[לעמוד בעברית]
It is time to think of my next big challenge. Or project. Or whatever it is going to end up being.
And I’d love for you to be a part of this process!

Some background might help, but if you just want to get down to it and give me your thoughts, the Suggestions form should hopefully be self explanatory, and you can just go ahead!

3 Years, 3 Letters

In case you are not familiar with the story to date, but somehow found yourself on this page – 3 years ago I looked at the scale, and saw the number 120. That’s kilograms. Definitely a career PR (Personal Record).

What happened following that day was not really a well thought-through 3-year plan, but things somehow moved from a 1-day detox, to a diet, to some exercise, to hiking, then to some running, then combining those two somehow …

This became a passion, and a little over a year ago I quit my Job in Google Japan, and gave myself sometime to focus on chasing a challenge (and then another) in the field of trail running.

3 years after that 120 kg PR, I reached a different kind of PR, by completing the toughest race in the Alps – the Tor Des Geants (and thus claiming my bragging right with these precious “3 Letters” – T.D.G.).
It’s a tough race, some would claim – about 340 km, with (what was ultimately realized to be) 31,000m of accumulative climbing, running around the peaks of Aosta Valley in Italy, at altitudes ranging 300-3,300m, and quite varied weather and terrain.

Whoowa!

Ready for another challenge!

The day after the race (and for some, before the race, during the race, or a few seconds after I came off the “finisher” ramp of the race) – the big expected question came – what’s next?

Great question.
The simple answer is – a next challenge or project. All that is left for us now, is to figure out what that looks like.

Be a part of it!

I’d love to get your thoughts and ideas. If you feel like it, please take a couple of minutes to fill the form and share your thoughts (ideally after giving it some thought first).

Basic principal is – anything goes!
Having said that, to make your thoughts more relevant and with higher impact on the decision process, getting some more insight into how I am thinking might be helpful.

What do we know? Some basic thinking

• I want to make sure what I said above is not dismissed as “just saying”, so – at this point, Anything goes! I do mean it.
  I am hinting at the form as well, but while considering the next points here, if you have a reason to think something completely off-the-charts and completely unrelated might be the right thing for me to take on during the next year or years – do let me know. It does not have to be about running at all – it can be something like “design and build the tallest sky-scrapper in the world” (not likely to be chosen for various reasons, but a great challenge to consider, no doubt). Could be something you want to do with me, or a challenge for me, can be a different sport, not sport-related at all, a business challenge, a mental challenge, a social project, knitting, … anything.
• I do have a passion for trail running. Apparently this has not changed. One way or another, I expect that I will be doing some trail running during next year. That can be my next challenge, or can be something I’ll do for fun, regardless of the challenge.
  • Actually, I’d like to use this opportunity to also collect: (1) recommendations for any worthy race out there to consider. Ultra, non-ultra, stage, …  (2) Let me know if there is a race *you* are planning to join, and want me to go with you!
• A challenge seems to work much better when this is something you are really really passionate about. Sometimes you discover your passion along the way. So anything goes, but many bonus points to consider if I have a reason to think Passion will be involved.
• I like to share my story. Still trying to figure out what “inspiring” is – a word that came up quite often recently. If but sharing my story I can make a positive impact on people’s lives – I’d like to do that.
• My sweetspot for a very specific challenge or target is probably one year, but a bigger framework can definitely work well (likely for such a project to change along the way, and that’s OK).
  Again, anything goes, but a project of 1~5 years is probably the right timeframe to consider. In case you are suggesting a project with a timeframe of 2 years or more, see if you can also suggest a specific milestone for the next year.

Give me your ideas!

So here we go, a few more suggested principles as you fill in the form for your ideas (I know, I just keep going):

• You can submit as many ideas as you want. Just submit your idea, then go to a new clean form and submit a new one, no need to mix them all up in one go.
• This is a whole-in-one opportunity, so this can be ideas for a next big challenge, a race you want to join together, a race you want to recommend … can be a collaboration instead of a personal challenge …
• Preferred languages for submissions are English and Hebrew for me to best understand the little detail. Following that – Japanese, and finally – any language you feel comfortable to write in, just throw it in.
• Specifics! Just an idea is also good, but the more specific you get, the more I can understand and consider the idea. Objectives, reasoning, how to achieve it – anything you already have in mind, do share – just throw it all into one of the open question fields.
• You! Please do consider giving me your name and contact details. I might want to follow up with clarifying questions, and also want to know who to thank 🙂
  If you do not feel comfortable with me mentioning you in the future – no problem (there is a place to mention that).
• Time line to submit ideas. Ideally, over the next 10 days, so by October 11. However, I expect that I will keep this form running for the next few weeks.

Finally. Form for ideas here.