The Imposter Podcast AU
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From boardrooms to crime scenes, the Imposters explore guests real-life stories of triumph and struggle, shedding light on how imposter syndrome impacts career advancement and personal fulfilment.
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The Imposter Podcast AU
#50 Run for Brotherhood: The Emotional Journey of Alex Prestney (pt 2)
In this lively episode of The Imposter Podcast, Alex Prestney shares the highs, lows, and all the hilarious moments in between of his 560km run from Mildura to Melbourne. With hosts cracking jokes and keeping things light, Alex dives into the story behind his epic adventure, which started out as a way to honor his late brother and turned into a community-driven event full of unexpected twists, quirky encounters, and plenty of laughs along the way.
The conversation kicks off with a bit of friendly banter—hosts poking fun at missed intros and some button-pushing confusion—before Alex takes us through the challenges and triumphs of planning a run of this scale. The guys laugh about the moment Alex first pitched the idea to the police in Mildura, who were probably scratching their heads wondering if he was serious. But soon, Alex had community members rallying behind him, and even Brooks Running Shoes jumped on board to sponsor him. Cue a fun little anecdote: Alex discovered mid-run that his mum had also been sponsored by Brooks decades earlier, creating a perfect "like mother, like son" moment.
As Alex recalls running through sandy deserts (which he jokingly compares to running on the beach—just without the cocktails), the hosts keep things lighthearted, cracking jokes about blisters and stamina. There’s no shortage of laughs, especially when Alex shares the unexpected ways country folk showed their support—like random strangers pulling over to hand him donations and well-wishes. One bloke even threw him a “steak night” contribution! The podcast gives us a feel-good glimpse into the kindness of rural communities, where people are more likely to cheer you on than honk at you to get off the road.
Despite the laughs, the episode doesn’t shy away from the deeper stuff. Alex talks about dealing with grief, but in a way that’s relatable and even a bit inspiring. He shares how the run helped him channel his emotions and how he found comfort not just in the physical challenge but in the connections he made along the way. The hosts joke about cardio being the worst kind of fun, but it’s clear that for Alex, this run was about more than just logging miles—it was about healing and bringing people together.
Open-Ended Questions the Podcast Explores:
- What happens when grief meets a pair of running shoes?
- How can a long run turn into a way to unite a community?
- Is it possible to laugh your way through a 500km run?
- Can sponsorships actually make a heartfelt difference, or is it just about logos?
- How do you keep going when your legs are screaming, but your heart is full?
Anecdotes to Enjoy:
- Alex shares the hilarious moment when he realized his mum had been sponsored by Brooks back in the '90s, turning his modern sponsorship into a family tradition.
- There’s a fun bit where Alex talks about running down Spencer Street in Melbourne with a police escort, while bystanders shouted, “What’s this guy doing?”
- Hosts joke about how Alex’s crew cheered him on with mini-muffins instead of energy gels, keeping the vibes light and tasty on the run.
Matty Morris of https://www.zerolimitspodcast.com/ helps us out with a banger of a tune. If you want to hear about some real intense moments from Veterans and First Responders. Check out Zero Limits Podcast.
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Here we go. Gets worse. On the second one, everybody's like we're all good now when are the boys? Where's some camo roll? You know what I did forget to do last time? Hang on, I'll do it now. And tonight we have Alex Presney.
Pete O'Hanlon:Yeah, didn't give him one last time?
Burso:I don't think we'll do it now, and today we have Alex Prestney. Yeah, I didn't give him one last time.
Pete O'Hanlon:I don't think we gave him one either. Yeah, I did Not for this podcast.
Burso:This one.
Alex Prestney:You're a host now?
Pete O'Hanlon:No, you didn't even mention me. No, I'm a host, though what?
Burso:did I introduce myself. No.
Pete O'Hanlon:No, I don't think you did. Why have you made this about you?
Burso:today, pete, we've literally got a guest. I don't think you do.
Pete O'Hanlon:Why have you made this About you?
Burso:today, pete, we've literally got a guest.
Pete O'Hanlon:I don't know who I am.
Burso:This is Pete's first. They do. They've heard you three times by this point.
Pete O'Hanlon:This guy.
Alex Prestney:I think it's been Turning at Pete for a while. No one knows who I am.
Burso:That's what happens With actors mate.
Pete O'Hanlon:They're in really big deals. You know how they are, pete O'Hanlon.
Burso:Oh, pete has a book, pete's done some movie stuff, wow. Anyway, back to the guest, alex Preston. Thanks very much for coming in.
Pete O'Hanlon:Thank you, mate, sorry about him.
Burso:He's only temporary.
Alex Prestney:Don't worry about it.
Burso:I'm going to say sorry about you. Well, it's my ass, so Anyway. So road trauma, yeah, all the exciting stuff we're talking about Right. So we know your why, but now it's sort of how, like how do you go about organising running from Mildura to Melbourne, being that obviously you want to close the roads and make it all about you? This might be a restart.
Burso:Not my words, pretty much exactly the opposite of what I said in the last episode. Were you paying attention? But yeah, so how do you go about, because it's quite a large thing that you're trying to do. How does it go from an idea to who do you first speak to about that?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, that was a tough starting point. I just didn't know who to go to in terms of you could have done it on quite a minor scale and just going oh, I will just pack a bag and go from point to point on the odd occasion and things like that.
Burso:Sorry. So when was this? It was December, yeah, about.
Alex Prestney:December. Yeah, it started. Very good, very good.
Burso:Just sit down because I want to press another button.
Pete O'Hanlon:There's two buttons.
Burso:It worked out too, I get them confused. Ah, jokes with Pete. He thought I didn't know any more buttons.
Alex Prestney:But yeah, so it was just like a Sorry, I've got one for Pete's career too.
Burso:Oh this guy, see, don't judge me on my buttons, you let me know when you want me to go, yeah. Sorry, mate Mildred. So who do you first speak to?
Alex Prestney:A lot of. It was just sort of I think the first people that I spoke with was the police at Mildura, just to sort of go, this is what I want to do. Yeah, no expectation or no, and it was obviously. It was in for Briar as well.
Burso:I was going to say, because you did say that there was another member lost up in Mildura. How long in between your brother and that?
Alex Prestney:Well, yeah, april 2022 was when we happened to Briar, so only two years, pretty much on the nose, almost. So that's where that you know. Unfortunately, the recent nature of it was kind of just like okay, yeah, well then, yeah, unfortunately it makes sense. So it was kind of going this is what I want to do and the reason for starting Mildura is for this reason what can you do to help? What can you provide? I wasn't, and obviously I wasn't expecting anything from these people that I put the feelers out, but again, it was just like you may as well just ask. You can't hurt to ask in terms of, yeah, what's the worst that can happen?
Alex Prestney:That's it, they say no, they say no and that's fine. But it was just, you know, and having friends up there who live there as well, just to sort of be a bit of a conduit for the communication and getting things rolling, and then, as well, got on to knowing Mark Thomas from the Code 9 Foundation as well. They were a you know, I'd say a major sponsor for it, and then it was a trying to figure out who this was for We've had Mark Thomas on before.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, yeah. So he was, you know, fully supportive and helpful. When it came to gear. Brooks were oh, gotcha right, yeah, Running gear, not, you know, peptides or anything like that.
Burso:Not SARMs and stuff. Yeah, no.
Alex Prestney:That's cool he was. He knew contacts at Brooks and he hooked us up with, you know, brooks Running Shoes, which is incredible For one having their support but two, obviously you know it cuts into the financial budget when you've got to buy all the supplies and things like that.
Burso:How early on did Brooks come into it?
Alex Prestney:I can't remember. I think it wasn't far until I actually, you know, made the start, so maybe middle of the year, middle of 2023, they sort of came and gave me running shoes, running top, so planning on being out for about six months.
Burso:Yeah, and then yeah, and so that must have been a pretty impressive day, though, like when you actually had a sponsor come on board.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, yeah, and it was just amazing and so humbling where people were. Just we want to back you with this. You're not just going to do it all on your own bat and you absolutely could have. If you and a lot of people have where they just go. They don't want sponsors, they don't need sponsors. They just want to go and do it for their own, you know, in their own mind, and just go. I'm just going from here to here, it doesn't matter how I get there or who comes along with me.
Burso:Sponsors is an interesting thing, because people are like oh, you sold out because you did sponsors or whatever else it is. And I'm like, well, it's funny because it's twofold, because, like they obviously I mean generally sponsors are buying PR. Yeah, I mean, that's just what it is. Yeah, some people do it. Some sponsors will actually sponsor you without actually mentioning it, and that's like when it's a really really to do something good, they're getting PR out of it. It's helpful. It's a fair transaction and. I mean they're also helping you with shoes and stuff.
Alex Prestney:And it's related as well. It wasn't like it was getting sponsored for completely random things like gardening supplies or things like that. It was things that were related to what I was doing, which was where it was. That's where the importance came. It was like people weren't just trying to, not that it was, you know, a huge deal or anything like that, but you didn't have people coming out of nowhere being like can I put my brand on this? It might be a small brand or whatever. Can I just be part of it?
Burso:It also does, though, like sponsors. When you actually have an actual relationship with a sponsor, it gives you access to like they have. Like Brooks is obviously much bigger than you on your own, yeah, so you trying to raise awareness and now having Brooks, a large company, getting on board and then they promote it that way, they're part of the message, they're now amplifying your message. So, even though sure, they might be getting PR out of it, it's actually achieving your goal. So it's like it's a really good two-way relationship to have certain sponsors that will come on board and help.
Alex Prestney:The funny thing was as well is that I, you know, when I got I did a post of you know, thanking Brooks and for their support and what they've given, hooked me up with and it was funny I put that and next to another photo on the post was mum at the 1996 World Triathlon Championships, also sponsored by Brooks, like she had on her tri-top this big you know Brooks logo. So it's almost like you know, and I told them that and it's just this perfect full circle moment of mum being sponsored by Brooks back in the day and then me for this. It was pretty fun.
Pete O'Hanlon:I don't want to go too far back, but I can't get a word in with Chris here.
Burso:So back when Peter had an idea, let's go.
Pete O'Hanlon:I'm still focused on a little bit on the safety.
Burso:Well, now's the time, pete, yeah well two questions.
Pete O'Hanlon:Did you wear a high-vis vest when you did your run?
Alex Prestney:Not a high-vis vest. No no but everything we had was quite highly visible. That's a technical way to do it, okay.
Pete O'Hanlon:Now, are you guys issued with some sort of high-vis uniform or do you have a vest when you do traffic stops?
Burso:Yes, and it's not, so there's different. So you've got there's one that goes over your ballistic vest. Yep, that's just the whole time. Now, is it still the half cut? Yeah, is it? Yeah? So we had a full one that was on before. That was a bit all over the place, but they got a new vest and now they've got a new top. It's like a crop top, so the top half of it's on there. But they used to have the back's fully in fluoro though. Oh, is it, yeah? Yeah, but they also used to have at Tactical.
Burso:Units we used to have If we got out, because it's rare we do a traffic stop because we didn't get picked on. Yeah, but you'd throw it up over the top and then, yeah, you're good to go.
Pete O'Hanlon:Yeah, and you don't put out traffic cones or anything like that on a normal stop. You can, yeah, it's you know, yeah, but no, but it's, you know, if you were doing it.
Burso:It's up to you, if you're on a sort of in them, they'll have the lights, they'll have the little. What are they? The?
Alex Prestney:e-strokes.
Burso:E-strokes.
Pete O'Hanlon:Yeah.
Burso:So if you've got an actual accident and stuff like that, the highway will turn up and they will have all these traffic cones that they'll put out and they'll put in the top of the little things. They'll have the little electronic flares that'll flash the whole way up and stuff like that. But on a divvy van it can be, and some members will be more investigative, so they'll have cameras and they'll have whatever else it is, and other members will be from highway where they're like oh no, I'm all about this, and they'll set up it.
Pete O'Hanlon:Plus, you want to be able to access your kit if it gets in the way and all this sort of stuff.
Alex Prestney:But yeah, but on the run we absolutely made it the highest possible priority that if there was another way to run, even if it was on the other side of a barbed wire fence, we'd do it. We would not run by the road or close to the road on the road or whatever. There were times where we were able to get an escort from country members where they would actually be behind. Sometimes they'd have two units with us where they'd be behind with the blueies going, and what was really good with that. There was obviously a little bit of hesitation with that in those areas of how I guess the public would receive that, with people running on the road and having an escort.
Alex Prestney:But it was quite surprising how supportive and how on board people were from that area. There was a lot of people who knew what we were doing. There were a lot of people who, as we were running, they pulled over and were like, yeah, I heard you up in the local newspaper there. Here's 50 bucks as donations and things like that. You're like your beauty steak tonight boys.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, put that in the kitty, make sure we didn't touch it. But yeah, we absolutely made sure that if and I would say 90% of it was away from the road, to make sure that we didn't go put ourselves in any sort of hazard.
Pete O'Hanlon:So did you do a recon of that? Yeah?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, because I went up to Mildura that in May. I went up for a visit with friends and a big part of the journey was a bit of a recce. To sort of go right here is look at all this. We're just driving for hours at a time knowing that there's that track along there. There were times where it honestly felt like running on the beach. It was so sandy, there was a lot of desert out there. Yeah, we thought obviously more often it was just hard clay. But there were times where it felt like running through sand dunes.
Burso:But at the same time we were like, oh, I'd rather run in the dunes Coming down through Mildura there's like little desert, big desert, yep, and you've got the sunset desert or something up in.
Pete O'Hanlon:Mildura up.
Burso:That way, you've been through the deserts, yet that'll be something you have to do while you're here. Oh, really, the big and little one they're like three hours, not that riveting.
Pete O'Hanlon:I went down to the apostles, you can be there for 20 minutes and office the Apostles, oh the Apostles, I saw your post office. Yeah, fair way of fracking post office.
Burso:The country people, though, are a little bit different. Oh yeah, Like the radio out there actually reports on local stuff. It's a lot less international news. It's like hey, old Jono's running down the road, If you see him, give him a yell Pretty much.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, this is what he's doing. That's what it was like the first few days. There were people who were, you know, as we were going, just waiting for us by the side of the train line and just going giving us a cheer or giving us some, you know, donation, money and stuff like that, or you know, food.
Burso:Regional versus Metro is so different. It's real community out there.
Alex Prestney:That's what we really noticed. We got a lot quieter when we went closer to Melbourne.
Burso:And not just quieter. It would have been noisier in some aspects Exactly. Go off the road, mate.
Alex Prestney:Luckily never came across that, never had anybody, it's because you had an escort. Well, at times when we didn't, we were just sort of running along the footpath or running you know in the spillway, or whatever. We or running you know in the spillway, or whatever. We just didn't have anything. That was, I think people just thought, oh, people just run along the road, Go for it. Good on you.
Pete O'Hanlon:So, with your media and stuff, did you access that yourself or did you have people to?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, I contacted a few outlets as well. What I did in that sort of recce trip up in May was I had flyers and just went to the local bakery, the ice cream shop, pubs up there, all sorts of just different places saying, hey, this is what I'm doing, can you hang it in the window? Because I had a QR code on there as well. It was just a bit of a hanging in the shop and what the bakery did there is that I had a mate who ran a barbecue and they donated, you know, loaves of bread and things like that. So it was a real, yeah, the real community feel of it. It wasn't like it was huge and we got, you know, absolutely everything we wanted from it. It was just something that was just going to and it just got word of mouth.
Alex Prestney:Did Big Pole support? Yeah, yeah, mildura were incredible when it came to the actual significance of it, because of how, you know, the difference of that versus what happened with us is on. It was a being so isolated, mildura being so isolated, and the incident that they went through it really rocked them and they really appreciated that they were thought of in this way and just made fantastic friends through it from people who I, you know, had met briefly, never met. Just knowing that that Mildura community, that police Mildura community as well, was just so tight-knit and just so just you know, gave this big you know way to go for doing this for us.
Burso:You would have done more for inter-office relationships at VicPol than a lot of the times VicPol has Like to show that you know there's an affiliation between a country station that's on the border and almost two borders and Metro Melbourne.
Pete O'Hanlon:And it's so far away.
Burso:It's like we're doing the same job and we have the same risks.
Alex Prestney:That's it, and I just wanted to bring myself to you know this and just not to sort of be like you know. Yeah, I'm doing this for you, I'm doing this with you, and come along if you want, because we're going to have a lot of fun doing this, even though it is blended with tragedy. We're just going to try and unite in this way. I thought you were going to say, even though it's cardio.
Burso:I was like yeah, no one has fun with that.
Alex Prestney:I don't think there weren't many people up that area, up that way, who were sort of saying how far are you going? The first day it's?
Burso:35km and they're going. Oh well, you enjoy that, so yeah.
Pete O'Hanlon:I'll be like is there a bus that takes you back? I'm not interested in doing both. No, that's right yeah.
Alex Prestney:So yeah.
Burso:Go on, pete, keep going mate. This is your show, no.
Pete O'Hanlon:I was going to ask and I forgot her name. I'm so sorry, Briar. Was her family a part of that as well? Mildura?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, not her partner Kyle, who's a fire rep at Mildura. He was, you know, we got together with that and he was, you know, just being part of that same shitty club and being emergency services as well. It just sort of, you know, it just brought people together. You know, you don't have to be best buds with these people just because of what happened, but at the same time you just lend that hand. You know it's not like, it's like I'm doing this for you. So you know, look how good I am. You go. I just, I just I just wanted to and yeah, you make that connection there.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, right so yeah I'm finished with my question yeah, that's all I've got.
Burso:You may speak again now I'm carrying this podcast, right? So you decided in December Code 9 came on. How soon after that? Pretty much straight away, because I told Mark Mark would have made it all about him within days. And then, yeah, so was it Mark that got you Brooks, or did you reach out to Brooks?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, mark had contacts with people and then they reached out to me and then it was, yeah, the finding out who I could be. Basically, if we wanted to do a fundraiser, who was this going to? And that's where I was sort of going, you know, do we want to factor in this or do we want to factor in that? But I found, yeah, and unfortunately we didn't know about them earlier the Amber community, who are a not-for-profit organisation for victims of an education for road safety and road trauma.
Burso:Okay, yeah.
Alex Prestney:Which was just the perfect, you know, sort of moment where I was like, oh, this is what we want to do here. The whole part of this isn't for just raising awareness for road trauma, but also education, and that's what they did, and a small community like the Amber community was just so welcoming and so thrilled that we wanted to bring them on with this, because that's where I felt and I believe that that's where a lot of the awareness needs to go to. There was this support service for people, because people and as well with us, unfortunately had no idea who they were.
Burso:That's the first I've heard of them.
Alex Prestney:Exactly, yeah, so we kind of go. These are the people who need to be, you know, put in the stars when it comes to how do we improve and help road users. They are the people when it comes to counselling and education, and not just you know. They have the real human element to what difficulties people might be having with road trauma, whether it's just something like I went driving one day and I got cut off by somebody. I had a bit of road rage and I'm scared to go back on the road. They help with that sort of thing and they help with just being a sounding board for people who have gone through trauma, no matter how long it's been. They're just brilliant humans to be part of that organisation. Who are they again? And the community? They're an office based in Mitcham in Victoria. Are they Australia? What Victoria, just Victoria. But I would dare say that they'd be able to stretch Australia wide as well.
Pete O'Hanlon:How are they funded?
Alex Prestney:Non-for-profit donations yeah, so therefore, I say non-for-profit, but they'd be getting, I guess, assistance through the government and through TSC I think Don't quote me on that where they get it from but the CEO, Bernadette she is fantastic with how she funds the joint and other people who we've just got in contact and come along the journey with you know, people who just really that came through so clearly, didn't it?
Burso:Yeah, but sometimes the aftermark takes it out, and then we all just laugh at something that no one else hears. Yeah, it gets weird Well for all those out there.
Alex Prestney:You can wonder what that was. But, yeah, just having those guys. As also you know, there's the support that you get through, I guess, through VicPoll and through the other areas that you need. But when you need that, I guess when things are quiet and in the dark moments or when you just need a friend Amber Community are the best people to go to with that, because- Do you have a website for them?
Burso:Is it just like Ambercommunityorg, or you just Google Amber Community?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, I don't think we do websites anymore If we want to find something we just punch into Google. But yeah, amber Community is just a non-for-profit organisation and I'm so glad that I was able to raise $30,000 for them, because what they did was able to do for their resources and funding $30,000 for them, because what they did was able to do for their resources and funding.
Burso:Are they on like e-referrals and stuff?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, yeah, like Big Pole, oh they are, yeah, okay, cool, and that's the thing where it's like. You know, they are a referral service through Big Pole and, yeah, I'm just so glad that I was able to, you know, choose them as the ones that I wanted to make the focus for for this run.
Pete O'Hanlon:Can we just talk a little bit about the hardships you went through during the run, just the mental strain that was probably put onto you.
Burso:The physical element yeah, I mean, how did you get?
Pete O'Hanlon:through it. Are we going?
Alex Prestney:back. Excellent, that helps.
Pete O'Hanlon:That helps my memory, though 100%.
Alex Prestney:If I think back on when I'm doing certain legs and things like that, or the times of day, I remember there was one time where I was running with mum Mum was doing part of it too and it was windy, it was raining. There were so many times where you just go. I just want this to end. How would it be so bad if I just stopped my watch now and we just cut it short and I go? I'll finish this off tomorrow, but a lot that I was making sure to do was to go no, we stick to the plan, don't deviate, because we can fix this. No matter how much. If I'm really burning in the legs or my back or my feet, we can fix it. It's okay.
Alex Prestney:This is the point that we said we were going to start. We're going to do it from here, because I made sure that if I got complacent, then that might follow on for the next couple of times If I cut corners or whatever. I was like no, we're not cutting any corners. But, like I said before, with the physical pain and things like that, the mental strength of why we were doing this and how we were doing this was what got us through a lot of the physical? Were you concerned at all about injuries or anything? Absolutely yeah. After day one my feet were killing me.
Burso:After the first four steps, I stood off the curb and I'd roll my ankle. Yeah imagine that.
Alex Prestney:Roll my ankle on a train line or something like that. But yeah, there were times where after the first day and I was just like, oh no.
Pete O'Hanlon:Because you can really set yourself up for mental failure. You've got this destination in mind and how it's going to be, and literally within the first day it could be all over. Especially when you've got this destination in mind and how it's going to be and literally within the first day it could be all over, especially when you've been training and been.
Alex Prestney:It's like I've been doing this and this is this is new. I haven't got soreness in my feet before. What's going on with this? But after that it was really weird. Then day two came. I came sort of like to the start line with that soreness in my feet and once I I started running it just stopped and I was like, oh, thank God for that. And then the next thing popped up, though where it was my I think it was my quads that were the biggest issue, because it's that it was long, slow and that real just chugging away and even just being out in the sun all day. Yeah, and luckily it wasn't a hot time of year, but it was warm at the beginning. Mildura is never cold, no, that's right. Yeah, but then it got cold once we got to Bendigo. I'm going to mention Bendigo a bit, but once we got to Bendigo it got freezing. It absolutely got so cold. But then we pushed through that pushed through like Kynes and Macedon.
Burso:Bendigo is such a weird joint Like you can drive from here to Bendigo and you go like up over like a dividing range through there.
Pete O'Hanlon:I think so yeah, Because you go up over this hill.
Burso:You come in and it's either you go up and it's like 25 and you're like, oh, this is lovely, and you go down and it's like 2 degrees, or you go up and it's 2 degrees and it's like I don't think I've ever been, you know, to you know Kyneton area or Macedon area, where it hasn't just been you know wet.
Alex Prestney:We did the run from Kyneton to Macedon and it just rained the entire time. But what made that really good is that we had a good crew with us, like from blokes, from Esther, from.
Burso:Ambo's Esther is the call centre.
Alex Prestney:Call centre guys, yeah.
Burso:When you're in Triple O, yeah, so a lot of those guys who are.
Alex Prestney:You know they're fantastic runners. You know, and just you know, made friends from them. And just you know we had this great group that just you know. We ran through. Where did we run? We ran through a pine tree plantation at one point and and we had the Kyneton van behind us and I just remember looking around at one point where we just had conversations happening along this run. I looked around just by going this is pretty cool Like after months, or not months, sorry, but a couple of weeks worth of just in the grind, and at that time, at that location, it felt a lot closer as well. We could sort of feel it, even though it might have been a week away. And at that time, at that location, it felt a lot closer as well. We could sort of feel it, even though it might have been a week away. We'd go, we're getting closer and having this camaraderie around us was like all right.
Pete O'Hanlon:This is what we need at this time. Was your schedule mostly day running?
Alex Prestney:Yep all day running.
Pete O'Hanlon:We made sure that we weren't doing anything crazy and going further than we need to, or anything like that. It's not much not running none, none. And what about your shoes? Research issues did you go through a couple of pairs?
Alex Prestney:yeah, yeah, two pairs of brooks. Luckily only two um sponsor band.
Burso:He's not gonna say anything.
Alex Prestney:Bad, yeah, yeah and I had never. They were the. I'd never worn brooks before and they were just that fantastic, like really thick sole shoe that was necessary for this Just a really good shoe, you know Get around Brooks.
Pete O'Hanlon:There was this, other, there was this.
Alex Prestney:I did have another pair. I had a backup pair of a different brand. I won't mention it.
Burso:Oh, I wish we're not mentioning it.
Alex Prestney:But they stunk they sucked Like.
Burso:I wore them for one day, gotcha. I thought he just meant his shoes. I didn't. I wore them for one day, gotcha. I thought he just meant his shoes. No, they were. They didn't have the antibacterial stuff in it.
Alex Prestney:They were no good. I remember running one leg and I was just like I'm not wearing these again. Luckily they were like a burner pair of runners. I bought them just maybe $120 or something like that. Got what I paid for, but they were just in case I needed to deviate to something else. They were just in case I needed to deviate to something else.
Burso:They were those aerosport ADF runners that we used to get back in the army at Kapuga. They were like oof, they were plastic Instant shills on those things. They were like actual plastic sellers. It was just nuts, terrible. Where was the thought process?
Pete O'Hanlon:on that? Did you carry a camelback or?
Alex Prestney:anything like that. Yep, yep, all sorts of A little bit of food and stuff in your habits. Yeah, all just lived on, you know, during the run, like muesli bars, nothing that was like. We didn't just, you know, suck down gels the whole time, because we knew that gels they'll mess with your digestive system and your stomach a bit. So you needed something that was like, you know, if we had to stop one time, we'd have like mini muffins, sandwiches, all that sort of stuff.
Burso:That was like if you have to have a liquid diet, it's going to end up liquid.
Alex Prestney:Exactly.
Pete O'Hanlon:Did you put on weight prior to starting and then how much did you lose?
Alex Prestney:No, a lot of people were saying, you know, geez, yeah, you look like you lost a bit of weight and I said, yeah, well, bloody well hope so I've run 500 Ks.
Burso:That'd be awkward, wouldn't it. You came in, you're like Like have you, he's bigger, you can run that.
Alex Prestney:Yeah.
Burso:So yeah, definitely and obviously, if you run 560Ks in three weeks, you'd have to have some sort of improvement when you were saying, like you were looking around and you saw the community and stuff that was there, like how many people did you have running with you at the most?
Alex Prestney:I think there was in total about maybe eight of us in total. Not a lot, yeah, but still enough. Maybe eight of us in total.
Pete O'Hanlon:Not a lot, but still enough. Not many of that crazy people.
Burso:No, that's right, I mean, if you'd gone. Hey, do you want to do barefoot bowls? You might have got more.
Pete O'Hanlon:Sure, just run from Mildred to Melbourne.
Alex Prestney:Who's with me? I think a lot of people were sort of hesitant on it because they were sort of just like the biggest thing was because it was such a long distance in the middle of nowhere. So people were kind of like I don't want to come up all that way and as well. Other people were like I don't want to run and you know, be too slow for you and things like that. I'm like I'm running.
Burso:I would have jumped in like 400 Ks in. I'd be like. I know he's cooked.
Pete O'Hanlon:This is my time to shine. I'll see you at the end. Let's sprint it over the finish line.
Alex Prestney:Start passing him towards the finish line Like I did it, or just like waiting for me at points and going come on, mate, Catch up. What's this place?
Burso:called. Yeah, I find it's really sad, but when people die young, like we had, phil died in a chopper crash and all the boys came back, we hadn't seen each other for like 10 years. Whatever else it is, and it's like when you have a death or something that brings people together, it's like everyone's like why? Don't we do this more often?
Pete O'Hanlon:Haven't done it since. Yeah.
Burso:But now that Rod's had his book out, he had a book launch and all the boys came back and it was good to have something positive. It's all about rod's book man. Jump on any instagram. At the moment it's nuts. He's done 14 podcasts at once.
Pete O'Hanlon:I've been on your own.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, great, great rod, but that's okay, you don't, you don't have to feel like you're forcing it with people with things like this.
Alex Prestney:When things like this happen, you don't have to feel like you're really forcing to sort of stay a part of it, because a lot of people think that they after a while if you're, I guess, doing all these sorts of things in, I don't know, in memory of somebody, people might start to feel a little bit and this is just the experience that I've had people might feel like they're a little bit too involved and they shouldn't be part of it or they shouldn't be. I don't know if you were sort of go, all right, yeah, let's get all Josh's school friends or all these colleagues from you know, from work, and all these squad mates. It might, and they can totally understand that for some people it might be a bit too much and they go and, as we see, people just sort of might want to back out of it. So, even though that yeah, this was a one-off significant event, it didn't matter to me whether people got on board or not?
Alex Prestney:Is it one-off?
Burso:No, no, not at all. But I like the fact that it was like from Mildura to Melbourne and anybody can jump on at any point. Yeah, that's it. So it's like you weren't having to commit to the whole thing. But the point I think I was more getting at was the fact that you wouldn't have been able to go if you were like, hey, I'm running from Mildura to Melbourne and it wasn't for what it was for, you would have been running that on your own. That's it. That's exactly right, and that's what's sad about it is it takes losing someone to make everyone realise that you're like you know what.
Alex Prestney:we are actually just wasting our lives on Instagram all this sort of stuff and not actually trying to achieve stuff. Well, that's why I was sort of just thinking to myself I don't have, I don't feel like I've got much. You know, being in the grieving stage and being in the stage of a bit of purgatory, I just didn't know what I wanted to do with this. Where can I put the things that I love, the reasons that I love doing them, and for what is next for me? In what's in the now for this life without my brother? What can I do to be a leader for other people and be, you know, a man and woman for others to help?
Alex Prestney:You know I hate the leadership style of you know everybody follow me. It's come in and let's you know everybody follow me. It's come in and let's everybody follows each other with this. You don't just make it. This is what I do and look how I've been doing. What a good leader am I. The best leaders I find when it comes to doing something for others is to involve them and to help them feel empowered too and make them feel important, not just like the spotlight's on me. This is why I'm doing it. Thanks for coming. We're all part of this. That's why I let Pete go on the podcast.
Pete O'Hanlon:But also be the example I think Lead through example.
Alex Prestney:And if that means being the example, then so be it. It's almost like someone's got to come up with the idea. If you don't, um, then that's fine, but that's, I guess, the where I've wanted to well you've inspired me, mate like running that far.
Pete O'Hanlon:Jesus, are you pretending you're gonna run to me?
Burso:no, I'm not built for running. Yeah, let's be honest, we've had fitzy on, we had nick on. They're both just done a 100k ultra and we're like, good, let's get.
Alex Prestney:I love that for you yeah, you know it's not for me, though it's the most patronizing statement you can ever make.
Burso:It's like good, I love that for you, mate that's so good you know that's terrible, that's a shocking thing to say yeah, that's um, it's funny because it sounds nice, but you're just like. I could care less mate, but I love that for you that's it.
Alex Prestney:like it's free, that's it you kind of. You kind of gotta just try and see the significance in that You're like. I love that for you 100% 100K is something.
Burso:It's that far out of something I would be interested in doing and that's 100K. So me running Madura to Melbourne is not even entertaining that.
Alex Prestney:People ask me, they go. You know, this is what was kind of funny, when people sort of I don't know I'd get to work or you know, come back to reality from it, and they go how was your run and I'd go great.
Alex Prestney:It was a really you know it's like when someone goes to Europe on a holiday and they go how was Europe Like? How the fuck do you think it was Like it was? I always say when it comes to it, I say it was the most fun I've had in a long time. Weirdly enough, we didn't do much. We ran. But with the things like um, the um, the meat raffle at the sea lake hotel brilliant hotel, by the way. I might give them a plug.
Alex Prestney:There's the royal at sea lake if you're passing through they hooked us up with accommodation and um, because in sea lake as well, there was a an incident where a police member who was off duty was killed while riding his riding his bike. Um, so they were touched by it too to have them be brought in and his family be a part of it too. And just having those little pockets and those gems along the way were what was so significant, and they were just this massive push to get to the next part. Get to the next part. How far between Mildura and Melbourne is it? Sea Lake is about an hour from Mildura. Okay, it's, it's, it's fairly fairly North, and having other members from you know one, manor stations at Oyun Like how tiny a town?
Burso:is it like Robina or?
Alex Prestney:what.
Burso:Oh, smaller, I think.
Alex Prestney:You know, a main drag, if you can call it that, it's just a, it's literally the freeway.
Burso:Well, yeah, it's part of the highway. A service road off the highway, yeah, oh yeah nice.
Alex Prestney:But that's, you know, the people are part of it had you know, when I did a run into sea lake, I had um, family members, kids running the last 5k with me and they just got on board and then when it got quiet in some parts, if you say, you know, in the middle section, where it was just like, oh yeah, I'm just running from here to here, you go, yep, cool, done and dusted. But but those parts there they stay in your memory. And you know other members, a couple of members from the academy, a sergeant and a senior sergeant who were just great blokes to just run with and made the time go so quickly. And you just talk, talk shop, you just talk about nothing, you just have fun along the way and you just talk and you forget that you're running at that point. So those are the things that I will remember the fondest of it all, just those little pockets that you had along the way.
Pete O'Hanlon:Did you come away with any injuries or anything?
Alex Prestney:No, Strangely, nothing long-term, nothing. That was, you know I got after. When I finished, I got tired a lot quickly, a lot more quick, I don't know what to know. I got tired more quickly than usual and yeah, just sort of didn't sort of have this real. I guess dump and I just carried on Really.
Pete O'Hanlon:Yeah, so you adapted after that, I mean it must be such a big experience to achieve and complete, and so there wasn't a dump afterwards. I know with this film that I'm doing as soon as. I'm offered. Is there going to be this down period for me?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, possibly A lot of it was to do with adrenaline and you know, I guess the feeling that your body goes through once it's been just been hammered over and, over and over again. But luckily I think I credit that to a lot of the recovery and the training beforehand to be able to withstand that sort of.
Pete O'Hanlon:Did you lose the idea of the purpose once it was complete, or you feel like there's now a bigger purpose in you?
Alex Prestney:No, it was one of those things where I didn't want to put pressure on myself to be like. You know, we're going to do more. We're going to keep doing this.
Burso:We're got to do more. We've got to keep doing this.
Alex Prestney:We've got to do this every year now. Yeah, you've got to really just keep this up. It was just something that was like that was. It was within my limits at the time and I found that if I kept going with all of this stuff and I kept on, I don't know, doing fundraisers or just really sort of threw it out it or just really sort of threw it out it will lose meaning. If you keep doing it, if you sort of go all right, you know, next one, we're doing this. It might be a bit of like a oh okay, fine, that's cool, but it would get quieter, but that would be fine, that's what you want to do.
Burso:But I just maintained that I knew my limits with this sort of stuff and what I actually had to get on with, which was life as well when you finished, like who was there, and was it like a sense of closure, or was it a sense of, oh, that's over now?
Alex Prestney:a lot of, yeah, a lot of. It was a bit of um, a lot of emotion and that, yeah, there was. There was a big part of me that was like I don't want to, don't want this to stop. It was just so. So, you know, it just felt so cool and we finished at the Police Memorial on St Kilda Road and the last leg was super cool, like we had. You know, we started in Keilor East and just ran. This was the first time where it was like a real suburban run.
Alex Prestney:We were stopping for traffic lights and things like that and it was like, oh my God, geez, I haven't experienced this in a while. And we, if I can remember exactly where we went from then to the like, along the Maribyrnong River, down Flemington, and then we met up with in North Melbourne. We met up with a senior sergeant who wanted to be the escort to the finish and that blew me away. I thought that I'm not going to be able to get much from you know, from in town. I might have to do this myself. That's fine, but the most surreal experience was having an escort of the bike patrol and highway patrol down Spencer Street just running in the middle of the road down Spencer Street and having all the public just going what is this clown doing? Like I actually heard people you know calling out to them going what are you doing, sort of thing. And then you know we turned.
Pete O'Hanlon:I told them.
Alex Prestney:I'm so close.
Burso:Here's a QR code on my flyer.
Alex Prestney:Give me some money and then we turned left on the South Bank and then, you know, went up to, got to St Cotter Road, outside the Arts Centre, and that was just like a oh my God, there's like 100 metres to go of this thing, wow.
Pete O'Hanlon:So yeah and they've just yeah people, what was your thought process in that last 100, 200? Were you happy to get it over with or were you sad?
Alex Prestney:A bit of yeah, I won't lie when there was a bit of relief to get it over and done with, because yeah, it was, it was a big call to make in the first place that you were going to do it.
Alex Prestney:Tough, tough, getting through it. But at the same time I felt so good that, after a lot of you know being kicked to the curb mentally after what happened, I was able to tell myself that you are strong and you can do this. You can, no matter what people think of you, no matter what this means for you, no matter what's happened to you. This doesn't just take the physical strength that it took. It took so much mental strength to one commit to doing it and two actually doing it. And that showed, I said. I was able to say to myself, and what people were saying is that this I was able to tell myself that you are strong and nothing can get in your way.
Burso:I didn't think maybe William Wilson's prom might just carry it on. It's been going well so far.
Alex Prestney:I had to stick to the script. But yeah, it was just the feeling that I had of the accomplishment after being so low, and not that it's like now we're on a high. It was just, you know, climbing back on board and not, you know, feeling like I'm hanging from the helicopter trying to climb on.
Pete O'Hanlon:I know on my podcast yesterday I was talking about running away from a lot of things. Yeah, Was it. Did it have anything to do with it? Like running away from those thoughts?
Alex Prestney:No, because this was like it. They have anything to do with it, like running away from those thoughts. No, because this was like it was what we could do. We. We translated our love for running and endurance and it's we. We put our strength to try and translate that into more strength for the purpose of why we were doing it. This wasn't a sort of like a distraction or a something to do because it's hurting. We were wanting to do this because we go. Well, it's something we can do. I wasn't going to kayak across to New Zealand because I can't kayak. I wasn't going to do that, that's right, Do something hard next time.
Burso:Do something difficult Like you run.
Alex Prestney:So whatever Next time do it backwards, but yeah, it was just like no, no, we are putting what we're good at into something that we can do well, so that night was there like a big shindig.
Burso:Did you all get together or did you just go to bed by six?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, well, you know, we just pretty much were able to, At the memorial there was, you know, was not a massive contingent of people, just the nearest and dearest that were along the way for the journey, just sat up, had some beers there and had a bit of food and things like that. And then I remember the weather just rolled in. It was a beautiful day, and then this big storm just rolled in. Well, all right, and the plan was to you get all spiritual and you're like oh, that's the bro Just taking the piss.
Alex Prestney:A hundred percent, oh did you yeah we did, because we and going back as well we'd always see as the weather or like a thunderstorm or whatever. That's him making his noise. Being a musician as well, that's him making his noise.
Alex Prestney:And we sort of would always go. When that happened we were like oh thanks, mate, you can do that to yourself again. But yeah, then I remember, yeah, we just went back home to mum and dad's, ordered pizzas and then I think, yeah, I was in bed by like 8.30 because I was just absolutely knackered.
Burso:And then the next day, when you woke up and you were like I don't have to run anymore, that's done like where was your head at then? Were you like I'll wrap this up, yeah, and all's well. Or were you like I've had such a high, I've been such a like the community's been together, it's been such a great experience and now like that's, I think, where Pete's going with the whole the whole dump afterwards where you it's like on deployment. Sometimes you go there and you come back and you're like oh.
Pete O'Hanlon:I'm so glad that I'm home. And then you're like, oh fuck, back to bush. You know, you're going back to this training where you've done the real thing. Yeah, now you're back to this. You're going to get back to life, back to basics.
Alex Prestney:You're going to go back home and make sure everything's intact there and you're going to make sure that you know oh yeah, I missed my mortgage repayment because I wasn't working. Yeah, all your concentration is just on that. But then you were just like all right, don't dwell on it too much, you're not on this big sort of you know. And right afterwards it's just like, yep, we're done.
Burso:Cool. So was it more closure and you were happy with it, or was?
Alex Prestney:it yeah.
Burso:Did you?
Alex Prestney:yeah, oh yeah, I would say yeah, just definitely happy with it all, with happy how it all panned out and yeah, it was within our limits and we didn't sacrifice much, which was really good. We didn't feel like we had to really burn into each other. Could you have kept?
Pete O'Hanlon:going? That's my question.
Alex Prestney:No, I don't think so. He says that now.
Burso:You could tell by how he was talking before he was like oh, I would have done another one, I would have gone back to that day?
Alex Prestney:No, I reckon yeah, because mentally we just it was all planned and how it was. And if it was like it's weird when it comes to it's like it's like any sort of trip. You're just playing, you like your last days and sort of thing, and you just read it's like you're ready to come home and you get that homesickness with it and you just go. Maybe I could have, but I wasn't preparing I reckon your mindset too like yeah because you're up and about, because it's your last day, that's it.
Burso:So now you've got all that energy again. You're like I actually feel really good today. You're like, well, that's because you're finishing. That's, you're finishing. Yeah, if you're like, hey, actually one more like the army, where they used to just ruin your life all the time.
Alex Prestney:You're like right guys, put it real good here. Wait a second turns you inside out.
Burso:So I think overall, from start to finish, it was just the perfect block for me so now that that's done, like you were saying beforehand, you want to be able to like, increase support for members and give them advice and that sort of stuff. So where are you going with that is that, with the Amber community and stuff?
Alex Prestney:yeah, and just with the goal that I have in terms of now, with my career at VicPol, I've wanted to, you know, as a lot of members do is come off the road, and I see that doing a run like this, or where my head is at when it comes to what I want to offer and what I want to give and where my skills are at, is for support, for support to put a lot of energy into the road safety aspect.
Alex Prestney:That's one of my burner phones, don't worry about that To put support into road safety, because there are so many people and, like I said before, it's not a topic that's going to go away overnight. We're not going to be able to shelve it To find new ways of where we can take it not just with slogans, being reactive and things like that to go right. How can we invent something that's going to be effective for road safety? And also, how can we come up with something or what can we come up with that's going to be effective for young and inexperienced members of any emergency service and how they can keep themselves safe, how they can get the best out of themselves mentally in this job, of just this jungle that people find themselves going through, Because I think what a lot of people have experienced is the uncertainty that comes with this.
Alex Prestney:I guess people navigating through life and, like I said before, I see a lot of Josh in younger members and vice versa, where not don't think they need, you know, extra protection, but there needs to be emphasis on their well-being and their retention in the job. They join the job for a reason to help people and to support them. To be able to do that is crucial for their entire career. I fear that if there was ever a time where I always wondered what Josh would be doing now if he was still around and if he was being supported or enjoying the job. You don't want people not enjoying what they're doing the job. You don't want people not enjoying what they're doing and to offer them support to make sure that they not just come home in one piece, but mentally in one piece as well, to make sure that they find purpose in what they're doing. And not that I'm trying to reinvent anything or be saving grace for anyone. It's just to be someone or something that can help where it's necessary.
Burso:Well, if you can help retention, then that's it. That's a good thing.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, well, ben, yeah, that's something that I think is anyway.
Burso:So have you got any thoughts on doing another run?
Alex Prestney:I have Other events as well. In terms of, you know, running, I sort of go well, do we just do the same thing? Do we do something else? That is along the lines of what's you know we're passionate about as a family, what Josh was passionate about whether that be, I don't know locations and yeah, obviously it being a huge commitment as well, you can't just sort of do it. I don't want to half do it or underdo it. You want to make sure that when you're doing it, you're committing to it for the right reasons and that people also can get something out of it, not just, not just for myself.
Burso:What are you? What ideas have you been throwing around?
Alex Prestney:I can't give too much away. I I can't give too much away. I can't say anything without giving too much away, but I will say that there will be things that relate to Josh's passions. Donkey Kong.
Pete O'Hanlon:No, narrowed it down, pete we're down one.
Burso:Air guitar. We'll cross that off the list. Yeah, we're down one. Air guitar.
Alex Prestney:We'll cross that off the list.
Burso:We're doing a Nintendo DS marathon, 24 hours, playing straight up, so are we talking like another run, though? Are we talking like an adventure race, or are we talking yeah, possibly.
Alex Prestney:Oh, it's good. Obviously, there are other things that you know. Life gets in the way and you've just got to make sure Very mysterious, isn't he?
Burso:What?
Alex Prestney:button was that? What one was that? That was blue.
Burso:Not the teal or the green. I think you've memorised them all.
Alex Prestney:I'd forget what colour they all are.
Burso:Oh, there's some more. A sad moment. I thought for sure you would have letters on them I actually have that, though. In the box you can do it, but my preparation's not amazing.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, I don't know. I've got a two-year-old at home, you do know it's clearly obvious that he's got some stuff. Just put it out there and commit.
Pete O'Hanlon:I'll keep the suspense with it when it comes up.
Burso:How far are we looking in the future here Five years, it's got to be big. Come on now. It's going to be big for that person It'd want to be if we're going to have to sit here for five years whilst we're thinking about it.
Alex Prestney:The way that I see it, there's just plenty of time. There's no rush, there's plenty of time.
Burso:It's five years away and we're still like I can't talk about it. Like five years, you don't know what's going to happen. Like.
Alex Prestney:BT's announcement in the grand final. Ooh, what's that about?
Burso:Yeah, another thing you do is music. Now you've got a song out. I'm assuming you've probably got more than one. Yep, there was one that you've got on your Insta. What's that about?
Alex Prestney:Oh, yeah, the latest one. So how many have I got? One, two, three, three that have been. You know four, sorry, four, yeah, four that have been at they're out on Spotify that I've done Um, they're all just things that I just, I just just enjoy doing them and just do the this. The skill that I've wanted to hone in on with is is is music, cause it's just what you know, what Josh loved I've been to hone in on is music because it's just what Josh loved. I've been a drummer all my life and he played guitar and so I was like, well, I want to learn how to do that. It was all just going from what I knew to giving this a go and it just snowballed into something that I just enjoy and I play every single day. And what I write about is they're all you know, personal experiences and all the most you know they're all quite recent to. If I've, you know, put something out recently, it's to do with what has been going on in my life recently.
Pete O'Hanlon:And what's the process there getting it on Spotify?
Alex Prestney:Just to basically, oh, like I have my and who's also a good friend of Josh's as well, James, being a producer of what I do, he's been an incredible support with, actually, you know, going, yeah, let's get this out, let's lay this down, let's track this, let's play it and let's put it out there. And you know, it's just so I can share it, that's all. Don't expect anything from it at all when it comes to I don't know reasons why. I just want to share it, that's all.
Alex Prestney:And just to be proud of what I've done in this and never would I have ever thought I would have been like I'm just a drummer, I just play music because I can, but then to be able to write my own lyrics, sing my own lyrics, play guitar for them, drum in them as well and be part of the production process is something that's just never would have thought possible for me. But I'm so proud of the fact that I've been able to put something together that's so personal to me and, just like with a lot of musicians, it it's, it's in their heart and that's that's how I how I, I guess show to people what's what's happening in life at the moment, so I'm assuming there's going to be more music as well yeah, yeah, just, and you know nothing again, it's nothing that's going to be have to be huge, or so do you do all the musical instruments and stuff yourself?
Burso:yep, yep. So because you don't the musical instruments and stuff yourself? Yep, yep. So because you don't have enough mates to play with you? Yep, okay, we got. We had a bloke at my old office, um geordie, and he he's got a band and he's made some amazing tunes and stuff. Yeah, um, but it's when you listen to it, then you realize that one person's done all the music. That that's like the fact that I'm useless at any instrument, and then people just throw it in your face with like eight different ones. I've done it all, yeah, I've done it all. And then they sing and you're just like, oh, spare me, stop it, whatever I'm on it.
Pete O'Hanlon:Yeah, that's just.
Alex Prestney:Flexing. That's always just something. That's just that you can level up, like I've found that each song that I've done, from the first to this most recent one, I've just levelled up with how it's done or how I've been able to write as well.
Burso:Do you reckon you're going to have a good one soon?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, maybe, maybe someone might listen to it.
Burso:Five years down the track. Five years, five years down the track Five years, five years down the track you mark my words.
Pete O'Hanlon:What are they? Can you name them what?
Alex Prestney:The songs, yeah, yeah, what are they? So the first one I did was called Just a Dream. The second one was called as Long as You're there. Third is called Wait for the Day, and then the last one, recently, is called Afraid to Die.
Pete O'Hanlon:There you go, guys. Make sure you jump on Spotify and give them a listen, give them a listen.
Burso:I'll try and check some links on. Yeah, they've all got Work out how that works.
Alex Prestney:They're all connotations, yeah, of rock and metal and things like that, and a lot of them have their own message of. They have the strongest messages about, maybe, mental health and fighting through the process of what people might be going through and the foreboding, the waiting, the wondering when this is going to end, but then also finding strength in that too. I find that a lot of the themes that I have with the music that I write, there's got to be something positive to it and that is the finding power and strength in Pete needs.
Burso:he's number seven in Australia for arm wrestling, but he needs a walkout tune.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, I reckon one of them could bring you to number one for sure hands down five years time you credit me to that when you get to the top and you go because I'm afraid to die, I ain't getting to the top he's going.
Burso:You know where he's going over the top. I don't know Alex does. He's pretty young, he might not have seen it. Have you seen Over the Top? No, I didn't think so. No Wasted.
Pete O'Hanlon:That's all right, military things.
Burso:No, it's a Sylvester Stallone driving a truck turning his hat backwards when he gets serious From the 80s, so good, another movie. Herald. I'm surprised I haven't seen it. We might do that, Pete. We might have to do a podcast about movies young fellas need to watch.
Pete O'Hanlon:Yeah, there'd be a lot of material there.
Burso:Yeah, wouldn't there? We might change the culture overnight. A bit of Rocky Mate. Rocky's been gone.
Pete O'Hanlon:Rocky's still relevant. A lot of you will be surprised. A lot of them have never seen it.
Burso:Yeah, but Rocky's last one was like two years ago they've been beating that dead horse. He's like 75 now and he's still juiced up. Oh yeah, he's still in better shape than me. Yeah, the awkward part about doing podcasts is like, yeah, speak to people who then like you know, it wasn't good enough that you were just running from Melbourne to Mildura, but now you're like oh, I also play multiple instruments and stuff like that.
Pete O'Hanlon:And.
Burso:I'm like oh Pete, how's acting going? Yeah, it's good. I also did a book and I'm number seven in Australia for arm wrestling.
Pete O'Hanlon:So some of the people are just trying to throw you.
Burso:Yeah, and I'm like yeah, well, I've got buttons, so jokes on you guys.
Pete O'Hanlon:We're out of time, yeah.
Burso:We're trying to wrap that up. So is there anything else Like what's next for you? Music you? Ever seen five years time there's gonna be some super secret, awesome activity that's happening that we'll never know again it's putting words in my mouth, but no, it's just, you know, trying to find.
Alex Prestney:I can a lot of these, even though it's been you know how many four and a half years, still a lot of it. A lot of for me now is finding my feet. Um, I always just say that it's, it's like being reborn, it's having someone, something taken from you, and it's really hard, and not that I can try, and, I guess, force people to understand. But one thing that I would just kind of say to people, or really want to, I guess, make the focus, is that I'm sorry, but I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying, I'm trying to figure things out. I don't know what I'm doing, I'm trying, I'm trying to figure things out. I don't know how to navigate this.
Alex Prestney:I did with my brother of 26 years but I don't anymore my first friend, the first person that I ever gravitated towards when it came to how I was to be as a young boy and then as a teenager and then as a man, and then when that gets taken from you, it's so hard to work out and I go yeah, I'm still me, I've still got the same sense of humor, I've still got what makes up me, but I can't find that and I can't find what used to root me to the ground anymore, and I can't find what used to root me to the ground anymore. And again, you'll only maybe not, but people who have had a similar experience to me will empathise with that and agree with.
Pete O'Hanlon:Can you talk a little bit about your partner and the support they gave to your family through this?
Alex Prestney:Yeah, just incredible. Um, they gave to your family through this yeah, just just incredible. And I've I couldn't be more grateful for for rachel, my wife and my mom and dad and what it has, you know, always been a tight-knit group, but what it has done in terms of strengthening us. Of course, there's times where we just we didn't agree, we didn't see eye to eye, we didn't know, and we were all going through different stages. There would be times where one of us would be down and we'd be up.
Alex Prestney:It would just be this seesawing effect of how things were treating us, but at the end of the day, we all knew that we just needed each other and it was like you're not going anywhere. You can't go anywhere because you're the one for me to keep me upright, and it's the same with my wife and how I stand and land on my two feet, and same with mum and dad. If anything, if I need anything or I need help in any sort of way, they're my go-to and they always will be. And that's, you know, that cliche of you. Come out stronger in times of tragedy and adversity. But for some people, unfortunately, it breaks people apart and we consider ourselves so lucky to not only come out stronger, but to realize that we wouldn't be we could be somewhere far worse if we didn't have each other.
Burso:So is there anyone? Um, we'll probably wrap it up now, but is there anyone that we missed along the way? You've got mudra. Obviously. Police station helped you out. Kaitan were very good secure road. Obviously all the people turned up for the bells and whistles and the photos at the end of the activity, which is always lovely, but then you know you've got Brooks helped you out throughout the way. Have they stayed in contact with you afterwards?
Alex Prestney:Oh no, not as much, but that's fine. Oh well, the event's over. Yeah, that's right, but I was just wondering if you developed any relationships there?
Alex Prestney:Like sometimes, sponsors, like they get personally involved and that sort of stuff.
Alex Prestney:Well, the thing is it's like you know, I wouldn't just sort of go when it comes to the people who I don't know were sponsors and things like that, but it's the fact that I've remained close and tried to remain close with the people along the way.
Alex Prestney:I remember, you know, pete from Oyen, mick from Charlton, all those sort of guys Seelake, yeah, the Seelake Hotel, if I was to go down the map and go, yeah, I remember all these guys here and what they were just so good for me, for. And I keep in contact with even the people that I've never met and people who followed along. I appreciate them more than they think and it wasn't just sort of to develop a following or develop a you know, it was knowing that I'm not alone with this, and those people who still hang around and still send a blue love heart when I need it, and things like that. I know that they're the ones who are the most important to me and I want to keep them as close as possible because the way that I feel it is that I didn't realise how much I needed the people like that.
Burso:And the community is obviously another win, because you would never want to know about that otherwise.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, and just having them is just they don't sort of seem. They just seem so family focused and victim centric rather than offender centric sort of thing where that's unfortunately a bit of a common theme that we saw. But they are just people who, you know, just help where they need to. They don't sort of see any other guy other than just to help people and be on board with what message you're trying to put out there.
Burso:Cool and more music will be coming out, as you write it.
Alex Prestney:Yeah, it's just that process is just everlasting. If I sort of you know, might write something, I'll demo something and I'll go. Hey, I reckon this might sound pretty good on Spotify. It might be good to throw out there to people.
Burso:And any other ideas for any charity runs or anything in the future.
Pete O'Hanlon:You're not going to say You're not getting anything, you're not getting anything, not your podcast, not for Joe Rogan.
Burso:You won't take Joe. Joe listens to this.
Pete O'Hanlon:He'll be offended by that.
Burso:Yeah, he's one of the seven people. The other one's Theo, vaughn, him all. Oh, okay, so you hook me up. Yeah, I'll ring Theo. You know what's funny Two steps removed.
Pete O'Hanlon:Anyway, we'll talk about that off air Righty-o.
Burso:Thanks very much, gang Pete. You've got a thing to say. I Well. Thanks very much, gang Pete. You've got a thing to say. I know this is about you, pete, thanks. Thank you so much for being here. It's been the difference.
Pete O'Hanlon:Definitely been the difference.
Burso:Thanks, mate, all right, thanks Bye.
