One neat aspect of being away from Madison is that we are starting to learn about cool local events, such as ParkRun (parkrun.com.au). Basically, there are hundreds of weekly 5k runs throughout Australia, all free, with internet-based registration and results tracking. After signing up, we received a barcode that we bring with us to the race on Saturday morning. The closest run to us is in Princes Park, about 10 minutes jogging from where we are living. This weekend we’ll need to decide whether to do the run, play frisbee, risk our bodies and do both, or try to do something else. The barcode solution to tracking runners is especially clever and could be used for low-cost running events at home, such as the UW-Madison Degree Dash.
There is also an incredible amount of Asian food of all types in Melbourne. Yesterday we ate street food for lunch, tonight we had Japanese pancakes for dinner. Combined with the amount that we are eating at Trinity College, it is important that we get out for 5k runs as much as possible.
—dave
