My idea of winning is different to yours.

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Bo

I’ve got a problem with people who think I am uncompetitive. I am. In fact I am very competitive. I hate losing. But what I’ve faced my entire life is other people thinking that because I am not a pro at what I do, that I don’t want to win.

When I was in high school, I was in the B side of the netball team. Sometimes, I got pushed down to reserve for the B team because there were other girls who played better than me. At least I got to play.

When I left high school, I tried my hand at action cricket. I was dropped off the team because I couldn’t hit the ball. I guess that’s important, right?

A few years later, I played action netball with a group of friends. The team eventually asked me to leave because we weren’t winning our games and it was my fault. They refused to continue playing unless I left the team. (keywords: team & friends). I gracefully walked away even though it hurt me big time.

Lately at gym, when I am training with my personal trainer, she will often give me lighter weights than I (think) I am capable of lifting. In addition, she tells me to do all my push-ups on my knees. I feel like a real girl.

Just the other day, someone was telling me that on their very first run, they ran 6 minutes per km and questioned me about my running and if I was working my pacing out right. Seriously? After 4 years of running?

I’ve pretty much gone through my whole life being judged by other people who decide that I am not strong enough, fast enough, or good enough. Do they realise that I am giving it my best shot? Why is it that others presume that because I am not winning any games or races or running as fast as them that I am not wanting to win?

Maybe competing and winning means something completely different to me. Like not quitting when others don’t give me a chance?

Finding inspiration when and where I least expected it

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Bo

I had good intentions of going for a run yesterday. First, I left my running kit at home, so I landed up missing time trial. Then I got home early enough but blamed the chilliness of the afternoon and not knowing what to wear. Then my iPod was flat. I casually tweeted about it (as one does) and received this reply:So I went to gym and came home smiling. Not because I felt great having run 5kms like I wanted to. Not because I got home all sweaty and red in the face (which I love). Not because I scored an extra point with Vitality. But because of these reasons:

The thin woman with the prosthetic leg was on the stretching mat. At first glance you don’t notice it but look long enough and you see the metal linking the shoe to the shorts. She reminded me to be grateful that I have both my legs and can run. No excuses.

Crazy face (that’s what I call her) was on the bike as she is every evening. Dressed in an over-sized T-shirt with hair tied back and an alice band, she pushes herself on the bike for a full hour until she is dripping in sweat. Eyes closed, her body bobs to her own rhythm on the bike.

John Coffey waved me hello. If you’ve seen ‘The Green Mile’ you will know that I am referring to a huge black man who is so big but has a heart of gold. My Coffey is usually on the treadmill walking on a level 5. It’s slow but it doesn’t matter. He’s still doing more than most.

It wasn’t the skinny chicks checking out their hair in the mirror or the muscled okes hoping you’d see them lifting weights. It was those three unlikely characters that left me quite inspired. It’s as if they were placed there on purpose for me last night to remind me that there are no excuses to skip gym.

I’m glad I went.

Running through my week…

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Bo

1. Remembering Pa Wiehl after 5 years. 2. Back to gym after a 2 week break! 3. So many magazines to motivate me. 4. The new bike rack fits KK’s Merc perfectly. 5. Bike shopping. 6. Sunrise in Jozi from my office window. 7. Trying to cool the girl’s food down when I’m late in the morning. 8. Pizza and a catchup with Dan & Linda. 9. Sunday afternoon snooze with Emma.

Taking my slippers off

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Bo

To say that I am feeling miserable is putting it lightly. I’m in a dip, a low point…

I woke up on Sunday morning to the tweets of fellow runners who had just completed the Pirates 10km running race. I remember the race from last year when a great running tweetup had been organised. This year, I lay in bed sleeping, feeling sorry for myself. Worse is that I had promised a fellow tweep that I’d run with her and seeing her joy as she finished her first 10km race really made me feel crap.

The fact is that I haven’t run for ages. My last race was the RAC 10km in June. Firstly, I’m not the biggest winter runner. I hate getting cold. (My ears ache). Secondly, like most people, I was hit with flu which set my training, both running and gym, back for a couple of weeks. Thirdly, I hate my body at the moment. I’m overweight and I feel heavy, irritated and downright miserable.

It’s a vicious cycle. The less I run, the worse I feel. If I don’t get to gym, I feel guilty (and then I eat). It’s a bad place to be. So, Monday is always a good time to make a change, which I did. I got to gym lekker early and decided to do a ‘light’ run before the spinning class started.

To my surprise I managed to run 2kms around the running track without stopping. I was hot, drenched in sweat, aching, out of breath. OMG! It felt fantastic!

Yeah, so it’s only 2kms. But it’s exactly what I needed to do! It’s as if I needed to flick that switch in my head.

I may not be the best runner in the world. I know that I don’t run very far compared to most other runners. I know for a fact that I may even be the slowest runner I know. But I’ve come to realise that running makes me feel good. It makes me feel fit. It makes my body work and my mind work even harder. And that’s what matters.

In life, if you find something that motivates you, pushes you and makes you get off that couch and work towards a goal, don’t ever stop. It doesn’t have to be running. Just as long as it’s a passion that lifts you out of that dip and keeps you going.