What goes up always comes down

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Bo

I’ve been trying something different with my running this year. I’ve included some hill training and speed work in to the mix. Yeah, I know it’s something runners are supposed to do but hey, to be honest, I’ve been pretty lazy in the last couple of years and haven’t been as disciplined as I should have been.

The hill training is pretty straight forward. I can feel my heart racing and my legs getting stronger every time I do them. My gosh, reaching the top just feels so brilliant every time.

Hill training has taught me 3 lessons…

What goes up will come down. Hang in there. We all face those times in our lives when it feels as if there are more up hills than down hills. But they don’t last.
Sometimes the down hills hurt. You look forward to them but (as I discovered running the Dischem 21km a few years back) if your legs are not ready for that sudden downhill, you will take strain. Be ready for the drop.
Don’t avoid the up hills. Don’t hate them. They make you stronger. It’s how we deal with the up hills in life that builds us. Hills are just part of life – face them!

A good friend and Comrades Silver medal finisher gave me this tip once: Starting on your left foot, with each step, repeat these words “1, 2, 3… on my left.” I know it sounds silly but somehow it does help to conquer those hills.

Here’s to an awesome week full of up hills as well as down hills!

Thoughts from a race – #picknpayhalfmarathon

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Bo

The Pick ‘n Pay road race is one of my favourite races. I’ve completed the half marathon three times and last year, I enjoyed the 8km fun run. Looking back, there are always moments during a race which stand out for me. Here are the ones from this particular race:

At 15 minutes before the race started, there were no queues at the loo’s. Bonus!
Even if I thought we were standing close to the front of the start pack, when the race started, it looked like a kilometer of runners stretched out in front of us.
I have started to recognise the same faces from previous races and it’s great to say hello as we head on out.
Another runner stopped me as we headed close to the 3 km mark and told me she remembered me so clearly from the Johnson Crane race. (That’s all she said? I hope it was a good thing.)
You get water points and you get water points. But two water points on this race rocked!
Having KK meet me at the 19km mark to run me to the finish line – Wonderful! I was filled with emotion.
A girl who had run slightly ahead of me the entire way slowed down in the last kilometer. I pushed her in front of me when we got to the field. It’s only right that she deserved to finish the race ahead of me.
Don’t under-estimate the awesomeness of a hotdog after running 21.1km!

If you ran and would like to add to my list, feel free to do so.

See you next year Pick ‘n Pay!

Keep up. This is my race.

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Bo

It gets to that point of any road race where the elite runners shoot off, the slower runners / walkers start lagging behind me and I find my spot among others who run/walk at the same pace as what I do.

Running a 21.1km race alone is tough. There’s no one to chat to. There’s no one to push you and no one but yourself to keep you motivated. So every now and then, I look around and strike up a conversation with those around me. The thinking is that we must* be doing the same pace so we might as well get to the finish line together. But that’s not always right. I learnt this lesson during the recent Johnson Crane half marathon.

It was close to the 14km mark and I found myself running next to a guy who ‘appeared’ to be running at 8mins/km (my pace). I was doing a run/walk strategy of 800m run/200m walk at the time and he joined in. We chatted away and my spirits lifted as I started to think that we would get each other to the end. It wasn’t meant to be. He started to struggle on the 800m runs and requested we walk a lot sooner. I gave in too easily and we landed up walking 800m and running 200m for about 2kms. But eventually I realized that he was holding me back so I waved goodbye and ran off.

Reflecting on the race (and analyzing as I do), I realized that it was really great to run a part of the race with him. I enjoyed it. It’s the one thing I long for is a running partner. But another part of me acknowledges that he was not right for me and was slowing me down. It just shows how quickly my running strategy changed to accommodate someone else. It was a horrible feeling leaving this poor guy behind, but I had to do it.

How quickly in life we accept situations which are not what we wanted. We get into relationships which are not right for us. We fall in to a comfort zone and make excuses. Sometimes, those we are with are on a different path and will hold us back. Choices we make will either slow us down or get us to the finish line a lot quicker. It’s deciding what you want more that matters.

(By the way, if you run at 8mins/km, I’m looking for a running partner.)

Sometimes you gotta fake it

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Bo

I love a garden full of colourful flowers. When I go for my runs through the neighbourhood and see gardens full of flowers, I’m a little envious. You see, our garden, unfortunately, does not get much sun, so we have been unable to plant any flowers.

When we originally moved into our house years ago, we were so concerned about blocking our neighbours from peeking into our garden that our landscaping was more focussed on big trees and bushes. Nine years later, we have the most beautiful trees full of bird feeders and nests, but lots of shade. It’s lush and green but lacks the colour that only flowers bring.

But a few weeks back, my mother-in-law changed that. Starting with just a single water lily, she “planted” this colourful flower to float gently on top of our water feature in the corner of the garden. Viewed from the kitchen, it was lovely to see not only the birds splashing themselves in the water, but a dash of colour. I requested she buy a few more and now have almost 8 of these beautiful flowers to view. I love them.