The first time I heard about Hyrox was four years ago when my friend Richard Peake participated. I remember being tired at the end of the event just from walking around the venue. Walking out of there, I remember wondering if I would ever participate in the event myself.
After three years of just talking about it, I floated the idea of participating during a coffee catch-up with my friend Deepankar this year. He immediately agreed. The next steps were simple: buy tickets as soon as they became available and keep training so that we were fit enough to not die by the end of the event.
The Running Challenge I have never been into running. Having tried it a few times before, I would usually stop after just 100–200 meters. Running 8 km was a challenge I wasn’t ready for, but I was determined to see it through.
December: I started the journey just trying to get comfortable running 1 km. End of February: I was able to run 2–2.5 km, thanks to a few running sessions with friends. The Peak: The maximum distance I covered before the event was 5.5 km.
After a lot of training and quoting Eminem lyrics (“palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy”) whenever anyone asked how I was feeling, I am happy to report that the whole event went really well.
The Results: No injuries, and a final time of 1:31:44.
Deepankar was aiming for 1:30:00 or less, and my only goal was to survive, so 1:31:44 is a result I am incredibly happy with!
