Limping Marathon Runner

Going off tomorrow. Be back real soon. I miss running already. I would be doing a couple of FRs for some of the parties interested in visiting this place.

Enough events for today. Take care, Philip.

See y'all soon.

That Tatonka backpack makes me look like a puny little midget.

Ha! Blur Ling is heading to Borneo, this time.

Psyched and ready to go! Lhasa is going to be 13 deg celsius and EBC is -1 deg celsius. Brrr.

Assisting in a seminar yesterday, I came across this great mix of colors. Such a thoughtful layout by the staff. They instantly looked like gummies in bottles. The chocolate muffins are really nice. I was too busy eating them to take any picture. Happy loading mini french loaves and muffins, I was pretty full. I was suppose to meet Philip for lunch since his office is nearby. Hence, Philip took his lunch, after which we had some ching tng and ice kachang.

Headed back to office, I had to clear several queries and follow ups. Time is not enough. I had to settle the entire set up for the next seminar, which was crucial.

Don't ask me why, I am once tasked again. Some ... afraid I guess. But, I am pretty happy that I made it work today. PM is totally appreciative, I could see.

What early bird price is $88 for an O.D.? Must be one expensive bird.

Raining Snoopies and Garfields
One bloody big downpour on Monday. About to meet EndlessTrail and Saya, I was caught in the rain. Not that bad. I was still able to meet them for a short dinner. We were a little late to change some currencies.

Damn. I should have gotten a DSLR for this trip. No choice. Vitamin M, far from enough.

I managed to collect our passports from the Embassy. Excellent service.

Ready to do some high altitude running and not sweat a single bit? Crazy.

Last night, another better player to grill me. myFTOgpx.
"You're not getting younger. When har?"
"What? You think I'm some Prince of Persia?" (Any gamer out there?)
"Waahahahh. TMD. Anyway, I think XBox 360 has a new Prince of Persia game."
"Ehh... I should be the one who should divert your attention, right?"
(^_^)

Great friends around me started offering their gears when they heard about my upcoming trip.

Thanks Chini and 54Brownie for the backpack loan. They always prevented me from buying one. 54Brownie was saying I brought the backpack to more places than she has been to. LOL. Cool! They passed me some heat packs too, asking me to finish them off.

Thanks Mickey for the outer shell. Damn.. .. moreover, its a new piece. Apparently, he bought it last time and did not wear it at all!! So, I'm the first user for his virgin set. *Touched*

1 more week, when I can drop it all. No phone calls, SMS-es, E-mails, requests, questions and the list goes on.

I was out with my cousin having dinner.. I sense interrogation in progress. Stuff like, am I seeing someone. Would it be time for me to start seeing someone,etc. Scheming! Wedding bells for him soon too... he seems cool about the whole event, which it should really be in that way. Weddings are to be fun and lightheart. We chatted over dinner, with him sharing that he has been looking for love for over 0 years. That.. I did not know. But, everything has been planned in life. Meant to be that way. All is going well for him now. Damn.. I ate Tempura Udon and totally forgot that we were near Waraku Restaurant.

Met EndlessTrail and Saya a while ago. Crazy things at work again. Running around to set up my stuff and had to dump everything before heading off to get my picture taken for a Visa. No time to lose. I took a cab to meet up with them. EndlessTrail and Saya were already there. Saya offered me a KitKat. "Yeah, I really need something like this. But, don't tell me that's for dinner." We are suppose to eat bread from now onwards and I think KitKats cost more than bread. Luxury goods. We filled all information needed and passed them to EndlessTrail. Finishing the chocolates, we have these two, throwing KitKat wrappers at each other. I think I'll be entertained during the trip. "Dinner, shall we?" Saya protested about having fastfood. That was out. Food courts, I suppose? I had korean food (I hear people saying, "Again"). We chatted a while more before looking around for a pair of sunglasses for Saya. No luck. Nothing that she fancies.

Did I say I'm back in the office now? I'm not explaning. Don't ask.

I hope I can crash out tonight, sleep properly.

I had a real lousy day yesterday. Not exactly, for the entire day, just the second half of the day. I screwed up at work. But, at 7pm, I went ahead to meet up with those who are going for the trip. Apart from EndlessTrail, I have not seen anyone before. They had a previous meet up session, settling some items (when I could not join them). These guys are great. A whole funny lot. They went on and on about the donkey joke. It was great to have a professional photographer traveling with us too. I'm sure we will have some quality shots then. I can't seem to find my travel bug yet. It is somewhere in my pocket. But, it's just isn't biting yet. Probably work stuff is still bugging me. I have to drop it and have a great time for the trip ahead.

By then, I hope to find the lost part of me.

Phew! I had a hard time arrange my personal documents. Let's see. I'm only done with one area out of five or six that I have? Moreover, I am only 50% done in this one single domain. Well, at least, some of it is tidy! However, many thanks to SH because the template was really useful. Buddy has done a really good job.

Gang4 asked me out for dim sum, which I was not really that interested. Sure, it is at the good old
Red Star, old school dim sum. Today is Sunday! It will be madness. I can't get to eat things that I want to and I have dozens of people pushing around me. Not today. Gang4 has bought me something from Taipei. Nice!

I don't know what is happening. But, I'm getting insomnia again. I can roll over and over again in bed like a prawn in Quaker Oats, getting ready to be fried. There is nothing that I can do about it.

Right now, 2.4km for me is just fine.

Seeing the pictures of runners having fun with their runs is not going to help my morale, especially when I am working on the weekends. Hey, a good thing that they are having fun! Looking forward for that day to come when I can run again, with less work, or when I have reached that stage.

What's worse? It raining outside and I am in the office.

Most things happening a little too fast, in which I did not pen them down. They were thoughts. Most areas require my attention. In an instant, 24 hours seem not enough. Missing out on runs recently, left me really demoralised.

OMO the way to go?

Nothing I want to talk about when everything is work.

Sleep and jerk is back again. I just caught the description of "Sleep Paralysis" which seem to fit my condition.

Stuck again in office for who knows how many weekends, Nemo MSN-ed me on bikes. AHhahhhahh... you got the wrong guy, man. There is only so "much" knowledge I have. LOL! Still..... I tried my best in whatever I might know.

I have been neglecting my precious... I know. My bikes look really slack. Plus .. . looking at the possibility of cycling to work. Difficult I would say.

Next week to give them a spin? I think my work will spin me first. Lucky for me, today was rather well spent with 3 separate stuff settled.

What!!! I received a call from Sam again. This fella always called from Aussie trying to mimick some down under dude with his "D'day mate!" greetings. We had a brief chat. Okay, he's gonna be back in town again. Same old thing, asking me ..

"Wait... Are you attached?"
"What?"
"What the *beep* are you waiting for?"
"You *beep*-ing silly *beep*hole!!"

This fella hasn't replied my email like .... for 3 years? Maybe his mail server is not set up yet. Probably the MX records are screwed and his Emails got lost in cyberspace.

This morning, the guys went for a BG run. I trust that they had a great time! I think it'll be a while before I can join them again.

It is not over yet. There are more work to be done. I can only catch a short break now.

Another colleague of mine did have a very interesting signature.
"We might not enjoy result created by others, but we could create result."

Objective focusing always bring one to places. Quit wrestling with the pig now.

Just like diseases or poverty, it is a constant fight.

On a lighter side of life, 2 recent purchases, taking a shot at retail therapy. A 1Gb thumb drive (need for work where files are getting bigger) and a 1Gb MP3 to replace my dead Discman. It has FM receiver too! Great!

I thought the world is going to change. Well, at least my world to begin with. I thought I would not go down without a fight. I laid down my cards, almost to writing a program to reason out, all the combinations and possibilities. It seems that the odds are stacked. I have no idea if among all these, things will allow a sail though.

On the other hand (a totally different matter), it is perfectly alright to harbour negative thoughts in one's head. Negative does not necessary equate to evil. Allow negative thoughts to work for you and not against you. Take gravity for example. It can work for or against you. Can't stay more than 10 seconds off the ground due to gravity. Aeroplanes. Simple answer. You build something to overcome your negative thoughts. Channeling negative thoughts to drive me to places beyond my reach. Don't ask me how I can do that. Sorry, trade secrets.

Now, back to negative thoughts.
Taboo word of the day. Update.
How to use it?
"Let me update you."

Now, let me just reach for that nail and drive it through your coffin.

Philip, I have the perfect avatar for you.

Santorini. This is one place I would like to go. Holding hands, walking in the streets, enjoying the gradient blue sky and pristine clear waters. Touching white walls as we stroll along. Picture taken from here.

Now, April Fools' isn't such a bad day. Yes, I taken the bait from a friend who asked why did I not reply the SMS. Puzzled, I replied, "What SMS?". Next, message ... "Happy April Fools!". Thanks.

Enough about being a fool for the day.

Waking up early in the morning and heading over to the Esplanade / Merlion, I am doing a short 5km and reaching Geylang to have some dim sum. While at the Esplanade bridge, I took some pictures of the sunrise. Right down below, I noticed a jogger signaling out to me. "Pssst.. psst". *Surprise* It was Kops21! He was doing his ninja training this morning. Soon, Le_Charlotte, Philip, Tiwazz and Sotong reached the starting point. We did some warm ups and took a pretty fair bit of pictures along the way to Geylang. A lot of other joggers jogging in the opposite direction. A very nice morning. Reminiscing those days of schooling, during my younger days in Secondary School, this is an area I was familiar with. I even took a snapshot of the bus stop that used to alight for 4 years.



Dim sum. Our mission for the day, right? We gathered around the table ordering several variety at one go. Definitely not the best. But, rather good standards. I really wanted some Chinese tea. There was none. First time taking honey lemon tea from some plastic containers. Weird but interesting. Once finishing the dim sum, we went to look some desserts. Soya bean milk. The shop that we wanted to go to was not open for the day yet. Okay. We have a backup choice. By then, after the dessert, we were all full and everyone is having one big P. Even Tiwazz's 6P was gone.

Care bears, Stare!!! I'm sure you can't find these anymore.

Schedules are up to next Friday. y-a-y. How encouraging. I'll probably be dead by then.

Too many things happening around.

Too many things till I'm not who I am, was, or want to be ... anymore.

It seems like a burn-out at work. From zero to fully packed schedule to next Wednesday, where I need weekends to explore work stuff.

I need to stick a pencil behind my ear and ponder behind my virtual work desk.
Trying to find my directions.

I can still read. Maybe I should learn to cast haze. Aquiring skills in my cave.

Another late night, as like other races, I slept late and woke early. IMD and his dad were kind enough to give me a lift to the race site. Thanks! Upon reaching we saw DO grabbing some seats while we proceeded to the registration. While going for our body marking, I saw latic_acid with the group, Cyberkinetic, Skyver1810 and Rainbow. Sxuanjing was around too and all of us took some pictures before I spotted Sumiko. Along the way, Alvo and Meteor appeared too. The rest of the support crew like SportVenturer, Tiwazz, Astrogirl soon arrive with Kops21 who is also taking part today.

Race Report

Seems like it was time for the first wave, where we gathered to watch them flag off. I noticed this year's swim leg was much better organised than last year. Straight line as compared to last year's triangulation is definitely a much easier swim. *Horn sound* The first wave went off. I saw a lady who jumped into the open sea and exited out again. She seemed to be having some problem. Nevertheless, she went back into the race. Spotting some mistakes that the first wave made, I tried to spot the buoy rather than using the lines during my flag off. IMD shouted, "Scared already!", when we were the last to enter the water. Within a few minutes into my swim, I heard people shouting for help already. I looked around to see if the person was near me, in case I need to render help. It was a good 10 meters away and several swimmers there already waved to the safety, I continued ahead. The first length of my swim, IMD was spotted around me most of the time. I got a really bad bite by sea bugs I suppose, on the first lap. On the return leg, I couldn't see him. At one point, I thought I actually swam into the hull of the boat. I felt a strong wham on my head. Practically stoned for several seconds before I realised that a swimmer popped out of no where with his breaststroke kicking. He was graceful enough to wave a sorry hand signal and I waved back. I checked my directions at every 6 - 8 strokes but this still happens. Oh. What to do? As I completed my swim leg, I recalled being elbowed aside, swam across, leg pulled at or bulldozed. Sigh.

Tiwazz spotted me with IMD's camera as I exited from the swim and into the transition area. I took my time to change and rinse my mouth before catching Cyberkinetic on my way out.



Just within 500m away from the transition, IMD was already on his returning leg after the first loop at the hawker. He shouted out to me. When I turned, I saw Jennifery and then Cheow12. Cheow12 waved and shouted "Bala!" too. Once I crossed back to the transition area, Eunice was already crossing the finishing line! Good job! She was looking strong too. Penguin was just 600m behind Eunice. Our support team (Astrogirl, Alvo, Meteor, Renohtaram, Violet, SportVenturer and Tiwazz) were waving and cheering when we passed by. Further down, Sxuanjing was cheering anyone who passed her. A wonderful personality, she has! She was still around, cheering when I passed her and heading near to the finishing line. During the run course, I saw PS Chang, Phoebe and Kops21 too. In fact, my leg did hurt when I hit the first 1km. I had to control my pace, stride and perform 15min run / 2min walk to come back in good running form. I was wondering where Mythos was.. and there he came popping out at the finishing line where we grabbed a cup of ice cold Milo. I showered and changed to my new event Tee where I bumped into Phoebe and we had a short chat. She told me she got kick in the face. Owww.. I read about Kops21 being kicked in the groin too.. Double Owww.. Like what IMD said, its a whirlpool at the buoy's turning point.

Most of us went to take our lunch before meeting up with the runners doing the World Harmony Run that was happening on the same day. Kops21, SportVenturer, Hedgehog and DO joined in the run. After lots of hand shakes and photo taking, they continued their run with the WHR torch and flag. Tiwazz, Renohtaram, Meteor, Alvo and I went off to Suntec where we had more drinks. I was really thirsty. We chatted ... and most of us were really tired. Lazing in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf was great and most already had sleepy eyes. While all of them soon went for some gym class, I could hardly endure pass 5pm. Headed home.. I caught sight of a few people stealing glances at me dozing off even while leaning near the door in the train. Unsightly! No choice.. seats were all taken.

News broke out that today's race has claimed another life. Our deepest condolences go out to the victim's family.

Ah ha! I forgot.. yesterday, during my D-Day, I received a news from a new born baby's father. Jimmy is dad now. Congrats.

Finally, ending a D-Day event (IMHO), I could afford a little more time. No time to lose, I need to get a T.V. set. It has been dragging for quite a long while. Too long. Bala has been putting up with the volume that goes high and low like a rollercoaster.

Before hitting the bus for Orchard, I went to return my DVDs and borrow another 3. This time, it was The Last Samurai, Flight of The Phoenix and My Best Friend's Wedding.
I dropped by Borders upon reaching, browsing some magazines and books before leaving. I went to the library and could not find what I want. I shopped around for my T.V. set and was caught in between a tube T.V. or a LCD T.V.. After all the considerations of dimensions, space and size, I opted for an LCD. Tough choice, if you ask me.

Not possible to bring the T.V. on train, I thought a cab would be the only choice. I was really hungry then, close to point of passing out, I took my dinner. Then, it was time to head home.

Tomorrow is Biathlon race day. Good luck, guys!

A late night and really afraid that I could not wake up in time, I set 2 alarms. But, for whatever reasons, it took me a while before I slept.

Reaching the training area slightly earlier, I thought of doing an email. But, I was caught by a surprise when an good attendee who came early. Most of them were half and hour late. Not a good practice, but it seems like a common culture here.

Browsing through the materials, I feel that they did not receive the quality as much as I would like to deliver. For that, I have to do something about it not only for myself but also for others.

Timing could not have been better that 20 minutes after attendees have left, there was a power trip. The whole floor was out except for emergency exits that lit the surrounding. I felt better after chatting with the folks in the office there.

ZhuiTeLun wanted to play at the posh place again. Agree. The place is nicely done with good equipment and music. Not for those who wants to do practise shots there. There are cheaper places to groom your own skills.

ZhuiTeLun and JapBoy have always been asking me out for games. But, due to recent hectic schedules, I have been turning them down. Especially with ZhuiTeLun recent Lazik op, he has been eager to pit his skills against mine since I am a lousy player that he can topple. I was really tired and wanted to go home. I thought I might as well go meet them since it has been some time too. ZhuiTeLun took beer and I think that caused his balls to go pinball. He even took another colour ball as the cue ball. Lazik don't do colour correction? It was a good session, several good shots and attempts and games played. My nose getting snuffled with the air condition breeze and I smiled to myself.
Wanting to get home soon really too, I ended the game early and did not have any night snack or dessert with them. Bala wanted me to get something for him at the interchange. I was out cold on my way back home in the train. I guess I was too tired. I spoke non-stop for a day while understanding and amazed by those who could. Trainers? Not easy.

I will remember this day.