About Bo

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

Even if you know me well, you don’t know this…

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Bo

Polony. If there’s anything that makes me remember where I’ve come from in life, it’s that big fat pink roll of enterprise polony.

Even if you think you know me well, you don’t know that when I was growing up, life was a struggle. I was always scared. I was always waiting for something bad to happen. I used to curl up in a ball sitting on the back wall in the garden and rock. Just rock. It was comforting.

Unlike my life of luxury now, we never had cans of coke in the fridge. We didn’t have bags of chips in the cupboard. Underfloor heating was unheard of. I didn’t even know that toilet paper came in two ply.

We once lived behind the parking lot of the Checkers in Primrose on the East Rand. But we had polony.

Fried in margarine. Thinly sliced with cheese. Or just cut up into big blocks. Happiness.

Growing up, our daily chore was to clean the house every day after school. Once that was done, we’d have to make supper so that my mom would be able to pop in quickly, eat and head back to work a double shift to earn extra money. In my mind, this was the norm. It bothered me more that as a child of divorce I was stuck cleaning than the fact that my mom was absent. But we had polony so life was good. We were doing okay, right?

My mom remarried and moved away. Whenever we visit her, there’s polony in her fridge. Comfort.

Inside I’m still that scared, insecure girl. I still wait for bad things to happen. Beneath my happy smile is a frown of disappointment when so many people let me down. What exhausts me most is trying so damn hard. I keep trying…

To this day, I still eat polony.

(Disclaimer: I realize my blog post for the @Writersbootcmp is late but I wasn’t sure if I’ll be able to keep it up. This topic intrigued me. And I was craving polony.)

Heading up that mountain

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Bo

As I came out of a meeting last week, I turned to my manager and said, “I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I just need you to know that.”

It’s a massive project I am working on and suddenly receiving a launch date deadline to work towards started to give me serious heart palpitations. (Okay, so maybe I exaggerate a bit. I usually get like this when I don’t have control over things.)

So while I lay in bed this morning battling a nagging cough, I was planning both the work week ahead in my head but also thinking about my next running challenge. Should I carry on running my usual 10km races until the New Year or should I take on a half marathon before December? And how the hell would I manage if I was stuck in bed unable to train?

Ironically, the two issues seemed quite similar. Project managing this launch feels like a mountain right now, pretty much like forcing myself to start training during Winter. I never train during the cold months, preferring to take the easy route and run at gym. I also don’t know how I would tackle it knowing what a mental challenge it will be for me.

But running is like that. You don’t know what to expect. All you need to do is put the training in and head for the race date. Yes, I may get sick along the way (like now with my cough that won’t go away). And yes, there will be days when I hurt and can’t go on. But there will be those days when I return from a run and feel absolutely great. It’s those baby steps leading up the race that I need to look out for.

I suppose it’s the same with my project. This time around, there is no easy route. I need to put in the hard work, tackle the challenges along the way, celebrate the small wins but head for that launch date. I can do this…

The reward around the corner

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Bo

I’ve mapped out a couple of running routes around my neighbourhood, some are 5km routes for quick runs after work, others are for the longer Sunday LSD’s. I ran one of my favourite routes this morning; I call it the Elgin route.

To get there means I have to meander through parts of Bryanston first and conquer one of the longest uphills – Cumberland & Homestead Roads. It’s not so much steep as it is long. I’m usually already walking by the time it starts its big pull. I don’t mind the walk. Walking during my runs usually gives me time to think and re-energise for the week ahead. But the road is relentless and takes me a good few minutes to get to the top.

The best part is as I turn into Elgin. It’s more of a mental turn on my run because my head tells me the hard work has been done and it’s pretty much downhill home from there. But there’s more to it…

Elgin Road is filled with the most beautiful massive trees, buzzing with bird life. You can hear the occasional Grey Lourie if you’re patient and there are always doves coo’ing in the lush gardens. You’re bound to run into other runners, even ones with dogs on leads.

It’s the part of my run where I let go and allow myself to be surrounded by nature and the fact that it feels like I’ve blocked out everything else. All I hear are my feet pounding the tar as the sun hits my face.

There are three takeouts from running this route:

1. It’s okay to walk the uphills. I still reach the top.

2. The reward is around the corner, be patient.

3. Take time to appreciate and enjoy my surroundings. There’s so much beauty around us!

One of the best running routes there is!

The iPod discovery

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Bo

I find running through the winter months hard. If I’m honest, it’s very hard. But I did promise myself that this year, I would continue training and not slip into my usual running hibernation. Sp pretty much since the Jozi afternoons got dark and cold and the mornings hit 0 degrees, I’ve been doing most of my training at the gym.

It’s not too bad and I get to do some proper speed work and interval training which I hardly do out on the road. For years now, my iPod nano has ensured surviving running on the dreaded deathmill as long as I have a range of great playlists to choose from on my trusted old iPod nano. That’s all I pretty much used it for. Until now…

Playing around on my iPod recently, I noticed a Fitness section. Um, hello! Where’ve you been hiding? Fiddling with the settings, I managed to set it to run a 5K route, matched with one of my new playlists and decided to run on around the track at the gym instead of the treadmill for a change.

Imagine my surprise when I heard a woman’s voice come on, talking to me about my workout. Every now & then, she would tell me my pace, how far I’d run and how I was doing. How awesome is this? My very own ‘personal trainer’ in my ears! I know others have used their iPhones but I’ve never been keen to strap my phone to my arm at the gym and I find it too risky out on the road too. The size of that iPod nano is perfect.

I know that if I run x5 laps on the track, it measures 1km. So I was fascinated how near close to accurate the iPod was. (okay, 200m short) Googling it, I later discovered that I comes with a built in Nike+ sensor. All I need to do is a bit of calibration. I’m also checking out recording any runs to Nike+ because well, as all runners on social media know, you haven’t really run until you tell everyone, right? *winks*

I’m so excited about this! I think gym is great but every so often, you need to be doing something different or else you get bored and the novelty wears off. I guess this is like most things in life. Getting into a rut is so easy and yet so simple to get out of. You just need to know how. Sometimes, it’s right under your eyes!

My iPod nano discovery is definitely going to help me get through winter! Okay, iPod, let’s run!