About Bo

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

For runners, it’s more than just corporate stress

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Bo

For those of you who work in a corporate environment, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that 2011 and 2012 have been really tough. Since the economic downturn, it’s as if companies got a big wake-up call and since then, it’s become all about survival.

But with that, and all the many shake-ups, restructures and retrenchments it has also brought with it a change in corporate culture. It’s become a place where people are so busy pushing out work and trying to keep ahead of the competition that nothing else matters.

The sad thing for me is that people have stopped talking to one another. And I don’t mean talking… I mean really talking. Engaging with each other and finding out things about each other beyond work.

I think that sometimes we forget that work is not the be-all and end-all of most people’s lives.

Other than those that are busy planning weddings, pregnancies, sending kids off to varsity, I’m referring specifically to those that are training for the Two Oceans and Comrades marathons. It’s crunch time when qualifying times need to be in, the bulk of the training is almost at its peak and the nerves are setting in as we countdown to the biggest races on the running calendars.

I watch these colleagues at work, focussed on projects, in meetings and I sometimes wonder if their minds aren’t a million miles away. How do they possibly still make time to run, be it in the morning or evening when meetings are booked at ridiculous hours of the day? I sense their irritation when their colleagues come to work with flu, knowing that they can simply not afford to get sick now.

I take my hat off to these athletes knowing that in addition to the stress of the corporate jungle, they’re dealing with the stress of knowing that in the next couple of months, there are big races to conquer. There’s no turning back now.

It gives me *goosies* just thinking about it!

Somebody slap me!

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Bo

Call me a girl cause that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling (and acting) lately!

I’m not the mushy or emotional type. I’m not one of those types who feels the need for constant affection. I don’t like people crowding my space. I don’t feel it necessary to say ‘I love you’s’ all day long. In fact as friendly and as warm as I come across, that’s all you’re going to get from me.

But in the last week or so, I’ve been feeling slightly out of sorts and a little out of control. I’ve been feeling really insecure and “girlie”. Yuck! I don’t know how to put it, but it’s as if I need constant reassurance, especially from KK.

Being the typical quiet, introvert engineer that he is, he hasn’t exactly picked up on my insecurities which has added to my niggliness and frustrated me even more!

It was only after confiding in some of my girlfriends that I made a list of some of the valuable advice they gave me:

KK cannot read my mind. I need to over-communicate my feelings and possibly tell him what it is I’d like him to do. He will never guess.
KK will never use the words I am expecting him to use. More often than not, if I am expecting him to act in a certain way over something, he won’t.
Fact: KK loves me. All other insecurities, unless based on fact, should be dismissed.
It’s okay for me to feel needy. I should not be afraid to sometimes admit that I’d like an extra cuddle after a stressful day.

The best piece of advice was from one of my girlfriends who said, “Stop beating yourself up about it. Trust me, it’s absolutely normal to feel like this every now and then. We’re all the same! We’re woman! ”

Yeah, I guess.

Running ‘Om die Dam’

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Bo

There’s nothing better than using the excuse of running to go away for a long weekend and that’s exactly what we did to go run the ‘Om die Dam’ race this passed weekend.

It’s one of my favourite races on the race calendar – run from the Hartebeespoort Highschool it is well-organised, with quite challenging routes and there’s a fantastic vibe at the start of the race. Yes, I’m talking about the sound of the fish eagle that gets played followed by chariots of fire.

This year, I decided to run the 10km. I started with KK and the gang of other 21.1km runners but we split at the 4km mark. What followed was a relentless 4km uphill stretch which forced many runners to walk. Ironically, I got stuck with a Walker from Irene Running Club. I gave mini bursts of running but when I stopped to walk, she would catch up to me and pass me. I’d sprint off again, passing her, but knew that at the next walk break, she’d catch me. So she did and laughed saying, “Kom meisie kind! Moenie laat ek jou stop nie!” When it got to the last 500m, I was shagged and she beat me.

Thank-goodness the weather was cool for the run but it turned into a scorcher of a weekend which was great! If we thought Winter had arrived, we were wrong and we spent the the rest of Saturday and Sunday re-charging our tired legs at the Caribbean Beach Resort near Harties.

It was an awesome weekend of going for lazy walks, long afternoon snoozes, snacking on sinful food, braaing while the sun set and just chillaxing…

A corporate challenge doesn’t necessarily need to be a challenge

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Bo

It was in November last year that I approached management with the idea of entering a small team of runners from our department to partake in the J P Morgan Corporate Challenge.

An email was sent out late one afternoon to gauge the appetite for it and by 8am the next morning, 70 people had put up their hands, eager to participate. To be honest, I was quite surprised as this was an evening event which involved physical activity.

I immediately realised that I could in fact make this into something more than just a 5.6km race and potentially use it to bring the team together. Well, that was my plan anyhow…

So here’s what I did:

I sent weekly emails with running, exercise and healthy-eating related information to the team. You’ll be surprised how people soak up information when it concerns their weight and general well-being (especially us women!).
I made as if we were all training for our first marathon and distributed training schedules. Experienced runners among the group scoffed because to some of them, 5.6kms was a mere warm up. However, majority of the team had never run that distance before and were genuinely nervous.
I slipped mini facts in to each email about different team members to allow people to get to know one another. So-and-so does aqua aerobics at the gym after work. So-and-so completed Half Ironman so speak to her about training. People were in awe once they started to learn more about their colleagues.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the emails, but people started to talk back. They started to share their stories with me. They’d pop past my desk to chat about running. They’d confess their sins if they had bought take-out on the weekends. They would report back if they managed to take the stairs instead of the lifts. I started to see shifts in behaviour and excitment for the race growing. Even I got nervous!

After 3 months of building up to the race it turned out to be a stunning evening! Together with 530 other runners from Standard Bank, we were proudly announced the 2nd largest entry!

If I look back, I realise that I personally gained so much out of the experience. I took a chance. I exposed myself to a bunch of people without knowing what their reaction would be to my constant communication. I discovered that a simple email, which honestly did not take more than 10 minutes to write, could contain so much influence and motivation behind it.

But I guess the biggest lesson for me is that team building doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes, we under-estimate people’s willingness to just get involved and have a bit of fun.