Pete Johns - Blog entries of the highest uptodateness

Last Sunday I ran my seventh Melbourne Marathon and my tenth official marathon. It wasn’t my fastest 42.2 km run, but it wasn’t my slowest. I had plenty of time to think about social media influence as I saw smartphones snapping photos of my fellow marathoners. So what did running ten marathons teach me about being a social media influencer?

I’ve been playing Summle for quite some time. It’s one of those daily puzzles where you share your results with your friends, and it takes the form of the numbers game from Countdown (or Letters and Numbers, if you prefer). For the unfamiliar, you’re given a three-digit target number and six smaller numbers from which to make it using only positive integer arithmetic.

Inspired and encouraged by my good friend Ross, I have signed up for the 2025 Great Cycle Challenge and will be riding this October to fight kids’ cancer! In the same month as running Melbourne Marathon, because I don’t like to do things by halves.

Despite the title, I am not going to moan about the user interface, but rather share how I get around the strange font choices and line breaks that happen when I edit my email signature using iOS’s native Mail application. It being Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness.

Having being contemplating a career break for a little over six months, it feels rather strange that today is my last day at work for a year. I’m keen to keep in touch, while not thinking about the day-to-day of work, so this will be my mechanism for broadcasting what I’m doing and sharing my contact details.

Five years ago this week I experienced a sudden cardiac arrest after being out for a 5 km run with the kids during Victoria’s COVID lockdowns. It’s surreal to think that half a decade has passed since that moment.

Inspired by “Desert Island Discs”, which is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme where guests are asked to choose their favourite music tracks, a book, and a luxury item they would take with them if they were stranded on a desert island, I thought I’d write mine down. I used to listen to this many years ago when I lived in the UK and rediscovered it a few years ago on BBC Sounds. I love the concept where folks reflect on their musical tastes and the significance of certain tracks in their lives and share their stories. I’ve even had the kids listen to episodes recently.

I’m taking a 12-month career break to spend more time with my family. And before anyone worries - I’m in perfect health! This is purely about making time for what matters most.

Yes, my left arm is currently in a sling. Having described why this is multiple times, I thought I’d write it down.