CEO Blog: Countdown to 50

This article is written by Alison Eyring

For the past decade, I’ve used races to motivate myself. I’m really not the workout type. I need purpose and it’s got to be something more meaningful to me than exercising in a gym. Over the years, I’ve participated in all sorts or races marathons, half-marathons, triathlons, and a few Ironman 70.3 (that’s the sexy name for a ½ Ironman). Most recently I trained for a 100k race, which ended as a mountain marathon. I’ve raced to grieve and I’ve raced to have fun. I’ve raced in Singapore mostly, which some find odd because it’s hot and humid here. But I love it especially when it’s raining lightly. Each time I’ve publically declared my intentions and then gone about training. This is fun, scary, and at times humiliating. My greatest challenge is always finding the way to balance training for my race with everything else in my life.

This week-end, I signed myself up for a triathlon in May in Bintan. It’s an Olympic distance race comprised of an ocean swim, 40k bike ride, and then a 10k run. This distance will take me close to 4 hours. Real athletes will take half this time. I don’t care. I learned years ago that my motivation can’t be to beat others but I can try to be my best me, have fun, and learn along the way.

The May race is a warm-up as my real race is the Singapore Ironman 70.3 in March 2013. Why?! You might ask. It’s because next December 25, I’ll be in a new age group. I will be one of the youngest competitors in the oldest age category for races like this. The 40-year age bracket is tough. Lots of women are great athletes during this decade. They are tough and fit. But by 50, life has often given us other priorities. Last time I completed the Singapore Ironman 70.3, there were only a handful of women in that old bitty age bracket. I figure I have a good chance of placing in the top 10.

I’ve been wondering where my blog might take me next. During the Christmas holidays, I thought it might be about my countdown to turning 50. But to be honest, this seemed a bit boring. I don’t think I’d even want to read that blog. Instead, I want to start on a new adventure and learn about how someone who is a wife, an old mom of 2, the CEO of a small company, and a Brownie troop leader can find time to do this race and feel good about it. Today this feels impossible. Maybe this time I can learn more about what balance or sustained imbalance looks like.

So, please join me on my next journey of learning and change. I need encouragement. Lots of it. I’ll do my best to share my learning along the way and hopefully, by the time I compete next March, I will have learned a bit more about what it means to age gracefully to 50; I will have learned more about how to pace myself and to sustain my effort. I may have inspired my children and others to challenge themselves in new ways. I’m certain it will be a great adventure. I hope you think so too.

(c) 2011 Organisation Solutions Pte Ltd.

About the Authors: 
Dr. Alison Eyring is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Organisation Solutions, a global consultancy specialising in organisational design, development and change solutions worldwide. Alison has 25 years of experience in the field of Organisational Development and her areas of expertise lie in large-scale organisation design and change, leadership development, and the design and management of distributed organisations.