As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Reaping the Joys of Filling my Life with Positive People... Wednesday, April 3

Do you ever have those days where everything just becomes overwhelming but in a good way?  Well, I definitely had one of those days. It started when I woke with ten minutes to get over to the boxing club to unlock the door for our crew. Any other day I honestly would have written the day off as the start of a bad day but now that the wheels are very much in motion with our boxing club I definitely view things much differently. I’m in love with the what, where, when, why, how and who of what we’re doing – making our dream a reality. Not necessarily in love with the how much it’s costing us but it’s all good.

The day started off on a laugh-till-your-belly-hurts moment when our reno crew strung a massive electrical cord across the street and plugged it into a random sign. I don’t know if that was entirely legal but this is Korea. Me driving a scooter without a license isn’t legal but it’s accepted. Anyways, it was great to see our reno crew was happy and eager to work.

My day just got more jammed-packed with positivity, laughs and awesome people from there. Actually today was jam-packed with an overload of supportive people and it was very overwhelming to feel just how supported we are. Whether it’s sponsors or friends dropping by the club or our house, random text messages of cheer, others surprising us with little unexpected gifts, or random people giving us the thumbs up as they pass our building, today we felt like we got a month’s dose of encouragement and support in one single day. It was amazing.

The attorney from Leechard Hair Head Quarters made a personal visit to see how our renovations were going and she was clearly impressed. Our reno/gutting crew have been working so impressively hard, it’s incredible. They finished gutting the club today and though it was great to see the job was done it was kind of sad too because not only did they obviously help us but they showed us how to do a lot of things and in a way we bonded. We bonded over coffee and our disgust with poop-spattered floors. 

Yesterday the WOW Motors manager had challenged me to a pace-run -- a run by which I'd have to beat my personal best.  I'm shooting to stay within 5min/km and 5:14min/km for my half marathon but lately I've been struggling with trying to up my speed.  I killed my pacing the other day but it was only a 6.3km run so I knew full well I couldn't keep my awesome pacing up for an additional 14.7km.  WOW Motors manager said he'd help me out with increasing my speed and no sooner had I agreed to his help but then he was challenging me.  Tonight we headed out to do his challenge -- stay under 5min/km for 10km. 

Mission completed... success!!!

Proved I am worth the $35,000 he's invested into me.  Don't get me wrong, I busted my butt but it was pretty cool hitting the path around Dankook with not only WOW Motors manager by my side but also Mouse Doctor and Snickers who had agreed to come help push me.  I'm always telling my Flipside gals "What doesn't challenge you doesn't change you" and wow did tonight challenge me.  It's one thing to be challenged by a sponsor but to have such a sponsor like WOW Motors running right beside me and watching me like a hawk for the full 10km, intense!!!  I'll say this though, the more and more he challenges me, the more and more I'm convinced I am so blessed having his support.  Oh and as for our half marathon competition, despite believing in my skills and athletic abilities, I don't think I'm quite the fair competition for WOW Motors manager.  His pacing is about 4min/km... woozers!!!  With a wicked pacing like that, he's becoming more than just a sponsor but also a mentor and coach with my running.  I coach him in boxing and he coaches me in running, sounds like a perfect match.

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