D Journey of 1000 Miles begins with a single Step

Sony Walkman® NWZ-W252

2010-11-10T22:33:00.003+08:00

I've never really been motivated to being a portable music players along during runs because I felt perfectly entertained admiring the surrounding scenery, trying to keep a good form and checking time splits to ever considered listening to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 on a portable music player (I suspect everyone would rather listen to crappy Britney Spears*apologetic wave to Britney fans* than Rachmaninoff during a run).

Anyway, I wouldn't want to be entangled with headphone wires when pumping my arms hard to survive the last km of any runs or get nasty abrasions from those arm-band carriers. However, had a chance recently to try out the Sony® NWZ-Walkman W252.

The Sony Walkman® NWZ-W252 is a music player which has everything self contained in the earpiece, joined by a rubberized band which forms a heart-shape when you put the 2 earpiece together.

Designed for music lovers pursing an active lifestyle, the Sony Walkman® NWZ-W252 is extremely portable with its 42g feather weight mass, wire-free and ergonomic design. In addition, its also water-resistant so no worries about getting caught in the rain while out pounding the tarmac.

After a few run, the water-resistence claim has proven effective having enduring heavy showers and rinsing under the tap. I must admit beginning to enjoy ignoring running partners while listening to the music tracks/ podcasts uploaded to the Walkman. Therefore I conclude I will continue with my bad manners >_0

How useful are resolutions?

2009-11-27T15:28:00.001+08:00

I've been slacking in my new year resolution keeping endeavor after the last review end of Q1 2009. Rather than having forgotten about them, I was pondering on a better way to manage this new year resolution thingy.

My observation so far is we get all hype about making new year resolutions during the end of each year and then going about our lives as usual. As the end of year approach again, we proceed to "recycle" these resolutions. In this case, I conclude we'll be better off not making any so we don't get reminded about our incompetence annually.

But for people who recognise the problem and is truely repentant, life guru is here to prescribe the ultimate 3 step (yes, just 3!) foolproof new year resolution fulfilling technique:

Step one - Have just 1 or not more than 3 core resolutions

Wake up! Few people turn their lives around within a short moment and you are not going to be that few (if you are, then you don't need to carry on reading anyway). Instead, aim for small progression regularly; save a dollar a day/dropping your weight by 1-2% each month/ spending 15min each day communicating with you love ones etc. The habit is more important than the magnitute of what you are achieving.

Having 1 core resolutions makes it easier to focus on what's really important. True! There are many areas of we might want to become better but if you can't manage 1, what makes you think you can do 200 or 10 or 5?!

You can have some smaller resolutions concurrently but know which is the priority, the one with a capital P and not hide behind some unimportant, easy to achieve task to justify why you are not focusing on that REALLY important resolution.

Step 2 - Have a system to remind you

Write it down, tell your friends (the real ones who supports you or the so call friends who laugh at you when you don't do it helps) and make sure you are reminded constantly.

Make your new year resolution(s) your desktop wallpaper or paste it at the middle of your mirror, your car dashboard, your wallet photo slot or whereever that can irritate you so don't remove it until you did what your resolution requires.

Ignore that voice that tries to justify why your should change your wallpaper to something pleasant looking etc, you've been listening to that voice for ages and what good has it done for you? If you compromise, don't complain later.

Step 3 - Take Action Quickly

If it's so important, why are you deferring action? Too busy is an excuse, if it's not important enough then it shouldn't be your resolution, Period!

Changing bad habits includes enduring some pain so don't believe you can become stronger, wealthier or more lovable by being comfortable.

Remember.....my formula is perfect, it's the people what's not.

Monday ECP

2009-11-25T15:31:00.000+08:00

Met up with Matthew for some faster pace run before Singapore Marathon on Monday evening despite a slight drizzle.

From Big Splash, we started on 5:45min/km then 5:30min/km then 5:15min/km for 9km until I reach the NSRCC water cooler. It was longer than originally planned since the focus is more on speed during this period.

Bid farewell to Matthew since he need to clock another 5km before turning around and I made my way back to Big Splash picking up pace from 4:55min/km then 4:45min/km then 4:40min/km stopping 1km final destination to walk off the lactic acid.

It was a satisfactory 17km but still slightly slower than what I thought I could achieve. Just hoping I've not peaked.

Quotes to remember

2009-11-16T20:31:00.000+08:00

"Holding on to anger and resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die"

"Don't wait, the time will Never be just right"

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it everytime"

"Any job worth doing is worth doing well"

"Try and fail but don't fail to try"

"The heart that gives, gathers"

"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better"

"Dream as if you'll forever, live as if you'll die today"

Run Log - 2 loops NTU

2009-11-10T22:37:00.000+08:00

Mapped the run on MapMyRun and now I have a more accurate measurement of the distance for a loop of NTU/NIE. Not sure if the 5.4km includes gradient though but was pretty satisfied I could clock race pace at average heart rate of 174bpm considering the result includes the slopes.

Zoot Compression Rx long tights

2009-11-02T22:00:00.001+08:00

Triathletes around the world sees the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii as THE Race. It is also where Zoot Sports was founded in 1983 by Chrystal Nylin; she experimented with sewing triathlon gears that would be most comfortable for athletes who are exposed to the hash conditions out there. Today, Zoot is a leading endurance sports brand carrying footwear and apparels for atheletes around the world.

I managed to get my hands on a pair of their CompressRx long tights from Running Lab which also carries Zoot's range of delicious looking shoes. On first look (and feel), the material is totally different from other compression tights I've tried, the material feels very durable and is able to withstand greater abuse. However, I'm a bit skeptical about wearing this for a run in the afternoon heat of Singapore because of its thickness.

Of course, nothing beats a few proper runs in the garment itself than relying on appearance alone. I manages to fit nicely into the garment based on the recommended size for my build and the zipper located mid calves to the ankles facilitates its wearing rather than having to squeeze your feet past those tiny openings for other brands I've encountered, just be careful if you don't shave your legs while zipping up.

During my runs, I could feel the difference CompressRx offers after about 15 - 20 mins. The garment melts into your legs and becomes a part of them.I could feel the legs seemingly lighter than usual and requiring less effort to maintain pace. In fact I shaved 5 minutes off my usual 90 minutes route during the 1st run with CompressRx even though I clocked a lower average heart rate *disclaimer- there could be other factors like having sufficient rest, weather, improved fitness and mood etc that contributes to the observation

Although the CompressRx felt warmer initially on wearing, concerns about the material retaining heat is not an issue once I ease into my run. In fact, I wore the long tights for a 5.30pm run without complains. The tights drys fast after washing too due to its lightweight PolyPro with anti-microbial SilverTech material for moisture wicking and odor protection.

The CompressRx worn during training also helps to hasten recovery after exercise by improve clearing of blood lactate and reduce muscle oscillation helping to decrease the effects of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) which is the feeling you get after an intense session of exercise usually upon waking up the following day. It doesn't have to be "No Pain No Gain".

More information @ http://www.zootsports.com/pdfs/Zoot_White_Paper.pdf

Tempo at chicken shit road

2009-10-24T20:57:00.001+08:00

Legs were itching so tried out the new tights at chicken shit road. Reached the turn around junction 3 minutes faster comapred to last month. Average heart rate 161bpm so it was quite a good run. Maybe I should go for 168bpm which is closer to race effort for half marathon next.

Memorable sleeping experiences

2009-10-11T13:23:00.001+08:00

1) Void Deck - It was high tide in a canal and exhausted after playing water polo(using a plastic bottle) with a group of friends, we slept under a void deck beside the canal. It was a sunny day and we were contented to be resting in the shade enjoying the breeze.

2) Under a tree - Canoe to an island, played mud war and after a seawater soaked beehoon lunch, a siesta under the shade of a tree.

3) Grass patch - waiting for a friend, me and another friend sat down on a grass patch behind a rather busy bus stop, we chatted and decided to lie down on the grass, placing our legs on a knee height fence. Soon, we were fast asleep.

4) In a Multi-Storey carpark - preparing for a camp the next morning, a group of friends decided to stay overnight at a multi-storey carpark to look after the equipment which were too many to be kept in anyone's home. We suddenly found ourselves surrounded by police at the rooftop.

5) In a garbage bag - In a canoeing expedition round Singapore, we arrived at east coast park on National Day's eve 1994. In our damp attire, the wind was relentless in the night, we took garbage bags and slot ourselves in and hope for the morning to arrive sooner.

6) On a rowing boat - a few friends rowed a boat and drop anchor at West Johore Straits next to the causeway, we sat on the deck, cooked our dinner in mess tins, fish, sang and chat the night away. As we got sleepy, we lay down under the seats next to one another like sardines.

7) Hugging another guy - On Mount Ophir, a thunderstorm descent on us during the night. Inside our poorly contructed tent, we could see the flickering shadows of trees as the strong winds blew on the campfire outside. A downpour followed and water leaked into the tent. Cold and shivering, me and the next guy beside hugged each other to sleep.

Human Spirit - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

2009-10-05T21:13:00.000+08:00

While reading the news article on Rio De Janeiro's winning bid to host the 2016's Summer Olympics, a paragraph on Brazil's current president caught my attention.

It was mentioned Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sold peanuts on the street as a boy, was teary-eyed during the press conference and mentioned he was half-scared by the challenge of preparing for the Olympics. I think the formula of an underdog made good + display of passion + honest enough to admit he probably didn't have the model answer made me curious about the past of this man.

Therefore, I did busybody-ing and dug out some interesting "milestones" of Lula's before becoming president.

- Borned seventh of eight children in 1945, his father left the family and moved to Santos 2 weeks after his birth

- Travelled with mother when 7 years old for 13 days in the cargo area of a truck to Sao Paulo and discovered his father had a 2nd family

- Did not learn to read until 10 years old and quit school at fourth grade

- Started worked as shoe shiner and street vendor at age 12

- Married in 1969 and wife die the same year of hepatitis.

- Ran for presidential office and fail thrice in 1982, 1994 and 1998 before becoming President in 2002.

That's a mountain to climb and read like a movie script. In contrast, most of the challenges we face pales in comparison. If only I have a fraction of his determination and resilience to life's adversities and challenges.

New Year Resolution

2009-10-01T12:32:00.000+08:00

Still remember I've made new year resolutions and I'm sure many other people have made them too. So what has happened since?

Helping your greatest enemies

2009-09-24T17:50:00.000+08:00

On the 1st day of school, your daughter was killed by suicide bombers while buying books. What would be your reaction? Very likely deep sorrow, hatred and revenge comes to mind.

On the other hand, why would these people who you would probably label sworn enemies be blowing themselves up? In this BBC interview, an Israeli and Palestinian discuss their plight and how instead of demanding revenge, are working together for peace and reconciliation.

Pain - the spice of life

2009-09-20T16:40:00.001+08:00

Imagine an existence without pain, whether psychological or physical. Wouldn't that be like eating plain rice for your 3 meals each day. It keeps you alive but without any variety in flavors.

Yucky food exist to contrast good food and vice versa. How do you feel after a painful round of mugging for exams or completing a marathon? So do not avoid pain but accept that it is a multiplyer of your life experiences. Go for the challenges that is most painful, so painful your hair stands and shed a tear just thinking about it, just thinking about it......

FuelBelt - Providing you important hydration

2009-09-18T08:45:00.001+08:00

I finally got a hydration belt and it's none other than a FuelBelt! FuelBelt is a choice of many pro athletes including the current Ironman World Champions Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington. I'm not going to start winning races with a FuelBelt but you get the idea, it's the choice of many top athletes and they must be making an informed decision.

Carrying a hydration belt, it becomes easier to plan for long runs to ulu places without having to worry about water supply, the 4 bottles model has a total capacity of 960ml and with separate bottles, you have a choice of filling them up with different poison like water, gel mixed with water, isotonic and kopi O! :D Of course you can also do the 7-Up/Milkshake/Vodka/Tiger combination but don't blame me for the consequence. I prefer the 4 bottle version since you can always lighten the load by taking out 2 bottles for the shorter distances.

With a small poach on the belt, you can free your hands of the MP3, phone, keys, gels etc although you have to be selective about what you bring. Its a poach, not havesack! The helium 4 model I've got have these comfy looking therm-foam with ventilation holes (I've yet to try them out for a run) while the older endurance model does without them. I've tested the bottles and was able to empty to emptied a filled bottle in 4 squeeze which means no extra effort waste trying to suck the water out, some water bottles I've used, I turned green before I get to the water.

Hopefully the FuelBelt will kick me out from the couch and hit the tarmac more often. We could develop a lovely relationship :) Of course, it also comes in 5 different choice of colors like Lava Black, Classic Red, Surf Blue, Blue and Hibiscus PINK!

Moov Sports is offering a special discount if you mention you're from SGRunners forum (see ad below). Not a member yet? Just hope over to the shop and use their internet access and get registered immediately at SGRUNNERS to enjoy this limited offer ending 30 Sep. The shop is located at Perak Road across Sim Lim Square.

The FuelBelt could be a great compliment to your training for upcoming races or used on race day itself to skip the congested water stations (which pissed me off when they don't hold out the cups for you) + you get to enjoy your choiced beverage.

Trifactor Sprint Triathlon 2009

2009-09-16T23:16:00.000+08:00

Woke up on event morning a little sore because I've gone a little too hard on the push ups few days ago and clocked a game of casual tennis the day before, resulting in abrasion to the toe (ouch!). But you'll never know, sometimes better times are clocked when you're feeling tired at the start but it just melts away as the race goes on so I still have to try my best.

With the swim start for my wave at 10:45am, there's less worry about insufficient rest and bowel movements in the morning. But the late start also meant having to deal with the heat which I always have difficulty coping.

After a lor mee and tea breakfast, drove down to ECP and met up with Hanxiang. Amy was there to give him support :)

While setting up the transition area, did a little familarising by looking for the water point upon coming out from the swim (almost immediately after the beach) and counting which rack to head for when entering transition. Next, multitask with a warm up swim in the sea as well as a pee break (Oops!).

Lining up at the swim start, the wave was not too large so I standed behind the 1st row swimmers and rub some saliva into the googles (revealing all my dirty secrets) as we count down 1 min to swim start.

The swim started well, managed to reach the water with the leaders and stayed with them. After the 1st turn, the leading group of 2 swimmers (at least I saw only 2 unless someone swam underwater all the time) began to gap further. I looked back and there was no one chasing so opted to be conservative and swim on my own steady pace.

Time for the swim was much better than expected, I had planned to conserve energy by focusing on long strokes and gliding but still clocked PB for the 750m openwater swim. Might be due to the short distance from swim exit to transition as the last 750m open water (Tribob Triathlon relay) involves a long run from the beach to handover.

Cycling leg was 3 loops aorund a 6.6km course, the route was shaded most of the time so it wasn't too tough. A nice guy was outside F2 toilet cheering the cyclist (Thanks man! whoever you are). Due to the sharp turn at the end and start of each loop, it's important to take extra care at these bottleneck areas to avoid crashing into other cyclist. Also used the 1st loop to survey a good stretch for a drink, you definitely don't want to be balancing with bottle on 1 hand and cycling uphill. Ego got crushed when a few ladies zoomed pass during this leg....

The run leg is a 5km loop and I tried hard to make up time for the slow bike leg. The run started well and I thought it will be very satisfying if i could maintain a 4:30min/km pace but soon the pace got slower and slower as the drink station seem to be no where in sight.

When the drink station finally appeared, got a little pissed when i picked up an empty cup from the table. Ya! I get pissed when drinks are not cold and no one holds out the cups for you to maintain the running momentum. The 2nd drink station was better manned but it was located when the run is almost ending. The last 200 metres was fantastic as I sprinted with someone to the finish and the crowd went wild.

For an event in its 1st year, the organisers has done well to provide participants with a good experience especially those doing their virgin triathlons. With some minor kinks ironed out, the series will be really value for money and be able to encourage more people into the multi-sports.

Perth City to Surf Marathon 2009 review

2009-09-13T21:37:00.000+08:00

The 2009 event is the 1st time a full marathon distance has been included and thus an ever increasing number of participants this year at ~38,000+. Besides 42.195km, there is a choice of the half marathon(HM), 12km run, 12km walk, 11km wheelchair and 4km run/walk.

The course starts from the Perth CBD and the HM runners will run up Kings Park overlooking the city while FM runners will run along Swan River before looping back towards Kings Park then to the beach. The shorter distances will go straight from CBD to City Beach.

Collection of the race pack starts Thursday on the week of the race at Perth Convention Hall. I managed to get my bib and timing chip in less than 5min upon arriving on a Friday afternoon, so much faster than the Singapore Marathon (~50,000 participants) race pack collection although I should point out no one asked for photo ID for the race bib if you can show the confirmation slip. Signed up for the HM distance with friends as it was a part holiday/part running trip so we want to reserve some legs for sightseeing.

The race expo consist of the usual exhibits by sponsors and merchants. Bought a pair of full length and quad length tights from Body Science Compression at a bargin due to the promotion and also because I'm able to fit the youth sizes.

On race day, the starting point offers a baggage deposit service to transport your belongings from the starting point to the ending point. However, it was a little disorganised as you were provided with a generic bag to put in your stuff and then the bags are dumped in a truck. Sounds like chaos waiting to happen at baggage collection.

I estimate the temperature to be below 10 degree C and was wearing 3 layers of clothing. The HM runners starts 1st at 6:30am and 10min prior to race start, we were shepherd like sheeps through a gate(cage) to the startline. The run started smoothly and there wasn't much of a congestion as everyone started off pretty fast.

The first 2km consist of an incline of about 30metres as we ran up Kings Park. I took it easy at around 5:30min/km pace to enjoy the atmostphere and scenary. As the course started declining in altitude, pace was increased since the air was cool(cold for me) so I needed to warm up a little more due to the breeze.

As we made another big incline near the 7km mark, I began to wonder if I had seen so much hills in the course map when registering for this event. At this point, felt warmer as the sun rises so took off my outer layer and tried looking for a bin to throw it away.

Going up the hill again, the right achilles start hurting until I had to stopped for a stretch after slowing down quite a lot due to the pain. It must be due to the lack of stretching prior to the run and I felt quite embarassed as other runners seems to be making good pace while I had to stop at this early stage of the run. Anyhow, it was a good decision as the achilles felt so much better and I was able to find a bin at around 9km to dump the top away without littering.

Hands now free and slope conquered, I increased pace and ran more comfortably. As the route exited Kings Park and turned to Hay Street, the view was also different. It was like a small town with 1-2 storey shops lining both sides of the road.

While the course is still undulating, the slopes now are short and gentle....until 18km! Some of the runners slowed down to a walk at this stage while i tried to maintain heart rate at <178bpm and kept to a consistent cadence.

Funnily, someone choose to chat with me at this stage when he saw my Osim triathlon tee, we talked about his family, work and Singapore before wishing him a good run and sped ahead. The run originally started on a "smell flower" note but looking at the pace I had been able to maintain, I had decided to try going under 1:45hr.

From top of the slope, it was downhill from there and a quick turn to the right brings you stright to the finish and I managed to complete in 1:41:27hr (Yeah...)

Walking pass the finishing area, you can drop the timing chip into green bins and collect your finisher T and medals from the volunteers. I did some stretching while waiting for my mates to arrive shortly. The weather was perfect as the sun was up by now and temperature in the mid teens!

Since runners from the other categories has yet to arrive, the half marathoners could take their time to walk around and even do a picnic. Apples and drinks were given out and there were also shower point after you collect your baggage. Once everyone arrives, we took a few picture and took the free bus back to the city.

Looking "Kwai Lan"

Group photo with the mates

I personally enjoyed the event and it was a good chance to run at a cooler climate. Volunteers were also very supportive, there were a long line of them holding out the drinks for you as you reach the water station so you could keep up the momentum. There isn't much spectators though, i guess most of the running folks is already running so you get a few people standing outside by the road clapping.

Perth winter trip 2009

2009-09-06T11:13:00.002+08:00

Departure Day

It was a rush on the day of departure with a seminar to attend in the morning. Lunch time was spent getting replacement batteries for my (dinosaur)camera's meter, makan and getting electric socket from a friend suitable for Australia. By the time I got home, had a shower and squeeze everything into the bag, I was running late and took a cab to the airport.

Had trouble checking in at the airport as my last trip to Australia was on diplomatic clearance and there wasn't any stamps on my passport so the counter girl had to make numerous calls and be put on hold while Australia side update my records.

Then remembered I didn't apply for exit permit for this trip and had to search for a internet station to do the neccessary applications. Of course, me and my mates(notice I already started assimilating into the aussie culture?) completed the frantic day by running to the airplane for boarding after they announced our names over the PA :D

Welcome to Perth

On the plane, I was sitted beside a guy who was sneezing (H1N1 alert!) and with his knees encroching into my space *%$#*. Unfortunately (but luckily for me this time), YN couldn't join us for this trip so her seat was empty and I moved over to her vacant seat. We touched down in Perth a little late but just in time to collect our rented car.

The Nissan Tiida had a tiny boot and we had a luggages enough to backpack for 2 months so we put our jigsaw puzzle skills to good use. With superb navigation skills and the assistance of GPS, we arrived at the hostel after driving around for an hour for a ~20km trip from the airport. We celebrated our arrival at 2am in the morning with McDonalds.

Farm Stay

The next morning, we walked to the CBD for brekkie before driving over to Bindoon for a farm stay. Better acquianted with the GPS's reliability, we made it on time at Windmill Farm as Whisky and Soda (dogs not alcohol) came rushing to us as the car
pulled over. Joan then lead us to our "nest".

BBQ lunch was prepared by Milton to fatten the guests so they make good fillings for char siew bao as the place doubles up as a dim sum restuarant (just joking, no char siew baosor dim sums).

The activities in the afternoon involves collecting eggs from the chickens, feeding snowy(the sheep), the cows and pony, horse riding, visiting the orchard (this is not a shopping mall area btw), riding the tractor to feed the sheeps(excluding snowy) and then the kangeroos.

Dinner was a sumptious spread including curry! Chatting in the cosy living room while devouring the food. Then we tried our hands at spinning wool before retiring to the "nest" under the starry skies as we walked back.

Touring Swan Valley & Perth

After a yummy breakfast next morning, we packed up and bidded our gracious hosts goodbye beforeheading back to town. Along the way, we visited the Margaret River Chocolate Company and Sandalford Wines and arrived in time to check into the apartment.

Drove down to the race expo to collect our race packs and then Lunner(Lunch & Dinner) at Northbridge area. Of course we also couldn't miss the night view at Kings Park and so we went risking frostbite and hypothermia. As we admire the city view and night constellations (not bad, i can still recognise the southern cross from sailing days okie), a group of people arrived in a limo and the girls were wearing skirts while the rest of us looks like bak chang *shake head*

Back at the apartment, we ended the night with the Merlot I've bought from Sandalford.

Race Eve

They say its good to take the eve of a run easy and relax. So we R&R by going shopping in the morning and then to Fremantle for their famour Fish and Chips, ice cream and carbo loaded on beer from Little Creatures.

More sightseeing at Fremantle before we head back to city for dinner. Visited Cottlesloe beach on the way back for sunset then to Northbridge for Zi Char dinner + water parade with jugs of water. The runners carbo loaded on steam and fried rice til we almost bursted.

Back at apartment, we prep the gears for race day and had more merlot!

Race Day

Woke up at 4:45am, Sam was snoring like an elephant so we left her alone (Okie...i made that up *surrender pose*) as we washed up and toasted bread for brekkie. Left for race site at 6am and jogged slowly to keep warm along the way.

After depositing Matthew's bag, we walked to the starting line and the run began with helicopter hovering above (Uber/Si Bei Grand!). The route was hilly but the COLD weather probably helped to contain the fatigue as I ran with numbed fingers and toes.

Finished the run in 1:41:27hrs, much better than expected since we've been holidaying more than preparing for this event the last few days. Met up with Matthew and Bose as they came in very shortly and we took the bus back to the city.

After the gang washed up and check out from apartment, the energetic bunnies went for brunch and more shopping. We then showed Sam the running route and then visited some of the beaches by the coast.

Since we're on the 1st day of spring, it was a good reason to visit the botanic gardens and
look at flowers. They say looking at flowers improves your mood and appetite, aids digestion and result in a person looking more attractive. Actually the "they" refers to me and I say it without supporting clinical research so you can believe me but I'm not liable for any damages resulting from you being so naive :) Oops! I digressed....

With the exception of me, the rest of the gang will be leaving at midnight to SG so I checked into a hostel which must be an old barrack for my extra day in Perth. We then
had a nice dinner and chatted til its time for them to catch their flight. I had an early nght too after a long day.

End of trip

Woke up the next morning without the company of my loyal companions over the last few days. Its a mixture of feeling lost and also the freedom of doing whatever i want so I showered and headed for coffee and toast while reading the news.

Visited the Museum after breakfast and took lots of pictures and then went for a loop on the free tourist bus and returned just in time to check out from the hostel.

Afternoon was spent souvenir shopping instead of going to the Zoo after I searched in vain for the tram. Carrying bags of newly acquired purchases, I had to dump away some stuff from my bag in order fit everything in.

Arranged for an early shuttle ride to the airport for dinner and setlte into a cosy corner for reading time while waiting for my flight. A memorable trip and ready for more in the future ^__^

Perth Marathon Trip Pictorial

2009-09-04T15:12:00.001+08:00

Shopping in the day

2009-08-24T21:46:00.000+08:00

Weekday mornings are the best time for shopping. No weekend crowd, no lunch rush hour crowd and no congregation of the population knocking off from work. Without the human traffic pushing you along the general direction of travel and enthusiastic sales staff, getting what you need is very much more an enjoyable affair.

Got socks for running today and compression pantyhose. Yes .... p a n t y h o s e ^__^

2 running socks, 1 walking socks

<= Loot in box

How your legs will be positioned if you run too much and get abrasion between the thighs =>

Leg hair poking out

Shoes Review - K-Swiss Keahou

2009-08-12T11:06:00.000+08:00

After Zoot, Newton, Avia etc. K-Swiss is one of the latest brands to hit our shores as running and multi-sports becomes increasingly popular, offering us more choices beside the traditional heavyweights like Asics, Nike and Adidas.

Marketed as a lightweight neutrally cushioned running shoe, the Keahou is not as lightweight as I had expected. While that is a minus for me, I attribute this to ample cushioning provided by the GuideGlide Guidance System and a triple density Superfoam compound to give runners a comfortable ride and a smooth heel-to-toe transition so I will reserve Keahou for those long days of pounding the tarmac.
Available in 5 colours, the shoe cater to your need for aesthetic appeal. After all, when you look nice, you legs goes faster. So you can wear blue for joyful days, red/white for fierce days and silver/grey for thinking days on the run.

The Aosta II outsole promises durability which is difficult to judge after only 2 weeks on the shoes. However, I find that the anatomically correct grooves impresses, providing good forefoot flexibility, helping to reduce sore arches for the feet. If you find yourself being forced to accompany mum/wife/girlfriend on her shopping marathon, remember to wear the Keahou :D

It also comes with "wavy" laces which I only find previously in New Balance shoes. The design holds your shoe laces in place so you won'thave to fret over tripping on untied laces or stopping in the middle of your runs to attend to them.

Overall, the Keahou is suitable for use as an everyday trainer. Scheduled to be available at running lab stores from mid August. You can check out their range at http://www.kswiss.com/cat/52/Men/Sport/Running/Running_Footwear.html

Score -

Forefoot Cushioning : 8

Rearfoot Cushioning : 8.5

Stability : 7

Responsiveness: 7.5

Overall: 7.5

I panicked therefore I ran

2009-08-10T21:43:00.003+08:00

20 days to Perth Half Marathon and average mileage for a week doesn't even add up to a HM distance so took the opportunity this afternoon to clock some circles in the stadium:

15 rounds at 5:20min/km pace
5 rounds at 5min/km pace
5 rounds at 4:20min/km pace
5 rounds at 5min/km pace

The Avia Avi-Lite II was so comfy for such a pace, feet were well ventilated.

Result - dizzy

Osim International Triathlon results and ranking

2009-08-03T17:31:00.008+08:00

Results is out! Did better than expected for swim and run but slower for bike leg.

Mens Individual Category

200m swim - 3:25min

10km bike - 22:27min

2km run - 8:28min

Total - 34:19min

Ranked - 12th

The field is getting more competitive year after year, top 4 for 2009 is faster than 2008's winning time.

First Triathlon - Osim International 2009

2009-08-01T23:01:00.010+08:00

Registration

With the Trifactor Triathlon in September, I thought it would be a good idea to do the Osim International (mini-distance) and practice the feel of transiting from swim to bike to run, especially the cycling part after years of layoff (Not that I was any good in the 1st place).

Race Pack Collection

Race pack collection's at Grand Mecure Roxy Hotel on the 28th and 29th Aug which is pretty unusual for race pack collections to not include at least a Sat or Sunday. At the hotel lobby, there could also be better signage to direct participants as I had to cut through a restaurant from the main lift to reach the race expo (actually in a conference room).

The race expo consist of merchant displays by Osim, Timex, New Balance, Rudy Project and a stall with over-runs of triathlon apparels dumped in a box at discounted price so I got a cycling bib from the box at $30.

Race pack collection was hassle free and the race pack comes with an event tee, race guide and "sponsor goodies"(Brochures and discount vouchers ONLY).

Preparation

Preparation was simple except the swimming trunks I had intended to wear for the event had a small tear at the right butt so to avoid any mishap, i opted for the Pearl Izumi tights and tri top.

Wearing a tri top meant that I wouldn't want to play with fixing the race bib at transitions. We all know that pins are dangerous, especially when your hands are trembling after the swim so I borrowed Wendy's Zoot race belt (PINK colour somemore!) to secure race bib for the bike and run leg.

Race attire

Pumped the tyres and pasted number tags to the bike's seat pole and around the helmet to get all gears ready and since it's a short race, forgo the new shades and hope its over ASAP.

Helmet from Edwin(Ah Boy)

Old poke mountain bike with road tyres

Race Day

Woken up at 4.15am by noisy birds (I hope they don't get their worms) and couldn't get back to sleep so surf the net, washed up and left home for breakfast at 6am. Many stalls at the coffeeshop was not opened yet so settled for char siew bao, half boiled eggs, toast and milo.

After food, stuffed bike in the boot and drove down to ECP. Not much problem parking as I was in the earlier. After going to toilet for some early morning duties, cycled down to race site.

Pretty nice weather

Merchant stalls

Proceed to check in the bike in transition area as soon as I've arrived. Placed bike at bike hangar for 1023 and a bottle of water + towel to rinse and wipe my feet after the swim. 1025 is participating with a cute foldable bike.

Walked around the transition area for a while to remember where to run after coming out from the swim. Next, body marking which has a long queue extending across the field by now.

My swim cap colour is green, not very nice leh. Red, Black or White would look more fierce right? But better than the previous wave la, PINK!

Checking swim cap colour

Meanest Bikes at transition

20min to wave start, went over to the sea for a warm up swim. The sea was pretty rough so a few times when I lifted my head to breathe, sea water smacked into my face.

5mins to start, standed near the startline while some of the more confident looking swimmers squeezed in front of me. Also a guy in Hong Kong trisuit in the same wave just like the previous wave too, seem like quite a few from HK. "Look so pro why come and bully us in this mini distance huh? Should go and compete sprint or Olympic distance mah!"

Once the horn sounded, there was a mad rush to the water. Managed to gain a pretty good entry by skipping 2 waves before diving in, coming out ahead of a few guys who were ahead initially.

For a 200m swim, there was no point swimming too fast since the advantage gain would be minimal over those of similar fitness so I tried to maintain a comfortable pace which allows me to still exit the water w/o jelly legs.

True enough, many struggled to run up the sandy slope after the swim and conceded time they had gained. Was unable to judge how many from my wave is ahead as we had caught up with swimmers from the previous wave already at this point.

At transition, went to row 6 for my bike. Helmet, race belt on then sat down to rinse the grass and sand before putting on socks and shoes. Quickly wheeled the bike out of transition for the bike leg.

The bike loop consist of 2 x 5km loops and being rusty on the bike, I was hopeful to be able to maintain 30kmh for this distance. Forgetting to check my watch at the start of the bike leg, estimated I did 28-30kmh and overtook quite a few road bikes from the previous wave. In the end, I was only overtaken by 1 bike so was pretty pleased.

Dismounting the bike for the run leg, I had some trouble finding the bike hanger because the other side didn't have the prominent row numbers you find coming in from the swim so I had to look at the tiny piece of A4 size labels which states your numbers to determine where should I turn in. Organisers could have done better here la, what's the reason you put row numbers on 1 end and not at the other?

After hanging the bike in position, hesistated for a while as drinks station is at the end opposite from the run leg exit so decided to heck the drinks for a 2km run.

The 1st 600-800metres, experience the "legs jammed" syndrome many triathletes mentioned when you start running immediately after cycling. Told myself to do my best and try to keep the legs moving. Volunteers at the water stations also handed out the cups when you run pass so you can grab and go, I took the cup and pour it over myself.

At the next water station, ice water pour over head and a big gup of 100 plus. Haha...shouldn't have done that because had to immediately slow down to swallow the large mouthful of 100 plus.

With 200m to go, found my strength to kick up into the sprint and must've gotten a really ugly photo finish with arms raised but my face contoured like a mixture of agony and relief.

After collecting water and finisher medals, walked around to cool down and look at the others completing their run before cycling back to car to get stuff for a shower. Cycled back again to hawker centre for brunch and then took pictures before HSH.

It was very enjoyable overall and will look forward to more tri events in the future!

The relay members preparing for their swim start

Swimmers in the 750m

Flying out from transition

Running leg

Time to return to my castle ..HSH

The finisher medal

First Look of K-Swiss Keahou

2009-07-29T23:38:00.007+08:00

Fresh in Box

Profile of the shoes

K-Swiss debuted at Wimbledon in 1966 with leather tennis shoes and has since expanded their range to other sports. In 2009, it also partner Ironman as its footwear and apparel provider.

I was given a pair of the K.Swiss Keahou, its lightweight cushioning shoes to conduct a review. Apparently, the model comes in 5 colour scheme and I got the silver/grey ones. I think you will run fastest in the red/white colour one, followed by blue/yellow then the blue/silver and silver/black (kidding).

A quick test of its weight by hand, it feels heavier than the Adidas Tempo which is already heavier than my Avia Avi-Lite II although this is an unfair comparison as they are very different shoes.

However, walking around in them feels comfortable with the forefoot very flexible and so I was eager to do a run in them to find out how it will perform. Will be updating further after a few runs.

Fun @ SGrunners 4th Yr Anniversary Run

2009-07-28T10:40:00.004+08:00

Does it matter when the rain fell as soon as I stepped out of home. When you woke up at 5.45am on a Sunday morning for a run, you BETTER get a run! So despite the spoiler, drove down to the Co-Curriculum Activities Branch for the Sgrunners 4th Year Anniversary Run.

The skies cleared not long after most runners gathered and we had a short briefing before an easy run through the botanic gardens lasting ~40mins. After dividing runners into groups, we had a quiz games covering topics that requires us to be semi-encyclopedias but it was all good fun.

Pictures by Berno and Brokie below:

Retirement of NB 826 and Adidas Breeze

2009-07-28T10:29:00.002+08:00

Your soles are as smooth as a baby's bottom from years of toil and body covered with dried mud. It is time to take a well deserved rest....

Cinderella Virgin Nite

2009-07-26T20:07:00.004+08:00

Cinderella Virgin Nite; to celebrate a decade of our "gay" partnership, relive stories in OCS (Officer Cadet School) and catch up on the number of marriage(s) each has accumulated (mostly one...offically).

Over pub grubs and copious amount of beer (typical of old sea dogs except parrot on the shoulder is not fashionable anymore), we recount tales of swimming in leftovers from previous meals, something you do when you sail across the equator for the first time as well as sleepless nights or when we do get to sleep, the choice of clothes some of these mates prefers to don, or the lack of it.

Hopefully, the next cinderella night will see a bigger attendance and not in another 10 years....

Morning Ride

2009-07-19T21:10:00.004+08:00

A call from HX last evening found the both of us with V & J meeting up on Sunday morning for a leisurely ride at Lim Chu Kang.

Woke up to an overcast morning and took half a cup of cereal before heading out. Just before exiting NTU, was stopped by a man looking identical to Lee Wong Yew (National shooter who also does triathlons these days) who mistaken me as a member of his cycling group.

The 4 of us met at the junction of Christian cemetery on a cool morning and headed down the "airport" road. There were many groups of other cyclist that morning mostly doing distances probably thrice as long compared to us.

Took a short break at Lim Chu Kang End and headed back. Was overtook by a bunch of road bikes and decided to stick to them with my ancient mountain bike until one of the bike suddenly crashed bringing down another in the group. I stopped to help one of them to the road side but that Uncle was unable to move for about 2minutes and could only howl in pain, could see part of his raw flesh exposed on 1 side of the leg and top of his fingers. HX later joked I should try and offer him 'Qing Chao You' (A medication oilment that "bites" the wound when applied)

Sight of the injury didn't affect my appetite at all, we headed for brunch (PRATA!).

Lim Chu Kang End Jetty

Fishermen carrying their catch

Swiftest 10k this Year

2009-07-14T22:19:00.003+08:00

Complete 10km this evening in 45min 44sec, very close to my target of 45min for this year.

Average heart rate was 185bpm while max heart rate was 224bpm probably clocked during the sprint to finish for the last 200m. The max heartrate seems a little unbelievable because it is not normal to have such a reading, clocked a 233bpm last week during an even harder sprint so .......... *puzzled*

Started the run at around 8/10 effort with the group, there were about 4 guys ahead + Edwin running beside. U-turned at Brewerkze just under 7min which is a little faster than expected for a 10km run so I maintained pace when Edwin kicked up a faster pace after the turn. 1 of the lead guy marshalling the run stopped to direct other runners so there are 3 other guys ahead left other than Edwin.

On the way towards Esplanade, I did my usual bigger strides down the slopes and reduce distance to Edwin from 15m to less than 5m when he suddenly stopped to chat with someone so left 3 guys ahead ranging from 45sec to 1min faster by now as they went on at a furious pace while I tried not to let heartrate go above 190bpm.

At the turn towards Esplanade for the 2nd time, I had Han in sight just before the heading to the Singapore Flyer F1 track so guess he must've ease off the pace a little.

The F1 track is a good place to settle into a nice pace and reel in the runners in front of you. With a straight route, you can judge if you're making or losing grounds and have a consistent momentum, concentrating on swinging the arms, not allowing the legs to slow, then check whether the runners in front is getting closer and the cycle repeats.

Han overtook another guy (Guy A) which seem to have joined us for the 1st time somewhere before we reached the end of the F1 track and was just behind Keonz now. Turning at the end of F1 track, I was 40 sec behind Han and 15 sec behind Guy A.

On the way back, quicken my pace and begin the evil scheme(hehe...) to try and catch the frontrunners. As I neared Guy A after another 500m, ran at a bigger stride to open up a gap so as not to encourage him to follow me. If you overtake another person, don't do it by a little bit to motivate him to keep pace with you (now you understand the evilness I possess).

Managed to reduce gap to Han to less than 10 sec by the time we reached Esplanade with about 1km left to Finish. Time is 41min 30sec which means there is sufficient time to go under my previous PB of 47min.

After another 400m, Han is now just 5 sec ahead but he turned right to add some additional distance to the run while I headed left back to UOB plaza. With no one in sight to "chase" as Keonz has sprinted ahead(even after stopping along the way to direct other runners then sprinting ahead of us again and again), I just tried to maintain pace.

With 200m to go, did the final sprint just in time to catch up with Keonz finishing in 45min 44sec. Good timing for me and I think the improvement came from not pushing too hard at the earlier stages. Lesson learnt: pacing and patience.

=P to you, Mr Sun

2009-07-09T21:27:00.004+08:00

Hard case

The contents

High Speed Red Fototech Lens with variable tint technology

I must be heartless

2009-07-08T19:52:00.003+08:00

Ran 10km on Tuesday's I-Run at relatively easy pace of 5:30min/km with the new toy.

I'm suppose to have a theoretical max heart rate of 190 and new toy says average heart rate is 154bpm. I sprinted to the finish at the last 200m and recorded a max heart rate reading of 233bpm. Either new toy is inaccurate or I'm heartless by now.....

Farewell to Spiderman hash

2009-07-06T18:27:00.008+08:00

Spiderman will be leaving us for Jakarta in next month hence the run set by him with a few other hares for Sunday. It promises to be a run worth remembering.

Shortly prior to the commencement of the 5.30pm event, tears of sadness came pouring from heaven reducing all markings of flour and toilet paper to little spots of dough. All chalk markings also turned to invisible colour upon contact with rain.

A short brief was conducted in the rain before the group of 30-40 hashers make their way out from dempsey carpark. The moss covered path and grass were slippery for my running shoes whose bottoms were smooth as silk so I was doing the moonwalk pretty well I swear I could be a good replacement for Michael Jackson. Jackoff was suitably impressed and charged me at the circle for the excellent performance. No pictures though due to the foul weather.

We went around the dempsey area to amuse diners who must've thought we were crazy to make ourselves available for potential lightning strikes and multiple fractures by running in that weather. Then the trail (read instructions from Spiderman) took us across to Botanic Garden and some darken boardwalk inside before a network of landed properties and drains to reach a grassy steep slope beside a BIG house with roman-like architect. It was here where I accumulated another charge; for running up the slope where a drink stop awaits us besides 406A Nassim Road, wished I stayed there.

After the 15min break, time to shake off the shivers to run down the road. We turned to Cluny road soon and then the long-short run split. Took the long split and reached Tanglin road but the long run was shorten with the diminishing light and we headed back to Dempsey.

After most hashers returned, except for a few who had made themselves comfortable by changing into dry clothes and holding umbrellas, the rest of us stood in the rain. Of course we rewarded the cleaned and dried people with lots of hugs.

On-on was at Samy's Curry where a feast was waiting followed by song and dance!

Hashers occupying 2 long tables

Cheers!

Waiting for food....

Cheese!

Finally! *Gobble*

New Toys for Heart

2009-07-03T22:18:00.003+08:00

Saw an ad online letting go of the Beurer PM25 HRM watch for 60 bucks and got it yesterday. The person selling got it from some event and already had a HRM so think I manage to secure the watch at about 40% of normal retail price.

New in Box
Chest Strap

Watch in stby mode not displaying heart rate

Wasted no time in taking the new toy for a test run at I Run later in the day. In theory, I should have a max heartrate of about 190/min for my age. But running at 4:48min/km pace, I clocked at average HR of 176/min and max HR of 194/min without going max effort so it could be possible my soul is doing this post now.

2 mths countdown to holiday, selecting weapon of choice

2009-07-01T20:03:00.007+08:00

It's 2 months to the Perth HM trip. Probably need to start sourcing for accommodation and sketching out a rough programme in another 2-3weeks since I'll be travelling with a group of runners this time; a rarity since I usually travel alone and then meet other travellers along the way to decide where to go.

I think most people find travelling alone weird but I like the freedom of walking at your own pace and to where ever you feel you wish then deciding to change your schedule because some other things caught your mind. Also the freedom to stand still and appreciate something you find interesting or simply make decisions without having to reach a consensus with everyone in a travel group.

I also enjoy meeting other single traveller or little groups of 2-3 other travellers doing their own tour then deciding to get together for a trip then departing once our itinerary differs. You learn about minds of other nationalities along the way and share your own opinions.

Of course, there are some disadvantages going around a lone ranger. You don't have anyone to share accommodation, transport cost or to share a beautiful moment you've encounter along the trip. Some activities are just not so fun done in solitute too; imagine riding a rollercoster alone, it's more fun to scream with someone beside you. Safety is also another consideration but common sense should take care of that.

Well, I think Perth is going to present a different scenary to Singapore. Things are probably further apart so you will see more skies and I'm prepared to take a load of pictures this time.

Besides the digital camera, I've just dusted off the drawer and decided to bring my SLR this time, taking some slides. Will have to decide whether to do color or black&white or just whack both.

You wonder why I have to decide? Couldn't I switch mode from color to B&W from the settings? Well, the answer of course is because my weapon of choice is the FM 10...

When was the last time you see a camera w/o LCD screen?

My FM10 *love*

Easy to change shutter speed, iso setting. Then manual winding after each shot.

Have to roll back the film yourself after finishing each catridge

*Blur* How to read this, have to go and revise

Button for lens change

Depth of view preview and self timer settings. Lovely! Everything on the camera itself

Value of a life

2009-06-29T19:03:00.003+08:00

What price is a person's life?

And what price to increase a person's chance of survival from near death to 40%? The political correct answer would be priceless but we know that's not the way the world operates.

For 4 yr old Charmaine who has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, that amount is half a million dollars for her treatment in New York. Now..... that amount of cash is not insignificant and imagine many other causes that could be address with half a million too.

Nevertheless, would little Charmaine go on to survive her condition and grow up to be someone striving to repay this gratitude to her many benefactors by passing on the goodwill through helping many others in her own way? We don't know, which is why charity shouldn't be discriminatory and each cause has their own supporters.

You can read about her story at http://ourfeistyprincess.com/ and decide if it's a worthy cause of your support.

Living life is not the same as solving a formula, you are special because there is only one of each of us.

Saturday Blast then Sunday Chill

2009-06-28T11:11:00.003+08:00

What can you expect on a Saturday evening except lots and lots of people cramped into Orchard?

Schedule to watch Transformers 2 with the running gang but upon upon passing the ERP gantry, there is already a queue snaking from Plaza Sing til the Istana on the main road. All the carparks are full but I was lucky when I deviated to a less popular carpark next door and didn't have to lose more brain cells. *I'm not gonna tell u this alternative :P*

Of course we had togo through 20min + of commercial ads before the show started including that Alswell's "Because I love you" clip. The show didn't felt draggy throughout its 150min screening and the gang proceeded to Short Street for chicken rice and Rocher Beancurd thereafter.

It was quite fun putting a few plastic stools on the road*Yes, the ROAD!* and having our beancurd/soya bean drink/dough fritters beside the double yellow line while tempting the cars and lorries to knock us down for taking their parking space.

We departed after "dessert" and I konked out soon after showering and checking email.

Sunday's plan was to spend the day reading so I had my lor mee breakfast and headed to JP2 intending to be rooted at Starbucks but some AYG torch relay event was going on and there was such a din so had to settle for coffeebean which is freezing compared to Starbucks which is at the top level with some sunlight falling on you. Tried blogging to warm up my fingers but think I can't hold out for long, maybe will retreat to the library later.....

Evolution of a Slug

2009-06-24T19:53:00.004+08:00

With the Osim race in another 5 weeks, half marathon in 8 weeks and sprint distance triathlon 10 weeks away, am somehow not feeling very competitive.

Rather than feeling motivated, I'm feeling like a glue left in the container for too long.

So if I must continue to be a piece of slimy slug, guess the only way is to be a wonderful one; one with a big smile.

Please don't spray salt on me

I love to Zzz...

2009-06-23T09:11:00.002+08:00

This exhibit makes me miss my bed..... u_u

Funny Nightmare

2009-06-19T10:47:00.002+08:00

Dreams are random. So what does it mean when you dreamt that you have a child when you're not even married? Is this a joke or a nightmare?

Busy la

2009-06-11T22:58:00.002+08:00

Lots of things to complete......and I'm not very efficient. STILL! Managed to clock 10k just now *happy like bird* ^__^

Team Fatbird BBQ

2009-06-06T23:22:00.000+08:00

A fine evening, Team Fatbird celebrates .......

It was at a nice location by the sea, the eastern tip of Singapore while the sun is setting.

Suan washing the utensils, runners practice good hygiene right?

While the dudes prepare the video....

And the chief directs....
Someone looks hungry
"You want some?"

Group Photo *whose hands at the back?*
BBQ Station 1 Chef and Co-chef
BBQ Station 2 Satayman/ BBQ manager cum charcoal boy

FOOOOOD!
More FOOD....
Time to eat *SMILES*

Chief Fatbird tucking in"How's the makan?"
*Yeah!*

Yellow Girl:"Don't eat all the abalone,leave some for the guest"

Little Black Boy:"Mind your own business!"

Must have some fruits too, weather is hot

Tiring Weekend

2009-06-01T17:24:00.010+08:00

Woke up at 6am on Saturday morning and was unable to get back to sleep, could it be I was more anxious than the runners for Sundown 09? Or could it be my internal clock telling me not to sleep so much on a precious weekend? Either way, time to change this cranky clock.

Read the papers and headed for breakfast then work. After work, drove down to Changi Village and was able to find a parking space w/o having to wait too long. Quite a few friends are running this event, the main bunch from Team Fatbird and some ex-colleagues from SAF.

Alwin from PSS is taking on the marathon while Wendy+Natasha+Celest+Sharon forming a team for the 10k run calling themselves Team FSP II. Don't ask me what it stands for. They also booked 2 rooms at Changi Village Hotel, sure know how to enjoy.

Ms Wendy ready at hotel

Had an early dinner and saw Mud Sucker from Sunday hash. We chatted over dinner and heard Maggot is running the marathon as well. After meeting Team FSP II, we proceeded to the event site to get ready. Intention is I'll try to help them take a few pictures for their run.

Starting Point

Me and Team FSP II (shoes)

Ms Natasha at U-turn point (precious shot because I obviously have to run there to take this picture)

Finisher(s) pose

DO/I-Runners/DR (see the T-shirts with big HEART)

After the run, saw Team Fatbird marathoners heading for their midnight start and took some pics for them. I think I was wise, while these people suffer, I had a dip at the hotel pool and supper afterwards.

Team Fatbird marathoners

Back from supper, onwards to Zulu land

Nat & Wendy was kind enough to allocate me a space to sleep between them (It is not what you think, see picture proof below on the preferential treatment I received) for the next 1hr+ before I go to receive the returning marathoners from TFB.

My "nest", due to the generosity of the ladies

Told you I had a cranky clock right? I continued sleeping until ......9am? Finally went for Breakfast at 10am and saw the TFB marathoners at hotel lobby. Has a satisfying breakfast before another dip at the pool til we're ready to check out at 2pm.

If I get bang banged

2009-05-29T11:18:00.003+08:00

What happens if .....

While I crossed the zebra crossing and a car sped through hurling me through the air, the impact so great bones are immediately shattered painlessly.

The thought that flashes through will be "This is it!" in the moment of flight before landing on the ground. There is no time for regrets as life seeps from body to the tarmac but to reflect on all the goodness that has happened and wish everyone a pleasant journey for their existence.

P.S. I'm not suicidal, La Dolce Vita!

Quotes to get working

2009-05-25T21:44:00.003+08:00

"Fall 7 Times, Stand up 8!"

"I expect to pass through life but once. If there'll be any kindness I can share, or any good thing I can do a fellow human. Let me do it now for I shall not pass here once again"

"I know of no one who has ever drown in his own sweat"

"Life is a series of thoughts; We become what we think about; We can choose what we think about"

"When all details are thought of, the results are predictable"

"Today's readers will be tomorrow's leaders"

"Ideas are a dime a dozen but people who can apply it is priceless"

Random memories

2009-05-25T15:40:00.005+08:00

I love BBC, listened to 2 interesting interviews last week while driving.

One of a couple who "love" each other at first sight at the age of 7 and was forced to be separated but was eventually reunited after 45 years. They were thinking of each other during this period of absence.

The other was of a lady who volunteered to join the Tamil Tigers, about her approaching the group and insisted on joining, being introduced to the concept of suicide bombing, escaping from the peacekeeper troops during a an encounters where she thought she will be dying and how the Tamil Tigers located her family for her when she eventually decided to leave them.

I also listened more often to the Symphony FM 92.4 after Wendy "poisoned" me with the Nodame drama serial which i completed in less than a week. I'm plotting to strangle her or put cynide in her curry rice one of these days but decided against it when she came with Ming for our curry rice makan with Hiok and Joanne. It wouldn't be nice to trouble Ming to carry her corpse back.

Did one 10km at 7.5/10 effort, then a 3km easy run followed by a 200m sprint on another day. Didn't know that sprinting just 200m max effort gives me more aches compared to a 10km run.

Kept tripping on twines when running through vegetation on the Sunday Hash at Bukit Batok. It was a humid day and I seem to be quite slow that day probably after travelling all over the island since morning and that buffet lunch + ice cream with Cleo and Matthew. Found out DIY and Shut the F**K up is planning to go for the Perth City to Surf Marathon too :D

I'm starting the week with absolute certainty that climate change remains a problem, pets will still be abandon by their owners and some of you reading this will be quarrelling with your spouse/partner(s)/friends etc in the future (Peace.. Don't throw coins at me please). Well ...... we should still welcome the week with optimism!

"There is nothing either good or bad except that thinking makes it so" - Shakespeare

Of what use are armpit hairs?

2009-05-20T18:19:00.002+08:00

They trap moisture when you perspire and stink afterwards. Located at the armpit region, I couldn't think of a reasonable excuse they should be there. They do not puff up and trap air to keep us warm in cold weather do they? (I've never seen anyone walking around with puffy armpits) Otherwise brazilian waxing wouldn't have been popular.

Oh! why do you exist?

Overtraining

2009-05-18T13:05:00.002+08:00

After the last Hash run on Sunday, I ran at I-Run on Tuesday evening. Without fully recovering, I tried running harder than usual finishing the 7km route in 30min 21sec.

Having done 2 hard runs in 3 days, I still felt motivated enough on Wednesday for an hour of running at NTU, climbing some of the slopes.

What happened over the rest of the week is I felt lethargic, tired and just wanting to rest. So I guess exercising without sufficient recovery can result in too much strain on the body and affect daily function.

While this is a good experience where I can guage where is my limit currently. The proper way to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is still balance in work and play.

Review: Avia Avi-Lite II

2009-05-13T12:43:00.008+08:00

Forefoot Cushion: 8/10
Rearfoot Cushion: 9/10
Stability: 9/10
Responsiveness: 7.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Comments:

This lightweight distance trainer is really light for the amount of cushioning it has. The cantilever technology at the heel which curves inwards towards the middle of the heel allows a stable landing for the foot as only the edge of the heel touches the ground.

This also reduces the impact on the center of the heel like a trampoline since the middle heel portion of the shoe does not touch the ground.

Mesh at the front allows the foot to breath easily and overall cushioning is very comfortable with the OrthoLite comfort foam insoles. Longest run clocked is 12km so far but I feel it will be comfortable enough up to marathon distance for most runners.

The forefoot feels a bit roomy for me as I prefer a tighter fit and shoe makes a pronounce landing sound, likely due to the air pocket at the heel from the cantiliever system even though I don't land heavy while running.

Suitable for:

Runners with neutral to slightly overpronated foot type. For 10K to marathon distance. Otherwise, the Avia Bolt probably offers a faster ride for those racing <10k.

Sunday Hash at ECP Carpark F3

2009-05-11T13:20:00.006+08:00

Yesterday's hash began at the very "urban" East Coast Park. Not being able to recall much of any jungle trail at the area, I was curious enough to travel east despite being at the other end of the island for the whole day.

Admiring the beautifully planted trees lining the expressway, I missed the turn and travelled all the way til exit 2 and was 10min late by the time I arrived at F3. The hash walkers has began walking towards Outward Bound School so luckily I was able to get advise on where the runners has headed.

Running down towards F2 from the road, I couldn't find any runners so I started checking the drains for signs of any hashers. The Sunday crowd must be a little puzzled by my behavior.

Without a clue where the trail is, I decided to backtrack along the drains and finally found a T-check which means I should head back to where we had started. Remembering that the walkers has headed in the opposite direction when I arrived, I figured I should be ok trying to find the group going the direction they were last saw heading.

Soon enough, I found chalk markings pointing me back towards the F3 again*%$#$#* Wondering if I might have to cross the 8 lane expressway to reunite with the trail, I made a call and was advised that besides peeing in public, littering the trail with toilet papers and making themselves a public nuisance etc Hashers generally don't run across expressways due to their law abiding nature. So I figure what I could do was to go against the arrows and hope to meet up with the rest.

The markings lead me across an underpass and the park connector and I managed to catch up with the walkers before they enter waterlogged vegetation. Overtook them with a quick greeting before beginning my hunt for the runners. I followed chalk and crossed another underpass back to East Coast Park, finding the runners after another 5min.*Hooray!*

We soon has to cross an overhead bridge back to the other side of the park again and go through some sort of a maze like pac-man, taking us through backlanes, canal crossing, shiggy, traffic lights, more shiggy, potholes, more backlanes, more (ankle breaking)potholes then a long run back from the bedok park connectors.

Arriving back after 90mins, I drowned 2 cans of 100 plus and another bottle of mineral water. It was a nice flat running stretch at the end....tomorrow, enjoy the aches ^_^

The circle gathers after the hash

Lazy bums charged for sitting down

Charged for going the wrong way despite living nearby

Of course! The hares must be charged for combining 3 runs in 1.

Implementation of Cycling Culture in Singapore

2009-05-06T21:35:00.003+08:00

There's a need to look seriously at developing the cycling culture and introducing proper cycling etiquette here soon.

Already, there is increasing number of people cycling on neighbourhood pavements and the roads which I classified into the following major categories:

- Parents ferrying child(ren) to school on the bicycle
- Workers travelling to work place
- Those making trips to the local supermarket for groceries
- Athletes gathering as a group to cycle round the island

While the activity is catching up fast, I can't say the same for the infrastructure or proper understanding of cyclist on their responsibilities to others in the society.

First of all, SAFETY. Riding on narrow pavements means cyclist and pedestrians are fighting for space. Bicycles travelling at a much higher speed pose danger to children, elderly or people who are half awake etc. They may not have sufficient awareness to react to the cyclist who may not have enough space to maneuver clear of them.

Then you have the cyclist who has not been educated in proper usage of the roads. Some cut across lanes without checking their passage, cycle side by side leisurely or hop from road to pavements and vice versa. Many do not have proper protective gears or illumination when they cycle in low light conditions and all of them are in danger because I believe our roads and traffic conditions are not designed to accomodate them.

Next, Rules. Do cyclist belong on the road or pavements? I have to be forced off the pavements when the cyclist speed down the path I'm walking. When driving, I wonder if the cyclist is really capable of riding while chatting on the phone and at the same time balancing his packet lunch and coffee on the handles. Some bicycles are also like mini scooters so why are they not required to know rules of the road?

Then, Infrastructure to support this mode of transportation. Certain types of bicycle are allowed on public transport at certain time of the day and most others banned. It will also be a disaster if the cyclist has to avoid a pothole while riding on the road and a truck happen to come from behind.

So what can be done? Maybe a working group between various government agencies as a start?

In some countries, there is a network of bicycles you can rent and drop off at another location. Can we utilise the Ezlink system for payment and identification then collect a deposit for people keen to use this system to prevent abuse?

It maybe too drastic to make everyone who wants to cycle to take an exam like a driver who needs a license to use the road but there should be education. Have a set of etiquette to observe so everyone understands how to react when meeting a cyclist and vice versa. What should a faster cyclist do when overtaking another moving at a slower pace?

Study the feasibility of sharing the bus lanes with cyclist and providing people with shower facilities might encourage a reduction in private cars population? Hopefully a proper cycling culture does take off.

Trifactor 1km Tri-swim

2009-05-03T16:30:00.004+08:00

It had showered earlier in the morning and the sky was overcast still. Dilly dally a bit , wash up and had a light breakfast (chocolate muffin) before conduct "routine bombing" >_0.

Left the house at 8am to Tanjong Beach for the race. It was a smooth drive on Sunday morning so I got to location quite for the 9:45am start time.

After changing into trunks and getting body marking, dumped the bag at baggage deposit for a little orientation in the water. It was a windy day and the waves were rough for the portion not sheltered by breakwater.

Luckily, the wind eased off a little before the 1km swim. We had a race brief at 9:30am before getting ready for the horn. Edwin who just finished the 3km swim was stung by jellyfish, hope the jellyfish have ran out of ammo with the initial wave of swimmers and leave me alone or I swear I'll tear the jellyfish who stings me apart. *violent mood*

In my wave, there must be around 50-60 swimmers under the men's open category and probably a smaller number in the next wave. The route was a little difference from the trial last week which was beach to beach while the race route was from the center of the beach where competitors has to do 2 loops of 500metres.

As the horn sounded, I was probably the 1st 5 to the water since nobody seem to be in a rush. Saw a guy in front and decided to follow him. He was kicking quite hard so I can follow his bubbles and save some energy on sighting. Still, goondo me knocked into the lane ropes a few times and zig zag a little.

At the 1st turn, I did a quick glance and could see 2-3 swimmers within 2 body lengths behind. As for the guy in front, I was happy for him to lead so I slowed down whenever I touched his legs. At the next turn back to shore, the swimmers behind was already much further away by now and I exited the water for the 2nd loop in 2nd place (or so I thought, read on ba).

Took a quick sip of water and jumped into the water about 2 body lengths behind the leading guy. Must say I was surprised to be swimming near the leader at this stage. Then I realised I forgot to check my split time, making it difficult to gauge my effort as I was targeting a sub 20min even though managed 18min 8sec during the trial swim last week.

The second loop had us closing up upon the 3km swimmers who are probably doing their last lap by now so I had to navigate around them. I did breaststroke in order to have a better idea of which direction to go whenever we were near to any of the 3km swimmers, other times, just follow the leader and let him do the hard work.

At the last turn, I decided to attack and see how the leading guy react. Swam abreast of him for a while and we were literally face to face as he was breathing on the left and me on the right. Alas, got kicked by someone swimming breaststroke in front about 20 metres to shore and lose the momentum, also had to navigate between him and another breaststroke swimmer forming a barricade for my shortest line to shore.

Despite trying to catch up, I exited the water half body length back and made a dash to the finish finishing in 20min 8sec, 1 second behind.

Anyway, to cut the long story short. Even the race crew thought I was in 2nd position but found out when results were tabulated I was in fact in 4th and missed out on the trophy narrowly as the champion was about 3min ahead and 1st runner-up 1 min ahead. I had my focus all the time on the 2nd runner up.

While it was a little disappointing to be so close to a podium finish, It was mitgated somewhat because I never expected that in the first place. The swim was nevertheless a good experience and probably some lessons to be learnt too :D

Good Swim

2009-04-26T20:27:00.013+08:00

Went to Tanjong Beach on Sunday morning for a swim trial before next week's Trifactor 1km openwater event. Arrived early so just need to change and put on the swim cap provided and swim away with the other early birds.

It was low tide so the group of 15-18 swimmers probably saved 20-40metres of the "1km" swim. No rushing from the beach to hit the water like baby turtles as well.

I started off easy since it's not a race concentrating on long "attempt to be graceful" strokes breathing every 4-6 strokes and sighting every ~8-10 strokes just to make sure I don't swim in circles.

150m into the swim, the waves rushing in to the beach from passing vessels made the water a little rough. It doesn't matter and actually quite fun. I remembered that I used to enjoy getting into the sea while canoeing when a big wave approaches to feel the waves.

Turned around at the opposite end of the beach and rounded a guy serving as U-turn marker before going back into the water for the return leg. A little tired by now, I think I swam faster instead just to end the swim quickly. After all, it's my furthest distance in openwater.

Exited the water in 18min 8sec, faster than my target of sub 22min. I guess the faster timing could be due to the lack of other swimmers jostling for space compared to in a race. I could also concentrate on not rushing the strokes and wasting energy avoiding kicks from others.

Satisfied! I returned the swim cap and headed for shower before a little exploration of the other beaches. It was still relatively peaceful for a Sunday, mostly likely because of the early hours.

Entering Sentosa
Paying for entry
Reaching Tanjong Beach Carpark
Quiet Beach on Sunday morning

How to get across the water dry
I'm walking shakily
Almost reaching
Still have to climb
Take a break halfway

Finally *panting*

Lost

2009-04-25T21:56:00.006+08:00

You realised the weather's being pretty hot recently? I'm sure you'll agree with me it wasn't very windy and staying in the house with those lights la, TV la, computer la switched on only contributes to the increase in atmospheric temperature.

Which is why I'm so proud of myself. Being smart, as usual .... Friday evening was spent at East Coast with Team Fatbird for their Sundown Familiarization run #1. If there's no wind, you run. When you run, there's wind! When there's wind, it's cooler right?

There was a gathering of ~ 70-80 runners as we left the starting point at 9:17pm. Distance of 12/24/35 and 55km were available depending on your (in)sanity. Instead of doing the full 24km, I aim to turn back at 10:25pm due to the slightly delay in starting time with the route briefing and stuff.

From carpark C4, we followed the park connector to Bedok Town Park where the 12km runners turned back at the 6km mark. Opted to carry on for another 3km before turning back for a 18km run since I planned to reach home before my car turned into pumpkin and running shoes becomes glass slippers.

We carried on to Bedok reservoir and then turned out run along the Tampines area. I turned around at 10:28pm at Tampines Ave 5 (I think) bidding farewell to the rest. 1 or 2 of the runners were so concerned about me asking if I knew the way back. I was puzzled why they ask me such an insulting question, do they think I'm so moron that I couldn't follow the park connector back?

Turn out they were prophets, I was soon wondering how to get out of Bedok reservoir and connect back to the park connector. I attribute this to the lack of nutrition since I had dinner at 5pm which contributes greatly to my memory functions, it can't be the age right? Not when I'm barely out of my teens ^__^

Soon I find myself running across the HDB blocks hoping for some familiar routes, not really sure why I kept crossing junctions of Bedok North Ave 1 and 3, they shouldn't name so many roads with the same name lah!

Of course I soon found out instead of heading south back to ECP, I headed East. Somehow there were also a lot of petrol stations with big Delifrance and Polar signs waving at me to visit them.

Nevertheless, you can never get lost in Singapore, you just take a ...... different way to your destination. Thank god someone built the MRT so I can follow the tracks back to ECP.

I must have been a good boy. Instead of returning back to carpark C4 at ECP, my hunger problem was addressed as I cross an underpass and found myself at the hawker centre at ECP so WTH, settle with Bak Chor Mee and Sugarcane Juice first then have a nice stroll back to the car park lor.

The food was digested just in time for a phone call to come with news of cold Longan drink waiting at the car park. WAH! Was I motivated by that call cos I started a slow jog and met the Longans 10 min later at almost midnight resigned to the fact I have to drive a pumpkin home............

Post run refuel station - bananas, 100plus, longan drinks, sng baos

How come the tap water's hot!

2009-04-23T13:54:00.003+08:00

Went running at the stadium on Monday, does anyone knows the distance of the outer lap in the stadium? The inner lap is 400metres and I'm guessing the outer lap is ~450m.

Ran on the outer lap starting with 2min 30sec pace x 5 laps for warm up then slowly increasing 10-15sec each lap for the next 4 laps til 1min 50sec before reducing speed gradually every lap back to 2min 30 sec for the another 4 laps. Finished below 30min and walked another 2 laps + streching to cool down.

For Tuesday, dropped by I-Run for 10km doing 5min 30 sec/km pace. Haven't been running longer distances this year and the knees felt a little painful after about 45min of running, must be the lack of mileage. Yes, you can call me a lazy slug.

My Adidas tempo also seem to have lose some of it's cushioning after clocking ~500km since Oct 08. The New Balance 902RC bought 2 months ago is only suitable for short races so should I rely on the tempo for Perth run on 30th August? Luckily there isn't much long runs scheduled for the next few months so there's time to slowly shortlist for new shoes and save $. Or it may even last til Perth if I slack somemore.

Wednesday was a rest day in term of exercising and with an evening appointment for Thursday, gonna skipped the evening run and probably do a little of afternoon swimming but nothing serious. I think it's would be nice to dip in the pool in this hot hot hot hot hot weather. Even water coming out from the tap is HOT!

Tribob Triathlon Relay (Team Phoenix)

2009-04-19T20:50:00.000+08:00

Signed up for the Tribob Triathlon sprint team relay event early 2009 and with 1 official cycling training at ECP somewhere in Feb, race day seem to have arrived in a flash.

The race starts at 9am and I(Swimmer) fetched Sam(runner) at 7am to drive down to Changi ferry point. Changi Beach carpark 7 was already packed when I arrived at 7:40am so we drove on further until we finally found space at carpark 4 where Victor(Cyclist) and Jane (Cyclist's wife) was there earlier than us.

Walking to event

Reaching 15min before transition area closes, we hurried to get changed, got body marking and place our barang barang at transition. Saw Eric at transition area but was in too much of a hurry to chat. Did some warm up in the water and proceed to starting point 5min to starting time.

In the water, got about 3 kicks in my face before the 1st turn and had to tread water to flush out the seawater in my goggles. The "traffic" eased after the 2nd turn but the 2nd buoy somehow seem to take a long time to reach. I was either tiring or the current could be stronger (suspect it's more of the former).

Coming back towards the beach after the 2nd buoy, it was getting tiring having to lift my head out to the front to sight where I was going so I alternate with some breast stroke and struggled out of the water at 14min 19sec (Yeah! :D ).

Running to Transition

The run from beach to transition was quite a distance (~150-200m), think my head was spinning when I reach down to remove the timing chip for Victor. Chat with Sam for a while before I exit transition to rinse the sea water from my mouth and meet up with Jane to take pictures of the cyclists.

Victor was using a mountain bike for his leg which is a real disadvantage even for the sprint distance of only 20km. He did well averaging ~24km/hr. By this time, the sun is out in full force cooking everyone out on the road.

Victor in action

Arm power!

The transition to run was pretty fast and I saw Sam zooming out from transition before I could switch on the camera. I plonked myself 20 metres before the finishing line as Jane cheered the runners and I took pictures.

Didn't have time to zoom in for a picture of Sam

After a while, the path towards the finishing line got a bit crowded with runners coming out from transition and turning left towards the finishing line and then turning right again towards the park, some are back from the 1st loop of their run and joining those coming out from transition. The faster triathletes who are finishing by now had some difficulties doing their slalom towards end point.

We welcome back Sam not too long after with team Phoenix finishing at 1hr 33min 25sec. The reward of course is FOOD at Changi Village! ^__^

Lovely.....

Hungry....

Overall, the event is well managed with routes not overly crowded except for the part later in the run. There were no news of anyone bitten by sea bugs or stung by jelly fish in the water, the cycle routes are also wide enough for the number of participants and the run towards the park provided shade for the runners. Supporters had a choice of ice water from sponsors + red bull + MILO VAN!!

I suppose there are also always room for improvement. I was given a 2nd T-shirt instead of a sun visor during racepack collection and participants were also a little confused when returning for their 2nd loop during the bike and run leg. Iron these out and future races would be a joy!

The week thus far, quite random

2009-04-17T00:24:00.005+08:00

Monday - Swam 20 laps at moderate effort in 20min 26sec, another 6 laps easy w/o timing followed by another 2 laps with pool buoy.

Tuesday - Moderate effort 7km at I-run in 36min that includes 2-3min diversion to the toilet to release water.

Wednesday - Eating Day, Buffet lunch at Park royal then dinner then another dinner session 2.

Thursday - Mostly working. MM says you stop working you die, I don't want to die yet.

Friday - Bad bad boy....past midnight and not sleeping yet.

Why so foggy? Haze? No burning smell ma? Siao! It's a STORM 6_9!

Lazy Sunday & NTU loop maintenance run

2009-04-13T09:07:00.007+08:00

Spent Sunday morning reading the papers and dilly dallying on some paperwork. Breakfast was toast, half boiled eggs and teh-siu-dai. A little bit unused to the "long weekend" and feeling quite lazy, did more reading before going for lunch at Subway with ........ more reading.

Drove down to supermarket and stock up "provision shop" before heading over to the library. Borrowed magazines and books on swimming, adventure, finance and guidebook to Australia (in advance prep for the Perth trip).

Stocks for "provision shop"

Went home to more reading and net surfing on the bed, the subway sandwinch was digested by now so a good reason to withdrawal food from "provision shop".

The cool weather warrants a run round NTU for "maintenance" so went for a loop completing just in time for hunger to strike again and early dinner at 5:30pm. Skipped the Sunday Hash to avoid travelling far from nest.

Home to 1 loop NTU/NIE
Find more Runs in Ntu/nie, Singapore

A great Sunday filled with eating, reading, shopping (if going to supermarket counts), running and an early night at 10:30pm! ^___^

Dusty Run II on Good Friday

2009-04-12T13:17:00.007+08:00

Dropped by office for a while on Friday and then hop over to ECP for Dusty Run II. It was full moon night as a huge crowd gathered after the earlier evening rain provides the runners with cool weather.

Before the run, everyone indulged in cam whoring followed by a group photo and popping of confetti to "launch" the Dusty Run II.

Team Fatbird

Runners checking out the route map

Pre-run brief by DR

"People Horse Heavy Many"

A buffet choice of varying distances are available for Dusty run (10/20/30/50km), everyone started off at a conservative pace in anticipation of the long night ahead. I was in my "short distance" shoes and opted for 10km since I'm waking up early on Saturday.

The route started from car park F2 towards NSRCC before turning back towards the Bedok park connector and places where I'm not familiar with thereafter. Saw Brokie and Frootloop who's leading the 10km runners at U-turn point before speeding up after that with irunalot and his friend back to F2.

Stayed around for a few drinks (100Plus! Not what you alcoholics are thinking), leaving at 11+ before the 20km runners were back.

SMU Institute of Innovation & Entreprenuership - Distinguished Speaker Series (From Idea to IPO)

2009-04-10T12:13:00.007+08:00

Went to the Distinguished Speaker Series at SMU's IIE on Wednesday afternoon. Speaker of the talk that day was Subroto Bagchi from Mindtree, which provides consultation to businesses as one of their services.

SMU being the newest local university of the "Big 3" has an atmosphere similar to an exciting start up where the residents has a bigger sense of ownership and risk tolerance compared to the other 2 institutions with a tried and tested way of operating.
The auditorium was less than half filled, probably due to the 5-7pm schedule. It seems the crowd has a good mixture of students and the public. The scope of the talk mainly deals with important values for starting a business and the characteristics of a high performance start up like IBM, Google, Microsoft, Apple etc

I shall share some of the notes I've taken here but to be fair to the speaker, elaboration on some points which seem controversial were addressed but you might not find them here.

Wrong Reasons to build a company
1) Good Friends - good business partners is more than just enjoying each other's company
2) New gizmo Idea - an inventive person does not equal a good business owner. Otherwise Thomas Edison would be known as an outstanding business leader
3) Hate Company and Boss - your company and boss will love you and ensure you are kept happy if you could proof to be of value to them. Otherwise, the best solution most of the time is to reflect on yourself. So disliking your bosses is not a good reason to start a company
4) Time running out - fulfilling that dream to start a company before starting a family, growing too old etc is a bad reason as well
5) Help XXX - not a good enough reason, you can still help in other ways. E.g. join politics if you want to help your country

Good entrepreneurs has
1) Love of Money - not for materialistic reasons. Warren Buffet has more than he needs and pledged the majority of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation but he is still working hard to build the company he owns.
2) Self Confidence
3) Sense of Freedom - (to do things) rather than not to do anything. A business owner almost certainly has more responsibilities than an employee but this need for "sense of freedom" allows him/her to shoulder the additional burden
4) Hard work/goal orientated
5) Flexible/ opportunistic/ emergent - IBM was saved from bankrupcy when the owner sold his software for bank book keeping purpose to the central library for keeping books. The world now will experience a high probablity of things that has a low probability of happening
6) Egoless

Choosing the 'A' Team for a high performance startup
1) Look for proven competance
2) People with complimentary skill sets
3) Able to multitask
4) Shared Vision
5) Transparent to one another
6) Integrity
7) Able to disagree - interesting point, Mc Kenzie has a policy for their people thinks something is wrong an obligation to dissent. Titanic's designers knew it wasn't unsinkable but nobody sounded the alarm, the ship was warned about the iceberg but the message was not disseminated by the crew who received the telefax.
8) Resilience
9) Humor

Differentiation
1) Domain
2) Tool
3) Method - understanding this enables success to be replicated
4) Quality - which is an emotive character, the perception of your audience
5) Innovation
6) Brand - not so much of marketing but the effective externalisation of your values for others to identify what you stand for

Other points noted
1) Importance of talents - attend to the 1st 40 and they will attend to the rest as you expand
2) Choose customers wisely - those you can trust. treat you equally and understands win-win
3) An organisation grows on social memory - how well/badly you deal with people will be remembered so be fair or you may have problems later
4) Know you company's DNA, Vision, Mission and Values - the day to day code of conduct
5) When 2 is competing and 1 is vanguished, it does not mean the other won - your best competitor is yourself

Nice "Stance"

Wealth Accumulation - should I be investing?

2009-04-08T09:56:00.004+08:00

We are undoubtedly experiencing a recession where it takes time for confidence and growth to return. These stories of economic boom and bust are not new, but the scale of the current one is rather unheard of since the 1930s primarily due to the nature of leverage employed by major financial institutions involved.

In bad times, we could be “paralyzed” by the state of gloom, or look at what is happening as an opportunity. Take for example in 1965 where Singapore had to be separated from Malaysia, it was a sad moment for many and the future seems bleak.

That tiny nation could have wallow in despair and perish like many had expected but Singapore pulled together committed people and progressed tremendously since.
There are numerous other examples of opportunities present in crisis we could go on and on about but let’s just look at what are the opportunities and risk in the current climate.

Central Banks in many countries are dropping interest rates to encourage lending and spur businesses activities. Oil prices has also fallen almost 70% from its peak, bringing down the cost of raw materials due to demand evaporating as consumer trim purchases. These are typical signs of recession gripping the economy.

I’m no fortune teller but maybe some of the following may happen in the next 12 months:

1) Countries with healthy reserves adopt expansionary fiscal policies to provide engine of growth to their economy. Countries which did it wisely will come out of the crisis stronger and better prepared for the future.

2) The low interest environment encourages businesses who are entrepreneurial to take advantage and find new ways of providing service/value to us where traditional businesses has been hit badly.

3) The successful businesses create demand for their service/products appropriate to the current environment e.g. solving problems linked to creating the crisis, thus merging or create new industries.

4) This in turn creates employment opportunities and help to bring down the level of unemployment. People who have stable jobs are more confident in making larger purchasing decisions.

Of course it would not be all good news and the points above are too simplistic in solving the challenges we hold. We could be also quickly be looking at high inflation figures if monetary policies are not well managed as business moves into the next phase.

What I’m trying to communicate is that economic cycles are as certain as high and low tides but how do you manage these different cycles? If you are not prepared to divert water away from the river banks effectively during a monsoon, then the areas surrounding can be flooded. But when well managed, you have abundance of irrigation for the crops in the field resulting in great harvest. Understanding this principle could better allow you to do your financial planning.

Firstly, everyone probably acknowledged that we cannot expect a large amount of wealth to be accumulated in a short time using small amount of savings providing low interest returns. The objective has to correlate with factors like time, capital and interest rates.

Take Person A and Person B who needs $500,000 at retirement and no savings at all. If Person A has 20 years compared to Person B who has 30 years to do so, Person B obviously only has to achieve a lower interest or return on investment to accumulate $500.000 while Person A requires a higher return due to the shorter period.

So the above example demonstrated the need for us to understand first of all your financial objective in order to have a strategy to achieve it. Otherwise, you may be blindly taking more risk than what is necessary or at the other end of the spectrum, go for too low interest/return on investment and not meet your target.

Next, we need to understand how to judge return on investments. Most people looked at the high returns from shares in good times and became attracted but avoid them like plague like what we’ve experienced currently. This is a very stressful method of deciding what to do with your money and often people timed their entry and exit wrongly.

I suggest we study institutions that have a long term view in managing their funds; Yale University’s endowment was worth US$1billion in 1985 and last June (they only report their numbers in June annually), it has grown to US$23billion after coming down 25% in value due to the financial turmoil. The growth in their endowment fund value is still tremendous despite the significant reduction recently. Are these numbers possible had the endowment been kept in cash deposits?

What Yale had done was that they knew their objective was to use a portion of that endowment for their operations while the bulk would be kept invested for a long time to come. The money is thus placed in a diversified portfolio to give the best potential risk/reward ratio and managed by professionals.

In its chief investment officer, David Swensen’s words “You’re going to give up that kind of performance to hold a lot of bonds to protect against the financial crisis? Where’s the alternative that performs so much better?”

Indeed, could we be missing another side of the picture, the other risk of inflation devaluing purchasing power? Or the almost impossible task of timing the market? Most importantly, what is your objective and what direction do you need to take to get there? If there is no destination, it doesn’t matter which direction you take?

Booked for City to Surf Marathon Perth

2009-04-06T11:59:00.005+08:00

Yes it's confirmed! Decided to go for the City to Surf Marathon 09 at Perth happening 30th Aug. The run has a tradition of over 30 years where people gather for a run/walk from Perth city to the beach so I'm sure the mood's gonna be festive. 2009 would be the 1st year a full marathon distance is introduced for this event, expect a record turnout.

Booked for the flight to arrive day a few days earlier so I can insert some cycling around the city, visit wineries and bumming at the beach. The next thing is to of course to register for the event itself where entries will only be accepted starting next month.

Probably go for a half marathon so legs can be saved for enjoying the trip even though it's tempting to try for faster timing in the cooler climate. Are you jealous? :P

Q1 review of 2009 New Year Resolution

2009-04-01T13:59:00.005+08:00

Q1 has ended and it's already the 2nd day of April. Although there are many pressing issues, I think reviewing my new year resolution on a quarterly basis as decided is equally critical to ensure they are not another empty talk come December. So time to go thru the list:

1) Increase weight 5% to X kg.

I ran shorter distances this year and tried eating regular meals as well as do some push ups. Maybe I was 2-3% heavier at the Chinese New Year Period from all that feasting but I guess I'm back to zero after a sickly March.

2) Have more variety in exercise instead of mostly running, complete a triathlon sprint or Olympic distance.

Did the Tribob Aquathlon and did better than I though possible, coming up in less than 3 weeks is the Tribob relay where I'm doing the swim leg, then the Tri Factor 1km openwater swim in May followed by the Trifactor sprint distance triathlon in Sep.

Not neglecting the running, still considering to register for the coming Passion Run on 24th May and very likely the City to Surf half marathon at Perth on 30/8/09. So what is lacking is a little bit of cycling to balance up slightly.

3) Work on running speed for 10km to sub 45min

Maybe can attempt this at the Passion Run

4) Eat better, less snack or healthier choice

Cutting down on the oily Char Bee Hoon and Chee Cheong Fun breakfast and I think that makes me less sleepy for the rest of the morning. More cereal and milk or bread which makes me hungry quite soon so probably have to find something not too sinful to chew on late morning to supplement this change. Eating healthy is costlier but better than spending later on diseases.

5) Control budget - scheduling to reduce travelling cost, reduce investment transaction expense, link vacation to running events to kill 2 birds w 1 stone.

Reduced travelling to office this year, have either hopped over to NTU library to enjoy the aircon or make use of the relatively mild weather and do my adminstrative task from home ehenever possible.

Have also been scheduling my appointments so traveling to and fro the island is reduced unless there are pressing matters to attend to.

Investment transactions and expenses has been reduced as well until my broker took away my privilege of looking at market depth. Adopting a more selective approach so far the results has yield positive results.

Linking vacation to running events is in progress for the City to Surf Marathon as mentioned :D

6) TV - drama series or reality TV limit to 6 a year, can watch educational programme, count the number of movies I watch on TV

Don't think I've followed a single TV drama except for the occasional distraction when I walk pass the living room when the TV is on so I'm relatively successful in this area. 2 movies watched on TV, see resolution 7 below

7) Be selective about movies, visit to cinema limited to 6 for 2009.

Save for having watched Changeling at Nat's place when she organised the "Oscar Night" and a repeat of The Pianist on Okto which I suppose doesn't fully qualified as going to the Theater to watch a movie. My quota of 6 movies this year's still intact with 2 clocked on TV.

8) Reduce frequency of checking email which often results in distractions and mindless internet surfing, instead focus on categorising them and replying ASAP.

FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! Still checking my emails and even worse, it's spreading to this facebook. The only positive aspect derive in this area is probably I haven't been religiously checking my other 3 email accounts and doing MSN chatting. So this is 1 resolution I would think attention is needed.

9) Don't be punctual if attending events that always starts late

Not really successful, late for some events where people are punctual and early for events where people are late. I think at least when I'm early, I've found some task to do so time is not wasted.

10) No need to read everything in the papers. Do a quick scan of news headlines and leave unimportant, gossipy articles til end of the day or skip if there are more pertinent task to fulfill.

FAIL also! Besides reading ST, Today and MyPaper. I've taken to reading a few other less frequently published papers + news online. Have to kick this stupid habit of spotting the differences in view for the same news reported from the various publications. So I'm working on scanning headlines 1st then come back to the details if I think it's important.

Age's catching up

2009-03-29T20:05:00.006+08:00

Used to recover from sickness fairly quickly and be able to play catching and catch spiders soon after but that seem to have changed as Teddybird aged.

After suffering from cough and flu with 2 visits to the doctor then recovering last weeks ago. Teddybird felt a little sickly again and self medicated earlier this week then felt well enough to go running on Thursday.

The cough then flared up the next day so Teddybird thought maybe should get Dodo and Dodo's gf out to spread virus to them. The trio went to Marche at Vivo and you can see they are very happy dining with the ultimate "lightbulb".

Dodo's gf and Dodo

Alcohol is good for killing germs so they got a jug of Konig to share. Teddybird's dining partners remained healthy because he was sterilised during feeding. Teddybird ordered grilled salmon and Dodo has his usual rosti and a pretty chao ta sausage.

Headache after the alcohol and went home early for Zzz....

Choice of poison

Grilled Salmon

See that big thing floating on water

Weekends was generally spent continuing to sleep and study for next week's paper. The papers also said that cases of TB has increased in Singapore so guess if this coughing thing carries on, better get away from Teddybird as far as you can.

Day out at Ironman 70.3 Singapore 09

2009-03-23T09:00:00.007+08:00

A long day out on Sunday at East Coast Park ..... pictures tells a thousand words

Rushing to water

Hard @ work

Leading Swimmers

Babes watch

Hunk watch for the girls

Supporters

Speeding rider coming

Top local women Jeanette

"Crowie" in action

"Macca" running past
Crowie won

The look tells you it's "easy peasy"

Big Smiles

Many participants

Hand in hand w daddy

Meet up Craig Alexander

2009-03-20T14:13:00.005+08:00

Imagine swimming 38 laps in the pool (1.9km).

How about doing it in the sea then? With currents, salty water, potential of your neighbour stuffing his feet into your mouth in the water and almost zero visibility.
Then you haul your salty body onto a bike for another 90km journey doing 3 loops of East Coast Park to West Coast Park.

If that doesn't dampen your spirits, get ready to run a half marathon (21.1km) to round off the half-ironman distance, exactly what thousands of competitor is attempting in the Ironman 70.3 Triathlon 2009 this Sunday morning at 7am.

Triathlon has seen exponential growth in interest in the last few years and having the world champion competing this weekend on local shores adds to the excitement so I took the opportunity this morning to head over KPI which is hosting Criag Alexander for an interview.

Questions flew after a short intro and tips on sustaining motivation to train, personal life, training tools and assessment of the competition were dished out. Must say I admire what they do., especially when your livelihood involves waking up early for that swim/bike workout/run even though it is cool outside and cosy inside.

At KPI

Me and my red shoes

Arrival of world champ

The interested crowd

Settled down for interview

Pete Jacobs(left), Craig Alexander(right)

Autograph Session (and I got one too :D)

How to spend your limited time

2009-03-19T20:24:00.007+08:00

I've always believed death is a mechanism for advancement in the human race. That because there is a limit to our existence, there is an urgency to get things done.

But life is a complex thing to handle.

We cannot live like it will never end because then there is no motivation for anything to be done at speed. You'll push back that visit to a treasured friend or never get down to work on an important project and take things for granted.

We also cannot live life like tomorrow may never come doing only task that satisfy the primary desire, not develop any meanful relationship and being totally selfish without care for the general community.

So I guess living is indeed an art, you think you understand but you actually don't.

Bloom Bloom

2009-03-16T21:16:00.001+08:00

The emergence of our next economic revolution @ Insead

2009-03-11T21:37:00.015+08:00

Read about Frank Brown in Raffles Conversations 2008 two months back and his recent interview with Straits Times prompted me to find out more about Insead of which he is Dean.

From there I chanced upon this seminar titled 'The Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution' and found it interesting enough to register.

Arrived punctually to a full car park, had to go over to Fusionpolis next door which is a nice building with high ceilings (me like!) and had to pay parking charges (me no like :C).

Insead is a cosy school; the sofas are comfortable, the students seems to know one another and there's a nice courtyard with water cascading down 1 side of the wall for informal gatherings.

Look at the workstations in the library too! Huge wooden tables , the glass windows making the place feels more spacious.

Library ^_^

Walking towards auditorium

Speaker of the day was Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first introducing the 3Ws in the 21st century (Web, Women and Weather).

She then made convincing arguments

-that developed nations need to facilitate motherhood for working women to increase birthrates

-that organisations with a balanced gender ratio in leadership does better financially and

-to utilise the differences offered by women rather than having a traditional system where women need to act like men to reach leadership positions, creating a hybrid we don't really enjoy (know female bosses that fits that description?)

Seated in the auditorium

Following that, we had a panel of guest to do a Q&A moderated by Christina Pantin, Editor for SEA and Pacific Reuters Asia.

For a while, the discussion unwittingly slipped into creating a level field for women to excel in the corporate environment which defeats the purpose of celebrating the fact that women offer different perspectives.

By trying to facilitate women to performing in a system which has been traditional male dominant would at best provide the organisation with a greater choice of leaders but does not take it higher by tapping their "other talents". It also doesn't motivate most companies to go out their way to ensure women ratio in the boardroom is larger.

Thankfully, Avivah emphasized a few points which brings the focus back to how it can be beneficial for organisations to have a system which allows men and women to understand they are essentially different creatures and recognising the other sex offers something which can compliment the usual way of getting things done.

Of course, the discussion is just an academic exercise in conceptualising an approach. Being aware is the beginning in implementation, which is the real challenge.

How do you communicate an idea which seems radical to the majority used to working the old ways (including women themselves) and convinced traditionalist who thinks that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I was most impressed with Mr Narayan Pant, Dean of Executive Education and Professor of Strategy who in his own words has the "unreasonable" task of concluding the seminar. In a live discussion context, he managed to string together points from each of the panelist, arrange them in sequence and articulate a balanced view of what transpired.

For me, at least I found out I can multitask quite well. As I was thinking of taking a picture of the Movenpick ice cream I had while driving home. In the space of time where thoughts occur and action completed, the ice cream was eaten leaving an empty tub

P.S. Some of you will discredit me and argue it's because I procrastinated, my retort is it's not easy to drive, change gear, eat ice cream, take picture, blink eyes, lick lips at the same time. THERE! Men can multitask too

(Eaten) Movenpick ice cream

Items from goody bag

Ohohoh...BAD Medicine! Bad Medicine is what I need!

2009-03-11T14:30:00.003+08:00

Down with very dry throat last Sat, then runny nose on Sunday followed by mild fever and cough on Monday so I went to see doctor for some drugs.

The cough mixture is not the dark color type I use to get, this doctor gave a red color type like for "kin na"(children) which doesn't make you as drowsy but ..................................................................................... Oh! Still drowsy :)

Anyway, I'm finishing my medicine today and the cough and phlegm's still residing happily in me. My reactions are still a little delayed and its actually quite fun when the nervous system seem to behave like a computer waking up from screen saver mode when I get interrupted by an sms.

Hope to recover by tomorrow so me is able to get some light jogging done...now for a nap then a forum to attend in the evening

Run 1 and 2 of March

2009-03-05T22:52:00.004+08:00

Tuesday - 7km

Started at tempo pace of ~4:45min/km for I-Run before settling into ~4:40min/km. With sufficient reserve at the last km, sprinted to finish at 32:25min averaging 4:38min/km

Thursday - 7km

Started at ~4:20min/km for but only able to sustain for about 2km. Had to stop for a while to fastern the right shoelace and then continuing at what I perceive to be ~4:30min/km.

Maintaining the target 10km race pace of 4:30min/km and reaching the finish at 31:14min averaging 4:28min/km. Maybe it's time to start doing 10km at 5min/km pace.

Miru Kim Naked

2009-03-05T07:18:00.006+08:00

Watched a presentation by Miru Kim online of her Naked City Spleen series of work, she mentioned of visiting and photographing abandon buildings and underground sewers.

To inject a different element in the work, she decided to create a fiction character/animal in the pictures. The easiest way was to model herself, deciding to do it without clothes for the character not to have any cultural implications or time specific indication.

Of course I was pretty excited by the prospect of viewing this young lady w/o clothing, art or no art.

It turned out that the pictures were beautifully captured, especially the lighting. Having a character in it provides a contrast to appreciate the scale of the structures and somehow a single character better communicate the idea of isolation rather than just photographing the surroundings itself.

Does Miru needs to be naked? I think the pictures would be as beautiful regardless but the idea behind the work would be different and not as engaging.

Sunday Hash at Venus Dr carpark

2009-03-02T10:35:00.003+08:00

Weather for the last few days has been predictably unpredictable. You can almost predict that the sunny day in the morning doesn't mean anything and the clear skies at 3pm can suddenly become overcast half an hour later.

It was the same scene for the Sunday Hash when thunderstorm surrounded our tiny island. I called the co-hare 30min b4 the hash began to confirm the run is on even if it snows and was reprimanded (with a charge in the circle later) for thinking anything would stop the gathering.

Without a good excuse to lie in bed, drove down to join the 20 odd mentally unstable people in the rain at venus drive car park just in time. Brokie's children has to cancel their swim class at SMU but she still came to the hash while the rest of the family went home (probably to warm food and cosy beds).

And so we kept going on and on in the thick vegetation as lightning flashes ever so often like a scene from some horror flick. Knocked my head against hugh branches at my blind spot twice as I was wearing a cap, got pricked by thorns(now embedded in my thumb as the skin grew over it overnight) and tripped numerous times by the undergrowth.

The highlight of after an hour in the jungle was the "riverbank" where we had to swim across. Brokie has incorrectly sensed that we might be half submerged for this hash a day earlier, we were almost fully submerged lor!

It was a 3km run back to the car park after the swimming episode. Funny thing is, the tall gentlemen in front of me tried to avoid a puddle before the boardwalk after being totally drenched earlier. I just splashed onto it...

Time to slow down

2009-02-25T19:09:00.012+08:00

With the Tribob aquathlon out of the way, the next race would be the triathlon sprint relay in April where I'm responsible for the swimming leg.

My hope is that without the need to conserve energy for a run leg and some time to work on swimming straight in the sea, I can go under 15min.

Confirmed events for the rest of the year so far is the Trifactor 1km open water swim in May and individual sprint distance triathlon in September so I guess you can call this my running off season now.

Think I'll still do 2 to 3 runs a weeks but instead of trying to go fast, fast, fast! The focus would be more on taking time to enjoy the exercise, do a bit of reflections while running or just admiring the scenery.

Rainbow ^__^

Tribob Singapore Sprint Series Aquathlon

2009-02-22T16:23:00.010+08:00

Participating in my 1st swim-run event, I approached the Tribob race with slight apprehension.

Save for going kayaking more than a decade ago, there wasn't opportunity to do an open water swim before. But the fact you are reading this meant that I did not become stepping board for other swimmers or prey for some mystical sea monster.

Early birds

Arriving at 7:10am to ensure a parking space at the nearest Tanjong Beach carpark, you could see many other enthusiastic aquathlon-ers heading to place their barang-barang at the transition area.

Packing for transition

There was a box marked out for each participants just enough for you to place your shoes, small towel and probably a bottle of water. Those who bought their "luggage" along had to be advised to keep to their allocated space, I did some stacking of shirt on towel, towel on small bag.

Realising I forgot the bottle of water *bummer X_X*.... I walked back to the carpark for it and a roll of toilet paper (the one w/o the dolphin cartoon) for "business".

Hot sunny welcome

Bodymarking and the bag drop was a straightforward affair for participants. People then go about chatting with friends while others going for a warm up swim or stand alone to visualising their transition process.

The mini-aquathlon started at 8:30am while I followed the competitive wave that started 10min later. The initial 50m or so was a furious affair with swimmers jostling for position near the lane ropes.

Swimmers turned around

Visibility was less than 1 metre and I didn't find following the lane ropes helpful. By the time I realised the lane rope's beside me, it was time to untangle myself. The next thing you know, I was far away from the ropes again and the zig zagging continues. In the end, settled for looking up ahead for a faraway coconut tree every 6 strokes.

Swimmers exit water

Exiting the waters for transition at 15:55min after 750m of swimming, it was another battle against time to put on socks and tied the shoe laces ASAP. Could see many others just forgoing the socks and using the locklace thingy to save time for transition (which is quite wise for a sprint distance race on hindsight). Not bad la, there's a female "Sergeant Major" crew shouting at us to get our butt out running quickly.Exit transition in 52sec with the bottle of water to rinse away salt water.

Legs felt a bit heavy for the 1st 4-500m of the run while trying to settle into a comfortable race pace of 4:30min/km.

The crews at the water points were handing out the drinks with the cups stretched out so you can quickly grab it and go while running past (a small gesture but a Big plus especially in a short race) unlike some events where you have to pick up drinks yourself or worse, wait for the drinks to be filled.

Good shade nearing the beach for runners

Turned around for the return leg of the run at exactly 28min on my watch and continue to maintain pace. Also made it a point to pour a cup of water over the head at each water point in the mid morning weather and take a 2 sips of water if possible. Noticed most other runners skipped the water points probably worried about the lost of momentum as you tried to run with a cup and drink.

With about 50m to go, sprinted to the finish with another runner exchanging lead a few times before finishing with identical times of 39:10min. We congratulated each other for the good effort after collecting the finisher medal and I went to cheer for swimmers from the women and men's friendly wave as they come in to transition area.

Uncle E finishing

Meet up later with Wendy and Uncle E who participated in the event. Nat also came to provide support and take pictures.

pic w Wendy

pic w Wendy and Nat

Prize Presentation

Proceed for FOOD after the prize presentation ceremony, important reward for waking up early on Sunday. Overall, an enjoyable event to participate for beginners looking to get started.

Thanks to Nat for supplying the photographs for this post, Tribob for organising this event, participants for making this race possible, water crew, road marshals, other volunteers and medical staff for the assistance, supporters for a great atmostphere and the redbull girls for the complimentary redbulls.

Penguin may be cute but killer whale will still eat it

2009-02-19T17:48:00.004+08:00

In case you're scratching your head what nonsense title is this? Maybe you haven't understood my brand of philosophy.

Anyway, it's just the "Life is Fair or Unfair" thingy reinvented. Let's try to break it down and look at the argument in simple terms.

1) Penguin is cute to you but as nature dictates, it is still food to the Killer whale: In life, you may be cute, kind, lovable but it doesn't mean you're immune to people who gossip behind our back, backstab you at work etc. Therefore, life is unfair.

2) On the other hand, Killer whale doesn't eat sharks or at least I haven't seen it happen before ok! So while the shark is disadvantaged in terms of "cuteness" compared to penguin, it doesn't have to groom its fur, doesn't have to worry about killer whales and has many choices of food (It's true! I've read about sharks that eats a lot of rubbish).

3) So you could go with the pessimistic view about life being unfair, why others seem to have a better platform or the more positive outlook that while you are less "cute", there are other traits you possess that's better than the "penguin.

Well....thank you for wasting you time :D

Float Around

2009-02-18T18:49:00.002+08:00

Took time to get a feel of the water before Sunday's Tribob Aquathon.

Finish the 750m in 15min 12sec so guess if you factor in some currents, having to look up during the swim due to underwater visibility and a bit of nerves not having swam that distance in open water before, 17min is possible?

Will probably opt to join the competitive group(<15min) rather than the fit group (15-20min) to avoid overcrowding and zig zagging to overtake other swimmers.

Count Down : 4 days

Sunday Hash Pics by Brokie

2009-02-16T22:16:00.002+08:00

Brokie who joined the Sunday Hash for the 1st time did a good story from her camera here --> http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/BrokenRunner/SundayHash150209?feat=directlink

Weekends are tough too

2009-02-16T10:36:00.004+08:00

Computer is still down and I've been gathering the required information to restore my data to it's most recent form possible. Couldn't perform most work as critical softwares are not available until I get back to office for the IT guys to work on it. Then I can start restoring my other soft wares one by one BEFORE copying the backup data back to their respective folders. Anyway, it is important to get over the irritants that's beyond control and focus on MOVING ON...

Had to attend to last minute appointments over the weekend and go back to the primitive ways of using hard copies for policy applications. That means going back to office on Sunday for the forms.

But nothing is all bad. Since I hah to travel all the way east for the forms on a Sunday morning, took the opportunity to join the Tampines SAFRA group for their location run at 7am. Took it easy for the 12-14km distance with the hash later in mind.

The weather was humid and we were perspiring profusely despite moving along at a pretty leisure pace. Left for office after the run in stinky clothes while the Fatbirds went for their morning makan.

Brokie joined the hash as a virgin(hasher) later in the afternoon, it was burning hot even at 5:30pm. Her dirtiest pair of shoes looks cleaner than my cleanest pair so I offered a silent prayer for her (shoes).

We started at Faber Heights and ran along an unused railway track towards the Ulu Pandan park connector. It was fun crossing a river over the train bridge, passing a huge tunnel with mud threatening to swallow our shoes and "crawling" under a drain with numerous spider webs.

We had lots of grassy trails, then more rocky railway tracks, roads and countless potholes providing a challenging run. The hash was longer than expected and most came back after 1.5hrs, many walking....

I got 3 down downs in succession at the circle followed by 2 later (if I was sober enough to count properly). Opted to go home quickly after starting my Sunday at 5:30am. After a nice shower and Hor Fun, I knocked out at 2230hrs exhausted.... Z_Z

Friday the 13th in advance

2009-02-13T12:00:00.003+08:00

The notebook's hard disk crashed 15min to Friday the 13th. Now I've to spent time to get it working again, reinstall all the programme especially the ones essential for my work and although I'm getting a replacement under warranty, my backup DVD is unfortunately (or fortunately depends on how often you backup) last updated a month ago. So there goes the client updates and the newsletter I'm working on for Feb! o_O*

It will be a long day waiting for IBM to sent me a replacement hard disk..... with schedules in disarray, work disrupted and probably many days before things return to normal. Think I should go get honey milk tea with lots of pearls so I can chew on them for revenge.

Public Assistance for the needy

2009-02-12T11:16:00.004+08:00

The public assistance (PA) amount for needy families would be raise by between $30-$120 a month. It was the 3rd time since 2007 the amount was raised and now a single person can receive $360 a mth for his/her basic living expenses.

I remembered bringing up this issue to then Minister of State for Finance, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua (now Senior Minister of State) during a forum on the Singapore 2008 Budget last year where PA was raised to $290 a mth "only", at a time when inflation was hovering around the 4% levels. Please do not misunderstand, I of course is too insignificant to play a part in the change of any policies but merely joining the crowd in providing attention to this matter so someone feels irritated enough to go and scratch the itch.

I'm sure the concept of Not making it easy for anyone to claim public assistance is correct so as not to encourage a sense of entitlement and dependence on the state as this could proof to be a burden in future.

Seeing willingness to pay attention towards this segment of the population, the next step is probably to ensure aids are made awared to the people in real need.

On a personal note, I think I'm concern about his matter out of selfish reasons. Set aside some of government's revenue to ease social problems like begging and petty crimes resulting from extreme poverty because I want to come back late at night and walk home with a peace of mind.

10km race pace

2009-02-11T17:23:00.006+08:00

Did the 7km (although I suspect it's closer to 6.8km only) run at the usual i-run yesterday evening before a meeting. Initially wanted to do a 4:45min/km pace but in the end decided to go a bit faster because my BIG ego couldn't bear to lose sight of the front runners (which I eventually still did).

Came back at 31:40min, around 4:32min/km feeling satisfied having done a pace I feel is sustainable for 10km. So the new year resolution of 45min for 10km is attainable :D

Actually, run faster for what purpose? While you're panting can't chit chat with friends, no mood to enjoy the scenery and no prizes anyway. No wonder Confucius didn't invent the telephone .... *flying crow*

Bloggone :)

2009-02-10T14:56:00.004+08:00

For a while, thought some higher being is giving me a break and helping me manage time better by making this blog disappear into the www last Sunday. Alas, it came back and here I am, returning to action *boo*

Well, what to write except more boring stuff happening to me like that cycling trip to Kranji Dam and back. Measured the distance when I came back and realised it's only 30.5km for the round trip from NTU.

riding on double yellow line

Cyclist friendly wide "airport" road

Smell of chicken waste along the way *cough cough*

Neo Tiew road

Kranji Farm resort

The chalets there

Finally, the Dam

Sea View

Dam view

Sea view

The long and short of it

2009-02-06T21:37:00.005+08:00

Did a run at NTU/NIE this evening and it's a pleasure to be there after a period of absence.

02/06/2009 Route
Find more Runs in Jurong West, Singapore

Going at a leisurely pace, it's nice to appreciate the peaceful surroundings; empty buildings, lonely roads, dark forest at the side and the few students taking a leisurely stroll as a gentle breeze blew (I did my best to describe the beauty of the night already, ain't no writer of literature ok).

Finished the run slightly under 54min, 6:30min/km pace feeling at peace.

The run on Tuesday at a harder pace of 5min/km on the other hand leaves a satisfied sensation that something challenging has been accomplished. When you easy on yourself, life's hard on you. When you're hard on yourself, life's easy on you.

I Like Myself

2009-02-06T10:53:00.000+08:00

I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself,I Like Myself! :D

Experiment for SMRT

2009-02-04T21:03:00.004+08:00

This morning is one of the days I took public transport to do my part for the environment.

No...actually I wanted to save money and not pay the exorbitant ERP and parking charges for a short talk in town. I think I saved more than $10 net in exchange for an extra half hour of travelling time with some inconvenient like rushing with a lot of human traffic to board the trains.

Also noted we haven't really learnt how to effectively enter and exit the trains after all that practice since MRT existed. Somehow people still though we should stand between the 2 arrows and try and push the exiting passengers back into the cabins.

My suggestion for SMRT is to let passengers keep left when exiting or entering the train so they didn't have to be decide whether to keep right/left/between the arrows. Yes, nothing fantastic but it might just work :)

MR25 5K TT - Mission burn fats

2009-02-01T20:12:00.005+08:00

Last Sunday - NY Eve Steamboat w extra rice
Monday - Steamboat + NY goodies
Tuesday - Steamboat
Wednesday - Steamboat
Thursday - 5k easy Hong Bao run + NY goodies + 1 x Yu Sheng
Friday - 7/8 course lunch + 1 x Yu Sheng
Sat - 200m easy swim then Buffet dinner @ WJF's house + 1 x Yu Sheng + another session of Yu Sheng
Sunday - Feeling bloated and determined to take revenge at the MR Time Trial (TT)

Arriving at mission burn fats 15 min before the TT began and rush to register at the zig zag bridge. Caught Acidburn who was already there for the TT as well and Ultra who was there to soak in the atmostphere. Also saw Tiger Lily and Knobby Boy Scout who were there for the TT for the 1st time as well.

Did a quick stretch before the call for all to gather for the 5pm start, a cloudy day and luckily it didn't rain. Started at a moderately hard pace with the front runners kicking up dust and disappearing quickly, so it is true when coyote tries to catch roadrunner, he eats dust. But I still don't believe I can survive a dynamic explosion.

Caught up briefly with Tiger Lily but she demonstrates her dislike for being overtaken by shifting into another gear, leaving me in the wake :(

U-turn finally arrived at 10:45min and that probably means I might have ran too fast. The slopes on the way back seem more obvious now as I try to keep a pace that allows me to keep a good form and not breath too hard. Did the 5K in 22:18min and quickly relieve myself behind a tree (hopefully no ones gonna post my action on the stupid STOMP website) with my bladder near bursting already midway thru the run.

It was a satisfactory timing, faster than my target of 23min to avoid being placed in the tortoise (23-24min) and snail (24-25min) category. But slower than the 21:50min which I thought was possible (Well, overestimated myself ) although doing a tortoise or snail timing is far from being considered anything embarrassing, it's important to run your own race.

Went with Knobby Boy Scout and Tiger Lily to Sixth Ave for pizza after the run and then back home to get ready for the new week, welcome to February! :D

Are people selfish?

2009-01-27T19:54:00.005+08:00

Al Pacino speech

People are not selfish, they are just not given a cause of great worth and importance. They go to war and sacrificed for their country, family, religion etc given the right reasons. Humans achieve great things when inspired....

Earned CNY feast

2009-01-25T16:16:00.002+08:00

Two 7km runs at sub 31min during the weekdays, a 600m swim in 12min yesterday and a short cycle up and down Lim Chu Kang road before an easy 3.2km run should allow me sufficient credit for a CNY feast. Time to relax and pig out for a few days! :D

Utilizing Debts; Good Practices

2009-01-23T18:23:00.003+08:00

Anticipating a challenging economic environment in the New Year, we should get organized and take this opportunity to review spending habits and reducing unnecessary expenses. Having credit cards from multiple banks is common and while it does provide many rewards, there is a danger of it reducing the concept of your expenditure due to its convenience.

Traditional views are that debts are bad. However, that would also prevent many from becoming property owners, restrict businesses in their expansion and reduce car population in Singapore since the majority of car owners (except me, I paid cash for my COE car) here take a loan when they purchase a motor vehicle (the 3rd point is positive for air quality here right? *smiles*).

Sensible use of debts can be useful to the individual in their investment decision or prevent them from making bad ones and therefore it is important to differential good debts from the bad ones.

Let’s just focus on credit line and credit cards. These facilities have reward points, interest free installments or promotional prices for your purchases. They are good for their convenience especially when you may not wish to carry too much cash when overseas also provided a consolidated statement which I doubt many would have done for themselves.

For those with a good credit history, banks provide promotional rates for short term loans of 3-24 months. These could provide much needed cash flow in times of emergency where one doesn’t need to liquidate their investments or assets at distress values.

I would caution though that not settling your bills on time has a high penalty with the interest calculation rolled back to when the initially credit was utilized. Thus it is important not to overspend due to the liberal nature these facilities are made available.

Utilize them for sensible objectives and purchases you would have been able to afford anyway even if you do not possess these credit lines.

Should one unfortunately have difficulty in servicing these debts, you have to approach your bankers and proactively discuss a strategy to manage them rather than allow the interest to compound.

Singapore Budget 2009

2009-01-23T00:30:00.004+08:00

The budget "highlights" is already 60 pages!

People will complain about it no matter what. Those not receiving any incentive will complain, those receiving will also complain with their hands outstretched.

Many people/companies are suffering in these hard times. Some justified and some due to wastage and lack of fiscal discipline in good times. Do they deserve to be "bailed out" by public funds?

Initial thoughts are that the budget is creative, well-structured but of course imperfect.

First quote post in the new year

2009-01-21T14:35:00.002+08:00

Success needs no explaination,
Failure is full of excuses

Live Hare run

2009-01-19T23:30:00.007+08:00

My long absence from hashing for the marathon and ultra marathon training made me felt like a virgin (hash virgin I mean, but I doubt you understand) all over again.

To add ice cream to hot waffles (I meant it was a bonus, for those who don't appreciate colourful English), it was a live hare run where the hares goes off x minutes in advance and we are suppose to chase and trace them down. And as legend goes, if that happens.....the hares will drop their pant. Something we're not keen to see happening as well.

Not feeling particularly in the mood to be caught and dropping their pants in the presence of a bunch of twisted hashers, we were lead round a few T-checks and tough Circle checks.

Navigating vegetation

Going down and over a muddy stream

During the run, DIY commented on my calves saying I've been training too much. I know your girlfriend's off to Bangkok but I suppose you have better choice than to target my calves right?

Then BOO mistaken the letter "H" as an "I" and was rightly charged twice during the circle after having ran "at least 2000 hashes". Sorry, no I-ronman distance in a hash ok.

Nice....clear path for some good running

Grey carpet

Where the heck is (toilet) paper?

Back and dinner just a stone throw away

Neutralize all that lost calories with a sumptuous dinner thereafter and yes, been sometime since I gone home with grass cuts.

why you are who you are

2009-01-14T21:46:00.004+08:00

The obese remains so because busy at work.
After work, too tired and have to watch TV.
After TV, too late to exercise or else too exhausted to work tomorrow.
Then on weekends, only chance to wake up late and need to go shopping.
Then you say runners can get heart attack, cycling can fall down and having a sensible diet still can get cancer.

The poor remains poor because other people can go to school and get educated.
When at school, yours is a neighbourhood school while other's are at elite schools.
Put you in an elite school you say your are marginalised.

You throw litter because government never place a bin there.
You left the plates uncleared to provide the cleaners a job.
You think Buses and MRTs should be free, clean, spacious and arrival at 2 minutes interval.
Then you think taxes are too high

Do you know why you are who you are?

Sundown decision

2009-01-13T10:17:00.003+08:00

Original Plan - signed up for the team event and do an easy 10.5km.

Then - 1 of the 4 team members forgot about the original plan and signed up for marathon distance.

Now - The pain of the last marathon has subsided, the temptation to break my 09 resolution (in the 1st month of the yr) of running short distances is strong. What to do, what to do........

Old Bones

2009-01-11T13:23:00.003+08:00

2 late nights already this year with the 1st being the New Year's Eve celebration and the other being yesterday's chill out at corner stone.

The feeling next day is always lethargic and as far as allocation of time goes, it's not a good choice as sleeping 2-3 hrs later than my usual bedtime (11pm - midnight) results in the groggy feeling for the whole of next day.

I attribute this to aging and probably also the increase in exercise intensity over the last 4 months thus the need for body to have sufficient rest and recovery time compared to the average potato coach.

Now I understand why cinderella don't stay out late......

Learning day & Revenge run

2009-01-09T09:58:00.004+08:00

Attended an interesting talk by Ivan Lee, CEO of Thai Express in the afternoon. It's fair to have 1 takeaway for each seminar attended instead of expecting that duckling turned into swan phenomenon.

My takeaway? Life may not be fair but there's no need to sit back and grumble about it. Learning from people who you admire and improve step by step rather than hope for the spectacular (it can happen but don't hope for it). You'll be much more contented about reaching your potential than pondering over your poor set of cards.

Changed my plans to do some OT in the office to going for another 7km tempo run although legs are still sore from the last run and to collect a cycling helmet from a friend there.

Started off cautiously this time and managed to come in at a much better time of 31min feeling more comfortable. Maybe it's the same for how we live? You reach where you want to go faster by being consistent and being aware of how to reproduce that performance rather than charging like a bull. Hard work is essential, putting it in the right areas gets the results.

Lau Hong run

2009-01-06T23:05:00.003+08:00

Delayed by the traffic and reached the CBD i-run just in time to see everyone running off so immediately down to work w/o warming up.

Since I was planning for a faster pace of 4:30min/km, dashed off in search of the lead runners. Had a feeling I must've pushed too hard because was soon leading the pack.

Turned around at Brewerkz and back to Boat Quay area missing a turn and heading in the wrong direction so turned around to catch up with the others. The effects of no warm up and going faster than planned soon took its toil and slowed down considerably after about 4km.

Finished the 7km + wrong turn in 33:45min, slower than the targeted 31:30min with a good lesson learnt on proper pacing. Next time, planned enough time allowance to arrive early, settle down and start comfortably before increasing speed and see how it work out. I'm still learning...

Mild Exercise Week

2009-01-04T21:53:00.003+08:00

Did a few laps in the pool on Sat, feeling a little lacking in water fitness so nothing spectacular to report. Around 6 weeks before the biathlon to build up my endurance in the water and maybe do a tryout in open water at least once; hope I don't drown.

Spent Sunday morning at ECP re-christening the bike with a 35km spin-about at pretty leisure pace but the you-know-where area hurts after such a long layoff. Time to look for a pair of triathlon tights to cushion my pampered behind?

New Year Resolution

2008-12-31T17:26:00.003+08:00

Something to work towards, should have a quarterly review.

1) Increase weight 5% to X kg.

2) Have more variety in exercise instead of mostly running, complete a triathlon sprint or Olympic distance.

3) Work on running speed for 10km to sub 45min

4) Eat better, less snack or healthier choice

5) Control budget - scheduling to reduce travelling cost, reduce investment transaction expense, link vacation to running events to kill 2 birds w 1 stone.

6) TV - drama series or reality TV limit to 6 a year, can watch educational programme, count the number of movies I watch on TV

7) Be selective about movies, visit to cinema limited to 6 for 2009.

8) Reduce frequency of checking email which often results in distractions and mindless internet surfing, instead focus on categorising them and replying ASAP.

9) Don't be punctual if attending events that always starts late

10) No need to read everything in the papers. Do a quick scan of news headlines and leave unimportant, gossipy articles til end of the day or skip if there are more pertinent task to fulfill.

Longest Run

2008-12-29T19:44:00.006+08:00

Did my longest run in time during the hash challenge (10.5hrs) in Aug and yesterday, my longest run in distance (52.5km) in 7hrs 0min 25seconds, bringing a great close to the year.

1st 3 loops was completed at a fairly consistent pace of 1hr 15min including a visit to the loo for big business after the 2nd loop. Bananas and mini orange provided some energy before the 4th loop but not for long. Ganged up with yamsong and cheow to encourage one another when I met them outside the loo at the beginning of the 4th loop.

Struggled with hunger as my gel and bar is finished during the 1st 2 loops, the sun was also merciless from late morning onwards. We walked up the slopes and a fair bit of the flat ground as well as my right ITB hurts.

In the trail

Smiling outside, hurting inside

Began the last loop slightly pass 5 and a half hours after a change of shoes (which is a bit late), refueling with some M&M chocolates and a char siew sou (yum yum). Found Spencer limping along the northern route probably from a muscle strain and wished him well. The food eased the hunger and there was more energy to sustain the run longer although my feet were feeling the effects of the foot massage complimentary of the rocky trails. Came in 25seconds pass the 7hr mark (aiyah!).

It was a 12hrs event but opted to complete the minimum of 52.5km and stayed back after that to cheer for those going for more. The male winner did 94.5km and female winner 84km eventually.

Reward: Finisher T Shirt
Don't Play Play, got cert ok

New Year Resolution Draft

2008-12-26T20:52:00.008+08:00

Resolutions for 09 would have a more systematically approach and be monitored periodically. Will categorised them under Physical & Health goals, Finance (Even more critical in challenging times) and Time Management (Aligning priorities and allocating limited time to fulfilling the resolutions). Hopefully the enthusiasm would be sustainable :D

I had a hard time figuring how to fit each category together and decided to just begin with a general outline and fill in the meat as things goes along.

1) Aim to increase my body weight by 5% after so many people mentioned I've become noticeably thinner and darker. No dropping egg whites in Milo for breakfast or those pumping iron stuff but will shift focus on marathon running to cross trainings and time to restart those push ups and crunches.

2) Signed up for Biathlon in 1st Quarter and teaming up to do a Triathlon relay in 2nd Quarter so got to start those swimming and cycling. Yes, my mountain bike lying in exile has been resurrected and given a new pair of shoes. May have to race with bikes costing 10, 20, 30 times more than mine but try to reduce the deficit with hard work. Looking to add some open water swim events and aim to do a Olympic distance Tri event too if there's an affordable one and scheduled in 2nd half of the year so there's time to prep.

3) To cater for other disciplines in tri, running may be reduced to half marathon distances. Hopefully, also able to clock sub 45min for a 10K race.

4) Diet wise, I've already request for no salt in my Mac fries and green tea in replacement of coke so the next thing is to probably avoid junk food like pop corns, peanuts, chips and crackers. Healthier tidbits like multi grain snacks, "So Da Pia" (Julie Cream Crackers if no melamine), muesli bars and sandwiches for hungry times between meals.

5) Eat more fruits and vegetables.

6) Have done a preliminary review of FY08 expenses and while it has gone up as expected in the current inflationary environment, some items has overshot budget quite substantially. Guess I just have to prioritise and be careful about certain items which could add up.

7) The 2 most time consuming activities; Internet surfing, Television and newspapers. While they are educational and an important part in everyone's life, the "distractions" in these medias often lead to time wastage. 2 more days to think about how to better focus and allocate more attention to the "priorities".

8) People you care about; It cannot be all the time are well spent. Otherwise, we just spent ALL the time with them. To think about how to make these time more quality than quantity as well. Maybe make all of them train with me? *evil grin*