Limping Marathon Runner

Back on running again. After ten months in this job, more or less, I know what to expect from my work. Starting to make adjustments so that I can workout more often. TOBB wants to run over at Changi. Hmm... I have yet to run there. Seems inviting enough to give it a try. We went slow, slow enough to accommodate my ITB's threshold. Sea breeze was good. The sky above was dotted with stars. Not much, but that'll do for now. Apart from a rat that ran out of nowhere and the scream that woke me up, I got some calipers treatment as well. At the end of the run, I did receive some rewards like prata with egg, popiah and passion fruit. Yummy. Taking the train back, Z-Monster hit me with a full blow.

I did a mixture of easy 5Cs and up to difficult (my level of difficult) 6A+ routes, that mount to a grand total of 14 climbs last night. The last climb (15th) was not that successful. My arms are okay and was not pumped yet. Some how mysteriously, I could not get pass the 6A+ yellow route. There was a route that I did with a leap of faith. In the past, I used to do a press down and shifting of weight. However, last night, I saw someone leaping. I tried, following his method and it worked pretty well for me. Sometimes, you just have to take a giant step / leap and trust that everything will turn out okay.

Since the long day yesterday, I woke up slightly later today. I spent a hour or so on games and then went on to reading. Lots of catching up to do. Around 3pm, I went to meet Kit-Kat for a discussion and was surprised to see that Setron building has been torn down. Ahh.. a place that holds lots of memories from many people. Ever changing and I guess that's life. Walking around shops in Queensway and I found what I have been looking for in ages. Now, I know where to get them. We went to get dinner across at AV market. Seafood fried rice, sambal stingray and with a mug of Avocado drink. Happy.

Waking at precisely planned time, I got an SMS that says "Are you coming at 8am?". What? All of a sudden, 30mins taken away from me. I grabbed the bare minimum and dashed out of the house. "Coffeeshop, coming?", was the next SMS. I raced to the usual place with no one familiar looking in sight. Wrong info again. When I finally linked up with Kit-Kat and her colleague, BeauQi is said to be at the summit Bukit Timah waiting for us. What?! I re-tuned my expectations to the lowest click.

Upon reaching Bukit Timah, with toilet breaks, shoes changing and what-nots, we started walking. I quickened my pace since I wanted some cardio effect. At the short cut steps to the summit, BeauQi was on her way down and said she needed to use a washroom urgently. Guess we'll meet at the bottom? I proceeded to the top. On the way down, I was lead to a path that I have never tried before. I had always wanted to try out all the tracks, but never had the chance. Strange and I wonder why. Anyway, it was a path with high steps. To me, its like a like gem (for training) hidden in all this glam (if there's any) of making your way to the summit. After all, most of the time, the unbeaten track has much more to offer. I foresee that I will visit this track much more in the near future. Same thing, I picked up pace, often turning back to check two of our sweepers to see if they are still there. No load, pick up pace then. Finally exiting the nature reserve, we took lunch before parting ways.

Ready for my second appointment of the day, I made my way to find our Sport Scientist. Just to help him out, presenting myself as another additional value or number in the statistics sheet. Measuring my weight - precision weighing machine calibrated twice a year, as he said, as good as you can get. He measured my height as well. Next up was body marking with plenty of crosses, lines and dots on my body. The final and most enduring task - surviving the pinch-me-o-measure-me-fats-meter. Hmm, I'm sure I receive lots of pinching, somewhere. Glad to know that I have a pretty standard fat index among endurance athlete (if I'm considered one?), not necessary the lowest. Thanks Philip for the knowledge and it was much fun for me in helping you out.

Lined up for third appointment of the day was a chill out makan and coffee session for a Birthday gal. Some folks couldn't make it. For the rest of it, it was porridge with mixed dishes as our first route - appetizer. We changed to a cozy cafe as our next venue for eat out on finger food and drinks. I had a good time as I have not seen some of these great friends for a while. Around 10-ish, all of us left for home. I had to settle some stuff and only slept around 2am or so. Dead tired.

As Kops21 suggested, all of us woke up and went for a good breakfast at a local coffeeshop. While all of us were still walking like ducks, we managed to find seats and ordered our food. I did not find the noodles to be fantastic but was glad to have something substantial in my stomach. Stazla was right on this. With out packed bags, we made our way to the airport and got back to Senai before splitting up into two cabs heading back home.

Thanks everyone! It was an enjoyable trip!

After our breakfast, there was a bus ready to pick us and others to a town called Tenom for our train ride. It was a day of action with water rafting! We had a short briefing before we stepped into the raft for Padas river. Just ahead, we could see plenty of water movement. The first few rapids already had 2m waves. I can't recall how many times I had to spit the water out. The water was chilly and had a shade of brown. Most of the journey, I was taking the front left paddle position. It was great fun with water splashing all over. Soon, we stopped for lunch where it rained and I was really getting cold. Brrrr.. Rain? Means that the water temperature will drop and higher volume of water? Uh oh. Once the rain stopped, we continued. The second part of the journey was less challenging than the first. There is a stretch of the river where it is just calm where we can just jump into the waters and let the water bring you down stream. Chilly waters? I changed my mind. When it all ended, we transfered to our speed boats and then over to our buses. We changed out of our wet clothing (yes!!! lousy wet clothes feeling) before our bus ride back to hotel. We chose to drop near our hotel for our KFC dinner where fast food has never tasted so good before! Must be the hunger.

Simple breakfast of toast and coffee, the taxi pick up arrived at 745am as our transport to Mount Kinabalu Park HQ office. I got the front seat because I think the rest of the folks would want to hit the ZZZ button as soon as possible. I took the opportunity to get trigger happy. Click click here, click click there. I took pictures of the great mountain as it came on nearer during our journey. Along the way, I guess there is a Volkswagen Beetle club gathering somewhere. We found our taxi in between the long convoy of Beetles. I got lucky and was rewarded for my bravery for sticking my digicam out and taking the shot. By then, all of us (climbers) woke up due to the commotion of the Volkswagens around us, in all possible colors. Passing through low clouds and temperature fell and we enjoyed the fresh air like air condition.

Not too long, we reach the Park HQ office, signed in and took our park pass. While waiting for our guide to appear, we collected our packet lunch and had some small bites before our guide appeared. I saved most of my lunch only to be enjoyed later. Our guide was a 26 year old young chap called Walter. On my way climbing up, I was taking pictures all the time. However at one of the shelter (rest points) one of the fellow climbers who was heading down was hungry and didn't have any food with him. We gave him some to last him on his way down. Around 2km up, I was feeling the heat from my fullpack that contained 3l of water and other stuff. I proceeded along the path slower and most of our group were up ahead. Thanks for those turning back and checking that I am around. Nearing to the mid way or to Laba Ratan, it got pretty misty and I could not take much pictures. It was an opportunity for me to catch up. We finally reached Laba Ratan with Ronnie waving to say that it was just ahead. Yay! We checked in and showered to freshen up. It was showing 10deg Celsius outside. Unfortunately, the heater failed in ladies, had to use our gents. The queue just got longer. Hey, we all have to share, right? We popped into the canteen area and took our well deserved buffet dinner. Ronnie was having a little AMS symptoms. All of us slept at 8 to re-charge with greater challenges tomorrow.

Waking up at 1.30am, Ronnie was feeling better and changed to join us. At 2.30am, our guide signaled us to move off. With a daypack on my back, the long, steep, slippery, and dark path up seemed endless. Certain sections of the path had ropes for assisting climbers up. The ropes tell you everything. It is steep. I lost count of the number of times I had to stop when my lungs grasped for air and my quads screamed for a rest. At 5.30am, we finally reached the summit. I was shivering and cold to my bones! Each one of us brought a drink to the summit and we cheered on with our drinks. I think it was the cold that has driven most of us down. I stayed around a little longer to take a few pictures of the clouds above. As difficult as it was for us to get up to summit, the downward path was no easy task. Foot work!!! I could sense the echo from somewhere. One miss footing and you will be the next Rolling Stones. I was still snapping away (pictures) as and when I have the chance during my way back to Laba Ratan. Once back at the lodge, we were all hungry and had our breakfast before packing up. At 9.45am, we started to descend to Park HQ. Needless to say, my digicam was still working very hard, focusing on flowers and scenery. Right at 500m away from the Park gates, it poured!! I was drenched. I had my digicam and mobile phone under my tee and did a double quick time march. I was soaked inside out. We took a group photo that marked our completion in this challenge before dashing for our minivan that sent us to the cafe for lunch. We were all hungry and ready to feast on a cow. However, most of us just wanted something hot to warm ourselves. I had several servings of mushroom soup because that was one of the hottest stuff around.

On our way back to the Backpacker's Lodge, I slept like a log and woken up occasionally by my SMS alert. I can't tell you how glad I was to see a proper shower room and a chance to get out of my soaking wet clothes. Two thumbs up for a hot shower before heading out for massage for some of them. Three of us had drinks before we met up again for dinner. Ba Ku Teh dinner was fantastic! Yummy. On our way back, we bought some stuff at 7 11 and walked around more for a little digestion before hitting the bed.

Pics? Definitely... wait.

The last time I paid for a Mount Kinabalu trip I did not go. Mind you, I have paid in full, air fare and package. Tough luck. With just a day before my flight, I had a sudden pain in my calf. Taking the staircase is almost like taking my life. I gave it a pass. Hence, I took great precaution before this trip. But, not the night before. I had some drinks with ex-colleagues still late and only slept at 2.30am. Just 1.5hrs of sleep and at 4.30am, most of us started to gather at Rochor taxi stand before taking cab to Senai airport. $60 bucks for the ride. After checking in and boarding the plane, most have slept while I took pictures of the sky with sunrise on the horizon. It was beautiful and after some shots, I went into deep slumber. After touch down and a cab ride to Backpackers Lodge, we checked in and settled the balance with our trekking agency.

In Kota Kinabalu town, we went to take our lunch and watched a movie, Red Cliff, at a nearby shopping mall. I love that movie!! We visited their local wet and dried goods market to look at their normal daily life. Stopping at some road side eateries, we shared a carrot cake snack and had teh tarik elsewhere before visiting a night market. After a short tour in the night market, we stopped at a touristy place for seafood dinner before heading back to bathe and pack for tomorrow's big event - The climb.