“Accept the low points and move on…”

That quote of Geoff Roes (2010 Western States 100 champion) caught my attention last night…

The past few weeks have been ultra intensive. Four weeks ago I got the phone call, appointing me to run the COVID-19 crisis management team of the company. Setting teams across the globe, playing a whole new ballgame that was never played before, with its rules changing by the hour, sometimes by the minute. No working hours, just a long trail of minutes, minor, medium, big decisions. So many aspects to the crisis, beyond words. Protecting the people was always and still is the key. Safe, protected, healthy and calm people make societies win such battles. Business is not different.

Moving through extreme contrasts between operational and psychological aspects became a new normal. A time of uncertainty is probably the most challenging in human mental states.  As we applied one procedure, the regulation changed again and again. Supply chain; setting new routines and guidelines; addressing our management and board questions and concerns; as demanding as they are, these are technical “to do” things. I found managing peoples confidence and resilience to be the most challenging part. To sum it up shortly, I can describe this task as: i. Major in psychology could be useful; and ii. crisis management is like barbecue with friends… it hot… your fingers get burned… and yet there are at least three guys giving you advise…   

To keep some sanity in the process, I tried to keep most part of my training plans for the Namib Race 2020. Some of them, performed in the middle of the night, were interrupted by urgent calls. More than once of found my self sprinting home to make sure things do not go out of control. Although it was naive, I kept the belief that the race will not be cancelled. That hope died when I was notified that my flights were cancelled… That day, I committed myself to run my own solo equivalent race on the same dates here in Israel. However…

A few days later I got this from Racing The Planet team:

“We have considered cancelling the event… but we feel during this time of challenge and darkness, it is important to have a light at the end of the tunnel, a goal to work towards as athletes, adventure seekers and also as global citizens… The Namib Race 2020 will be rescheduled to Thursday 5 November 2020…”. 

Thank you guys for this light!  Together we can go through the low points and move on. Hope to see you then!

Till then… see you on the trails!