GOLD COAST MARATHON SERIES - 42.195 REASONS TO SMILE

[00:00] All good things come to those who wait — Courtney, In The Beginning runs the Gold Coast Marathon, and we are back with the great marathon finisher Bronte Langbroek. How are you? I forgot my medal — oh my god, I just realised, Gold Coast Marathon finisher, and I didn't bring the medal into the studio on a Tuesday. I wore it on the Sunday

[00:30] and very proudly displayed it all around town, and I forgot to bring it in on Monday, so it's just been hanging at the top of my bed, which is where all my medals go. Let's start with an apology, because we're probably a week and a half later than people would have liked — the reality is, and this is on me, I couldn't have done a podcast. I completely underestimated what it was going to be to host the start and finish line with the ASICS Gold Coast Marathon. We'll get to all that later,

[01:00] mate. This is it — we're at the end, you've had your victory lap, you've run the 42.2. How are you feeling? Speaking of recovery, I think you probably needed more recovery than I did post-marathon — I pulled up fine compared to your voice, didn't you? Yeah, I don't know where to begin, I could not — did what was the time, everyone? What was the time — what's the official time? The official time, per Benita, my incredible coach, as she kind of

[01:34] said — let's go for 4:30, around that 6:20 pace. When she kept saying that, I thought it just meant I was going to go a bit faster, but on the day everything just came together so beautifully and I did it in 4:29:03. Yes, that's so good — what a dream student, what an absolute dream athlete to coach, to come in just a minute under target pace,

[02:05] target. And so — well, let me ask a question. Even split, how did you pace it — was there a pacer, were you running the whole way with a group? So, even I couldn't — not to toot my own horn, but I was so proud of myself for my pacing, for how I went out there, how I started, how I finished. I just could not and would not have run a different race. Did you follow the pace flag? I got the pacer.

[02:35] It was pretty hard at the beginning — a lot of people who were there will know, we were in a corral and it was just crazy. My friend and I were running together, she was going to stay back for the five-hour mark, I was going for the 4:30s — you kind of just have to shove yourself into everyone. I shoved myself into an area that was near the 4:30 pacer, but I actually had to use my watch a bit, which I hadn't previously done. So I kept

[03:06] checking that — 6:26, 6:20 pace. So it's pretty even. What was the half split? Let's have a look, I'm just going on there — Bronte's jumping into Strava now to pull out all the data. Full-blown running nerd now. Look at that, that's even — what are you looking at, tell us what you're seeing, Courtney. Pretty even — I mean you can have a bit of variance on that course. Heart rate — okay, so this is when I look at Strava, the first thing I looked at is the pace, and it all looks pretty

[03:36] even, but then I went to the heart rate and looked at the drift. That's pretty good — starting at your second K, you're up at 158, and you're only topping out in the high 160s by the end. That's only about a ten-beat drift, which is really impressive for a marathon, and it shows you paced it really well. Yeah, I was so happy — so happy. So you said you found yourself in that little corral at the start, and it was jammed — incredibly jammed. Oh, hang on, have a look —

[04:07] Courtney's still poking through the data — we're on 6:26, 6:16, 5:36, 6:13, right through to the sprint. Did you hear Liam's voice? Yes I did — last 0.7 of a K at 5:26. Wow, that tells me it was very, very evenly split, well done. Yeah, and this is — if you go back to one of the earlier episodes of the series, we talked about the idea of either finishing with something in the tank, or

[04:40] finishing thinking never again. And you clearly — I found you on the finish line and was genuinely blown away by how relatively fresh you seemed, because the other thing I'll say is the conditions looked like a really tough marathon — from what I saw of the conditions on the day, and the times of other people I know who were chasing times and blew up. There were a lot of pops, a lot of people running relatively slower than

[05:13] they expected. It seemed like a fairly tough day out there — not at the pointy end, because the conditions were pretty good early, but as the day went on it got a lot harder out on course. It did — I really felt it from 28K to 36K. Was that wind or heat? Heat, in that last little bit we were running back towards Southport with the sun on our backs. But for me, I've got nothing else to compare it to,

[05:45] so when I hear that people who were chasing times had a tough day, whereas for me it was the best day — that's all that matters. So can you walk us through parts of the race? We've talked about the Michael Shelley idea of getting on the bus — did you mentally get on that bus in the early stages, did you try to switch off, how was it through that first five to ten K? I was a bit nervous, because I remember last year's Gold Coast Marathon,

[06:17] I just did the 10K, and that starting line was so hectic — people trying to get around, get their own space. But I don't know if it was where I was, I found Harry from work — well, he found me, I was already in the zone listening to my music and he tapped me on the shoulder. Great outfit choice, by the way, your top made you really easy to spot. For young players going into their first marathon, if you want your friends to be able to pick you out, fluoro orange is a great colour — very identifiable.

[06:48] Very. So he came up and we had a chat, and that maybe calmed me down a little, just seeing a familiar face, because I'd had to leave Jess, my girlfriend, behind. Harry had a mate there too, who I'd met, and we got ready to go together. Harry's a very calm person, and I think he chilled me out a bit in that anxious state. We got out there, and I hope other people felt this, but it felt like there was room for everyone. Because I started at a much

[07:19] slower pace than I'd normally start any run, I felt cruisy from the beginning — I was like, why haven't I been running at 6:20 pace this whole time? I felt like I was on the bus — there was so much to look at, so many people, so many signs, so many opportunities to just take it all in. I think that let me really cruise through the first 20 to 28K, I know we'd spoken with

[07:55] the crew at EMQ, and one of their big focuses this year was crowd activation and crowd involvement on the course. The feedback I've heard from people who've run it multiple times is that this was the best year for spectators lining the course, for the majority of the course. It was incredible — every moment you thought there'd be a lull, there wasn't. There were people everywhere, and they were so supportive, calling out everyone's

[08:27] names — didn't matter who you knew or who they knew, it was just electric. The supporters made it what it was, I think. I've got a theory on why there were so many more people out on course than we might have seen in the past — obviously the field size has grown, but I'd love to know the data now that the race is done, how many first-time or new runners came to the sport. When it's new to you, you're more likely to have your family come along

[08:59] and watch — your kids, your best friends, all that new support. If you're a regular, if you've run ten marathons already, you're probably less likely to keep dragging the same support crew out there, and I think that's what's driving up the crowd. Yeah, I think that's probably true. I felt really lucky — I had people everywhere on the course, every five K someone new would come out to support, which was so nice and made me feel like

[09:30] a million bucks. Did you have any tough moments? Yeah, I did — I felt it a lot around that 28K mark, my stomach — I think the gels started to catch up with me a bit. I was thinking, I've got a long way to go, looking at every porta-potty wondering if I should stop, and having to mentally work through the pain of a stomach ache. Did you change up your gels in the end, mix them up? No, I kept the same ones — I can't quite remember

[10:02] where I got them, ASN, I think, and I'd used them before. I think it was probably just nerves — I'd bought nine, and I think I ended up having seven, so I left two on the table. So the stomach at the 28K mark, and the mental challenge of pushing through — how were the legs? Legs were fine — I didn't have any physical pain, any real trouble, for the whole

[10:34] thing. Headphones were great, easy — you ran with headphones the whole way? Yeah, I'd take them off when I saw people I knew, or saw a big crowd coming up, so I could take them off for that. What was on — music, podcasts? I had music, a playlist I'd put together, one I'd listened to during training, plus suggestions from family, loved ones, and listeners of the radio show — which was really good, actually, because I got a lot of those on the Thursday and Friday right before the marathon and

[11:04] hadn't had a chance to listen to them yet. So running to them on Sunday, songs I hadn't heard at all — the New Radicals would come on and I'd think, oh, this is a fun one — so that kept it really fresh. And talk to me about the finish line — obviously I came and bothered you pretty quickly after you finished, with the microphone. I saw that, and I was under so much pressure so quickly that I forgot to turn my watch off. Unforgivable moment — thank god you told me.

[11:35] You literally forgot to stop your watch. How did you feel? So the tough moments were 28 to 36 for me — well, before you get to the finish line, talk me through those last six K. That's where it really hit — when I saw 36, heading towards Runaway Bay, I thought, holy — can I swear? Yeah — holy shit, I'm about to finish a marathon, and I'm at 36K and I feel good. That's amazing.

[12:10] So I think that realisation made the last five K — it was hot, but I wasn't in pain, I kept waiting for that moment where something was going to happen, but it just didn't. Then when we did the final loop at Runaway Bay, turning back and hitting the 37, 38K marks, I thought, this is about to happen, I can't believe it. And then you get to the 39K, near Lenfox Park, and

[12:42] it's like, this is it. You run past all the run clubs, everyone's cheering, and I got a bit emotional around that part, because I couldn't believe it — I remember reaching that same point in past Gold Coast Marathon 10Ks and 5Ks and thinking, I can't believe

[13:14] this is what I'm doing now, and feeling so good about it. And running past and hearing your voice, I thought, here we go, down the street. You get onto the little Marine Parade section, and you saw Courtney on the straight and found a bit more gas in the tank — let's go. I didn't know the time — I knew I'd been pacing, but I didn't know exactly what my time was going to be, and again forgot to check once I crossed the line.

[13:46] So I crossed the line, saw you — I'd heard you in the last ten minutes before that — and then I saw a lot of people from the Events Co team I work with at the Suns, and they were so excited for me. You were so excited for me too, and I didn't have a moment for anything to wash over me, in terms of not feeling great or whatever — even if I had been, I didn't have time to think about it, because you were there with a microphone. The winning feeling — but when you win, you never quite feel it

[14:16] straight away. It's so nice, though, because for a first marathon, when the plan and the preparation all come together, that's the best feeling. Big shout to the data, and to Benita, Lace Up Running — I'll tell you what, she might have a few more customers coming her way. I'm really happy for you and Benita, because at the start of this whole project,

[14:46] the idea was that we'd be sitting here after race day talking about our various marathons. One of us — me — didn't make the start of the programme. One of us didn't make it out of the first week, through no fault of Lace Up Running. All the eggs were in your basket. Even if we'd been sitting here talking about a bad marathon day, it still would have been worth the conversation. But we get to sit here now and talk about a textbook marathon — executed well, prepared well, trained well, raced well — and you've got a

[15:19] smile on your face talking about it. It's the best possible result. It really is so exciting, and I think it's also the whole process, and why people have enjoyed tuning in — the messages we've got say they've learned along the way with you, especially first-timers, understanding all the pacing, because you went out at the pace you were meant to, even split — everything we've talked about, from the elite marathoners who came on, right through to the advice for first

[15:50] marathoners, you've hit the mark on all of it. And I think that's the key — in the end, you stick to the plan, you trust the training, and nine times out of ten, if you do all that, the result you want will come. And that's what happened. I'm so glad Courtney told me to listen to Benita — one captain. So glad, because I don't think I really — I knew

[16:21] her training was great, I knew the programme was great, but for it to come together the way it did, that's as much credit to her as a coach as it is to me as a runner. She and that programme gave me the result it did. If you'd been on your own, would you have gone out harder? Probably — I've done that in previous races and gassed myself, felt really bad. Whereas this one was done

[16:53] exactly how I wanted it to be done. How were the shoes? Shoes were great, I think I wore my Sauconys — felt great. I got a massage a couple of days afterwards and my masseuse said, did you run a marathon? No blisters, no bad toenails, what happened? Sounds like there's another run on the cards very soon — what's going on, would you like to share your news? I did enter the ballot — this isn't official, because I

[17:26] doubt I'll get in, but I entered the ballot for the Melbourne Marathon. It's just a bit of a punt. How long after finishing did you start thinking about the next one? Because I know when I last ran the Gold Coast Marathon, five minutes after finishing my mind went to, I reckon I can go sub-3:10 — that was after running 3:21 last

[17:56] year, and my mind went there within five minutes. I think so too — I finished on the Sunday, and by Sunday evening I was already thinking about the next one. Yeah, true. These endorphins — personal opinion, but the chemistry that goes on in your brain after a run is different to any other exercise. There's something about it that hooks you, and once it hooks you, it's really hard

[18:29] to let go of. It's a cycle in endurance sports once you're in it. It didn't sound like you went through this, but most people are like, I'm never doing this again — and then you finish, and suddenly it's, what's the next one? What's the next one, when you're coming through that stretch — I'm curious how you found it. You talked about that challenging period from 28 to 36, and then the excitement from 36 to the finish. What did you notice around you, of other runners, during that phase? Because I know that through

[19:02] different races I've had the experience of people supporting me when I'm hurting, and it just angers me — like, leave me alone, stop telling me, I'm done, I'm cooked, I'm hurting, this isn't going well for me, please don't pat me on the back and tell me I'm almost there. What did you notice around you? I saw, around that 28K mark, as we were heading back towards race HQ, on that big stretch of highway

[19:34] right in front of Australia Fair — I remember being in a world of pain. I'd just seen one of my friends who'd driven down from Brisbane after a big night out at the Lions game to come support me, which gave me a bit of a lift. But then it dropped again, and I was thinking, I really don't feel well. And then a listener of the podcast ran past and said, "Bronte, we're on the bus" — I was like, oh my goodness. They'd flown up from,

[20:04] I think Sydney, or Perth, or Adelaide — had a little chat, and that was really nice. I thought, okay, we're still on the bus, just track along. I saw a lot of people hurting around that time — a lot of limping, some people falling — you're like, how do I help in this situation? But no, that was the hardest part, I'd say.

[20:35] I've got to say, I was really blown away by how many people came over during the weekend and mentioned the podcast — genuinely blown away. Even just standing around watching, listening to people at the finish line talking about the podcast. Great job, by the way, Liam — I know your voice was cooked. Yeah, but I haven't got the messages in front of me, but both in person on the day and online, so much positive feedback

[21:05] on your energy. It never stopped — I've never had so much fun with a microphone, seriously. I love my radio job, I love calling footy, I love doing the podcast, but that was as much fun as I've ever had with a mic — thanks to the great man Pete Murray, who I met on the Friday. For people who don't know Pete Murray, he commentates all the Ironman events across the Asia-Pacific — how many is it, do you know? I reckon he said he does something like eighteen a year.

[21:36] He's in Asia a lot, if you've ever seen an Ironman finish and heard that bloke calling out "you are an Ironman" — that's Pete. I'd never met Pete before that Friday — we went for a walk through the site for half an hour, and I then spent essentially the next seven and a half hours, across Saturday and Sunday, with this bloke. He made that whole weekend a party — his enthusiasm for what other people were putting themselves through, his willingness. I was kind of

[22:07] on the Saturday, when it was the half, the 10K, the 5K and everything, thinking my job was to stay out of the finishers' space — the blue carpet is theirs, let them enjoy their moment. Pete was straight out there, high-fiving, giving cuddles, and I thought, of course — why wouldn't you? These people deserve that energy. Having him there to guide me through what that role is about was unbelievable. It's hard not to get excited

[22:41] and enthusiastic about all that — the thousands and thousands of people, and Pete, the characters just don't stop. The other thing I realised, mostly on the Sunday, was how many people I actually knew doing this. All of a sudden I was waiting for you, knowing I'd see some of Aggie Gordon's crew, and then people from Adelaide I knew started popping through, and then people

[23:11] from Sydney I knew started popping through, and then just people from around town — I thought, holy crap, this running thing is almost universal now. How many people mentioned the podcast? So many — I got hit with so many messages of people saying, I'm listening to the podcast, it was so cool to come find you at the finish line. If I'm honest, they all kind of blurred into one — I'm glad the enthusiasm was well received, but I probably needed to pace myself.

[23:43] You talk about going out too hard in the marathon — I went out too hard with the finish-line announcing. How did you go, because when you met Pete for the first time, his voice was already gone — how did that guy last through? What did you do, seven hours, 5:30 starts both days? We basically clocked off around 1pm both days. Think of doing an Ironman day — some of those athletes are out there for twenty hours. When I met Pete on the Friday and he started talking, I thought, how's your voice going to hold up, because he already sounded

[24:15] a bit rough — and by the end of the day, he still sounded a bit like that, but I sounded like this. He was amazing, and his microphone technique — that's a big part of what we do. Next time — oh, and here's the bad news, I've been given a directive by Ben Mannion, who's the big boss. I expected this to come. He told me on Sunday, "I've got some bad news." I said, what?

[24:45] He said, "You've been blacklisted." What do you mean? He said, "Good luck trying to register for the Gold Coast Marathon, you're never running it again." I said, well, I'm going to run it next year regardless. But after a bit more of a chat with him, I said, if I can run Sydney or Melbourne and get to have this much fun over two days every year, I'm all in — you're official now. Can I say, as a runner, the energy you guys started us with at 5:30, 6:30

[25:20] as we were all lining up — there was no way we weren't going to start that race with that energy. And then four and a half hours later, coming back to hear you guys still had the same energy — I was like, well, of course I'm going to blast the last hundred metres, we had to match the energy you gave us. It was so cool. Could you hear Robert de Castella's rev-up at the start line?

[25:52] I saw the video of it — I think we were trying to find bag drop and everything at the time, but I saw it Sunday night. I got tingles just watching it. I've run the Gold Coast Marathon twice now and I've been rushing around both times, never really paying attention. Then I got to stand the distance we're at now and watch him do it, and thought, that's an awesome tradition. Amazing. Did he

[26:23] run over time on the start? I ran into Steve Moneghetti upstairs and we were talking about the start — he said Deek went over by two minutes. Let's pull back the curtain a bit, because there's Pete and I doing the on-ground live MC-ing, and then there's a live stream happening with Steve Moneghetti, Dave Robbo and Dave Culbert. They're doing the live stream, which you can watch on TV and

[26:56] YouTube — it's all timed so the marathon starts on schedule. Deek's rev-up is meant to happen live on the ground and on the stream, timed so the race starts on time. Being my first rodeo, when they started talking me through all this, I said to Pete, you handle that, let me know when it's time to have fun and rev up the crowd, I'll jump back in. But when it came to the nitty-gritty, some subtle signals — like

[27:29] literally I just took a big step back, like a "deal's done, I'm out, see you later" kind of move. Cut back to us — while we're tooting our own horn, Brody, amazing, killed it, Liam passed his job interview. But another host, Benita, I heard an amazing story about the podcast being successful — I think it was the Friday or Saturday, they do a signing, her, Steve Moneghetti, Robert de Castella and Pat Carroll, I'm assuming —

[28:04] the ambassadors. And Benita told me, normally everyone just lines up for Deek and Mona, and this year she had a line too — all podcast listeners coming to say g'day, telling her they'd been listening. That made her whole week. Besides Bronte's run, that made my weekend too. All is worth it. She does deserve it, and I think the other

[28:37] thing — with everything we've done in this series, and this isn't empty platitudes, but seriously thank you to everybody who's jumped on board and followed along — because with the boom in running, which we've covered a bit in the Saturday episodes, there's all these elements to it. But there's something to be said for acknowledging and elevating — I don't mean to sound wanky about it —

[29:07] but in the way that if you're learning a sport, you learn the basics before the fancy stuff. Benita Willis is part of the basics of Australian running — arguably the greatest distance runner we've ever produced, the only non-African woman to win a cross-country world championship. For all those incredible achievements, she's still as relevant to Australian running today as she was back then, and for her to get that recognition now, at a race she's one of

[29:39] the four main ambassadors for, is awesome. A hundred percent. So cool. Pivoting — what was the best sign you saw on course? I've seen a bit of media on this one — there were some good ones. I liked one around the Surfers Paradise area, running along the tram tracks — I'd just seen my co-host Lakey, who'd come down and sat there for two hours waiting for us, which was really nice. I told him there'd be an app — no, he told me he wasn't even going to come watch, but right behind him was a sign that

[30:09] just said "worst parade ever." That one stuck with me — that's good, for me that's good. To go to the on-course vibe, and I know you mentioned the first-timers, the halfway turn at Miami — what did you think of it? I didn't know about it — I didn't realise it was such a big gathering point. I knew we ran down to Miami but hadn't thought about how we'd then turn

[30:41] around and come back. I was just running along, thinking, how far do we go down here — and it was really cool, my brother was there, I didn't know he'd be there either. He was hungover, but he was there — there's a theme there, more responsible friends. That was really cool. I was running at such a cruisy pace I could check my phone and reply to messages while running, to

[31:11] the point where my sister was tracking me from London — we might have to cut that, you did not reply to messages while running. I was sending selfies. Talk about being on the bus — she was in the limo. Not supposed to do that, you're doing marathon brand damage, by the way, making it sound so easy that you can take selfies and send messages along the way. My sister was tracking me from London and said, you're coming up to the turn, you're coming up to the turn — and then as I turned, she said, you did it, you're on the way back. That was pretty cool.

[31:42] Just quickly — Bronte definitely not embracing our "run harder, not further" motto. A few people came up and tapped me and said "run harder, not further" — I thought, good, another revelation from the weekend. I had at least three or four people from the marathon organising team come up and say, hey, the halfway house thing next year, we're going to make it happen.

[32:13] What's that — I saw it, I heard it seconded. This was a half-thought-out idea we came up with on the podcast, before Ryan came in as a guest. When Ryan, who was the course manager for the race, came on for an episode, I pitched him the idea. And the word is that after the episode, Ryan went back to Ben, the big boss, and said, can we make this happen — and Ben said, no, the race is in three weeks. The halfway house idea is —

[32:45] have you seen on the live golf tour, the party hole, where everyone loses their mind and there's an MC and a vibe? Imagine that at the Miami turn on the marathon course — a grandstand, an MC, music going, and every time a pace group comes through, everyone loses their mind at that turn. I think that'd be great — that spot really needs that kind of energy.

[33:15] I'd honestly put it at 75% likely it happens next year, because that was such a massive gathering point, such a big group of people in that area. Do you think the marathon — and we're getting very Gold Coast-specific here, but that's where the race happens, so pardon us — is really a northern Gold Coast event? It's very northern-Gold-Coast-centric, and for everybody south of Burleigh,

[33:49] when you come up to get involved you naturally gravitate to that halfway or homebound turn and stop there. If they could find a way to activate that in a big way, what an opportunity for the south of the coast to get involved. Yeah, great call — and it feels like a nice activation opportunity for Red Bull, too. Speaking of things I noticed — same day, when Liam was talking about the halfway turn, I saw the biggest —

[34:20] what's the word — flex of shoes all weekend. Everyone had the super shoes on, and Liam and I were standing at this function, beers in hand, looking down at this guy's shoes, admiring them, and he had "CEO" stitched into the side. Liam turns to me and goes, what do you reckon about this — turns out the bloke actually is the CEO, the big boss of ASICS.

[34:54] Oh my god, that's a flex — has his ASICS on with "CEO" embroidered in. That is a proper flex — imagine if it was the CFO instead, not quite as sexy as marketing manager. Can we also talk about the one hiccup, from a sponsorship perspective? Oh, go for it — this is back to the Friday

[35:24] night function as well. I'm going to say — and this isn't just blowing smoke, given they gave me the opportunity to work there — that the EMQ team who put that race together, the size of that team compared to the scale of the event, is incredible. At the Friday night event, Tom Tate was there, John Warn was there, who's the CEO of Experience Gold Coast, the CEO of Tourism and Events Queensland was in the room, all the big names, and the

[35:56] boss from ASICS — all the big names in the room. Now, Dave Culbert, I think he's one of the great athletics commentators in this country, does an amazing job across athletics, former Olympian long jumper, ran the half marathon over the weekend. China Airlines was the major partner for the half marathon, and there was a huge Taiwanese contingent running — that's one of the ties for

[36:26] China Airlines. All Saturday I was thinking, China Airlines, China Airlines — you've got to mention the sponsor. Dave Culbert got up there, and after Tom Tate had made a China Airlines joke about looking after him in first class, and Ben Mannion and John Warn made a similar joke about getting looked after, Dave Culbert gets up and says, "And to the gentleman from Air China down the back, it'd be great —" and we both just looked at each other and went, oh no, that's the opposition, you're not getting

[36:57] the upgrade, mate — Dave's sitting down the back of the plane now. But it was genuinely an amazing event — all the event partners deserve credit for their involvement, it's the biggest one they've ever done. Their biggest challenge now is figuring out how to make it bigger. My biggest challenge ahead of next year, if they let me near the microphone again, is deciding between the halfway house or the finish line — no, it's figuring out how to pronounce athlete names, because that's one thing I

[37:29] didn't really think about — when they asked if I could do this, I said yes, absolutely, thinking the live-stream guys, Robbo and Dave Culbert, would be handling the finish call. What I didn't realise, and Pete being the generous guy he is — you know what it's like in this world, Bronte, radio and media, everyone wants the moment, the money shot — Pete couldn't have been more generous, saying "you call the finish." I thought, alright then.

[37:59] For the half, it was amazing — Andy Buchanan, the Aussie, and I know Andy, that's great. There were other races throughout the day, and Japanese names phonetically are actually pretty easy, straightforward. But in the women's race we had a Kenyan and an Ethiopian finishing, and I was cheering for the winner — I had no idea how to pronounce her name, because I hadn't expected to be calling the finish of the women's marathon. I had no idea how to say the

[38:30] actual winner's name — I did my best guess, which wasn't too far off, but still. At one point in the half marathon, or one of the other races the previous day, one of the Mongolian athletes came through and I just looked at the sheet and said, I'm not even going to try that one. The good news is, no one else knew you were wrong either. Exactly right. But she was running so fast — you can't really, it's not like calling footy where you can study the team sheet all week, but can you

[39:01] really study thirty thousand runners? Remember when Andy Buchanan broke the marathon record — was that even late last year — and you asked me about him? Andy was on our poll, one of the runners for most recognisable Australian athlete — wasn't he? I don't think so, was he? I didn't know who Andy Buchanan was six to eight months ago. The first or second week we did that poll, we said, who are they — it was Steve Moneghetti,

[39:31] Ned Brockman, I reckon you put Jess Hull on there, Jess Hull — I think the fourth person was Andy Buchanan. No — was it? Anyway, the point is, we'd barely heard of Andy Buchanan when we started this pod, less than twelve months

[40:01] ago. On the Friday, Andy took out the half marathon in a race-record time. Before that, with AG1, I got to sit down and do a Q&A with Andy for 35, 40 minutes, mate — that guy gives a great answer. Fascinating. Obviously, Benita talks about getting on the bus, Michael Shelley told us about treating it like a holiday to 32K — Andy said he breaks it down into 5K splits,

[40:32] looking at each 5K only. And then — I forget exactly what he said, can you remember — he also talked about how he doesn't really run to a pace, he runs to feel, because for him it's a race, not a pace. He literally doesn't pay much attention to his watch. Andy's a different level, obviously, but did you follow the half marathon closely on Saturday? Because

[41:02] at 18K he was gone, off the back of the group, came back and was sitting fourth, then found something. He talks about — and Courtney, you'd understand and empathise with this more — the idea of the competitive spirit of not showing when you're broken. He reckons in last year's half marathon he was broken three or four times, felt cooked, and Brett Robinson asked him afterwards how he was feeling, and he said, "mate, I was done a couple of times in that race" and

[41:33] still came out and won. Same again this year, off the back at 18K, kicks back and wins it. I asked him how he was feeling, and he said, "man, I was toast." But it's that race-competitive instinct — he's not looking at his watch thinking I'm cooked, under time, over time, anything like that, just running to feel. Let me see if I can get some audio on this, it's worth playing — we've had Benita, Michael Shelley, and now the Australian record holder, on how he approaches the marathon. Let's see if it plays —

[42:04] "...five-K splits. I always come up with a goal for every five K, hit a lap every 5K, and I just think about that split, because if you're running and you're at 10K, the marathon seems like a really long way. Whereas if I'm at 10K, I'm just thinking about 15K, that's how I break it down. I don't look at splits other than that exact 5K split, and in my head the race starts at 30K. Every marathon I've done, I've got to 30K, hit the split, and I've

[42:34] actually said to myself, this is where the race starts — like taking your long sleeve off and stepping into race gear." Consistent stuff. Isn't it funny that he's so consistent — before all this I never would have thought of the race starting at 30K, and now that's the consistent message from everyone, isn't it — that 30 to 32K is where you've got to find that extra bit. Can I give you a couple more highlights from the weekend, as a non-runner —

[43:07] a quick chat with Buddy Franklin after the half marathon. Amazing — that was big news, he looks like he could run a marathon, he's a fit guy. He didn't look that fast after the half, honestly — I reckon a marathon's in Buddy's future. On the start line of marathon day, up in the start tower, getting calf-strength advice from Robert de Castella. What was the advice? I'll tell you, this is Deek's advice on training your calves — but hang on, how did that conversation even start?

[43:37] On calves, having a — I was meant to run this, this is pre his rev-up. Before he gave that incredible goosebump-raising rev-up, I'm standing up there while Pete's doing his thing, talking calf strength with Deek — a Commonwealth champion, a world champion — and I mention someone who couldn't get to the start line with a calf issue. He says, "when you wake up in the morning and go to brush your teeth, do it standing on one calf, raised

[44:10] up on your left calf while you brush — two minutes of brushing, guaranteed you'll feel the burn in your calf. Then before bed, do the other calf. If you get into that habit, that's what you want — being able to stand raised up on a single calf while brushing your teeth, comfortably, without the burn. That's when you know you're in good shape." I thought, that's

[44:40] great advice — I've been doing it, about eight weeks too late, but good. Where were you on that one? All I could think was, do you even brush your teeth for two minutes — if you've got an electric toothbrush it should tell you. That was a highlight. The other thing — I do need to make an apology, actually. What'd you do? I think his name was Earl, and I didn't quite get to him in time. This was around 5:45,

[45:10] deep on the Sunday, and by this point the blue carpet had become the playground for Pete and me — we're wandering up and back all over it. Earl comes trotting down the blue carpet, and he's in trouble. I hear Pete, who knows what he's doing, yelling "get to him, get to him, get to him" as he sprints across to catch him before he hits the deck. I got there just in time to stop his head hitting the floor — he was in all sorts. In another life I

[45:43] would have got there quicker and softened his fall a bit more, but — hands up, Earl, I apologise. Last takeaway: people collapse more in the marathon, people spew more in the half marathon. Interesting — way more vomit at the finish line of the half, far less at the finish of the full, but way more collapses at the finish of the full than the half. What was the craziest thing you saw at the finish? I'll give you a quiz —

[46:13] you both know the Triple M Gold brand a bit. What might a dedicated Triple M Gold listener have done at the finish line? Beer. Bang, ten points — this bloke was somehow running with a Triple M Gold beer, I don't know where he got it, an actual can. As he ran past I asked where he got that from, and he said

[46:43] to wave him in for the finish line, and asked if I could film him doing a "chewy" run — a dedicated listener finishing the half marathon by then proceeding to drink a beer out of his shoe. That's just — that's my audience, that's my listener. A lot of bleeding nipples too, I've heard about — white singlets, blokes, bleeding nipples. Do you know the one I saw —

[47:15] I was watching for my brother and a few mates around the four — your brother ran 2:43? Yeah, the group I trained with. A full marathon in 2 hours 43. That's disgusting — what's more crazy is, as I was waiting for that group, between about 2:38 and — I think Doctor Ben ran 2:51 — there was a guy running in

[47:46] what looked like a Deliveroo driver's outfit. I saw him too — I thought he was on a moped in the race, or that he'd stopped to pick up a flag or something. No, full costume, and he ran across the finish line, a really good time too. That was a delivery helmet — actually it was a China Airlines tie-wall promotion, I think.

[48:16] Full helmet, full kit, both feet. There were some interesting costumes out there — people running in suits, people running as a groom — they ran both the half and the full. There were some big puffy suits, they looked so uncomfortable. We had a few listeners write in saying they were doing the half and then the full — that's 63 kilometres in one day, is that even a thing? People do that?

[48:47] I was trying to find — half, 10K in the full — Pete from Salomon's mate that I drove home from the finish line, he'd done this too. Trying to find the medal — I saw Pete, 63 kilometres. So they do the five, the ten, back to the start for the half, back to the start for the ten, back to the start for the five, straight back for the two.

[49:17] Look at that — and then they get a special medal to show they've done it, plus a towel, a pretty cool towel — I remember seeing it at the end and thinking, where's mine? I went up to get one and they said, this is for the 63K people, the ones who do both the half and the full. I thought, oh, you get a towel — might have been a special one, maybe a hooded one. Takeaways for next year, right — what did we learn?

[49:52] I think there's scope — and I know this might not be your thing, Courtney — for an In The Beginning live event. Oh yeah, a live pod. We've got you at the finish, no, no, I mean there's an opportunity to do something bigger, there's an appetite for it, enough of an audience in town for it. I think we should look at having something, on a stage, somewhere next year. I want to talk to you about Melbourne, off the back of what you've just done — have you run since? No, running tomorrow.

[50:24] Where's your head at — you've entered the ballot for Melbourne, why? Because I had such an enjoyable experience the first time, I just want to do it again. But what do you want out of it — finish again, or has your mind ticked into a time goal? I don't know if that'll ever change for me, I'm a "just get it done and feel good" kind of person.

[50:56] Maybe, who knows — I've also got the half for the GC50 the same weekend, so if I don't get into the Melbourne ballot, I've still got the half to go, and might go for a PB there. For the second marathon, maybe the third, for now it's just about getting the mileage, getting these events under my belt — maybe get through one without a tummy ache — and then coming back for Gold Coast. I'd like to do Noosa next year

[51:26] too. But yeah, it's the bug — I remember before the race, Harry said, you told me you were just doing the Gold Coast and you'd be done, and when I told him about Melbourne he asked what happened. I just said, I loved it so much I have to keep going. Very cool — I'm very proud of you, Bronte, honestly, because I think back to the start of this,

[51:56] Courtney — we had this idea, I didn't make it out of the gate, you broke down a weekend in. Thank god for our Seabiscuit here, our dark horse. You've ticked every box along the way, and to execute the way you did — I haven't shown you this yet, I've got a video of you finishing.

[52:26] While you find that — let's say thank you to you guys, because this whole thing would have been such a different first event for me if I'd just been following the programme I was already on, which was already starting to feel a bit overwhelming, pacing me too quickly. This was the perfect platform for me, meeting the listeners over the weekend and everything. Thanks to you guys for

[52:57] bringing this in. You know, I'm a big believer things work out the way they're meant to — myself and Liam, if this had really skewed towards

[53:27] — I think if it had leaned too heavily into my own aspirations, or Liam's different aspirations, it might not have landed where it needed to. It ended up in the right place, better than anything we could have planned. Here you go — here's a live video, I'll hold it up to the mic. This is you, look at that big smile, ready — I'll press play.

[53:57] Just finishing, happy as anything — look at that grin on your face. Is that Triple M supplying the music too? Definitely not — "Walking on Sunshine," classic finish-line soundtrack, CFM activated down at the corral. Yeah, we need to do more with that. So what we can't forget is everyone who listened along and was there — we've got plenty of messages about your results, congratulations, well done. Everybody who took it on, whether their first marathon or their tenth — there was a bloke out there running his hundredth marathon.

[54:28] I was talking to his wife, Julie, at the finish line on the Sunday — got to know a lot of people. Whether it was your first, your tenth or your hundredth, well done — marathons, despite the boom in popularity, and I had a conversation with Deek about this too, my new mate, as I call him — the marathon should not be diminished or underappreciated just because it's more popular now. First, tenth, hundredth, whatever it is, it's still a marathon.

[54:58] The human body isn't designed to make that easy. To everybody who took on the challenge here on the Gold Coast, and to everybody signing up for Sydney or Melbourne — well done. Don't let the popularity of running diminish your personal achievement. Gold Coast this year was tough — genuinely tough conditions, tough day out. That cloud cover, despite the temperature relief, added to the humidity, and made the conditions

[55:30] trickier on course. So well done to everybody who got involved. And to those of you who've shared your journey with the podcast along the way — thank you, because it's such a cool experience having people come up on the finish line, high-five, and say I did it, I finished. Yeah, and we'll get to some of those messages Saturday. But well done, thanks guys — you're part of the family now, really. We'll have more to come — what's the future look like, another event?

[56:00] Everyone's very excited to hear what's next. I can't wait for old mate here to turn up for Melbourne — if she gets in, she wants to break four hours, break the four-hour mark. That was Bronte writing her time down on the whiteboard — big medal, well done, Bronte. Thanks guys, thank you.