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

Birthdaaay!

Hi all,
as you may know, I've been celebrating my birthday recently. And as past few years, I had to spend it without my family, overseas. Yet this year it was different.
Birthdays and these other family events are the ones that always make you feel home sick and lonely: away from home, the date comes and you know nothing much is planned, and that most probably everyone will forget. And the dazzling though that you will spend it alone always comes back to hunt you. This year, the feeling was there maybe even stronger than usual. I guess the fact that I was having a hard time at work and out of work didn't help, but it felt that this year would be the worst. I can also blame the years I was celebrating: I just turned 25. Some of my friends told me it was just the "quarter century crisis". Maybe. Or maybe not.
My 24th year has been quite amazing: it's been the year I've found my first job, with all the tense moments but also moments of satisfaction. It's also the year where I found a girl I though could be the one. Also a year where events proved me wrong. But I would say in general in was a good year.
Week previous to my birthday, I still had not planned anything. I decided that oh well, as the day of it was falling during a Friday, I would just have some drinks with my closest friends and go out later if the mood was there. So I tried to pick up a relatively cozy place where we could all fit and yet speak without shouting at each other. Only one place came into my mind (as last year we celebrated in Café Iguana, we had to change!): Blu Jazz, a nice bar with live band, nice coaches where we could comfortably sit and talk while enjoying the dinner and drinks. I also happened to know the event manager of the place, Ben, a French guy I meet by my old flatmates. Good thing also, the same night I could have some free entries at one of Singapore new happening nightclubs: Stereolab. Everything was set, I create the event and invited my closest friends (which turned out to be quite a lot, ~20 persons).
Well, I can only say that everything turned out very well: most of my friends made it to the party, and we had an amazing time. Lots of them tried to make me drunk by offering me a lot of shots (~15??) but didnt achieved their goals. They offered me some sport headphones, an Hugo Boxx set (eau de toilette, after shave , deodorant) and a small domo kun, a Japanese cartoon character I like. They took a lot of funny pictures with it, and then gave it to me. Very sentimental present . They also wrote me a nice letter (with little surprise by the giver ). When everyone had enough drinks we all moved to Stereolab, where the music was very nice and we could sweat out the drinks!

During the whole month this was not the only time we celebrated my birthday, I had 2 surprise celebrations with chocolate cakes (miam!) and of course I could open my family's presents and cards, that made my week of course. I wish I could spend more time with them but my life has sent me here.
I'll update the post with some pictures when I've time to upload them!