Pressure-Filled Countdowns... Friday, March 22

37 days for me to work on shaving 5-10 minutes off my half marathon time.

… no pressure 

Two years ago my sponsor put my paycheck on the line. He told me that if I finished under the 2 hour mark then he’d give me $2,000. I clocked in 21km at 2:05… FIVE MINUTES OVER! I was convinced he’d at least give me perhaps half -- $1,000. He gave me nothing and actually it cost me $11 (the price of the two coffees I brought to our meeting when I told him). 

Last year I did the half and shaved 19 minutes off my time – ended it at 1:49:11. My pacing was 5:19min/km. Last year I came in second place in my age category among the women. The first place woman was TWO SECONDS faster than me!!! Yes, you assumed correctly… holy frustrating! I jokingly blamed it on the fact she ran in only shorts and a sports bra and I remember telling Snickers I should have ran naked. 

This year I’m aiming for 5min/km, setting my goal finish time at 1:45. It’s only a 4min shave off my current record so I’d like to push it even more and aim higher – clock in under 1:45. 

21 segments to write up by Tuesday for next month’s issue of The Fab Gals Gab.

… no pressure 

Despite having four columnists, possibly five, for this month’s Flipside Fitness issue of The Fab Gals Gab, there’s still a huge chunk of the newsletter/magazine that I take on myself and write. The due date for the columnists to hand in their submissions is Tuesday because I have to then add them in and send it to my chief editor. This means I have to have my articles due too. 

2 weeks, for me to get in tip-top shape before I may have to bare my bod on a magazine cover.

… no pressure 

The production editor for 10 Magazine loved my article so I’m completely thrilled about that. I had slaved over it, pulled an all-nighter and then had one my boy-buds edit for me – hugs to him for that! Anyways, the production editor emailed me and told me that in addition to her making Flipside Fitness and our boxing club the feature of May’s issue, she also is hoping to convince her boss to feature us on the magazine’s cover!!! It'd be such an honor and awesome opportunity to be on the cover, not to mention wicked publicity, but it'd mean I'd go into pre-fight training mode with getting ready for the photo shoot – got to look pumped for it!!! 

2 days until I come face to face with my former coach.

... no pressure 

On Sunday my friend has a much-anticipated fight.  She's a great Filipino female boxer who Snickers and I actually have our eyes on, hoping to possibly hire her in a year or at least get her to guest train at our boxing club. This weekend she’ll be fighting a Korean female boxer but not just any female Korean boxer, only one of my favourite female boxers – Park Ji Hyun. I’ve been following Ji Hyun’s career for some time now and am quite familiar with her and her mother. She’s defended her champion title 12 times now, with this Sunday’s fight being the 13th. My friend – Ji Hyun’s opponent – has asked me if I’ll be her corner coach and I’m completely honored but I’m also hesitant because of the fact that I do know Ji Hyun and it will already be a very tense scene for me.

My former teammate, the Cheonan Bulldog, will also be having a fight at this particular tournament. He’s fighting to earn a champion belt and, of course, because he’s training out of UP Boxing Club, my former coach will also be there. It will be the first time I’ve seen my former coach since December when he got bitter and said “Anything you can do I can do better”. I haven’t seen him, talked to him, or have even so much got any response from him to any of my text messages. He went from being so much in my life, perhaps even too much, to nothing but a rival coach and bitter thought in my head. As if I hadn’t already got a bad rap for calling out Snickers’ former coach at a previous tournament when a run-in with him ended up occurring with a camera crew filming us from behind. I’m sure KBC is going to feast on our tension. I’m “the Bad Girl” apparently, so be it. I don’t mind sporting that label because at least I know I “earned” it by sticking up for myself.