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Day 2 in Penang

Woke up at 2 am. Ronnie, SV and Shut were still sleeping. I let them rest for a little while longer, while I got myself washed up and ready. Ten minutes later, I woke them up, and by 2.45 am, we were all downstairs at the hotel lobby to meet IMD and Yee Hua. There were also other runners gathered at the lobby, all eager to set off for the race.

The six of us hopped into Yee Hua's car, and drove until a small road near the start-line (about 2-3 km away). We intended to park our car there and then walk to the registration point. But just as we had alighted from the vehicle, two scruffy-looking blokes riding on a motorbike came up to us and said that we had to pay them RM 2 for parking on their road. They were obviously cheats, but since we didn't want to risk them scratching the car or stealing its tyres while we were gone, we paid up.

As IMD's race was to begin at 4 am, he jogged from there right to the registration point, while the remaining 5 of us leisurely strolled on. We got there at around 3.55 am. I would say that the registration point was very disorganised. A huge crowd had gathered outside the venue (USM) by about 4.10 am (the registration time was between 4 to 5 am for male half-marathoners), but the gates were still not open. Female runners had to register in a totally different location altogether. By the time the USM gates were open, people were squeezing their way into the USM soccer fields, and it was a mess. No crowd control whatsoever. No one to say where to go or where to gather after registration, or when we needed to be at the start-line. There was just a general diffusion of people towards the backgate, so Shut, SV, Ronnie and I followed along. When we got there, we were again kept locked in by another gate. So we did our stretching and warm-up there. After doing a set of dynamic warm-ups, I did a short jog and bumped into Andy. I brought him to meet Shut, SV and Ronnie and we took many pre-race pictures together. At about 5.20 am, the backgate was opened. Our race was supposed to start at 5.30 am.


Universiti Sains Malaysia

The backgate led us onto narrow roads along private residential areas, and not a few runners took the opportunity to urinate onto the homeowners' walls or through the railings into their lovely gardens. :P Walking, walking, walking, and somehow we emerged onto the main road. I reckoned the whole line of male 22.3 km participants was spread out over 400-500m as we moved from the USM towards the start-line. Walking, walking, walking, and soon we could see the banner for the start-line straight ahead in the distance. Walking, walking, walking and then, without warning, the starter's horn blasted and the race had begun! No one was quite sure if the race had really started, since not everyone had made it to the start-line. However, the guy blowing the horn blew it a few more times, and then everyone started to run. Talk about being disorganised!

There were entire contingents of male youths taking part in the 22.3 km event. Many started to walk within the first 15 min, while some of the stronger ones made it up onto the Penang Bridge without stopping. There were some great slopes on the bridge, and I loved it. Tackling the upslopes with a brisk, high-cadence, short-stride, quick-shuffle, hip-swing method, I swiftly made my way onto the bridge and to its mid-point. (Although my left knee had been giving me problems earlier in the week, it felt great during the race. Thanks to Tekko for his brilliant advice on icing my knee!)

It was all dark everywhere, save for the traffic lamps along the bridge and little specks of light on the Malaysian mainland and Pulau Pinang. It was not really possible to see the end of the bridge, so it really took a lot of mental willpower to press on. The breeze was strong and cooling; it was fantastic. Past the mid-point of the bridge, I steadily proceeded to the Butterworth-end of the bridge, where the turning point was. It took me about 58 minutes to get there. (Runwitme has some great pics of the run. Click here to view his blog.)

On the return leg back to Pulau Pinang, I picked up my pace for the next 4-5 km, until I was back onto the mid-point of the bridge. By this time, the sky was brightening, and I could see the coastlines amidst the hazy sea spray. It was also then that I actually began to feel tired. *Not a good sign* I probably had about another 7 km left to go, and I began to slow down tremendously...But I kept on running, not walking, and that prevented me from being overtaken by too many people. "Keep it steady," I told myself, "And don't give up".

The last stretch of the run along the bridge was terrible. Young students on a short fun run filtered into our running route. They either did mini start-and-stop sprints, or walked in large groups, which made it very difficult for me to maintain a undisturbed focus on my pace. And then, the "1 km left" sign appeared. I had no energy for a final burst of fire, so I just stuck to my pace (I reckon it was about 6-7 min/km) all the way until I reached USM and received my finisher's medal.

I completed the whole race, covering 22.3 km, in 2 hours 4 min 32 sec. Extrapolating backwards, it meant that I did a sub-2 hour half-marathon (21-km), which meant that my form was still about on par with my personal best obtained in the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon. *cheers*

IMD did very well, coming in 12th position overall in the Men's Full Marathon category. Penguin and Hyperactive also came into the top 20 for the Women's category. Andy and Ronnie did sub-2 hours for the 22.3 km race. Well done guys and gals! :) It was a good race through and through!

Later for lunch, we headed first to Lemboh Keng Kwee to eat Penang's most famous chendol :) Shut was immensely satisfied by it :) And then we ate at a Nasi Kandar shop. As IMD and Yee Hua had to leave for KL earlier that afternoon, they dropped Ronnie, SV, Shut and I at Gurney Plaza and bade us farewell. Thanks IMD and Yee Hua for so graciously ferrying us around in your car!


My scrumptious lunch :)

Ronnie, SV, Shut and I hung around Gurney Plaza for almost two hours, and then headed back to the Vistana to retrieve our luggage. Later, we left our luggage in the care of our coach operators at Sg Nibong Bus Terminal, and went out hands-free to sniff out dinner. The mee goreng which I had was very delicious - I've never tasted anything like it in Singapore - but it made me wonder what sort of "special" ingredients the cook had added to it. *unsure look*

Things became a bit of a haze for me by evening time because I was so overcome by fatigue and kept nodding off. Somehow, at around 9 pm, I made my way up onto the coach with Ronnie, SV and Shut. And we were off on our way home.

Day 1 in Penang

On Friday night, I took the Grassland Express coach from Golden Mile Complex with Shut, SV and Ronnie. For me, at least, it was a comfortable ride, although the movie which was screened during the journey was absolutely brainless...it was all about people being blown up by a psychotic and paranoid mines expert. *duh* But Shut, SV and Ronnie said that they didn't sleep too well on the coach...too many stops along the way...But I had slept through all of them. *grin*

We reached the Penang Sg Nibong Bus Terminal at about 7:30 am on Saturday morning, and then caught a cab down to Bukit Jambul Komplex, which was near our hotel. We patrolled the area, found nothing particularly interesting (besides Cosmic Leisure World), and then had breakfast at a small kopitiam. After eating, we headed for our hotel, Vistana, to rendevous with IMD and Yee Hua.


My breakfast. Nasi lemak @ RM 2.50

The Vistana rooms were great! Shut, SV, Ronnie and I shared one of the suites, and it came with two televisions and two toilets. :) All for less than RM 200 a night, which we shared equally among ourselves. *thumbs up* Runwitme and his friend, Kelvin, were also staying at the Vistana. Andy, who was flying in from Singapore, was putting up at the Bayview Hotel, which I think was to the north of Penang.

Later that morning, Shut, SV, Ronnie, IMD, Yee Hua and I went to pick up our race-bibs. Then, we headed for Pizza Hut at Prangin Mall (near Komtar) for lunch. We ordered a set meal for 6 persons, and topped it off with extra Coke, a few plates of pasta, chicken wings and pastries :) Yummy!


My Chicken Carbonara at Pizza Hut...not as great as Pastamania's, but we couldn't find any other good carbo-loading eatery in the vicinity

Then we went over to Traders Hotel, to pick up Yee Hua's race-bib, which the Malaysian Pacesetters had collected earlier on her behalf. There we met again with a few other runners whom we had earlier gotten to know at the Sg Nibong Bus Terminal. Since we were in town, we went shopping at Giant, where we stocked up on isotonic drinks. SV also bought a sinful slice of banana-chocolate cake from Secret Recipes. In the evening, Shut and I had our hair cut and washed at Bukit Jambul Komplex for RM 18 each. It felt shiok after a whole day of walking.

For dinner, IMD drove us all to Gurney for a makan fest. I ordered char kuay teow and wan than mee, while the others ordered Indian rojak, Penang laksa, otah, muah chee, clams, and more :) We ate to our hearts' content, knowing that we would burn it all off the next day =)


Gurney, where we dined by the beautiful Penang coast.

By the time we got back to Vistana, it was 10:30 pm. Kind of late, considering that IMD had to report for registration at the Universiti Sains Malaya (USM) at 3 am in the morning. We quickly got back to our rooms, showered, prepared our racing gear, and then went to bed.

And that was end of Day 1.

Off to Pulau Pinang

I'm off to meet SportVenturer, Ronnie and Shut for dinner at Beach Road, before taking our coach from Golden Mile Complex up to Penang. There will be quite a number of other runners that I know who would be there at the Bridge Run, including the folks from Y-Runners as well as IMD, IMD's girlfriend, Harmoni and Andy. Wish us luck, and Malaysia, here we come!

Dynamic Warm-ups

I just read Tintin's post on Dynamic Warm-Ups, and then checked out DO's link to www.elitetrack.com/warmup.pdf.

I thought it was quite an interesting article, and seems similar to the warm-ups I was learning at my wushu classes...The extracts are below...

~*~*~*~

"The main physiological reason for a warm up includes to increase core temperature, increase heart rate and blood flow to skeletal tissues, increase the activation of the Central Nervous System, increase the rate and force of muscle contraction and contractile mechanical efficiency, and increase the suppleness of connective tissue.

Static stretching - with most stretches performed slowly and with the athletes either standing still or sitting on the ground - has been shown to be beneficial for the increase in limb range of motion, and aims to relax the muscles so that they are less resistant to passive stress for stretching. But this type of stretching does not prepare the muscle and connective tissue for the active contraction.

To make changes to the way a warm-up is performed, the aim of the warm-up for a dynamic sport should be altered, such that the warm-up should be:

The complete physical and mental preparation for the dynamic
actions to follow. The athlete should be able to begin the game
or training session totally ready to perform at maximal
intensity if required.

The initial jog is now replaced with a more dynamic series of running exercises that include regular alternation of running forwards, backwards, sideways, high knee drills, butt flicks, crossovers, bounding, jumps and progressive sprints. This component will only take 2-4 minutes depending on the climate. It is expected that the athletes are breathing quite heavily at the end of this short series of exercises.

With the stretching component, static stretching can still be included in the program, as many athletes still feel they need some static stretching to really prepare themselves (with time it would be ideal to phase static stretching out of the warm up routine and place it only in the warm down period)."


~*~*~*~

Anyway, tonight, I'll be taking the coach up to Penang. Here's another picture of the wonderful bridge that I'll be running across on Sunday. There's a reason why it's one of the world's longest bridges! ;)

The Future of the UN

Did 20 laps at SAFRA today, then met up with Yingrui, Poh Choo, Wenfen, Yingtat, Jave and a whole bunch of ASD newbies for lunch at Telok Blangah. It was good to catch up again with the gang, even though it was only a short meeting.

Later on, I went to Raffles Hotel to attend an ISEAS public lecture on "The Future of the UN". The speaker was no other than the current United Nations Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor, who is currently India's nominee for the position of UN Secretary-General when the incumbent Kofi Annan steps down next year. Tharoor's a very eloquent and humourous speaker, no doubt, and his 28 years of experience working in the UN would certainly make him very qualified to handle the responsibilities of the Sec-Gen job. However, as Tharoor conceded himself, there are bigger factors at play, such as the politicking among major powers, which means that the most qualified person might not get the job after all. Ah well, only time will tell.



After the lecture, I headed down to RunningLabs for the Thursday run. I spotted Gen quite far off, and tailed him closely from behind for quite a distance, but he didn't realise I was there. *lol* A number of other folks were at the run today, including Tekko, Divey, Daisiki, Ironmandreamer, Eddie, SportVenturer, some of the Vitamin Research Lab girls - I can never associate the names with the faces - and more. We went for the 10-km route to Marina Park, and I think it was the fastest RunningLab Run that I've ever done. Finished it in 49 min. :) Gen is an inspiration. He's virtually flying the whole journey, as if he's weightless, and he makes the 10-km look totally effortless. *hail* As for me, I'm panting and sweating, and the pain in my left knee is acting up. *groan*



Went for dinner with Gen and another fellow runner at the Funan Food Court. Met Pamela there. She's having a late night at the office, so she decided to grab some dinner in the interim. Gen, Pamela and I chatted briefly, and then decided to meet up again with Natalie returns to Singapore.

It felt great to run and great to meet friends.

I'm happy, happy, happy, even though my knee is killing me.

Where is this place?

Just a couple of days, and I'll be here.

Mizuno Wave Run 2006

Darkness still prevailed when I woke up this morning. Crept out of bed, showered, changed into my running gear, ate a half-ripe banana and drank a glass of milk, and then went out to the nearby bus-stop to wait for Hedgehog. He's supposed to flag down a cab from his place, come over and pick me up, and then send both of us to Kovan Hub for the 10-km Mizuno Wave Run (route below).



But Hedgehog never managed to flag down a cab...all the cabbies were busy changing shifts and didn't want to pick up any passengers. :( But there was a kind lady by the name of Siew Hoon who stopped her car and offered Hedgehog (and later me) a lift to Kovan. Even though Siew Hoon and the two of us were total strangers, she could tell from our garb that we were bound for Kovan. Since she was also headed for the same race, she graciously allowed us to hop into her car. This is what I call the runners' spirit of unison! Thanks for your helpful gesture, Siew Hoon! We really appreciate it!

When we reached Kovan, Hedgehog and I thanked Siew Hoon for the ride, and then went on our own to register ourselves. We then caught up with the rest of the SgRunners who were there, gathered around the STC (Sotong Car) and the TLV (Teelee Van). Great turnout, as usual. :) We did our stretching, warm-up runs, chit-chatting, and not too long after, it was time for the race to begin.



As expected, there was a terrible jam at the start of the race, and it took quite a while before I was able to shake off the crowd and establish my own pace and momentum. I knew I was going too fast and too early, but I didn't want to slow down. I have never done a sub-50 for 10-km before, and I didn't have many chances left...so I kept pushing myself.

But I paid the price about 7 km into the race. :( Fatigue, coupled with an extremely boring scenery, made me slow down significantly. But fellow SgRunners like Nemo encouraged me to go on, so that was much appreciated! :)

Nearing the end-point, I saw this runner clutching onto a lamppost for support and looking as if he was going to collapse. Suspecting that he had probably overexerted himself, I went over to ask him if he was okay, but the man was too exhausted to reply. I had to support his body from behind because he was going limp and he didn't even have the strength to keep his head up. Luckily, another runner (called Eng Teck, if I didn't remember wrongly) came over to help as well. And also a road marshal, who brought along some water which we offered to the runner to drink and rinse his mouth. An ambulance came a couple of minutes later, and much to my displeasure, the nurse took her own sweet time to alight from the vehicle and stroll towards us. We kept calling for her to hurry up because the runner was almost unconscious, but she still maintained her own leisurely pace. :p (But on hindsight, I suppose she has probably seen dozens of such cases, and based on her professional judgement, she probably figured that this runner was in no serious danger.)

Once the nurse and the road marshal began to attend to the runner, Eng Teck and I continued on our run to the end-point. My timing was around 57 min, a marked deprovement from last year's 52 min. :( Ah well, I have aged...

Back at Kovan Hub, I met up with some DSTA runners, such Mingjern and Kenny, as well as folks from the SAFRA Running Club, such as Ong, Jaime and Kumaran. I heard Teelee came in with an impressive 37 min! I also saw Nanyan and Ah Khen, who had decided to pop by Kovan for breakfast. :) My university pal, Gen, also met up with me there. As he's going to participate in the NUS Triathlon, I took the opportunity to introduce him to the other SgRunners, who may be able to provide him with some options for training venues and regimes.

This year, unlike the previous year, the organisers did not give away small bottle of mineral water to the runners. Instead, they gave out plastic cups, and had water distributed from dispensers at a central location. Smart move. Wastage of water minimised, and people got their hydration. But no isotonic drinks were given, which was a shame. Luckily, I brought along my own 1-litre 100-Plus bottle and drank it heartily. (",)



There was the usual grand photo-taking session with our fantastic SgRunners banner. And then, there was the mandatory makan session. :) We trooped over a couple of blocks to have prata...plates upon plates upon plates of prata. :) I ordered two pratas with egg, and downed a cup of teh halia (ginger tea). Later on, on my way back towards the MRT station, I stopped for a bowl of longan with almond jelly. Yes, sweet cravings...hard to resist, but I think longans and almond jelly don't contain too much calories, so that's ok.



I felt extremely happy on the way back home today. I guess the morning's adrenaline and endorphins had kicked in, and lifted my spirits. The cold dessert probably helped as well :) Another great day, spent with great company. Love it.

Googling-earth my routes

Went for a swim earlier this afternoon. Did another 20 laps. Felt great, but left knee had a slight pain. I think it was the way I was kicking...hmmm...

Anyway, got home, played around with GoogleEarth, and plotted out my planned 16-18 km Out of Shape Run route for last week, and the 10-km Mizuno Wave Run route for tomorrow :) Can't wait for the run to begin ;)

Eyebags to shop with

Still feeling tired. Kind of miss my old self and the times when I used to wake up every morning (even weekdays) feeling great and looking forward to the day's activities (even work), when I didn't lose my temper easily, when I made appointments with friends and kept them... Now, I just have a dubious reputation of "being able to fall asleep anywhere", "growing thinner by the day", "being too busy to meet friends", etc. I guess the only plus point is that with my eyebags, I can do a lot of shopping on my own. :P

Mizuno Wave Run is tomorrow, and that's a relief. Will finally get to run. Next weekend, I'll be off to Penang for the International Bridge Run with IMD, Shutehelup, SportVenturer and Ronnie. It'll be a lot of fun, I bet.

I've spent almost a year in the workforce now, and it's a good time to sit back, reflect upon the past and think about the future. Maybe I should pop into the library sometime and get the peace and quiet I need, or maybe I should, at long last, flip open my Bible and draw nourishment for my soul.

Anyway, many pictures from the Shape Run last week have already been uploaded by my running buddies. Below is one of my favourites: great people, great backdrop, great life!

Out of Shape Run

Went to bed past midnight last night after watching Stephen Chow's "唐伯虎点秋香" on TV. Woke up five hours later, drank a glass of milk and ate a banana, and then left the house for Raffles Place to meet with Hedgehog. The two of us had arranged to run on our own that morning, while the ladies were involved in the women's-only Shape Run whose start/end points were near the Esplanade.

Hedgehog and I had initially planned to dump our bags at the California Fitness gym at Raffles Place at 6.45 am, and then go for our run. But to our dismay, we discovered that the gym would not be open until 8 am. So we headed instead for the Esplanade, where the SgRunners female 5-km and 10-km competitors and the male supporters contingent were gathered. Leaving our bags under the watchful eye of Cosmic_Wind, Hedgehog and I set off at 7.25 am and did a short 5 min warm-up run to the Merlion and then Collyer Quay, where we did further stretching.

And then we were off for our Out of Shape Run proper. We went from Collyer Quay towards Marina Park (doing what I would call four "Mickey Mouse ear" loops), and then back to the Esplanade. We covered the first 10-km in reasonably okay timing (about 55 min), but I really lost my momentum subsequently. It was very difficult to complete the next 8 km...not sure if that was due to my fatigue or lack of fluid...But I'm grateful that Hedgehog was there to encourage me to complete the distance.

In the end, we covered 18.3 km in about 1 hr 47 mins.

By the time we got back to the Esplanade, quite a number of SgRunners ladies had already completed the Shape Run. Congrats to BabyMonster who came in 6th overall, and to Run3 who was 23rd out of some 2,500 (I think) participants! VT won the top position with an impressive timing of 39+ min for 10 km (!). The other female participants from SgRunners were as follows: Brokie, Divey (hope her ITB problem gets better soon), Bee (who happened to run 24-km the previous day), Yuujinya, Tooty, Bikerchic, Penguin, Roonz, Kickjazz, GoldenRetriever, Charmane3, leh-lio girl, bodycompact, JunieTang, Violet, Daisiki, Charlotte, Meteor and many more. Ripley did not run, but helped out as a photographer. :) Among the pom-pom boys were Superboy, Dasher, Teelee (thanks for the Teelee Mobile!), cfred (who claimed his World Cup prize from Bee), Kops21, Dream, Shutehelup, Roentgen, Tiwazz, Alvo, Cheow12, IMD, Cosmic_Wind and Nemo.

I think everyone had great fun today, both the competitors and the supporters. The Shape Run goodie bag - which looked like a big handbag - was packed to the brim with stuff like a Nike towel, a Nike water bottle, bottles of vitamins and other supplements, skincare and haircare products, magazines, instant coffee, a loaf of bread, a can of Pocari Sweat, and more. I'm sure the participants liked the goodie bag very much...the whole package was worth more than the $15 registration fee for the event :)

Some of us went to Marina Square foodcourt for lunch... I had a bowl of Minipot noodles, and was treated to a bowl of cheng teng by Roentgen (thanks, bro!). By about 12 noon, I was growing sleepy again...and started nodding off at the table.

So I headed straight for home after the crowd dispersed. Napped on the bus, and luckily I didn't miss any stops. When I got home, I slept for another 3 hours, then woke up to clear some office emails. :P Still had quite a lot of work to finish, so I'm going to give tonight's dinner with TLR and company a miss :(

Sentosa Telematch

Almost did not wake up in time for the Sentosa outing today. But managed to get down to Seah Im Hawker Centre by 8.40 am, and caught a ride in Mingjern's car into the resort island. Lots of familiar faces there: Chee Keong, Chee Kong, Hedgehog, Wilson, Audrey, Richard, Ah Khen, Nan Yan, Zoey, Nigel, Mingfa, Ying Tat, Yiju, Poh Choo, Weisin, Johnson, Chee Yong, Ronnie, Cheryl, and more. There were also quite a number of totally new DSTA people whom I have never met before...too many to name!


Our favourite beach hangout place: Siloso Beach, Sentosa

The telematch at Siloso beach was conducted by an external agency. We were split into five teams, made to play a few games on the beach, got wet and had our minds tickled by quizzes on healthy living and healthy foods. But the real fun came after the external facilitators finished their business and left us alone to play with our frisbees and volleyballs :) Nice, I had a good time under the sun, in the company of my excellent friends. My frisbee skills have deteriorated somewhat, and I would be grateful for more beach volleyball lessons :P But let's see how the tan would turn out :)

Renewed my Sentosa Islander card on the way out. Had lunch with the gang at Harbourfront...I had sliced fish noodles and a huge bowl of sinful ice kachang =) Some of the former colleagues then invited me along to their dinner outing; another group asked if I would like to join in their BBQ the same night. Tempting offers, but I turned them all down. I haven't had much time with my own family of late, so I would rather stay home for dinner tonight. Later, Ah Khen drove me home (thanks!).

I had great fun today, overall. Can't wait for the session of games at the beach. ;)

My Short Trip to KL

Was in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, on 13-14 July. Took the morning SQ flight on Thursday, and reached the KL International Airport at around 9.30 am. Not long after, I checked myself into Capitol Hotel, which was near the Bukit Bintang district.

Went out to jalan-jalan quite a bit. Strolled around from one shopping mall to another - Lot 10, Sungei Wang, Bukit Bintang Plaza, Times Square. But nothing in particular caught my eye. At Times Square, I had lunch - a bowl of "supreme soup chicken noodle " - and watched the movie "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest". It was a hilarious piece of work; I enjoyed it very much. :)


Supreme Soup Chicken Noodle *slurp*

By sheer coincidence, Leonard had also flown into KL for work-related purposes on the same flight as I. And so we arranged to meet up at my hotel after I was done watching the movie and after he was done with his business meeting.

At around 6 pm, we set off together from my hotel and headed for Petaling Street, the Chinatown area in KL. The pasar-malam there was buzzing with activity, with all sorts of goods being sold - CDs, watches, clothes, roasted chestnuts, etc. Leonard and I, after much jostling with the crowd, managed to locate this "Old Town" eatery there, where we had our first dinner for the evening. I ordered a plate of curry chicken noodle and a bowl of herbal jelly.


Curry Chicken Noodle *drools*

When we were done with eating, we headed back to the Bukit Bintang area to explore it further. Hmmm...many reflexologists and masseuers appeared to be working late into the night. It gave the area a rather sleazy feel. Quite a number of pimps even approached us to ask whether we would prefer Chinese prostitutes or Malay ones! :P

Later on, Leonard and I went into another restaurant for our second dinner. I had a plate of Cantonese-style crispy noodles, which was delicious. :) After dinner, we popped into a nearby cafe for late-night drinks.


Cantonese-style crispy noodles *yummy*

But I was growing tired and my eyes began to tear. I guess that was probably due to all the fatigue resulting from my past two weeks of work, work and more work. So at around 11.30 pm, I bade farwell to Leonard and headed back to my hotel. I then showered, watched a few minutes of the comedy series "Two and a half Men" on TV, then fell asleep.

This morning, I woke up at 6.30 am. Had my breakfast - a cup of kopi-O and a plate of chee cheong fan - at Restoran Instant, a small eating place just around the bend from my hotel. Later on, I checked myself out of the hotel, and was chaffuered to the airport.

While I was in the holding room waiting to board the aircraft bound for home, I couldn't help but notice something really odd on the telly in the holding room. It was showing a documentary on space exploration. One of the video clips was of Neil Armstrong and his buddy planting the American flag into the moon's surface. What struck me as odd was that the flag was flapping away (so that the stars and stripes could be seen). But shouldn't there be no wind on the moon's surface, since there is neither air nor atmosphere on the moon? Why then was the flag flapping? Hmmm....wierd.

I got back to Singapore at around 11.20 am on Friday. Headed straight back to the office to work. :p And remained there until about 10.30 pm. *sigh*

Tomorrow, there's a DSTA telematch at Sentosa, and I'll be involved. Can't wait :) Got to sleep soon, and recharge my batteries...

Progress in my swimming

Went to Clementi swimming complex today to swim with IMD, Tiwazz and Balasing. My doubts were confirmed: the SAFRA lap is shorter than the lap of a standard Olympic-sized pool... Anyway, under IMD's guidance, I was able to separate my hand motion from my kicks so that I could glide a bit further and bit longer. IMD said that I was travelling faster through the water after that. :) Tiwazz and Balasing also said that I showed progress since the last time I swam with them. Hooray, I am improving... :)

The July BG Run

Got up this morning at 6.00 am to go to Botanic Garden for the monthly BG Run. Almost couldn't wake up in time (because I had gone swimming 20 laps yesterday afternoon and then had dinner with Wei Hsiung and Bee Him at their house at Strathmore Avenue and stayed there to chat until quite late in the night...so I was bushed). But after receiving 2 SMSes from Tiwazz at 5.50 am, how could I not wake up? And how could I miss the ever-so-exciting and challenging slopes of the Botanic Garden area? =)

Large turnout today, with a total of 26 persons, including Brokie, cfred84, teelee, mwengrof, Doraemon_red, Tiwazz, James, Daisiki, Roonz, SportVenturer, Dasher, JunieTang, Ronnie, Superboy82, Alvo2102, Meteor, Cazz, bikerchic, DreamRunner, DO, Cokiee, Charmane3, AngelicaWonders, Royraw, gems and me. Ultra also made a special guest appearance at the beginning :)

RSM Brokie was the route-planner. For the first time in SgRunner history (to my knowledge), we had to pen down our names and ICE (in case of emergency) contact numbers on a list before we were allowed to run. Brokie also printed out a large ops-chart of the area, and using it, gave everyone a very detailed briefing of the route and water points.

When it was 7.10 am, we set off. We first went a short loop around SMU, then did about 3.2 km in the Botanic Garden, after which we proceeded down Cluny Road and up Minden Road, and did the usual loop through Loewen Road, Ridley Road and Tanglin Road. Then, we paused for a short water break at the petrol station opposite Tanglin Mall. Up to that point, the run had taken us 57 min.

But being the runners that we were, our legs began itching to move after we have had our drink of isotonic 100-Plus. And so, Brokie led the faster runners ahead, while I stayed behind for about 10 min to wait for the slower runners to come in to the petrol kiosk. Tiwazz, the gentleman that he is, graciously covered the rear. Once we had gathered the remaining runners, we went from the petrol station towards the Da Vinci Furniture Shop, up Nassim Road, double-backed along Dalvey Road and Orchard Grove Road, and then went up the upward-sloping Nassim Road again for the second time. The section between the petrol kiosk and the final end-point took me 49 min.


Route map (excluding the loop around the Botanic Garden)

Excluding the BG loop, we covered 11.1 km, according to Google Earth. Hence, I estimate the total distance covered to be about 14.3 km.

Route Ran today. 14.3 km (excluding BG loop).
Total time taken, including rest break = 1 hr 56 min.

After the run, DO and Dream distributed slices of apple, while Brokie also offered us cups of her delicious home-brewed barley :) Thanks so much! Then we proceeded to Food Haven for brunch. I had an extra-large glass of strawberry-watermelon juice, and 1 traditional set of kopi, kaya toast and two hard-boiled eggs. Seal joined us for the makan session. He also took the opportunity to pass me a personally-authographed copy of "No Journey Too Tough: My Record-breaking Attempt to Race in 10 Marathons in 65 days across 7 Continents" by wheelchair athlete Dr William Tan. It's an absolutely inspirational read!



After I got home, I washed up, and then went to my Gramma's place to celebrate her 84th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA! =)

Who says you are no more?

Below are the words of Saba Mozakka, the daughter of a victim who died during the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Saba read out her poem at a remembrance ceremony in Regent Park, London, on the first anniversary of the tragedy which claimed 52 innocent lives. Her poem is extremely touching, and brings tears to my eyes. My deepest prayers are with those who have lost their loved ones, and to those who survived the bombings. I pray for peace and healing in our world.

~*~*~*~

This poem is a translation of a Persian poem. It was written during the desperate days when we were searching for my mum, hoping -- desperately -- that we would find her...

The imprints of your breathe still adorn the beautiful colours of the flowerbed.
And the imprints of your feet on the threshold of the house,
On the stairs,
On the floor patterns on the carpet.
They still gaze at me, bewildered.

A sound is rising from our broken hearts.
Where are you? Where are you?

You have lent your smile to the flowers.
The entire house is the embodiment of your life.
Who says you are no more? Who says you are no more?
How can you not be?

O, incarnation of kindness. O, our dearest.
Hold our hands, for we are so lonely.

~*~*~*~

Out and about

Got up a bit late in the morning, cleared some emails from the office, had a bit of brunch, then went out to recce a few places at City Hall/Raffles Place in preparation for my work assignment next week. Received a call from Joe, which was great since we haven't chatted in months. Also took the opportunity to pop by Running Labs, where I signed up for the Mizuno Wave Run, and get myself a QB $10 haircut. On my way home, I fell asleep on the bus and missed a stop.

It's almost 7 pm now. I need to set off for the airport to receive yet another foreign dignitary to Singapore. Reckon I'll be back home by around 10 pm, and then that'll be followed by a few hours of precious sleep, and then it's back to the office.

Didn't get to go to Appreciation Tea today - but Leonard and Chze Keong assured me that the brothers were well-taken care of. Didn't go down to support the OSIM Triathlon nor the Milk Run either. Another weekend without meeting up with my buds. *sigh*

Sleepless in Singapore

Horrific week. All five nights, been working past 1.30 am. Yesterday, got home from the office at around 3 am. Got awoken this morning at 11 am by a call from someone to ask about some work-related stuff. *sigh* And the first thing the lady said on the phone when she heard my croaky morning voice was "What? You're still sleeping?", as if to suggest that I wasn't entitled to waking up late on a Saturday after a crazy 80-hr+++ work-week from Mon to Fri.

Totally lost track of what's happening in the rest of the world. The North Koreans could have fired the Taepodong across the Pacific, and I wouldn't even know.

No time to run, no time for exercise, no time to rest and catch up on much needed sleep. No time for friends. I look like a wreck.

Been irritable at work, and snappy with my colleagues. :( Really snappy. Really, really snappy. Apologies, mates, I know you guys have no ill-intentions, but I'm in that sort of mood where I don't take humour nicely, especially if it's about the amount of work I've been piled with, or how I look like a walking zombie. I really hated that joke about how I might fall sleep at lunch and bury my face in the plate of pineapple rice at the table. Not funny, ok. Not funny. Any other day, I'd laugh along with you guys. But not this week. ¿Lo comprenden, mis amigos? Gracias. *deep sigh*

Been rather sloppy with the transportation arrangements for my kids to the Appreciation Tea on 2 July, and have not been able to make my own my transportation/accommodation bookings for my trip to Penang come end-July. Thanks Victor, Mingfa, Andrew, Chze Keong for helping to coordinate for the Appreciation Tea, and thanks to Shutehelup, Ronnie, SportVenturer and Ironmandreamer for making the Penang International Bridge Run bookings on my behalf.

But most of all, I want to thank my Mum and my Dad who took the trouble of delivering home-cooked dinners to me at the office this past week. You're the greatest! :)

The pictures from last week's DSTA's Dinner and Dance are out. Thanks Cheryl. I so miss life back there, where a balanced work-family life is a top priority, and where I had a cool gang to hang out with and go for runs together.