Pete Johns - Blog entries of the highest uptodateness

Today marks two significant (to me) anniversaries.

Our 11-year-old was keen to be a part of the Conquer Cancer Australia World Record attempt, so he was up before me this morning to join the runners and joggers and walkers taking one-hour shifts. He’s not old enough to be registered as a runner, but he was able to join in the fun and run with his Dad.

One of the things I have been really enjoying during my career break is learning to tackle cryptic crosswords. I am still not very good at them, but I can solve clues today that were dark to me a year ago, and that’s pleasing progress.

It’s been a very parkrunny week, which involved me presenting at a Volunteering Australia webinar about Community-Led Volunteering and my parkrun experiences. Some people have said nice things about the presentation and the recording will be available soon.

K recently joked that were I to appear on Mastermind, my specialist subject would be Iron Maiden. She may be right. They’re certainly the band I have paid the most attention to over the years. Throughout the 90s they were the band I listened to the most, and this led to me discovering more bands. As a teenager my bedroom walls were plastered with posters of Eddie and even today my office walls have framed records of their eponymous debut album and The Soundhouse Tapes. So I probably know more about this band than the average person on the street. But I also know there are plenty of Maiden fans more obsessive than me, so I wouldn’t put myself out there on Mastermind.

As you know, this month I am taking part in a World Record attempt, as part of Conquer Cancer Australia.

This morning I was one of the 283 finishers at Coburg parkrun event #517, and K was one of the 14 volunteers.

One of the things I was told before I got my first Mac was that Apple’s user interfaces were the most intuitive. Back in the early 2000s, I think that was probably true (compared, for instance, to Microsoft Windows, where you’d tap the “Start” button to shut it down).

I’m proud to be part of a Guinness World Records attempt, running in a non-stop four-week relay around Princes Park to help conquer cancer. It also happens that my little brother ran into the record books this weekend.

One of the aspects of being a parkrun ambassador that I really enjoy is jumping in the car or on the bike on a Saturday morning and heading to a parkrun event. I have blogged before about using my NENDY to decide where I should go, which is all well and good, but it’s not the only way I choose. Each event can only be your NENDY once. I also very much enjoy returning to events and the “p-index” is a good heuristic for deciding which event to head back to.