One Rising Star

#thisisVietnam Last Saturday night, as we were sitting in the lobby of a hotel, we heard people cheering next door in a restaurant. We were curious to know what was happening, so we had a look and noticed that they were watching a football match on TV. Of course, we sat down and watched the end of the game, which ended in an exciting shoot-out. Later, we found out that it was the Vietnamese U23 men's football team that was competing in the Asian Cup in China; they had just won the quarterfinal vs. Iraq.  On Tuesday evening, some staff members and students stayed at school after classes and streamed the semi-final game against Qatar. Again, Vietnam won in a shoot-out. As I made my way to the gym after watching the match, I realized how excited people were. Locals and expats were driving around screaming, chanting, waving flags...even jumping up and down shirtless spraying motorists and pedestrians with hoses! It became evident to me that this was a very big deal to the

#abetterversionofme2018 This past weekend I got the opportunity to take part in a 9-a-side soccer tournament held by Rising Star Football Academy - Vietnam . Soccer has pretty much been on the back burner for me over the last little while, as I've focused much of my time on Crossfit and Running, but it was really nice to be back out on the pitch and to play with some great passionate players over the weekend. Chee-Chee-Cheese! On Saturday, our team - Saigon Cheese ;) - played 4 games and by the end of the day, we were at the top of the table with 4 straight wins. Despite being tired, achy and sunburnt, we made it back to the venue early Sunday morning for another full day of football. Unfortunately, we lost our first game in a shoot-out, but we went on to win our second match and to make it to the finals anyways. The final game was intense, but we fought hard and came out on top as champions. One of my goals from the tournament - a header from a corner kick

#abetterversionofme2018 Making the decision to withdraw from the HCMC marathon this past weekend was far from easy, but I know deep down that it was the right thing to do. Over the last 5 days, I’ve gone from experiencing a sore throat, to suffering from a head cold, to dealing with flu-like symptoms – body aches, fever, nausea, cramps, fatigue, lack of appetite, to having trouble breathing… It’s as if my body systems all just went completely berserk!!! But… Why? Why me? Why now? Could it be nerves, could it be over-training, could it be the effects of “tapering ”, could it be my diet, could it be a lack of proper sleep…I can go on, but realistically, I’ll never really know the true reasons why I got so sick. As I’ve laid in bed ill, shed a few tears and “painfully” watched fellow runners post hundreds of pictures and videos of the race over the last couple days, I’ve come to realize that... 1 – I actually like running a lot more than I thought; 2 – I’m surro

#nextchaptervietnam Xin chao everyone! Just 1 more week to go before I run the 2018 HCMC 42km marathon! Believe it or not, I am suddenly really looking forward to this race. This event  has been on my mind for nearly a year (since I decided to move to Vietnam), I've been training incredibly hard for the last 4 months and today I can confirm that I am feeling better than ever. This morning, I did one last 'long' training run, but this time at race pace with a few of the pacers who were out practicing. This was a great opportunity for me to re-evaluate my pace and to get a better idea of what race day may feel like. I'm very thankful I was able to join them - cam on! Here we are at the top of the Phu My Bridge stopping for a few quick pictures. Now, I just have a few more short training runs left to do this week before the big day on Sunday, January14th! Wish me luck! Tam biet for now!