A "Fool" Print

It was back to our class gathering. I was extremely late after interviewing over 20 job applicants at one go. It was madness!!

OK. Tonight, most of our topics tonight centralizing to the recent events, since some of them are from the financial sector (Banker, Accountant) and senior management. Things looked pretty gloomy. Apart from the bank failures, Eng Huat and Phua accounted that thousand of the factories in China and Europe were shutting down during their trips to global source for supply. Eng Huat cautioned that you had to be quick in China pick up the leftovers from the company once the bankrupt news were out. The Chinese were unscrupulous in doing the business. At one moment, things looked fine, and they disappeared on the next day. Europeans were more civilize in a way that they informed you first. Coincidentally, these correlated to the stories told by my friends and family - where they had immediately arranged movers to "snatch" the leftovers of a bankrupt company. Everywhere, now and there, people were worrying their "rice-bowl".

Lastly, the baton was finally passed to me to arrange to the next gathering at Jan/Feb 2009.

Last week, i had shifted my training to tuesday instead of thur. As usual in the past 3 mths, i was responsible for the 7 km route and this time togeher with Charmane and Niwas. The turnout for today was more than the usual. Saw a lot of familiar faces along the run.

In the last 2 km, i paced along with some of the slow runners to the finishing. Still felt tightness on my right knees and short of breadthness.. Hmmm.. still considering to do some lung function tests

There were lesser of us for tonight's ride. We decided to go for longer distance and exploring a new route. We started off from our usual route of West Coast Road. Subsequently, we turned towards Bt Batok Road, and rided through Old Choa Chu Kang Road.

It was eerie to ride in the middle of night via this road. There was only forest at both both sides of the road with no sight of life. I remembered the only few buildings i rided by was Tengah Air Base, Home Team Academy and some army camps. I was glad we had rided out of old Choa Chu Kang road since there was many up slopes at this road.

Then after, we turned towards Lim Chu Kang Road. The stretch brought back some of my fond memories where i was training with those hard-core runners for the Sundown Marathon, e.g. Kayano, PS, Jancy, Yong, stardust, David, Wendy etc.. It was a memorable night for me as it was my ever first time to run after midnight!!

Nevertheless, the road was dull, uninteresting and totally straight. I was nearly fall asleep several times and my bike was toddling side by side . There were occassional i nearly knocked onto the pavement!! On the other hand, I observed there were quite a number of foreign workers walking along the pavement. When we came to Neo Tiew Road, the mystery was finally solved. At the side of the road, there was a hostel located to house the fore
Next, we turned towards Lim Chu Kang Road. Riding through the Lim Chua Kang( Of course, with the Smell of the Chicken Farm..) brought back ign workers. I could see many of the foreign workers were sitting on the grassland, playing guitar and singing along. The scenery resembled a festival season with the whole place was brightly lit, and music and songs filling this remote area.

Thereafter, we decided to make a U-turn back via Jalan Bahar road, passing by Civil Defence Academy. Before long, our ride was slowed down by the poor visibility due to smoke covering the entire Westwood road. We were puzzled where the source was coming from.

Finally, we stopped at the nearby Petrol Kiosk to refill our bottles and made our way back home via West Coast Road.












Distance : 65km. Average Speed: 31km/hr. Mileage for past 3 mths: 1228km

I realized that i had slipped quite a lot from my training after the ISBG X-Country Run. As usual, we started off from the Marichite Reservoir's toilet at 7am.

For the first 15km, i kept closely behind CK. Hmm.. I could feel my breathe was improving (not as bad as friday's run) At the U-turn point for the 25km route, i decided to push myself a little further and run towards Mandai. Everything went well except on my return trip back. The weather was getting hotter and hotter till then. To make matter worse, i would feel a sense of dehydration (drank 2 bottles of istonic drink, still not enough) and the exhaustion from yesterday's cycling slowly eat up my strength. It was a tough run. Slowly, I dragged my tiring body alone back to the end point and saw Chairman there. Sigh. got to find more training grounds to stem up my stamina.

Susposed to meet up with Ka Liang early morning at 5am for a ride around Mandai area and probably joined the joyrider for another long ride to East Coast. However, both of us couldn't be able to get enough sleep and had to cancel the ride. haha.

Went back to the office in the morning to do some work before meet up with Xiaoming and Linda to watch an Abstract Art Exhibition - Shape of Colors at The Art House. Ha.. finally, I had to give up in understanding the oil paintings. I had to admit i had no genes in appreciating fine arts like these. Xiaoming took certain interests in the pieces especially as we were wondering how the artist had created the brush strokes.

Dinner appointment at Jumbo Seafood restaurnat at East Coast was cancelled. Jianxing had contracted skin allegry and was admitted into the hospital. The fulfillment of our 10 years contract(made by all bunch of secondary school classmates) had to be postponed till his recovery.


Instead,I did a fast ride(40km) to East Coast Park. There was quite a heavy traffic along the way. I was irritated by some of the inconsiderate taxi drivers whom drove against my lane to avoid the traffic jam. Around the same time, Adeline had finished her bladding at the park. Met up with her at Carpark D1, and passed her the coke which she ordered (since she didn't bring any money) before resuming my ride. Interestingly,there was a small discovery of miniature battleground field setup next to T3 Cycle for kids to play around with their "remote control" battle tanks.

I had finally did a long run after the Safra Marina Bay Run. Lynn and Alvin didn't join us today as they were participating TNF100 yesterday. Apple joined in for the run today, bringing a new friend in. The weather was cooling and favourable for the this morning run. Toh, Macus and his brother (Lawrence?), Chew, Billy, Tan had turned out early at 6.30am to do an extra 5km before we started off.

The running route was as usual (20km) before except it extended to another 5km at Seletar Reservoir. Mak, Apple and David Ong had gone for an extra mileage of 2km. Macus and I were pacing each other on our way back. In the end, everyone did well today and completed around 2:20 ~2:40.

In the afternoon, i dropped by to Rodalink at Trade21 hub to get a Shimano cycling jersey. What a bargain!! Price reduced from $89 to $62.

This was my first time ever try for aeromatherapy massage, and a full-body massage which last for one and half hour. The massager was good, using good technique and strength. In the end, my whole muscles were relaxed except for aches at my right calf of my legs. Hmm... wonder if there could affect tomorrow run.

I supposed to drop down to Marichite this morning for my usual Sunday run. Nevertheless, i was suffering a Chest Pain overnight, couldn't get to sleep and have to give up my run. :(

A busy day for me. In the afternoon, skipped over to the F1 Formula venue to recce the area. I took a few photos there and happened to run across Melvin on my way to Suntec.

In late afternoon, i did a quick ride along the West Coast way. During my way back, I came across three trucks being crashed one after the other with the traffic police regulating the traffic over there. In addition, I spotted a new bike shop at Pasir Panjang and found the clipless pedals i been searching for - Speed Play

As if my prayer had been answered, the non-stop rain of yesterday subsided at dawn. What left behind was a cooling temperature and muddy field at Padang where the participants had to toddle across to the bag deposit area and starting point. This year, there was a promising of a new route which would bring us across the Marina Barrage. The organizing of the Half-Marathon went extremely smooth with good water and logistics support along the route. It was the best among the ones that i had been participated. I was delighted the route covered some off- road trail track after exiting from the East Coast Park. Despite most runners' complaints, i welcomed the cushioning effect from the trail ground. In the end, I had finished the race at around 1:52hrs within my expected target.

Today also marked the ending of Beijing Olympics 2008. I was thrilled to watch the final for the women group rhythmic gymnastics. Their performance was stunning and amazing, especially the choreography.

Coincidentally, the performance of Philharmonic Winds clashed with the Olympics Closing Ceremony. The performance was good with great support from the audience but i couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. My mind was totally preoccupied. During the interlude, i was walking outside the Esplanade under the drizzle, and questioning the purpose of my existence. The temperature was cold after the pouring in the afternoon, but my heart felt much colder.

This afternoon, i happened to come across an advertisement from Air Force (see left) which inspired me to compose this poem:









I am the wind rising high above the mountains.
Wheezing across the land with no restraint and boundary.
Never rest and constantly moving.
To reach the far side of earth where no man touches.

You may not to see me but I will be always there.
Echoing in your ears and breezing you with comfort.
When you need me, I will whistle to accompany you.
When I not needed, I will stay at the sky looking over you.

Sometimes I'm wilful,
Raising the tides and swaying the trees
Sometimes I'm tame,
Staying still and silent without a trace of sound.

No matter what form I take.
I will always be true to you and myself.

This was perhaps the night when everything seems to go wrong. To briefly talk about, I and Ka Liang had lost our way on our cycle to Toa Payoh. Then, Ka Liang's friends had difficulties in finding us and we arrived deeply late at the rendezvous. Before even started, one of the bike had some problems of its front derailleur. Eddie and Calvin were only able to fix it incompletely. Added to the woes, there were news of another biker having their typre burst and was stuck at the nearby Esso Kiosk. Thus, the group decided to cycle over there to meet him first.

As a consequence, we were late at our set-0ff time. This time, the route would cover from Toa Payoh, Upper Bt Timah, Pasir Panjang to Fort Road and returned back to the starting point. There were few inexperence bikers in the group, which nearly caused an accident at Upper Bt Timah. Subsequently, while cycling to our way East Coast Road, the leader had made a wrong turn, plus a dispute was nearly occured from one of the bikers with a taxi driver for no reason or whatever so. Finally, the group decided to take a break at the Merlion status before proceeding any futher.

I decided that I might have enough for one night and cycled with Ka Liang, his father and friends to Lau Pa Sat first for supper before going back home. At the hawker center, a lady sitting at our back was furious with the service from one of the stalls, shouting and throwing plates around. Luckily, after a few hassles, her boyfriend managed to drag her away and i was able to have my peaceful "dinner" at last. Yes, I was having my dinner at 12.30am!! :(

After 48 years, Singapore has finally realized its dream of wining an Olympic medal today. There was a mix of anxiety and excitement before and after the match. Many of the Singaporeans were eagerly watching and listening to the event's broadcast. Everyone in my office was feeling excited and proud of the country's achievement. Backtracking, we had came close to achieve this dream in the last two Olympics. Disappointments were met, but Singapore has never given its dream. It took faith, talents and resource in realizing this goal of us and we have made it of today!!.

That reminded me of a book I read recently titled "The Last Lecture". The book focus much about realizing your childhood dream. Back to myself, I had met with setbacks to earn a degree from University. Three times of getting rejection from admitting into local University, then faced with financial crisis while studying in overseas. It looked upon me at that time the dream was nearly impossible, as considering the series of situations faced during that time. However, with a good support from my parents and family, i had made it. Without their support, I wouldn't have succeed as I could be as then. Subsequently, by a stroke of inspiration from someone I hold dearly, I gave another attempt to earn my Master with NTU giving little hope of success. After two long years of waiting, i filled up my application and clicked on the "Submit" button. The rest was the application process i had to go through. Surprisingly, it went smoothly apart from giving up my full-time job to take on the task. With a few sentences exchanged with my family, I'm all set to go and earned my Master with good results.

Perhaps it was my stubbornness and willingness to take risks that I would achieve this little dream of mine. Looking forward, i still in search of other goal to reach. As now, given myself of another three more years, I hope to summit K2 before any of my health conditions deteriorate due to the passage of time. Time after time, i wondering if K2 would be my final destination or would i able to come back after that? Questions will remain unanswered unless I ever try to do it..

Michael had offered to give a ride to the Kallang river and we met at 6am. There was limited parking space at the veneue and we had to circle around to "shop" for one parking lot. Many of the runners were having the same problem. I could see runners running up to the starting point, presuming they had parked their cars far away. PS and Alber were late. I called out to PS that the run for women had flagged off. Instead, she wanted to join in with the men's run. However, probably, seeing so many macho men and embarrassed that she was the odd one out. She made a U-turn and began her run before reaching the starting line. ha.. Nevertheless, she made her way back again... From afar, i could see Chairman and few other Safra runners were making fun of her. heehee.. hopeless...

There was a delay for the men to flag off. The run started at around 7:20am, about 15mins late. I was running together with Freddy, Jimmy, Melvin and etc. As if there is a curse on every PI run, my stomach felt queerly and i could hardly breathe during the run. Perhaps, it was the long suffering of my cough that affected my breath. After intake of water at the first water point, my stomach started to make funny noise. Gosh!! Which meant i had to slow down my pace.

This time, the route took us from the Kallang river to the Open door stadium and made a loop back to Golden Mile complex for two rounds. I couldn't count how many loops i had done, because every of the scenery looked the same to me. The weather was cooling today with little drizzling for the first hour. Alvin Ong was managing the second water point, and cheering up for me. Good buddy. :)

The difficulty in breathing had caught up with me. At the last hour, my pace was slower with some of the runners overtook me. Nevermind, i ran my own race and my target was to do a 1:40. Finally, in the last lap towards the finishing line, i managed to overtake 2 more runners and reached the end point within my targetted time.

While resting, Chairman announced the actual distance was 18.2km instead of 20km as planned. Sad.. Which meant i missed my timing.

In the afternoon, I was sharing a cab with Simon to celebrate Jamie's birthday at the PUB recreational club. Then after, i got to rush over to Mount Alvernia Hospital to visit Alvin after his back bone surgery. Next, we settled down at Jone's cafe at Dempsy road for a high tea before eating up the durians at my place. Finally, I met up with Michelle for a good dinner at Muratama and a an enjoyable dessert at Laurent's cafe. A full day event. Cheers!

After two days of hard training : Cycling (70km) and Running (20km), i decided to drop by to Safra this evening for a swim and enjoyed a good old aqua therapy. I met my colleagues, Shirley and Eugene at the swimming pool. We swam together and i had totally lost count of how many laps i had done. In addition, I took this opportunity to work out my breast stroke and trying out few different techniques. Shirely's friend joined us at a later time, who happened to work in SGH as a psychotherapist. Her front crawl looked smooth and relaxing and i wondered if i possible could be the same as her.. .

After the swim, I met Thiat Huat(Chairman), Lai Chee, Trevor and other Safra members at the club. I had a few chit-chat with them, and mostly my topic was centering on the bike since i noticed that was a road bike parked besides them. The frame was full-carbon and custom made!! Cool!!

Shirley's friend suggested we had our dinner and dessert at Creative Culinaire.. We had a fun and enjoyable dinner where I making jokes surrounding the topics on food and disco. We also ordered a number of Cheesecakes, Baily Irish Chocolate, Pratua, Green Tea Gateau and Judy Chef's Signature cake. I especially fond of the Baily Irish Chocolate cake which was uniquely rich in dark chocolate with a blend of wine taste. Delicious and Yummy!!

It has been months since i rejoined back with the runners at Marichite. This morning, Teo wanted us to do a 20km run in preparation for the AHM. There were more runners joining in and I lost count of which group they were belonging to. Nevermind, we knew each other somehow from one another. :)

The run covered the usual route from Old Upper Thomson Road to Seletar Reservoir. Came to think about it. This was my first LSD Run after the Sundown Marathon. My calves were still sore from yesterday morning cycling ride. Not to say that I haven't recovered from my cough yet!

Once we reached the Seletar Reservoir, Teo suggested to go another further route, running up the hill. All of us objected and wanted to make a U-Turn back. ha.. Chew and Billy were fast and furious today. They were running side by side with the young ones.Moreover, they were at their 5os. Amazing!!!

Macus and Johnson(Macus's brother) were tired. They had lacked of training recently. Johnson had signed up for the Full Marathon this year. We were suprised to hear the news as he proclaimed not wanting to do a full marathon before. 3 Cheers for him!!

The tiredness and soreness of my legs had got hold of me at the return trip. In addition, i have been focusing on cycling and lacked of running. How to achieve my timing below 1:50!! :( The weather was extremely hot and my throat was hunger for water. At the petrol kiosk, Oh bought me a 100plus to share. After" swallowing" up the Isotonic drink, our body felt to be flared up. Hmm. Perhaps it was a psychological effect. For the last 4km, I had managed to finish up the run at my usual pace. Oh stopped behind to wait for the two brothers. At our usual resting point, we were all making fun of the Macus and Johnson. It was enjoyable to run with this group as often our run would break up in jokes and suans..

I joined the rest of the old MR runners at Shu Fu hawker center. Steven(?) and Oh were showing their photos taken at Ipoh. The talk turned to spooky when they were relating their horrid experience and stay in the haunt house (House 1) at Fraser hill. It was creepy with the mentioning of: (1) bed being pulled up and down, (2) clawing sound from the wall and (3) a black hand being spotted beside the partner sleeping. Eerie!!!

I sure doesn't want to stay there if i ever join the Ipoh Marathon.

PS: The banana Custard Bun was good at Shu Fu Hawker Center. ^_^

The basement of the auditorium was filled with students in robe. The MBA graduates were convocated together with the Bachelor of Accountancy graduates. Only the color of the robes could differentiate each of us: Orange or violet for Master and Yellow for Bachelor degree holders. I had to slithered through the crowd to reach the information counter to request for an addition ticket. To my disappointment, they redirected me to another counter where the counter assistant had asked to go back to the information counter again. After a few hassles, I managed to get hold of the ticket and scurried hurriedly to the registration counter to register my name for the convocation. In the midst of waiting, I took the opportunity to have photographs with my classmates and friends. It would be our last gathering to some of them as Marceal, Tania, Weiyi etc had flew specially from their home country to attend the ceremony.

When i ran back to meet my parents, my sister had also arrived. I arranged them to sit at the second floor of the auditorium. While marching in to my seat, I took the opportunity for me to take more photos again. I was sitting at the 4th row (D18) located at the right hand corner facing the stage. In front of me were strangers i known not of. They were students whom studied the EMBA. Luckily, Carol was sitting besides me and both of us chatting happily, making jokes, clapping and cheering for our classmates as each of them stepped up to received their certification from our President of the University.

It was a long and enduring process which lasted for two hours. There was a moment of entertainment when one of the Bachelor graduates from Accountancy delivered a stunning performance of a song. Until the last of one whom received, the whole auditorium were cheering and clapping loudly. Perhaps to celebrate the end of our suffering.

After the end of the ceremony, my family and I were roaming around to source for any souvenir to mark this special day. I ordered a plateau to engrave my degree certificate. Then after, I called my Brother-in-Law to pick us up. It was a long wait. Eventually, he came and we had a quick family dinner at the nearby local coffee shop. My niece was elated to see me and revealed of her dream to study in London.. Hmm.... how about my University, Birmingham? She rejected and still insisting of her goal. Oh well... Good for her!! STUDY HARD hor.

It was my first time participated in a triathlon race, not to say it was a relay event with Gal as the swimmer, me as cyclist (40km) and Karen as the runner. It was much stressful to participate as an individual event since I was in the second lane. Any poor performance of mine would affect the runner or the whole team’s performance. Certainly, I could not like the idea of us being the few last groups to arrive at the finishing line.

After yesterday’s night briefing and carbo loading session, the race picked up at 8.30 am promptly. The relay team would start around 9am after each wave had begun. We, the relay cyclists, were all crowded at the transition point waiting impatiently. The event coordinator had repeatedly pleaded us to move back as we might block the other racers. Gal arrived at the transition area half an hour later as predicted by him accurately. Immediately, once received the red band, I ran towards my bike and cycled on.

The weather was marvelous today with the blessing from the hot, cloudless sky. The cycling route was same as last year except the running route which using the same route as cyclists Once out from the starting area, I’m made a wide, right turn, carefully not to skip and fallen down. (I still have problems in making a turn with my tri-bike). There were polices standing by the side of the road blocking the traffic for us. After 1 km ride, I made a left turn and headed towards the highway, which stretched for 4km. Henry was in no time catching up with me. I was trying to overtake him but the narrow lane forced me to slow several times at the back of him. Subsequently, after bypassed him, it was a joy ride to me. I stick to my strategy and using my second gear of my front wheel, keeping the speed at 30km/hr.

After the highway, I made a right turn again with the rolling hills and green fields by the sides welcoming me. I had some problems of adjusting my gears, especially at the uphill. Henry managed to overtake me by then. Nevertheless, the numerous days of training and riding my bikes had finally paid off. After playing with my front and rear gear, I got used to the new terrain and pedaling at a satisfying speed at uphill (20~25km/hr). On the downhill, it was a roller coaster ride. My speed would hit up to 45km/hr and above. Constantly, I applying engine brake to make sure I stayed at a comfortable distance from the front rider. Although drafting was allowed, I certainly no wish to attempt, especially with a tri-bike.

At 20km mark, I caught sight of Henry. Mike hailed me from behind and overtook me about 5km from the U-turn point. I was cycling relatively consistent, marveling the cool-looking, expensive road bikes beside me. After a while, I saw PS riding a constant speed heading towards the U-turn point. Judging from her speed, my guess was that she was riding at 28km/hr.

At every steep slope, I started to recall Lee’s recommended strategy of pedaling hard, especially to stand up and pedaled. I applied the technique, but encountered problems of balancing. Every time I tried to stand up, in no time, my butts were back to the saddle position. In addition, I was thirsty with the sun kissing fiercely on my sweaty body after riding for more than 20km. However, I couldn’t care to quell my thirst as I was too focused to maintain my cruising speed. Once I turned to the highway again, I could saw those fast-pace triathletes was running in opposite direction against us side by side.

In the last 4km, I changed to heavy gear and pedaling hard to the finishing line. Alvin and Karen were waving and shouting at me. My legs felt like slightly cramp when dismounting from my bike, and managed to “crawl” towards Karen to pass her the band. Total time taken was 1:20mins. Happy with the result. It was an enjoyable and memorable experience to able to ride at such a beautiful landscape. Moreover, not to mention of making new friends as well. :)

This evening, we (Me and Pei Choon) were running slightly late. Michelle was already waiting for us at the Singapore River. Lucky for us, Jancy, Anthony, Benny and Eugene (Leaders) were conducting warm-up exercise when we reached the meeting point. It was an expensive trip, which cost me $10.30 for the taxi fare. : (

After registered our names and category to be participated in (7 km), I joined the group and started the run with the rest. There were about 30 of us with each participated to run at different distance. At various turning points for the different groups, the running leader of the group would stop over to guide us for direction. The 7km running route was rather convoluted with many turning here and there. It was confusing for me to anticipate each turn should take. I was running together with a Malay guy (wearing Safra running shirt) and a lady foreigner whom slightly behind me. The guy was rather helpful. At every turn to take, he would call upon me to direct me of the turn. In addition, Anthony, DO, Jancy and the rest of running leaders/ assistants would cheer for us to go on.

After the run, a woman at the registration counter asked me for the timing to complete the run. I couldn’t understand the rational behind it since I thought it would be a leisure run to encourage people to keep up this sport. Apparently, they would like to gauge the runner of any improvement to their health. Still, I wouldn’t agree to their method since a person’s health couldn’t be measured by how fast he/she could run. Well, I might just give her my timing based on my usual pace. Subsequently, I went with Michelle towards Raffles City to have our dinner over there and picked up a book titled “The Last Lecture” which supposed to be inspirational.

Rush. Rush. Rush. This was the description for the series of events happened to me for today.

After finishing my afternoon agendas, I sent my bike for inspection in the evening before the rode with Toa Payoh began. My new triathlon bike has been making squeaking sound ever since I gotten hold of it. Initially, I thought it was normal but my suspicious arose as I experienced difficulties in pedaling it. The shop owner of the bike shop (at Zion Road) confirmed my suspicion. The crank set and rear derailer had not been aligned properly. However, talk about rip-off!! I was charged $25 for the service rendered. Gosh!! Without other alternatives and running short of time, I agreed to the fee. : (

Subsequently, Yean, Ka Liang and his father had cycled to Zion Road to meet with me. Together, we rode via Orchard Road, Newton Circle and reached Toa Payoh to meet with the rest of the group. It was a huge group for today’s ride. There were about 14 of us. The group made up a mixture of roadies and mountain bikes. Tonight, our route would cover Mandai Road, Choa Chua Kang to Bt Timah. Talk about déjà vu. I would still remember the rode with Alvin, Eddie, PS and the rest where I was exhausted and could not catch up with the rest. Tonight was a chance to prove myself again. Ha.

The ride was extremely smooth along the journey. Perhaps it was due to the alignment done at the bike shop. I could pedal the bike with no problem and manage to conquer one slope after another with little trade off in speed. On average, I was riding at 30km/hr. Geez!! Hee hee

The group’s stamina does not match equally with each other. At several junctions, we would stop to wait for the rest to catch up. Nevertheless, this also provided the chance for us to chit-chat and know each other better. At Bt Batok petrol kiosk, we decided to rode to Adam Road Hawker Center to have our supper before we spilt off from there. Unfortunately, after 700m before reaching the point, my tire was punctured. Luckily, there was mechanic support in the group. Ka Liang and Calvin came to my rescue to change a new tube. At 12am, the group greeted each other good-bye and reminded ourselves to meet together at next Saturday. In the end, although there were some confusions and disobeyed of cyclist’s rules at certain T-junctions, but the ride was fun and enjoyable overall.

I was participating as part of the Invitational Team(for my company) for this event. There were 5 of us including Melvin, Andrew... and the rest i couldn't remember their names. It was a short 5km run, which demanded speed and a test of one's Max VO2. I hadn't recovered from my cough yet and the run proved to be strenuous for me.

Andrew was fast and furious!! He had came in first under the invitational team category with Melvin followed behind. During the run, my lung was burning, and grasping desperately for more air. Still, I managed to complete at rank 11, or as third member of the group.

Finally, at the prize ceremony, our team came in second within the Invitational Team Category, and won $150 voucher from Royal Sporting House. Not bad for a day's effort. :)

It had been a while since i met my Full-Time MBA classmates. Thomas was finally back in SG before he flied off again to HK. On the other hand, Mayuko would soon go back to her own country(flying next tue).

It was a delightful gathering where all of us talking about our dreams and hopes. And lastly, We were all wondering where would we be after the next ten years.....

Today was the 1st series of the Pearl Izumi Run held at Bedok Town Park. My stomach was not feeling well for the whole day. Perhaps it was due to the barbecue food taken yesterday night. I was waiting inside the toilet and searching around for toilet paper all the while before the race began.

Too bad, the toilet had ran out of toilet paper and my search for the paper was futile. Pulling out from the race did occur in my mind. Still, it was a short race (12km) and I reckoned i would bear with the pain.

The horn had sounded. I was running slowly and mentally telling myself not to rush my pace as to further inject any discomfort to my stomach. It was a slow pace and i would see many of runners had overtaken me. At the exit point out from the park, Chairman ridiculed me for running far behind of the others. I pointed to my stomach and indicated the discomfort I was experiencing with.

Throughout the race, I was running closely with Benny, Richard Ho and Lee. Yong was about 500m in front of me. At 10km, I reckoned it was safe for me to speed up my pace. Immediately, i overtake a few other runners and attempt to catch up with Yong.

At the last 500m, i dashed towards the finishing line and keeping close to Yong. Perhaps Yong had felt my presence and also started to race towards the end point. The Safra runners waiting at the finishing line were cheering for both of us. At the background, i could hear the DJ announcing our close encounter as if reporting a horse racing. ha

In the end, i managed to overtake Yong, crossed over the line(1:04hr) and running towards the bag deposit area to pick up my bag searching for toilet frantically. : (

Went by home at 9pm. Had a quick dinner, and rest for a while before starting my run... Gosh!! By the time I was out of my house, it was a quarter before 11pm. I would have missed the Everest Beyond the Limit Season 2. I did a quick three loops around Tiong Bahru Park instead, which used to be my usual training ground.

The Everest Beyond the Limit Season 2 was showing some of the climbers trekking towards the North Col Camp.. It looked treacherous and difficult which made me start to wonder if my physical condition could allow me to succeed in reaching the campsite... Hmmm.

Late as I am to join the Safra run tonight. Did a quick loop around the whole stretch of Mt Faber and saw Chin in the bathroom. Chin was training together with his mates for the coming kinabalu climbaton. Hmm. perhaps one day i might join him to train for my trekking trip.

Thenafter, I had an enjoyable dinner with the rest of the Safra runners. At midnight, suddenly felt a urge to write a poem to send my best wishes to SGrunners forum. :)

Running fast or waddling on.
A group of us shares the running passion.
Coming from SG, roaming around the island
Picking up a starting point and we all gather up
Sharing the laughter, sweat and perspiration
No matter how bright the Sun or Late is the hour
SGrunners will always be here and stay on
To motivate, inspire and keep the running spirit going on!!

It has been two weeks since i last run after the Sundown Marathon.. Been bz lately and managed to pass Linda's Asic shoes to her for the Safra run

Was late for Safra training and did a quick dash run along Mt Faber (~5km) in 25mins... Saw Ong when coming back.. panting and breathless.

I was suffering from a terrible headache for the whole night. I couldn't able to sleep and after thinking through for safety reasons (me and for the others). i decided to give up the race. This was the first race ever i had given up.

Back to my sleep, woke up and saw PS's SMS saying some major screwed up in the race. I wondering....

Tonight is the long awaiting Sundown Marathon event. For the whole day, it had been raining continuously, drizzling and dark clouds forming in the sky. Luckily, it managed to stop before the race. Those participants whom participating in the 84km flagged off at 8.30pm while my event started at 12.00 am.

When reaching the venue, the starting point was crowded with people. I could see many runners posing pictures to be taken beside the Sundown Marathon signboard. Henry called me to pass his powergels to him. I searched vainly for any sign of him around the massive crowd but in vain. Then I came across Stanely and some of the Toa Payoh Safra runners gathered in front of the VIP tent. After a while, I was halted by William (Collen’s hubby) near the bag deposit area. William was aiming to do a sub-4 for the full-marathon which was same for me. We started off together and paced each other for the first ~2 km. Since the running route was quite narrow and congested, we were running off from the track to avoid the jam.

Before long, I speeded up my pace and William was far behind me. Most of the route covered at this race was using the park connector sitting on a hard cement. In order to prevent any cramps on my calves at later journey, my strategy was to run on the grassland besides the path to take advantage of the soft ground and lessen the impact to my legs. The Costa road route was a lonely run for me. I overtook many runners and kept looking at my watch. For the first 10km, I had clocked 50mins. It was promising for me..

Once I ran into the east coast park, I could see many supporters clapping their hands cheering us. Some of the children were also running together with us for a short distance. It was a great feeling!! At 18km, I would sense my legs were giving away. I kept telling myself to “go on” and looking around for any runners to pace me. I was eagerly looking forward for the 21km U-Turn point but it seems like an endless road to me. I skipped the last few water-points to save the extra timing. Finally, I crossed over the 21km mark point and clocked at 1:48hrs!! Great!! I broken my 21km record. Yeah!!

The next 21km posed a challenge to overcome. Mentally, I told myself it was another 21km and imagined myself just began my run. After making the U-turn, I crossed over the bridge and ran towards the Siglap park connector. I saw a marker showing 22km. Hmm.. the distance and the marker did not seem correct for me. Nevermind.. By then, my pace was getting slower and other runners behind me had overtook me. I continued the same pace and conscious of my calves not giving me away this time. At the park connector connecting to Bedok reservoir, the lamps were off and we were running in the dark. It was the first time of me running in the dark cutting through the HDB estate. The volunteers were holding the lightening stick and directed us to the correct route. Till now, I was impressed by the organizer as there were many water points and volunteers to guide us.

Subsequently, William had caught up with me at the overhead bridge towards Bedok Reservoir. I beckoned him to continue… Unfortunately, at 28km, I felt sudden cramp at my right calves and fallen to the ground. Luckily, my “dropping point” was 20m away from the First-Aid booth setup by the SGrunners. They ran to my assistance, did some stretching for me(I wouldn’t move my legs) and helped me up. I took another powergel, rest a while before resume my run. By then, I knew I could not able to do a Sub-4.. My only hope now was to clock a 4:30hrs at least. I thanked them for their assistance and continued my run ignoring the pain.

The rest of the run was a great disappointment to me. It was a run-and-walk strategy. Every time I felt the cramp was coming, I would pause and walk for a while before resuming. I asked for some deep heat at Bedok reservoir but it was in hot demand apparently. The young female helper at the water point was trying hard to squeeze out every single and little of the gel for me to apply. I made some jokes with her.

At 30km, I clocked 3:20hrs. No good… The Tampines Park connector was a mental torture. It was just like another never ending route. After crossing one road to the other, I could still see the signboard showing TPC. Eventually, I exited to Pasir Ris Drive via a car park. It was a terrible slow pace for me by now. Virtually, every runners seem to overtake me. I could hardly feel any cushion from my ASICS 2130. I did attempt to run along the road but was waved by the road marshals to run at the pedestrian path instead.

At the last 5km along the Loyang Park Connector, I suffered another cramp at my right calf and “dropped” to the ground spectacularly. I lied on the ground helplessly and few runners ran pass me. Luckily, one of the many runners did stop to help me. After making a recovery walk, I jogged slowly. I could hear some of the runners complaining the route was a total mental torture. The soreness and pain from the foot would slowly transact to the knees, hips and tights. Well, I agreed with that plus the relatively flat terrain for the entire route had forced oneself to use the same muscle groups again and again.

The last 5km was perhaps my slowest 5km ever. I was frantically looking at my watch. It had passed 4:30hrs.Oh no.. I missed it and my whole body strength had given away. My mind was now focusing more for completion than the timing. Eventually, I had saw the finishing gantry registered 4:59. I definitely not wanted to 5:00 for this marathon. Immediately, I picked up every of my legs power and dashed towards it before it ticked to 5:00.

After the run, I stayed to wait for other MF runners returned back. I did a quick shower first before the toilet was crowded with other returning runners. Lai Chee was awarded as 1^st runner out for the 84km women category. Wow!! Got to salute to her..

Around ~6am, the sky started to pour heavily. I was wondering how the rest of the 84km runners were doing, e.g. PS, Anthony, David, Heng etc. Hopefully, they could find some shelters to hide from the heavy rain. After 8.30am, I managed to see more 84km runners returned. To kill the boredom, I was joking with the photographer sitting next to me. Subsequently, Alvin, Karen and Carol joined me to wait for the rest. I took photos for each MF runners coming back, e.g. Anthony, David, Alber, Ho, PS, Chin, Eddie, etc. PS did a 14:00hrs for her 84hrs. I would expect her to do 13:00hrs instead. Nevertheless, it was a great relief to know she had not suffered from any hip or leg problems during her run. We had a lunch at nearby hawker center before Alvin drove me to Clementi MRT.

In the end, I had broken two records of my own - my best 21km and worst 42km. haha..

It was a mass gathering(about 40 ppl) at NTU sport recreation center. Stardust had organized a midnight run covering a distance of 55km at 10pm to prepare us for the Sundown Ultra-Marathon. There were lot of familiar faces at the starting point, with some haven’t been met for a long time. Jancy was slightly late and her left knee’s area was wrapped with athletic tape done by her physical therapy doctor. It looked awfully serious and there were widespread concerns of her condition. David, Freddy, Kayano, Anthony and Alber were all their wearing long compression tights. We started giving them a nickname of “Long Tight” Gang and I suggested they should stick around together for the rest of the run.

After a series of chitchat and waiting for the some belated runners, the run started somewhere around 10.20pm. It had been a while since I last came back to NTU after my completion of my MBA studies. The familiar slopes and buildings arose my memories where I was here busily preparing for projects and presentations during my study days. Since most of us were unfamiliar with the routes, we were running closely together splitting into three groups. Ahead of us were the fast runners (Ricci, Chin, Collen, Freddy, Ultra-man etc). Within ten minutes, we had lost sight of them, while the rest of us slowly scurrying forward at a relatively 6mins pace. :)

After challenging the daunting slopes and completion of a loop within the campus, we headed off from the Jln Bahar to Lim Chu Kang Cemetery. It was a long dim stretch of road that seem like never ending. It was already past 1:30hr before we made a U-turn and back to NTU campus. Opposite of the road, I saw another group of slow runners. We were cheering each other across the road and the responses were spontaneous. :)

When we ran back to Jln Bahar junction, I saw another group of runners waiting for us. None of us knew the route well, so we all gathered there waiting for the last group of runners to come and lead us forward. At this point, most of the runners had consumed their drinks and left little to sustain. We were all desperately in need to refill our bottles.

When the rest of the runners had reached, we headed back to the NTU campus and running our way out to another stretch of main road. David had kept shouting “toilet 1km away” for every 1km we had covered to motivate us to continue. Jokes could be heard as the toilets seem to turn out to be “mobile” by its own. Finally, after running out of NTU campus, the 24hrs coffee shop was sighted. There was a sense of relief, especially to Kayano who dashed towards for a toilet break. ha

We had a ~15mins break at the coffee shop where all runners busily refilling their drinks and queuing up for the toilets. PS was stretching her ITB silently. She was running relatively slow with Alber tonight, while I and Yong were sticking together in the earlier run.

After the break, we continue to head towards Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim. At this point, some of the runners had fallen back or departed from us. We had a stopover at Jurong Hill to take some photos up there. It was a beautiful scenery with brightly lit bulbs lightening up the nearby port when looking from the hill top.

Next, we were running along Jalan Buroh towards Pandan Reservoir. I was behind Eugene and Jancy. Eugene was recapping his experience of knee injury when he had to stop the run for two months. After hearing the stories, Jancy was worried if she should stop her run. I could see she was struggling for her run all night long due to her knee pain.

When we reached Pandan Reservoir, more runners had departed from the group, (Jancy, Eugene, Moham etc). It was relatively warm running round the reservoir. I not sure why but perhaps would be due to the afternoon heat trapped inside. We made another stopover at Petrol Kiosk to refill our water supply and photo session before heading towards South Buona Vista Road via West Coast Road. It was reported we had covered 38km at this point!!

During the stretch of South Buona, Yong was complaining his knees while me and Wendy were running together. At the Buona Vista Petrol Kiosk, I was totally famished!! Took a Snicker Bar and some HL milk. PS and Alber were nowhere in sight. I figured they would have left the group by now. Anthony reckoned PS would not give up her run. I left the group at Buona Vista MRT and ran back home alone.

By the time, I reached home, it was 5am. Time for me to doze off…………Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

There was a change of plan in the running route. Chairman proposed to do a 4 loops at Laborador park instead of running around Mount Faber for two loops. However, some of the runners (Trevor, Jamie, Ong etc) preferred to stick to the old plan, and did their own run.

I was slightly late and caught up with Michael, Shirley and some of the runners. Then after, I ran passed them and following behind Melvin all the way back to the clubhouse. Subsequently, others (Chin, KK) whom didn’t join us for the run were all gathered at Safra to attend Jimmy’s father wake. It was sad news to us, and I sincerely hoped he and his family would soon recover from this unfortunate happenings. I still remembered in one of the Sunday long run (seven of us) where he consistently bought drinks for me since I didn’t bring any bottle of water with me. He was worrying that I might get dehydrated in that hot sunny day. Really appreciated..

I was extremely late for this morning Safra’s training, which started from the clubhouse, running towards Kent Ridge Road before making U-turn and back to Mount Faber through South Bouna Vista Road (30km). Instead of following the usual route, I ran in their opposite direction hoping that I would come across them on my way up.

The weather was scorching and humid after days of sudden rain. I had to put on my shades to block the glaring light and my skin was fried under the hot sunny sun. Sadly, my knees still hadn’t recovered from the ITB and stitches from the knees still disturbing my pace. I jogged at a relatively low speed aiming to accumulate mileage.

When I reached Kent Ridge Road, I saw no sight of any Safra runners. My mouth was too dry, and hurried searching for water to curb my dying thirst. After making a U-turn, I met the runners at the cross junction between Kent Ridge Road and South Buona Vista. As usual, Lai Chee was the first in the group, followed by Collen, Derek and etc. Most of the runners had went passed me. I saw Yong at Pasir Panjang Road but he stopped over at one of the petrol station.

At the traffic towards Alexandra Road, Heng had caught up with me with PS at behind struggling with her pace. For the last many runs, she had been at the very few last runners. Perhaps, her training regime had wear her down to keep up with our rigorous Sunday long run. Both me and Heng were running at a comfortable pace and chatting along the way. At Harbour Front, my pains came again, feeling like a screw dropped out from my right knees. Oh Gosh!!

After the run, we had a brunch at the nearby hawker center. Subsequently, I dropped by at Chinatown to have a good treatment of Chinese acupuncture. Freddie was joking that it was an easy business for him to treat me. My condition was so bad that he couldn’t need to exert any force. Oh well!!

Today’s plan for the Safra club was to run 2 or 3 loops around Marachite park. Although the turnout was better than the last, but many of the hardcore runners, e.g. Anthony, David etc were not presented. KK and Siew Lee had trouble finding a parking space and the group was waiting for them. I kept looking at the watch as I had to meet Mark (from MR) and passed the New Balance Shoes (MR1062SB) to him. Based on my experience, the MR-26 group (Not to confuse with MR) would finish their run within an hour or so.

At the start of the slope, Ricci, Trevor, Freddy, Jimmy and those fast runners were running in front of me. My ITB was still hurting me, and I had to take my pace slowly. Perhaps, I had run for Marachite too often. The trail had become a playground for me, and proved to be an easy run for me. I couldn’t feel any short of breathe or sweats in doing the trail except of the disturbance coming from my knees.

In the run, most of us were sticking together with occasional stopping by to wait for the rest. After we had ran passed the golf link, I left from the group and sprinted towards the Marachite toilet point. I was in short of time since Mark could finish his run soon. Again, it was amazing how the trail run had improved my running. Before I realized, I had reached the end-point and caught hold of the MR-26 group. They were gathering at our usual resting place. I took a break, passed the shoes and chatted with them. Again, our topics were surrounding running shoes. Somehow, I guessed I had become infamous in the group of providing opinions on running shoes. Ha.

After a good chat, I wanted to proceed to my run. Deva was astonished that I was doing a 20km distance since the next week was my Full-Marathon race. Usually, this would be the time for runners to do tapering. Moreover, I was wearing a knee guard.

The second loop was a lonely run. Till now, the Safra group was far ahead of me. I ran at my own leisure pace and managed to overtake a few Safra runners. I saw David in the trail running at an opposite direction of me. He was wearing his usual black cap, Nike tights and running shirt. After a cold bath, I hurried off to my Church Service.

I had missed this morning Easter service. To make up for my absence, I arranged to meet up with Mun Hoe in the late afternoon to attend his church (City Harvest) service. Hmm. That left a couple of hours for me to do some short run…

I have not been doing many long runs lately, mainly due to reason of the pain at my calves and knees. I have been quite mindful of the condition of my legs (esp. at the lower calves) and reduced my pace every time the stitch resurfaced. After a typical rainy weather for the past few days, the island had finally received a hot, sunny afternoon. For this afternoon short run (Tiong Bahru -> Botanic Garden -> Holland Rd -> Queenstown -> Tiong Bahru), I intended to keep a slow pace at 6min/km. When I started off with my run, the agony at my lower calves came back again. It was difficult for me to keep a constant pace as the pain kept disturbing my advancement whenever my foot touched the ground. Similar to my ITB which came as sudden as it likes, dark clouds begun to form in the sky and thunders roared. While I was running along the Holland Road, rain started to pour. Well, I couldn’t able to stop for fear of being late to meet with Mun Hoe. In the end, I managed to do a well decent speed to complete 14km at 1hr 35mins.

The City Harvest was totally unlike the Church of mine. The building at its Jurong West was elegantly built, which occurred nine storeys (four in the basement and five on top of it). When I stepped into the hall that could cater for about 2000 members, the seats were fully occupied. After a few ushering here and there, we (Mun Hoe, Gin and me) managed to get hold of the seats directly in front of the stage. I was impressed by the drama put up by City Harvest Drama group. The music, acting, singing, sound system and the costumes were nowhere inferior to any drama put up by the professionals. I could see that the members of the church have devoted a lot of hard work to make this show a success. It was entertaining and meaningful as the drama told us the origin of Easter Day.

After the service, I met up with Cedric to have a dinner at Jurong Point and bought a bottle of Glucosamine in the hope that it could ease my pain. Although the supplement is more targeting to neutralize joint problem, but now I could try for anything to help me to recover from my ITB since my KL Marathon is coming up. Besides, I read reports that many runners have found that it is effective to assist them to recover from ITB.

At late evening, my Sis and Brother-in-law fetched me from Jurong Point together with their children for cycling at Chinese Garden Park. It is always enjoying to see my two little nephew and niece playing around, with their laugher and shouting surrounding us. :) We have a supper at McDonald before I reached home at 11.30pm. It was a nice, fulfilling day for me to enjoy this Easter holiday…

There were only four of us (Deva, Tan, Mak and me) turned out for today’s run. Apart from the usual runners whom ran at Macritchie Park, there were polices and soldiers flocking into the venue. It was reported that someone had caught sight of Mas Selamat at the surrounding area. Nevertheless, activities at the park were still as usual as if the news of the escaped convict had no impact to our daily life.

We started our run at 7.05am and ran together as a group. In the first 7km, I was running slightly behind of Deva with Tan and Mak falling behind 300m away. My calves were feeling tighter and the pain at my knees was developing. I would sense my old injury is coming back to me. For the past few weeks, I still could feel stitches at my knees while sleeping. Deva had a stitch at his stomach and his pace was slowing down while we were coming near to our U-turn point. This provided me a moment of relieve from my pain as both of us slowed down our pace.

After making the U-turn towards Upper Thomson Road, my pace with Deva had came even closer with each overtaking each other. While we were running through the Old Upper Thomson Road, we heard someone screamed from the woods. Would it be Mas Selamat? Nevertheless, nothing could deter us from continuing with our run.

After making a rest at the Pierce Reservoir’s toilet point, Tan had picked up his pace. I attempted to follow him but the pain at my calves and knees proved a great challenge for me to overcome. Once we out to the main road, I couldn’t spot sight of Tan. He was far away from me dashing towards the end-point. By now, Deva and Mak were way behind us. With the pain developing, I had a moment of tendency to walk for the rest of the journey. Still, I continued and completed the loop around 1hr 30mins.

I met KC at the park while resting and chatting with the others. Before I left with Tan for a free ride to Velocity, I spotted a helicopter hovering above us. It looks like this time round the tip is real.

In the afternoon, I met up with Tania for lunch at Earle Sweden. She has dropped by to Singapore after attending a conference at Thailand before heading back to Jakarta in the evening. Veronica was there too. She had just returned from Seattle. There were about six of us in total (Elaine, Tania, Veronica, her husband, 2 other current MBA students). Rosalind was late as she still suffered from the jet lag. She just flew back from Seattle after attending the Microsoft’s conference at Microsoft University. She looked haggard, probably due to lack of sleep. :p Before Tania boarded Veronica’s car to the airport, she wished me well for my career. How sweet is she. :-) I gave a pat on her head as a return of my encouragement to her.

Subsequently, I had an agonizing and harrowing experience of leg massage by Jan at Chinatown. PS has become infamous in the shop as Frankie was telling me of her running experience. After finishing the massage, I could hardly walk by my own. Hopefully, my legs would recover before the KL marathon.