SBR 2008

The pics said it all.

Yup, I finished it. My second SBR (first being in 2006) and my premonition came true. I struggled.
:P



This run is quite unlike my first. I guess in my first SBR, I didn't know what to expect, I was running quite often and the runs were always fun, so I was sorta looking fwd to SBR 2006. I completed the run feeling fresh (albeit breathless but my legs were alright) and enjoying the whole experience.

Come 2008. Somehow I felt apprehensive and by this morning i was a lil anxious.

Very fortunate to have Mr and Mrs IMD picked me up this mrn and we got to the starting point early. Didn't manage to catch any of the rest of the SGRunners gang and so I was alone at the starting point and it was boring. The comperes were not psyching up the group, and the music was just *yawn* ... errr ... I was really expecting a more upbeat atmosphere :P Maybe it was just me

When the horn sounded, everyone just surged fwd as always but thankfully in an orderly manner. I started my own slow pace and everyone just passed me. I kept to my consistent slow pace and let everyone passed. Somehow the feeling was really surreal. Its almost as if I'm in a dream watching myself running and having all the runners passed me by. I dunno why but I had the urge to turn around to see whether I was the last runner. I know it was a silly thought but really that's how I felt.

The run towards ECP was manageable. Bee ran up to say hello. Pleasant surprise! Very happy to see Bee and very nice of her to run over to say Hi. She was still running at a very consistent pace and I tried to keep up with her on and off.

Shortly into ECP, I already started seeing runners on their return leg. Tried to keep a lookout for Teelee but didn't manage to see him. Saw IMD breezed past. Also caught sight of cfred, TLR and realrunner all in good form. Cokiee passed me and gave me a thumbs up to cheer me on. Thanks so much Cokiee for the encouragement! Really appreciate it. :)

I didn't expect the U-turn point in ECP to be that far away and each time I thought the turn was near, I realised that the long train of runners ahead were still meandering further in. The turning point finally came at the 9km mark. The return leg out of ECP was thankfully uneventful and seemed half as long.

By the 17km I was showing signs of strain. The lethargy was kicking in (so soon?!) and somehow my gastric didn't feel right. I wasn't sure whether it was indeed gastric or stitches as I gulped down a cup of water shortly before. I was starting to weaken mentally and shortly after I started to do run walk. The "trail" leading up to the Marina Barrage was a little challenging, perhaps exacerbatd by my increasing lethargy. Anyway, someone gently tapped my arm as I was in my own world struggling - turned out to be one of my uni friend's husband. How he could recognise me from behind after so many years, I do not know. He was trying to make conversation but I was just too tired and could only answer him in between breaths. Shortly after I asked him to go ahead an he trudged along and was soon out of sight.

The rest of the journey was just ... struggling and I finally finished the run in 2hrs 27mins 04secs. Much slower than my first SBR. Ah well ...

I didn't feel very good after the run, was really drained and ears seemed blocked the entire time. I couldn't really hear myself very well. No good.

Anyway, managed to catch the SGRunners and took some group pics. I feel so out of place now in the SGRunners as I know only the handful of them now. Thankfully cfred called out to me as I was searching for the SGrunners people, else I would have missed them.

My calves felt tight after the run. Quite strange since its not as if I have not tried 20km in my LSD. Must be the age :P

Though I said I feel out of place in the SGRunners group, I'm still nonetheless glad to see some familiar faces like Andy, Sotong (Thanks too for the encouragement after my run! I'm still in awe at just how he towers over everyone!), Teelee, Taz, IMD, Brokie, cfred, Charmane, Renoh, Tigger, Ultraman, Bee, TLR, FD, Cokiee, DO, Gentle ...

Special thanks to Mr and Mrs IMD for giving me a lift today! Very very grateful! *BOW*

Thanks also to Teelee. You know what you did :) So THANKS again!

Also to Cokiee. THANKS so much for all the encouraging words last nite on MSN and to cheer me on when you passed me. That really helps, really. :)

And to the many others who didn't scoff at my horrible timing :P

Ok lah, though I bitch so much about how I didn't enjoy the run, I'm just glad that I completed it as targeted.

Very nice number eh ? I should have timed to finish in 2hrs 38mins and 8 secs :P

SCSM 08 ? Errrrrr ..... I better think about it

Cycling Marathon - Mission Accomplished

Yes, we did it! :)

All five of us, Charmane, Roonz, Bala, Teelee & I joined other five cycling teams and started our 7-hour spin challenge at 1015hrs.  In front of us were the 7-hour GroupX challenge where the instructors from Fitness First (FF being the organiser of this charity event) led the participants in exercises ranging from Body Attack, Body Pump, Step, Combat, Yoga and the like.

I thought that with minimum resistance, I wouldn't have problems spinning for extended periods of time.  But I wasn't prepared for the pain sitting on the bike and I felt the pain and lethargy setting in very early on in the marathon.  I had to constantly alternate between standing climbs and seated spin throughout the challenge.

The challenge for myself in this event is to cycle as much as I can.  Though most of the funds have been raised, but a good friend has offered to donate for the duration of the time I spent cycling.  Ok, so you might say that no one (apart from my team members) will know how long I actually ride, but no.  I have my integrity, and I wouldn't lie just to get a few extra bucks.  It is also a personal challenge to myself.  I'm never an athelete, and the only riding I do is during the spin classes in FF.  So this is like a challenge to myself in finding out how long I can last on the bike.  My target : 5 hours with 30mins rest in between.

It was good fun just being with the team, chatting and laughing and entertaining ourselves while spinning away.  The team beside us, made us of one of my fellow gym mates and his friends, were also spinning away furiously beside us.  My gym mate, whom we never spoke in these many months we attended the same class, was actually very friendly and jovial and joked with us on and off.
Helps to keep the boredom at bay.

Got to thank our many friends who came by to support us while we sweat away.  THANKS to Kops, JT, Tao, Taz, Aichai & family !  Appreciate you folks taking the time off your precious Sat to come see us and cheer us on!  *bow*

Also wanted to thank my dear team members for readily agreeing to take part in this challenge (you people rock!) and for allowing a rookie like me to spin as and when I asked so that I can raise more $$ for CCF!!

I managed to spin a total of 5 hours and stopped at 1700hrs.  Though there is still 30mins more to go before the end of the challenge, I decided to call it quits as my left leg was starting to really hurt by then and I didn't want to risk an injury.  However, I'm glad that I managed to meet my target.  Yay!

The challenge ended at 1730hrs and all six teams did it!  Although there was no doubt that we could complete the challenge, it still felt good.

And we each received a certificate of participation ...

We were supposed to wash up at the gym and wait for the party to start 2 hours later.  However, most of us were beat so we decided to just have a quick dinner at the food court nearby before heading home to rest.

A very very big THANK YOU to all our supporters, and to the many of our friends for donating. We couldn't have done it without the support from all!  

Its interesting how this whole thing came about.  Just recently I was thinking to myself that I have yet to do a project for charity this year.  Something which I said I would do following the wonderful experiences I had from the Go The Extra Mile project for HWA last year.  It was shortly after that thought that I got to know about this Cycling Marathon.  Its interesting how things just fall into place in just a few msn chats and in no time a team was formed.  I'm also surprised & happy that I managed to collect over $800 in donations this round.  

I'm glad I managed to do something in 2007 for charity.  Definitely a highlight in 2007 for me.

All photos courtesy of Kops.  Thanks for taking pics for us (as none of us brought our cameras along) 
:) 

Cycling Marathon Latest Update

Hooray! Just got the confirmation that we are in!

Fund raising begins now ...

Hope everyone will be supportive of our efforts to raise $$ for CCF :)

Ready to Go!

Hooorah!!!! We have formed our team!! *victory sign*

Thanks to the indian chief for helping to find us our 5th rider ... and also coming up with our team name .... Team Jiak :P

We are ready to go ... now let's just hope that our team got selected coz they only looking for 4 teams for this event.

*prays*

Thanks to the double Rs (you know who u r :)) for so promptly pledging your support & funds. Really really appreciate your altruistic & kind gesture! *BOW*

Cycling Marathon

3 stationary bikes. 5 riders. 7 hours. $500 (min).

A few of us would be riding for charity this coming 27 Oct from 10am to 5:30pm.

We will be raising a minimum of $500 and we are still lacking one rider to join us in this meaningful event.

None of us know what is in store for the 7 hours, except that we will ride and all proceeds will go to the Children's Cancer Foundation. I'm lucky to have found 3 other like-minded friends to join me in this "marathon" of sorts, and I'm in awe of how readily they agreed to help out. No questions asked. Just "Ok!" or "On!". I like such decisive-ness! I myself am not so decisive. I have to learn from them!

Hope we will be able to raise the min $500 for the team. We are already prepared to fork out $100 each in the event we couldn't raise the sum.

But the most pressing need now is to find ourselves one more team member to join us in this charity event. If anyone is keen, pls come forward. Just drop me an email or meebo me (just chat on the meebo box on the right hand frame) :)

TLR Wedding Run

Our penghulu of SGRunners, TLR, would be finally tying the knot with his beloved FD this coming Sunday.

To commemorate such an important event for such an important man in our SGRunners kampung, Tiwazz (think is him since he started the post?) had organised a Wedding Run just for TLR.
(Picture : The Lonely Runner - not for long :D)

Seeing that the distance posted on the forum was 8-10km, I decided to sign up for this run. More to be a part of this run to help celebrate such a joyous event with TLR, and also because I thought 8-10km would be manageable for me. And considering that it would be a fun run, I suppose the pace wouldn't kill me :P

It was a cosy turn-out of a handfull of us including Tiwazz, Charlotte, Dasher, Alvo, Meteor, Roentgen, JT, SV and Aichai. Haven't seen Aichai for months so its really good to see him again! The run didn't start til 7:30am while we waited for Tiwazzto set up the "accessories" for TLR and also for the sky to clear from the early morning downpour. Everyone was joking about skipping the run and heading straight for breakfast but of course, we couldn't possibly let ourselves down without a run could we? :P

TLR was really embarrassed and awkward about running with a "Just Married" tag on his bum and several balloons and tin cans strung together to form a train behind him while he ran ... but he still good spiritedly went along with us ... except that he would run along with the cans in hand each time we pass by a more populated area so as not to attract tooo much attention haha


Suggestions streamed in about where to run (so as to run past crowded places :P) with Dasher leading the way guiding TLR and us on the direction and Roentgen running around snapping away with his swanky new Canon Ixus 850IS. It was a short distance but somehow many of us were feeling very tired from the run. I for one, with my injured leg acting up again, was feeling quite unwell for the run but realised even JT, Charlotte & Aichai were feeling the strain too. Possibly the talking, the frequent start & stop made the run more tiring ... (Picture of TLR leading the pack past Holland Village)

We returned to the start point in about 1hr later, covering an avg of 8km, according to the many footpods among us and was joined by FD.

We yakked some more, took some group photos and left for breakfast at the nearby halal kopitiam. A detailed account, with photos can be found at Roentgen's blog.

My very first SGRunners run in almost 10 months! Wow! Time really flies. Its good to finally be able to join the group runs again and see familiar faces. Hope I would be able to join more of such runs .... for now, I've got to lay off again. Lately feeling a lot of strain on my left leg. Doesn't bode well and I have to rest if I still want to run SBR in 2 weeks time.

Beautiful Seed

I attended Corrinne May's concert on Fri night.

Its been such a long time since I was last at Clementi and didn't realise that the interchange has shifted to a new location some 200m from the original site, while the previous site is now under heavy construction.

Its so nice to be going back to NUS after so many years ... hasn't changed much, but then again, seems like so much has changed. Such a paradox. Got to NUS University Cultural Centre (UCC). My first time at the UCC. It just looks like a big auditorium to me, nothing much. We got ourselves Corrinne's latest CD titled Beautiful Seed (yay!) which come to think of it, was slated previously to be launched in May .. hmmm ... deadline slip haha ...

I enjoyed Corrinne's concert but somehow I wasn't as moved with her new songs as I was with her older two albums. She still has a wonderful voice although I feel that she wasn't able to carry some of her notes as high as she wanted at some point. Situation was possibly exacerbated by the overly loud music that drowned her voice at times -___-" Though I felt I enjoyed her xmas concert even more, this one didn't fall too short .... I was very happy when she sung some of her older tracks which included my fav Fly Away. I've heard it like hundreds of times (no, not exaggerating ... and this is still one track I listen to during my runs) but I still get moved when she sung it live. It was just so moving and somehow this song always reminds me of Colin Raye's Love Me.

There is less commentaries from her this time compared to her xmas concert but I do appreciate her giving some brief introductions to some of her songs to explain what the song is about. These 3 songs left deeper impressions in me ...

• Shelter - about telling someone that you will be there for him/her
• On My Way - about finding your way ... that you will get there ... both literally and figuratively ... you go figure. How she explained about getting lost while driving and getting herself a GPS just sounded so much like me :P
  
• Five Loaves and Two Fishes - she first sang this song during her xmas concert and I just love it. Its inspired by a Christian story ... which a friend later kindly explained that in the story, a young boy offered whatever he had, five loaves and two fishes, to thousands of hungry people. This was passed around and everyone just took a little and miraculously it fed all of them. In short its about not thinking that what little you do will not matter coz it does.

I'm glad I found friends to attend this concert with. Thanks for the company ....
:)

Happy Birthday, Loti!

Here's wishing Loti a very very Happy Birthday!
May your each passing year be a better one compared to the previous!
May you enjoy peace, happiness and good health always! :)

Birthday Celebrations

Birthday celebration for Loti & I was at Margarita's @ Dempsey Hill. Wow wow!!! Just read yesterday's paper and realised that this is one HIP place to be !! That reservations must be made 2 weeks in advance and the owner had to turn away guests due to the lack of food in the kitchen!

The last time I was there was many many years ago. Have tried both the one at Faber Drive & East Coast. Also read in the papers about not so good service at the Dempsey branch just few weeks back, so was surprised that they received a positive review so shortly after that earlier report.

Thanks to Roentgen who gave Loti, Angel & me a lift to Dempsey Hill. When we got there, Teelee, Taz & Renoh were already there viewing some pictures. So happy to see the bois !! :)

Margarita's@ Dempsey is HUGE!!! Loti told me that it once was an army barracks, hence explained the size. It has a really tall ceiling ... the place was simply decorated & the dim lights made the place cosy (but definitely not good for photo taking! :P)

We spent quite a bit of time yakking and didn't place our order until this stern looking waiter beside me asked me whether we are ready to order, and that to order before the kitchen couldn't handle the load -___-" Wah, first time I have heard such a demand! How "refreshing"! We hastily browsed the menu and tried to make out what to order amidst the tortillas, burritos & fajitas.

Poor Teelee was suddenly called back for mobilisation exercise! What a downer and had to leave without dinner. The dinner was alright. The food was served in the reverse order it was ordered! JT's & Tigger's dishes came shortly after it was ordered though they came late and placed their orders last haha ... Mine came unfashionably late though I was the first to place the order ... but I didn't really mind as I was just enjoying the company and oggling at the food in the others' plates :P Angel wasn't that impressed with her food, and me too. It wasn't that fantastic really. Perhaps mexican food just isn't out thing ... Angel said it is high class taco bell hahah ....

The gang got Loti & I a very very yummy cake from Angie The Choice. It was very soft and delicious and we all enjoyed the cake tremendously. As I had been raving to Loti about Margarita's tiramisu, Loti was keen to still try the tiramisu after the cake. So we ordered one tiramisu for the whole gang. However, the tiramisu turned out to be a HUGE disappointment! It wasn't how I had remembered it to be (apart from the look) and the tiramisu wasn't well put together. Loti scooped up a whole chunk of the ladies finger ... it was still dry and not soaked with the alcohol/kahlua mixture. Very very disappointing ...

Cool dude Teelee managed to rush back from his mobilisation and joined us back at the restaurant. We had left one big slice of cake for him and he steadily cleaned it off. THANKS for re-joining us at the dinner! Great to have you back to join in the fun! :)





Many many THANKS to Roentgen for taking time to organise this birthday dinner bash for Loti & I. Know that he is very very busy lately with work and all, and yet still managed to make a reservation at one of the popular restaurants in town right now, and getting everyone together ... really appreciate it lots!!! And THANKS to Angel, JT, Renoh, Loti, Teelee, Taz, Roentgen, Little Tigger for spending your precious Sunday evening to celebrate for Loti and I, not forgetting the beautiful card & gifts! *BOW* The card is now pinned on my whiteboard just to cheer me up on my daily work-day. THANKS people! :)

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2007

Finally, I managed to successfully registered for the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2007!

Date : May 3 2007, Thursday
Time : 6pm