What a ride..... FIGHT NIGHT.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
- Hunter S. Thompson

The last 8 weeks have been crazy.
The training for the boxing has been intense and incredibly good fun.
Ive met an amazing bunch of people and literally enjoyed every minute of it.
They say all good things must come to and end, and in this case the end features me climbing into a ring and going toe to toe with one of the amazing people that Ive met.

The whole thing has been good fun and the camaraderie has been phenomenal.
For 3 rounds tomorrow night, that camaraderie will be put aside and myself and Neil Reid will go head to head and we will fight.

Its such a weird thought, but its going to be a fun and exciting night.
Neil and I have already agreed that the winner is buying the first round and we've already planned that the moment our fight ends there will be an immediate rush to the bar by Neil, myself and Nico Fell who has been doing the photography throughout and whose photos are above and below.

When I signed up to do this, I was nervous and apprehensive. I am doing this for charity and knew i was stepping outside my comfort zone.
While Ive been overwhelmed with how much fun its all been.. It certainly hasn't been easy. The training has been tough going. Its taken a lot of time and been a big demand and I can tell you.. the first night when I sparred and got hit hard in the head.. I seriously wondered what the hell I was doing. The phrase "I'm too old for this shit" was echoing through my head.

A few weeks on though, the worry has passed. Getting hit isn't that bad. I can take it, and I can hit back. I'm looking forward to the fight and I'm looking forward to pints with my opponent and the rest of the crew afterwards. I'm fighting early and I'm really looking forward to introducing my wife and mates to some of the other guys and girls from the training and us all having a bit of craic and watching the rest of the fights.

On top of all this, Ive managed to exceed my target for the charity... and am still hoping to get more. There is still plenty of time to visit my just giving page and to throw a few quid. For you UK folks, don't forget you can also donate by text. The text code is
ASTY50 £? to 70070
Just replace the ? with a number of your choice..

Thanks for your generosity and thanks for reading and thanks to Nico for the excellent photos.

http://www.justgiving.com/AustinTanneyTheFight