A "Fool" Print: 2013

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon

Posted On Sunday, December 1, 2013 at at 9:02 AM by warriorsofwind

We were blessed by the overnight rain yesterday. The weather was feeling cool in the morning. Thinking of enough time, I took an MRT to the start point for the half marathon. Gosh!! How wrong am I. It was a pretty long wait for the train. To add to my dismay, I needed to change the train at Outram Park station in order to reach Harbour Front Station, in which I was 15mins late for my run eventually.

The route was pretty hilly at Sentosa. Furthermore, the path was narrow and with so many people participated in the race, I had to constantly slow down or avoided the runner in front and the sides. At the Universal Studios, I saw a couple of runners slowed down to take a picture with the cartoon characters. Some of the USS staffs also came to cheer for the runners.

Once out of Sentosa, we were turned into the expressway and straight to our end point at Padang. It was nice to see the highway was closed for the run which I certainly welcome the ample space after being cramped for the last 10km. Perhaps due to my lack of training and the numerous slopes unexpected, I have difficulties in running at my usual pace. In the last 1km, I experience a "cramping" feeling in my calves and tight. In the end, I took 2hrs and 30mins to complete. One of the slowest half-marathon timing I ever completed. As for the completed experience, I couldn't say the run is any better than any of the previous years. Unfortunately, I still found that there is a lot of improvements need to be done as compared to overseas race.

Posted in Labels: Marathon, Running, Singapore Marathon | 0 comments

Bt Tabur East Trek

Posted On Friday, November 1, 2013 at at 10:22 AM by warriorsofwind

After barely a month, we have made our second trip to Bukit Tabur. This time, we will be attempting the East Tabur instead of the West with Jane joining us as the seventh new member!!

The plan was simple. We will take a flight to Kuala Lumpur on Friday to have a good rest. Then we will start our climb on the next morning before having our R&R at my favourite Shangri-la hotel. When we touched down in KL at the evening, there was a heavy traffic and a downpour. I was worried and prayed for good weather since there was a weather forecast of scattering thunder storm during the weekend.

We woke up at 7am and had Roti Prata for our breakfast at the coffee shop below our Ampang Peutri Hotel. The Prata was good and huge compared to Singapore standard. After checkout from our accommodation, we headed towards Taman Melawati by taxi at 8 am. The sky was cloudy but cooling in the morning after yesterday's night rain.

The route is made up total of 4 checkpoints with the last ridges catered for those adventurous climbers. We followed the water pipes to reach the trail head. Subsequently, it was a steep climb with short forest section. We were perpetually scrambling up the steep slope. I was a bit exhausted and out of breath with the heavy backpack (7kg) carrying on my back.

About 40mins later, we came to our 1st checkpoint. The scenery was beautiful having a good view of the city looking from afar with bungalows below us.

Then after, it was another steep climb going up and down through rocky areas and ropes to reach our next checkpoint. This time, we managed to have a stunning view of the reservoir similar to the one that we saw at West Tabur.

As we made our way further up to the summit ridge, we encountered a big group making their descent. To reach the summit, we had to overcome a long 60-80 degrees long section with ropes along the entire route. It was the grand finale, which could look intimidating for the weak heart. We were stuck at the junction towards the summit for 30mins to wait for the entire group to come down.

The East Tabur's summit looking from far

Too bored waiting.. Time to do rock-climbing exercise!

The climb up to the summit was super steep. We had to rely on our hands and the ropes to pull ourselves up. However, I couldn't recommend of using the ropes unless necessary due to the erosion. Technically, it was not a difficult climb and was rather fun if you like rock climbing or scrambling. At the top of the ridge, you wouldn't regret making to the summit with a fantastic 360 degree view of the city and reservoir!!

View from the Summit

The descent

The descent down from the summit was more challenging than going up. We had to be careful and constantly trying to find a good landing for the foot. I would have tempered to use the ropes. Nevertheless, my common sense told me to use the ropes for support with the other hand holding tight on the rock as I landed my foot down carefully. When we reached the junction again, we made a left turn and walked down a slippery slope to the base. I felt blessed and thanked God for the kind weather. The rain was starting to come when we ended our trek at 1.30pm. The next destination was our relaxation at the best hotel offered by the city with great food and shopping experience followed up..

Posted in Labels: Malaysia, Trek | 2 comments

Bt Tabur West Trek

Posted On Saturday, September 21, 2013 at at 6:37 AM by warriorsofwind

Bukit Tabur is located at Melawati, Kuala Lumpur. The hill is divided into the eastern and western section which consists of 3 trails, namely: (1) Tabru East; (2) Tabur West; and (3) Tabur Extreme. Although the hill is less than 500 meters, but it is a magnificent quartz ridge offers a view of the dam and panoramic views of Kuala Lumpur from the north. This time, we intended to hike up to the ridges of Tabur West.

We took an early flight at 7am from Singapore to KLIA before heading down to town by KL Express. This was my first time travelling on KL Express. The journey took around 30 minutes, which was very comfortable, relaxing and efficient.

Eventually, we started our climb at 11 am. There are 13 ridges to pass in order to reach the peak. We walked up strenuously through the forest before reaching our first ridge at 11.50 am. From here, the routes became more interesting, which involved scrambling and balancing ourselves on top of the ridges. Sometimes, the route may get a bit dangerous and requires a little rock climbing skill.

Top of the Ridge with my Beloved Roz

Kenneth pretended to be falling

On our hike to the last ridges, we were stopped by a huge boulder that required us to scale around. It looked scary at first glance as the path was rocky and offered no protection from falling. One wrong footstep or misstep would lead to fatal. We noticed there were some aluminum handlers attached to the rock. However, it felt shaky and might detach anytime. None of the handlers could give me any sense of security. When I was about to scale down and around the boulder, Eddie showed me a detached handler which he just easily pulled out from the rock. Great!! Now, I didn't even dare to use the handler for support.

The boulder has proven to be the most exciting part of the whole journey. At the edge of the boulder, we needed to jump over a small gap in order to reach the other side of the ridge. Luckily, for Jessica, Kenneth brought slings. We used the slings to hook up with her as a safety precaution in case she fell. I was holding tight on the other end of the sling and guided her carefully to cross over the ridge's gap.

The boulder Path

The return journey led us to venture through the woods again. When we turned our head and looking back to the ridges on top, it was amazed that we were able to be up there. Even though Bt Tabur is not a big hill to hike, but its dangers shall not be undermined. Any miscalculation or wrong steps could lead a person fall off from the ridge and dropped down endlessly. Eventually, we completed our hike at 3.30pm feeling exhausted but satisfied. We promised to ourselves to come back again to attempt the East Tabur.

Posted in Labels: Malaysia, Trek | 0 comments

Tokyo Marathon 2013

Posted On Sunday, February 24, 2013 at at 12:56 AM by warriorsofwind

My Red Big Nose

Perhaps due to the cold weather, I was suffering from the flu and cough when I touched down in Japan. For the whole night, I have been tossing on my bed, waking up a few times to take medicine wishfully thinking my sickness would go away miraculously. It was not a pleasant night for me. In the end, we woke up around 7a.m.

The morning was freezing cold, probably at 4 degrees Celsius. I and Rosalind couldn’t make up our mind on what to wear for the run. At one end, we were worrying not wearing enough to keep us warm. On the other end, we were afraid it might be too warm once we started our run. Finally, we did a trial to get a feel of the temperature outside our room by running down to the vending machine at ground floor to buy some hot canned coffee.

All prepared for the run

The Tokyo Marathon began at 9.10am in front of the Tokyo Government Office. We had a quick breakfast at the Japanese fast food chain opposite our hotel before taking a 20minutes train to the start point via the Chuo line. Inside the train, we saw quite a number of runners inside the train including families and supporters. Even before the run, I could feel the excitement surrounding me.

Outside the station exit, could start to see the deposit trucks loading bags

I was a bit confused by the Signage

We alighted at Shinjuku Station. As expected, the train station was crowded with runners and supporters. We could hear the station's announcement given to runners on the direction to exit together with the assistance from the marshals. Once we stepped out of the station, we were overrun by the whole marathon atmosphere. There was an English announcement made to inform that the baggage deposit area would be closing in ten minutes. Quickly, we put our bags into a clear deposit bag, wore our disposable poncho before parting from each other and headed towards the baggage trucks. I was assigned to G block based on my reported past marathons' completion time. Nevertheless, I hoped to run with Rosalind together and finding my way to K block instead. Unfortunately, I could not locate her and stuck inside the corral. The corral was about 2km from the start point and you have to be there within the gate closure time or you would be stopped by the gatekeeper.

Waiting for the run to start.

The weather was perfect for the run. By this time (about 9 a.m.), the sun had came out and I could feel the warmth of sun ray on my face. The sky was clear blue with no cloud sighted. After a long wait of 15 minutes, I finally heard a loud bang to signal the start of the race with the sighting of thousand of balloons flying up into the sky. Adrenaline started to fill me in but the runners at K block still could not run. One by one, we moved slowly towards the starting line like a car being straggled in a traffic jam with marshals controlling the traffic flow.

Slow traffic moving towards the start line

However, once we ventured across the start line, things were looking differently with wide road and passage welcoming the runners. There were supporters all around us shouting "Gambette Gamebette"!! As in any big races, the first few kilometres was a battle to keep a clear passage and avoid bumping into other runners. After zigzagging for about 3 kilometers, the run took its form. At this moment, my eyes were attracted by the various interesting costume runners around me than focusing on the run. Japan has been well-known as a land of cosplay, and it is by no means of exaggerating. I could see runners dressed up as different anime characters which included the supporters everywhere. Moreover, the supporters would come in groups, dancing and beating on the traditional Japanese drums to cheer for the runners. This made the whole marathon felt like a carnival or parade than a race itself.

It was bitterly cold when the chill wind blew through my body. Luckily, for the sunny weather with most of the route exposed to the sun, I could still able to tolerate the biting cold. At 5km mark, with enough body temperature generated from the run, I decided to forsake my disposable poncho. Nevertheless, it was still very windy on that day, and I had to keep lowering my head to protect my face using my cap from the wind.

Long Queue in front of the toilet

Perhaps due to the cold that make me feel a sudden rush to pee, I began to look around for toilets. However, there were super long queues in front of the mobile toilets. The enthusiasm of the supporters everywhere could not allow me to find any private spot to finish my business. After running for 10 km trying to spot any empty queue, I gave up the idea and continue my run.

At the 18km mark, I spotted Rosalind near the U-turn point. I was happy that she was doing fine as I was worried she might not adapt to the cold temperature. If not for the 30mins queue for the toilet, she might not have DNF and made it for the cut-off time which I later found out after the run.

Running Route

As for the running route, this year it passed several of the Tokyo's main tourist spots, including the Imperial Palace, Tokyo Tower, Asakusa and Ginza before end at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba. After 20km, my run came to the Ginza shopping streets. It was only about 2 hrs passed but I could see many fast runners coming from the opposite lane. Tokyo marathon certainly lived up to its name for attracting top runners participating.

By 28km mark, my run started to deteriorate as I developed very bad cramps on my calves and tights for both legs. The supporters were cheering me up non-stop, smiling, waving and shouting "Gambette gambette". I acknowledged with a nod saying "Arigato". As I walked with my slow pace, my eyes were automatically caught hold of the various foods and goodies offered by the supporters on the sidelines. Among the food that I took was dark chocolate (my favor), candy, sushi, miso soup, cakes, bananas etc. The food was well prepared in generous portions and not cheap.

By this time, my run had transformed into a food tour. For the rest of the journey, I did a half-walk, half-run and many gobbling of the delicious food given by supporters. Eventually, I completed my marathon in 5:30hrs and was ushered into Big Sight where you would have your massage or change to a warmer clothes.

You got a big towel as a finisher's souvenir

Although I did my worst marathon timing, but I am not disappointed. Participated in Tokyo Marathon was an unforgettable experience and I truly enjoyed it. The running was relatively flat with occasional rolling hills similar to Xiamen Marathon. The support from the crowd was overwhelming and amazing. You could see supporters everywhere for the entire 42km. The running route was excellent with very efficient logistics support from the volunteers. Furthermore, where would you see so many different and interesting running costumes except here?

Posted in Labels: Marathon, Running, Tokyo Marathon | 0 comments

Tokyo Marathon 2013 Expo

Posted On Saturday, February 23, 2013 at at 9:34 AM by warriorsofwind

Tokyo Marathon 2013, an IAAF Gold label Road Race, was held on 24 Feb 2013. Incidentally, this was also the first year that the marathon was hailed as the World Marathon Majors event as part of the elite-level marathon series. The theme for this year run was “The Day We Unite”.

Fortunately, we managed to get the Airasia Promo air tickets for SGD $448 which landed us at Haneda Airport, Tokyo. Thanks to Kenneth, we had a good deal on the accommodation and stayed at Tokyo Buc Hotel which located at Tokyo Bay. This year, the race point collection point was held at Tokyo Big Sight, where the nearest subway station is at Kokusai Tenjijo station.

When I reached the Exhibition Hall, I was impressed by the setup of the hall. We were greeted by the friendly Japanese volunteers and the race pack collection process was very efficient and fast.

Finally, we all got our bibs. Time for shopping!!

The volunteers were very friendly and helpful

Then after, we proceeded to the race expo to hunt for souvenirs and get our race event t-shirt. The race expo was the biggest marathon expo that I had ever seen. There were a lot of sponsor booths selling and promoting their gears ranging from shoes, sports apparels, watches, nutrition bars, sport drinks and supplements etc. In addition, there were other international booths promoting other marathon races around the work.

Once stepped into the expo, we were greeted by a huge map of the marathon route

It was pretty amazing to walk through the expo as we jostled through the crowd busily taking photos, queuing up for freebie stuffs and gear shopping. In the end, we stayed at the expo for nearly 4 hours and gotten some Asics souvenir t-shirts and running gloves.