About Bo

Dog lover. Runner. Although very slowly. Keeping up with the stresses of running and life...

Two coins to win a race

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Bo

I wanted to give KK something special for his Comrades race, something meaningful. But he’s not the soft, fluffy teddy emotional kinda guy. A rather introverted engineer, he’s not into deep quotes. He’d rather watch cat videos on YouTube than a motivational TED video and Hallmark cards aren’t his thing.

His face went blank when I even suggested that we watch Chariots of Fire together the week before Comrades, so I really was torn as to how I showed him my support & that he knew I understood the significance of his race and what it meant to him.

I knew he wanted his back to back Comrades medal more than anything. This is a medal only given out to those who run the Up run and return the next year to run the Down run (or vice versa). It wasn’t even about beating his previous time. All he spoke about was these two medals and ensuring he finished in time because this would be his only opportunity to get it.

So the night before the race, I packed two coins into a tiny plastic bag which I gave to him to run with. The two coins symbolized his two medals and I told him that each & every time he felt like quitting or when it got tough out there along the route, that he should reach into his running belt and feel the two coins. Feel and envisage what he was running for.

KK finished his race and got his medals! He didn’t say whether or not the coins helped but I did notice that he never threw them aside. When we packed up to go home, I caught a glimpse of the coins, still in the packet, tucked away neatly with the rest of his running kit. That said it all…

Seeing the medal from 87.7kms away

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Bo

As I write this, there are just three days to go before the Comrades marathon. KK will be running his second one and going for what is known as a ‘back to back’ medal. His training compared to last year has been entirely different mared by a horrible groin injury since March and less mileage on his legs.

Him and I approach our running in very different ways. I like to ~~over~~ analyze and talk about the run to death. I read books, articles, blogs and ensure I’m engaging with other runners on social media. KK zones out.

There’s one advantage to this. Along with the frustration of an injury not healing fast enough and less and less time to do that one last long run, I noticed KK becoming more and more determined. As if as if because he couldn’t train his legs, he put that energy into training his mind.

Not once has he mentioned bailing. He never talks about quitting. He doesn’t even have a plan B. In his mind, he intends to run the best race he can and come home with his medal. Some might call it arrogance or even ignorance but I think when you take on a race of this magnitude, you need to have your head screwed on right and not have a single doubt in your head or hints of failure. He talks about that medal all the time as if he imagines it in his hand. His eyes are set firmly on the goal and the challenge ahead.

They say that even though you’ve done the training, Comrades is a mental race. Once you pass around the 60km mark, your head takes over and you’d better have that mental strength to push on when your body begs you to give up. If I know KK, this is his strength. Failure is not an option.

Good luck Karl! I’ll be there with you, in your heart, every step of the way. I love you…

Running through quicksand

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Bo

I’ve been clocking up some awesome times at track lately. But it’s not necessarily because I’ve been working hard. It might be simply down to guilt. You see, although I’ve tried to be quite disciplined in attending track, my easy runs on weekdays and weekends have really suffered.

In the last two weeks, I skipped my easy runs on both Tuesdays and Thursdays, made excuses on Fridays, rolled over and went to bed last week Saturday. The only long distances I’ve managed to squeeze in has been the RAC 10km race and more recently, the Boskruin 10.5km Sunday run.

But in reality, it feels as if I’m running through quicksand.

I keep blaming:

The Comrades runners who are tapering. Shouldn’t the supporters also be tapering?
Load shedding and the traffic which prevents me from getting home early enough
Winter is coming. I’m not a big fan of running in the cold. My ears ache. My fingers freeze. It’s dark… I’ll save this for another blog post.

When I was young, I recall watching those cowboy movies where anyone falling in quicksand was doomed to die. That there was no way out and as much as you tried, the sand would eventually swallow you whole.

People falling into (and, unrealistically, being submerged in) quicksand or a similar substance is a trope of adventure fiction, notably in movies. According to Slate, this gimmick had its heyday in the 1960s, when almost 3% of all films showed someone sinking in mud, sand, or clay. ~ Wikipedia

I’m feeling exactly like that. I’m stuck in the sand and cannot move or make an effort.

I know what’s missing. It’s the lack of discipline and consistency on my part. I know that the less I run, the less I want to run and so the less I do run. It’s a vicious circle. It is harder to find that motivation during winter and I’m already struggling to do so.

So I guess as long as I continue to track sessions and commit to at least trying to get out there, I’ll be okay. I need to buckle down and recommit. It’ll be worth it come spring time!

(Images: Google)

A surprise delivery

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Bo

So I’ll admit that even though we’ve lived in the same complex for over 10 years and even with KK as head of the homeowners association, we don’t really know our neighbors. Yeah, so we give the occasional wave when some of them drive passed and we sometimes ~~spy on~~ watch when they go walking their dogs on a Sunday afternoon but in general, we mind our own business.

But when old man Trevor died earlier this year from a brain tumor and we only heard about it one month later, we really felt bad. I mean, how did we not know? I remember being woken up one Saturday morning at about 4am from a loud commotion of family outside his house. After that day, we never saw him again and only heard that he was ‘sick’. Did we not suspect something was wrong with all the kids visiting so often? And the garden outside not being taken care of? Why did we not pop around and ask? Sorry Trevor and Miriam.

So last Saturday when we arrived home from shopping, we found a basket outside our gate. A basket filled with avos from our neighbor Jason (on the other side) with a note saying we should enjoy the avos from their tree.

We were blown away! What an awesome gesture! Especially since majority of people in our complex are just like us and keep to themselves. It reminded me that such a small and simple act can do wonders and make you want to do something back in return.

It also showed that sometimes an acknowledgement can come in a different way, it doesn’t have to be conversation. This gesture spoke a 1000 words. Thanks neighbor! Thanks Jason and family. The avos are amazing!