Post running

I did it! I'm so happy. It went actually quite well actually.
The weather wasn't the best. The last few days it's been cold and wet in the UK and Sunday morning was no exception. That meant that at the start I felt a bit cold and miserable till the run warmed me up. But I was fine after that. During the run we got some sun spells between the clouds which was a nice break. Thankfully, the path we were using wasn't that muddy. Generally, the organisation of the race was really good and the route we followed amazing. I loved the fact that there were not many road crossings and we kept close to the river and the nice area of Richmond. Also, the fact that there were no laps to the route is always a bonus.

I managed to finish the run in 2 hours and 29 minutes! That time wasn't that bad and I'm happy that I didn't stop at all to walk during that time. I just kept going, even on a slow pace close to the end of the race. I know that there is room for improvement on my performance and I'll get there...

The route 

My performance

The before picture! 

Running by the river Thames 

That dog was simply watching people pass by like a tennis ball in a tennis match

I was running with this guy

 The banana guy was really quick.

Approaching the finish line 

Happy with a medal

So, true...

Pre Running

In about 24 hours I'll be warming up before my half marathon in Richmond among the other runners. Hopefully,  I managed to spend Saturday eating relatively light and healthy. I've also managed a decent amount of sleep and nerves didn't get the worst of me. Wish me luck! Even better, can you please show up with one of these signs? You'll make my day. Especially if you stand after mile 8. Thanks

  

Gay Politics

I work in a relatively big company. Our IT department is more than 100 people and if you add the Business Analysts, Project Managers and other related personnel, my immediate work colleagues are quite a few.  Of course, in this group there’s a number of homosexuals in various degrees of ‘closet-ness’. At first, of course I thought I was the only one. Then I met a couple of more gay people that told me about some other employees of the company. Yes, gossip is a favourite pastime for us as well.

In general, I‘m not overly open about my personal life. There’s an increasing number of colleagues that know about JJ and my life. However, these colleagues are the ones that I’m starting to develop a more friendly relationship with. In a way, I’m trying to keep my personal and professional life apart. I’m not sure why I do that. Especially in large groups, when other people talk about their husbands, wives or children I remain quiet. Would I still do that if I was in a heterosexual relationship? Maybe. And I say maybe because in my previous job I was openly gay. The company was tiny. We were 14 people all of us and I was generally more at ease there, but still didn’t talk about my personal life much. Some of my old colleagues had met JJ, but I still didn't talk much about him.

There are some other factors to consider about my current employment arrangements and secretive attitude. The very first manager I had was a weird character. I know him much better now and I can see his weird (?) sense of humour, but back then, he was intimidating. On my very first day he talked about the gayphone (iPhone to you and me) and about some dykes he used to know. These statements unsettled me and during that first week of employment I remained quiet about my personal life and it’s been like that ever since. I've also seen some backstabbing happening and I refuse to give to anyone any more ammunition.

As I mentioned before, I've now met some gay people in the office. And a couple of them want, in a way, to create a ‘brotherhood’. They want us to start meeting regularly for lunch or after work outings. Just us, the gays. I don’t generally object to that, but to be honest I’m not that eager to do it either. Just because they’re gay, it doesn’t really mean I like all of them. Also, I don’t think that marginalising ourselves like that is a very good thing. I wouldn't like to associate only with Caucasians, or only with males, or only with Greeks, or only with people that like comic books. Yes, it’s nice to have things in common with people you spend time with, but forming a clique is not something I’ll easily encourage.

I've decided to keep an open mind. My concern is the fact that one of the guys eager to create the brotherhood seems a bit sleazy. Maybe it’s just me being paranoid. I might go out with them for a drink or two and see how it goes. Every day lunch break might be a no no though…