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17 May 2008
Team. Team building.
This challenge would not be happing without a team of people behind me. None person is great than the whole team. The individual team members are the building blocks of this whole challenge.
They all have different reasons as to why they want to take time away from their homes to be on the challenge. They all have different jobs and responsibilities within the team. These jobs and responsibilities were not given to them at the start of planning this challenge; they grew into them as they took their part within the planning of the challenge. I will give you, no I will not give you, an example of what I mean, because of all the team members, none team member stands out above the others, except of course Megan the dog! She has four legs and a wet nose.
Building us together as a team has happened in many ways, some I have already mentioned, people finding their notch within the team and taking on a task they feel comfortable with, and with full commitment. Some, I hope, I have played a part in. Only the team members can answer that truth of that statement
One way I feel that can help us to gel as a team is to look like each other. This we can achieve by wearing a team uniform. We are all wearing black tee-shirts with the E2E and KAP logos on. We shall also be wearing black or dark blue shorts or trousers, while we are on the road doing the challenge. This uniform will also be worn for any media interviews. You can see an illustration of the team kit in the photograph with this blog entry.
To also help to keep the team thinking about our goal, we shall have team meeting each evening while downing a beer in the local hostelry. (Pub). We shall discuss how the day went; listen to any recommendations about the next day’s route from any local people. None knows where we are going better than the people who live in the area.
We shall remind ourselves that we are there first and foremost to achieve a goal, that goal is taking the Alber Adventure, with me at its helm, from one end of the UK to the other in 29 days. This has to be, at all times, our main focus.
We are secondly there to have an experience that will properly change our lives, and possible the lives of people we shall come in contact with along the route, and those we shall never meet, because of what we are doing. If we make it to the end, I know it will change my life, and I will come home 1 year older as I am 61 while on the challenge. I hope it will change the lives of the team members. Only they can answer that.
To help us keep fit, rest is very important, and whether we wish to or not, it is lights out and we shall call it a day and go to bed at 2200 hrs as our day starts at 0600. Good food and the right amount of rest and in my case good, personal hygiene, is essential to the fitness of the team.
What each of us, as individuals, gets from the challenge is up to each of us. We shall have our own private thoughts as we think about things as we pass the miles away, some we shall share, some we will not. Megan, out dog mascot, I wonder what she will make of it all. Walkies will have a whole new meaning!
To close, I hope that everyone of my team take the opportunity they are about to be given, and I include myself in that: grasp it by both hands, and hang on to every moment, they will never relive that moment again. I will try, and with Gods help, to make it to John O’Groats and that bacon and tomato sandwich that will be waiting for me as I cross the finishing line. I have asked my good friend Joan, who is a staunch vegetarian, to be there at the other side of the line to give it to me. White bread of course!
Also at the finishing line, besides my team members for stage 4 will be, Pauline, who is doing stage 1&2, Muriel from KAP, Wendy, Hazel, and I hope Emmanuelle and a few faces that I may or may not know except by this blog. If you are one of my blog readers and there are quite a few of you, please make yourself known to me. If you are a past boyfriend called Ric or a Philip, you are especially welcome. I know one person who reads this blog regularly and would love to be with us as our cyclist, and that is Elaine from South Africa, to you Elian, I say you will be there with us, and I shall raise a glass to you. Thanks for all your support and emails over the past few months. Hers to you kid!
So there you have it, my thoughts on the team and team building.
Before I close, one question I get asked and I ask myself, what happens, for what ever reason, we cannot complete the challenge, do we stop or carry on to the end in the time scale I have set, staying every night where we have booked into.
The answer has to depend on how the team feels and would they prefer to stay or go home. What I am trying to say is, the answer will depend on health of the team and if the team, with sufficient team members, wish to carry on. We will all feel like a balloon that has just had all its air let out. Could we face seeing and been at out goal with that sense of failure that will be inside. Personally I, well lets leave that sentence unfinished.
Now let’s get to a pressing question, who will be Nancy? And I say, bring back the variety shows...
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