A "Fool" Print

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. : (