IBM Corporate Service Corps - Heading to Indonesia

IBM has a great program in which they send about 500 employees every year into emerging markets across the world to assist local NGOs and governments develop and bring to fruition projects that will help the organizations further advance their objectives. It's called Corporate Service Corps.

There is a high standard for getting in. The application process includes three essay questions that can be pretty personal in their nature - depending on how you choose to answer them and how vulnerable you are willing to make yourself. I don't know how many people apply for it annually, but only about 10% of those who apply get selected. I applied in 2014 and did not make the cut. I applied in 2016 and was ecstatic when I received my "Congratulations! You made it!" email.

If I recall correctly, applications had to be turned in sometime in April. I don't remember what the essay questions were, but I wrote pretty soul-bearing responses to them and I thought that level of sharing would either make or break my being considered for the program. Apparently, soul-bearing way okay.

In early August Steve and I were getting ready to begin a week of vacation in New York. I had been working for the day out of a hotel room in St. Louis while Steve attended a conference. I was just about to sign off of my computer for the week when I received my acceptance email. I immediately started crying. Of course Steve was quite concerned and I had to assure him they were happy tears.

Move forward 11 months and I finally got my assignment - Team Indonesia 8. I was informed I would be going with 12 other IBMers from 11 countries as part of the eighth team to make an impact in Indonesia. We would be going in October and would spend four weeks in Solo City (Surakarta).

In July October seemed a long way off. However, the team has been doing a lot of pre-work and between the weekly calls, individual studying and getting my visa application in the mail (finally!) we are now just about a month away from being in-country.

I've yet to know what my specific assignment will be and I'm eager to find out both that and what sub-team I will be working with.

I'll be maintaining this blog for the next 2-3 months with the final weeks of pre-work, updates while we are in-country working on our assignments and showing final results once our work is complete.

Stay tuned for what is sure to be the adventure of a lifetime!

Find out more about IBM Corporate Service Corps.

#IBMCSC #CSCIndo8

One Week

It's been one week since I broke my arm. The pain has definitely subsided some and I am able to do more with my fingers than I was a week ago. However, there are still particular ways one is supposed to be able to move their arms or wrists that I am unable to do with my right arm. I'm eager to go back to the doctor a week from tomorrow to see how the healing is coming along and to see if there is any idea how long the healing process will take.

I miss my workouts. I truly want to be biking and running and swimming. I can't decide what I miss most. I think I miss swimming the most because I am a fish, but I am most eager to get back to running. There are three 10Ks I really want to do in September, but have to focus on upping my mileage if I am going to accomplish those. And right now, I just feel like I am losing ground.

It's broken

I have a fracture in my right arm just below the elbow. Fortunately, this is a kind of break they don't cast. So, I'm just in a sling. I go back in two weeks for more x-rays. Until further notice there is no more exercising and I am definitely out of triathlon season for the year.

Injured

This will be a short post.

At a WIN for KC tri clinic I attended this morning I fell down and injured myself. My left knee has a pretty deep scratch in it, but the main pain is in my right arm.

We were practicing the transition from swimming to biking using a baby pool to get our feet wet. As I got out of the pool my toe clipped the edge of it and I fell - hard - onto a paved parking lot. Most of my body weight was caught with my right arm. Everything from my fingers to my shoulder hurt. My fourth and fifth fingers can't even move the strap on my purse and I can barely twist my arm at the wrist to the right and left.

A nurse looked at it and I agree with her that it's just going to take some ice, ibuprofen and time to heal it. However, I will go to the doctor in a couple of days if it isn't getting better.

For now, my Sunday afternoon plans have changed and instead of doing chores I am resting on the couch.

Super-ish Run

I've had a busy week and have not done all the workouts I'd hoped to do, but that's okay. Life gets busy sometimes.

Today was a 30 minute run and a 350 yard swim.

I had a really great run - at least the first half of it. The second half was still good, but I had to walk more of it than I would have liked to. I hit a new record for my mile time and ran the first mile in 14:42! I am very excited by that. However, it also probably means I went out too fast. Not only could I not keep up the pace for the second mile, but I ended up walking about half of it. So, I had a negative split. I turned around at the 15 minute mark and it took me about 17 minutes to make it back to the start of the trail. No big deal, though. My average minute per mile was still a little more than 16:00 and that cut about 4 minutes off my current running/walking speed. So, I'm super excited about that little feat.

The swim went pretty well, too. I ended up swimming 500 yards. My time is still about 2:25 per 100 yards. So, my time isn't getting faster, but my distance is getting longer. The WIN for KC triathlon distance is 500 meters. So, I'm just one lap away from hitting that. I'll want to increase my yardage to probably about 800 yards to compensate for it being a free for all open water swim, but once I reach that I can begin focusing on increasing my speed. I'd like to race in the 12 minute wave. I'd be really thrilled if I feel like I can even move up from there.

A weird things happened to me, today. I bruised the ball of my right foot...and I think I did it while swimming. I know my foot wasn't hurting while I was running and it wasn't hurting while I walked to the gym or from the dressing room to the pool. However, as soon as I started walking after getting out of the pool I had a little bit of a limp. The only thing I can think of is that I somehow launched off the pool wall in a weird way that bruised my foot. It's still sore six hours later, but I hope it's feeling much better in the morning.

Sick No More and Four Miles Later

I had to take a week off from working out because I got a really bad cold. At first I thought I could work through it, but last Tuesday's run quickly turned into a walk and as the next few days went on my cold just got worse. Finally, today. I am back and feeling like my regular, healthy self!

I was intimidated by today's workout. It was a four mile bike ride. I hadn't ridden this far since last July. Plus, the bike still scares me. So the thought of being back on the bike after more than a week off AND going four miles AND all the horrible things that could happen to me I tried to find any excuse not to workout. I didn't find one - at least one that was legitimate. So, it was off to get my bike and helmet out of the garage.

I'm happy to report my tires were still nicely inflated after getting that issue fixed last week. The ride started off smoothly...and continued to go that way...for four miles! I actually found a two-mile loop through my neighborhood. So, that will be good for calculating my distance better than just deciding to take a turn down another street until I get my miles in.

Biking felt really great today. I could tell I was going faster and the hills are getting easier. I'm more comfortable with the speed on the downhills - although I do still slow down quite a bit since I'm in a neighborhood and I have cars and people and dogs and squirrels and stop signs to contend with.

It was just an overall good ride and overall I feel really terrific!

Working out with a Cold

This morning I woke up with a little, teeny, tiny cold. It's just my nose. I'm not coughing. I don't feel sick or achy. I just have a very stuffed up nose. I didn't think it was a big deal. Then, I started my 25 minute run. I couldn't do it - I couldn't run. I could walk, but not very fast without losing my breath. So, my run turned into a 20mph walk. I still completed the 25 minutes and went 1.2 miles, but it didn't feel very good. Hopefully, after a good night's sleep I'll be in better shape for tomorrow's bike ride and swim.