Ep 33: No Rest Days Since 2022… Seriously How!!??

What would make someone run every single day for over 3 years?

In this episode, you’ll meet Frank Chung... a Brisbane runner whose daily running streak dates back to December 28, 2022.

But beneath the streak lies something much deeper.

Following separation, injury, career upheaval, and periods where he felt completely lost… running slowly became the thing that helped pull him back together.

Now more than 1,200 consecutive days later, Frank reflects on discipline, identity, community, and why running became non-negotiable in his life.

In this episode:

•  The emotional period that brought Frank back to running
•  Building Kedron parkrun and Old Skool Run Club
•  Injury setbacks and drifting away from himself
•  The daily streak that changed everything
•  Running through marriage, fatherhood, business, and life
•  Why running became essential to his mental health

Runbelievable — real runners, unreal stories.

Interested in being a guest on the show? Hit us up!

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http://runbelievable.au

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Transcript

Intro

Frank 0:00

Has helped me heal through a lot of things, helped me get through a lot of tough times. And that's the sort that's the thing I use running for. I really think that without running, I I I would I wouldn't be around to tell you the honest truth.

Joshie 0:18

Hello everybody and welcome to Run Believable, the podcast that celebrates why we run. I'm your host, Josh Trichin, and I'm here to bring you stories about what best got people running and what keeps them lacing up day after day. From the last and the lessons to out-of-control toplets on unstable scooters, this is why we run and how it shapes who we become. Coming up in this episode, you'll meet a runner who hasn't had a rest day since Jacinda Arden was New Zealand's Prime Minister. Can you believe? How he's managed to keep up this hot streak? Well, we're about to find out. And let me assure you that the story that lies beneath this incredible feat truly embodies the run-believable spirit. Joining me as co-host today is Brett Peterson. Brett, what's your longest running streak without a rest day?

Brett 1:06

G'day, Josh. Yeah, really nice to join you. Awesome. Hi, you know why don't I have to go back to my spreadsheet? That's a question without notice. I'll have to take that on notice and uh and go look it up. Um yeah, you know, I I I don't know off the top of my head. I don't reckon I've done more than I reckon I've probably done a month's worth. Um maybe two months. I reckon that, yeah, 50 or 60 days is probably the longest streak I've ever done. Because you need to have a rest day in there. Yeah, but I'd I've definitely I know that I've definitely done uh at least 30 days because I September I ran every day, and that was just in September gone. Uh what about yourself?

Joshie 1:48

Oh 10 days, I reckon. Yeah, yeah, no, fair enough. Uh how this guy um uh well we'll find out in a moment. I don't want to give too much away. No, no, sure. The streak that this guy's on is truly remarkable. Um some of the some of the things that he's been able, like life goals and life challenges that he's been able to work around this feed is quite something. So uh okay, now

Results: Guess The Mileage (Week 1)

Joshie 2:12

look for those of you who are following along on Instagram. Now, assuming, of course, that the algorithm isn't screwing us over, you'll be well aware that we've just launched our first community competition. Guess the shoe mileage. Now, there's two cool prizes on offer, one of which will be useless to those right uh living outside Southeast Queensland, and one that will be of limited use to people who, well like Brett here, don't want your guns on display. So if you haven't, if you haven't already submitted a guest, that's totally fine for those who have. It is now too late, I'm afraid. You needed to have submitted your first guess by Tuesday evening. Now, surprise, surprise, we're actually recording this ahead of that time, so I'm going to assume that we have at least one entry. Otherwise, this competition will be uh like a lead balloon. So, folks, get ready. Week one's shoes. That is Joshi's aromatic ASICs Nova Blast Vives have done 407 kilometres. Yeah, I'm sorry. Now, Brett, I'm sorry, you're ineligible having heard the answer. Um what did you think of the did the drum roll work?

Brett 3:30

Great prizes too. Yeah, the drum roll worked, mate. So that's there you go. You've got it for future reference, future episodes now. Uh yeah. I don't know if that's cringe worthy is all hell.

Joshie 3:41

But anyway, it saves me a bit of editing afterwards. Uh but look, sincerely thanks uh to the folks at Bridge to Brisbane who are very kindly donated a free either 5 or 10k entry to our winner. And yes, indeed, the Run Believable single at top, we will post anywhere in the world where postage costs are reasonable. Now, uh Brett, it's quiz time. Oh, it's come around already. It has. We need another sound effect, by the way, for the quiz or some kind of intro. Um now, look, we've actually had a few listeners that have subtly pointed out that some of our quizzes are more biased towards the elite end of town, which yeah, potentially and unwittingly, I might add, enables a culture of high performance. Now, Run Believable certainly exists to support runners of all abilities, irrespective of age, gender,

Quiz Time: parkrun NZ

Joshie 4:30

race, and so we also have a growing legion of fans from New Zealand. So shout out to our friends across the ditch. Given this unique combination, today's questions are all about Parkrun New Zealand. Oh, okay. Yeah. Now, Brett, is it true that you spent five years living in New Zealand?

Brett 4:54

Oh, you know, I've actually never been to New Zealand. So this is gonna be you're in strife, my friend. Yeah, yeah. I think the capital is Wellington, not Auckland, right? But yeah, okay. Okay.

Joshie 5:12

I think you're in trouble here, but let's see how we go. It's multiple choice, so you're a one-in-three shot for each of these questions.

Brett 5:18

Okay.

Joshie 5:19

Question number one. The first park run in New Zealand was where? A. Hamilton? B, Porirua, or C, Lower Hut?

Brett 5:31

Okay. It's probably a a trick question. What was A again? Was that Hamilton, did you say? It was indeed. Yeah, and that's the only one I recognized out of the three that you said. So my logic tells me that if that's the only one that any place that I recognise, that's the biggest place. So that would be the place that it is. However, and this is doing a bit of Princess Bride logic here around the which which cup which chalice is poison. However, I believe. Yeah, the switcheroo, I believe, that you wouldn't make it so easy. So I think that uh perhaps it's lower hut, I think, was the third choice. However, lower hut, no, I won't, I won't keep going on. I'll just I'll just pick one. So I'll I'll I'll stick with Hamilton, which was my first choice. Yeah.

Joshie 6:17

It was Lower Hutt, my friend.

Brett 6:20

Plastic, of course. He drops dead.

Joshie 6:24

Uh so on the 5th of May 2012, Lower Hutt was indeed the first park run in New Zealand. Question number.

Brett 6:31

Hey mate, you didn't do the this is the first time you didn't do that. So you didn't actually do the dance sound effect for the because I got it wrong.

Joshie 6:38

But that's added, that's added afterwards. Is it? Sorry. Yeah, the bit of a bit of it. You're gonna have to trust me, that is definitely gonna be in there. Classic. I'll put I'll put it in an extra run for you. Question number two. How many Parkrun New Zealand events are there? And this is as at, let's say, last weekend. By the way, there's such a variation between these results. Um, even if they've added one or two, it's not gonna make a difference. Yep. Uh is it A71, B 121, or C 135? Yeah, okay.

Brett 7:12

So my logic says, yeah, I mean, that all of those numbers are well below Australia's, but New Zealand's a much smaller country as well. Um, but I reckon it's still gonna be I'm gonna go for the top end there, so I'm gonna go for 135. It was actually a 71. Oh, now I've got to get this next one right to at least equal what I did last time, at least get one out of three.

Joshie 7:37

And the pressure's on, right-o. Pressure is on indeed, by the way. You wouldn't be the first co-host to get zero from a three. Let's see how we go. By the way, we've got some some listeners that have wanted the questions to be more challenging. And certainly, Paul, if you're listening, this one's for you. I sincerely hope that I'm tripping you up, my friend. Question number three uh the average finish time for Parkrun New Zealand, and this is across all events that have ever been held, is it A 28 minutes 23 seconds, B 3243, or C 3512?

Brett 8:12

Okay. Well, you know, one of the I think one of the KTIs of um of Parkrun is that they actually have a slower average time because that means it's uh becoming a more inclusive event globally. So encouraging more walkers and you know, people of all walks of life to to get involved. So I'm gonna go for on that basis, I'm gonna I'm gonna go for C because that's the slowest time. And um, and also I reckon you know, when you include a lot of the walkers and others, then yeah, I'm gonna go for C.

Joshie 8:44

It was actually B 3243.

Brett 8:47

Okay, so that's a zero, that's a zero out of three. And the questions are on the premise that I'd lived in New Zealand for five years. Five years, yep. Yeah, okay. Well, you'll call that an epic fail, but it as to be expected, really. Um yeah, yeah. Well I run ironically, we're talking about going to New Zealand this year, but yeah. Really?

Joshie 9:06

Yeah, well, you'll have to brush up on your New Zealand park run stats. So look an epic fail for yourself, Brett, but it gave me no end of entertainment. So hopefully that's of some consolation to you.

Brett 9:17

No more kids, Josh.

Joshie 9:19

Cheers. Um, and if you've been playing along at home, please let us know how you've gone. Today's guest is on a daily running streak that dates back to the 28th of December 2022. Jaw-dropping stuff. But perhaps more fascinating is the life experience that has led to this incredible feat. Can we please welcome Frank Chung? Welcome, Frank. Thank you very much, Josh. Thank you very much.

Frank 9:43

Gay Frank. Wow, that was a great introduction, really. You've got a lot to leave up with.

Joshie 9:51

We're only just getting started, my friend. Now, look,

Guest Spotlight: Frank Chung

Joshie 9:54

um running isn't overly new to you. You and I caught up a few weeks ago, and I think you said you've dabbled in it on and off since 2003. But it seemed to take on a completely new role in your life after 2013. Um, what can you tell us about your life around that time?

Frank 10:13

Life around that time was uh it was um it was a period of time that was a lot of grief in my life. Okay, I just got separated from my first wife. I had a three-year-old daughter and I really didn't know what to do with myself. So I decided to I decided to run there, go to parkrun, and that was off the back of the encouragement of my brother, who at the time was working in the mines, and he would fly back my brother Chris, he would fly back every Friday, check up, make sure I was okay. And he was the one that initiated the whole parkrun process for me. So if you have a look at our um our A numbers, our our numbers for parkrun were actually just one, two apart. Yeah. So every time I grew up, I didn't want to do it because I was in a state of misery. So it was a form of healing for me. So at that point, I decided that every every Friday was a period of my life which I was I I didn't want to I didn't want to see a weekend because I didn't have my daughter around me at that time. Okay. It wasn't like until a Sunday or something where I'd get her back or whatever for a few days. We had 50-50 custody. It was all good, but it was just hard because that was the life I knew. Okay.

Joshie 11:46

Yeah.

Frank 11:46

So I wasn't looking forward to like the Fridays, finished work and didn't really know what to do with myself. So initially you'd go out drinking with your mates and stuff after work, but we found that I found that to be like even worse for me. So what my brother Chris did, he pretty much he he he was one of the people that really helped me through save my life, I think, in a way.

Joshie 12:14

Yeah.

Frank 12:14

And he flew back every Friday night and we'd go to Parkrun together, and we did Sandy Parkrun. And from the first time I did it, back in November 2013, I loved it. I just loved the energy that was Parkrun. Uh I just loved the feeling of it. Um, so I got a real buzz from it, just getting 5k, having something else to focus on. So that that's really what started me off. And from there, I I think running has really been part of my life that has helped me heal through a lot of things, helped me get through a lot of tough times. And that's the sort that's the thing I use running for. And I really think that without running, I it's it's I would I wouldn't be around to tell you the honest truth. I wouldn't have met the people that I met, I wouldn't have met my wife, Lisa, now and have a really, really good relationship with her, and also have another three kids after that. So it's I I I could seriously bring it all back just to this one thing was running.

Joshie 13:30

At what point after you started Parkrun? So you kicked off in November 2013. At what point would you say it became part of your routine? Oh, after that. After I didn't I really straight away.

Frank 13:44

Rarely I I I've done today was um my five 520th park run. Oh wow. That's a lot like pretty much every park run possible. I've only missed days where I've been on a plane, been overseas. That was the only time I've ever missed park runs. And where and when I've been overseas, I've always tried to like do a park run, or try and land in Singapore or something like that on a Saturday, get get get out there and do that. And when I haven't had park run, it's just been like something missing, something I'm gonna get real anxious about it that I missed one, the numbers aren't there, etc. Like I'm not a fanatic by any stage. There's a lot of people like up there with the Wilson index, the alphabets and all that sort of stuff. I'm not like that. I I just find it it's just part of my routine on a Saturday, it's part of my social network now. It's yeah, it's part. I get I get to have coffee with my friends, and it's not so much about the like big PBs and stuff like that. I love running with other people. Like today I ran with a guy in um my old school run club, um Kirk, wanted to do 23 minutes. We did he did 20 22 40, so I ran with him there. And I just used that as part of part of my 23k long run today. But I've I've tried to do every single park run. It's getting a little bit tougher now with kids' sports and stuff like that. So I've had to miss a few during this year, which it it does frustrate me when I miss a park runner. But yeah, congratulations for getting to 500.

Joshie 15:31

Yeah, it's a big achievement, and I think it's worth adding at this point that you're not just um racking up the numbers as a participant, which is impressive enough, by the way, but you've also been very active in the running community. You volunteer a lot. In fact, um you helped establish uh Kedron Parkrun in 2016, was it? And you were one of their yeah, one of their original run directors. Um did you realise at the time what you were building?

Frank 16:00

No. I always thought it was cool that it would be cool to have a parkrun along the Kedron Brook because this is where I live. Okay. Um I was actually uh Sangate Parkrun Director at the time. And okay, what the founder, the original founder, Sam Gouty, he reached out to us and said, Look, no, you're a park run, know you're at San Gate Park Run, but would you like to help us do this and come over to Kedarin? I go, Yep, put my hand up straight away. And at that time we did a course, and that course came out of um main football club at the football club up to the top of Mercer Park there. And that's where it started, and then we'd go two and a half K's out pretty much to the Grange and come back. Uh it wasn't a real attractive park run. We didn't get a lot of attraction. It was like a couple hundred people. And we finally, after a year, had to had to change the park run course because the football, the AFL club boot us booted us out. So we we after I think it was about a year, we changed the course to um start at Shore Road. And that's when it started really, that's when the inertia started getting better. Like people started coming. Like I remember in when we started, we only get 60 people. Like wasn't very much. Not now we've got like an average of 450 or so. Yeah. Yeah.

Joshie 17:34

It's really sought after parkrun. So just for Brett's um reference, um Kedron Brooks, uh, I mean, it's flat, um, it's fast course and it yeah, tra uh certainly attracts a lot of people who want to want to run a quick time. Um but yeah, what a what an incredible, I guess, escalation from those early days of you know, probably scrounging for participants and volunteers to now um it being one of the sort of premier locations in in Brisbane. Yeah. Um, so after helping to get Kedrum Parkrun established, um you didn't completely neglect your own uh running goals between 2016 and 19, you're running quite well. From what you told me, you manage uh managed a sub 4010K a bridge to Brisbane and a sub-9 team uh Parkrun, uh whilst also starting um what's become a growing franchise called Barn Me Factory here in in Brisbane. Uh raising Well, yum, I love Barn Me.

Brett 18:34

I'll have to look you up one next time I'm up there. I'll pick you up, bro. Awesome.

Joshie 18:39

Yeah, I think uh from what I know, Barn Me is actually an award-winning um uh or Barn Me Factory is award-winning um in Brisbane. So you've done it you've done a great job. I mean, you've obviously you've been quite dedicated and committed to everything you turn your hand or your attention to. Um what I wanted to ask though is how how did you go uh about balancing all of those competing priorities? Because that's a lot to be taking on at the time.

Frank 19:04

Yeah, you know, I I I think there's something about like when you when you're busy, you manage to fit a lot more in in your day. I was talking to a a mate of mine this morning, Scott, about this um subject. Like he used to work for himself um pretty much seven days a week, and he'd find a lot of time to like fit in a lot of stuff, and now he's on um more or less shift work and he gets a lot of days off and he finds it hard to motivate himself to do stuff. So I think that when you're occupied and you want to achieve other stuff in your life, you just manage to fit it in, and you just I think being busy is good because being busy means that you you have to allocate time in your day to actually use it efficiently. Okay, absolutely. Balancing, I'm not sure if there's a balance. Uh you just have to you just have to roll with the punches a lot of the times. Like sometimes you can't do something that you want, but if as long as you get it 80% right, I think that you're good. Like yeah, like for me, I can't start my day without going for a wrong, you know. It it it pretty much that's the center of my day. Um it I've got to start my day right, and that's how I do it. Like it helps me mentally, like to think during the day. It of its basics, it clears my bowels at the very least, you know. Yeah, I know you feel like a you feel like a lighter, better person, like after, like the run. Yeah, yeah, and um also it's discipline as well. Like it's the hardest thing that I do most times. It takes a lot of energy. Like most most of my energy is spent like going for my runs in the morning, and now that I'm uh using it as a part of training for a marathon, it's it's like it takes a lot of time and takes a lot of energy. So it's discipline in waking up early in the morning. It's easier to sl like just lie in bed and like hope for the best, sort of thing. But you know, you you choose I choose that path because I think that it makes me a better person and it sets me up for the day, you know. Like I said again, it's the hardest part of my day. Waking up at 4 30, trying to get out of the house by five, sort of thing. It's dark, it's cold, and in of the last few days it's been raining and it's windy. You don't want to go out. Like I don't want to go warm up. Most people don't, but you just I I I just do. And that that's I think that's the only difference between like people. Some people just take that extra step and just do something about it, you know, instead of thinking about it, instead of talking about it. Like I just I just go out and just do it. And I know that, you know, 80% of the time I I don't even enjoy the rung a lot of the time. I don't get it.

Joshie 22:19

Really?

Frank 22:20

Yeah. Well, I can relate to that.

Brett 22:22

Absolutely.

Frank 22:23

It can be tough, can't it? Well, I think that you've got expectations of yourself after a while, too. Yeah, like you you want to be able to do this pace, you want to be able to go this distance. You you don't want to be weighed down in your head and all this sort of stuff. And I think but that's the magic of this like run of running, I guess, for me, is that it only takes one, it only takes one good run, you know, to actually you know, keep you coming back, you know.

Joshie 22:52

You know, let's um yeah take a step back be I guess before you had that um discipline, because you've had a bit of a stop-start kind of um aspect to your uh running. Uh you things were quite on track right up until 2019. And in 2020, um COVID hits, you badly twist your ankle on a I think a trail or um parkrone. Yeah, bun your own. Um can you talk us through how that period impacted you?

Frank 23:21

Yeah, it didn't it it wasn't great mentally because like that that that twist was pretty bad, and to even to this day I still feel it, and it probably did some major damage and never got checked out, like any good man would do, you know, check these things out. So fortunately or unfortunately, parkruns stopped for a period of six, seven months then, you know. So it took me about three or four months to like to even start jogging again. And oh this is just it's just one of those things that it's really hard when you have to start all over again, you know. Like it's like if you haven't been to the gym in two years, you come back and it's really hard, you know. You can't you can't just get back into it. You know what you've got to do, but you just can't do it anymore. And so you get a bit upset, you get the sads from it, and you know, it's it was just a really tough period of time. And I call it like the poison, you've got to go get get through that poison first, and you gotta release that poison out of your body by doing that thing that you know that you need to do, and you know, after after time it gets better, okay. And yeah, so there was uh that that period. I still I still did park runs, okay, like every week. But sometimes I would only run once in between or anything like that, and it was only for about three K's. If you look at my Strava, you'd see it, like three or four K's back in the day. Every so I I'd still have I'd still do stuff weekly, you know. I've I've got a Strava streak of like 226 weeks or something like that, but that doesn't paint a true picture of where I was at at that time in my life. Like I I just go out and just sort of go through the motions, do a plot sort of thing, you know, and it really wasn't until you know 20 2022, you know, when I had yeah, fourth child.

Joshie 25:35

You told me that yeah, during that time you had your fourth child. I think you you quit a corporate job that you were in.

Frank 25:42

Yeah, quit a corporate job around that time. I took a I took a period of time. So I've been with my company, it was an ASX 200 list company. I was a finance manager there, and it was a really good role. And but I knew that I knew that I couldn't keep doing it. You know, that's I didn't want to like sort of do the I had I thought to myself, I've got 15 good years to do something that I sort of want to do in my life, and I've always wanted to own a business, and now I had the opportunity to do it. So I got when our when we were asked to like put in a second store for Bar Me factory at Newstead, I took all my long service leave for a year, and I sort of strummed that out for a year, and then I was hoping they'd make me redundant, but of course you don't ever get a redundancy when you want one in this world. You only ever get the flick when you don't actually want the flick. So I checkmated myself and I had to leave the corporate arena because this is what I was gonna do with my life. Like I was gonna try and run these businesses with my family as well as what we possibly could. Yeah, and I think after like 25 years or so, like when you used to a certain lifestyle again, you you find that it's it's really difficult to change, you know. Like it's you think on where whenever you're on holidays or whatever, I think that you you think, oh well, I can do this or do that. But what in reality, once you actually get into that period, it's like jumping off like a bungee jump or something, it's pretty scary. Then you don't know what's ahead, and then you had a really good paying job, and all of a sudden you you don't anymore, and then you've got to try and work that out. You still got a family to feed and all this sort of stuff, and you know you've got to make everything worth, so you you have to hustle, you know. So I I it so that that was a big change in life, and so you I devoted a lot uh a lot of time at the time to that, yeah. And so the running did take a back seat again.

Joshie 28:04

Had you realized how much you'd drifted from the things that were important to you? Was it kind of just insidious that you just one day you weren't the same person anymore?

Frank 28:16

Josh, I think that you do you do realize, you know, you don't want to drift you you do drift, and I think that's the turning point was like, okay, like other people were were doing pretty well at like running the sport and all this sort of stuff, and uh and it sort of gave me encouragement, and I'd go out for a little runs with my friends or work colleagues at the time, and they were very encouraging, and uh you sort of get that mojo back, you know. And so well, yeah.

Joshie 28:54

I mean, you and I um don't know each other that well, Frank. Um, but I've kind of been uh stalking on Strava for quite some time and noticed that you had this like number that you were adding to your activities, sort of like 1130 or something, 1131. Clever me went, no, there's some kind of pattern here. So can you take us back to the 28th of December 2022?

Frank 29:19

Yeah.

Joshie 29:20

Um did you know that you were on the cusp of something quite beautiful?

Frank 29:24

No, absolutely not. I tried this run streak before in 2013. Okay. I only got to like 160 days or whatever. Is that all, yeah? I I just yeah, no, I didn't. I thought I'd I'd give it a go again because like I'm not sure like of you guys, but I went through a period where I sort of like wasn't proud of posting stuff to Strava because it was so crap, you know. Oh, yeah. I I I'm not sure if other people feel the same, but like you're not real proud of something, you just don't want to post it, you know.

Brett 30:03

You just I I I've sort of I've gone off Strava. I haven't posted anything to Strava for the past four months. Um, so yeah, I can relate to what you're saying. Um, and I just I I the reason I've had a bit of a break is I just feel like I've I almost was putting too much pressure on myself. Yeah. Um so having a bit of a Strava detox, but still recording stuff in my spreadsheet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I can relate to that.

Frank 30:26

Yeah, yeah. It's it's a I think it's a real thing. Uh so I thought, no, I'm no stuff it. I'm gonna I'm just gonna do this and I'm gonna post it in Strava and see where it goes, sort of thing. So day one was in no day one was in Sydney on a holiday in like December 28, 2022. And I did do a run walk sort of thing, and I love running in Sydney. Sydney's one of my favorite places to run. I love running over the the like the bridge, the harbor bridge, etc. I love all that bang bangaroo and all that places to run. Take the same photos all the time. So it's like it's a collection of the same. Um I I just thought to myself, yep, this is the time, I'm gonna do it. And I set up a like a little WhatsApp group chat with a few of my friends from work. Okay. They they sort of went on this journey for a little bit. They've all since not run ever like for a for a long period of time now, but it was a very encouraging at the time, you know. And I thought, okay, that day one, day two, day three, and it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy to do that. Like I thought, okay, at least five Ks a day, or very close to. And yeah, it just so somehow just punched through. I I remember day around day 90, I was quite ill, but I still went out for that run. And I don't I haven't even told my wife Lisa about this, but I thought I went out because I was like, I was so sick, and then I thought, no, I've got no, I gotta go. Gotta go. But otherwise, I wouldn't have to. No, I can't just stop at day 90. I've got to get at least to a hundred sort of thing. And did you have a like a minimum?

Brett 32:16

Do you have like a minimum that you do?

Frank 32:18

I might have you said sort of I like to think it's 5K's, but after a marathon, I've only done like a 3K sort of run because I can't physically do much more.

Joshie 32:29

We're gonna explore that shortly because I'm curious about the the streak and some of the compromises that you've uh had to make during that time. But um can I ask, when you started on this running streak, um how much of it was about fitness versus mitigating the risk of drifting back into your old either habits or state of mind?

Frank 32:49

I reckon about 70% was mind. Okay.

Joshie 32:53

Okay.

Frank 32:53

Because I probably wasn't real good to myself at that period of time. I was I've 10 kilos heavier, and I'm like 10 kilos doesn't not too much for most people. Like I was 73-ish kilos, but for me, I I'm just a lean person, okay? And like yeah, that's what I am. Like I I tried to have like romantic notions about being a bodybuilder in my early days and all this sort of stuff, and pumping weights, but the truth of the matter is I can't, I'm not like that, okay.

Joshie 33:31

Okay.

Frank 33:31

So I I think it it was more so like 70% of it was state of mind, and 30% of it was fitness. And but I believe the mind and the body are all related, okay? So if you train your body, you train your mind, and you you be if you're good to your body, you're good to your mind. So thus doing this form of exercise every day, which was running for me, was being good to my mind as well as my body, okay. In and I basically shed that weight in six months without pretty much not dieting too much. But in saying that, the funny thing is, is that when you don't exercise, I'm not sure about you guys or any of the listeners, is that you tend to eat crap food more when you don't exercise.

Joshie 34:24

And when you do exercise, you've got you've got more you've got more time to eat crap food.

Frank 34:29

Well, maybe that's true, but I just think that's like certain neuropathways or some sort of chemicals which say, okay, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna be even worse to myself than I am. And then when you start being good to yourself, you want to be really good to yourself, and so you you watch out for what you eat and all this sort of stuff, and all of those things that like ice creams, like fatty foods and like chips and all that don't seem as attractive, like soft drinks and all that sort of stuff. Like I'm as I I inherently I love soft drinks, okay? But I don't drink them anymore. And I don't find that I need to drink them. But when I wasn't exercising, I'd be like, especially being around a fridge all day, you know, with all of the stuff, you'd have a coke every day or something like that.

Joshie 35:16

And those are where the most of the calories are and stuff. I wonder how much of that's um, you know, we tend to accelerate or almost enable our underlying state of mind. So if we're ex if we're exercising, we obviously this we have this burning desire to look after ourselves, and obviously, you know, diet and nutrition goes along with that. Um getting back to your running streak, correct me if I'm wrong. Today's day 1226.

Frank 35:45

Yeah.

Joshie 35:46

Now a lot's happened in that time. Um you've had your fourth child, I think, during that period. Yeah. You got married. Yeah. I've got to ex- I've got to explore that. Uh, you've also been growing your business as well. Yeah. Um so you ran on your wedding day. Yeah, of course. You ran as you do. You ran somehow in this weird transition period between being in Australia and traveling overseas for multiple marathons, um, even with the time difference coming back. How on earth did you do that?

Frank 36:20

Well, it wasn't real, wasn't real good or real flash. You just I'm not I'm not sure how I did it. I just did it sort of thing. But you just I think when you got a desire to do something, you just find a way to do it, really. So I I I've got no real answer for it. It's just the way that I'm wired now, nowadays. It's it's just who I am. So that that's my habits now that I need to do this.

Joshie 36:51

Have you ever had to like miss anything important or compromise to get the run in?

Frank 36:55

No, I've got a very supportive wife. Lisa's very supportive. So yeah, she knows that I need to do this, and she's very encouraging of it. I think it gives her the crap sometimes, but she but you know, we all we all have strange little quirkinesses in like our personalities. And I guess like at least I'm not drinking, going out to the pub and stuff. I'm just going for a half-hour troll around the park. That's not exactly I'm back within the most of the times within the 30-minute period. It's not like a it's not like a massive amount of time during the day or whatever, it's like 30 minutes of your day. Like so I had to miss it. I I I had to run at different times of the day, yes. Yeah, and I if I don't do it in the morning, I get edgy all day, and I get eye just thinking about the fact that I have to run. So that's what I rather do it in the morning. So it just alleviates the pain in my brain, just to think about this. My mind is at ease to know that I've done something that I I I needed need to do, and that's first and foremost. Yeah. So I think for every single achievement that has been a part of my life since, you know, it's it's running in the morning, you know. It's it's giving me clarity, it's given me like it's made me a happy person. And I think generally, I think that's why people sort of like like to be around me, I guess. Because I'm generally a more happier person because of this. Like I still get cranky, I get cranky at my kids, I get frustrated at things that go wrong and all that sort of stuff. But I think because of running, uh I I have I have a tendency to be able to let things go quicker.

Joshie 38:52

Like I um I can't imagine you getting cranky, to be honest, Frank. I ran into you. I get cranky. I don't know if you remember, I ran into you months ago. You were grab you and I grabbing a coffee from the same coffee joint, and you stopped and had a chat to me for like five or ten minutes, and then all of a sudden you go back to your car. There's like three or four kids barreling around in the car just I were enjoying themselves, I were watching YouTube in the car, man. Actually, I've got to ask you about um you mentioned a little bit earlier in the call the run club that you've uh I I think you said you're part of, but you started a run club called Old School Run Club. What can you tell me about the run club and what your motivation was for starting it?

Frank 39:34

Well, I didn't just start it. Me and a good friend of mine, John O'Wilson, a very good friend of mine, started Old School Run Club. So John O and I have been on a lot of Avengers together. We're school dads originally. And he's gone through a lot of he's actually been a very good person to interview about this random stuff one day yourself. He's been through a lot. He he runs his own business as well. So he had a um he had an episode in his life a couple of years ago where he nearly passed away because of um uh uh some sort of lung deficiency that he had coming back off a flight from South Africa. So that was about 2023. Okay. So I said to him, like, come on, come, come out for a run with us. And then we started running together, okay? And that was at the end of 2023, and then we and then his his brother just happens to work for Adidas over in Germany, okay? He Adidas headquarters. So he goes, Oh, gave me a text message, remember it clearly. He gave me a text message one night, dinner, dinner time, and then came, popped up. And then this long-winded text message comes through. Come on, we've got to do Berlin Marathon this year. Andy, his brother, got it, is getting us tickets and stuff like that. You in, you win, you win. Okay, and then I said to Lisa, can I do Berlin Marathon? She goes, Okay. And that was it pretty much it. So we we done uh that was overseas marathon, and one of the like best experiences of my life, apart from Chicago, like that was really good. Uh, got to do a lot of things, got to visit Adidas factory, etc. So John O and I have been kicking around together, doing a lot of runs together. We made some stupid videos of running together for a period of time. And yeah, and then one day we were running, and then we saw these other run clubs, and we thought, like, they're all young people, and but like no one's gonna join, no, no one of our like vintage is gonna join them. Vintage, yeah. Yeah, they're 23 good-looking guys, good looking girls, sort of um thing. You just look like a dirty old man if you join them. So we we we decide to like, yep, we'll we'll start, we'll we'll do something, we'll start out our own run club. And we posted it on the community page, our local community page here, and it got a lot of traction. And we were we were stoked, we were surprised that anyone would actually like want to do this. So, out of that, like we we did it like the week after Anzac Day. We started the run club week after Anzac Day in uh 2024, and we we ended up getting six or seven people, like all people from the neighborhoods, from the neighborhood around here. Some people have driven drive quite a distance, really, to get to where where we are on Thursday, 5 45 in the morning. And yeah, so it's just started off as something like shits and giggles sort of thing, and it's actually turned into something. We've got our own shirts, we've got we've got a little we've got a big what we've got a big WhatsApp group of 30 30 to 40 people on there now. And we've got an average attendance sort of around close to 20 people a week. And uh it's just one of these things, it's just like your podcast, it's just all about consistency, it's just about turning up every week, you know. Like and and with like my like-minded people as well. There was a period of time where we'd only get two or three people, and I remember going out in the middle of winter a couple of years ago when we first started, and there was only one other guy that came out with me. I was like a bit bit of a pill to swallow, you know. But you you think okay, I'll I'm you you just flip it around as I'm I'm just going for a run anyway, and if anyone's joining you, you might as well come with us. So it's been Quite a it's been a really, really nice venture. Okay. And we we don't want any money from it. We don't don't have membership or anything. Um we because I own a business, Jonah owns a business, and another fella in our run club owns a business. We all chipped in for the shirts and people paid the difference. So these are quite nice shirts that we got. They're like a hundred bucks each. And so they're they're they're they're very good shirts. And that that's pretty much the only obligation is that if you want a shirt, you just pay the difference, really. And we you we're using that as an end-of-year sort of function for ourselves.

Joshie 44:40

Oh that is so cool. Well it's at the same uh I I love the philosophy of old school run club, and I've seen photos of those shirts, they look bloody cool. With your um, so you've got some personal goals that you're working towards. I think you've shared with me. And if you don't want this being included, that's fine. I think you're harbouring ambitions of a sub-three hour marathon one day. Oh wow. Um fantastic. I've got to ask, um, you know, marathon training can be quite structured. Rest days are often incorporated into those programs. If you had to give up your running streak to give yourself your best chance of achieving a sub-three hour marathon, would you do it?

Frank 45:25

Yeah, I would. That's a definite yes. But the provider but the thing is, okay, this is my daughter.

Joshie 45:33

Oh, hello.

Frank 45:34

Hi there. Nice to meet you. Yeah, hello. So I I would is is the honest answer. The thing is, on my easy days, I run really, really, really easy. Okay. And I incorporate that as a really just a really slow run day. Sometimes I walk part of it, and it's really just for me to get the mind and the body going in the morning. Okay. So whether that's a rec that whether you call that a recovery day or not a recovery day or an on day, that's f that's a subjective matter, I think.

Joshie 46:11

I think I've heard it referred to as active recovery.

Brett 46:14

It's active recovery, I guess. Hey. Um, well, Frank, what's your current PB for a marathon? 316 at Chicago last year. Well, okay. All right. Yeah, so you're getting you're getting close.

Frank 46:25

Well, not close enough. It's just the last 10Ks I've got to work on. It's the I've bombed. But yeah, got ya. But I um I signed up to a runner program, like the runner app, and I'm working through that. And it's actually been quite good for me. Uh, like yeah, I've heard some positive stuff about the runner ones. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, good stuff. Well, good luck with that. Thank you. Uh I might not do it this year, and I might not ever do it, but I'm gonna keep trying until I do it.

Joshie 46:56

Yeah, yeah. I think you said that next year I think you turned 50, and New York's on the horizon on the cards here.

Frank 47:04

We're we're trying to get a group of us to go to New York for the old school run club. Well, I I'm pretty sure John O turns 50 as well, so we're born 1977.

Joshie 47:13

Yep.

Frank 47:14

So we've got that on the back of the shirts as well, 1977. Oh, cool. And we we want to do New York, and it's just something we want to take our our um our brides to New York as well as part of the trip. So we'd like to do that. Uh yeah, it's just a good aspiration to have. Like I've always wanted to go to New York. I've never I've only ever been to like the west coast of America, not in the in the center, but uh it's just something that I've always wanted to do. So yeah.

Joshie 47:51

And before we finish up, Frank, I've got to ask um 1,226 consecutive days of running, what would you say that that consistency has taught you about yourself?

Frank 48:06

It's taught me that I can actually do anything if I put my one mind to it. Okay. If if if I can do this, if I can wake up every day, be consistent with myself, okay, and do that hard thing first, everything at the end of the day will be easy. Okay. So I I I think that that's what it's taught me is that I can do pretty much anything. I can be good to myself because of it. And most of all I can I can be a happy person. I can be at peace with my mind once I've done it too.

Brett 48:51

Have you managed to I'm guessing you've had niggles and stuff. Yeah. Um I'm guessing you you you you you continue to write you when you have sickness or niggles and that sort of stuff, I'm guessing you're obviously continuing to run through that. Um has that been okay? Or like you haven't made things worse?

Frank 49:11

No, I haven't made things worse. I've got a glue problem at the moment, and that's from doing intervals at probably faster pace than I should be doing.

Brett 49:21

Right.

Frank 49:22

Yeah. And uh I've I've got a I've got a good physio, he's a good guy, and he's he's been punching me out. So I've been incorporating uh a lot more strength workouts. I've been doing yoga pretty much most days in my part of my routine, and so that's given me like more flexibility, and I think that my running gate's better because of it. But as far as colds and flus are concerned, yes, I get them. And I still run through them. And I I find that I find that I'm gonna be sick regardless of whether I do it or not. So if I do it, I I feel better afterwards because I've gotten rid of most of the congestion afterwards, although it does build up after that, but at least for a period of time you do feel better. And uh yeah, so I yeah, that's that's my attitude towards that, is that I I'll do it regardless, unless I get hit by a bus or a scooter on the track or whatever, yeah, I'll keep doing it.

Joshie 50:32

And just finally, uh Frank, when you sort of think about everything that you've achieved to date, um, how would you say that running has shaped your identity and who you are today?

Frank 50:44

It's a huge part of my identity. Like a lot of people, I've met a lot of people on on the track and they know me pretty much, not because of my business or anything like that.

Joshie 50:55

Oh no!

Frank 50:56

Mostly because of running. Like, yeah, they they know me as someone that runs. And most of my friends know me as someone that runs that that I think that's a huge part of my identity.

Joshie 51:09

Yeah. Well, I think you're you're a stupid star, but Frank. Um really thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us, and I have no hesitation in adding just how much I envy your discipline. Um what lies ahead in mind.

Frank 51:24

Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Frank.