We’re Walking to Vegas

A couple of months ago, my employer, Cisco, launched a “fun committee”. It was recognised that we were in crazy times and that something needed to be done to bring us all together – one of the initiatives they came up with was a “Walk to Vegas”.

As a team we’re all going to run, walk, swim, golf from London to Vegas, a total of 5000 miles. As an endurance athlete whom some people think of as crazy, this is perfect for me, though as an injured endurance athlete it’s a little frustrating – I can walk and according to my wife I play way too much golf.

Before we could all change our minds, my fun committee rep Sean had set up a walk around Sonning, near Reading. Sonning is perfect for me as it’s a mile away from home, not as ideal for Nic who is in our team and lives over 70 miles away in Gloucestershire – I’m sure Sean will find a way of including everyone.

It was particularly important to me. I’m a New Hire into Cisco, joining during the pandemic and since having only met my team over Webex – this was the first time I would get to meet someone face to face. Thankfully I’ve been around my team for the last ten years as a red badge and know them all very well. It must be incredibly difficult for people entirely new for Cisco – If that is you, I would strongly recommend they take this opportunity to meet people and start to connect to build your network.

Joining Sean and me on the walk was Stephane – We weren’t strangers, Sean and I had crossed paths regularly a couple of years ago, and all three of us worked on the same floor plate at Green Park, having nodded to each other as we walked around.

Sean used Webex Teams to rally the troops; he sent out a route, he gave us joining instructions including waterproofs (which he didn’t bring, and it rained) and reminded us regularly to keep us motivated.

We met at the Mill in Sonning, for those that don’t know it, it’s a Theatre Dining Experience – for obvious reasons the car park would be empty which is a real shame as I know how much they are struggling as a business at this time.

Sonning is beautiful, it has A (and Z) list celebrity’s that call it home (George Clooney, Theresa May, and formerly Uri Geller) and is right on The Thames footpath. We walked along the Thames for an hour or so to Shiplake, where we stopped for an intentional (honest, we hadn’t taken a wrong turn) ice cream before going away from the Thames heading towards the edge of the Chilterns.

Sean insisted we all had fun, taking lot’s of great photos’ and speaking to every local who passed us. The lockdown reminds me of the positive feeling the nation had during the Olympics in 2012, and for four weeks, everyone smiled and spoke to each other – Sean was the epitome of this.

We had lot’s of great conversations, some serious and some random; we also laughed as we were asked to push a car the way we’d just walked, and the moment Stephane realised halfway through that we had a route planned (though we were on another detour at that point!). We talked about Cisco and our teams trying to find tenuous links with colleagues, our hobbies, families, our mental health and most importantly questioned how unfortunate it was that the pubs were opening the day AFTER our walk. There’s an idea for a future meet Sean….

Having fun and meeting colleagues is essential, but it’s not the only reason we’re doing this. This pandemic has a serious side; I mentioned the Mill earlier and how they are struggling. When I got home, I had a very poignant reminder of whom we are doing this for. A childhood friend called Pete tragically committed suicide this week – I remember him being a little wild as we grew up, becoming an entrepreneur who built his own ice cream van business. I didn’t think of him much, and we had lost touch – but just last month I smiled and laughed with one of my best friends when I saw one of his vans in a pandemic article on the BBC News.

Having had my own Mental Health challenges recently, I know how important it is to talk. I was fortunate in that I could separate my self from the situation I was in and had an incredible support network around me. I don’t know what Pete had. There are organisations out there that can and do great things for people feeling suicidal, and right now they need our help as their funding has been wiped out because of the impact of the pandemic.

The Samaritans are there to talk to anybody who needs them; they know that every life lost is a tragedy and their volunteers give up time to help people through their darkest hours. Our aim through the Walk to Vegas is to raise at least £10000 for The Samaritans, and more amazingly, Cisco is matching qualifying funds raised by those taking part.

I’m not Bob Geldof, and won’t shout and swear at you, but think about it – a fiver, with gift aid, becomes £6 – If Cisco matches it that becomes £11 – You can even claim part of it back if you’re lucky enough to have to complete a tax return. When was the last time you got to buy a coffee?  

Please help Cisco to meet their goal to help people like Pete, donate whatever you can afford and maybe a tiny bit more on the following link – https://gf.me/u/ybf236.

Back to the Fun Committee – In Sean’s quest to make everyone smile and to help us Walk to Vegas, he has arranged a weekly round of Golf at Wokefield Park, just outside of Reading. If you’re interested and haven’t signed up yet, please do so.