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.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

A Morning of Sweet Surprises... Tuesday, April 28

I've never loved the sight of rain as much as I did this morning when I opened the club doors at 9am for the KBS cameraman.  I was supposed to go running this morning, hence why KBS arrived so early.  They wanted to catch me in my pre-run moment -- eating my breakfast and downing my coffee before I head out for my morning run.  However, I have one thing with morning runs, I don't run in the rain.  It's a lame excuse for not running, I know, but when I consider my absolute love for running in the snow, my ability to sweat it through a mid-day, high sun run in the summer, and my dedication to my long runs, I figure I'm allowed to lean on one reason why not to run.  My reason why not to run is I don't run in the rain because I hate it -- the soggy socks, wet toes, and puddles spashing on me, said to you by a girl who ran her first full marathon in the pouring rain... hahaha.  Anyways, so when I opened the door for KBS to come in and saw the rain falling in all it's glory, I smiled.  I was exhausted already and waking up for 9am was a pretty brutal addition to an already lack-of-sleep kind of night that I had just had.  

KBS filmed me eating my breakfast, enjoying my coffee, and checking my Facebook.  Then they left and I returned to the comfort of my bed with my 3 four-legged sleepy-head babies and big +80kg half-naked beautiful baby.  

No sooner did I fall asleep but then one of our Hulkies called me.  "Amy, open the front door", he told me in Korean.  With crazier-than-crazy bedhead and just Snickers' oversized shirt on, I ran to the front of the club still half asleep.  There stood one of our Hulkies.  I opened the door and he reached his hand out.  I looked at his hand and there, in the palm of his hand, was a USB.  

A little background info on this particular Hulkie, he's been training at Hulk's for some time now but he took a break so that he could further dedicate his time and effort to his studies.  He's not a university student but instead is a 28 year old who is preparing for some additional work licenses.  He hasn't been training at Hulk's for several months now but every once in awhile, when I drive by his house, I look up and yell his name.  Yesterday he surprised us with a visit and everyone was super smiles to see him.  I guess we all didn't realize just how much we missed him until we saw him again but I always knew I missed him.  He's just so fun to tease and joke around with.  He likes to tease me about Grey's Anatomy.  Beyond boxing and UFC, I really don't watch TV but somewhere along the way I became addicted to Grey's Anatomy and he likes to tease me about it.  He once downloaded a series for me because VOD on my TV only goes to the 10th series.  

Yesterday his "visit" lasted 8 hours and the KBS crew got a good laugh at that. "Members don't go home?" they asked me.  Yes and no.  Members do go home but many of them stay long hours here and many come just to hangout.  Yesterday Kato stayed here 7 hours and three other member stayed for five.  

Anyways, today this particular member surprised me the second half of series eleven and I thought that was absolutely super sweet.


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