12 year run

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Bo

When I met KK, I was not a runner. In fact I could think of nothing worse than to put myself through “that kind of torture”. I never even belonged to a gym. Yet when we met, we just clicked. I would often go with him to the road races, but always take a pillow with and snooze on the back seat of the car. It was bliss. It never seemed to bug either one of us that our weekends were so unmatched.

Just out of the blue, I decided that maybe I should give running a try. I hated it. Those first few kilometres were absolute hell and there were days when I questioned why I was actually trying it. But I hung in there. Starting with 4km runs around my neighbourhood, then a 10km and finally managing to do half marathons.

This weekend, KK and I celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary. Time has flown by so quickly and I’m amazed at just how much we’ve both changed and also grown closer. I truly believe that the fact that I started running has meant we are able to share our time together more often.

I’m sometimes asked if the fact that we both run makes our relationship stronger. Yes and no. A part of me always thinks back to those early days and remembers that even though I never ran, I still supported KK and knew how much it meant to him. I was still there. And even though we might not run at the same pace today, the fact that I now also wake up at ungodly hours on a weekend to go run a race means a lot. To the both of us.

It shouldn’t really matter what each other decides to do in life, as long as we do it together.

Christmas in our home #pics

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Bo

With just 12 more sleeps until Christmas, isn’t the build-up to the day just great! I hope everyone who reads this is enjoying it as much as I am! I’ve really gotten in the mood this year with a couple of trimmings scattered around the house.

(ps: if you happen to receive my blog via email, please go online to check out my site. You might catch a glimpse of snow falling…) Coffee table

What happened in the week of April 11th?

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Bo

I was born during the month of April. The 11^th of April to be exact. A couple of years ago, I noticed that ‘things’ happened on or around my birthday. Things that I would later in life remember about my birthday week. These are some that I remember most…

The assassination of Chris Hani – 10^th April 1993: I was at the Rand Easter Show with friends the day before my birthday. Two of my friends were soldiers on a break from the army and were called to come back to service that day when the shocking news of Chris Hani’s assassination broke. The next day, my birthday was spent indoors listening to the news.

Hansie Cronje lied – 11^th April 2000: On this day, Hansie Cronje was sacked as SA’s national cricket captain after confessing that he had not been “entirely honest” about match fixing. Hansie was my hero and my heart was broken! Watching him during the King Commission was even more difficult. I have never really enjoyed cricket since then and was saddened by his death two years later.

Ellis Park Stadium disaster – 11^th April 2001: KK and I had just returned home from a birthday supper and I happened to switch on the TV. What I saw was ghastly as dead bodies were being laid out on the grass of the Ellis Park Stadium after a local soccer match between Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. 43 supporters were crushed to death that day.

But it hasn’t always been bad memories….

My first Two Oceans Half Marathon – 11^th April 2009: Such a special memory that is carved in my heart! The organizers made me feel extra special by surprising me with a Puma rucksack when I collected my race pack as well as printing my name in the Two Oceans magazine. But what made this race even more memorable is that after a break of 20 years, my dad ran the race too! I was so proud!

Can you remember anything special or memorable that happened on your birthday?

The highs and lows of my twenty eleven

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Bo

Before heading into 2012, I sat back and made a list of all the highs and lows of my 2011 year. The ironic thing is that for me, 2011 felt like one of the most stressful years I’ve been through. It was a year of change, a year of ill health, a year full of anxiety. Yet when I compiled my list, I was surprised that I came up with more highs than lows. It made me realise that I had perhaps spent the year too focussed on the bad, the stressful, the negative instead of all the good. It’s definitely going to be something I focus on for next year.

So looking back, here’s what made me smile, laugh, comforted me and gave me many hours of joy:

Starting a blog and realising just how much I love writing and sharing my thoughts.
Celebrating 10 years of marriage and going on a fabulous cruise through the Mediterranean.
Coming back to not only get my Two Oceans 2011 half marathon medal, but achieving a PB at the same time.
Making a stack of new friends on Twitter and meeting some of them in real life.
Coming to the decision that the Media industry is where I want to build my future career.
Coldplay. #enoughsaid

The lows where I wasted too much time and energy and which got me down more days than it should’ve:

Organisational change at work which I struggled with.
6 months of cortisone treatment to treat “trigger finger” associated with enteropathic arthritis.
Putting on weight (almost 7kgs since December 2010) due to the cortisone. *sobs*
Starting January off in a post-retrenchment office environment and watching some of my friends leave the organisation.
Watching helplessly as two of my closest friends go through separations from their partners and realising that they’ve been hurting for a very long time. Then subsequently hearing of another friend’s divorce.

How strange that it took me a while to come up with this list. The lesson is that a whole year can fly by so quickly and yet it feels like just the other day that things happened. I had forgotten a lot of it and I’m sure there’s still stuff I’ve left out. I’m even more grateful for my blog now. I’m definitely going to use it to log all the important and special things that happen in my life next year.

But for now…

Good bye 2011…