Category Archives: My Thoughts

I didn’t listen. I thought I knew better. But I don’t.

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One of the first instructions my running coach gave me was that I should not run any races until he tells me to. But as any runner will know, this is torture, especially when everyone around you is entering all of their favourite races.

So instead of listening to him, I entered and ran the Dischem 5km race in Bedfordview on Sunday morning. I thought, hey, it’s just a quick fun run. Surely it’s okay?

I expected to do brilliantly. I expected to shave minutes off my previous time. But I didn’t. In fact, as we drove home, I was hit by immense disappointment and irritation with myself. I had managed to run without stopping once. This was great. But I was slow and still running at 8 mins/km.So I phoned my coach, sheepishly apologising that I had “skelmpies” run a race behind his back, but also begging him for answers as to why I was not yet running faster. After he gave me a firm lecture, I finally understood exactly why he had given that instruction.

You see, running by myself on a quiet Sunday morning around my neighbourhood is a very different experience to running a race. Even if I try fool myself in to believing that it’s a “fun” run, it isn’t. And it wasn’t on Sunday.

In fact, I was pumped. I was nervous. My adrenaline was flowing. I was tense, anxious and excited. As the race started, I was already thinking I was going to do brilliantly. Thanks to a great new friend (Craig aka @biggestbossfan) who ensured I did not walk once, I landed up completing the race in 40 mins. Yip, 8 minutes per km!

I was gutted! All I could think of was what about all my speed work? What about all the extra effort of 3 weeks of training? I felt miserable and disappointed. I took my eye off the end goal and landed up feeling highly demotivated.

My coach was right. It’s a massive psychological knock which I took and doesn’t help my training much. All I could focus on after the race is that my training wasn’t helping and that I was always going to be a slow runner jogger and yet, this is so not true.

I guess the biggest lesson I’m learning from my coach is patience. I’m realising that the end goal is not Two Oceans (a race with so much hype it stresses me out tremendously).

The end goal is in fact listening to my body. Believing in my abilities and having the patience to believe that it will happen. Eventually. Because it will.

So I have my 2012 ASA number ready to be sewn on to my running kit and while I wait patiently for my first official run of the year, I will carry on training. I suspect that compared to last year, running in 2012 is going to be filled with many challenges and unexpected surprises of its own.

Lessons from my mentor: sell yourself

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I’m one of those people who is priviledged enough to have found a handful of mentors who I’m able to bug for advise and assistance when I encounter different problems, not only at work but in my personal life.

Catching up with one of my mentors and a good friend (my Mr Miyagi) yesterday gave me lots of food for thought for my run this afternoon…

He was sharing his views on people’s personalities and how, (in his humble opinion) you don’t really get far in the corporate world unless you are willing to have a voice to speak up and be heard.

The point he was trying to make is that for some people, speaking up is an uncomfortable space to be in. There are people who would much rather sit quietly in a meeting, taking notes and internalising the issues than being the loud-mouths who need to be heard. The down side to this is that these ‘quiet’ people are then viewed as not contributing to the discussion or not having an opinion.

Unfortunately, to be noticed and to grow and to be recognised as someone who has something of value to the team, you sometimes need to push yourself out of that comfort zone and become that loud voice. Especially to make sure people start noticing you and the knowledge you possess.

So many of us have special skills and konowledge which a lot of people are unaware of. The best person to sell those skills is yourself because there’s no one that knows you better than you know yourself.

Dave is not always going to be there…

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You see this photo below? I’m the girl with the red top and blue cap. The big guy next to me is Dave. He was the pace setter that got me over the 2009 Two Oceans half marathon finish line. This photo was taken of the 3 hour bus coming up to UCT.

I can still remember that day clearly. The relief when I finally caught Dave at the 16km mark. I immediately felt safe. I immediately knew I was going to make it. I knew I’d finish strong. With singing and words of encouragement, Dave got me (and a lot of other runners) to that finish line with 5 minutes to spare and for which I will be forever grateful.

Unfortunately, 2010 was a very different experience. I arrived at the start of the race to find that Dave was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there was no 3 hour pace setter. This immediately set me back mentally as I was planning on running with the 3 hour bus and realised I would need to run the entire race by myself.

So with no Dave to carry me, my race was a struggle. I did not finish in the required 3 hours. I missed cut-off by 6 minutes. There was no t-shirt or certificate to say that I had completed the race. Nothing. I was devastated. I felt like a complete failure. In fact, I was filled with so much anger that there wasn’t a “Dave” to carry me home.

But it wasn’t Dave’s fault. I realise that now.

I came back in 2011 to get my medal. But this time, I was a bit wiser. I knew in my mind that if I was to finish in time, I had to rely on nobody but myself. I needed to ensure that the training I did was enough. I needed to ensure my legs were strong enough. More importantly, I needed to know that my mind was in the right place.

I guess in life, we often rely on others and when those people are not there anymore, we crumble. We fail and then we blame others.

I’ve come to realise that in life, I never quite know if there will always be someone to rely on or not. Chances are, there won’t always be a “Dave” by my side to carry me through so I need to be prepared for whatever surprises come my way. Just like my races, I need to know how to rely on my own strength to get me across that finish line.

My (simple) tips for surviving the 2012 workplace

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As everyone returns to work after their end of year breaks, they would have realised that very little (if anything at all) has changed in their workplaces. Regardless of New Year’s resolutions, colleagues are still the same, work is still stressful, process still exist. In fact, if you hated your job before going on leave, chances are nothing will be different, besides perhaps your attitude.

But to get through the year, I thought I’d share some of the things I do that have always helped keep me sane and helped me cope at work.

  • I always remember that people I work with sometimes always have different opinions than mine and hey, that’s great. It’s good to see their side once in a while and understand where they are coming from.
  • There will always be that one colleague who I dislike immensely. Someone who gets on my nerves and who tests my patience. It’s not worth allowing that person to take up so much of my time. I try to ignore them. If the “noise” gets too much, I stick my skull candies in my ears and listen to music.
  • Remembering to laugh. It’s not heart surgery (not where I work anyhow). No one is dying! Behind my desk, I have a pin-up wall of funny email jokes and pictures. I’m amazed how many colleagues will stop for a quick chuckle when they walk past my desk. It also reminds me to smile.
  • It’s important to have something uniquely “YOU” to remind you daily of your values and who you are (especially in the corporate jungle). For me, it’s a dog calendar. I like to start my day off by paging to the entry of the day and seeing what dog will be smiling at me all day long. *I smile back*
  • I ensure that I hang around positive people in the office. This is a cheap, easy way to lift my mood and my day. (@hayleym_ please come back soon)
  • On last tip. I keep a tub of sour worms and chewy wine gums in my drawer and pull it out on certain days when the mood in the office is down. I call it my “stress bucket”. As people walk past, they see it and immediately grab one. It’s so funny to watch how everyone goes for the red, black and green ones first! Don’t underestimate the power of a sugar boost!

If all else fails, RUN. I mean, go for a run. Not only is it about finding a balance in life between work and home, but I often use my running to clear my head and to do most of my thinking.

In the end, there is a job that needs to get done. Unfortunately, no one is going to wait around for me when I am having a bad day or feel stressed out. I need to do what I need to do to de-stress and catch up or get left behind. Even if it means hitting the gym or going for a run. Everyone needs to find that something that helps.

Good luck!