After 335 days of preparation, the Otter Challenge Day has come and gone. Adding a Trail Running Event to your Business Plan might seem like a crazy idea to some, but then again, what great ideas did not start with an element of craziness? After all, we need to add some life to our ventures.
Our days as entrepreneurs are generally filled with being super busy, super stressed, and always in a rush to complete some important task or another. Whether for a client or the bank, the stresses and strains of an entrepreneur can be a never-ending circle of crazy.
The Eight Spokes of a Balanced Life Wheel
In an ideal world, we should strive to cover equal parts of the Balanced Life Wheel. Or at least that is what the psychologists and life coaches say. Some highly successful entrepreneurs like Elon Musk believe in the complete opposite, but that is a story for another day. Not everyone wants to be Elon Musk, with or without all his money.
If you want a balanced life, you should consider the eight spokes of a balanced life, which include your faith, health and wellness, family, finances, career, fun and recreation, personal development, and Social Interaction.
And what better way to do it while training & competing in the Otter Trail Challenge Race
#1: Health & Wellness
It goes without saying that you must take care of your health and wellness if you want to prepare for the Otter Challenge. I happened to have lost 10 kg since the beginning of 2024, and my biggest inspiration was to be lighter when navigating the never-ending ups and downs of the Otter Route. But as they say in the movies, the trick is to keep that down. We can only hope.
Somehow long runs on a Saturday or Westcliff Stairs on a Sunday morning are just not as effective if you had too much wine the night before or got into bed way too late. Adding a careful balance of all the right food makes everything just so much more effective. In my opinion, this makes for a great start to a new and improved health & wellness journey.
#2: Fun & Recreation
How can you not have fun while training for or running a trail event like the Otter Challenge? I can vouch for an insane amount of fun hours while doing long runs with my friends en route to the Otter. Even the time when I fell and had to get stitches afterward was pretty fun.
Yes, I can hear you say that you don’t find running fun. Here is the best part: Not all trail running is actually running. There is a lot of hiking involved, especially on the uphill’s.
In the end, it is important that you find a recreation that is fun for you. Preferably outside. We need fresh air to rejuvenate our souls. Whether it is playing bowls or going fishing, there is something that will tickly your fancy, no matter who you are.
#3: Family
I consider the simple act of running (or hiking) in the mountains with your family to be one of the best bonding experiences. It beats sitting around a TV or even a restaurant table, hands down. The simple act of planning and executing a trail run with your children is one of the very best privileges that a mother can enjoy. Oh wait, there is one thing better than doing a trail run with your kids, and that is if you see them taking to the sport and going out for trail runs of their own. That is the absolute best, and I would spend a fortune just to see this continue.
In the end, I believe that family is one of the most sacred privileges that you have. Finding ways and means to spend quality time with them should be a priority. No matter how much I appreciate my friends, friends come and go. That is a reality of life. Family will always be your family. Treasure it. And taking them on a trail run or hike still remains the best option in my opinion.
#4: Social Interaction
Apart from the bonding experiences with your friends and family while training for something like the Otter Trail, you also have the opportunity to start talking about the silliest of things while running with people who were complete strangers at the beginning of the race. Yes, you might have known some people before the race but hardly spoke. Just the mere fact of running with them for a very short while puts you on another indescribable bonding level. There is absolutely nothing like doing some light suffering together. It is all for a very good cause, after all.
It is amazing what conversations can erupt while moving along together. It is as if people are less cautious of what they say and are focusing on not tripping over a rock.
#5: Finances
This spoke of the Balanced Life Wheel can become a highly debatable subject. As a general rule of thumb, there are a lot of costs involved. In fact, I still have not told my mother what the cost was of my entry into the Otter Challenge. She would have a heart attack. But as the Verimark adverts go, that is definitely not all. Let’s rather look at the positives. Where can you cultivate more health & wellness, social interaction, personal development, and all the other nice stuff than at the Otter Challenge? So essentially, that in itself becomes priceless.
#6: Career
Imagine you can craft a career out of trail running. Not impossible! If Ryan Sandes and Toni McCann can do it, what is stopping me? On a serious note, I do see immense benefits for one’s career while taking part in trail running races such as the Otter Race. If you are in sales, you have an untapped market of prospects. Just join the right crowd for your product!
That’s where target market planning comes into play. Being fit and healthy should have a positive impact on anyone’s career. Time management is of utmost importance, and as the saying goes, give the work to the one who is the busiest. They will get it done on time. And if that is not a massive injection into your career, I don’t know what else will.
#7: Personal Development
In my opinion, personal development is probably the most important spoke on the balanced wheel of life which benefits from competing in a trail race such as the Otter Challenge. Mental toughness is part and parcel of this entire journey. The amount of time where the thought of not pitching for the race came into my mind is beyond belief. Even on the morning before the race, I had doubts. As with anything in life, nothing is fall-out-of-the-sky easy and the more you practice getting over your negative thoughts, the stronger you end up on the other side.
The same goes for self-awareness, emotional regulation, and all the other checkpoints of personal development. And yes, it is so easy to give up in the middle of a race. I have done it once. At the Sani-Stagger. Hopefully, I will never ever forget the horrendous feelings afterward. Enough motivation to keep on going. Even if you do end up at your favorite physio afterward for overexerting a tendon.
#8: Faith
When it comes to the spoke of Faith on the Balanced Wheel of Life Spoke, nothing beats running the Otter Trail overlooking the Indian Ocean far below with the sun rising in the East. You have to experience it to appreciate the sheer beauty of it all. And yes, you can experience it while hiking the Otter as well. The point is that you can only experience the magic of nature that God has given us if you get yourself into nature. Breathtaking beyond belief.
And yes, one can write an entire book on Faith and training for the Otter. From start to finish, God does have a plan for us all.
Adding Life to my Venture
At the end of the day, we need to be happy as human beings if we want our ventures to be successful. It is pretty difficult to continue having a prosperous business when all the other spokes of your balanced wheel of life is falling to pieces.
I know some of the notions about the Otter Challenge and the influence it has on my eight spokes, could be something for a serious debate. In fact, we might need to organise another addVentures Club Event to discuss my take on the Otter Challenge and the brilliant influence it had on my life.
Give us a shout if you want to join the debate. Subscribe to our newsletter for valuable advice, upcoming events, and exciting news from AddVentures Business Club. Have questions? Contact us today for more information!
