An enduring memory

This isn't just another assignment. For the first time, I'm covering an event as both a reporter and a competitor.

When tasked with covering Hyrox Shanghai, a quick search revealed its bold claim: "The Fitness Competition for Every Body." So, as a casual gym-goer, I decided to sign up for the women's doubles division.

To understand how a niche, German-conceived race turned into a global fitness juggernaut, which stages hundreds of events in nearly 50 countries and regions, I want to experience the story from within — not just from the sidelines.

Hyrox blends running with functional exercises — a one-kilometer run followed by a workout station, repeated eight times.

As a women's doubles team, we each had to run 8 km (in intervals of 1 km), row 1000 meters on an upright cardio training machine, push a sled 50 m, then pull it the same distance, execute 80 m of burpee broad jumps, row 1000 m on a machine, perform a 200 m farmer's carry with two 16 kilogram kettlebells, lunge for 100 m while carrying a sandbag and, finally, complete 100 wall ball throws.

Some of these challenges were new to me and my partner Gulmira Abliz, a Uygur woman I befriended on a hike near Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Our scheduled start time wasn't until 3 pm, yet we arrived at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center early in the morning, where Hyrox events — singles, doubles and relays — were being held in successive waves throughout the day.

Stepping into the arena, we were engulfed by pounding electronic music with MCs energetically hyping up the crowd.

The warm-up area was packed with sculpted athletes, stretching their perfectly defined muscles with laser-like focus. Gulmira and I exchanged uneasy glances — here we were, a pair of completely untrained, thirty-something first-timers, suddenly questioning whether we could possibly complete the same challenges as our Adonis-like counterparts.

We then went to the spectator stands lining the track, where the passing parade of runners — spanning all ages and body types — put our minds at ease.

Among them, a competitor wearing a fluorescent green tank top with a backwards baseball cap and sporting a salt-and-pepper beard stood out from the crowd as he ran alone.