It’s all about challenges

The other day (Sunday 5th Dec) I completed the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore and quite a number of people (friends, colleagues) were asking me what was my motivation for participating in such event.

The answer is very easy: challenge. Nearly everything in my life is driven by challenges, from work, to sports etc. The thrill of challenges is what motivates me to wake up every morning and do my journeys. Of course this implies tough times, but I believe that every time you step out of your comfort zone you are expanding it. And it's good.

Work wise I've always picked up the most challenging tasks, always tried to excel in everything that is assigned to me. And I'm very thankful for the opportunities that are given to me.

Sports wise, I have to admit the challenges are escalating in intensity :p First year in Singapore my challenge was to actually get fit and I managed to do it with daily swims and runs. Last year my challenge was to do the Swiss Hotel Vertical Marathon in Singapore (climb up the 70ish stories the fastest possible) and managed to finish the race, although I got an asthma attack near the end. This year was the full marathon (42km!), that I managed to do although I didn't trained enough due to my work trips. The run was really harder than I expected, managed to run 2/3 out of it, walked the rest. But doing a full marathon without training was foolish and just showed how stubborn I can be sometimes. Because of the run I couldn't properly walk for 2 days, and I got blisters under 3 of my toe nails (I'm gonna lose them ). I've promised to myself not to do this again without proper training.

Marathon finishing line

So what's next for me next year? Well... I already have signed up and being picked up for my next year challenge: The White Collar Boxing event organized by Vanda promotions in Singapore.
Basically it's an event where a group of white collar people (engineer, bussiness man, etc) with no prior experience, will train very hard during 3 months, and then fight in an exhibition hall in the middle of a group of people enjoying a charity dinner (1200 persons last time). Every boxer does only one fight of 3 rounds of 2 minutes, and all the money collected during the dinner goes to an association that offers free surgery for kids in Thailand.
Some of you (my family I'm sure) will ask me why I want to do this, get into a boxing fight etc. Well, as the title says: It's all about challenges. And this event both challenges me but also has a goal, which is to raise money for the kids in needs. Also, I want to experience the thrill and adrenaline rush that you have when in the ring, in front of another person that want to hurt you bad Call me crazy.

I'll be covering my experiences on the training and the fight in the blog, as I think it's a really good experience.

White Collar Boxing event