Limping Marathon Runner

My Lemon Gelato has certified itself to be Lemon Ice Kachang (shaved ice) or some sort. Well.. isn't what experimenting is all about? It has the taste and I wanted it to be. As with what Cosmic_wind said, it was not the texture that I wanted it to be. Absolutely correct.

Swimming was not that productive today. It was pretty cold. But, shouldn't we be swimming more to keep moving.. so as to stay warm? We chatted .. nevermind that.. The life guard that IMD was talking to, gave us some really insightful tips on how we can improve ourselves.

Oh.. Shallow Hal is on T.V. now. I did not watch this movie when it was first released, though I know what the show is about. Aye.. .. those part time Uni days, no life. Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow is hot and all. But, the movie highlight on how most humans would rate others. The exterior, that is. True. For people who are meeting you for the first time, the outlook / presentation tells everything about you. In fact, it starts from the hand shake. Underneath all that, everyone is a gem, waiting to be discovered. Everyone is special in their very own way.

Having said all these .. at times, people go around crossing mountains and rapids just to look for "The One". They bend their principles, lost their unique personalities just to be close to "The One". In simple words, they are not themselves anymore. Where is the "Accept me for who I am" line? Maybe the gem has always been around you, just around the corner all this while.

Maybe you have been lucky. Probably not. Whatever it might be, our lives are a journey of experience. Love it, live it. Just like some insurance company tag line, Life is great.

I think I write too much. I shall just wait for my Lemon Gelato to form.
Haaaa!! Anger Management movie is showing on next Saturday!!

Since we have 16 weeks left to SCSM, it does not harm if we were to do a little shopping. Finally, I found her!! Passive speakers, small enough to store and yet, still light enough to last me the 42km. Music to keep me company along the journey. Soon... I will be carrying an air-con .... Don't run behind me.

Raining now, no HLSD... can only start NT!! No... .. need to web cast and then go get gelato ingredients.

I am truly blessed.

My great day, though waking up early, started by playing squash. Lots of kids watching the squash courts since it was pouring outside!! *Shy* Happy with the progress shown today. Pose .. Ready .. Go. Pose. 4 strokes max. But, that is good enough for me. Got to think of more exercise to move those legs.

No time to lose!! Go back home, shower, got changed and out to Orchard for lunch before American Pool. First time playing in Orchard, not too bad for price of the game per hour. It was one of the better games that I have came across. Players with good control and quick thinking. Great game! What is considered as a good hang-out if there is no laid back coffee session? Happy... with just plain simple chit chatting.

I left early to meet Nan for our dinner. We got to the restaurant and talked about our lives, things happening in recent years, about her life in Canada. She is always concerned if I am seeing someone. We ordered quite a spread. We ended up feeling bloated like a puffer fish. There is always room for desserts!! We had gelato. *Grumbles* ... The lemon flavour was sold out. I took the Belgium Chocolate instead. Nan chose raspberry, which was clearly as yummy as lemon flavour and that really made her day. We left in different directions and promised that we should meet up again before she leaves for Canada again.

Genius ....

.... I am the one that is dumb. Walk on the line!!!

Sometimes, helping others can cause one's downfall. Nearly. If my extra is not in, I think I would be dead. This is a 3rd example of my poor judgement. I shall not pursue who's responsibility does that belong to, the person's or mine. Guess I have to raise the bar.

Dinner was exceptionally good today. All the way from the organisers (thanks y'all) , staff of the restaurant, ambience, food quality, desserts, company ... everything! I feel alive... definitely re-charged.

Bummer.... I forgot my trusty digicam. I am happy with the cake picture I took (not my cam).

Injuries come and go, no sports person will be spared. Neither am I. After a long bout of nagging uncomfort, I am finally feeling better. Glad that I am still able to see some pretty satisfactory result. Not fast. Just happy. I still have to exercise caution, control and discipline.

All smiles about cheer.

Emailing, just replying not too long ago, on questions and more questions on "Can you help on this project?" emails. I did a summary of issues at hand. 8 cases / projects / assignments, whatever you all them. Everyone ask, "Can you help?". How fun. C'mon .. I don't even need to get pissed because it does not help at all. Not like I have not raised load issues before. Each time, the enforcement policies set in. I took over some projects, due to "tight schedule", for a couple of times. With several strokes of luck, ah-hoc requests like conducting training and clarification meetings will stay away from me. How comforting to know that my mails go to Junk folder ..... or so it seems.

Happy with several things like getting the CD that I want. Strange enough, I never really like singers re-doing songs, it takes away the original taste. However, I have no idea why I buy that CD this time. It is just something in her voice that captures me. Soothing. Dear Nan called me on my mobile! Surprise... local number means she is back in town. I thought I lost her contact since she went to Cananda 2 years back because I emailed her and got no response. Apparently, I checked with her and found out that she is no longer using that email address. My dear, I thought where have you been! Happily married to Canada and became tai-tai or something. Quit bugging me to go Vancouver..... no moolah. Hmmm .. but, I want to see the Rockies. Yeah.. I want Aurora Borelis too...

I was late at the swim today. Most were in the pool. No time to lose. I did a warm up slow 500m. Followed by a timed sequence, clocking 2min 6sec each time. Rather consistent and I am happy with it.

Not sure when can I start my webcast mugging. *Don't even think*

With just maybe 3-4hrs of sleep, I woke up at 5.15am this morning. T_T What to do?! Kovan is far! But, Seal will be giving Tiwazz and me a lift there. Thanks pal!! We were kinda lost around the Sengkang area and had to ask for directions. My bad. I am not familiar with the area too.

When we reached the area, most were already there. We collected our goodies pack coupon and prepared for the race since it was starting soon. Though the competitive gets to start first, everyone went off at the same time. Who cares?! Just go!! LOL. I paced Taz during last year's Mizuno, when he was down, coughing. We joked about having to pace him again and off he went screaming, "Yiipa yiipa aarndalay", taking off like Speedy Gonzales. I caught sight of LaoKaYu, Cosmic_Wind, Sanji, Alvo, Commando and Superboy along the way. Commando is getting his stamina back. That is what sportsmanship is all about. You just come back stronger. Along the way, I saw Renohtaram attending to a fellow runner who was dehydrated I guess, from his symptoms. Since there were already 3 person attending to the man, I went ahead to cross the finish line.

We gathered for some pictures and followed by breakfast at one of the coffeshop. No PBs or anything like that. But, I enjoyed myself today. So many things. Too many things.

Contented.

Seal sent us back and we talking about some overseas races. Tempting!!

It was great to be able to play squash today! It has been ... what ... 1 - 2 years since I last played? But, still.. .. it was a fantastic game today. I still love my old school (since Seconday School days) racket. Can't find these anymore! The tennis courts were all empty!!! What a waste!

Thank you.

I'm in for SCSM06!! PhengSoon SMSed me to tell me that there is a long queue at Raffles Place. But, I am doing it online! Can't wait for this year's run.

Weekend is already here, something that everyone needs.

Waiting for a day like this.....

Walking into a CD store, not looking at what is displayed .. just listen.. listen to what is being played. Let your heart decide.

Re-doing songs sang by others do not score (for me). I still do give credit for overall.

It was terrible night for me. I was exhausted and yet no luck when it comes to drifting into deep slumber. Something is bothering and it is not the heat wave. The aftermath came ... whacked me during the day.

2 words did flashed in front of me.

Beng is down with fever (not the Saturday night version). Drink more H2O!!

*tap tap tap* I missed the swim.

Cyberkinetic told me about this concert on Friday night, asking me to bring a date along. No worry, man!! I'll bring my date!! How about two? Might be hitting into O.T. zone on Friday night. See how it goes. It has been years since I went to concerts.

It has been another week that zipped by. Clearing stuff, settling problems, getting shot at (flamed), etc ... all part of the job. Some changes here and there. No one knows if its for the better. I do know that my list is longer. But, who cares?!!

I do not know what is wrong. I should say this is not my business. Why should I even bother? Or am I bothered with something else?! Maybe time to go ninja mode? Life....

After last night's tennis, I really like Wilson nSix-One 95 nCode. Since it was Kay's racket, I was able to try it out. It gave a nice feedback when returning shots. Separate note .. Friend ... do take a break.. rest !!! If you are reading this, you know who you are. We want to play with you!! But, first .... you need a good rest. Give yourself a break.

Now, today, I did some catching up on work in the morning, missing the Shape Run support. I went over to the Bugis area to look for MetalSlug 6. But, there were simply too many people crowding around. I guess a champion is at work. Slowly walking over to the meeting point, I waited for the rest of the folks to fall in. When all of us gathered, we walked over to Baghdad Street to one of the Arabic restaurants for dinner. I thought I would be a puffing dragon tonight. I just wanted to try the Shisha for fun. I ordered a maincourse called, "Mansaf", which happens to be some dish that they serve during Palestinian Weddings. It has roasted lamb with rice and bread. I like the sauce. The Arabic Iced Tea I ordered was so-so. Our order of bread and sauces was quite nice. On an average, I think the service of the restaurant is not that fantastic. Eventually, after our dinner, we still did not try the Shisha. We did go over to another cafe for some Teh Tarik. Ripley showed us some brochures on all Marathon runs, from what she collected at her recent Marathon expo. We had a great time at the cafe! Noisy!! That is us!

Something that I came across on a T.V. programme today, mentioning about a couple traveling around the world, using a vintage car. They went to the factory or the place that produced the car and had Alaska Husky dogs to pull the car at certain places. The wife even gave birth during the journey of exploring the world. The car did break down (which car does not?) and had to be fixed. However, each time, they were able to get it up and running. The man related his journey of traveling around to life (not sure if I get all his exact words). - "Traveling around the world in this vintage car is the same as anyone's journey in life, isn't it? Hiccups like car breakdowns do occur. We overcome those problems and get on with our trip. It is the destination that matters. Looking back, it is the ups and downs that makes our whole journey interesting.". How true.

Tired. I think this has been going on and on. What Kitty said is always true. I still have to face it and smile.

Couple of the runners are down with flu. Get well guys!! You know who you are! VitC .... more!!

No run for me tonight. I watched Pirates of Carribean: Dead Man's Chest with the guys! Aye! The show had an abrupt ending, signaling a part 3. The fight scenes are okay to me. I enjoyed the company tremendously. Great to see Ripley after her marathon. Salute!

I had a little walk before the movie and I found a suitable oven, approximately $89. I do not need an oven that bakes for an entire village!! But, still.... I did not manage to spot a good ice cream making machine.

A song I heard from radio...

Artist: Christian Bautista
Title: The Way You Look At Me

No one ever saw me like you do
All the things that I could add up too
I never knew just what a smile was worth
But your eyes see everything
Without a single word

[Chorus]
Cause there's something in the way you look at me
It's as if my heart knows
You're the missing piece
You make me believe that there's nothin'
in this world I can't be
I never know what you see but there's
somethin' in the way you look at me

If I could freeze a moment in my mind
It'll be the second that you
Touch your lips to mine
I'd like to stop the clock
Make time stands still
Cause baby this is just the way
I always wanna feel

[Chorus]

I don't know who you are
I feel different in your eyes
All I know is it happens every time

[Chorus]

The way you look at me

From Lyrics

Yay! We are in for Genting Trailblazer! Team Last Man Standing comprises of SV and me. Team Podium which is TLR and IMD will be there to rock the arena. I think Team Last Man Standing better stand back.

Marathon registration is here soon and I am pretty excited about it. Not being able to do a marathon for a few years *bummer* Don't talk about what had happened....

But, I have been looking around for a pace tag and I found two that I really like.

Runner's World South Africa and Ottawa Run

Each has its good points. I like the pace band from Ottawa. It can even do a walk / run - walk breaks pace band. Cool! One of the more, if not, most flexible pace tag makers I have seen so far.

I saw Paris Hilton's Stars Are Blind music video on MTV Channel the other day. Sorry to say that I did not find it to be anywhere near a thumbs up. So many better music videos out there. But, honestly, the first time I heard the song, I did not think it was her singing.

I told myself, I want to run after work. I really wanted to. Just to psyche myself, to distract from work. I enjoyed the run even though it was a really short distance.

Chin-ups are like yawns. Contagious by nature.

Searching through what to make this weekend. Food therapy!

No, not that I am having a flu. This is just not the Monday Blues and it is a Tuesday. But, these two days, work really sucks. I have written an essay on what is happening these two days and have decided to trash it. It is annoying, pisses me off and yet amazing for the whole story. That is work. I have absolutely no idea.

I know Shutehelup is having a bad day today too! Remain cool, my friend! Regardless of what is happening at work, I still had a good run today. It was great meeting up with Novaflux, after his long absence since the last Teh Tarik session. Since Divey is having some problems with her ITB, I covered her along the way. She did well and stopped for a recovery walk when we were nearing to the end. I hope she recovers. Speedy recovery! Tiwazz was covering Novaflux and Roonz. Today, we celebrated AngelicaWonders's birthday! We had three cakes. Yes. Three. The most sinful run so far!

Come to think of it. Am I always going too fast in my runs? Need to re-assess.

Opps.... I think it was not a Bhutan documentary on the NGC. Hm... I am quite positive I heard Bhutan. Or was I day dreaming?

My Landreth II is hitting 400km. Can I buy a Cumulus VIII soon, pleeeease?

I came across this song on the radio and decided to look for it on the web for its lyrics. This song, by Weird Al Yankovic, is really hilarious. I am bursting into waves of laughter, after hearing this song. I have always enjoyed Weird Al's songs. He is doing a parody of James Blunt's song, "You're Beautiful". Surprise!! Weird Al Yankovic is providing this mp3 free on his website! Cool!

Artist: Weird Al Yankovic
Title: You're Pitiful

My life is brilliant

[What, was I too early -
Oh, sorry, should I -
Do you want to start over, or -
Keep going - okay… now, now?]

My life is brilliant
Your life’s a joke
You’re just pathetic
You’re always broke
Your homemade Star Trek uniform
Really ain’t impressin’ me
You’re sufferin’ from delusions of adequacy

You’re pitiful
You’re pitiful
You’re pitiful, it’s true

Never had a date
That you couldn’t inflate
And you smell repulsive, too
What a bummer bein’ you

Well you just can’t dance
And forget romance
Everybody you know still calls ya
Farty pants
But you’ll always have a job
Well, I mean…
As long as you still can work that Slurpie machine

You’re pitiful
You’re pitiful
You’re pitiful, it’s true

You’re half undressed
Eating chips off your chest
While you’re playin’ Halo 2
No one’s classier than you

La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la loser

You’re pitiful
You’re pitiful
You’re pitiful, it’s true

Your dog would much rather
Play fetch by itself
You still live with your mom and you’re 42
Guess you’ll never grow a clue

Well, it just sucks to be you

I got this from Chris Pirillo's web.

After a great swim, which Renohtaram joined us, we found that his strokes are better! He is able to swim a longer distance. We did some catching up over dinner as well. After our dinner, I went home to ... .. change the toilet seat in my parents' room. Yes, I am Mr. Handyman. I am not going into the details.. but anyone wants to shake my hand? *evil smiles*

I feel weird without music. I feel lost. Shall not go there I am down with just one rechargeable battery. The other piece was totally ruined. Well, it happened like this....

I recharged my battery, leaving the batt in the charger and I carried on with my work. When I noticed that the charger light went off, I touched the batt. It was cool and I happily inserted it into my key pouch. Not too long after, I felt a radiating heat from my pocket in my pants. It felt like a shooting star or something. When I took felt for the heat, it was coming from my key pouch. It was the batt, disintegrating in heat. Fortunately, the key pouch was holding up well. I cannot say the same for the battery. I could have burnt my key pouch or set my pants on fire. *feeling silly* Must be work.

Till I buy rechargeables again... those shelf batts will do for now. Do your job, put me to sleep now.

Bhutan will be on National Geographic channel tomorow at 11pm. Catch it on T.V.! Oct .. Nov ...

I had a great time playing tennis with Alvo and SV this morning. While playing, I saw parachutes for the rehearsal and it reminds me that Roentgen is nearby, "suffering". Alvo was getting better after some strokes and I think he enjoyed the game in the later part. Ooops, poor Meteor had to work.

We were soon joined by Charmane and SuperBoy after the area run. Where's Nemo and Taz? I thought they were suppose to come? After 3 hours of racket swinging action, we bathed, changed and went for our lunch appointment with Meteor. We passed Venezia gelato italiano while looking for the Mizuno shop. Rewarding ourselves, Alvo and Meteor shared a dark chocolate gelato while I had a scoop of mango and lemon each. They tried the lemon gelato and all of us gave a thumbs up. Yeah.... someone labeled me a pig. Oink.

We walked around Asics, Mizuno, Times book store and Planet Traveller. Some of us took the chance to register for Mizuno run. I spotted the Trans Siberian railway route, Nepal Langtang Trek, Inca Trail / City - Machu Picchu, etc. All of these are in the pipeline. *sweat*

Most of them headed home and I dropped by at a supermart to look for Arborio (Risotto rice). The 1 Kg pack seems to lack of quality. For the same price, another 300g package seem to have better quality.

These 2 nights have been a really meaningful session to me, personally. I have learnt more from each organization in what they do for their beneficiaries. I even got to know the lady, I wrote about sometime ago, is from one of the beneficiaries. Imagine their mental strength.

I can do ad-hocs volunteering work. But, most organizations do not look forward to that. With my work nature, it can be difficult. I always believe that there is more to life than just work. Lost the meaning in life?

Wondering about the diet of runners all this time? Mystery has been solved.

Just some of the reasons we give to reward ourselves for running the distance.

Bala says that he wants to give a treat tonight. Since, YMother is not working today, Bala wants our party of five went for a good stall nearby for a good dinner. I promised him that I will be back around 7.30pm since Karloong and Gambit will be back around that time too. I grabbed my running shoes and headed towards SP Track. Once I reached the track, Carine spotted me and waved. Since she was going to do a slow session today, we chatted and ran together. Tiwazz and Cheow12 were already warming up. Sotong reached the stadium too. Once Sotong changed and walked to his car to dump his stuff, I was ready to head back home. I bade the group farewell and ran back home just in time for a quick shower before the dinner.

Bala ordered fried fish you-tiao with mayonnaise, sizzling hot plate venison, Thai style sweet and sour fish head and stir fry vegetable with garlic. It was a fantastic dinner and it is not that expensive. Just $43. A good run and satisfying meal as well. What more could I ask for? I am contented to spend quality time with them.


I went to return Takonta (yes, I brought her to almost every long trip) to Chini and 54Brownie. Thanks guys!! It has been a long time since I wanted to return the pack! They wanted to see my pictures for the trip. But, the two DVDs are still with my colleague.

Madness. My 15 days worth of pictures in Tibet is 1292, after selection and uploaded to albums online. Now, the next two hurdles would be naming titles for each photo and typing out my 15 days worth of events and experience.

Today, we had a bigger group and we are starting to think about safety (running with cylume sticks). I was covering the longer route but running with PuayHian and AiChai initially. When it was time to split, I took the longer route and left PuayHian to AiChai's care. Yesterday was Andy's birthday and the running group celebrated with him today with 2 cakes. I met a few new faces today too. I have not seen Dream, DO, Divey and JamesSoh for quite some time till today.

Bug wanted some cheesecake. Too bad!! It is not available today, pal! The jellies that I made had a bad source, the sugar cane juice. To be on the safe side, not to make anyone LS.

I loaned two books on Risotto from the library. The Cheese Risotto and Peach Risotto dessert looks yummy. *rubs palm* My preciousssss ... oops .. Deliciousssss

Monday, a starting day of another work week, promises more meetings, challenges, testings and Emailing. I was fortunate to catch Kay for a quick lunch since I was around his area. Sorry pal!! I had to rush off. I promise a more relaxed 1 hour full stretch lunch appointment the next time! Catching a cab to my meeting venue, I did not want to be late since there are a lot of parties involved. My bud, Beng, was also present. Guess what? Apparently, the person who set this meeting had totally forgotten about it. No wasted trip! We tried to cover whatever issues or points before our next meeting. I was fortunate enough to grab a cuppa with Beng at the end of our meeting. Probably too into our work, I forgot to grab him a piece of cake since its his birthday today! Happy Birthday, Beng!

Great to have friends like them.

Ending my work for the day, I went off for my swim with Cheow12, Tiwazz and IMD. Just finished making the desserts, I hope they turn out well. Made something simple. Watch out, weak stomaches!

Phoebe has tempted me with Genting Trailblazer 2006 race. Anyone gamed? Time to get down right dirty! I mean your shoes, getting caked with mud. Don't think I want to go for Aquathlon if I get a team member for Trailblazer race.

Milk Run stands for Mainly I Love Kids.

Of course!! What is the run, if it is without kids?! There were all around! But, the kids started after our 8.4km wave. Lots of us were there too!! TLR, Taz, Bug, Run3, FBB, Charmane, Cheow12, Violet, Roonz, BodyCompact, Tiwazz, TeeLee, Bee, Sotong, SuperBoy, Ronnie, Dasher, Meteor, Alvo, Tekko, ALD, Shutehelup and Seal. Did I miss out anyone? I hope not! The heat wave at the run today was torturing!! Though there were water points, I sticked to my trusty CamelBak. I don't exactly know what the temperature was. But, I rather not be a victim to heat exhaustion. I adopted the run/walk strategy and drank more water. Along the way, I saw a heat exhaustion case. Nearing to 600 metres away, Shutehelup caught up with me and we chatted about having Ice Kachang after our run. Not too far away, we spotted another heat exhaustion case where there were two guys attending to the fallen runner. I put my CamelBak under the guy's head, while Shutehelup lifted his legs to let blood flow back to his head. Someone went to get medical help. When they arrived, we strapped him on a stretcher and evacuated him back to the medical tent where the team dripped him on IV solution. Shutehelup said we did a 8.1km run and 0.3km stretcher dash to the end point. LOL!

Crossing the end point, we shooked hands congratulating each other on a job well done! We gathered with other runners and took our deserved Isotonic drinks and bananas. While some of our guys went back, the rest of us went for dinner and desserts before heading home. I had a disappointing Kim Chi ChiGe. Difficult to get one good sample nowadays, eh?

It has been a slow, torturing run under the sun today. But, it was a good one. Maybe there should be more to educate the kids to drink more water when it is so hot today?

On the other hand, other guys like AiChai, SV, Nemo, SxuanJing, Andy and Gentle did well at the OSIM Tri today at EC!! W00t!!! Not forgetting the support team pom pom boys and girls too!

Last night, I went to attend my cousin's grandma's wake. As kids, I often go over to their grandma's place since we kept close contact as cousins(Don't ask the past). She was one kind soul. She loved us like I am one of her grandson. My cousin's seconday school friends came too. I have not seen them for ages. One of them even got himself a Brussels wife. That was when my cousin started his marketing campaign.

"Anna, can you introduce some European ladies to my cousin? 'Cos he really need to go out and date, right?"
LOL *Shakes head*
"He does a lot of ....."
"He can ....."
"He is good in ....."

Bro, I have no money for marketing funds.
Moreover, there is nothing wrong with our local ladies! Why look overseas? No disrespect or pun intended.

Now, back to the wake. My cousin never regretted spending those special moments with her grandma all the while. His only regret would be that she is unable to attend his wedding. I am sure it is hers too.

Wait... this post is titled Superman Returns. Okay. I shall move into that. I brought my old man to watch Superman Returns today. He has not been to a cinema for donkey years. Just in case, he catches a cold, I brought along a pullover and he said I am exaggerating. LOL. We watched the movie with JT, KickJazz, SV, Superboy, Cosmic_wind, Nemo and TeeLee. This killed the speculation of me requesting an extra ticket for "special guest", when my dad appeared. I sent my old man to Tiong Bahru to catch his train before collecting my MILK run race pack. Since the guys are still there, I went back to meet them for drinks and then for dinner. Great to see Roentgen joining us even after he touched down. Tired doc. FBB popped by too!

Comrades!!! Good luck to those going for their OSIM Tri-s!!! Race safe.

I need an oven too... I have been talking about it and I just cannot find one that I am happy with. Getting depressed soon.. Boo