Gosh, the time has flown! I realised I've never shared this story on Hive and thought it was about time I did as I soooooo loved going along to this podcast meetup!
I'm going to share this post (mostly!) the way I wrote it (for another platform) way back when.
In case you're unfamiliar with parkrun it's a free, weekly, timed community event that happens in over 500 locations in Australia and over 20 different countries around the world on Saturday mornings.
I was planning to wait til I hit 20 unique parkrun events before posting again but then I "met" Shellharbour at the palm18!
If you've ever met Shellharbour parkrun you'll understand why I'm about to gush like a woman in love.
As this was my 18th different parkrun I feel like I've seen enough parkruns to get a feel for the kinds of courses available, the potential for great (or not) scenery and a friendly parkrun culture.
As someone who loves hills & trails, Shellharbour really ticked all the boxes. All of them.
Luck would have it that the day Mel & Scott (the then podcast hosts) hold this inagural parkrun Adventurers Listeners Meetup (my reason for being in this neck of the woods) the weather would be stunning.
It made what I imagine would be gorgeous views any time of year, absolutely gobsmacking.
As part of a bigger weekend, together us adventurers including Mr Parkrunner Gary, the famous TOC (Tony), the club name bearer Mr Peel, my new Fartlek buddy Adam as well as partners and several others you'd likely know (if you were an Australian parkrun tourist) did the Shellharbour parkrun (at our various speeds), most of us as first timers to Shellharbour.
By my reckoning there were 33 volunteers today, headed up by the truly incredible, welcoming co-event director, Brendan. He would be the first to tell you that he couldn't do it without his core team including Olly & Kellie (and dare I say his family) all of whom made this event unlike any other parkrun I've been to.
I was immensely happy to see Brendan deliver the most solid "Acknowledgement of Country" I've seen to date at parkrun. Thank you for your dedication to this important acknowledgement.
With marshalls and photographers stationed so often along the one loop course, it gave a temporary distraction from how hard the course was. And the course was HARD! Which as a trail runner I freakin' LOVED. (Enough to do it again in the afternoon as freedom run with Oliver!!).
In rainbow tutu, I played my usual parkrun game of doing a negative split so I could say hi and smile at as many parkrunners as I ran. (Overtaking is fun if you're the one doing it :P).
Coffee and breakfast was so easy it was almost too good to be true, with the post-run cafe being less than 50 metres from the start/finish line.
And as we waited for the live podcast episode to be set up for us to watch in recording I went swimming with my enchanting new friend Gaillyn. Because, after all, the beach is only a short sharp walk from all the parkrun shenanigans, so why not?!
With baby Wes being minded by the willing Pohlman tribe, the live podcast could be recorded and we got to see behind the scenes of the Scottie and Mel show. It truly was a delight to sit on the grass under the shade of a massive fig tree and watch them work and play together.
I could go on, but I think it's fair to say I had an extraordinary day with new friends. It was wonderful to hang out with people who get this crazy part of me that most of my closest friends and family totally don't understand. I hit some #NewThings by doing 4 individual runs all under 24 hours. And I got to meet the humans attached to the voices I have binge-listened to for 2 months straight.
Thank you to Gary for coming up with the idea for #palm18.
Thank you Mel & Scotty for saying yes.
Thank you Brendan for enthusiastically putting your hand up to host us.
Thank you to EVERY volunteer who worked today and did anything in the lead-up to this event, including the creation of those awesome signs and especially Chris for all the EXTRA work you did to help us have an enjoyable Freedom Run at North Wollongong yesterday.
Finally, a special mention to Em. You bring something to this parkrun that no other parkrun in the world has. Thanks for helping me to appreciate at an even deeper level how awesome humans can be.
Caroline x
