP is brought to you by Tarkine shoes

You can donate to this show on the patreon :) if we get a few bucks we might even invest in some proper mics, which will make your listening experience a gazillion times better. Just saying.

https://www.patreon.com/c/RunToParadise3000

Cole is a Boorloo based photographer, artist, dedicated runner and a deeply curious and hilarious bloke.

I visited his studio for a long and convoluted chat, which I didn’t edit much coz the silliness and distractions are kinda the best part, but it takes a long time for us to get onto running stuff.

Cole does the cheeky old switcheroo here and starts interviewing me, we watch a Fantano review of Pond, talk about Lenny Kravitz’s rig, Coles daily ritual and artistic and athletic ambitions, developing a toxic fixation on dumb metrics, Cole learns that standing still for half an hour is good for an ultra, and we wonder where the distinction is between a photographer as documentarian and photographer as artist.

Here's a playlist from the man himself to juice you up for the next send!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Zsg8W0UJG5Atd0bvWMnH9?si=6gIkg2DtTpip5p8Q5wwqHQπ=a-Iew3jbOPQCih

Erchana - the woman who ran the equivalent 1266 parkruns in a row - generously listens to Nick moan about his sore footsies after his first real ultra. We also; see how long we can run at Yomif Kejelcha’s world record half marathon pace (spoiler; its less than you think); place an eight year premature punt on Gout Gout winning the 2028 200 mtr sprint; consider influencers and race etiquette; how to train for a Croc marathon world record; answer some of yr questions :)

Plus a coupla ambient music recommendations for anyone else who’s in recovery mode… https://kmru.bandcamp.com/

https://mlesprg.bandcamp.com/music

Calm down everyone, the glimmer twins have returned. Nick and Erchana - the running worlds answer to Bonnie and Clyde, Lennon and McCartney, Big Boi and Andre 3000, Bevis and Butthead - have returned to subject you to one whole hour of "uhuhhuhuh... running" and other such searing insights.

This week we tackle the big issues ; Nicks sicilian holiday and the associated dangers of following random strava maps, Erchana's film premier https://biff.com.au/films-event-schedule/one-five-zero/#:~:text=150%20is%20an%20inspiring%2C%20hilarious,150%20marathons%20in%20150%20days. Nick's mounting terror leading up to Feral Pig, LCD Soundsystems workout mix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoVO2HKwfbg , the melbourne marathon, and finally we dive into our perilously shallow mailbox! Cmon u lazy buggers send us more shit! We are DESPERATELY LONELY. https://www.patreon.com/c/RunToParadise3000 is where you can do it, and also give us a little or a lot of money if you like what we're doing.

In this episode, and all others, you'll also get very very good advice about training and nutrition, mainly (only) from Erchana. Seriously i was listening to her talk thinking "goddam this is good advice" and i'm only partially braindead! Make of that what you will. Free advice from a world class coach and record holder.

Anyway, cheers!

This is a wedge. Its a really silly silly episode. An hour of yapping that’s wedged between more clever and serious episodes (also bullshit, but here we are) like chats with Erchana or interviews with other talented smart people.

As you can hear I’m still getting over my obligatory mid tour illness. I also managed to buy the worst podcast mic in the world before leaving Australia so the sound is not super great.

This is pretty much 50 minutes of me recapping all the running related goss from my last three weeks touring Europe and the UK, but getting completely sidetracked by my new fixation; sleep paralysis. But take my hand and we’ll eventually make it out of that freaky psychedelic tundra in time to talk about cool stuff thats actually running related like big fat dogs and treadmill sessions and the Green Runners (founded by Damian Hall and Jasmin Paris etc). There's also an ambient backing track because I heard it on the Blind Boy Podcast and it made everything so soothing and nice in my ears so I figured I’d rip it off. I’ve got a fairly abrasive Western Australian squawk that could do with something gentle to land on anyway. Did the Australian accent come from crows, or did they adopt on our accent? I believe it’s the latter because I swear English crows have an English accent.

As always this podcast is a Tarkine production and I thank them profusely. I never wanted too be a “podcast guy” because it feels lame as hell, but with their encouragement I’m finally starting to just be comfortable with it. Plus they make great gear and are lovely people so stuff it, I’ll try.

Theres a Patreon page now too if you wanna make a small contribution. It really really helps. Every extra five bucks a month gets me closer to being able to make Run To Paradise heaps better and heaps more regular. No pressure but it’s really nice hey!

Hope yr all well and this is a good accompaniment to a walk or jog or practicing hanging by your teeth from a rope under a bridge covered in peanut butter. Stay Hard!!

Love, Nick :)

This year i had the huge privilege of joining in on some of the weekly training sessions as the women of On My Feet trained for the WAMC Womens Classic 10k.

On my feet is a not for profit organisation helping those experiencing or at risk of homelessness to get back on their feet with confidence and independence through health, education, running and community. Participants and volunteers all work together as true friends and fellow runners - it's a horizontal and bilateral exchange - and they're part of the most wonderful, compassionate and supportive run club i've ever seen.

These women were so so generous with their time and stories and i felt so welcomed.

I joined in for a bunch of wet and wooly training sessions and then a parkrun, and made some brilliant friends.

Honestly, this was the best experience this podcast has provided me with and i feel so lucky.

Please support On My Feet because the work they're doing is incredible. It's a hand up, not hand out.

If you wanna support them think about buying some of their socks! they're very cool and all the proceeds go to supporting On My Feet.

https://tarkine.com/products/on-my-feet-orange-running-socks-unisex?srsltid=AfmBOop-ZbcX_jlUiy5kAeGnz-k8b9D8R0WKndxVRQiHWF_9JH1zsirS

This is how we're doing it from now on ya muppets!

Nick Allbrook and Erchana Murray Bartlett will form the odd couple you never asked for but are gonna get anyway.

Nick is a musician and part time fairly average runner. Erchana is a highly accomplished extremely good runner and coach and nutritionist and the loveliest person you're probably ever going to meet. Together they're gonna chat about the beautiful, hilarious and sometimes very silly world of running. This week its the pilliga ultra, fracking, double long run weekends, the International Sports Competition That Happens Every Four Years TM, the joys of quitting and being less of a boneheaded freak when yr feeling run down or tired, and what you should listen to and read this week.

I (Nick) am so bloody excited to have a compadre on this podcast especially one that can act as a foil to my gaping lack of knowledge, expertise and credibility, and maybe also a ray of light to drive away the clouds of dark cynicism that might grip me when talking about Texan gas giants exploiting very pretty and ancient Australian landscapes. ANYWAY !

Here's the debut of the most brilliant Australian duo since savage garden, Run To Paradise season 3.

giddyup suckas!!

heres the patreon if you want to chuck in a few bucks. its a huge help and really makes it easier to carve out the time to keep this podcast more regular https://www.patreon.com/RunToParadise3000

heres the albums i recommend at the end :) https://www.caamamusic.com.au/four-classic-albums-from-the-archives-re-released/

Soundscape RTP update.

Hello! welcome to run to paradise and my chat with Shane Johnson, the newest member of the Tarkine Athletics team!

We talk about his Bibbulmun Track FKT attempt, knowing when to stop, dealing with disappointment, building community, trail history and love, the transience of records, and Shane's very own raceTRANSCEND, which is on this weekend, so good luck all you blunderbusses who are tapering yr wee tootsies off and stuffing sugary goop into tiny sacks in anticipation. May your run be joyous, yr socks be dry and yr undies be clean. Thank the volunteers and bow to a wallaby please.

This is a continuation of the last episode talking to Rhys Crosswell about his FKT attempt on the Cape to Cape. Both blokes were attempting their records at the same time, Rhys trying to beat Shane, and both of them had beautifully aligned experiences out there.

Blessya!

Sixty what minutes!? What is this, the dang blasted Bro Jogan podcast? Who has time to listen to this shit? Who has time to make it?? Me? So many questions that’ll have to wait for another day.

This episode is about Rhys Crosswell trying to do the Cape to Cape track in record time, but we also chat about --- the very special place trails hold in our mammalian hearts and minds, how to do your very own ultra adventure, what's more important than running, family, the vibe, and eventually how to prepare for your goals changing, sometimes more callously referred to as FAILURE.

Thanks very much Rhys, Geoff and Julie Crosswell, thanks Billie, Frankie, Rosie, Ben, Grant, Will, Annika and thanks Shane Johnson! And of course massive thanks to Tarkine the Fremantle based running shoe company. Their shoes are indestructible in my experience, and that's the best kind of sustainable apparel you can have - stuff you don’t have to throw away. It’s a terrible business model, but one I have a lot of respect for!!

And mostly thanks to whoever listens to this :)

Nick

Firstly, APOLOGIES! I’ve been touring and whatnot and it is proving very difficult to finish episodes of this podcast while driving around America playing rock-band-shows. I’ll get back to it when I’m back :) thanks for your patience (there must be in excess of 5 people who care!)

ANYWAY this might be the most stuffed episode I’ve ever made, so hold onto yr jocks!

What can I say about Peter Bibby that hasn’t been said before. He is a legend of the DIY punk? metal?? scene when I first met him and his completely bizarre band called Frozen Ocean - the most original music from Perth ever made. A true expression of what happens if you give 2 weirdos from Midland a lot of red cordial and weed and a whole lot of time to get insanely tight and follow their madness and talent down whatever feral rabbit holes they please.

Pete is a big big strong boy, a plasterer, a smart and generous friend and a fabulous songwriter and I’m not just saying that because I love him dearly (which I do), but he is. His music is consistently inspiring and open hearted and interesting and hooky, and he’s releasing a new record soon called Drama King. Pete beat me when we did the first Jog Dogs half marathon. Pete ran a big trail race in Tasmania recently and we didn’t even talk about it in this episode coz we’re fools. It was in the Tarkine rainforest which is great coz this podcast is sponsored by the shoe company called Tarkine who make sick and very durable shoes. I just busted a pair of asics to smithereens in about 3 months and my Tarkine Goshawks were fine after 4000 kilometres (no shit). Thanks Tarkine xxx

This is a very very very silly two way interview (as in, he interviews me too) which is replete with panting and wind noises, so if you are an audiophile in any way, probably don’t listen to this. We tried to go at a conversational pace but we panted haaaard nonetheless. Probably because I was suffering from a terrible, cruel and dumb self-inflicted sickness, conceived in the nighttime and born in the morning. We also swear quite a lot so watch out if the littlies are in the room.

We talk about Titus, songwriting, running slowly, Pete giving up drinking alcohol, Australian tradie culture, getting punched, plasma and a bunch other stuff. I put in spooky noises too because I guess we’re spooky boys.

Much love and thanks for yr patience :)

Nick

I saw Margaret Glaspy’s trio play in LA and was soooooooo inspired (jealous) of their dynamism and subtlety, her voice, the depth of emotions totally stuffed me, so upon finding out that Margaret was a runner I almost expired with adoration. So, needless to say, I was pretty stoked when we finally got to meet and talk about all the good stuff - balancing life, art and running, training while on tour, her pal Courtney Dauwalter (!), shwagger and mojo and Margarets predilection towards the immediacy of live recording sessions.

If you want to actually support Margaret - which you definitely should because she is awesome and hard working and talented duh - get on that tharr internet and buy her record or some merch! Or, even better, go to your local record store and march up to the weird sweaty clerk in a trench coat who smells like a conepiece, hold your head up high and say, “I’ll take one copy of Echo the Diamond by Margaret Glaspy!”

Have a good one! Seeya next time!

Much love to Tarkine for sponsoring the show and initiating the whole thing, giving me an opportunity for me to chat with these amazing people. They also make great shoes.

Hi Champions! It’s me, Nick, howsitgarn? Great to hear. I’m coming to you from my hotel room mid rock band tour so excuse the grubby sound quality in the intro.

This episode is a chat with Deo Kato, a ridiculously strong runner, community leader and activist. Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, when African Americans in Alabama staged a civil rights protest for 381 days Deo started the Running for Justice movement, where he ran 10ks every day for 381 days. This movement was taken on by other members of the running community and has now become some kind of epic protest relay that has been going for 4 years! The longest continuous protest of its kind I think!? The ripples this has caused is a testament to Deo’s strength as a leader and his ability to rally people around a cause and inspire with a positive message.

But now he’s taken on something waaaaaaaaaay bigger. He’s running from CAPE TOWN TO LONDON. My mind ist blown. Deo is tracing the path of human historical migration, as our species spread across the globe from our roots in Africa. He is showing the world that we are all one people, who have - and can again - achieve incredible things. The elegance and power of this message is unlike anything I’ve seen or heard to be honest. It feels almost artistic in its scope and message.

Anyway enough of my jabbering, listen to Deo explain it heaps better than me, then click the link below and donate to his cause because it is of great significance to all of us! And Deo is a lovely lovely person even though he's probably heinously tired.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/first-person-to-run-from-cape-town-to-london

Thanks for listening!

And thanks Tarkine for the support you guys firkin rock

In this episode Blank Bruno and I discuss the Saddles 100 ultra, living a balanced and fun life, letting go of races, becoming the first non-binary finisher of the Chicago Marathon (2.47!!) and the myriad profound and spiritual experiences that grow from a life dedicated to running, learning, art and the Buddhist practice.

Bruno is an immensely deep thinker, and approaches running with not only athletic talent, but philosophy, spirituality and humour. Time unravels. Ego dissolves. Ancient bodies are inhabited. Rain is suckled. Feet kiss earth with foot lips. Human becomes dog.

Bruno is a gentle and deep soul, who will gently kick your ass on the track.

This episode of Run To Paradise was made by Nicholas Allbrook on the unceded lands of Wadjuk Nyoongar people. We thank them for their continued custodianship of this beautiful place where we run work and play.

Hello all!

It’s getting hot in here, so blah blah blah. El Nino is threatening to make this Birak (in Nyoongar) long, dry and very hot in the Southern Hemisphere, so I went scrambling around the country trying to figure out if there was any way to make life more bearable as a runner in the boiling antipodean summer.

Does sauna training work? How do you hydrate properly? Does punishing yourself in the midday sun make you a better runner? Are some people born for it? Who are you? Who am I and what am I doing here?

To answer these questions I went on a very long and circuitous journey which led me to Darryl Griffiths (founder of Koda nutrition and author of ‘Sweat. Think. Go faster.’), doing a sweat test on myself, speaking to the fabulous ultra marathon champion Sarah Ludowici, and training (and going to the speedway) in the far north west.

God knows if I found anything useful but eh, I had fun, so enjoy this bizarre exploration of HEAT!

Note, this podcast is just made by me alone, we don’t have anyone fact checking like other big fancy podcasts. Trust or do not trust what guests and I say at your own discretion.

Except Sarah. Definitely trust Sarah coz that is some of the best advice you’ll get. I encourage everyone to take what she says on, and be gentle with yourself, for your own mental health, and to run better and happier!

Also, don’t compare your summer running to your winter running. I’ve seen so many smart people, (and some dumb ones) do this and get despondent about their declining fitness. Don’t. You WILL slow down in the heat.

Anyway I’ll shut up now Bye!!

Nick

Delicate Steve is both a guitar god and gentle creative soul. He’s also a mad jog dog. I’ve been enamoured by his music (well, one album) for about a decade now and was very stoked to meet up in his favourite running park to eat an overpriced shmoofty lunch and chat about 90’s action movies, zone 2 training, guitar god stuff, Ray Charles and the Disney half marathon and a bunch more.

I had a hella good time doing this one. I hope you enjoy it even though the sound quality is kinda shit… sorry about that! It just comes with the “field recording” territory I suppose. Forgive me and enjoy this yarn with one of my biggest 6 stringspirations (smh), the fabulous Delicate Steve!

Surprise!

Here’s a little friendly catchup with some Tarkine favourites - Phil Gore, Erchana Murray Bartlett and Andrew ‘Googz’ Thorpe. Its been such a big year for all of these legends so I just figured we should catch up with where they’re at now that Run To Paradise is beginning a bright new second chapter.

I was gonna wait til we got through to Meriem Daoui, but she’s just too bloody busy! That’s why we love her though. Go Meriem!!

Anyway, I decided to release this asap because I realised Phil is only 2 sleeps away from doing the Backyard world champs, and after that, all of this might be somewhat irrelevant.

These 3 are so great and inspiring and cool and I would’ve been more than happy to have these chats without the validation of putting it out in a podcast.

Anyway, enjoy :)

Welcome back to Run To Paradise! It’s me, Nick, continuing my cock-eyed-convoluted exploration of running and the people who do it, with all the japes and tears, ups and downs and painfully stupid intros you’ve come to expect. I guess this is season 2? Lets say it is.

Have you ever heard of the Hash House Harriers? They are a “drinking club with a running problem”.

I hadn’t until my mate Joe Alexander (Bedroom Suck Records, Music in Exile etc.) started regaling me with bizarre stories about chasing paper trails through Malaysian rainforests and being forced to sit bare-arsed on a block of ice while singing lewd songs with a bunch of “drunked up” runners.

This sent me on a path of advanced silliness and discovery, finding out what this old, beloved and somewhat misunderstood club is all about. I spoke to Joey, his Dad - long time Hash enthusiast Borneo Bob - and finally participated in my own Hash run with the weird and wonderful Fremantle Heave Ho Hash House Harriers and Harriets aka. H6.

This episode is a real time documentation of one man (me) being introduced to one of the most storied running / drinking clubs in the world, and all the joy, confusion and hilarity that went with it.

Enormous thanks to Joe and Rob Alexander aka. Borneo Bob, and the wonderful H6 club. You’re all mad.

This podcast is supported - and conceived - by the good people at Tarkine, Western Australia's very own, environmentally-focused running shoe company.

“Milly Milly Milly

You’re a silly billy

It’s way too chilly

To climb up hilly”

Millyby N.R.Allbrook

Milly Young climbs up glacial mountain faces and runs across boggy wildernesses and just seems to be having a wicked time doing it. She set the FKT for running the 165km from Scotts Peak Dam to Cockle Creek in Tasmania, but the most impressive thing for me is the joy with which she approaches the sport. There's so much self flagellation, over analysis and gnashing of teeth in the running and adventure world - overcoming pain. Pushing the limits. GETTING and STAYING HARD(sic.) but she does it for the most obvious and sublime reason of all - it’s fun! This hit me like a mighty blast of fresh Swiss mountain snow right in the face.

In this chat we also figured out Milly is an experimental ambient sound artist and a studio engineer and she didn’t bloody know it, which to me epitomises something very cool which is easily lost from art and outdoor movement - that it holds inherent value, no matter the kudos. You might "be" something without wearing the glittering badges or yelling it from the rooftops.

We also talk about sounds, her kangaroo shod Dad, b&s balls (not as sordid as it sounds*), fear, adventures in the Alps and much more.

From Kojinup to Chamonix, the wonderful, gutsy and inspiring Milly Young.

509 kilometres in 76 hours…

Phil Gore is made of something different. Steel? Mist? Some rare martian alloy? Whatever it is it can keep on moving after it has lost its mind entirely and forgotten what the hell it's even doing here…

Phil is a Tarkine elite, 2022 Australian Male Ultra Runner of the Year, AURA Ultra Performance of the Year and the Australian Backyard Ultra Champion, who has turned this strange and torturous event into a unique art form. In this chat he takes us through the various tools that make him virtually untouchable in this space - meditation, meticulous planning and focus, sleep, food, his dedicated crew, and the strange process of weaving the mundanities of real life into a race that might take up to 3 or 4 days.

I gained a real appreciation, not only of what it takes to be one of the best in the world but also of the inclusivity and sociability within the Backyard Ultra community.

As Phil says, it’s more of a mind game than a physical game, and he trains both with equal discipline and drive.

Phil is searching for his limits and goes to some quite trippy places in the process.

Wild…

“Running is meant to be fun, it's meant to be liberating, it's meant to make you feel free. If you focus too much on how fast you run or what place you come it becomes toxic.”

This week I talk to one of my heroes - the irrepressible Meriem Daoui! Meriem is an athlete, a running coach and an oncology nurse and is infuriatingly humble about being so blindingly brilliant. She wouldn’t even let me say she had been voted the Best Tasmanian in Tasmania Award 2022 even though it (sort of) true!! Oh yeah and in 2021 she received the Peter Norman Humanitarian Award for leading a number of fundraising initiatives for cancer causes as well as her work with the Muslim Women in Sport Network. She’s been doing this since she was 16.

Meriem has many powerful insights to share about maintaining an athletic lifestyle and a generosity of spirit through myriad challenges; as a woman of faith and colour surviving racism and bullying in Australia, living with type one diabetes and surviving mental ill health and eating disorder.

This episode gets pretty heavy and powerful, and the passion with which Meriem speaks about her own challenges and the way they’ve informed her approach to helping others to navigate the choppy waters of human life is unbelievably inspiring and moving. Her advice on these things is from a place of lived experience and true empathy. We both open up about mental illness and disordered eating in a very vulnerable way and I’m endlessly grateful for Meriem’s honesty and strength in creating a safe space for real discussion.

If this discussion of mental health and eating disorders has raised any concerns or triggered anything for you, don’t hesitate to call Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636

And remember, “It’s ok not to be ok”

In this episode I (nick) talk to Australian Cross Country Champion, Seth O’Donnell. Seth is someone Australia can be proud of - a died in the wool, true-blue weetbix kid (27 a day at his peak), great at footy, loves his family, wants the best out of himself and those around him, volunteers for the Salvos, studies hard at physio, plays in a sick pub-rock band (Adhesion), has a resplendent mullet and bloody loves the Hawks.

While he runs at a national elite level, Seth also has a deep appreciation of the power of running to bring joy and build community. We talk about running free and training hard, eating kangaroo, the mongrel game of CC, John Bonham, Footy and the transition to Running, and heaps more.

Listen, enjoy, and forward to anyone you know working at Weet-Bix so together we can get Seth SPONNO’ed!!! Oh, and go check out Adhesion if u live in Victoria. At a pub near you.

“When you’re regulated by the ground your body learns something about form, you relinquish the achievement and ego, but you gain this sense of being fauna, being regulated by place”

Simon Barker doesn’t care about distance, incline, cadence, heart rate or speed - the only running metric he is concerned with are form and experience.

Simon is one of the most astonishing drummers in the country and a dedicated barefoot runner. His teachings and explorations within these spaces are extensive and mind-melting.

I learn a lot with every episode of this show, but this one was truly enlightening. Simons views towards training and experience, about learning from the terrain rather than dominating it, have honestly shaken my whole view of modern running. I’ve never heard anyone speak so thoughtfully about the boundless intersections of running and music. It’s not just the rhythm of ones feet and heart, but the timbre of the wind and electricity in yr brain, and the emotions and sensations transmitted through the feet. Running informs every element of his music as fishing songs are sung by fishermen.

We talk about a bunch of stuff - unlearning as progress, J-Dilla, skateboarding, running and drumming in Korea and Japan and the new album by him, Chloe Kim and Jeremy Scott, titled Disruption!

I’ve never met anyone more attuned to the sounds and sensations of their body and the terrains on which it moves. I’m very proud to present this chat with the remarkable Simon Barker.

This was a real good excuse to yarn with my dear pal Jonty Brown. Jonty is a type one diabetic, Northerner, barber and mad dog runner and coach with AR London. In past lives, he’s been a surf instructor, motorcycle mechanic and drummer. He ran across England and started Chasing Change, a charity and now a weekly run club. Makes me tired writing it all out tbh. JONTY is rad. He really REALLY loves running for all the most wholesome things… community, charity (he’s a tireless supporter of JDRF) mental health, nature, and fun. He’s always excited to share his enormous talents and knowledge with others, building up those around him selflessly, which has got me through a whooooole lotta my running journey with free top-tier coaching haaaaahah nah srsly Cheers pal, you’re the best. Tarkine Running and Run to Paradise are based in Walyalup (Fremantle) the un-ceded traditional lands of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation. We honour and are thankful for their continued custodianship over the lands we work, sing and run on. Always was, always will be.

Erchana Murray Bartlett is running from Cape York to Melbourne raising funds and awareness for the extinction of Australian native animals. I caught up with her “1600 and 40 something” kilometres into her epic journey. We talk about soccer, tacos, animals, childhood, consuming ungodly amounts of food and footwear and what it's like taking an enormous, scary, leap of faith into the murky adventure of life, leaving the track and field world, and following your deepest dreams! At this point, Erchana is past the halfway mark… somewhere around Rainbow Beach. What she’s doing is completely stuffed tbh, and we love her for it! And for fighting the good fight for our native animals. And because she’s possibly the nicest person on earth. Support Erchana or face the wrath of our terrifying koalas and chuditches!!!

Tarkine Running and Run to Paradise are based in Walyalup (Fremantle) the un-ceded traditional lands of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation. We honour and are thankful for their continued custodianship over the lands we work, sing and run on. Always was, always will be.

A beautiful chat with Andrew ‘Googz’ Thorpe. Gunnai gunditjmara man, heroic runner and mental health advocate, graduate of the fantastic Indigenous Marathon Project!! We talk about running 100ks, the 777 challenge, Indigenous Marathon Program, fundraising, coping with depression and mental ill health, foster children, and much more. Googzy is really someone we can look up to - honest, humble, vulnerable and hard working. Eye opening and essential, chatting with Googzy was an absolute privilege.

Tarkine Running and Run to Paradise are based in Walyalup (Fremantle) the un-ceded traditional lands of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation. We honour and are thankful for their continued custodianship over the lands we work, sing and run on. Always was, always will be.