CBD showtime

It was a big big turn out yesterday at CBD. That’s probably the biggest turnout I’ve seen since joining the CBD run. About 60 of us. The pedestrian along Maxwell road must be wondering what race are we having…haha.. All geared up ready for the big day. Didn’t get to know everyone. By the time cooled down, change, everyone is slowly dispersing.

Together with the pacer team again, we surge towards Marina South following the actual route for this Sun but in reverse order. Everyone was briefed to ensure that they are running according to their marathon pace and not to chiong so fast.

Somehow, I am in good form today. I don’t understand why. I don’t know what’s the secret of being in “good form”. It just came naturally. I have no intention to follow any of the pacer but just go according to my own pace that I will be using this Sunday. I started with small steps but slightly higher cadence at the start, together with Jodan. Slowly, the engine got warm up. Was joined by Cobalt and DO. Cobalt was already sweating profusely just 10mins after we start and I haven’t got a single drop yet. He said this is nothing…later he will have his own swimming pool. Haha.. Not long after, I found myself to be following closely with the 4hr pacer. All the way after the steamboat area. I was running at a pace that is slightly faster than my norm. Don’t ask me what’s the pace. I dunno. As long as I’m comfortable, I don’t care much. About to exit Marina South, I think the 4hr is getting faster as I was pretty sure that my pace was quite consistent. Not too long after that, 4hr pacer is getting slightly further away from me and I’m all on my own…wohooo!!! I found myself in the middle of the 4hr and 4.30 group. Still can hear the conversation from the 4.30 group behind me.

Nevermind lah…Just run and right after the tunnel at the exit I was joined by Cfred (4.30 pacer) and some others at the traffic light. That’s like slightly around 1km to go. Still feeling good and all the way to White House. Overall, it was a good run. I managed to speed up a little than my usual pace and maintain throughout the 10km. Sweat like nobody business…hahaha…I like. Chatted with a few before leaving for the night.


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After a good workout, went home and obviously a good shower will be ideal right??? Guess what……… I saw a freaking creature in my room right after I step in and on the lights!! COCKCROACH!!!!!!! Wah piang…Such a big one. Cannot scream, no one at home. What to do?? I got to do the job myself loh. Quickly go grab one magazine, fold it up and……”PIACK!!!” Smack and smack… Smack 1 time that creature was like running interval but a bit injured already. Smack another time. Lie flat…..Not moving….Bye Bye….. Go storeroom, grab the broom and off to the bin…J Job Done. Proceed with normal routine, shower and sleep as if nothing happen…J

Feeling weird

It was kind of a weird feeling that I have now. I’m supposed to be feeling excited of the upcoming run this Sunday and getting myself prepared physically and mentally.

Somehow the news that came to all of us on Saturday during worship service changes everything. I wasn’t really digest with the news at that time (that the dragon rower are missing) which is probably why I don’t feel that much affected.

Now that the entire Singapore is talking about it, headlines on papers. The truth is out. Hmmm…..not too sure how should I described. I personally do not know Reuben that well. In fact it was only in early Oct that I get to know him in the concert and chatted with him a couple of times. But that ‘relationship’ alone, is enough for me to ponder about this tragic incident. I am not very much emotionally affected but somehow, I’m just feeling a bit disturbed and it has been wondering in my mind in the last few days. Seeing his family especially his mum on TV, really melted my heart. My sincere condolences to the family. Tomorrow will be going to his wake and will be playing a special music for him with OneHeart ministry. I couldn’t imagine how the atmosphere is going to be and whether we all can control our emotion. But I’m prepared for the worst.

D-Day Coming

I can feel that everyone is getting excited yet a little anxious and stress out. The month and month of hard training, sacrificing your sleep waking up in the wee hours like 4am doing lsd (Long Slow Distance) is simply ridiculous you would say or crazy or siao. At least for non-runners :) Not forgetting the interval/speed/staircase/hill training that causes both your legs screaming for mercy.

10 more days and you will reap what you sow. Worth it or not, you decide. Some people are so stress by beating their PB, some are just worried if they could ever cross that finishing line and not ended up DNF or DNS. As for me, I’m kind of relax..haha. Obviously I cannot compare with the full distance runner and more over this is my 2nd time doing a half marathon. To the full marathoners, this is really a kacang puteh. Oh well, a half marathon is achievable with a little effort but if you’re talking about achieving PB, then it’s a different story. To me, I just want to relax and enjoy the run. Having a PB is not that important but will be a bonus if I’m able to finish in less than 2:32hr..hehe

Many many month ago, I simply do not understand why people loves running so much. To an extend that if they don’t run, they feel grumpy, they feel uneasy, they feel that something is missing. On the contrary, running gives them a time to reflect, to find peace, to de-stress, to lose weight….and it goes on and on. It is part of their life. Just like you need air every day. In a few month time, it will be my 1st anniversary joining SGrunners. An indication of the time where I officially take up running seriously. Uh…officially as in I do hill training, speed training and all sort of stuff lah rather than just a normal jogger with no target. Probably I’m being influenced by all the siao people in SGrunners. I’ve probably gotten some bugs from them and becoming one of the siao one. Although not to the extend of siao-ness yet, I have started to believe why running can be so addicted. Hard to explain. You really have to try it to experience. I guess the runner’s high that you get at the end of the run, you may not be able to get it from any other form of cardio exercise. Why people still choose and insist on running even though at times it brought them pain and even bleed………. To be continue………

Snooze

It has been ages since my last entry.

More to come. Stay tune!

Good deal

I was at the Shape Carnival this afternoon at Marina Square to collect my race pack for this Sunday’s shape run.

Somehow, something really caught my attention. The 2 years subscription of Shape magazine comes with real good freebies. Subscribing for two year entitle me to choose 3 items out of the 9 I think plus 4 free issues. Since I have been reading Shape ever since it’s debut issue for every month in the past 2 years without fail, I thought this is a real good deal.

Here’s what I have chose for the freebies:

- $60 crocs voucher – Can get a nice pair of slippers
- $50 Aibi voucher – Wanted to get a gym ball
- AND THIS!!!! $100 running lab voucher for all running shoes!!!

I have been eyeing on a pair of running shoes in Running Lab for quite some time and this is really a good deal. Yeah..I know there are always a “too good to be true”. But trust me, this is real. I’ve read the condition of the voucher again and again. And yes, I can go Running Lab, show them the voucher, select my shoe and I get a $100 discount! Yay!!!!

Official Results

Official Results are out!!

BIB no: WN7633
Net Finish: 2:32:00
Gun Finish: 2:32:45

The Aftermath

2 days gone. What have I gained after last Sunday:

- 2 big abrasion on both my under arms. Have to walk with my arms open wide on Sunday
- 1 small blister on left toe
- muscle ache on both thigh. That's possibly because I totally forgot to stretch at the end point. Too excited maybe.
- $35 on cab fare
- carbo loaded on all sinful food!! (prata, chic rice, nasi briyani)

Army Half Marathon

The D-Day is here. Alarm rang at 3am. Snoozed for 5 minutes and off I jumped off from my bed.

Took 2 slices of bread and a glass of lime endurance drink, did some stretches and off I go.
After placing my bag at the desposit counter, I head off to the start point, on the way bump into Ripley. Being early, I was close to the start point with Ripley. Gun start at 5.30am sharp. Off I go, at a slow pace to warm up. Things look good as I move on to Cross Street, South Bridge Rd, then Maxwell. Tigger ran past me with a "Pace yourself properly hor". I responded with an "Orh...ok". Off he go. I see that the Sheares Bridge is right ahead of me. Quickly change gear to small/fast stride. Next, bump into Joanna. Acknowledge her and we OTOT on our pace again. I must say that after a few attacks on Mount Faber, conquering the Sheares Bridge seems to be much much easier. Not much effort needed :)

Check point at the entrance of ECP after Ford Road. Hmm...Am satisfied with the timing. Doing good, still going strong. Hit the 10km mark at 1:06. Being a first timer in a 21km run, I am pretty conservative, not knowing what is ahead of me. I maintain a steady pace. That stretch of ECP seems to be never ending. It took quite a while to finally cross the U-turn point. Still within the targeted time. I make an attempt to stop at all water point which is 2km apart from each other.

It was smooth sailing all the way till I exit Ford Rd towards Mountbaiten, although engine is slowing down. Check point again, I'm still within the targeted time :) I'm such a slacker, head off to the next water point at 18km mark and slowly and steadily I slack for 1 mins while sipping thru the cool 100 plus. 3km more to go!!! I'm getting excited. I'm not going to change any gear as I'm already feeling satisfied that I can be at 18k mark at this hour. Still trying to slack a few seconds with just 500m ahead of me, will be whack by Tigger if he knows that..haha.. Ah well.... hold on to it, 300.....200...100m to go!!! LOL!!!! Finished at 2.31 (or maybe 2:32). I'm feeling satisfied. Doesn't matter on the timing, I don't expect much as a first timer. Most importantly, I finished in good form with a smile on my face :)

Time checked: 8:02am. Hmm..Not bad not bad... But I must say that the ending point is very squeezy. Still prefer the padang. No choice but to head in to exchange my long awaited medal :). Yee Hwa showed me where the 100 plus water point is. It is full of crowds, sweaty people...Eeewwwwww :( I told Yee Hua that I'm going to wait a while. It's so d*** crowded there and I'm going to collapse with all the body heat. Nice of her..squeeze herself into the crowd and get me a can of cold 100 plus. Thanks Yee Hua!!

Tried to spot for JC among those red safra running vest people. I was just 10m away from him but because it was blocked by a barrier, I have to take a long long way to get to his end. Wave at him a couple of time, he seems to be so engrossed with the rest loh!!! Finally, after some hide and seek among the crowd, we managed to catch up for a short couple of seconds before he went for his photo taking session.

Next check: Be at the Explanade bridge at 8.30am for phototaking session with Sgrunners. By the time I collected the medal, it was 8:20. Slowly make my way to the esplanade bridge. A number of them already gathered there. It was nice to see familiar faces. Lingering around, followed by a group photo.

Overall, it was a nice race. Route is excellent. Water point of sufficient. It's really not as tough as I thought. I'm definitely going for the next one. That's for sure :)
Camera is under repair, cannot flaunt my medal yet...hehe....

Counting down....

Approximately 12 hours to go, I need to think twice or even more to ensure that I have all the gears ready:

- BIB number
- champion chip
- plaster
- jelly bean & energy gel
- $5 in case I need to hop in to 7-eleven at ECP for whatever reason
- 2 pieces of tissue paper
- watch

That will be what I'm going to carry with me tomorrow during the run...

In the next 2-3 hours before going to bed early :

- drink a few more glass of water
- secure the champion chip to the shoe lace
- put up the bib number

Till then....:)

Hibernation mode.....

Went into hibernation mode recently....... in blogging I mean.... too much activities going on... For once, my life is full of happening stuff...hahaha......

In 2 more day.........2 MORE DAYS!!!!! 26 Aug 2007. I'm going to venture into new life experience. I'm excited, yet feeling a bit nervous. Left and right brain is always not in sync and I always found myself fighting against the demons inside me. At times I'm full of confidence, at times I'm so demoralized. I need more focus, need more motivation and strength from Above.....

Stay tune. The next update is going to be an interesting one.... I hope :)

Day 1

Date: 1 Jul 07
Time: 8am Paris Time / 2pm S’pore time
Venue: Café at Charles De Gaulle Airport
Weather: 19C

It was a long 13 hours flight from Sin – Paris. I was in deep trouble when the check-in crew at Changi told me there’s no more aisle seat, no more emergency seat and that the one that was issued to me is a middle seat. Oh no!!!!! How am I going to survive in a middle seat for 13 hours. I need to move and stretch my legs.

While I was boarding the plane, noticed that someone took my middle seat. I asked where’s her seat, she gave me a blank look and show me her boarding pass. It’s just across the other side and it’s an aisle seat!! Without further delay, I agree to let her stay put in my seat and I’ll take her aisle seat…Phew!!!

After the last few flights from SQ, I now realized how good is the service and the quality. No doubt SQ is named as one of the best airline. In comparison to the one that I had today, the seat is as hard as a wooden bench, the food is cold, the quality is bad. The fruit seems to be bit and pieces from those canned cocktail. Urgh…Sucks…:(

I’m glad that I popped in a sleeping pill an hour before the flight, else I’ll be a walking zombie now. Not that I slept very well but I did have a few short nap here and there. If not because of butt pain and leg cramp, I think I can sleep thru all the way. I even missed out the 1st meal that they served, I think that was like 1am?? Can’t be bothered with the food at that hour. Sleep is more important J Finally, woke up at 7.30am and head towards the self service area to get water and juice AND a cup noodles….Hmm..Yummy… Snooze again for another 2 hours before they serve breakfast. Food…cannot make it at all….

1.5 hours more to go before I board another 3 hours flight to St.Petersburg. I shall try to get more zzzz again if possible :)

More update to come…..

Without any second thoughts, I just go for it before I change my mind again. No worries and just do it. That's my motto. Approximately 8 weeks from now, I’m going to venture out into a new experience, my first one but I’m sure it will not be the last. I know what will I be going thru on that day but I’m prepared mentally, definitely not physically yet :) I aim to complete not to compete. But then I hope to complete it in a reasonably amount of time :P

So, what’s up in 8 weeks time…… 26 Aug 5.30am – The Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon. Yes….. I am….I will be taking part in this year AHM – 21km. Now that I’m looking at the race route,it is indeed long long journey leh….. siao liao lah….. getting nervous. 8 more weeks for preparation, what would be the outcome, it will really be dependant on my discipline…..:) we’ll see…. I will "Jia You"!!!!

Here’s a preview of the route.

My Tribute

My tribute to Dmitry Golub, Software Analyst, Quest Software St.Petersburg.

In early May, I received an out of office reply from Dmitry stating that he will be on medical leave for 3 weeks. I have not heard from him since then and was wondering if he has already back to work.

This morning I received an email from a colleague in Canada. The email definitely caught my attention and it kind of affecting me the entire day. Part of the email content:

He was one of us – building labs, troubleshooting issues, working late nights and weekends, always ready to help.
Dmitry passed away in a hospital last month.

He went for an operation and died of kidney failure as what I was told. Dmitry has been really helpful to me throughout my stay in this company. Working with me at 2am his time, ensuring that I get all the help as much as I need. Maybe I’m kind of soppy, I was browsing thru all the past emails that he sent to me…. I felt worse….haiz….. Funny that we’ve never met, yet I was impacted by this incident. I was scheduled for a business trip to St.Petersburg end of this month and was hoping to see him face to face. And deep down in my heart, I would really want to meet him personally to thank him with all the help given. This will not happen…….. That’s my regret.

The World Harmony Run

Sgrunners @ Merlion

The World Harmony Runners @ Merlion

This is the 3rd year where the World Harmony Run is held in Singapore. Obviously is my 1st one. Majority of the runners are from Sgrunners, which is how I get to know about this run.

Not a race at all but a run to promote world harmony across all religions and race. The run started from Bukit Gombak and end at The Merlion, a total of 22km, which a few stops at 2 mosque, 1 temple and 1 Sikh Temple.

Run start at 9am - 2.30pm Pretty interesting for 1st timer like me with children cheering us and warm welcome as we approach the temples. Records show that we have a total of 70 runners on that day. For the first time, I have the St.John ambulance, a traffic police escorting me in my run leh. There’s even a van with photographers and supporters cheering us all the way throughout the run. Definitely cheer us up and bring in more laughter throughout the run. AND and and......it even came out from Strait Times hor.... Check this out...

It gets more interesting where we felt that we own the entire road. Anyhow swing from first lane to the third lane with the police blocking the cars and let us go our way….wuahahahhaah Boh Jing Hu. Actually, the Jing Hu is on our side…J

This is the first time that I'm running this long (with stops of course) and at such odd hours. Mind you...running at 12pm is no joke. Super hot!!! But then the pace is just nice, not too fast, just nice for long distance. I'm happy to be part of it......

I’m getting so sick of all this anonymous call from banks, timeshare, insurance..etc offering me this and that at no obligation.

I just had one minutes from an insurance company :-

Lady: Hi, Can I speak to ……

Me: Yes, speaking

Lady: I’m calling from xxx insurance company…… Would you like to earn $10,000 selling insurance?

Me: No thank you. (***I’m earning more than that now***.Haha…I do wanted to give this statement if she keep pestering me. But well…she didn’t)

Lady: Ok. Thanks.

Haha…I’m bad….Sometime I like to make fun out of this ppl. Something like….”I have more than enough cash in hand, why are you forcing me to take up your loan??”
Haiyah…so easy can earn 10k per month meh…. Then everybody will be in that line liao loh…

Conquering Mt.Faber

It has been close to 2 weeks with not much physical activities due to my recent business trip, followed by Dad and mum in town. I can feel that I'm starting to feel lethargic again. I need to get my butt up and start working out.

After 1.5 weeks, I finally put on my running shoe again and went for a short 45mins warmout around PR neighbourhood. It's a total failure. No stamina, no endurance, no strength. Feeling a bit disappointed, I make another attempt again on Monday. This time on a threadmill with some speed as well as hill run. Not too bad....getting back in form.

Tuesday - the usual CBD run but this time round, tigger decided to add some spice into it. We will be conquering up to Mt.Faber thru Kg.Bahru Road. I've been hearing a lot a lot abt this route. How tough, how hilly, how it 'kills' runners. I wanted to give it a try. I wanted to experience how tough it really is. We started off a pretty easy one from Tanjong pagar. The chiongster is all way ahead after the 1st km. I was somewhere in the middle with a couple more behind. Soon...the chiongster is no where within my sight. I looked at my back... there's no one behind either...Oops!!! Siao liao...did I go the wrong way?? I slowed down, looking around and I think I spotted one of them like 200m ahead of me. Off I go until I reached the foot of MF. Approx 3km from starting point.

The faster one have already started to chiong up the hill when I reach the foot. Tigger waited for me and soon was joined by Jodan. I started to conquer the hill, warned by tigger to look out for a 4m height barrier which is where the killer is. He chiong his way and I slow down my pace to prepare for that 'slope'. Jodan ask me to go ahead as he is slowing down his pace too. It was still alright for the 1km..the slope is pretty mild until I spotted the 4m barrier. Wah seh...... I can clearly see what is ahead of me. Start to change my strategy, small stride and medium pace. Soon...I reach this slope which looks like a 45 degree to me. It's killing my calves. I have to stop...to walk.... Buay tahan... I rotate between jogging and walking all the way up until the slope is over!!! Yea.... I'm happy that I get to experience the toughness of running that slope.... Reached the Jewel box, waited for Jodan and off we go on the same way back to TP. Approx 9.5km. Good one :)

Now that I know how bad that slope is, "someone" actually did 6 loops on that same route, 10km per loop, totalling to 60km in his Safra Ultramarathon challenge last Sunday. Under hot sun some more!!! Wah piang.... I'll either faint or attack by heat stroke. I now gave him a new nick - "Super Extreme Ultra Marathon man".

After my last business trip back in Dec, I went for a second one two weeks ago. This time to Tokyo. It was purely for business really.... with not much personal time except for a couple of hours after work.

Depart on Sunday 9:45am, reached Tokyo at 5:15pm. Upon immigration clearance at 5:45pm, I rush straight to the limousine counter to get a coach ticket that bring me straight to the hotel. Cost me 3000 yen (S$36). You may have wonder....come on...it's business trip, just grab a cab. Well well.... it's a definte no...That will probably cost me like S$300!!! So there I go, head off to the bus stand to wait 20 mins for the coach. Almost the entire Sunday is gone. Tired, sleepy.... yet to endure for another 1.5 hours to get me to the hotel.

Reached the hotel approx 8pm. Weather is getting cold at night. Argh..... Cold + hungry + tired is the worst combination. Agree?? I have no idea where am I, nor do I wanted to go out recee the place and find food. Simply....too exhausted from the 7 hours flight. Head off to the room, order room service and Zzzzz.

I was demanded by colleague to buy 10 mascaras for them!! Very good woh.... Only japan can get it woh... So, that's my mission after work. To explore Shibuya and Shinjuku hunting for 10 sticks of mascara. Thank goodness I have Frank with me. To cut the story short.... I swept out all the stock from 3 drug store, just to add up the total of 10 mascara!!!! Urgh..ladies ladies.....haiz.... Other than that, no shopping, no sight seeing, no pictures.... :) chop chop 4D3N trip.

Boss was away for the last one week and will only be back by end of this week. I'm getting a bit sick tired mentally having to deal with part of her work in addition to mine. Can't wait to take at least a day break when she's back. To think about my business trip to Japan next week makes me even sicker!!! I'm starting to have a bad impression on Japanese culture. Well in a way, as what we always see, they are very well mannered, clean...etc. But when come to the corporate world and when you really have a colleague who is a Jap.....it's totally different!!! Trust me....untill you experienced it...you never know. Don't talk about the fun time exploring tokyo after work. It will be good enough if I don't get high blood pressure over there.

Wish me luck........

I was supposed to be on my way back from gym at this hour. But I'm happily enjoying a bowl of ABC soup,in the comfort of my room, blogging.

That is because, something terrible happen while I'm at the gym hours ago. Initial plan was to do some speed training on the treadmill. I did a warm up jog for 5 minutes and slow down, eventually stopped to tighten up my jogging pants. In that split of seconds, I had the worst ever feelings and it is just terrible.

I suddenly run out of breath, my vision is blur, my shoulder is aching, I felt like throwing out, my heart beat is increasing. I felt like I'm going to black out very soon. It was indeed a scary feeling I tell you. And it lasted pretty long. I was still standing on the threadmill trying to control my breathing but it's getting worst and worst. I was praying deep inside that I will not black out and collapse. The way that I perspire after just a 5 minutes warm up, it's really NOT me. It usually took me at least 15 mins to start persipring. Something is terribly wrong. I slowed down and stepped down from the treadmill, still trying to control my breathing and slowly walking towards the water cooler, still perspiring. My vision is still blur, I am seriously worried that I'll collapse. Continue praying..........

It lasted for 5-10 mins and the heart beat slowly resume back to normal. And for the next 10 mins, I was wondering what went wrong. Did I run too fast and stop immediately? Not at all, this is the not the first time I'm doing it. Did I ate too much? Not at all. I have no idea what causes that. Anyway, it was a bad experience. I do not want to push myself as I still have a little bit of nausea. I decided to take a shower and call it a day. It doesn't really matter to skip the workout for a day. It's more important to listen to the body...

So, in a way, I'm thankful that I can sit here, blogging this unique experience that I had and not ended up in hospital.......
I shall sleep well and rest well tonight.....Zzzzzzzzzz

Worth it, worth it not

Just when I was blogging about work satisfaction few days ago, I came across this article in asia1.com with a header - Dead after 8 hours on laptop.

Looking at the title, I'm pretty sure that this lady is dead due to overworked. Sure enough, it is. It was such a pity and there are indeed people out there, working day and night to climb the corporate ladder, only to realized that they have neglected their family, their health when it's too late.

Like what I told my sis the other day, enough to eat, enough to use and possibly enough to go holiday can already loh... Money is important but it's not everything. So, don't spent too much time trying to earn as much as you want, cuz it's never enough and you will probably end up being a slave to money. What's the point of earning so much, yet you loose something that is much valuable, something that money could not buy.