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Well Courtney, it is very 
exciting, the Gold Coast 

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Marathon as we countdown with 
this, we've got the programmes 

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in place, we're going to be 
following along with it. 

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But we need someone to steer us 
through this 12 weeks. 

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And it is an absolute pleasure 
and privilege to introduce not 

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only the person that is going to
guide me through this 12 week 

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programme, but also the very 
first guest, four in the 

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beginning, the greatest distance
runner in the history of this 

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country. 
What a way to start. 

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Benita Willis, how are you? 
Thanks. 

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Yeah, that's pretty good intro 
though. 

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I'm pumped to be the the 1st 
guest. 

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I I thought I might have been 
like, yeah. 

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So, yeah, thank you. 
Very, very special. 

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But I mean, look off the bat, 
both born in Mackay, Yep, both 

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went to Olympics and that's 
where the that's where about 

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Benita over there has a lot more
accolades than me. 

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So 4 Olympic Games, we're in 
London and Beijing together. 

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Yeah. 
You're running marathons at that

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stage. 
And then the prior to you were 

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5010 thousand, right? 
Yeah. 

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
So yeah, the first Olympics I 

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did was Sydney and I was 5 Ki 
thought I was going to be in the

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1500 and I just missed the team 
and I was just like so pissed 

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off that I thought I'm just 
going to try my first 5K and I 

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just did the trials and won the 
trial. 

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And yeah, was in the Sydney 
Olympics of 5K and then moved up

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to 10K in Athens and marathon in
the last. 

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Two sorry, that's crazy. 
That's how you made your first 

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Olympic team. 
Yeah. 

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Yeah. 
Out of frustration. 

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Yeah, I was just, yeah. 
And in those days you could just

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show up to the like. 
These days you've got to qualify

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to be actually in the trials, 
but in those days you could just

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do it. 
And so I just thought, yeah, I 

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wanna just. 
And I knew I was fast, but you 

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know, I'd been training for the 
1500s so I just thought I'd give

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the five KA crack, even though I
reckon 7 of the girls had the 

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qualifier and I didn't have a 
qualifier. 

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So I ran the qualifier in the 
trials to to make the team. 

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But I was a hockey player before
that. 

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So I didn't, you know, I didn't 
really think that I was that 

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good of a runner. 
I just sort of, you know, I 

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just, I just trained a lot and 
just thought, thought see how it

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goes. 
I know we've got so many. 

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I know we've got so much stuff 
we want to get to here, Bonita, 

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but I just need to stop down 
here for a second. 

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So hold on. 
You're a hockey player who could

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run a bit. 
You focused on running. 

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You've been training for 1500. 
You miss out on qualifying for 

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the Olympics. 
Where was the 5K time trial? 

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Where were the the qualifier 
held? 

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Or it was like literally I think
a day or two after the 1500 

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final. 
So it was all in Sydney, yeah, 

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Bush and the 1500 heats were 
sort of one day, then the final 

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might have been two days later 
and then the 5K final was a few 

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days after that. 
So I must have entered it, you 

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know, but. 
The odd and this. 

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Would be 1920. 
Yeah. 

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Young. 
Yeah. 19 or 20. 

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Yeah. 
And I just thought, look, if I 

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can keep up, I can outsprint all
these girls in the last lap, 

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even though I never said I would
never have said that to anyone. 

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But in my mind I knew I was 
faster than all those girls, 

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'cause all the fast girls were 
in the 1500s. 

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They, they I wasn't up against 
them. 

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Do you? 
Remember how much you won the 

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trial by. 
I can't a few seconds, but I 

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remember the girls were pretty 
annoyed that I beat because like

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they would have all been 
expecting to, yeah, to win. 

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There's nothing worse like a 
little, you know the the little 

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tacker comes along and beats her
too. 

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You know when you're in that 
position. 

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The 'cause I do a radio show 
with Liesel Jones, who qualified

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for that those same games at the
age of 14. 

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She was 15 by the time the games
run around. 

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But I just love the Gordon. 
Can you imagine the idea of 

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today and any any athlete 
anywhere in the world suddenly 

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going. 
I missed out on qualifying in my

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discipline 2 days. 
I'll just have a crack at this. 

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This other event that goes for 2
1/2 times much better. 

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They breed them tough in North 
Queensland mate, That's right. 

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That's right, yeah. 
And look, you know, I was 

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running in bare feet on the 
track until I was like 14 or 15.

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So I think for me it wasn't 
something that, you know, I was 

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worried about just having a go 
and and I was always good in 

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when I was the underdog in 
races. 

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So grass track. 
Oh, you were running the tartan 

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and. 
Barton Yeah, I used to put it, 

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put tape over my big toe. 
I told you and then I was. 

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Queensland, you know. 
What? 

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Yeah. 
What do you you what? 

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Why? 
I just hated shoes, and I didn't

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even wear shoes to school until 
high school. 

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But I think I was a bit rough. 
A bit, yeah. 

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Yeah, I'm not afraid that. 
We we, we talk 'cause we always 

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talk about making cross country 
great again. 

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Right. 
Cause 'cause yeah. 

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What I noticed up in, you know, 
central QLD, North Queensland, 

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even now, schools still really, 
you know, put on a pedestal 

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cross country, right. 
Was that the same when you were 

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in Mackay 'cause I literally 
left Mackay as a baby. 

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So I claim I was born in Mackay,
but yeah, that's where it ends. 

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But soft, I'm soft. 
Yeah, I was something, What is 

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it? 
SE Queensland soft but running 

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running cross country as a kid 
were you going up to Cairns and 

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racing all the different 
schools? 

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Yeah, yeah. 
So we did a lot of racing. 

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I usually clash with the hockey 
season, so I usually did like 

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districts and then I reckon I 
did states once for cross 

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country throughout my whole high
school. 

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But I remember particularly this
one cross country, we had to run

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around cane fields and it was 
poorly marked and everyone got 

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lost and I was winning and I got
lost. 

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So then they reran it on the 
beach, which is not really cross

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country, but like up and down, 
like on at low tide. 

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But like, yeah, it was quite 
funny because yeah, cross 

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country was one thing that I 
loved. 

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But yeah, it was really, and I 
was that was really scared of 

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not of like not knowing where to
go because they were always 

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poorly marked. 
But once you get into world 

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cross and stuff, you know where 
to go. 

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So it's a bit easy. 
We haven't even got to why 

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you're the best ever Australian,
what distance runner in the 

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world, But we'll get to that. 
Yeah. 

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Yeah. 
Well, but now what I'm 

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interested in is then when did 
you actually convert shoes? 

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Yeah, and why? 
Yeah, yeah, that's a good 

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question. 
I reckon. 

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I had to wear them in high 
school, so that was one reason. 

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But I hate, I still hated 
running in them. 

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I would have wore them. 
I I've seen photos of me running

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when I was in year 9/10/11 and 
12 in spikes and I reckon old 

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waffles you know? 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

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Those old knives? 
Did you have those? 

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The green like the green tick 
waffles. 

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Yeah, I used to wear that 
everywhere. 

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So Nike were the first usual. 
Yeah, yeah. 

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And I used to wear that the Air 
Max for hockey with the with 

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the, you know, the with. 
The bubble, yeah. 

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What everyone's what everyone's 
rolling around now? 

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Just all back in fashion now St 
style. 

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So do you we are going to get to
the more of the accolades and I 

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want to hear about your 
transition through distances. 

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But I have a theory that certain
people are just aliens and born.

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Who's my cycling mate? 
Richie Port. 

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Richie Port, you know, one of 
Australia's greatest service Rd 

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cyclists who went and jumped in 
the pool the other week and did 

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a hundred, a hundred efforts 
because he's just a freak. 

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And did you always have is the 
endurance in the family work? 

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Like where did the interest in 
running and this ability come 

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from? 
Yeah, I don't don't think 

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there's endurance in our family.
Like a lot of people talk about 

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family trees of this person's 
gone to the Olympics of this 

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person. 
There's not none of that. 

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But my parents, my especially my
mum was real competitive at 

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sport, but mainly like things 
like tennis and jumping and 

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sprinting and stuff like that. 
So, yeah, I don't even know 

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where it came from, to be 
honest. 

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And my sister was, she's been in
a few world champs teams in 

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sprinting in four hundreds. 
Yeah. 

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So she's, you know, she's got 
she's got those fast twitch 

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fibres that I never had. 
But yeah, I, I honestly, I don't

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really know. 
Yeah, right. 

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And I never grew up thinking I 
was going to be, you know, a 

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late sports person or, or 
anything like that. 

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I just thought, oh, I'll just go
to uni and get a job. 

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And yeah, so it was one of those
things that I think it's sort of

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and, and even when I went to the
Australian Institute of Sport 

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after year 12, I still did uni 
full time because I was still 

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like doubting that I'd ever be 
an athlete, that I'd be good 

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enough. 
Really. 

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Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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So it wasn't, it wasn't that I 
didn't believe in myself, but I 

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just didn't. 
Yeah, it was one. 

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It was something that I just 
didn't think that, yeah, that 

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I'd be good enough to do. 
This would be a a life or a 

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career for you. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

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So I was, I was doing uni being 
to become a teacher, but I've 

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never actually had a real job 
so. 

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That's a good way to be that's. 
A nice way to live. 

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Have you had a real job? 
Liam No, but I had AI, had a 

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brief job, yeah, I had some real
jobs for a while. 

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I went to uni as well, but 
again, that was more out of not 

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knowing what I wanted to do. 
So just quickly on that then, at

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what point did you was it at 
that first Olympic Games where 

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you go, oh, maybe this could be 
a thing for me? 

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Yeah, it was funny actually, 
because in Sydney Olympics I 

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just missed the final. 
So I did a PB in my heat and I 

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led the heat for probably maybe 
8 laps or so. 

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And it was like the loudest I've
ever, you know, that stadium 

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even, you know, the opening 
ceremony, the loudest noises 

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I've ever heard from people 
cheering and stuff. 

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But I finished that, almost made
the final. 

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I finished that Olympics 
thinking I'm just not good 

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enough. 
Like I don't, I don't know if 

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I'm gonna keep going. 
That's when you walked away. 

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00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:39,480
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,039
And I should have, you know, 
Yeah, I should have been more 

200
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positive. 
I like, I think I just, I just 

201
00:08:44,159 --> 00:08:46,440
put a lot of pressure on myself 
and I thought I could, I could 

202
00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,200
be in that final. 
And as it's turned out, Sydney 

203
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,880
Olympics was my best Olympics. 
Like all my other three were 

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00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,520
rubbish. 
I never got it right for the 

205
00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:55,880
other 3 Olympics. 
Courtney knows. 

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00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:57,040
Yeah, yeah. 
And I've. 

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00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:58,160
Yeah. 
And I've yeah. 

208
00:08:58,160 --> 00:08:59,720
So. 
So one of those things that 

209
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:01,760
people just think arts and 
Olympics, you're gonna be at 

210
00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:03,440
your best. 
And I always thought that when I

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00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,200
was young, like how can you not 
do a PB at the Olympics? 

212
00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,720
But as you get older, you 
realise things happen and, you 

213
00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,200
know, every four years it's so 
hard to get it all right and the

214
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,280
conditions as well. 
So, yeah, I walked away 

215
00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,960
thinking, I don't know, don't 
know if I want to keep doing 

216
00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:19,680
this. 
And it wasn't until the next 

217
00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:22,680
year, 2001, that I, I came six 
at the world indoors. 

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00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:25,600
And then I thought, wow, I could
actually be, you know, a 

219
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,960
challenger at the world level. 
And it was after that run at the

220
00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,000
world Indoors that that I 
thought, jeez, you know, I'm up 

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00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,680
there and could give a few 
things a crack. 

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00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,400
I mean, let's get back one step.
So hockey running, like what was

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00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,600
the catalyst to go towards 
running? 

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00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:46,280
Because like, like you trained 
with Nick, with Nick Paddeau, I 

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00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:48,840
know you're Motrim, you're with 
Motrim a lot of that time as 

226
00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:50,360
well. 
But like where when you're a kid

227
00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:52,440
up in Mackay? 
And how did it all happen? 

228
00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,960
Yeah, so with the hockey, I was 
actually in the Sydney Olympic 

229
00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,760
squad for a few years and I was 
sort of, I was in Australian 

230
00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,920
teams for hockey. 
So I was really probably more 

231
00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,640
of, I won a few national titles 
in athletics in year 1011 and 12

232
00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,600
in the 8 and 15. 
But I was definitely probably 

233
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,480
going more towards the hockey 
direction. 

234
00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:14,480
Like I went to South Africa for 
a Four Nations tournament for 

235
00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:16,960
hockey in year 12. 
And but then they introduced an 

236
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,680
offside rule and I was a 
striker. 

237
00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,920
And so really all that was in 
hockey was people just smashed 

238
00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,440
the ball at you and you just 
tried to get a deflection in my 

239
00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,360
position to score. 
And so I didn't, I don't know, I

240
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,000
sort of lost a bit of interest 
after that thinking that look, 

241
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:32,920
I've got a scholarship to the 
Australian Institute of Sport 

242
00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,040
for running. 
I just wanna see how good I can 

243
00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,000
get. 
But I also do uni full full 

244
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,480
time. 
And with the hockey, I think I 

245
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,200
couldn't have done uni full 
time. 

246
00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,120
Like hockey is a lot. 
You gotta spend a lot more hours

247
00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,120
a day training. 
But I would have to go to Perth,

248
00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,840
so that's when I thought I can 
just get a uni degree for free 

249
00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,240
and, you know, see if I can be a
better runner. 

250
00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,040
So it was sort of at that point 
in year 12, I thought I just 

251
00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:55,160
want to try something with the 
running because I'd never 

252
00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:57,440
actually trained. 
I'd only trained 3, three months

253
00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,280
a year for running up until that
point because hockey was the 

254
00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:01,320
rest of the year. 
Yeah. 

255
00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:03,960
So I just thought I just want to
see how good I can get it at 

256
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:06,400
running. 
I love the idea that hockey, 

257
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,480
This one rule change robbed them
of Benita Willis. 

258
00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,080
This offside rule is what robbed
them of Benita Willis, a hockey 

259
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:17,120
player, and and gave and gave 
running Benita Willis the 

260
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:18,880
runner. 
But then at the Olympics, I 

261
00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,760
remember the closing ceremony, 
we won the gold medal at Sydney 

262
00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,000
Olympics in hockey. 
And I remember one of the girls,

263
00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:25,920
they were all drunk. 
But she, one of the girls in the

264
00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,240
team said to me, aren't you 
know, aren't you disappointed 

265
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:29,800
you weren't in this team to get 
the gold medal? 

266
00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:31,480
And I said to her, look, I'm 
glad. 

267
00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:33,800
I'm glad I've been running. 
Like, you know, I don't care 

268
00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,360
about the gold medal because I'm
glad I'm in this other sport 

269
00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:38,640
that, you know, that I've really
found a passion for. 

270
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,880
Even though I was a bit pissed 
off with how I ran, even though 

271
00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,560
I was, looking back, it was my 
best Olympics. 

272
00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:47,240
I'm just, it's always, always 
so. 

273
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,520
I love this idea that you've 
walked away from that first 

274
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,480
Olympic Games with that not 
bitter taste in your mouth, but 

275
00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:59,120
thinking you've underperformed 
and did maybe thinking I might 

276
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,400
never get back there again. 
Yeah, yeah. 

277
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,040
Like I, I didn't know, yeah, 
what was going to, what was 

278
00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,480
going to go on. 
And I'd really spent quite three

279
00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,240
years training a lot. 
I went to the World Juniors, I 

280
00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,600
think I went to World University
games, but they're like just 

281
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,000
drinking really. 
You don't really miss that much.

282
00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,520
So yeah. 
And yeah, I think I still had a 

283
00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,960
lot to learn as far as like, you
know, a lot more training to go 

284
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:24,440
and a lot more to learn in the 
sport. 

285
00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:24,880
So. 
Yeah. 

286
00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:28,520
So after that I just thought I 
just, I didn't know where I was 

287
00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,680
going to go. 
But it was 2001 really was a big

288
00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:33,600
year for me. 
And yeah, really helped me 

289
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,960
believe a bit more. 
You were training out of the AIS

290
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,000
at that stage, out of Canberra 
and who was coaching. 

291
00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:39,360
Dick Telford. 
Dick Telford. 

292
00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,360
Yeah, yeah. 
And he, he did a fantastic job. 

293
00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,240
And that was sort of, I learned 
really how to train properly 

294
00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:46,480
then I'd never run twice a day 
before. 

295
00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,400
I'd never done warmups that were
more than like 5 minute jogs. 

296
00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:51,920
I didn't know much about 
sessions. 

297
00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,760
Like there were so many, never 
had anyone much to train with. 

298
00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,640
And when I went to Canberra I 
was living with like a few other

299
00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,520
runners. 
There's all these runners living

300
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,440
in Group houses and you know, 
some of the guys were repeating 

301
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,080
year 12 and they were in our 
squad and then some people were 

302
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,320
at uni and like it was all sorts
of people from across Australia 

303
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,360
and they don't have those 
programmes anymore. 

304
00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,400
But without that, I would never 
would have sort of focus more on

305
00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:15,320
running. 
And you know, we had 

306
00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,520
nutritionists, we had massage, 
we had physio. 

307
00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,360
I never had any treatment or 
never knew anything about yeah, 

308
00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,280
what to do with with anything 
really. 

309
00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:24,360
So. 
It really helps me. 

310
00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,680
This is all after you'd been to 
an Olympic Games. 

311
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,760
Yeah, yeah, oh, and and yeah, 
and in the lead up to yeah, but 

312
00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:31,880
like. 
No, but this idea that you just 

313
00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,360
you know, that you've got you go
to an Olympics and then it's 

314
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,520
almost like, yeah, you you're 
getting to a grand final and 

315
00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,720
then the next season someone's 
teaching you how to kick and 

316
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:42,600
drop punt. 
Like it's just this notion that 

317
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:47,520
you've achieved what is a life 
goal for so many athletes, and 

318
00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:49,920
then I better learn how to do 
this properly, I guess, if I'm 

319
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:51,960
going to compete on the world 
stage like this. 

320
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,280
It's an amazing story. 
No, thanks. 

321
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:55,720
Yeah. 
And look, it was it was one of 

322
00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,760
those things, but it's just I 
was always really hard on myself

323
00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,360
and it was probably why I had 
the really high highs of my 

324
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,080
career. 
But then I had plenty of lows as

325
00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:05,440
well. 
And it's one of those things 

326
00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,640
that I think to get those 
brilliant performances, you've 

327
00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,400
got to put that a bit of 
pressure on yourself and you've 

328
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,480
got to be willing to risk, risk 
a fair bit and don't move into 

329
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,680
Canberra and you know, and take 
and running a bit more was a 

330
00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:20,080
fair a fairly big risk, you 
know, and I was from Mackay. 

331
00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,520
I hated running in tights or 
any, any sort of clothes. 

332
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:25,440
Oh yeah. 
I hate, I hate running in like 

333
00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:26,880
extra. 
I just want to wear like a 

334
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,760
singlet and shorts all the time.
I never even wore running proper

335
00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,560
running clothes like bike pants.
I always wore these like Woody 

336
00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,640
sort of shorts that my mom used 
to make, like sort of like they 

337
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:37,760
look like running shorts. 
But yeah, I never, I never 

338
00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:40,000
looked legit. 
You don't, you don't even think 

339
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,640
of these things like moving to 
Canberra from North Queensland 

340
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,160
and then just the weather 
itself. 

341
00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,160
And why did they ever build the 
I mean, we know why because it's

342
00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,080
a government place. 
But yeah, of all places to build

343
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,040
the Australian Institute of 
Sport in the coldest winter 

344
00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,400
place you can imagine, even like
thinking being a rower or 

345
00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,000
something out there. 
What? 

346
00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:58,520
Yeah, I still feel sorry for the
rowers. 

347
00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,480
Yeah. 
Out on that lake, Billy Gryphon,

348
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:03,600
whatever it is, they they should
move the AIS here just as a as a

349
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,680
side point. 
The Gold Coast is where the AIS 

350
00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:07,280
should be, surely. 
Well, I don't. 

351
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,680
This is my satellite spots. 
No, but the whole thing should 

352
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,000
base be based here. 
This is if you're an elite 

353
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,160
athlete, the Gold Coast has got 
to be the best place in 

354
00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,120
Australia to train on a full 
time basis. 

355
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,200
It's it's pretty good, but it's 
it's too hot in summer. 

356
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,200
That's yeah, yeah, too humid. 
For just runners or you think 

357
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:26,720
for everyone? 
Oh. 

358
00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,600
No, I think for just runners, 
but I mean, Michael Shelley did 

359
00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,040
it. 
There's a few people and there's

360
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,680
some guys in Brisbane that are 
like Liam Bowden, like some 

361
00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,680
really guys that are coming up 
really well training in 

362
00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:38,360
Brisbane. 
The Gregsons are living in 

363
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,720
Brisbane now as well. 
But yeah, I always found the 

364
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:42,840
heat and humidity quite hard in 
summer, Right. 

365
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,240
But having said that, I was only
usually in Australia a few 

366
00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,040
months a year. 
After 2001, I was living in 

367
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:49,760
overseas, living in London a 
lot. 

368
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,720
So, you know, Yeah. 
And Forest Creek. 

369
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,640
Quick segue, why did you move to
the Gold Coast in the end then? 

370
00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:57,600
How did you end up here? 
Yeah. 

371
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:03,360
So I met this guy Anthony, who's
legend guy online in 2018. 

372
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,400
Yeah. 
And he's, yeah. 

373
00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,040
And he was living here and I was
living in Brisbane and yeah, and

374
00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:10,600
we sort of thought, I thought 
I'd love to live on the Gold 

375
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:11,400
Coast. 
Check it out. 

376
00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:16,400
So yeah, that's why, yeah, we've
been together since 2018 and got

377
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,720
a couple of kids and a very 
young baby now. 

378
00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,200
And now you just figured out 
you're actually neighbours with 

379
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:22,000
Liam. 
Yeah. 

380
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:23,760
We were just talking before we 
started recording that we 

381
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:25,360
actually live very close to each
other. 

382
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,080
Yeah, Not less about me, more 
about you. 

383
00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,440
Your first Olympics got the 
sense of makai, you're taking 

384
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,000
this seriously now you're at the
IAS, you're into the can we? 

385
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,720
How was life for you as a 
professional runner like when 

386
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,440
you fully embrace this life of 
Yep, I'm doing a degree, but I'm

387
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:47,000
also this. 
I'm lent into this. 

388
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,760
I've left hockey behind. 
Those gold medalists from 2000 

389
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,560
can get stuffed. 
I'm focusing in on on my running

390
00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:54,720
career now. 
How did you, you know, once you 

391
00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:56,520
took said, yeah, this is my 
future. 

392
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:58,080
How was it? 
What was it? 

393
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,480
What did it feel like to be a 
professional runner in your 

394
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,720
early 20s? 
Yeah, look, I mean, it was, it 

395
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:03,640
was pretty good. 
Yeah. 

396
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,160
Look, I, I think, you know, the 
competitions and going to the 

397
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,240
different places is fantastic, 
but there's a lot of times where

398
00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,079
you sort of feel fairly 
isolated, like at training 

399
00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:16,160
camps, if you get injured, 
things like that. 

400
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,480
When things aren't going well, 
it's hard, really hard. 

401
00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:20,920
But when things are going well, 
it's fantastic. 

402
00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:22,800
So it's sort of a bit of AI 
always think it's a bit of a 

403
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,000
roller coaster, like a lot of 
elite athletes. 

404
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:29,480
It looks awesome all the time, 
but behind the scenes it it, 

405
00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,080
it's tough and injuries are are 
tough. 

406
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,240
Illness is tough. 
My father got quite sick during 

407
00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,400
my career and passed away in 
2008 and that was really tough. 

408
00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,480
So it's not just physical things
that happened to you, but 

409
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,320
personal things as well. 
Can be, can be really hard. 

410
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:50,640
So I think to be a professional 
athlete and have enough money to

411
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:54,160
be able to compete, have a 
really good contract, very few 

412
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,560
people in Australia in, in 
athletics get to do like most 

413
00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,160
people in athletics are doing 
another job and they're trying 

414
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,480
to compete, trying to go to 
Europe, trying to race, and then

415
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:03,760
they've got to get back for 
work. 

416
00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:05,840
And, you know, I never had to do
that. 

417
00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,200
So I'm, I feel very fortunate to
be able to do that. 

418
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,880
But yeah, I, you know, and I 
mostly lived in the UK, in 

419
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,960
London, probably probably 6 or 8
years. 

420
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,320
And then I lived in Boulder in 
Colorado for the last sort of 

421
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,000
four years. 
So I always lived overseas and, 

422
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:22,720
and coming back to Australia for
a few months a year. 

423
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,000
So, but in those days all the 
races were in Europe. 

424
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,360
They were, you know, in America,
Gold Coast Marathon wasn't, 

425
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,200
wasn't as big as it is now. 
And the focus on the elite 

426
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,040
athletes wasn't, wasn't there 
either. 

427
00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,520
So I didn't do these races in 
Australia much because I got 

428
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:41,680
paid to run in other countries. 
And when it's your career and 

429
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,120
your livelihood and you're 
already living in those 

430
00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:46,920
countries too, it just makes 
sense to do them rather than 

431
00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,720
doing Australian. 
Is that the, and pardon my 

432
00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:51,960
ignorance on this, Courtney, you
can weigh in on this. 

433
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:56,160
Is that what it's like still for
our track athletes and our 

434
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,440
endurance athletes? 
Is it, is it still you got a 

435
00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:00,440
good move overseas to to have a 
career? 

436
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:03,120
Oh, it's so many more 
opportunities now. 

437
00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:07,280
There's so much more money in in
the sport here and you see a lot

438
00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:09,160
of our good runners. 
They're sort of they're they're 

439
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,080
doing a lot of the road racing 
seasons they're doing, you know,

440
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,320
some of our athletics mates, you
know, that are on now. 

441
00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,960
But but still the bigger money 
is overseas, like the big 

442
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:20,720
marathons. 
That's why I've never run a 

443
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,960
marathon in Australia, but I've 
run quite a number of ones 

444
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,000
overseas and the appearance 
money and that kind of thing. 

445
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:29,840
It's still bigger over there 
than than it is here. 

446
00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,760
But I think it's the interest to
as well and the TV ratings and 

447
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,760
and that kind of thing. 
And also, you know, sometimes in

448
00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,960
your contract you've got stuff 
like I was a Nike fleet in my 

449
00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,120
contract. 
I had to do certain Nike meets 

450
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:45,160
that were all overseas. 
You know, one year I had to go 

451
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,920
to do a race in, in Spain, in 
Madrid on New Year's Eve at 10K.

452
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,280
And it was fantastic. 
But it was in my contract to do 

453
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:53,720
it. 
And it was sort of running up to

454
00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:55,800
this football stadium and it was
like Tour de France. 

455
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,800
People are literally if you're a
metre of running space and 

456
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,840
throwing confetti and stuff at 
you and fireworks at you. 

457
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,040
And then we had this 12 course 
theatre. 

458
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:06,880
That night and so like they're 
cool meets. 

459
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,320
Like that's amazing. 
Yeah, and one you had to do 

460
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,880
Prefontaine when I was training 
for Chicago Marathon, 

461
00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:16,160
Prefontaine's had to run a 1500,
you know, leading up to when I 

462
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,720
ran 222, but it was in my 
contract to run that Nike meet. 

463
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,000
So, you know, sometimes it's 
part of a contract. 

464
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,760
But I think there is more 
opportunity in Australia and I, 

465
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,520
I really wish I had have run 
more Australian races to have 

466
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:31,120
more of a profile in Australia. 
Looking back, I think it's a 

467
00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:33,600
good thing that a lot of these 
Australian athletes, and I'm 

468
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,240
talking distance runners, yeah, 
are racing more in Australia to 

469
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,800
give themselves a really good 
profile. 

470
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,200
And I think that's great for the
sport. 

471
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,280
And I, I, yeah, I wish I had 
have done more of that, but 20 

472
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,560
years ago the opportunities 
probably weren't as great. 

473
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,080
That's what they have now did. 
You get to spend a bit of time 

474
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,120
at the Nike in a headquarters. 
Yeah, yeah, get all the shoes 

475
00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,400
stuff and like you get this 
shopping trolley and they just 

476
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,920
say OK, get whatever you want 
and you just go and put it on. 

477
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:56,480
Just through the big warehouse. 
Yeah, yeah. 

478
00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:59,000
And then you just pile them in, 
put them all in bags and. 

479
00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:01,600
Completely wasted on Bonita 
'cause she doesn't like shoes or

480
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,920
clothes, but walking through 
like every, every, you know, 

481
00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:09,680
average person like me's dream. 
Having carte blanche through the

482
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,440
Nike warehouse. 
So how long were you for with 

483
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:17,560
Nike? 
I would say probably 1210 years.

484
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,720
Years, yeah. 
So most of my career, yeah. 

485
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,160
And look, I just used to race 
everything in the steeplechase 

486
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:24,880
spikes. 
So I don't know if you knew them

487
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,840
but they had all holes in them. 
I used to do cross country in 

488
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,680
them and like just strap them on
with strapping tape so I didn't 

489
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,680
wear socks but and like 10K's I 
used to do steeplechase spikes 

490
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,240
like everything so. 
Just 'cause you preferred. 

491
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,320
It or yeah, yeah. 
And like I used to race in the 

492
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,240
smallest racing flats like 
Courtney would have been the 

493
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,200
same. 
And so these days I haven't even

494
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,280
tried the Super shoes. 
I just don't think I'm fit 

495
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:50,920
enough to try. 
Them now you know how I feel. 

496
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:52,360
I've got a pair of alpha he's 
got. 

497
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,080
A pair of alpha flies in a box. 
He hasn't. 

498
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:55,640
Taken out. 
Taken out because I don't feel 

499
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,200
worthy to run in them well. 
Yeah, like I just think, I just 

500
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,520
think, you know, for me to try 
them, I've got to get fitter 

501
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,720
than I have, you know, and the 
fittest I've been is when I've 

502
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:05,280
been running with the running 
pram with my daughter. 

503
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,360
I was doing 80 KS a week with 
the running pram and I almost 

504
00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:10,160
brought some and then I 
accidentally got pregnant with 

505
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:14,240
my. 
Son, I don't want to leave. 

506
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,400
I don't want to. 
I don't want to leave this part 

507
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:17,720
of your career yet. 
Go kick. 

508
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,640
No, we've got to get to the main
result yet because it's it gets 

509
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:23,400
bigger than this, I know, but 
what was your favourite? 

510
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,720
I'm interested because like a 
lot of the people who listen as 

511
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,120
well are always interested in 
shoes. 

512
00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:29,760
So what was your favourite model
of Night Trainer? 

513
00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:34,520
Yeah, I'm trying to think are 
the Kintanas I think they're 

514
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:39,160
called, They were like a racing 
flat, like a a Japanese looking 

515
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:40,800
one. 
So you train in. 

516
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,160
Oh, no, I used to race in them. 
Yeah, and I used to train. 

517
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:45,800
I'm trying to think what I used 
to train in. 

518
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,680
Because around that time you 
would add vomero still 

519
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,080
structure. 
Yeah, structure I used to wear a

520
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:53,040
lot. 
Yeah, yeah. 

521
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,000
And they actually came, got 
better models as they went 

522
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,840
through. 
But I didn't really care too 

523
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:00,760
much like about exactly what 
shoes. 

524
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,240
What I did is always wore 
different shoes to to cycle sort

525
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,000
of the different stresses 
around. 

526
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,520
So maybe I might wear structure 
trikes in the morning and then a

527
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,040
different sort in the afternoon,
right. 

528
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,360
If if I was doing 2 easy runs. 
Yep. 

529
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,760
And then I used to mainly always
do racing flats, 4 sessions and 

530
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,880
then sometimes spikes, yeah. 
Just mixing it up, we always 

531
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:21,320
helped with the injury 
prevention. 

532
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:22,600
Yeah. 
And like Paula Radcliffe 

533
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:27,040
designed the Nike Marathon, our 
shoe, and I used to race in that

534
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,360
and wear that a lot too. 
The only thing with that it was 

535
00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:32,840
when the the if the roads were a
bit wet from rain, it was a bit 

536
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,640
slippery. 
So you had to, if it was if I 

537
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,520
was racing a like a marathon 
that was going to be wet, I had 

538
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,840
to change shoe. 
Yeah, right. 

539
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,480
Yeah, just especially if it had 
like he like city marathons with

540
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:43,840
all the white lines. 
Yeah, yeah. 

541
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:45,800
So, yeah. 
But like they were the thinnest 

542
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,920
shoes like. 
Yeah, it's crazy to think where 

543
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,080
it was and where it's gone to. 
Yeah, yeah. 

544
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,280
There's everything you've said, 
so many things, it's just 

545
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,560
popping off things in my head of
questions I want to ask this so 

546
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,280
we haven't even Courtney, get to
what you want to get to. 

547
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:58,960
I know where you want to go. 
I want to go I. 

548
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,600
Want to get to cross country, of
course, but no before cross 

549
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,320
country because you mentioned 
about the the times and then I 

550
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,880
suppose the the evolution of 
shoes now. 

551
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,360
So you were to recently the 
Australian marathon record 

552
00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:15,960
holder, so 22236 and you did 
that in 2006. 

553
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:20,040
Yep, Yep. 
You're still second on the all 

554
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,360
time Australian list and 
Sinead's gone, you know, just 

555
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,320
what is it? 
Just around a minute quicker. 

556
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,160
But that was everything else and
I looked at the top ten list. 

557
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,000
They're all done in super shoes.
Yeah, yeah. 

558
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,720
What do you think, 'cause like 
I'm the same, I raced back then 

559
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,400
without super shoes and I'm 
comparing you compare now to 

560
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:39,080
what's going on with super 
shoes. 

561
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,280
Do you have an idea? 
What do you think about them? 

562
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,280
Yeah. 
Look, I, I obviously, I think if

563
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,960
I, if that, if I had access to 
them, you know, I would have 

564
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,840
obviously raced in them. 
But I think super shoes really 

565
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:51,960
help with like the recovery from
training as well. 

566
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,360
So I reckon, I reckon they help 
obviously with competing. 

567
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,880
But I mean, if yeah, if I could 
have worn them, I would have. 

568
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,360
So anyone these days you know? 
I you can't not wear them right 

569
00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:03,800
because it's a performance 
benefit. 

570
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,240
But I also think like I remember
doing some of those longer 

571
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,760
marathon type sessions in the 
little tiny paper thin shoes and

572
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,840
you know, you could hardly walk 
for the rest of the day. 

573
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:13,880
It took a few days to recover 
before you could train hard 

574
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:15,600
again. 
Whereas like with the Super 

575
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,680
shoes, I think you can sort of 
just take one day and you're 

576
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,120
feeling really good. 
So I think their recovery from 

577
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,840
training helps with them as 
well, which is a big thing for a

578
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,240
lot of athletes. 
Like not getting sore between 

579
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,440
big sessions to pull up. 
OK for, for the next one I've 

580
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,720
got to do. 
But I mean, from what people 

581
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,560
have told me, they do help and 
they, they do make you faster. 

582
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,760
But I, I, I think it's that top 
elite level. 

583
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,600
Like, I don't think, you know, 
if you're someone that's doing a

584
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,160
marathon for the first time and 
you want every advantage you can

585
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,560
get, you know, I'd be looking 
at, you know, not making sure 

586
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:49,960
you train too hard and, you 
know, pacing and all that stuff 

587
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:51,920
before looking at super shoes, 
if you know what I mean. 

588
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,800
We're gonna have plenty of, 
plenty of time and plenty of 

589
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,720
weeks to get deep in here. 
We saw, we saw the curtain pull 

590
00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,680
back. 
I know Benita was the coach for 

591
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:01,000
a moment. 
Just got we'd. 

592
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,440
Ahead of us. 
We don't want to get there just 

593
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,320
quickly. 
Yeah, if I if you knew in that 

594
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,520
Chicago Marathon, 
hypothetically, because Usain 

595
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,360
Bolt said before the Tokyo 
Olympics, if he was allowed to 

596
00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:13,640
run in the shoes that the 
sprinters were running in at 

597
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,200
those games, he would have 
broken 9 seconds for the 100. 

598
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,040
Hypothetically, what do you 
think you could have run in a 

599
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,200
super shoe? 
Yeah, look, it's that's a hard 

600
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,400
one. 
I went out in 7010 through 

601
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,960
halfway, and I ran 22236. 
I blew up a little bit, but it 

602
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,120
was really windy. 
I think the wind chill was like 

603
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:34,560
-6 and I had some Russian girls 
swearing at me because I was 

604
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,640
trying to like, run behind them.
So like, because I didn't want 

605
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,000
to head the win in the second 
half of the race. 

606
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,080
So I don't know if that race was
like the best race to run fast, 

607
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,520
but I, I'm hoping I could have 
run faster. 

608
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,320
But having said that, though, 
with these girls now, now you've

609
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,760
got, you know, Sinead, you've 
got Izzy, you've got Jess, 

610
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,360
there's so Jen Greggs and so 
many, there's so many girls 

611
00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:57,600
pushing each other. 
But when I was running, you 

612
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,760
know, Lisa Rondeke had the 
record, there was no one pushing

613
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:02,840
each other to, to run faster and
faster. 

614
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:05,960
So I feel like the competition, 
like obviously I think the shoes

615
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,440
help, but the competition I 
think these days is, is 

616
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:10,080
fantastic in helping them get 
faster. 

617
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:11,600
So I don't wanna put a number on
it. 

618
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,040
Yeah. 
And I I I think I underperformed

619
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:15,120
that. 
I'll put a number on it, I 

620
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,400
reckon you would have got under 
220, but that's just quite 

621
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:21,920
completely uneducated opinion. 
Now we're gonna, we're gonna get

622
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,480
onto the marathon now for it. 
It's audio first, So most people

623
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,800
listen to us through audio, but 
I'm gonna show Benita a photo. 

624
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,520
And I'm assuming this was world 
Cross. 

625
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:30,840
Yeah. 
Correct. 

626
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,920
Yeah. 
Liam, give us a description of 

627
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:33,680
what you're looking at. 
So. 

628
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:36,600
For those that can't see it, 
you're staring at an image where

629
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:41,360
there is probably a dozen women 
in this photo and there is one 

630
00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:45,400
Caucasian and that's Benita 
Willis out in front of what 

631
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,160
looks to be Kenyans and 
Ethiopians behind you. 

632
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,920
Just a a peloton of them behind 
you or packed behind you. 

633
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,600
It's such an iconic show. 
It's an amazing, amazing image. 

634
00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:58,280
What is that? 
I mean, yeah. 

635
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,280
I mean, I'm gonna let me let me 
get my little spin out because 

636
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,360
you I'm riding thinking you are 
the only Australian ever to win 

637
00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,560
a gold medal in a distance, like
a world championship distance 

638
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,360
running event. 
Yeah, male and female. 

639
00:28:11,360 --> 00:28:13,880
Yeah, yeah, in. 
Yeah, in cross country. 

640
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:14,760
Yeah, in. 
Cross country. 

641
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,360
Anything in marathons? 
Halves. 

642
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,080
Yeah, I think we've done like 
Deke, this is 1 Dicks. 

643
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:21,640
Yeah, Yeah, a couple kind of 
thing. 

644
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,440
One is, yeah. 100% the only one,
yeah. 

645
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,680
Female tour, Yeah. 
And in cross country, no ones 

646
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:28,760
ever won a medal. 
We've got team medals. 

647
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,600
No medals at all. 
No other medals go this is and 

648
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,880
this and This is why we're like,
I mean, I'm super excited too, 

649
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,240
just to chat to you about this 
because it's something that's 

650
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:44,000
well for Australians anyway. 
It's just unheard of, right? 

651
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,840
And it's just such a unique 
situation to see you in, in 

652
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:48,880
that, in that iconic image as 
well. 

653
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,240
Take us through what you were. 
I mean, you won, but what you 

654
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,240
were thinking at that kind of 
stage. 

655
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,520
Yeah, no. 
And I'm the last non African to 

656
00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,800
win as well so it's a long time 
since. 

657
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:01,600
So it's over 20 years. 
Yeah, yeah. 

658
00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,160
So it's heavily dominated 
obviously by Africans. 

659
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,960
So how that's what that's what 
we. 

660
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,680
Want to know how? 
Like, I'll go back to 2003. 

661
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,120
It was in France and I remember 
I could see like, And I was in 

662
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,600
the short course race and I was 
gonna win a medal. 

663
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:17,720
I thought I was gonna win a 
medal. 

664
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,200
And you know, when you're 
running and there's nothing you 

665
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,240
can do, you can't run any 
faster. 

666
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,880
At the end, I could see these 
two shadows coming up beside me 

667
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,440
and it was these two Africans. 
And I went, you know, from 3rd 

668
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,920
to 5th like that. 
And I was just so pissed off 

669
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,320
that whole year. 
And I, I had a really good year 

670
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,720
in 2003. 
But that that thought in my mind

671
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,800
just annoyed me because I almost
got a medal and I didn't. 

672
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,480
And so I had to wait for the 
next year. 

673
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,160
And I think that really psyched 
me up to, to try to, you know, 

674
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,600
get a medal the next year. 
And I remember racing Derata 

675
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,080
Tulu, who's the top Ethiopian. 
She won the 10K in Sydney 

676
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,360
Olympics. 
I raced her at a cross country 

677
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,920
in Japan not long before World 
Cross, and I beat her. 

678
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,200
But we were warming down 
afterwards and she was asking 

679
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:00,920
me, Benita, what are you doing 
at World Cross? 

680
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,320
And I said, I'm doing the 8K. 
And she was, like, pumped 

681
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:05,520
because she said, I'm doing the 
4K, so I don't want to race you.

682
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:07,640
And I was thinking in my head 
like, these chicks won the 

683
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,040
Olympics and she doesn't want to
race me. 

684
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,360
And that gave me a lot of 
confidence going into the World 

685
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,680
Cross that I was in good shape. 
And I had these people who were 

686
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,920
the best in the world not 
wanting to race me. 

687
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:19,840
And for me, too, I never talked 
about what I was going to do. 

688
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:23,200
So it was always like something 
I thought what I, I could do, 

689
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,560
but my plan in that race was 
just to make sure I kept up. 

690
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,560
And a lot of other cross 
countries, I'd sort of lose 

691
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,360
contact in the third quarter. 
So you know, it's, it's that 

692
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:37,520
sort of between 4:00 to 6:00 K, 
they would get away from me a 

693
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,720
bit in an 8K. 
So, and it was a good course for

694
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:42,080
me. 
It was 2K laps. 

695
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:43,440
It was a massive hill at the 
start. 

696
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,480
It was muddy. 
It was one of those one of those

697
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:50,840
days where you had to sort of 
wear like 1314 mule spikes and 

698
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,000
you get them in with pliers and 
then I had to strap my shoes on 

699
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,840
with strapping tape. 
One of those, one of those sort 

700
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,040
of races. 
And the Africans, they weren't, 

701
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,600
yeah, they weren't happy because
it was, you know, not, it was a 

702
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:01,920
bit raining a bit and stuff like
that. 

703
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,320
But, you know, you get out hard.
But I just kept, you know, kept 

704
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,440
in the pack for the first couple
of laps and that, that third 

705
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,480
lap. 
So between 4:00 and 6:00 K, they

706
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,840
were sort of getting away from 
me, so I had to really bridge 

707
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,360
the gap. 
And then in the last lap, that's

708
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,040
when I decided to just go for it
on the big hill because I felt 

709
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:20,320
like in the third lap that 
weren't very good on the big 

710
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,480
hill. 
And so I had a gap. 

711
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,480
So I had 1500 to go with a gap 
and I was like freaking out 

712
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:27,840
because I'm like, Gee, I'm 
winning world. 

713
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:29,880
Cross. 
You know, and I've got all these

714
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,760
people trying to chase me down 
and, and I was just thinking 

715
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,760
about the year before and I just
didn't want that to happen. 

716
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,280
And it was one of those things 
too, that I had a plan in my 

717
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,120
mind. 
And my coach said to me just, 

718
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,000
you know, the first 3 laps, just
get them done. 

719
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,160
And in that last lap when you 
make your move, it's like, you 

720
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,200
know, you're hanging from a 20 
Storey building. 

721
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,520
And if he's got to hang on and 
hang on onto these monkey bars 

722
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,240
until someone like slides a 
mattress on the ground and then 

723
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,080
you can let go and you know, you
won't die. 

724
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,880
And so just think like that in 
the last lap when you've got a 

725
00:31:57,880 --> 00:31:59,720
break. 
And so I was thinking about that

726
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,400
too. 
And I always liked analogies 

727
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,120
when I was running, like I was 
never one for splits. 

728
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,920
I never looked at split times. 
I didn't even race with a watch.

729
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,680
I was one of those people that 
just ran on feel like even in 

730
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,120
all my marathons, never cared 
about split times. 

731
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,080
So cross country I love because 
it's about the terrain and the 

732
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:18,560
and the competition. 
Yeah. 

733
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,320
And I was hurting. 
Like it was like, I remember 

734
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,200
finishing that race and it was 
the hardest, you know, that the 

735
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,480
the sickest I ever felt at the 
end, as in like it was really 

736
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,560
hard, even felt way worse than 
when I finished marathons. 

737
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:32,000
But I think it's the emotion of 
winning. 

738
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:36,920
But also when you're leading a 
race like that and you know, you

739
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,760
know, you don't, you just want 
to get to the finish. 

740
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:40,480
But yeah, what? 
What's up? 

741
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,440
What's the I mean, you've said 
it's you're the last non African

742
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:47,440
to win the race, I imagine 
before you with that knowing 

743
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,840
you're probably one of the few 
non Africans to have won that 

744
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:56,120
race anyway, what was the 
reaction to you winning the 

745
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,320
race? 
Oh yeah, at the end they didn't 

746
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,600
even have the Australian anthem 
like the SO can they? 

747
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:04,480
That's great. 
So. 

748
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,520
Unexpected I can. 
Go straight into the head of the

749
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,040
event organisers. 
There and gone. 

750
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:10,320
Oh, alright, well, let's can 
you. 

751
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:11,960
Yeah, we got it ready to go. 
Yeah, we got it. 

752
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:13,640
Probably don't need Australia 
now. 

753
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,920
You can leave that one. 
So was there. 

754
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,160
Did they organise it? 
Well, like, I think in those 

755
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:19,440
days they had them on tapes, 
right? 

756
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,960
And it's like, yeah. 
And I think they were just like,

757
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,560
oh, no. 
Like we're, we're gonna, we're 

758
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,960
gonna get this someone, just. 
Standing around asking do they 

759
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,080
all know to sing the Australia 
Hummer? 

760
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,840
We'll take a Hummer. 
Oh my gosh. 

761
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,360
OK. 
And the Ethiopian girls that 

762
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,200
came second and third were like 
pretty pissed, like just because

763
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,320
they always win and they're 
probably watching me in the 

764
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:39,960
race, probably didn't think I 
was going to win. 

765
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,440
And I was. 
I was also going into the race 

766
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,800
just hoping to get a medal and 
not putting pressure on winning.

767
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,520
But I knew that if I was in a 
good spot in the last lap, I 

768
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,400
could win. 
So it was one of those things 

769
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:53,800
that I'd been so close in quite 
a number of years before that. 

770
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,720
So yeah, I just think that they 
they just didn't like someone 

771
00:33:57,720 --> 00:33:59,720
beating them from a country 
like, and was it? 

772
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:05,920
Then the days after and the 
weeks after, because you are 

773
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,040
known within the distance 
running ranks, yeah. 

774
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:13,440
Did you then find yourself on 
another level in terms of, I 

775
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,800
don't know, offers of 
opportunities to do stuff or 

776
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:17,719
what happened next for your 
career? 

777
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,000
Yeah, yeah. 
Like, and I remember and these 

778
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,760
were before, you know, you had, 
you know, smartphones and stuff.

779
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,560
I went into like a like, like a,
you know, a place where you get 

780
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,120
on computers the next day just 
to look up some emails and stuff

781
00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:31,400
and Internet cafe, Yeah. 
Internet cafe, Yeah. 

782
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,719
And I saw some like, yeah, some 
things about, about me online. 

783
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,360
And then people were recognising
me and it was pretty cool. 

784
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:43,120
And yeah, it was one of those 
things that in the UK, in 

785
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:47,159
America, especially in the UK 
and across Europe, across 

786
00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:49,360
countries, really big. 
So people were always 

787
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,719
recognising me and sort of, you 
know, saying congratulations. 

788
00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,639
And I remember I had so much 
support in the crowd, not just 

789
00:34:55,639 --> 00:34:58,200
from Aussies, obviously it was 
in Brussels, in Belgium, but 

790
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,240
from, you know, loads of 
different people. 

791
00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:02,480
So yeah, it brought a lot of 
opportunity. 

792
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,000
Obviously bigger appearance 
money with contracts, bigger, 

793
00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:10,320
bigger race and appearance money
for like marathons, for cross 

794
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:12,360
countries, for anything like 
that. 

795
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,280
So at the time I thought, oh, 
it's gold medal, that's great. 

796
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,200
And you know, you got some money
from, I double F at the time, 

797
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,080
World Athletics for winning. 
And that's, I didn't think too 

798
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,200
much of the of what would happen
down the track, but it would 

799
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,200
definitely help set up a a good 
career. 

800
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:32,080
And yeah, it was, yeah, yeah, 
something that I didn't, didn't 

801
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,480
expect at the time, but that 
really helped with, yeah, with 

802
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:37,920
future earnings and rest of you,
yeah. 

803
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,320
Nike gave you a second trolley 
for the warehouse push. 

804
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,280
You're allowed to go around and 
get extra stuff. 

805
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:44,040
Yeah. 
Well, it's yeah, it's one of 

806
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,080
those things that yeah. 
And if you're a world champion, 

807
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:48,920
they often just give you your 
own room at like meats and stuff

808
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:49,760
like that. 
So the. 

809
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:50,920
Important. 
Stuff. 

810
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,920
You got a room. 
With randoms meats. 

811
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,720
Courtney, I know you want to ask
more stuff about cross country. 

812
00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:58,640
Do you want to you want to stay 
on cross country for a bit 

813
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,760
longer? 
That's not a story you hear 

814
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,920
everyday. 
Keep going if you stay there, I 

815
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:06,360
keep asking. 
I there's so many, so many 

816
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:10,520
questions. 
I think I'm actually, I'm 

817
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:12,680
interested because obviously 
cross country, when you're 

818
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,520
growing up as a kid and you said
you love the train, do you think

819
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,240
that all came from being growing
up out in a bit of like not 

820
00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:20,880
growing up in metro? 
Yeah. 

821
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:22,560
Because these days, you know, 
we're seeing a lot of the 

822
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,920
runners coming out of 
metropolitan areas specifically 

823
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,000
who are doing well, like they're
either coming out of Melbourne 

824
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,120
or Brisbane. 
I might be wrong, but I'm not 

825
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,040
seeing a lot of regional runners
suddenly popping up as distance 

826
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:35,840
runners in Australia now. 
Do you reckon that was your 

827
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,280
advantage, like part of the 
advantage in cross country that 

828
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:41,760
you've just grown up, you know, 
wild up in in Kai? 

829
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,000
Yeah, and I think too. 
So I grew up running on the 

830
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,560
beach a lot, doing a lot of 
stuff in bare feet. 

831
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:50,280
And I think that really 
strengthens all your ligaments. 

832
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,840
And like I, I've never had 
injuries of like rolling my 

833
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,640
ankle or never, like different 
sorts of shoes have never 

834
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,840
bothered me, never had 
orthotics, never done 

835
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,960
biomechanical testing, never 
changed my style. 

836
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:06,520
I'm not in big and stretching or
drills or anything like that. 

837
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,160
So I feel like growing up and, 
and just getting a lot of 

838
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:11,800
incidental exercise really 
helped. 

839
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:15,120
Like I remember we used to ride 
to school and it was like 40 

840
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,880
minutes or something on this 
main road in Mackay on the 

841
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:20,920
highway. 
And like, we just loved it. 

842
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,600
So what not on an E bike? 
No fat, no fat, no fat fish. 

843
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:28,480
No fat fish at all. 
Yeah, and. 

844
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,320
You know, backyard sport, you 
play, do stuff every hour until 

845
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,960
it gets dark and stuff. 
And it's like heavily, heavily, 

846
00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:36,640
like I had two brothers and a 
sister. 

847
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,120
So it's heavily contested and 
there's always fighting over 

848
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:40,600
who's winning and things like 
that. 

849
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:45,120
So I think that competitive 
aspect of, of who I am, but also

850
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,600
so much exercise and but like 
fun exercise, like not organised

851
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:50,560
stuff. 
And I think, you know, a lot of 

852
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,280
kids from some of the metro 
areas, they get a bit burnt out 

853
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:55,720
by, you know, the time they're 
finished year 12 because they've

854
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:57,760
had a lot of opportunities, have
had probably too much 

855
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,240
competition. 
And they sort of get to the 

856
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:03,360
stage where they could be, you 
know, really increasing their 

857
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,440
training and getting, getting 
further along in their career if

858
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:07,960
that's what they wanna do. 
But they just don't have the 

859
00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:11,160
drive and enthusiasm. 
And I think sometimes I'm lucky 

860
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,200
because I sort of came from the 
aspect of what if I do more? 

861
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,600
What if, you know, I could be a 
bit better, but I don't know. 

862
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,720
So it's about like investigating
stuff and, and trying things. 

863
00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:22,240
But also it's about risk taking 
too, I think. 

864
00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:24,120
And you've got a lot of kids 
these days. 

865
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:26,960
I think they're scared to have a
risk, take a risk because it, it

866
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:28,840
might not pay off, you know, and
it sucks. 

867
00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:30,840
Yeah. 
The bit you just said there, and

868
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,160
I know Courtney has told a story
on the podcast previously about 

869
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:39,600
he'd never thought about the way
he ran biomechanically. 

870
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,920
And then the one time then when 
when someone unlocked that door 

871
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,640
in his brain, I tried a training
session. 

872
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:46,640
It was an American. 
But if I recall correctly, 

873
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:48,680
American expert. 
You were never able to close it 

874
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:50,680
and you forever. 
Kind of the idea of once you 

875
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:52,720
think about how you're running, 
you can't get out of your head 

876
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,560
like, like nearly like a robot 
thinking, oh, that's how I do 

877
00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:57,360
it. 
Before that, I never thought 

878
00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,120
about it. 
And then I never could run this.

879
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:00,880
I never thought about running 
the same again. 

880
00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:04,320
So it's like, refreshing to hear
the fact that, you know, it's 

881
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,000
like when you're a kid and you 
start running and you just, it's

882
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,400
just natural. 
Yeah, there's no real need to go

883
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,080
and change that necessarily, 
right? 

884
00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:15,080
Unless there's an issue or a 
problem or a challenge, the idea

885
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,520
of just going and running like I
say, that's a good sign. 

886
00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:18,760
Doesn't run like you're a kid, 
right? 

887
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:19,880
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Enjoy. 

888
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:21,480
That's. 
That's yeah, that's what I 

889
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,160
always did. 
And you know, you look at a lot 

890
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:26,960
of athletes around the world and
they don't maybe not necessarily

891
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:29,680
have the best styles, but I 
don't think like you need to 

892
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,520
look picture perfect all the 
time, but spend hours in this in

893
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:35,440
the labs, like working on 
technique. 

894
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:37,960
That's I'm not huge. 
I mean, I'm not, I'm not. 

895
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:39,360
I'm not about technique at all, 
really. 

896
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,360
Would you obviously growing up 
up there with with your kids 

897
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,520
now, do you kind of see the, 
would you like to go and live 

898
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,720
regionally again at some level 
that bring them up in that 

899
00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:50,800
environment or yeah, the metro 
environment? 

900
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,520
Yeah, yeah, like I think you 
know that like that sort of sort

901
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:56,200
of environment, like we're 
actually building a house in 

902
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,800
Blacks Beach on the beach in 
Mackay, like probably be a 

903
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,720
rental, but we we think we we 
might go up there for a year or 

904
00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:03,760
two just while the before the 
kids start school. 

905
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,280
But yeah, it's one of those 
things that I really think 

906
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,880
regional areas are fantastic. 
And you just want to get out of 

907
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,560
that, you know? 
Yeah, like everyone's got E 

908
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,360
bikes and get out of that fact 
that, you know, everything's so 

909
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:18,760
easy now, too. 
And I don't, I don't want, you 

910
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:20,280
don't want your kids growing up 
like that. 

911
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:23,880
But I'm an old parent too so 
might be a bit more old school 

912
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,800
with my parents. 
We could sit here and, and 

913
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,080
continue to just walk through 
your athletic career and we and 

914
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,080
we'd never get bored of it. 
I do want to touch on because 

915
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:38,840
you're here to talk to us today,
we're about you, but you're also

916
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:40,600
going to be helping us with this
marathon thing. 

917
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:44,440
Can you talk to me a bit about 
the marathon, your experience 

918
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:48,840
with it, when you first got into
it, what it did for your running

919
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,160
career, all the rest of that? 
When when did you first decide 

920
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,520
when I'm going to go to marathon
running now? 

921
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,800
Yeah, like it was probably, I 
probably didn't even decide. 

922
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:02,080
So it was after I won the World 
Cross in 2004 and you know, I 

923
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:04,760
got a really good appearance 
deal to do New York Marathon at 

924
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:06,760
the end of that year. 
And I thought it'd be a good 

925
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:08,760
opportunity because it's quite a
hard race. 

926
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,680
It's it's got a lot of heels and
be a good course for me. 

927
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:17,280
And so, you know, I, I had a 
2004 was a a pretty up and down 

928
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:18,480
year. 
I had some really good runs, 

929
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,120
terrible Olympics, but won the 
Great North Run, which is the 

930
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:23,560
biggest half marathon in the 
world. 

931
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,560
And then New York Marathon came 
around and I probably 

932
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,080
overtrained a little bit, 
probably didn't quite get things

933
00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:31,400
right and didn't go as well as 
I'd hoped. 

934
00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:34,320
But I came away from that 
thinking, you know, the 

935
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:37,400
marathon's a pretty cool, pretty
cool event, but I don't know if 

936
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,880
I'm sort of there yet mentally 
and emotionally to to be good at

937
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,120
it, to be world class at it. 
So I didn't do another marathon 

938
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,120
for a few years I think after 
that and I sort of just went 

939
00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,680
back to cross country and, and 
shorter races. 

940
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:51,800
I mean, I think, no, I think I 
did. 

941
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,440
I did London Marathon in 2005 
and ran a lot better. 

942
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,200
And then I didn't do many 
marathons for a little while. 

943
00:41:57,760 --> 00:41:59,760
So it's one of those things I 
think with the marathon, I 

944
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,200
didn't when, when, when I first 
did it, I didn't fall in love 

945
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:03,880
with it. 
I was sort of really still 

946
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,280
loving cross country and the 
shorter races and, and I just 

947
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,200
had so much respect for people 
that had run a lot of marathons 

948
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:12,440
and had that experience and were
very good marathon runners 

949
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,880
because, you know, it's so hard 
to get everything right in a 

950
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:16,680
marathon. 
And I had no idea what to 

951
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:18,040
expect. 
Like I was coming from the 

952
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:20,400
track. 
You look at a pace of a time you

953
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:22,840
want to do when you come from 
the track and you say, oh, that 

954
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,680
pace is so slow compared to what
I can do at 10K or half 

955
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,440
marathon. 
But when you actually do the 

956
00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:30,440
marathon, you know, it's so many
other factors that can go wrong 

957
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,040
and it's so much harder. 
And I didn't have, didn't have 

958
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,600
that respect and that sort of 
thought in my mind of, of how 

959
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:38,440
I'm gonna go on this roller 
coaster of emotions. 

960
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:42,520
So I'm quite, I'm, I'm hard at 
keeping my emotions steady. 

961
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,360
I'm one of those people that I'm
like all or nothing sometimes. 

962
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,040
And I, I have to really like. 
And that's good for the track 

963
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,400
and good for cross country 
because you get real fired up 

964
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:52,720
and they're only short races. 
But in the marathon you can't be

965
00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:54,760
really fired up all the time 
because it's such a long race. 

966
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,080
So I have to had to learn a lot 
of things. 

967
00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,080
So I don't think I fell in love 
with it straight away. 

968
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:03,000
I think I started to enjoy it 
more after I'd done one or one 

969
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,560
or two. 
But having said that, my best 1 

970
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,320
was my third one. 
Do you know what's funny? 

971
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,520
Courtney is hearing Bonita talk 
about the marathons and the way 

972
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:12,520
she treated it initially is a 
bit like how I think some run 

973
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:14,840
influencers treat the marathons 
and they don't show it the 

974
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:16,360
appropriate respect that it 
deserves. 

975
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:18,480
Trade in. 
Yeah, get you ready for a 

976
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,000
marathon in four weeks. 
No worries. 

977
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:24,120
Sorry. 
Yeah, we'll get into all of 

978
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:24,960
that. 
We'll get into all of. 

979
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:26,520
That, but, yeah. 
And at the time I didn't. 

980
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,400
But when you look back in your 
career, you know, I definitely 

981
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,520
didn't didn't give it the 
respect that it needed. 

982
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:33,760
Yeah. 
And then I suppose a 

983
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,280
progression, you know, obviously
went on to run, you know, 

984
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:40,120
Olympic Games, all those 
marathons when what was the kind

985
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:44,440
of the decision then the tipping
point, obviously then give up, 

986
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,560
but, you know, move on to the 
next phase of your career and 

987
00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,360
into the coaching. 
Yeah, yeah. 

988
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:52,120
And like with the coaching, I 
never thought about coaching, 

989
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:54,720
but I've done teaching at uni 
and I really like helping 

990
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:57,240
people. 
And I was at a London Marathon 

991
00:43:57,240 --> 00:43:59,240
one year and I can't remember 
which year it was, but I was 

992
00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:02,080
injured and I was pretty annoyed
because I was obviously injured.

993
00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:04,600
I wasn't running, but I was at 
the finish line and I was 

994
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:07,680
watching people finish and I saw
all my friends and elite 

995
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:09,600
athletes on you finish. 
And then I thought, oh, I'm just

996
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:12,480
going to stay and see, you know,
people finished that were going 

997
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:15,200
to break three hours and like, 
oh, I'll just stay to see the 

998
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:16,720
people that are going to break 4
hours. 

999
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:20,000
And it was just so awesome to 
see people like achieving 

1000
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:22,720
something that they may never 
thought they could do or a 

1001
00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:24,640
lifetime goal. 
And I think when you're an elite

1002
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:27,080
athlete, you don't, you just, 
you just think about yourself, 

1003
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,920
you're quite selfish and you 
don't look past what, what, what

1004
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,560
it means to other people and, 
and the whole running thing and,

1005
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:35,600
and, and you know, something 
that you could, might do once in

1006
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:37,960
your life. 
And so when I saw this, I was 

1007
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:39,720
like this. 
It would be amazing to help some

1008
00:44:39,720 --> 00:44:43,080
of these people and sort of 
that's when I start thought, you

1009
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:44,680
know, I'd love to do some 
coaching. 

1010
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:47,040
And it was while I was still 
running a lot. 

1011
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,320
So I did start a coaching 
business in America, in Boulder,

1012
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,800
in Colorado and I was doing a 
lot of coaching there. 

1013
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,560
So it was sort of, I think it 
was at that race where I, I 

1014
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:58,240
went, I went to the race and I 
was feeling pretty down because 

1015
00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:01,680
I wasn't racing and annoyed. 
But then I sort of came home and

1016
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:05,440
I was like, you know, that was 
awesome seeing these people and 

1017
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:09,160
seeing the emotion and, you 
know, and so I just, I, I want 

1018
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:11,240
to help some people. 
And that's when I started 

1019
00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:14,960
thinking about setting up a 
business and, and doing, doing 

1020
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:18,040
that and, and my coaching in 
Colorado was awesome. 

1021
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,880
Like I had a lot of people. 
We were based at a sports 

1022
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,040
medicine centre, Boulder Centre 
for Sports medicine. 

1023
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:25,600
So we had access to Physiology 
testing and things like that. 

1024
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,880
But it was more about, for me, 
coaching's about putting the 

1025
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:31,200
pieces together. 
So obviously knowing what, what 

1026
00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:33,160
sessions to give people. 
I think a lot of coaches know 

1027
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:36,760
that, but it's about putting the
pieces together. 

1028
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:39,680
But but also knowing people and 
how people work emotionally as 

1029
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:42,640
well I think helps. 
So that's the more the face to 

1030
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:45,960
face, you know, kind of 
individualisation I suppose is 

1031
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:47,640
where I'm going. 
Really, really matters. 

1032
00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:49,880
You need to. 
It's more than just providing 

1033
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:51,280
sessions. 
Yeah. 

1034
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:52,120
And I'll. 
Yeah. 

1035
00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:53,880
And that's right. 
And I've never done coaching 

1036
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:55,560
that's not individualised 
programming. 

1037
00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:58,120
So I've never done, you know, 
when you've seen these big 

1038
00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:00,720
groups of people that have 100 
people shot for a session, I've 

1039
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:02,000
never done that sort of 
coaching. 

1040
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,120
And where and where's the 
coaching inspiration come from? 

1041
00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:07,560
Because obviously you've Dick, 
you've got childhood coaching. 

1042
00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:10,040
Dick Telford, Nick Badeau. 
Yeah. 

1043
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:15,680
Yeah, I think it's just more 
that it, it's probably probably 

1044
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:19,120
come from teaching and helping 
people, but also. 

1045
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,280
On the go. 
Yeah, and also probably the 

1046
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:25,120
coaches that I've had have had a
big influence on sort of how I 

1047
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:28,920
would help people programme in 
training and and not sort of 

1048
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:32,920
setting specific workouts and 
sessions on specific days and 

1049
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:36,120
being flexible with your week. 
And I think everyday people that

1050
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:40,360
have jobs have families, you 
know, you can't be sort of oh, 

1051
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:42,440
you've got to do your long run 
on Sunday sort of thing. 

1052
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:44,920
That's not how I coach. 
And you've, you've, you just got

1053
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:46,840
to have that flexible attitude 
and that's how people are going 

1054
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:49,160
to get the best out of their 
running if it fits in with their

1055
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:52,040
lifestyles and, and what they're
already doing as well. 

1056
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:55,720
So you sort of you can't and you
can't set training for someone 

1057
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:58,480
based on something that you've 
done as an athlete either. 

1058
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:01,800
But, but as you coach more 
people, you know what works for 

1059
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:03,360
more people. 
So I think having that 

1060
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:05,120
experience has really helped, 
yeah. 

1061
00:47:05,240 --> 00:47:07,480
What do you think of where 
runnings are in Australia right 

1062
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:08,960
now? 
This could because we, I mean, 

1063
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:11,960
Courtney and I were sitting here
on a podcast that we started off

1064
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,240
the back of a friendship which 
was born out of running 

1065
00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:17,400
together. 
And, and the podcast has grown 

1066
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,560
out of this boom that we're 
seeing here in Australia at the 

1067
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,560
moment around the major 
marathons and, and other running

1068
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:24,520
events. 
What do you think? 

1069
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:25,720
Where do you think it's at right
now? 

1070
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,240
Oh, it's just in a great spot. 
Hey, like real. 

1071
00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:32,320
You know, I, I look at when I 
first started out running, you 

1072
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,320
know, going to my first Olympics
or even running in Mackay, 

1073
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:37,480
right. 
I'd run in Mackay on the side of

1074
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,440
the road, no bike paths. 
And people would honk their horn

1075
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:41,520
at you. 
Like, what the hell are you 

1076
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:43,560
doing? 
You know, so. 

1077
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:46,360
And it's who's chasing you. 
Yeah. 

1078
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:48,960
And so it's gone from that to 
like, you know, or, you know, 

1079
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:52,040
you're training on on a grass 
track and you've got plumbers 

1080
00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:54,560
trying to sweep you all the time
and there's no one else out 

1081
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:56,280
there. 
And so it's gone from that to 

1082
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,880
like, you know, people meeting 
at cafes and doing runs and, and

1083
00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:03,200
that whole social aspect. 
So, you know, even seeing how we

1084
00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:05,880
went at the world indoors. 
And I know that's, that's not 

1085
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,960
rec running, but Australian 
athletics and running is just 

1086
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:10,600
really booming. 
And it's just great to see 

1087
00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:14,440
people outside and doing stuff 
and, and socially, I think it's 

1088
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:17,680
a, a great thing to do. 
But for what I do, yeah, it's 

1089
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:19,840
just fantastic to see all these 
major marathons. 

1090
00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:23,240
Like it's so hard to even get 
like a spot in a marathon even. 

1091
00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:25,160
Yeah, you know. 
And we're, our next one is 

1092
00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:26,720
Ballarat. 
We're going down there in a 

1093
00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:29,400
month and they're, they're 
selling out too, so, and they're

1094
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:31,400
only a new event. 
So it's one of those things and 

1095
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,040
a regional town too. 
So it's one of those things that

1096
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,040
I, I think the more people out 
there running and like, it's an 

1097
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:39,800
easy thing to do. 
Hey, you just need some shoes 

1098
00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:42,160
and you don't even need shoes. 
You can just run on the beach 

1099
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:44,520
and be. 
Well, and you, who knows, you 

1100
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:46,160
might have been up at 4 Olympics
as well. 

1101
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:49,040
And now you've obviously on here
on the Gold Coast, you've got 

1102
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:51,320
lace up running, right? 
So that's the, that's your 

1103
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:54,320
coaching business. 
We are looking at. 

1104
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:56,560
What are we? 
We're going to be about 13 weeks

1105
00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:00,480
out from Gold Coast Marathon. 
Now, Liam, I told you I'd get 

1106
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:03,120
you the best coach in the world.
That is. 

1107
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:06,280
Here we go. 
Now my story of how I want to 

1108
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:10,200
tell my story about how I came 
across well, how, why? 

1109
00:49:10,680 --> 00:49:13,960
When anyone asks me who should I
get coached by for the marathon,

1110
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:16,280
doesn't matter who it is, always
point them to Benita. 

1111
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:20,200
Because good friend, mutual 
friend of ours, Al Stevenson, 

1112
00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,320
who I grew up with, running was 
around Melbourne Track Club I 

1113
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:27,760
think back in the day, in these 
Nike days, he stopped running 

1114
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:30,560
for 10 years or so I think and 
then came to yourself with a 

1115
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:33,040
group of his mates and said, oh,
you know, I want to go and run. 

1116
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:36,400
It was actually Gold Coast 
Marathon a while back, jumped in

1117
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:38,280
Benita. 
Obviously I was across this at 

1118
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:39,400
the time. 
I was listening to all the 

1119
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:43,640
training that was going on and 
pretty much Al went from not 

1120
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:46,280
running, obviously a really good
like nearly Commonwealth game 

1121
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:50,000
standard runner as a as a kid, 
but he didn't run for years and 

1122
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:52,360
then went on. 
Benita coached him and his mates

1123
00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,720
and they all like ran out of 
this skin at Gold Coast 

1124
00:49:54,720 --> 00:49:56,600
Marathon. 
I think he might even go second 

1125
00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:59,840
in the Australian championship 
or something that year and 2:23 

1126
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:04,240
give or take from that day on, I
was like, hang on Benita. 

1127
00:50:04,240 --> 00:50:06,480
It's not about, you know, it's 
not about her running at the 

1128
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,480
elite anymore. 
Like she knows what she's doing.

1129
00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:13,280
Then I saw, I suppose, the the 
breadth of venue coaching 

1130
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,280
everyone from first timers right
through to, you know, Alistair 

1131
00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:20,080
to your elites overseas and 
thought, you know, I want to 

1132
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:21,720
understand more. 
And this is where this whole 

1133
00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:23,640
thing was going, right? 
Because when I was talking to 

1134
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:27,160
Liam and we we'll introduce our 
first timer soon. 

1135
00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:30,000
But when I was talking to Liam, 
I'm like, if you're going to go 

1136
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:33,120
and run like Benitas want to do 
it. 

1137
00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:35,480
The other story was my brother. 
Obviously I sent him. 

1138
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:39,240
I sent him to you. 
Now this is a story where pretty

1139
00:50:39,240 --> 00:50:42,160
much him and his mates, he 
didn't tell his mates he was 

1140
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:44,360
training with you. 
So it was all behind the scenes 

1141
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:45,600
really. 
Yeah. 

1142
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:46,400
So the. 
She's. 

1143
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,480
Spoken. 
I spoken to these about this 

1144
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:50,600
before. 
So he actually, him and his 

1145
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:52,880
mates always have this 
competition and behind the 

1146
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:56,360
scenes he's getting coached by 
Bonita like day to day. 

1147
00:50:56,360 --> 00:51:00,400
These fellas have no idea. 
And then he's gone on not only 

1148
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:03,280
ran quicker than he wanted to, 
but then also beat all these 

1149
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:04,160
fellas. 
Right. 

1150
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:08,000
So I've only seen positive 
results up until now, Liam. 

1151
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:09,880
So no pressure. 
Yeah, no pressure. 

1152
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:14,680
But, you know, we we've we've 
been here. 

1153
00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:18,640
What we want to do, you know, we
want to provide, I suppose, a, a

1154
00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:21,960
look through your coaching 
business, through your expertise

1155
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:25,880
with Liam trying to you know 
what, 320, you're A320 marathon 

1156
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:28,040
runner. 321 last year at Gold 
Coast. 

1157
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:31,640
Looking looking towards 3 hours.
We'll discuss that in in future 

1158
00:51:31,640 --> 00:51:33,120
episodes. 
It's optimistic we'll get 

1159
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:35,360
anyway. 
Again, it's not about me just 

1160
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:38,800
yet. 
And then we obviously also like 

1161
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,520
those who listen to us. 
We've figured out that it's not 

1162
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:43,800
we we don't actually speak to 
the elite runners. 

1163
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:46,800
It's we, we've got people 
listening to us who are a lot 

1164
00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:48,880
more everyday runners. 
Like the other week, we spoke 

1165
00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:53,600
about the average run pace on 
Strava, seeing what was it, 625?

1166
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:57,080
25 yeah wow per K. 625 per K, 
they actually have it. 

1167
00:51:57,080 --> 00:51:59,120
So the runners out there are 
actually running at this thing 

1168
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,240
and that's where we need your 
expertise to help. 

1169
00:52:01,240 --> 00:52:03,720
So should you introduce Bronte 
at this stage too? 

1170
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:05,240
Well, yeah, at this point we 
can. 

1171
00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:07,840
We got a little bit of audio 
lined up here. 

1172
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:11,200
This is so obviously I am 
shooting for. 

1173
00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:14,920
In my mind it's a sub three hour
goal which I'd like to aim for, 

1174
00:52:15,160 --> 00:52:19,240
but for a lot of people that 
number is fanciful, right? 

1175
00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:21,360
There's so many people who are 
going to be participating in the

1176
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:24,320
Gold Coast Marathon who are just
trying to finish. 

1177
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:28,000
And on that note this for 
everybody out there listening, 

1178
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:30,520
this is Bronte Langbroek. 
If you haven't heard of Bronte 

1179
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:34,640
before, she's the host of CFM 
Breakfast, Bronte and Lakey in 

1180
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:38,200
the morning and she is entered 
into the Gold Coast Marathon for

1181
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:40,760
the very first time. 
We're staying at my girlfriend's

1182
00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:44,560
house over the weekend. 
We had separate rooms, so I was 

1183
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:47,000
in the spare room and she was in
her bedroom. 

1184
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:52,440
And I thought for me to be as 
comfortable as I can be, to 

1185
00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,520
feel, you know, like I'm going 
to get a good night's sleep at 

1186
00:52:55,520 --> 00:52:58,200
the half marathon the next day. 
I wanted to make sure I got good

1187
00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:01,480
night's rest. 
The best way for me to do that 

1188
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:03,840
is to be as naked as the day I 
was. 

1189
00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:06,240
Born. 
So I'm assuming that this is 

1190
00:53:06,240 --> 00:53:07,720
stock standard for you each 
night? 

1191
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,360
Every night, so to. 
Give you an introduction. 

1192
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:13,400
Yeah, there's a little 
introduction to Bronte. 

1193
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:15,960
Bronte is going to jump on with 
us, of course, as we get into 

1194
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:18,280
the training programme. 
But, you know, I'll let Bronte 

1195
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:20,640
tell more of her running story 
when she joins us. 

1196
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:24,480
But she's she's 12 months into 
falling in love with running, 

1197
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:27,440
and this is her first marathon. 
She did a half last year and 

1198
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:29,800
she's ready to get stuck into 
the main meal this year. 

1199
00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:32,120
So you'll be going through with 
Liam and Bronte and then I 

1200
00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:34,960
suppose the call out is to 
anyone else jump on lace up 

1201
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:38,400
running because you know, we're 
we're at that stage, I suppose 

1202
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:40,600
now out from the Gold Coast 
Marathon, where if you want to 

1203
00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:43,400
get serious and you want to get 
some, you know, proper expertise

1204
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:46,000
and some proper help, It's a 
it's a great time to you know, 

1205
00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:48,240
you don't probably want to leave
it any later, right? 

1206
00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:50,680
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's for 
sure. 

1207
00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:54,040
And yeah, we've got quite a few 
coaches that work for us as well

1208
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:55,640
and they're absolutely 
fantastic. 

1209
00:53:56,360 --> 00:53:59,680
But yeah, we just love working 
for with anyone from elites all 

1210
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:02,600
the way through to beginners. 
And every year at Gold Coast 

1211
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:04,960
Marathon, you know, we have a 
tent near the finish line and, 

1212
00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:08,280
and we really just look at 
individualised programming for 

1213
00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:09,800
people. 
And so everyone's different and 

1214
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:13,160
even if you know Liam, I'm 
coaching Liam, but I might have 

1215
00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:16,040
someone else that's trying to 
break 3 hours, I might coach 

1216
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:19,200
them differently. 
So it's not all about just the 

1217
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:22,760
time, it's about figuring out 
what's best for your routine. 

1218
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:26,400
And, and we aim to get people on
the start line healthy and ready

1219
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,200
to go and excited to run. 
I always think you want to sort 

1220
00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:31,680
of slightly under train then 
slightly over train. 

1221
00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:35,560
And so it's one of those things 
that it's a really hard, there's

1222
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:39,080
a fine line obviously, but you 
you always want to just go 

1223
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:40,960
slightly under that, under that 
line. 

1224
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:43,360
Slightly under training will not
be a problem for me, Vanita. 

1225
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:46,400
I will be able to hit that mark 
no problems. 

1226
00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:49,080
Laser up running, this is really
exciting. 

1227
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,120
This is as I said, we we're 
going to be talking to you more 

1228
00:54:52,120 --> 00:54:54,120
because we are at the very 
beginning of this. 

1229
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:57,080
But today to be able to get a 
little bit of an insight into 

1230
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,080
Benita, the athlete that has led
to Benita, the coach has been 

1231
00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:03,360
absolutely incredible. 
Courtney, I know you've still 

1232
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:05,440
got other things you want to 
ask, you want to fall off 

1233
00:55:05,600 --> 00:55:07,360
because you've got more stuff on
there quickly. 

1234
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:09,880
Yeah, more I've got. 
I know you can be here for that.

1235
00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:12,560
I've got 1 here. 
I heard I'm the Grapevine you're

1236
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:15,360
not the biggest fan of planes. 
Planes. 

1237
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:16,680
Yeah, yeah. 
Do not like 4. 

1238
00:55:16,680 --> 00:55:17,720
Yeah, don't. 
Not really. 

1239
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:20,080
Yeah, yeah. 
And it's one of those things 

1240
00:55:20,080 --> 00:55:23,480
that I've flown so much and I 
but I hate the little ones as 

1241
00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:26,560
well. 
And I remember flying to a 10K 

1242
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:30,240
in Estrava in the Czech 
Republic, and it was really bad 

1243
00:55:30,240 --> 00:55:33,160
turbulence and ohh, and like, 
people were laughing 'cause they

1244
00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:35,160
were just like loving it. 
I think there were some 

1245
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:38,200
commentators on the plane that 
worked for Eurosport and they 

1246
00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:39,960
were loving it. 
And I'm just like trying to 

1247
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:41,840
pretend that I, I just hate. 
Yeah. 

1248
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:43,440
But no, I'd not, not 
particularly. 

1249
00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:47,000
And I have done so much flying. 
I was thinking there was, there 

1250
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,080
was some, there's some reason. 
What? 

1251
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:51,200
What was behind? 
Can I rapid fire some at you as 

1252
00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:53,200
well about your career favourite
Olympics? 

1253
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:57,720
I'd have to say Sydney. 
Sydney, yeah, the home Olympics,

1254
00:55:57,720 --> 00:56:00,120
yeah, and we ran the 5K. 
Yeah, it was unexpected though, 

1255
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:02,680
because you kind of think you 
wanna be in these exotic 

1256
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:05,440
locations for an Olympics. 
But that's why I'm so excited 

1257
00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:08,280
about Brisbane because, you 
know, Sydney was just absolutely

1258
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:11,040
fantastic and they did such a 
good job and it was awesome. 

1259
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:15,040
Favourite place to race? 
I'm going to say Spain. 

1260
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:17,960
I've raced so many times in 
Spain, particularly over cross 

1261
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:20,680
country, but done a lot of track
races there as well. 

1262
00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:22,520
I haven't done. 
I've done a few, yeah, a few Rd 

1263
00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:25,120
races too. 
But the people are just pumped. 

1264
00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:26,800
And, you know, I was talking 
about that race where they're 

1265
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:29,720
throwing firecrackers and 
confetti at you and they can get

1266
00:56:29,720 --> 00:56:32,320
really close. 
And I think that that atmosphere

1267
00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:36,600
is awesome. 
Most starstruck moment? 

1268
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:39,560
Let's call it throughout your 
career, the opportunity to meet 

1269
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:42,440
with somebody. 
That running open for you that 

1270
00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:44,920
left you going wow, did I just 
seriously meet that person? 

1271
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:48,720
Oh well we used to hang out, 
well not hang out but see a same

1272
00:56:48,720 --> 00:56:50,880
bolt all the time. 
So he used to get trade like 

1273
00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:53,080
treatment from where we used to 
get treatment in London. 

1274
00:56:53,280 --> 00:56:54,720
And that was before he was a big
star. 

1275
00:56:54,720 --> 00:56:58,720
Like he was still a a junior 
then and, you know, running 

1276
00:56:58,720 --> 00:57:01,080
really well. 
But you know, it's one of those 

1277
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:04,360
amazing things. 
And there was a lot of the top 

1278
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:08,120
Kenyans that had pay TV, had Sky
Sport and we lived in London and

1279
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:09,720
we didn't have it. 
So we used to go to their place 

1280
00:57:09,720 --> 00:57:12,880
and watch it and we used to 
cook, make pizza for them, like 

1281
00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:15,640
homemade pizza. 
And they were like absolute 

1282
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:19,360
legends of the sport. 
And yeah, I think it's probably 

1283
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:22,160
those sort of people that were 
lived in the same area as us in 

1284
00:57:22,160 --> 00:57:24,680
London in those days too. 
The drug testers loved it 

1285
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:27,160
because all these elite athletes
live together in it. 

1286
00:57:27,160 --> 00:57:30,000
And the drug testers that work 
for UK Athletics, they got paid 

1287
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:32,360
like 30 lbs a test. 
So they used to be. 

1288
00:57:32,800 --> 00:57:34,320
Yeah. 
And I don't know how it works 

1289
00:57:34,360 --> 00:57:34,600
these. 
Days. 

1290
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,400
Dozen for one. 
Yeah, they used to pick all 

1291
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:39,400
these people to test and we all 
got tested and then they used to

1292
00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:41,040
make all this daily. 
Back. 

1293
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:46,680
There while you're eating pizza.
Most amazing off field track 

1294
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:49,320
opportunity. 
Off track opportunity that that 

1295
00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:51,560
came about as a result of 
running something you got to do 

1296
00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:56,440
away from an event because of 
the career you were having on 

1297
00:57:56,440 --> 00:57:58,640
the track or on the on the cross
country track. 

1298
00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:01,320
Yeah, that's a good one. 
But one year we were training in

1299
00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:04,840
Saint Moritz and we were, we had
a meet on in Lausanne to get to 

1300
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:09,040
and we flow, we flew via 
helicopter in these convoy of 

1301
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:11,920
three helicopters to Lausanne 
and through like through all the

1302
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:13,840
Alps and wow, would have cost a 
fortune. 

1303
00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,040
Like we didn't, I didn't pay 
anything, but it was it was 

1304
00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:17,520
awesome. 
Yeah. 

1305
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:20,760
And yeah, I didn't remember 
being too worried about that, 

1306
00:58:20,760 --> 00:58:22,720
but yeah. 
The helicopter tipped through 

1307
00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:23,480
the Alps. 
Yeah. 

1308
00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:25,320
And I, I've been on a few 
helicopter flights. 

1309
00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:28,480
I've been on one in New York. 
But that, that one was so cool. 

1310
00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:31,160
Yeah. 
You feel free to jump in with 

1311
00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:32,880
any of your rapid. 
Fighters, but you may you're, 

1312
00:58:32,880 --> 00:58:35,440
you're just, you're brilliant 
and Benita hasn't missed a beat.

1313
00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:38,320
If I if I was on that side, it 
would be taking half an hour 

1314
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:39,520
for. 
Beniti, you're interested in Co 

1315
00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:40,880
hosting a podcast? 
Yeah, they've got a bloke who 

1316
00:58:40,920 --> 00:58:41,880
can't. 
Fire me. 

1317
00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:43,960
Thing from his I. 
Can run the buttons, that's 

1318
00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:48,120
about it. 
Any regrets from your running 

1319
00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:50,720
career? 
I think, I think one of the 

1320
00:58:50,720 --> 00:58:53,160
things that I wished I had of 
raced in Australia a bit more 

1321
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:56,080
probably, yeah. 
And, and supporting Australian 

1322
00:58:56,080 --> 00:58:59,200
events as well. 
And I think because I lived in 

1323
00:58:59,200 --> 00:59:01,280
Europe, it was always harder to 
get back. 

1324
00:59:01,280 --> 00:59:03,480
Like I was always overseas in 
our winter. 

1325
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:05,280
Never, never in Australia unless
I was injured. 

1326
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:08,680
But I remember being in 
Melbourne for a month in August 

1327
00:59:08,680 --> 00:59:10,080
I think. 
And I felt like Melbourne was 

1328
00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:12,000
the coldest place on earth 
because I'm just never used to 

1329
00:59:12,000 --> 00:59:15,280
live in in Australia in winter. 
So I think, yeah, I wish I had 

1330
00:59:15,280 --> 00:59:16,800
have done it more right. 
I wish I had have done Gold 

1331
00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:18,440
Coast Marathon when I was at my 
best. 

1332
00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:21,960
But it's just one of those 
things that, that your career 

1333
00:59:21,960 --> 00:59:25,360
goes so quickly and I, I, my 
career, it's spanned for 

1334
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:27,960
Olympics. 
But you know, there's a couple 

1335
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:30,480
of the marathon girls these that
are still running very well, 

1336
00:59:30,480 --> 00:59:34,600
Lisa Wightman, Sinead, they're 
older than me and they're doing 

1337
00:59:34,600 --> 00:59:37,800
fantastic. 
So I, I feel like I, I wished I 

1338
00:59:37,800 --> 00:59:40,680
had have run like a few more 
years longer into my career. 

1339
00:59:40,680 --> 00:59:44,240
I think I retired when I was 
like 32 or something, but I just

1340
00:59:44,240 --> 00:59:46,600
didn't have the like, passion 
for it anymore. 

1341
00:59:46,600 --> 00:59:48,680
I had a passion for coaching and
helping people. 

1342
00:59:48,720 --> 00:59:50,800
Yeah, amazing. 
Quickly, I do have one more 

1343
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:53,720
because we have, we could sit 
here and talk about your career 

1344
00:59:53,720 --> 00:59:56,400
forever, but we are going to 
move into Benita the coach mode.

1345
00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:00,640
Gout, gout. 
Yeah, when you see someone like 

1346
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:03,440
him, because he's on the tip of 
Aaron's tongue right now, he's 

1347
01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:05,560
hit the mainstream with what 
he's achieving. 

1348
01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:10,120
How excited do you get for 
Australia to have a a running 

1349
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:13,520
prospect like him? 
I mean he's brilliant, hey, and 

1350
01:00:13,520 --> 01:00:15,880
I remember seeing him so I 
worked for QLD athletics is one 

1351
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:19,360
of my other jobs for Q run. 
And so we've seen him coming 

1352
01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:23,240
through as a younger athlete and
just to see what he's doing and 

1353
01:00:23,720 --> 01:00:25,720
I mean it's it's it's just 
incredible. 

1354
01:00:25,720 --> 01:00:28,920
But a sprinter as well. 
You know, so, so often we have, 

1355
01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:32,200
you know, jumpers, throwers, but
seeing a sprinter coming 

1356
01:00:32,200 --> 01:00:36,200
through, I mean, he well, like 
LA Olympics, it's still a few 

1357
01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:38,280
years away. 
So, you know, he could even be 

1358
01:00:38,280 --> 01:00:40,760
right up there in LA Like we 
always think it's going to take 

1359
01:00:40,760 --> 01:00:42,760
longer. 
Obviously Brisbane 32 is going 

1360
01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:46,360
to be fantastic for him. 
But yeah, he's brilliant. 

1361
01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:48,080
Hey. 
And I think people have just got

1362
01:00:48,080 --> 01:00:51,040
to watch what he does and, and 
having the right people around 

1363
01:00:51,040 --> 01:00:52,840
him to manage his career is 
really important. 

1364
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:55,480
And I think that sort of comes 
with time as well. 

1365
01:00:55,480 --> 01:00:58,640
But just brilliant and doing it 
on Australian soil too. 

1366
01:00:58,960 --> 01:01:01,160
Yeah, fantastic. 
That's the other exciting part, 

1367
01:01:01,160 --> 01:01:04,280
that as you say, you, you, a lot
of people historically have had 

1368
01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:06,200
to move overseas to further 
their careers. 

1369
01:01:06,600 --> 01:01:08,440
Hopefully we can keep him around
as long as possible. 

1370
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:12,200
Well, the exciting part is we've
got Pineda to keep asking these 

1371
01:01:12,200 --> 01:01:14,240
questions for the 12 weeks 
leading up to the Gold Coast 

1372
01:01:14,240 --> 01:01:16,640
Marathon, so. 
Full disclaimer if any more 

1373
01:01:16,640 --> 01:01:19,160
questions come up before the 
next episode, we'll be asking 

1374
01:01:19,160 --> 01:01:22,920
you other things. 
Yeah, it's exciting, but yeah. 

1375
01:01:22,920 --> 01:01:25,960
And the next, the next phase is 
we'll get you to start. 

1376
01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:28,840
The whistle goes round the neck,
the whistle goes round the neck,

1377
01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:31,280
the stopwatch goes in hand. 
Bonita, it's not about you 

1378
01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:33,240
anymore. 
Right now it's about me. 

1379
01:01:33,640 --> 01:01:35,480
Well, it's not just about me, 
but it's about everyone out 

1380
01:01:35,480 --> 01:01:37,600
there as well that's going into 
the Gold Coast Marathon. 

1381
01:01:37,600 --> 01:01:39,920
And Bronte, as we say, Bronte is
going to be coming along for the

1382
01:01:39,920 --> 01:01:42,200
journey. 
Bronte is a first time marathon 

1383
01:01:42,200 --> 01:01:46,440
runner. 
Who is thrilled, honoured and 

1384
01:01:46,440 --> 01:01:50,960
and genuinely excited that she 
gets to work with someone of 

1385
01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:54,680
your calibre for I mean, she 
probably feels a bit under 

1386
01:01:54,680 --> 01:01:56,800
qualified to be. 
Oh, no. 

1387
01:01:56,800 --> 01:01:59,360
But like, I have so much respect
for anyone that I coach. 

1388
01:01:59,360 --> 01:02:02,120
I'm excited to coach Bronte and 
look after her programme. 

1389
01:02:02,120 --> 01:02:05,600
It's oh, I mean, having two kids
now, having, you know, a life 

1390
01:02:05,600 --> 01:02:08,800
that's not just focused on 
running, it's just so hard. 

1391
01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:11,480
And so I just love coaching 
people because of all the other 

1392
01:02:11,480 --> 01:02:13,800
things they've got going on in 
their life and and how they can 

1393
01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:16,760
still sort of get get their 
training done and and focus on 

1394
01:02:16,760 --> 01:02:18,240
what they need to do. 
Amazing. 

1395
01:02:18,240 --> 01:02:21,960
Alright, we'll see you in the 
next episode of In the Beginning

1396
01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:23,600
Runs Gold. 
Coast in the beginning runs Gold

1397
01:02:23,600 --> 01:02:24,400
Coast. 
Stay tuned.