My first 25 meters

Last night, Astrogirl held an overnight games party at her house. Run.run.runaway, Tiwazz, Littlefoot, Balasing, Taz and some others went over for it, but I was stuck at home, working on my report. Later on, Chee Kong asked if I wanted to go out for a late-night movie. I had to turn him down too. :(

But today, things were much better. I met up with Run.run.runaway, Tiwazz, Littlefoot, Balasing, Taz at Clementi Pool for a morning swim. There is a shallow pool (about a metre deep) there that is 25m in length, which allowed me to practise my strokes over a longer distance, as compared to the shorter Mt Faber SAFRA learners' pool. I completed a few laps to-and-fro satisfactorily (by my own standards). Littlefoot said I could improve on getting my motion more streamlined like an "arrow", by keeping my head under the water when I kicked. He also said that I should focus on my gliding motion. Tiwazz recommended that I breathe out through my nostrils rather than my mouth, and reminded me of the four-second rule. Taz showed me how to glide, but I did not succeed in copying him.

Ah well, in good time, I shall improve! And then I'll be revving up my swimming training to prepare for a biathlon. :)

My first time at the Bugis California Fitness

I headed to Sentosa this morning, and golly, was there a super long queue for the Sentosa shuttle bus! The queue went out of the Bus Interchange, onto the carkpark and went beyond the entrance to the HarbourFront MRT Station. I didn't want to queue up, or squeeze on the bus with anyone, so I decided to walk in to Sentosa instead.

On my way, I met this British tourist, who looked as if he could do with some directions. We chatted briefly, and then I offered to walk with him into Sentosa via the Sentosa Gateway. We talked about the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown, the history of Sentosa, the legend of the Merlion, the great running slopes of Sentosa, his job visa application in South Korea, his recent travels to China, Thailand and Cambodia, and more. After we had laid foot on the resort island, I brought him to Cinemania, where the Flower Spring Festival was held. There, we parted, and I continued on my way, walking to Tanjong Beach to form up with some of the SgRunners.

When I reached the beach, Balasing was in the water with a blue float, acting a turning-point bouy, while Astrogirl, Littlefoot and Tiwazz were swimming laps in the sea. They covered about 600m each. Then, the three swimmers got out of the water, and together with Balasing, went on a 5-km run while I looked after their bags. I didn't get as much of a tan as I would have liked, but it's ok. I took some time to practice my splits...not successfully. Later on, the five of us had lunch at New York Pizza at HarbourFront.

On Tanjong Beach. (Image courtesy of Balasing)

We went our separate ways at 2:45 pm, with I going down to Bugis California Fitness to meet up with Choonwei and Kellylim22, who were attending the 2:30 pm Spin classes there. It was my first time at the Bugis branch, and I must say, the staff there provide excellent and very friendly service. There, I also ran into Chelvin, a classmate of mine from JC. She's in stunning shape, and I was surprised she signed on to a Personal Trainer package. She didn't look like she needed it!

I also took the opportunity to do a Body Composition Analysis, and while the results were hardly spectacular, I bet they were better than those of the average Singaporean. ;) Kellylim22 also did a test too!

Here are my test results:

BODY COMPOSITION

• 53.0 kg body weight
• 43.4 kg muscle mass (81.9% body weight)
• 6.5 kg fat mass (12.3% body weight)
• 3.06 kg bone mass (6% body weight; the value was too low and hence was a cause for concern.)

FLUID DIAGNOSIS (all my segmental fluid distribution readings in this section were about 100%, but I was told that I needed to increase them to hit 120%)

• Right Arm: 1.99
• Left Arm: 1.97
• Trunk: 16.5
• Right Leg: 5.48
• Left Leg: 5.47

EVALUATION

• Muscle Type: Proportionate (in between sarcopenic/loose and muscular/toned)
• Nutrition Status: Normal levels for protein, fat and mineral
• Upper/Lower Balance: Normal
• Right/Left Balance: Normal
• Fitness Score: 77%

My response to the above test? First, I need to increase my bone mass to 5 kg. And that means drinking more milk, or taking calcium supplements. Second, I am fatter than I would like. I want to cut my body fat percentage down to 8-9% by reducing it to 5 kg. Third, I want to increase my muscle mass to 48 kg. So that's more cardiovascular activities, e.g. running, and more weight training (with renewed emphasis on quadriceps, hamstrings and calves training).

Are my goals achievable? Well, I'll never know if I never try! :)

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return

My brother and sis-in-law came by today to 拜年 this afternoon. We had a nice New Year reunion lunch. :)

Later, I watched Moulin Rouge on my PC, but stopped after the section where Christian, Satine, Sidler and the rest of the Bohemians performed their rehearsal of "Spectacular, Spectacular" for the Duke inside the Elephant.

But it felt really boring to be cooped up at home, so in the evening, I changed into my running gear and went out for a short jog around my neighbourhood. The distance was only about 2.2 km, inclusive of one lap around the Queenstown Stadium tracks. I took a short breather at the stadium to do a few sets of knee raises and dips as well. Thank God for holidays!

狗年大家旺！

¡FELIZ NUEVO AÑO CHINO!

¡ES EL AÑO DEL PERRO!

祝贺大家

狗年行大运，佳音传千里！

万事如意，万事旺！

Chinese New Year Eve Run

I got up at 6 am today, and made my way down to Mt Faber SAFRA for a Chinese New Year Eve Run with the other runners from MF SAFRA Running Club and SgRunners. An attendance check revealed a stunning turnout: DO, DreamRunner, Ong, CherryRunner, BabyMonster, Kumaran, Cokiee, Ironmandreamer, DiverRunner, Run.run.run.away, BrokenRunner, Littlefoot, Cosmic_Wind, Kops21, Superboy82, Freddy, Chairman, Wong, Alan Yeo and Eileen. Kellylim22 was also there to be our event photographer! :)

We started our journey at 7:15 am from the Clubhouse, and went along Depot Rd, Alexandra Rd, then across Telok Blangah Road and into Labrador Park. We ran up to the Longyamen rock, did a loop around it, then headed for some hill training, going past a lovers' cafe, before exiting the park onto Telok Blangah Rd towards Sentosa. By the time we crossed over the Sentosa Gateway and reached the Visitors Arrival Centre, we had already covered about 10.2 km. It took us about 1 hr 15 mins. The map below shows our route from SAFRA to Labrador Park until our crossing of Sentosa Gateway.

10.2 km so far

At the Visitors Arrival Center, we were joined by Hedgehog and Sotong. And off we went on the Nike Real Run route, though we decided to cut short a section of the route (where the satellite dishes were). That effectively meant going from the Visitors Arrival Centre towards Tanjong Beach, then Palawan Beach, Silosa Beach, Jungle Trail, and then past the Musical Fountain to Cinemania, then back to the Visitors Arrival Centre. Ironmandreamer, Littlefoot and I slowed down our pace considerably, compared to the rest. So while the rest steadily kept up their pace and completed the Sentosa circuit and then headed back to the Clubhouse, Ironmandream, Littlefoot and I took a leisurely stroll in Sentosa. By the time we left Sentosa, we had covered 19 km, and the three of us had been on the move for about 2 hr 30 mins. The map below shows our route from SAFRA until we were about to exit Sentosa.

19.0 km so far

The last stretch to the Clubhouse was also a leisurely one for me. I didn't want to stress my legs too much. I was already doubling my mileage, from about 10 km for my previous few runs, to over 20 km today. If I kept running hard, I could get injured, which would be a terrible thing. So Ironmandreamer, Littlefoot and I walked some more down Telok Blangah Rd, turned into Kampung Bahru and then into Telok Blangah Rise, bought drinks at a provision shop, and returned to the Clubhouse. Total distance covered? 22.5 km. (But probably more...I think I underestimated the route covered in Labrador Park and the Jungle Trail...). Total time taken? A relaxing 3 hours 10 min. :) The map below shows today's entire route.

22.5 km so far

After showering, some of us went for lunch at the Telok Blangah market. I ate a bowl of mee rebus. Later, Kops21 gave me lift down to Tiong Bahru where I got myself a haircut. But I still felt I had energy in me, so I took a bus back to SAFRA and did some swimming. Great sunshine, clear waters, and not many people around. Fantastic! Then feeling hungry, I went to Bukit Merah for a bowl of fishball noodles.

I got home at 3 pm, feeling really exhausted, but the day was well-spent. Thanks to all my fellow runners for their excellent comaraderie and company!

What a way to end the week

Another lousy day. Unreasonable requests made. Feeling that sense of injustice when scoldings are dished out when the fault is really not ours. Bitterness. It's already past office hours. I just found out that my former colleagues had been celebrating the long weekend in their office; all of them are now in a holiday mood. As for me, I'm still in my cubicle, just received instructions to do more work, and to get the new assignment done by tonight.

SCSM 2005 shirt

I have just been informed by Balasing that he and Tiwazz has bought me a SCSM 2005 shirt as a gift! :) Thanks Balasing and Tiwazz! :D

Run with my FuelBelt

Just want to pop a quick post...I did another 10 km route around MFA again this evening. This time, I ran with my FuelBelt :) It took me 58 min to complete the hilly circuit, which is not really a good timing and I was left quite breathless. But I'm ok with it. Running rox!

The two circuits which I ran are as follows:

Sunday Shopping

I woke up too late to join the SgRunners for the Queensway run. But I did go over to Alexandra Village at 11 am, where they had stopped for their post-run laksa brunch. After a brief chat, some of them went home, while Bee, Cokiee, Tiwazz, Balasing, Littlefoot, BrokenRunner, Run.run.run.away and I went to Queensway Shopping Centre to look at some sports equipment. In the end, the ladies did most of the shopping, buying running singlets and things like that, while the guys just sat around and waited :)

After that, Tiwazz started to "jio jio" Bee to go to Beach Road to buy a Fuelbelt. Itching to have a Fuelbelt myself, I conveniently offered to go with them too :) So Tiwazz, Bee, Balasing and I took the MRT down to Lavender, and walked over to the shop in Beach Road which, according to Tiwazz, sold the Fuelbelts at a good price.

Unfortunately, the shop only had one "M" size of the new Fuelbelt model, and one "S" size of the old model. "S"-size is for 27-29 inch waists, which is fine by me because I'm a 28-incher. But that particular "S"-sized Fuelbelt looked really faded and aged (nothing to do with the fact that it was an old design...just that sections of it were already fraying!) and when I pressed the shopkeeper for a discount, he cut the price from $69 to...$68. Just a dollar. =P The "M"-sized Fuelbelt was going for $74, but I reckoned he would not reduce the price by much either. I didn't buy any Fuelbelts from him in the end. Bee also didn't buy any because she wanted to try the "XS", but the shopkeeper had no stock.

Following that, the four of us went over to a nearby hawker centre for drinks. We chatted about triceps, chin-ups, biathlons and trapping water. At 2:20 pm, I made a move because I needed to go to my brother TK's house in Boon Lay.

I arrived at his apartment at 3:30 pm. Mum and Dad were already there, and my sis-in-law brought out the birthday cake for my brother. It was his 29th birthday today. :) Happy birthday!

Later on, when we left, Mum decided to go home first, while Dad and I chose to head down to Jurong Point (and afterwards to Funan Centre) to look at a particular Acer PC which Dad wanted to purchase. When we were in Funan, I couldn't resist popping by Running Labs. And there, I chanced upon the new model Fuelbelt, which was selling for $77. After enjoying a 10% discount for being a SAFRA member, I only paid $69 for it. It's a much better deal than Beach Road! :) And it really made my day!

My FuelBelt

To end off the evening, I went down to California Fitness for some weight training for the pecs and biceps. When my right thigh gets better in the next couple of weeks, I should be able to resume my leg training too, such as squats, leg extensions and leg curls. Can't wait for that. ;)

Run, run, run :D

Here's an update on my runs this week.

On Tuesday, I went for an evening run around my workplace. I did the usual route from Minden Rd-Harding Rd-Loewen Rd-Ridley Pk Rd-Tanglin Rd-Nassim Rd-Botanic Gardens-Minden Rd (Route A). That's about 6.6 km, according to Google Earth. I took 37 min to run that.

Route A

After a short water break, I went on a shorter second leg, from Minden Rd-Harding Rd-Loewen Rd-Ridley Pk Rd-Tanglin Rd-Napier Rd-Minden Rd (Route B). That was about 3.4 km. In total, I covered 10 km.

Route B

Today, at about 1:30 pm, I went to Mt Faber SAFRA for a swim. There weren't many other people there, so I effectively had the Learners' Pool all to myself. I think I'm getting the hang of swimming. I did 20 laps across the breadth of the pool. Slow I may be, but finished my target of 20 laps I did. :)

After that, I took the bus down to Sentosa, and headed for Tanjong Beach. There, I met Run.run.run.away, Tiwazz, Littlefoot and Balasing. Tiwazz and Littlefoot were training in the open sea in preparation for the Singapore Biathlon, while Balasing had volunteered to help film Tiwazz's swimming strokes using his video-cam. Run.run.run.away had initially planned to sun-tan, but no one had brought along any groundsheet or mat. :D So in the end, she also joined the rest in the water. I stayed comfortably dry further up the beach.

From L-R: Run.run.run.away, Tiwazz and Reno

At around 5 pm, I bade them farewell, packed my shirt and sandals into my bag, changed into my shoes, and ran from Tanjong Beach to the Costa Sands Resort at Siloso Beach to meet up with my other friends who had booked a chalet there for a BBQ this evening. The route I ran (Route C) was about 2.3 km long. It was rather difficult running with a backpack, but I managed it nonetheless.

Route C

At the resort, I swam some more, played a little beach volleyball and later on, feasted on satay, otah, chicken wings and other sinful but delicious food items during the BBQ. I appreciated the opportunity to meet up with friends like Freddy, Chee Keong, Weisin, Chee Kong, Ming Jern, Johnson, Yingrui, Aubrey (and wife), Jave, Zac (and girlfriend), Wilson, Chris Ang, Li Lian, Joseph, Jason and Kenny (and girlfriend). We also celebrated the birthdays of our three January babies, Ming Jern, Chee Kong and Johnson. Coincidentally, Sumiko, a very good runner whom I met the last time at the Lim Nghee Huat run, was celebrating her birthday at the BBQ pit next to ours :o)

I left the chalet at 11:00 pm, catching a ride to the MRT station from Joseph. Thanks, bro!

Miffed

I had a really lousy week, which ended with an overtime on Friday that dragged into 1:15 am of Saturday morning. I had originally planned to meet Wenpin, Wei Hsiung, Zacky, Mingwei and Marcus at 8 pm at Borders. But I had a bad feeling that my Friday evening plans would be dashed when a meeting was called for at 6:30 pm...which was past the official Friday working hour of 5:30 pm, mind you.

At first, I tried to think positive...it was only 6:30 pm and the meeting was meant to discuss 15 powerpoint slides for a presentation that was supposed to last 10 minutes. I chuckled to myself...how long could this meeting last, right? WELL, it ended at 9:15 pm. It took us almost 3 hours to go through a 10-minute presentation. AND after which, I was dished more work to do that was due on Monday morning. I neither had the time nor the mood to join my friends at Borders anymore. I spent the rest of the night and the early morning in the office, working away and feeling miffed. By the time I packed up to go home, there was still a colleague of mine in her cubicle, typing away and staring hard at her PC screen, her eyes all red and tired. I wondered aloud why we had to work like slaves.

Today, when I got up, the first thing I did was to switch on my PC and do work from home. It's really a horrid feeling, especially since I had wanted to go swimming with my buddies in the morning. But here I was, in my room, working. I finished what I had to do at 11:30 am, and then started to blog.

I haven't really looked through my personal emails over the week, and much to my regret, I could only respond to some important personal emails with curt, one-liner phrases because I simply didn't have the luxury of time to type out a proper reply. I haven't blogged at all either, nor kept up with the SgRunners forum. Up until yesterday night, I was still totally clueless about what the details were for this afternoon's beach outing and chalet. Sigh.

I hope my mood improves over this weekend. It is miserable for me to feel so frustrated, and I don't think my friends appreciate a glum-faced me either.

Proposed running route(s) for the next BG Run

If I'm going to lead the way for the next Botanic Gardens run, then here's my proposed running route(s).

For the shorter route, I think we can start from Evans Rd (SMU), go into the Botanic Gardens, exit at Holland Rd, go up Minden Road (great slope!), into Loewen Rd and Ridley Pk Rd (past the 双天至尊 house), then down Tanglin Road, past Tanglin Mall, then along Orchard Rd all the way until we reach the Istana, then turn into Cavenagh Rd, then Clemenceau Ave North, past Newton MRT station, onto Bukit Timah Road until we get back to SMU. That's going to be 11.2 km (route A below).

Route A

For the more adventurous, after completing the 11.2 km, I propose an additional 4.5 km hilly route from SMU down Cluny Rd, then turn into Tanglin Rd and then turn again into Nassim Rd (3 great slopes!) until we hit Evans Rd and get back to SMU. This longer route will hence be 15.7 km (route B) and is shown below.

Route B

How about that? :)

First Run of 2006

This morning, I crept out of bed at 5:45 am, leaving my flu behind, and had a quick breakfast. I was out of the house by 6:20 am, and reached the running track at SMU at 6:55 am. Balasing was already there, doing his stretching. Before long, Cokiee, Littlefoot, Cheow12 and Violet came as well. Tiwazz was a bit late, but since he's the organiser for today's run, we let him off the hook :)

We ran along Evans Road, then turned left into Bukit Timah Road and continued chugging along until Coronation Plaza, where Chyarose was waiting for us. Then the whole lot of us continued along Bukit Timah Road - doing a short hill training along Second Avenue - and then turned left into Sixth Avenue. We emerged a while later at Holland Road. Next, we headed westwards until we reached the Farrer Road/Holland Road intersection. Violet, Cheow12, Cokiee and I were slightly faster, so we crossed the intersection first. Then, while they continued westwards along Holland Road, I decided to wait near the intersection for Balasing, Littlefoot, Tiwazz and Chyrose to catch up. But they never did...because they stealthily did a left turn onto Farrer Road instead. :P

After waiting for some time, I decided to run off on my own towards the Botanic Gardens. Once in the gardens - very familiar terrain to me - I navigated my way to the Visitors Centre, and exited onto Evans Road. A couple of minutes later, I was back at SMU where the others had already gathered, and where I also happened to bump into Seal. What a coincidence :) In total, I covered 11.5 km, but took a slow 1 hr 30 min. But that's ok. It's my first run in almost two months, and I hadn't even expected to go past 10 km.

The group of us runners went to Food Haven for breakfast, and chatted about dieting, running equipment and Fear Factor. I discovered that Cokiee is such a treasure trove of knowledge about nutrition. Later on after breakfast, Balasing, Tiwazz, Chyarose and I walked to Serene Centre, where we ordered ice float and floats. It was our mini-farewell party to send off Chyarose, who would be departing for the UK for further studies in a week's time. After that, Tiwazz, Balasing and I took the bus down to Anchorpoint and Queensway Shopping Centre to look at the boardgames and sports equipment on sale. When I got home, I checked Dasher's blog for some advice on how to use Google Earth to plot today's route :)

On the whole, it has been a splendid day today :)

2nd packet of Lemsip

I just downed my second packet of Lemsip. I hope the flu-like symptom goes away soon. I want to run the Botanic Garden run (~10km) tomorrow.

Anyway Mum is down with a bad cough, and Dad just left the house for Chinese traditional treatment for his two "frozen shoulders". I hope Mum and Dad get well quickly too.

I was swimming when it came off

Time: 9:45 am. Venue: Mt Faber SAFRA. I changed into my swimming gear, locked my stuff in a locker, and leapt into the cold, cold waters of the SAFRA learners pool. There were other people in the piscina with me, mostly children and their instructors. There was also a row of motionless bronzed men and women reclining in deck chairs along the poolside. I worked on my breaststroke, consciously reminding myself of Tiwazz's advice of the 4-second rule. I still didn't quite get my kicks right, so it took me nearly forever to swim across the breadth of the pool, but at least I managed to do so without being as breathless as I was in the past. Good, that meant progress.

At about 10:15 am, I realised that the water-proof plaster on my wound had slipped off, exposing the pinkish-red sliver of raw flesh in my thigh to rather unhygienic fluid. I tried in vain to search for the plaster in the pool, but I couldn't find it. I thought to myself: Continue swimming, or quickly dash to the shower-room and try to wash the wound with the less germ-infected water from the tap? What the heck, I continued swimming.

When it was 12:10 pm, I got out of the pool. Although the water was beginning to be heated up by the midday sun, I was shivering to the bone. I washed up -- carefully, not wanting to tear off the fragile skin around my wound -- and quickly made my way to Bukit Merah to meet up with Balasing and Tiwazz for lunch.

I ordered a plate of prawn noodles and another plate of nasi lemak. Yes, I was hungry. :) Tiwazz, Balasing and I chatted as we ate, discussing board games, blogs, girlfriends and, of course, running. As Balasing had arranged to play pool with his buddies at Paradiz Centre later in the afternoon, we ended lunch at around 2:20 pm. Tiwazz was headed for Gombak Clubfit gym for leg and abs training. As for me, my eyes were tearing and my nose was running badly. I must have caught a cold while I was swimming. So I headed home, downed a packet of Lemsip, then started to surf the net. But right now, I feel like lying down in bed to rest. So here ends my blog entry for today.

Three late nights

Three late nights in a row, and my eyes are red and dry. And I was caught nodding off during a meeting this afternoon, which was rather embarrassing. At least my superiors didn't kick up a fuss about it. I am too tired to even blog more than a few sentences today.

Overslept

Darn. I overslept today and missed the 7 am 10.5-km run at MacRitchie Reservoir with the SgRunners. If I could have helped it, I wouldn't have worked until so late yesterday. And I shouldn't have eaten dinner at 12:30 am...it made it so hard for me to fall asleep...

Reflections on 2005

I have just read a few friends' blogs, and saw their reflections on the past year. I should too...but only briefly, because it is late, and tomorrow I have to work.

2005 started off without much fanfare, but life in the first half of the year was much more relaxed and I had a lot of time for friends. Despite having to tear out my hair writing software code and running seemingly endless simulations during office hours, I was always able to regularly pop by the Mt Faber SAFRA pool with Audrey and Chee Kong during lunch-time. We would enjoy ourselves in the pool and soak in the sunshine. Healthy living had never been so convenient.

Running life was also very much stable then. I was organising training runs for my colleagues every Friday evening (I added plyometrics to our routine in March), and we kept one another motivated for the important races through the year. I went on exciting holidays with the folks from same running gang: for instance, Chee Kong, Chee Keong, Chee Meng, Li Lian and I went on a cycling trip in Desaru and I went mountain trekking in Gunung Lambak with Ah Khen, Nanyan and family. I also had regular Wednesday lessons at MediaCorp to learn wushu from Vincent Ng and Leo Wen Yeow, who are among the best wushu practitioners in Singapore. I felt really fit and fab.

And there were the memorable fortnightly/monthly Sentosa outings which we would organise, during which my former colleagues and I would spend the whole morning playing beach volleyball and building upon our friendships. I remember one time when we were there, MediaCorp was filming an episode for its game show 朋友满天下 (Carlsberg World of Friends) and all of us ended up being invited to the Sentosa-Carlsberg Sky Tower to drink chilled beer and rub shoulders with artistes Terence Cao and Michelle Chong. :)

When I left the company, I had a couple of months to spare before I started my new (and current) job. In that short frame of time, I had the immense privilege of leading a team to Banda Aceh to help out in the reconstruction. I also put my hands to good use, repairing wheel-chairs that were to be sent over to hospitals in tsunami-stricken areas. This was one of the most meaningful periods of my life. Just before starting work, I also found myself being involved in SgRunners, and discovered a whole new community of running enthusiasts. I am extremely grateful for all these new friends of mine, as well as for my ichiban ex-colleagues :) The world is such an excellent place to live in, when it has these guys and gals inside.

Towards the end of 2005, in my new workplace, running life sort of spluttered like a spluttering engine. The late nights and the nature of my job left me drained and perpetually fatigued. I couldn't run as often as I liked, and I didn't have time for the training which I had hoped for. As a result, I had to give the 2005 Swissotel Vertical Marathon a miss...such a pity, I was ranked #22 in 2004, and I had hoped to better that ranking in 2005.

Nonetheless, I could still afford to train on the weekends with the Mt Faber SAFRA Club runners and my former colleagues such as Chris Ang, Chee Keong and Chee Kong. We ran and ran and ran, covering over 20-km during each session. It was exhausting work, but I enjoyed it.

But things took a bad turn when I injured my left foot in early November while training for the December marathon. After all my efforts at trying to train for the marathon (in spite of my busy schedule), I had to drop out of the race entirely. What's more, the day after the marathon, I was hospitalised and underwent operation for a bad infection in my right thigh. :(

But my former colleagues and SgRunners were there for me during this difficult time, and I am very thankful for their support. They kept my spirits up when I felt really low. I had friends who visited me at the hospital, and friends who visited me at home. As 2005 drew to a close, I celebrated Christmas Eve with my former colleagues and New Year's Eve with the SgRunners. God is truly gracious to me.

What's in store for me next in 2006? Only He knows, but I am fully confident that I am safe and that all is well in His good hands.

Being prepared and ready

*gulp* I have less than 8 weeks to train for the half-marathon event in the KLIM. And I haven't run in 2 months! I'm so far from being prepared and ready for it!

Well...I did earlier make some plans to go with Tiwazz and the other SgRunners for a morning run at the Botanic Gardens this morning at 7 am. But when I woke up at 5:30 am this morning, I found to my dismay that it was raining rather heavily, and so I decided to snuggle in bed instead. I told myself that later this evening, I may go for a short run (weather-permitting); otherwise, I could pop by the gym for some weight training. But the rain kept on coming down, and I stayed indoors.

It's still raining now...真是长命雨...

Anyway, earlier this morning, between 6:30am to 9:30 am, the Singapore Civil Defence Force launched the surprise large-scale civil emergency drill, codenamed Exercise NorthStar V (Channel Newsasia report here). Simulated terrorist attacks, comprising explosions, a chemical attack and a suicide bomber, were carried out at four of our MRT stations (Dhoby Ghaut, Toa Payoh, Raffles Place and Marina Bay) and one bus interchange (Toa Payoh). Entire sections of our underground metro became paralysed during the emergency drill.

I'm glad we're taking steps to be on our guard, even if it causes inconvenience and much ire among some of the over 3,000 commuters who found their journeys unexpectedly disrupted by the exercise and had to endure the rain to find alternative means of transportation.

We cannot rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack on our soil, and I dread the day when it happens...if it happens. And if it happens, I hope we're ready for it.

A-Grade Saturday

It was drizzling this morning, but by the time I reached Bouna Vista Swimming Complex at nine, the rain had stopped although the skies remained darkcast. Balasing and Tiwazz had not yet arrived, so I went into the pool first. I tried to swim, but realised that I was no longer confident in the water. I found myself panicking easily, and dared not move more than 3 to 4 strokes without having to stop and stand up (while the pool was still shallow).

By about 10 am, Balasing and Tiwazz had joined me at the pool. They had also brought along their training floats. With these two buddies in the water, I somehow felt more confident in the water. I still swam rather lousily, but managed at least to swim across the breadth of the pool once by the time we finished swimming.

It was noon when we got to Settler's Cafe. Littlefoot joined us at 12:30 pm. The four of us ordered the same four set lunches - spaghetti and meatballs! -, and started to play the four-person game, Blokus (click here for the game description). Astrogirl arrived during our second round of Blockus. With five persons at the table, we decided to play Galloping Pigs (click here for the game description) instead, and after that, Munchkin, (click here for the game description) an extremely complicated game to learn. But Munchkin was really rather enjoyable once we had gotten the hang of it. :) Tiwazz and I paired up against Astrogirl and the Balasing-Littlefoot pair. For the strangest of reasons, Tiwazz and I kept on drawing the CURSE cards from the deck and kept having to fight ultra-high level monsters, whereas Astrogirl and the Balasing-Littlefoot duo kept on getting TREASURE cards and fought easy-to-kill monsters. :P

Some of the games which we played at Settler's Cafe (Photo courtesy of Balasing)

After 3 hours of gaming, we left for the Windmill for some drinks. There, we chatted about swimming in the open sea, training for the biathlon, tomorrow's Botanic Gardens run, NS training in the good old days, and many topics more. We left for our separate ways at around 6 pm.

Another A-grade Saturday. Splendid. :)

Familiar faces

I finished work at 9:20 pm today (massive applause), then popped by Takashimaya to meet up with some SgRunner pals: Taz, Tiwazz, Cosmic_Wind, Meteor, Alvo and Fd. I only had a short time to chat with them before the restaurant closed. Even then, I felt really glad to have met up with them. The satisfaction of seeing the familiar faces of my running kakis definitely helped to dispel the fatigue of a whole day's work.

Tomorrow, I've arranged to go swim, or try to swim, at the Bouna Vista Swimming Complex with Tiwazz and Balasing, and then later go for lunch at Settlers' Cafe with them. Chyarose, Astrogirl, Choonwei and Littlefoot said that they may join us there for lunch and games too. That's great :)

Plans for this Saturday

I just made some plans with friends to swim this Saturday, and then go to lunch together at Settler's Cafe. This makes the weekend so much more exciting to look forward to. :)

Al-Ameen

This evening, I went to Al-Ameen (opposite Beauty World) for dinner with some kakis from SgRunners: Chyarose, Tiwazz, Kellylim22, Fd, TLR, Seal and Flip. I tried the goreng cina daging merah (chinese fried rice with red beef). It was delicious :)

From L to R: Tiwazz, TLR, Seal, Fd, Reno and Chyarose

But the dinner was more than just about food and drink, it was about the company. I will always treasure these precious, golden moments of meeting and interacting with like-minded friends. We talked about the KL International Marathon, the secluded Japanese Shrine in MacRitchie Reservoir, healthy dieting, trail shoes and bikes. It was a beautiful evening, despite the heavy rain.

KL International Marathon

Hmmm...I'm quite tempted to go down to with the other SgRunners to Kuala Lumpur for the KL International Marathon which is on 5 March 2005 (Sunday). Not to take part in the full- or half-marathon, mind you - I haven't had enough training for that! - but to do the short and simple 7-km fun run. I had better mark that date down in my calendar, and keep my fingers crossed for no overseas postings in my work during that period. :)

If I do manage to go to KL for this, it would be my first official overseas race (discounting the Johor-Singapore 2nd Link Bridge Run 2005), and I am sure it would be the start of many more good overseas races!!

New Year's Eve with the SgRunners

I had the most excellent New Year's Eve.

The SgRunners had booked a chalet at Aloha Loyang Resort from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, with a night run around Changi planned on Friday itself. However, due to work commitments, I wasn't able to join them for the run, nor go to the chalet on Friday. But I would be able to meet up with them on Saturday, and it was with that happy thought that I went to bed on Friday night. :)

On Saturday morning, I took the MRT down to Pasir Ris, and met up with the gang at White Sands Mall. There were seven of them (TLR, Fd, Alvo, Meteor, Philip, Tiwazz and Balasing), and they were having their brunch at the MacDonalds there. I learnt that they had slept at 3 am, and had woken up not too long after to go for an early morning run before heading out to grab some food at the mall. :)

We chatted in MacDonalds for a while, and then went shopping for some more food items at NTUC. Then we left White Sands Mall for the chalet.

From L to R: TLR, Carine, Alvo, DreamRunner, Reno, Chyarose, DO, Tiwazz, Cyberkinetic, Fd

The chalet was really nice. It was roomy, clean and comfortable. *thumbs up* We started to watch DVDs on TV. We were soon joined by DO, Cyberkinetic, Carine and her boyfriend Wei Leong (who, as I later found out, used to be a national sprinter and is now coaching some of the nation's running athletes...impressive!). TLR's family came by too, and I had lots of fun playing with his nephew, Irfan. TLR's mum used to live in a kampung in the Changi area, and TLR's dad shared with us some personal anecdotes about fishing/mussel catching in Changi Beach.

Later on, DreamRunner, Chyarose and Sotong came to the chalet. Sotong was in-charge of the games, and he did a really EXCELLENT job! For ice-breakers, he started us on playing a "Guess the Avatars" game, which tested our ability to recall the forum user nickname associated with each user avatar. That kept us entertained for quite a while :) Chyarose, for whom this was her very first time meeting the SgRunners since joining the forum a week ago, did rather well for a newbie; she correctly remembered over a dozen nicknames. Well done! :)

Some of the materials used in the extremely enjoyable "Guess the Avatars Game", devised by Sotong :)

A little while later, Balasing and Tiwazz said that they wanted to go swimming. I didn't bring my swimming gear, but I tagged along with them to the pool anyway, because I wanted to observe and learn from them some swimming techniques. They told me about trapping water, about how to do the free-style and how the different strokes trained the different parts of the body. Cool! :)

When the three of us got back to the chalet, we found Cosmic and Bee busily trying to complete Sotong's "Guess the Avatars" game. :) Later, while Balasing, Carine and Cyberkinetic started to prepare the charcoal for the BBQ, the rest of us gathered in the courtyard, and began to chit-chat about running - how running can help in losing weight, what races there were in the next couple of months, our running resolutions, the recently concluded ultramarathon (>= 55-km trail route around MacRitchie Reservoir) which many of us took part in, our running injuries, etc. :) By the time the BBQ was in full swing, we were also joined by other SgRunners, such as 136, Cokiee, Sanji (whom we tricked into taking off his shirt for a 6-pack abs photo, lol), Kops21, Seal and Superboy.

Even as some of us were chit-chatting in the courtyard or cooking the food, the rest were indoors watching a movie on Eric Liddell (who was from the UK and was a world-class runner in his time!) on Channel 5 and also "Saving Private Ryan". 136 has a strong passion for war movies and an avid interest in military history, and it was fascinating to hear him share about his analytical opinions on the films and his knowledge about major battles in history! *thumbs up*

The yummy stuff we ate

I must say, the food was great! Many thanks to Cyberkinetic for finding such a good caterer for the BBQ foodstuff, and many thanks to our dedicated BBQ chefs, such as Balasing, Cokiee, Philip, Bee and Sotong! As it neared 11 pm, we were joined by Shaunzer and his parents, and Commando with his wife and daughter.

Soon it was games time again, and Sotong broke us up into 3 groups (the "Huh" group, the "Couples" group and the "Bachelors" group, to which I belonged) to play Taboo. My team won, and we received individualised, single-edition, A3-sized, full-colour SgRunners 2006 calendars. Thanks to Sotong and Mrs Sotong for all their hard work on putting the utterly memorable prizes together! Sotong also brought along his own bingo machine and bingo tickets. And so, we played Bingo, and had a lucky draw too. Everyone had something special to take home from Sotong's games :)

Sotong holds up the specially-made SgRunners 2006 calendars! :)

Before long, we had our final countdown to 2006 :o) This was occasioned with a lot of handshakes and hugs, to warmly usher in the brand new year! The ships docked at the nearby ports joined in our celebrations with loud blasts of their horns :)

Goodwill hugs and handshakes to usher in the new year!
Happy 2006 everyone!

After that, some of us continued to watch another war film, this time about the Americans fighting the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. Some of us remained chatting in the courtyard - still discussing everything about running, running, running. ;) I also had a chat with Shaunzer about his interest in the design aspect of mechanical engineering. Later, I also listened to Seal share his experience as a member of the Naval Diving Unit. All of us talked into the early hours of the morning.

By about 6 am, I started to doze off on the sofa in the chalet. Some of the other guys decided to go out to Changi Village to get some coffee! :) I awoke again at 8 am, to find the same guys crowded around TLR's laptop, viewing some digital photographs and video clips. TLR works as a member of a disaster assistance and rescue team, and has contributed his strength and energy in recovering many casualties and dead bodies from disaster zones in incidents such as the Nias earthquake, the Pakistan earthquake and the Nicoll Highway Collapse. Watching the photos and videos of his work and experiences in those disaster scenarios, I am once again filled to overflowing with respect for TLR, for his strong mental power, his dedication to his work and his others-above-self, humble nature. *doubly thumbs up*

We checked out of the chalet at around 10 am in the morning, and I caught a ride home in TLR's car. I really, really, really enjoyed myself this weekend. :)

Ab training

I've been hearing a lot about abdominal training recently, and went to search for some information about it, and I found this article. It suggests 7 incremental levels to train one's abs.

• Level 1: 3 sets of crunches
• Level 2: 2 sets of crunches + 1 set of hanging knee raises
• Level 3: 1 set of crunches + 2 sets of hanging knee raises
• Level 4: 1 set of crunches + 2 sets of hanging knee raises + 1 set of parallel leg raises
• Level 5: 1 set of crunches + 1 set of hanging knee raises + 2 sets of parallel leg raises
• Level 6: 1 set of crunches + 1 set of hanging knee raises + 2 sets of parallel leg raises + 1 set of full leg raises
• Level 7: 1 set of crunches + 1 set of hanging knee raises + 1 set of parallel leg raises + 1 set of full leg raises + 1 set of inverted scissors

Note: Each set refers to 15 reps. Rest time is 1 min between sets. Progression to the next level requires the successful completion of all sets in the current level.

I suspect I'm at Level 3, and I wonder what level I can reach. Guess I can include this into my training regime at the gym.