It’s the last day of 2011 and I am really enjoying reading posts on a lot of blogs I follow and on Twitter about memories of 2011. So much so that it has inspired me to go back into the archives and see what my highlights of 2011 were:

1. January saw me finish my first Ironman 70.3 triathlon (1.9km Swim, 90km cycle and 21km run) in just over six and a half hours, in the pouring rain & with pink hair.

2. March brought an interesting little initiative across my path. Roxy Burger started the 40 days of zarmies for lent and it got a we bit bigger than any of us imagined it would. Here’s to even more sarmies in 2012.

3.  April saw me finish my first Ironman in Port Elizabeth (3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42km run) in just under 14 hours.  Hearing Paul Kaye on the red carpet saying “Big Brad Brown, you are an Ironman” will always be one of my favourite memories of that day.

Me running down the red carpet

4. The Comrades Marathon rematch took place in May. After failing to finish in 2010 the pressure was on to get the job done in 2011. One of my fondest memories of the day was having my Dad (Who has done 11) on the route supporting through out the day and at the finish when I crossed the line in just over eleven and a half hours.

Having my Dad at Comrades 2011 was awesome

5. My first magazine cover (much to my surprise it wasn’t Farmers Weekly).

My June Cover

6. Having a dream come true by running across our vast country from Cape Town to Johannesburg as part of the Continental Run to Stop

7. Helping people get fit and lose weight at Run Walk for Life in Bryanston

8. My best mate from school, Leanne, getting engaged. Even if it is to a Kiwi.

9. James, my best mate from varsity (and the best man at my wedding) getting engaged and married in 2011. Go you good thing.

10. A long time friend Poppie from my campus radio days getting engaged (just shows that there is someone for everyone). Love you Popster!!!

That's Poppie in the Bulls jersey. We all have our faults.

11. Marc and Sam & Lindsey and Hayley getting hitched this year too.

12. Finding a house that I can call home.

Four down, three to go. 2012 is looking like it is going to big year if I manage to accomplish everything that I have set out to achieve in the previous four posts. If you have missed how the Seven Things came about feel free to have a look at them. The links to them are posted below:

Time for Some Changes

The First of Seven Things – My Food Addiction

The Second of Seven Things – Working on Me

The Third of Seven Things – Athletic Goals

The Fourth of Seven Things – Financial Intelligence

I made a decision a few years ago that I wanted to be my own boss and have been working my butt off ever since. Working for yourself is rewarding but it is also challenging because the buck stops with you. I have had a few successes over the years but have also had a few failures. I seem to have found my niche and plan to consolidate in 2012 and build on the foundations I laid in 2011. I have always been one to have fingers in a few pies, never wanting to have all my eggs in one basket. The fifth thing I want to work on in 2012 is my businesses.

What I want from my businesses in 2012

You may or may not know but I have a web design business called CSD outside of radio that I have owned and operated for the last 3 years. We build websites and lease them to our clients. That business has grown steadily over the last few years and I plan on continuing that growth over the next 12 months. I would like to add at least another three new clients to my portfolio a month for the next year.

The second area I want to focus a lot of my effort in 2012 is building my Run Walk for Life business. I acquired the franchise for the Bryanston branch towards the end of this year. I am really passionate about helping people lose weight and get fit and have some big plans for building Bryanston over the next year. I would like to double the membership there in the next 12 months. At the beginning of January my wife and I are also taking over the Krugersdorp branch, which operates from Krugersdorp High School. I also want to grow that branch substantially over the next year. I’m considering starting a third and fourth branch on the West Rand too, another afternoon branch and a morning branch. Watch this space, I will post the details as soon as it is finalised.

If I am going to make this one happen in 2012 it is going to require a combination of working smart and working flipping hard. I need to get a lot better at delegating and letting go a bit more to let other people take control. In a nutshell I need to let go and let it grow.

What are your plans on the employment or business front? How are you going to make it happen in 2012?

This one is going to be difficult to not only get right but to actually put down on paper too. It is something I have been worried about for a long time and REALLY need to get control of. I am almost sure I am not the only person that has an issue with this but I’ll get into that in a mo. If you haven’t read how this series of posts came about then please feel free to read them, here are the links

Time for Some Changes

The First of Seven Things – My Food Addiction

The Second of Seven Things – Working on Me

The Third of Seven Things – Athletic Goals

All my eggs in one basket

Where to start on number four? This one, like the first of the Seven, is hard to admit. This has also been something that has bugged me for a long time my whole life. I am terrible with money and I need to get better. If there is one thing I think schools should teach kids is financial literacy. Pythagoras’s theory is great but I have yet to use it practically in ANY situation. What I could’ve used is a few lessons on really how to be disciplined when it comes to my personal finances. The sad thing is I think the answer is in that last sentence. To manage your finances successfully you need discipline.

It actually scares me if I think about how little I know about how much I am spending in different areas of my life. As an example I have no idea how much I spent on gas last month and that is not good. I hope I am not the only person who is battling with this? Please tell me I’m not!

Things need to change. So here goes. I am going to become, or at least start becoming financially literate. I guess it all boils down to budgeting doesn’t it? Making sure you have more coming in than going out and making sure you don’t have too much going out where it shouldn’t. Right? Sounds so easy doesn’t it? Makes me wonder why I haven’t been doing it all along. It’s that discipline thing again that keeps tripping me up.

Improving on the discipline is the key to getting this right in 2012. I think it’s time to become OCD on this baby too. What I am going to is this, I am going to write down every cent that leaves my wallet or bank account. Every cent. My gut feel is that this will help on two fronts. The first is I can see where I am spending my money and secondly it will also cut down on the frivolous spending that happens when you don’t monitor where your money is going. I am also going to look for a proper budget tool online or if I can’t find one I will make one.

Another thing I need to do is earn more and spend less. These things sound so easy! I have had a few challenges over the last couple of years on the employment front but I decided to take control of that after having the rug pulled one too many times by employers. A lesson I have learnt over the last 18 months is if you don’t write your own pay cheque someone else is pulling your strings. As sad as it is to say job security is a thing of the past and you need to control your own destiny. If you believe your job is safe and secure you probably still believe in the tooth fairy. Part of this plan will become clearer in the next thing I plan to work on for 2012. On the spending less side of things I have made the decision to get rid of my car and buy a scooter. Yip, crazy right? There are a few reasons I am doing this but I’ve posted about it before in Project Scooter and if you want to read more about that decision you can read about it there. There are a few other areas that I am cutting back on for various reasons which I’ll share with you in the months to come.

I am also going to read as much as I can on becoming financially literate over the next 12 months. I’m not getting any younger and it is time to get smart and take control. I am going to read a book a month (as per number 2 of the Seven Things) and if I come across any gems I’ll be sure to share them here.

It is embarrassing saying you don’t have things under control in your personal finances and I’m hoping me being honest about my lack of financial IQ can help someone else get control of their financial affairs. If you have anything to add or if you have any tips that help you please feel free to share them in the comments section below…

The third  thing I want to achieve in 2012 is some big goals on the athletic front. If you haven’t seen the first three posts in this series of posts here they are:

Time for Some Changes

The First of Seven Things – My Food Addiction

The Second of Seven Things – Working on Me

As it stands right now I’m only focusing on two big races in 2012. Everything else will be steps and milestones to help me accomplish my two big goals.

My first big race of 2012 will be the Ironman South Africa in Port Elizabeth on the 22nd of April 2012. I did it this year with no particular time in mind, I just wanted to get through the day in one piece and enjoy it. Check on both of those points. I was however disappointed with my marathon time and feel I can improve substantially. I finished in 13:53 and some change this year and the goal in 2012 is to take an hour off of that time. In order to do so I’m going to have to ride as close to six hours as I can on the bike (as opposed to a six and a half hour this year) and then dip under five hours for my marathon (I did a 5:40 this year). Just doing that, which I know I’m capable of, will take over an hour off my time and that’s not even looking at improving in the swim and on my transitions where there is definitely time to be made up.

My biggest athletic goal for 2012

The second big race I am focusing on is the Comrades Marathon. More than any race in 2012 this is one I have to get done. There is unfinished business to take care of in Durban in June. In 2010 I ran my first Comrades and missed one of the cut offs with 29kms to go. In failing I felt like I had let so many people down. So many people depended on me to run for their loved ones and I let them down. Finishing Comrades this year gave me great satisfaction but it is the down run that has still got the better of me. That will change on 3 June 2012. The goal I have set myself is to run a sub 11 hour Comrades next year and in doing so earn myself a bronze medal.

For me to get both those goals done I need to succeed at getting as close as possible to my goal weight of 90kgs (see thing number one of the Seven Things). I know losing the weight will make running a lot easier and it will make me quicker. I mentioned in that post too that I wanted to see what I am capable of doing at 90kgs and have set a few other goals that I would like to achieve in 2012:

I want to run a sub 50 minute 10km. My current pb is 53 and some change.

I want to run a sub 1:50 half marathon. My current pb is 1:52.

I want to run a sub 4 hour marathon. My current pb is 4:16.

I want to do a sub 2:30 Olympic distance triathlon. My current pb is 2:44.

I want to do a sub 6 hour half ironman distance triathlon. My current pb is 6:15

I think if I can get down to 90kgs these time are very conservative and I think even at the weight I am at now I have a shot at attaining these goals. Getting the weight off is just going to make it easier.

What are some of you athletic/fitness goals for 2012? Any big races planned? And are you just going to finish or are you going to race against yourself? Please feel free to comment in the comments section below…

Welcome to the second of the Seven Things I plan on working on and changing in 2012. If you are wondering how the Seven Things came about you can get a bit of background on them by reading the following two posts:

Time for Some Changes

The First of Seven Things

It is so easy to get caught up with life and neglect things that are important to you. As the years passed and life got busy all I seemed to do was have my head down, working my butt off and so many things have passed me by. The second of the Seven Things I plan on getting a grip on in 2012 is to work on me. That’s right, ME. Selfish I know but as time as passed I know there are things that I should be doing to make me happy.

One of the happiest Christmas memories I have was a Christmas I spent in 1992 with family down in Butterworth in the Transkei. After lunch that afternoon we ended up in their neighbors lounge for a bit of a catch up. Their neighbor’s son (Who was slightly older than me) was also down for the holidays. He was a musician and that afternoon we sat on the floor of his parent’s lounge listening to him play guitar and sing. I can’t specifically think of any other moment other than that one where I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with music. I wanted to be a muso. 20 years later I do you work with music but I still long to be a musician.

My Guitar

I bought a guitar a few years ago because it was still gnawing inside me. I learnt to play the odd chord and song but never really got a handle on it. 2012 is the year to change that. I am going to seriously devote time to learning how to play properly. Accountability is what it is all about. Here is what I am going to do. By the end of the year I will post at least one video clip of me play my guitar on YouTube. No Pressure.

The second part of working on me is to read, read and read some more. I want to learn as much as I can in the next year. I heard someone say a few years ago that if you read you can become anything you want to because you can learn anything from books. That has always stuck with me. It is something I have tried to instill in my kids too. But I haven’t been reading as much as I should have been. As my Seven Things roll out you will see a lot of them will involve learning new things (for number one I am going to need to learn a lot about eating right). I read pretty quickly so I am going to set the goal of reading two new books a month. And by books I don’t mean novels, I mean books I can really learn from although I’m sure I will add a few novels in there for my enjoyment.

 The third part of working on me is to write, write and write some more. Growing up I made a list of things I wanted to do before I died. One of the things on the list was to write a book. I have always believed everyone has a book inside them. I don’t know what mine will be about, but there is definitely a book in me. If it is ever going to come out I need to get into the habit of writing. In a way that is what the Seven Things is all about. A year of continually documenting my journey may just help me get closer to getting the book out of me.

I’m hoping me documenting my Seven Things will inspire you to make some changes too. What do you want to change in your life in 2012? Feel free to comment in the comments section below…

My name is Brad and I’m addicted to food. There I said it. Does food addiction have a name? It must have a name. I can’t be the only person who suffers from this addiction.

That’s number one of the seven things I plan on getting a handle on in 2012. Call it what you want to call it but the truth of the matter is food has ruled my life for way too long and it has to change. If you have been following my journey you’ll know that has been an issue I’ve been battling with for a long time my whole life. It is time to draw a line in the sand and get better. The problem is unlike drug addiction or alcoholism as there is no rehab (that I know of) for food addiction.  I’m going to have to play this by ear as I go along.

Yikes!!!

One thing I have learnt by getting down from 165kgs to 110kgs in the last two and a bit years is that diets don’t work. Sorry to burst your bubble. If you are looking for a quick fix you’ve come to the wrong place. It didn’t take me a few weeks to put the weight on so I can’t expect it to fall off in a few weeks (unless I amputated a limb or two). It’s a process, a change in lifestyle and that is what beating this addiction is about for me.

It’s time to call a spade a spade. I managed to get down to 110kgs for Ironman 2011 by literally training my backside off. 2 sessions a day, 6 days a week. Swim. Bike. Run. Swim. Bike. Run. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. When you are training that hard you can almost eat what you want and you’ll lose weight but the problem is as soon as you slow down or stop you will just put weight back on. You I need to address the food issue. Ironman was on 10 April 2011, Comrades was on 29 May 2011. I was still running quite a bit in that 6 week period. I ran an ultra marathon (48km) and a standard marathon (42km) in that time. I wasn’t swimming and cycling though and I managed to put on 10kgs. My Comrades 2011 starting weight was 120kgs. I took a bit of a break from training after Comrades but not an out and out hiatus. I was still putting in the odd session. By August 2011 I was back up to 128kgs just because I was eating like I was training for ironman but without the training.

I put on 18kgs from April to August. In case you were wondering, that’s not good. That is why I need to take control and firstly admit I have an addiction and secondly to get it under control.

Here is the deal. One of the reasons I want to do the Seven Things is because I need to be accountable. As I go through the other six you’ll see what the plan is and how they all fit together. This is what the plan is for number one of the seven:

I need to get down to 90kgs for a few reasons. According to my BMI my ideal weight range is between 80 and 98kgs. I have a funny feeling 80kgs might be a bit low but 90kgs sounds good and I’ll never know until I get there. Secondly I have never, in my entire life, felt thin. I want to feel what that feels like. For as long as I can remember I have had a bad body image. Thirdly I want to know athletically what I’m capable of racing at 90kgs. More on that one later though.

This is how I’m going to get down to 90kgs in 2012. Accountability is the key. I am going to keep a food journal for the duration of 2012. Every morsel of food or drink that goes into my mouth will be written down. Every morsel. OCD much? Absolutely. You don’t get to weigh 165kgs without being obsessive. By keeping a food journal it will help me see where I am going wrong (and right) on this journey.

I am also declaring now that for 2012 I will not buy ANY fast food. No McDonalds. No KFC. No Debonairs. No junk. Period. This is going to be really hard to do. Especially pizza. Especially pizza after Ironman and Comrades. I might need to reconsider this on the 22nd April and the 3rd of June but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

The next thing I need to do am going to do in 2012 is to radically change my eating lifestyle. By that I mean I need to re-educate myself with regards to healthy food choices, food preparation and in my case the correct portion sizes. I know Low GI is the way to go. I am dedicating myself to learning as much as I can in 2012 about the Low GI way of eating. I will learn at least one new Low GI recipe a week for the duration of 2012 and share them on here.

Part of the accountability will also include a once a week weigh in and measure (which I’ll post the results on here). Nothing quite like putting it out there that I’m on a mission to turn things around.

If you missed where the Seven Things idea came from you can read the origins of it here. I would love you to join me on this journey. I don’t know what your Seven Things are but if you don’t aim for anything that is exactly what you’ll get. Feel free to add your thoughts and your Seven Things in the comments section below, I’d love to hear from you. 2012 is the year to turn things around.

I don’t know if I am the only person who does this but as a year wraps up and we head towards the start of a new one I like to take stock of what has happened in the last 12 months and what I would like to happen in the next 12. I’ve had a really good 2011 on some fronts and not so good one on others. I set some big goals this year on the athletic side of things and have achieved them all. The biggest of them all was to go back and finish Comrades after failing to do so in 2010. Finishing my first Ironman was also a big milestone for me in 2011. Riding the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge twice was too.

One of my biggest goals was to run faster (and to be comfortable while doing it). I got a lot better in 2011. I improved my best marathon time to 4:17 at the Vaal Marathon and some change and managed to get my 10km pb down to 53:26 on a dirt road in the middle of the Karoo on the way to Sutherland as part of a run we did from Cape Town to Johannesburg in July this year.

New years resolution

Looking ahead to the new year there are definitely some changes that need to be made. I stopped making new year resolutions a long time ago because I never really took them seriously. If you want to change something there is no time like the present. I stopped smoking on a the 14th of February six years ago. I started running on a Wednesday in the middle of July in 2009. I’ve never been one for doing things on a specific day but the start of a new year is a great time to reflect and start again. I came across a blog post of a guy who wanted to do his first Ironman by the age of thirty (Which he did in 2011 btw) but his latest post is called Seven and I love the idea. Seven things to change or do in 2012. It has inspired me to set some goals and make some changes. The next seven posts are going be about my seven things. I’ve thought of a few already but over the next few days will think of some more.

I would love you to do this with me. What seven things would you like to do or achieve in 2012? C’mon, you only live once. Write them out and commit to doing them here. Post them in the comments section below, that way there is no getting away with not doing it. Let me know what you are going to do, go on DO IT!!!!

It is less than 6 weeks to go to the Ironman 70.3 in East London. I decided to give Buffalo City a skip in 2012 but I am going to be doing my first half ironman distance triathlon at the Prestige Ultra  in February  and then the Buffelspoort Ultra in March ahead of the full Ironman in Port Elizabeth in April. A lot of mates are heading down to Slummies in January, some are more experienced than others and have done the race a few times but there are a whole bunch that are going down for the first time and are really worried. In particular they are nervous about the bike course. There is no denying it, the cycle route in East London is a toughie but the best bit of advice I got ahead of my first one was to go out really conservatively on the bike. The first 45km’s on the bike are tough.

Ironman 70.3 East London Cycle Route Profile

In 2011 we were lucky; even though the weather was poor we were cycling into the wind on the first half of the bike. When we made the turn the wind was at our backs and we were able to hammer it on the way back. Most people I know who raced in 2011 had splits that were nearly an hour quicker on the way back. I know in past years the wind has come from the other direction. If that happens it is 45km of tough climbing, turn around and you’re into a head wind for the last 45km. I’ve attached the Garmin data from my cycle at last years 70.3 if you would like to see the exact route and profile:

Doing what I do for a living I get sent tons of press releases. I got this one and I thought I might share it with you. You really couldn’t make this stuff up:

Subject: A MAN FOUND NAKED AND ATTACKED BY VISIOUS DOGS
  
THE NORTH WEST CORPORATE COMMUNICATION:   SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
 
MEDIA RELEASE
 
TO:  ALL MEDIA
 
DATE:  10 DECEMBER 2011
 
                                                       A MAN FOUND NAKED AND ATTACKED BY VISIOUS DOGS
 
It is alleged that, today 10 December 2011 at about 04:00 in the morning , a member of the community who was still asleep inside the house in Gopane Village at Bosega section, heard a man between the ages of 25 and 30 screaming for help and dogs bucking outside, suddenly dogs stopped bucking and he went outside and found a man lying outside his yard naked, without ears, his body and face swollen and could not be identified and he was still breathing, EMS was called they later certified him dead. 
It is believed that the man was from Mike’s tavern and there are vicious dogs.  An Inquest case is being investigated.
 
Contact:
 
Constable Duduzile Zwane
North West Communications Officer

Are road races dying?

Are road races as we know it on a steep downward curve to becoming extinct or is the state of our sport as healthy as can be? You’d be amazed by how many requests I get from running clubs to help secure sponsorship for their races. I wish I could help but honestly there is not much I can do. There are so many problems plaguing the sport that it’s hard to know where to begin.

Many running clubs are battling to secure sponsorship for their races. The first thing a sponsor needs to get is a return on investment. They need to get something back for the money they are putting in. We all like to think big business are a bunch of philanthropists but the truth of the matter is they’re in it for the money and let’s be honest, so are we. With very few races being shown on TV these days, the story of ASA selling their soul to the SABC is a whole different story, but this affects every race looking for TV exposure and ultimately sponsors. So it begs the question what do sponsors get out of sponsoring a road race? Looking at races in our immediate future, the Dischem half marathon makes sense. Many runners buy supplements & medication from Dischem as well as the runner’s staple of Vaseline, Deep Heat and plasters. Then take a race like the Johnson Crane. How many runners need cranes? I’ve never needed one, not sure about you? Johnson Crane obviously sees some value there because they have been involved with Benoni Harriers for a long long time with that race. The Cape Gate Vaal Marathon is another one. Cape Gate? What do they actually do? Your guess is as good as mine.

If you look at the numbers of runners turning out for races the sport looks incredibly healthy. In Johannesburg and Pretoria, weekend after weekend thousands upon thousands of runners turn up at road races, pay their entry fee, run the race and go home. Very few runners actually truly understand the logistics of putting a thing of that magnitude together. Never mind the cost. Many of the races are so dependant on the sponsors that if it weren’t for their generosity the race would simply cease to exist. We are unbelievably blessed to live in a large metropolitan area that has races twice, sometimes three times a week if you count the midweek night races in summer. Sometimes I think we’re too blessed. If we only had a handful of races maybe we’d value them more.

I know a lot of people are not going to like my next statement but it needs to be made. It’s an elephant in the room that no one wants to speak about. I think runners are cheap and stingy. There I’ve said it. A few things have led me to this conclusion. Just look at the secret code that exists between runners at running clubs. I think there is a prize up for grabs for the runner that arrives at their club run in the oldest, grimiest race t-shirt they own. I have seen a runner arrive in a 1987 comrades marathon t-shirt at a club run in 2011! 24 YEARS AFTER THE EVENT!!! Seriously now, if you are running in shirts that are older than your kids it is time to invest in some new gear. It might also be time to start using the shirts you got at races over the last year and give your stockpile of race shirts from the 1990′s to a needy charity.

I’ve also heard runners say a race like Comrades “is a money making scheme”. Seriously? Is that what you think? The entry fee for Comrades in 2012 is R300. Let’s put that into a bit of context. I recently did an Olympic distance triathlon that cost me R500 to enter. It took 3 hours to complete. The roads weren’t closed. There were no refreshment stations on the swim or bike course. I am guessing there was one every 2.5km on the run. That’s a total of 4 tables. Comrades on the other hand, there is full road closure, close on 50 refreshment stations. Should I continue? Let’s compare apples with apples then. Comrades is the ultimate road race. Ironman is considered the ultimate triathlon. My entry fee for Ironman 2011 was close on R4000. Comrades 2012, R300. Should I continue?

Don’t get me wrong I am not knocking triathlon or Ironman for charging that much. I am knocking runners for moaning that a race like Comrades is a money making scheme. I even know runners who boycotted the 2011 race for that exact reason. The difference between the organisations that organise triathlons and road races in this country is that the triathlon organisers run their event like a business. They are in it for the money and make no bones about it. If a race like Comrades can’t charge more for an entry what chance does (insert your running club here) have? I honestly think runners are spoilt in this country. Just Google road running in any part of the world and see what they pay to enter races. Here is one  in Andalusia, Alabama. It will cost you $20 to pre register and $25 on the day. Oh, I forgot to mention that is for a 5km fun run. Would you like me to do the conversion to Rands? Here is a 10km in Sydney, Australia. 25 Aussie dollars on the day for a 10km. While I was at it I thought I would check what it would cost for a normal entry into the Paris Marathon. Between 65 and 95 Euros. I rest my case. Spoilt.

In my humble opinion I think if South African road races hope to survive they need to up entry fees and they need to be run more like a business venture than a charitable deed. I also think South African runners need to realise how lucky they are to have so many great races on their doorstep. Runners need to become pickier about which races they do as opposed to doing every race on the calender.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Please feel free to comment below.