• Gânduri,  Sport

    Jocurile Olimpice Paris 2024

    În 2024, Jocurile Olimpice de vară s-au întors acasă, la părintele lor. În 1896, după mai mulți ani de muncă și efort diplomatic, Pierre de Coubertin a pus bazele jocurilor moderne. Iată că, 128 ani mai târziu, acest eveniment are o scară planetară și este, pentru majoritatea sportivilor, cel mai frumos vis. Cu ce am rămas eu, după JO de la Paris? În primul rând, top-of-mind, pot spune că este Olimpiada lui David Popovici. Desigur, nu trec în plan secund celelalte medalii obținute de reprezentanții României, dar, pentru natație, este prima medalie de aur la probe masculine. Avem performanță olimpică în acest sport după mulți ani de pauză. Totodată, avem…

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  • Maratoane

    Maraton Tokyo 2024

    Surpriză mare, am câștigat drept de participare la Tokyo. Nu aveam în plan o nouă plecare în Japonia în 2024, dar, dacă m-a lovit norocul, nu puteam refuza o asemenea invitație… Așadar, m-am pregătit cât de cât peste iarnă, să pot participa, pe 3 martie 2024, la Tokyo, al doilea meu 6 major (după Berlin, 2019). Am legat competiția de o excursie mai lungă prin Japonia, despre care povestesc în altă postare. Aici mă voi concentra pe experiența legată de maraton. Primul pas, odată ajuns în Tokyo, a fost ridicarea kitului. Expo a fost organizată într-o zonă mai futuristică a orașului, respectiv în Tokyo Big Sight South Exhibition. Cum era…

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  • Maratoane

    Maraton Istanbul 2023

    Ne aflăm la mai bine de 4 ani de la ultimul meu maraton alergat, cel de la Berlin. Între timp, am trecut și de borna 50, nu la km, ci la ani. Deci, o provocare în plus. Pare mai greu, vremea pentru mulți să își pună ghetele „în cui”. Sau, după caz, mănușile, racheta și cine mai știe ce. Săracul cui, câte are de îndurat după ce trece stăpânul de o anumită vârstă… Ei bine, nu sunt un mare fan al atârnării chestiilor în cui, deci m-am mobilizat să reiau „tradiția” alergărilor la maraton. Anii de pandemie și readaptare mi-au dat o pauză destul de greu de recuperat, dar am…

  • Sport vs. Business

    The Thinker and the Doer

    That person must be hidden somewhere! “Who?”, you may ask. The great karate master, the one depicted in traditional, often childish, martial arts movies (long bearded, old & sage, introspect and humble, you know the kind). Well, he may also represent kung-fu, or any oriental style. The guy studying in detail every punch, every step, every kick. The methodist, the analyst, the engineer of fighting. The source of piles of books on techniques, hitting angles, and invariably mastering some esoteric energies able to destroy any enemy, even in Jedi style, from a considerable distance. Definitely, that person might exist somewhere. Unpolite and futile to think of his/her age, as this…

  • English,  Sport vs. Business

    Sport vs Business (5) – Winning

    Winning is a core attribute of sports. It is encapsulated in its DNA. It motivates, it creates a purpose, it provides returns. But is winning-centricity the right philosophy in companies or societies? The concept of winning is quite challenged lately, by many theoreticians or specialists in various domains, from business to education. Is winning a chimera? Is it just a habit (eventually, a bad one?), something we might have learnt in childhood and now we realize there are no positive outcomes beyond it? Many people in sports would raise an eyebrow. Or both. However, talking about facts, let’s take a look into neuroscience. As no-one would dare to argue, in…

  • English,  Sport vs. Business

    Sport vs Business (4) – Lessons learnt from running marathons

    Running a Marathon is often quoted as a major challenge a regular person of our times could face. I have been through inner debates myself, whether to dare it or not. Passed through and felt elated. Like many others before me. Like many more to come, enlarging this wonderful “army” of finishers. Every single person completing those 42.2km takes his/her own take-aways. However, by discussing over and over again about this provocation with lots of people, being involved in organizing sport events myself, I hereby wrap up a few learnings, which I find useful in business and life in general. As completing a Marathon is much more than achieving a…

  • Business,  English,  Gânduri,  Sport vs. Business

    Sport vs Business (3) – 5 Learnings for entrepreneurs

    Are you eager to start your own business? Have you already decided and you’ve taken your first steps towards fulfiling your dream of independence, money and control of your life? I wish you good luck! At the same time, we must both agree that the road ahead is not an easy one. I will try to draft a bit of guidance by replicating experiences sport performers faced in their early stages. It takes time to succeed. It goes without saying that reaching some goals may take time. The higher the goal, the longer the required time to get there (in most instances). I want to play tennis like Federer, dribble…

  • Bicicleta,  English,  Romania

    Cu bicicleta prin Romania #2. Bike Trip from Bran to Transfagarasan and back

    We have decided to take a 3 days bike trip in early June. Me, Alex and Ion, 3 guys in our 40’s, far from being strongly trained for biking tours but having plenty of enthusiasm. We have chosen road (racing) bikes, equipped with a couple of bags in order to avoid carrying backpacks. I have a Scott CR1 20 2016 to which I attached a MidLoader Frame Bag and a 6L BackLoader Saddle Bag from Topeak, for larger stuff. I also added two small bags for a toolkit and small things. In the end of this article, you can find a more detailed list regarding the bike and things I…

  • Maratoane

    Maraton Berlin 2019, 29 sep

    Da! Am primit raspuns favorabil de la Berlin, am trecut de tragerea la sorti. Este primul maraton din seria Major6 la care urmeaza sa particip. Pentru cei care nu stiu, exista o “lista” de elita, ca turneele de Grand Slem la tenis, sau un fel de top rating Michelin pentru cei mai familiarizati cu restaurantele, formata din 6 maratoane de top la nivel mondial. In ordinea aparitiei in an, acestea sunt: Tokyo (Feb), Boston (Apr), Londra (Apr), Berlin (Sep), Chicago (Oct), New York (Nov). Inscrierea la aceste comptitii nu este tocmai facila. Fiind foarte multi doritori, multi peste capacitate, se face inscriere si tragere la sorti. Daca esti selectat, atunci…

  • Business,  English,  Sport vs. Business

    Sport vs Business (2) – Time Out

    We need to finish this by the end of the week! oh, gosh, on Friday we also have to start the X project as we have a tight deadline. And we received a new request, we have to send the proposal tomorrow. If we get it, we might have to start the project next week as well. And so on, we keep things rolling. We get the money coming and business is good! Or is it? Are we on the right track? Are others doing something different, coming up with new ideas to solve same problems? Are new problems emerging? New expectations on the client/customer side? These kind of questions…