My first run in 10 days

Got up at 1030 hrs this morning. It was still raining. Just as well that I didn't wake up in time to go for my planned morning run at MacRitchie Reservoir. Stayed at home, cleared some personal emails, then cleared some office emails, and then my mind started to wonder where I could run later in the afternoon.

At 4 pm, I decided to go for a quick run. It has been 10 days since I last ran, and I really wanted to train for the Penang International Bridge Run. So I put on my Kayanos, strapped on my fuelbelt and hooked on my footpod, and off I went.

The first 5-km (the approximate distance from my home through Portsdown to Bouna Vista MRT station) was very "breath-taking" and took me about 30 mins. Each step I took felt like I was lifting lead-soled shoes. :P

Then I did 4 laps along the 2-km long Ulu Pandan canal. Including the extra sloped sections at either end of the canal, I did about 8.2 km in total. There weren't a lot of fast runners there today, just mid-speed joggers, some cyclists and many walkers. Darn, I was hoping for some speedsters to motivate me. I did see two familiar faces - I recognise them from the competitive races. I also saw Guoliang training along the canal. (Guoliang's a primary school classmate of mine, but although I recognise him, he doesn't seem to recognise me.)

I didn't run the laps along the canal as fast as I thought I could. The first 4 km took me about 24 mins, and the second 4 km about 26 minutes. Then I headed home by doing a leisurely jog-walk through Tanglin Halt.

Total distance covered: 16.4 km
Total time taken: 1 hr 45 min

A great weekend

Just got home from a BBQ at East Coast Park. It was a celebration of the SgRunners' first Anniversary! :) Can't believe it's been a year since the group of bloggers/runners came together. I have made many great friends in the group, and they've been a great source of fun and inspiration! Looking forward to many more good years with the gang! Also saw some folks whom I have not met in ages, like Kay, Run3, Cyberkinetic, Cosmic_Wind and Superboy82. I also got to know some new running enthusiasts such as Evelyn, AngelicaWonders and Shobido.


Our delicious 1st Anniversary cake!


Running friends from all over the island unite!

Yesterday, I was supposed to be on leave, but ended up returning to work. *sigh, it's a terrible worklife* My appointment with VRP for the health/fitness test at 11 am had to be cancelled as a result, and I turned up at the DSTA Dinner & Dance really late...around 10 pm. They were already serving the dessert by the time I got there. :P But thankfully, the DSTA runners kept some food for me. I ate a bit, celebrated Valerie's birthday, and caught up with my old friends such as Chris Ang, Chee Keong, Ming Jern, Zac, Audrey, Jave, Wilson, Yingrui, Li Lian, Cheryl, Khen, Nanyan, Mingfa, Eugenia and Ying Tat. I also managed to get a good chat with my former Programme Group Manager. :) After the D&D, I went to Ubercafe with some of my buds, where we watched the Spain-Saudi Arabia soccer match. Way to go, Espanol! Victory for the Spaniards!

It was a good way to end the week. The earlier parts of the week were simply horrid. The office was under-staffed - many people were on leave or went on course, and recently two colleagues also tendered their resignations - and my assignments were constantly evolving in their objectives/contents day to day. I felt burnt out, fatigued and really frustrated with the lack or uncertainty of the information and instructions given to me.

But I am glad it's over...at least for now. The week ahead will not be good, I foresee. I've some deadlines coming up, and I know with a fair degree of certainty that the pressure will just mount again.

Lightning McQueen

Went to watch CARS with the children today. It was a good movie, excellent for typical family viewing. Well done, PIXAR! I had an enjoyable time watching the film, and the kids had a lot of fun too. Afterwards, we proceeded to Swensons for lunch, and had two birthday celebrations there. Nice :) But I was feeling rather lethargic, and dozed off halfway through the party. *sigh*

After the gathering, we sent the kids back, and then Leonard and I headed off to the gym. With whatever energy I had left, I blasted the weights, and later on my way home, fell asleep on the bus. Thankfully, I awoke about 3 bus-stops from home and didn't miss my stop :)

Got home, and realised that my PC was dead. :P But at least there's Lord of the Rings on TV.

I must really thank all the people who helped out for the movie outing today: Lorraine, Andrew (with his fiance and another photographer-friend), Huimin, Leonard, Isabel, Mingfa, Victor, Amelia, Estarino, Qianhao, Chze Keong, Sally, the other Starlight Express lady befriender, the ticket-stub collection lady at Golden Village (who helped us with transporting the two wheelchair-bound kids up the steps) and the branch manager of Swensons, Plaza Singapura for his warmth, helpfulness and good cheer. :)

Blue Screen of Death

ARGH.

Blue screen of death. I don't know how to revive my computer.

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...

...Technical information:

STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF8F5EB06, 0xF9DCD564, 0xF9DCD260)"

ARGH.

30-Hour Famine

Woke up, put on my old Habitat T-shirt - originally white but now permanently stained dirty grey-yellow with the brick and cement dust from my Banda Aceh build - and went down to Mt Faber SAFRA for a morning swim.

It was good. Took me less time than usual to get "acclimatised" to the chlorinated water. There were some strong swimmers in the pool, and I took the chance to observe how they kicked for their breaststroke. Hmmm... After watching for a while, I roughly knew how I should be kicking - but getting my legs to do just what I thought wasn't easy. Nevertheless, because my subsequent laps seemed easier and less strenuous, I must have improved my kicking by at least a little. :) I completed 20 laps.

Washed up, then took a bus down to Harbourfront for a quick brunch. And then took the Northeast Line down to Potong Pasir (very nice district!). Arrived at St Andrew's Junior College at about 1130 hrs for the "30-Hour Famine" event organised by World Vision and coorganised by Habitat for Humanity, Singapore.

Met Hosea there, who promptly got me an event T-shirt to change into. (I must have looked really sloppy in my old, stained garb!) Then I roamed around the school on my own, and ran into Qianhao and some other folks from Club Rainbow who were also vounteering for the same event. Nice...I keep running into familiar faces at all these various volunteering events!

Lots of students involved in this year's event which covered a wide range of social issues plaguing the world today, including famine, disease, poverty housing, HIV AIDS, child prostitution, etc. Hopefully, the kids would learn something from all the planned activities, appreciate their own lives and the people and things around them, and be inspired to contribute and give to those in need around them, both within and beyond Singapore.

I thank God for organisations like Habitat and World Vision as well as folks like Millard and Linda Fuller, Hosea and Hwee Kiang who really make a positive difference to the world.

I left the "30-Hour Famine" early at around 7 pm. Had to rest for tomorrow's activities - a movie outing to Plaza Singapura by the Ice Cream Express and Starlight Express teams.

Weekend Wonders

An extremely hectic day at work today. Received a healthy dose of criticism in the morning, got unexpectedly played out by some folks in the afternoon, and had lots of work to get done at night. I haven't had dinner yet - what's new! - but I managed to gorge on two chocolate cakes and two cream puffs, the very things I wouldn't eat if I have a choice. But now the worst is over, and I can take a short breather to blog and then I'm heading home.

Life's such a challenge.

Tomorrow, if I can wake up early enough, I think I'll go for a celebratory swim. Then I'm off to SAJC lunchtime onwards to help out with the Under No Roof event there. It's a good opportunity to catch up with my buddy Hosea and the rest of the HFHSg crowd. Balasing just MSNed me to ask about eating claypot at Geylang. Darn...I've got to give it a miss then. Too bad there's only 24 hours a day. :P

On Sunday, I'm off to watch CARS with the kids and befrienders from Club Rainbow. That should be great! :)

Yesterday's jog

Yesterday, I went for a jog, did two loops of 6.6 km around the great slopes of the Botanic Gardens/Orchard area. The first loop took me 34 minutes, and the second loop took me 39 min. There was a grand party with loud, booming music, held in one of the houses along Nassim Rd. Many cars parked all along both sides of that stretch of tarmac. Many were cars of diplomats - their license plate numbers were telling...

Natural tendency to lean backwards

Got this off DO's blog...

"...Running action is all important in achieving both downhill running efficiency and minimisation of the potential muscle fibre damage. There is a natural tendency by many runners to lean backwards and put on the breaks on a steeper slope. This is the worst thing to do as it increases the impact, jarring the body from the heels right through to the torso, creating stiffness and soreness in the quads, buttocks, hip flexors and lower back. Good technique involves leaning forward to get the body vertical to the ground, relaxing instead of tensing the legs and the arms, using the arms actively for balance, and using gravity to assist..."

Hmmm, I'm the sort who tends to lean backwards and slow my pace when I doing downhills. Maybe I should try out the above advice, and see how that feels...

BG Run in June

Had a funny dream... I was in a dance hall with some friends from college, but the entire party lacked a spark. The music was just too un-cool and way un-funky. So I took over from the deejay, played my favourite pieces, and the whole place came alive with motion. And all of us took to the floor, grooving to the beat. Then suddenly, there came a loud, familiar melody over the PA system... And so, I was awakened by an SMS from Balasing. :) He SMS-ed to say that he wouldn't be going down to the Botanic Gardens Run later today.

While it was a pity that the dream got interrupted, it was also a timely SMS because I would have overslept otherwise. :P So I got out of bed at 6.05 am, had a light breakfast, grabbed my running gear and went out of the house and stepped into the drizzling rain. I managed to catch a bus down to SMU.

There was a splendid turnout today, in spite of the weather. Some of the SgRunners who had initially wanted to go for a 25-km run at MacRitchie Reservoir decided to join us for the 10-km Botanic Gardens Run instead. There was Tiwazz, Ironmandreamer and girlfriend, Teelee, Andy, Ronnie, Ripley, Bee, Sotong, Roentgen , SportsVenturer, Nemo, cfred34, Kickjazz, Tekko, Cheow12, Hedgehog, Ruth, Karen, Bambi, and more people that I can't remember (we even met RealRunner in the middle of our run in the Botanic Gardens as well!).

Even as it drizzled, we ran from SMU to the entrance of the Botanic Garden, took the Red Brick Road, whizzed through the Evolution Garden, passed through the Visitors Centre, skirted by Symphony Lake and the Ginger Garden before going past Swan Lake and out of the Botanic Garden at its Holland Road exit. From there, we ran up Minden Road, Loewen Road, past the Great House of Cars with the Flying Eagle Statue, and then turned left until we reached Tanglin Mall. From there, we proceeded until the Da Vinci Furniture Shop, and then chugged steadily upwards along Nassim Road until we got back to SMU. By this time, the rain had ceased, and the day was warming up nicely.

But Ronnie, Bee and Ripley went further, as they wanted to cover 24 km. As for the rest of us, we washed up, and headed for the nearby Prata Cafe for breakfast. I had some nasi lemak and a cup of teh halia there :)

It was a good run - about 10.3 km, and we took a relaxed 1 hr 15 min to complete it.

Visiting Commando

Went for a morning swim at Mt Faber SAFRA. I tried swimming with my new pair of goggles (lost the old pair at Camp Sunshine...*sigh* it was the pair that Chee Kong gave to me to motivate me to learn swimming...that pair of goggles had sentimental value to me...). After a few rounds of adjusting the straps, I managed to get the goggles to fit, and after about 5-10 minutes of getting used to being in the water, I began to swim my laps. Did about 8 laps and was beat. Somehow, I still find it rather difficult to swim, and I always end up breathless and always get overtaken :P But I will press on and practise some more. One day, I will join and complete a biathlon or a triathlon. :)

After my swim, I went over to SGH to visit Commando who was hospitalised yesterday for surgery to amputate two of his fingers. (Commando had been involved in a bike accident in April, and nearly lost his fingers but the doctors managed to stitch his fingers back. But recently, it was discovered that the stitched portions had become infected, and amputation was the only option left...what terrible news...)

Commando had many visitors today. From SgRunners, besides me, there was also Balasing, Tiwazz, SportsVenturer, Fd and TLR. Commando was also visited by his family and his colleagues. :) It was good to see him still smiling despite the ordeal he had to go through.

Here's wishing him a swift and complete recovery!

My First CBD Run

Got up this morning with the intention to swim, but the heavens poured. So I stayed at home, MSN-ed some friends and cleared some personal emails. At 4.30 pm, I left the house for gym, then went to meet the SgRunners for the CBD Run at Tanjong Pagar...even though I was feeling rather sleepy.

Great turnout today for CBD Run. Besides me, there were Meteor, Alvo2102, Charmane, Evelyn, Nemo, SportsVenturer, kops21, cfred34, Charlotte, shutehelup, Ronnie, Philip, Morgan, sxuanjing, Leonard, aichai, Roentgen and Bee. We ran from the Tanjong Pagar MRT station into Marina Park and then back. The total distance covered was 9 km and it took us 53 minutes, including a brief rest-break at the Marina Park Jetty.

I was leading the pack at the start, but mid-way, my legs just couldn't keep up the pace, and I was soon overtaken by Nemo, cfred34, Roentgen, kops21 and Alvo. Overall, it was a good and enjoyable run. :)

We celebrated SportsVenturer's and Bee's birthday after our run. Sotong came along as well and treated us to some much-needed isotonic drinks.



Later on, we had dinner at Maxwell Market. And that was quite satisfying :)

Great Days of Leave

I have had great and eventful days of leave last Thursday and today (not counting Camp Sunshine on Fri-Sun).

Last Thursday morning, I went for a swim at Mt Faber SAFRA. As it was during working hours on a weekday, there was hardly anyone else in the pool. I did 12 laps in total. I took ages, but that's not my main concern now. The goal is to finish the distance and build up confidence :) After swimming, I headed down to town to meet Jianyi for lunch at 12.45 pm at a Japanese restaurant called Moon River. It's near St Andrew's Cathedral. The servings were generous but the food was too tasty to be healthy. Still, the place had great ambience. After lunch, I proceeded for afternoon tea with Shiwei who was due to fly back to the US the next day. We had our drinks at The Coffee Bean at Republic Plaza. Shiwei had some nasty back problems, and was scheduled to meet a chiropracter at 4.30 pm at the OUB Building. When it was time for his medical appointment was due, we parted ways and I popped by California Fitness for a quick workout. When I was done with gym, I walked over to Funan Centre to join in the 10-km Running Labs Run. There were a few familiar faces there: DiverRunner, Dasher, Tekko, Ironmandreamer and SportsVenturer, but I didn't know the rest of the dozen or so runners. :P Ah well. But the run was good. Although I hadn't trained in a while, I managed to complete the route in under an hour, which is commendable. I hope to build up my endurance again in the coming weeks.

And then it was Camp Sunshine, and then it was Monday.

I woke up at a glorious 10.30 am, cleared some of my mail and after lunch, headed to Orchard to sort out some banking matters. That done, I bought myself a brand new pair of Speedo Active goggles from World of Sports (I had lost my old pair at Camp), and later treated myself to an hour-long "wash and trim" haircut at a saloon at Orchard Emerald - that was fab, except the part where the hair stylist asked if I was in my mid-thirties. :P I then went over to Bestway Building at 5.30 pm to call on my buddies from Habitat for Humanity Singapore. I had a great chat with Hosea, ate some of Hwee Kiang's nuts, and collected my Banda Aceh CDs (thanks to Lark for producing them!). Hosea also invited me to join in the event "Under No Roof". That sounds good :) For dinner, I met up with Leonard at 7 pm and we dined at a Sudanese restaurant along Clarke Quay and adjourned to a nearby TCC for coffee and dessert. It was my first time upstairs in that TCC branch, and the bean-bag setting was very comfortable. We chatted until the coffee joint closed for the night, and then we went home. On my way back, I received an SMS from SportsVenturer. He wanted to know more about volunteering for Camp Sunshine. :) That was good to hear. I'll tell him more about it when I go for the CBD Run later today (Tuesday).

Reflections on Camp

Three main thought bubbles in my head as I went home today at the end of Camp Sunshine this evening.

First, I'm really happy that the kids had lots of fun during the three days of activities, and I will miss them, but at the same time, I feel rather lousy because incidents kept cropping up at camp which made me feel that I wasn't a good befriender to my wheelchair-bound friend at all. Some of these incidents revealed my negligence and my arrogance to assume that I knew perfectly well how to manage him. Others showed that I wasn't watching out for my child as much as I should and could have done. Other befrienders had to step in and humour my child, fight for his "right" to have a unobstructed view of what was happening, or think about how to move him from Point A to Point B before I thought about it. I am very grateful for the supportive and caring befrienders in my group who filled in the gaps where I had overlooked. I am at the same time regretful that as a befriender, I was unworthy of the beautiful child entrusted to my care. Although his mind is largely shut off to me, I should have tried harder to find a way in and communicate with him, rather than giving up, taking a backseat and letting others do the job on my behalf.

I'm feeling rather low right now. I'd love to continue to contribute to the Camp next year - it's a very meaningful event, and I know I can make a nett positive contribution - but I have doubts if I should contine as a befriender or whether I should do something else like Logistics or Programme instead.

Second, I really appreciated the very long discussion which I had with one of Camp Sunshine volunteers. We talked about a whole range of issues, found points of commonality in our lives and had a real good heart-to-heart chat. It was great to have received some affirmation during the conversation, because it was the fuel that I desperately needed to see me through the Camp, given that my morale and self-confidence had taken a beating following the minor accident near the staircase in Winsfield Hall on the first day morning. Mercifully, there was no injuries!

Third, I think I have not been a great team player at Camp this year. The only thing which I contributed to the group was probably the group's name. Other than that, I had not been involved in the coming up of the cheers, the design of the group T-shirt, the content of the group's dance/rap performance, etc. I wish I had more time earlier to participate in the pre-camp preperatory activities. It would have helped foster even closer bonds between me and my other befrienders.

On the whole, taking a big-picture perspective of things, the camp went well, thanks to everyone who chipped in some of another. I can't wait to see the photographs taken during the camp. :)