The Chuan Run

So apart from the happy memories that accompanied me back from Cameron Highlands, I too got an unexpected (and unwanted) gift : A virus infection.

After a day's rest at home, I'm back to work today. Due to schedule issues, I decided to run to work this mrn instead of Thurs. Although I was coughing occassionally through the night, I felt alright enough and hence decided to proceed with the run this mrn.

Oh man, it was a laborious run. I felt breathless very early on and had to slow down. The mild slopes that I had no problems with in recent months were a slight challenge to me today.

I had to cut short the run knowing that I better not overly tax myself.

Total distance shld be about 10km or less, 1hrs 11mins.

Hope I get well soon!

Happiness Is ....

You come back from lunch and found that your kind colleague has bought you something.

Last week it was soya bean drink.

Today it was soya bean drink with grapes and a note to say that the grapes were very sweet.

This kind gesture never failed to put a broad smile on my face. This very wonderful colleague of mine is a gem. She is a very senior staff, but she has no airs and is always very willing to share her knowledge and help me out. She doesn't play politics and just does her work diligently. She is very willing to teach me the ropes, and open to my suggestions even though I'm just a very junior staff. One of the very rare people I look up to in my department / organisation. In fact, she is the only one I look up to here!

Its only this year that I got to work with her, as we are in the same team for a project. But I'm so glad that I'm in her team, else I would have DIED without the direction nor assistance. We supported each other, and confided in each other, especially about the work issues.

She has this very sunny disposition that just drawed me to her so naturally.

Anyway, I'm just happy to have a wonderful colleague like her to guide and teach me. That's another consolation about working here :)

Anyway, her sweet gesture made my day. :)

BlessedJazzy

Cameron Highlands & The Strawberry Family

LT, the ringleader, who started planning MONTHS ago rounded up a few of us to join him in the Project Deepavali Makansutra.

And so the four of us boys and girls gathered in Jurong last Friday evening and headed up to M'sia for a long weekend of food, fun and fantastic company.

LT assigned each of us a role, with LT being the leader of the pack. YK, the vehicle controller, AL as the treasurer and me, the slacker. :P I was given a list of the places to jiak and my job was to decide what to eat. Easy job eh ? :P

We rested in KL for the night, but not before a late dinner followed by supper. The next mrn we headed out early for breakfast, but the dimsum that we had was lousy and hence we ended up back in our hotel for their complimentary breakfast which by the way tasted much better.

It took us another few hours before we reached Cameron Highlands. We checked in to our accomo at The Lakehouse. Oh, it was such a quaint and pretty place!! We luv it (ok, at least I do). The place looked like an old English cottage with a cosy lounge, restaurant and 18 rooms. We stayed in one of the suites which was fairly spacious, with all the basic amenities except that there is no TV! Ok, but it really forces one to find other entertainment instead. In fact, think we managed to interact more without the TV to distract us. We watched a movie about marathon (thanks to LT for bringing the DVD!!! So well planned!!!), we chatted over supper around the dining table viewing photos and gathered around our bed to chat late into the night. That was quite fun really. The beauty of the lack of modern distractions like the TV & internet.

It was a really nice & relaxing weekend with the bunch. There were lots of easy banter and laughter. The company was great and everyone was easy-going and very agreeable. We just headed anywhere we felt like going, in very relaxed pace. We whiled away our time in Starbucks, in the night market after dinner and just soaked in the sights (and food) and had tons of laughs at one another.

The only unfortunate thing was that I caught a cold in the 2nd day no thanks to the odd weather in Cameron that started out HOT and turned chilly in the late PM. Thankfully YK had meds with him that he gallantly shared with me, else I would be in worse condition now ...

All in all a very good trip thanks to LT for organising and the very easy and nice company of the group. I couldn't have asked for more :)

PS: And oh, Roentgen, the food pics are from us all to you. WAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *evil luff*

ContentedJazzy

Fish Mart Sakuraya

We had wanted to try the Sakuraya Fish Mart @ South Buona Vista Road.  The last time we stumbled upon this place, it was on a busy Fri nite.  Hence we made a mental note to come visit this place again some other time.

And so we went last Thurs night after the movies.  Ok caught the movie 20th Century Boys which is so freaking lousy and boring I don't think I wanna spend time to blog about it.  Anyway, so we reached the fish mart and it was thankfully not crowded.  We chose the sashimi from the freezer and handed it to the counter staff to have it sliced for us.  So here is the sashimi.  Cut into small chunks.  Verdict: Nothing fantastic.  In fact, not very good.

We also ordered the agedashi doufu, tempura etc.  Forgot to take snapshots, but seriously, don't think you missed much because the food is rather disappointing.  The doufu was tasteless, and the tempura - non descrip to say the least.

Would i return ? I would come back to The Village for drinks etc, but will definitely give this Jap shop a miss.

We later had drinks at Harry's just downstairs.  The place wasn't busy and hence was nice for a quiet time just chatting and watching ESPN.  Caught some sports on tv and let the world pass us by ... it poured later in the evening and helped cool the weather even more.  Nice.

Happiness Is ....

When you enjoy your day and all you can do is smile / laugh and nothing seem to get you down ....

I was on half day leave yesterday and we went to Central for lunch.

FINALLY get to try the famous ramen shop which had a perpetual queue - Marutama Ramen.

Think it is less crowded during lunch so we easily got a seat.  The menu is limited, basically just three types of ramen with some side dishes which we didn't order.

The ramen was YUMMILICIOUS!!!  Even the fussy eater partner raved about the food. So you can be assured its good.

This is what was left of my ramen.  I forgot to take picture of it until I was half-way through :P 

While happily tucking into the hot ramen, i saw a big piece of something that looked like tamago on a plate.  After enquiring and found that it was indeed egg (dashi), we ordered a plate.

I can only say it is just as heavenly .... yumz!

And when u see that the shop is patronised by lots of Japanese, you can be assured of the quality of the food.  We saw many Jap streaming into the restaraunt while we were there.  Yet another strong evidence that the food is authentic & good! :)

  

Ran this mrn. Usual Thur route.
Weather was cooling, so different from last week where it was hot and humid. This made the run so much easier. The sky is brightening much earlier nowadays.

Total time taken : 1hr 4 mins.

Did a spin and since I hadn't swam for a while, decided to swim during lunch. The weather looked so sunny but right after I got into the pool, the sky started to darken and the breeze blew the leaves into the pool. The pool looked quite dirty today. Yucks. And not to mention the pool is oh-so-crowded!!! Had to keep switching lanes to avoid bumping into people ... sigh

Ran-Biked-Swam today. Now I can rest and pig out :P

Incidental LSD

I decided to make some changes to my weekly routine this week due to some holiday plans over the weekend.
Woke up still feeling tired and all, and was still contemplating whether I shld run even after I changed into my running attire :P

Anyway, there was a slight delay this mrn and I started the run 10mins later than usual. Ran the usual Tues route and was surprisingly feeling quite alright in the run. By the time I got to River Valley, I realised I was conquering those more difficult stretches rather easily. When I got to Esplanade, I decided to skip the spin session (since I dread that class anyway as I dislike that particular instructress - nothing personal, just that somehow I tend to drift off in her class) and continued with an LSD.

So I carried on the same route that I took 2 Saturdays ago, and this time instead of going to National Stadium/Kallang, I turned into Tanjong Rhu. By then the sky was already bright and there were quite a number residents up and about doing their mrn walk/jog.

I ran one loop along Tanjong Rhu, before heading back the way I came.

I was feeling very good in the run today. Can't explain why. Guess there are bad days, and there are good days. Today just happens to be one of the rare fantastic ones. The air was cool and fresh and that really helped in the run. The only one thing that marred the run this mrn was on the return leg at the Sg Flyer stretch. Suddenly two dogs ran towards me out of nowhere and one of them started barking at me and baring its scary teeth. I was caught off guard and I screamed. I stopped immediately and walked away hoping that they wouldn't follow me. The dogs were like ready to pounce and bite me!!! ... thankfully they left me alone after following me off their "compound" .... boy was I frightened!! I thought I would have been bitten!

By the time I got to Raffles Place, it was past 8am and CBD was already buzzing !! Not a good sign as the wait at the traffic lights were much longer and also meandered through the crowd. I was quite worried about bumping into some colleagues on my way up the building, as I really wasn't prepared to have them see me dripping in perspiration and their questioning about where I ran etc.

Was really late for work today coz of this LSD. Total time taken (with water breaks) 2 hours 37mins. Hope I covered a half marathon.

My goodness. I almost cannot believe it that I did an LSD on the first day of the workweek! I feel that I'm nuts!

Oktoberfest

So much for my lame attempt in burning off some fats yesterday.

I put it all back (and with a vengeance) last night with pork knuckle, 5 beers and potato wedges.

And I felt woozy just after the first one (and on an empty stomach).

Haha ... 

I think I lived in a cave.  Used to work in Suntec but I never ventured to Paulaner for the years that I was there!  It was only last night that I finally made my way there!  We were early so got ourselves a cosy corner and just chatted and watched the crowd filter in gradually.  It was a pretty nice place to hang out.  Not too noisy so you can still hold a decent conversation.  The live band wasn't something to rave about.  But they were playing music of my era (as pointed out, the crowd there weren't all that young haha) so that suited me well. 

One horrible thing about the place was the BAD and LOUSY service.  I really dislike the wait staff, especially one female phillipino one.  Prolly the alcohol made me less combative and saved her some serious bitching from me.   :P

Night in Rodanthe

I read this book by Nicholas Sparks many years back. My first book by this author and subsequently I devoured all the books by him.

So I was excited when I found that this book has been made into a movie and starring Richard Gere!

And so we went to watch on Sat. We weren't expecting to catch the early mrn show but as luck was on our side, we got there just in time. Sat down just went the show started. We need not sit through all the trailers and advertisements. Perfect.

Anyway, to me personally. I think the movie didn't disappoint. Granted that my failing memory has forgotten the story (almost) completely save for the ending, I enjoyed the movie. And definitely the beautiful inn right on the coast.

Oh ... and did I say .... Richard Gere is still oh-so-charming at this age!!!!!!

Labrador Park

Ok so I didn't have to work on Sat. So I couldn't decide where to run, and I was concerned because without a clear end-point, my determination falters.

Anyway, decided to do a short run today and run towards Labrador Park and back. I was feeling tired very early on, and just trotted on slowly towards Labrador Park. By the time I got there, I was close to giving up on the run and spent over 10 mins walking.

Realised that there was a new extension to the park. It was officially opened on Fri (17 Oct) by SM Goh. Took a few random pics around this new extension. Basically nothing much .... just a very short extension










Surprisingly, the run home turned out to be more consistent and easier. Many times I thought I would stop when I had to run up a slight incline, but I didn't.

Many water and walk breaks in this run. Took a total of 2hours 4 mins ... accordingly to mapmyrun i did only 12+km. But seriously I think that's a gross underestimate. Should have done a little more than that (at least that's what I hope).

Ok, better run next time :)

TV Drama DVDs

I received a parcel this week.  In it contained a few DVDs that can keep me occupied for a while.

hehehe ... Thanks to this one kind soul who took the trouble to burn the series into the DVDs and mailed it to me.

You are an angel :)

Weekday Runs

This week passed so quickly and before I knew it, its friday already (super big sigh of relief).  And I'm so glad I'm not working tomorrow! Two full days off work! YIPEEE!!!

Tues Run - While lacing up, I noticed lightning flashes across the reddish-hue sky.  Thunder roared occassionally too.  I groaned as I didn't want to cancel the run but wasn't looking fwd to being soaked through.

Anyway, did the usual Tues route.  Air was heavy and still and it was a little difficult running in that condition.  It started to rain when I passed Delta Road but decided to carry on (of course I stopped the ipod).

Thankfully the rain subsided after a while and it sorta cooled the weather a little, and I was able to finish the run comfortably.  

Noticed a tear in the front of my left shoe.  Time to buy a new pair.  Bang wall for not grabbing a new pair last month when she sees it on 40% off.  Damn.

Thur Run - By Thur I was feeling kinda tired.  The run was slow with super heavy legs in between gasps.  Not a very good sign.  But managed to finish the run albeit at a slower pace.  Same distance but 4 mins slower.  Took me 1hrs 4mins in all.

Legs are feeling very tired now.  In fact, the whole body is.  I might take a break ... let's see how.

Weekend!!! Nuah time!!!

My Sister's Keeper

What if the motivation behind your birth was so that they could potentially harvest something in you to save your sibling's life?

And what if you have to be the donor (willingly or not) over .. and over ... for 13 years?  Will there be a time to say: enough already ?

And what if no matter what decision you make, nobody wins.  Because its either one .. or the other ?

I just finished reading this fiction book by Jodi Picoult.  Its a fantastic read.  Really captures the emotions and struggles that revolved around this family with a cancer-stricken member constantly fighting for her life, and the rest simply doing what they they think is best for her. Really sad story.

A very poignant read.  

The weather is getting really HOT again !

A trip to the market with mom got me all sweaty.  I couldn't get the coolness of the pool off my head and so I hurried out of the house after packing my stuff and got to the gym in no time.  The pool was somewhat crowded when I got there but one couple left right after I got into the pool.  Perfect.  So I was able to swim in peace for a good 20 mins before the serenity was rudely shattered by the emergence of this group of teenagers.  

Sigh .... these immature bunch of boys just took up lots of precious space in the small pool and started thrashing in the waters ... their so-called lame attempt at swimming *sigh*.  And when they are not swimming, they were hogging the pool at the end of the pool ... 

Really, I thought I was in a public pool!! I was cursing and swearing in the waters and I was in a really combative mood.  Any wrong move by these kids and they would surely have gotten from me.  Big time.  To add to this unruly crowd, an AN decided to join in and share the lane with me!!! Repeatedly getting in my face...  ARGH!!!!  

But think the frustration and irritation did help to make me swim more vigorously (but my strokes could be all wrong with all the anger) and I finished the swim in no time.  

Another good swim.  The cool waters really is a reprieve from the heat. 

Sat LSD

Another day at work. But this time we are expecting to end by afternoon (hopefully even earlier!!) because we started the exercise since last evening.

So another chance to run to work ... another LSD.

Similar route as last Sat. The difficult part is always the psyching yourself up for the run, to actually waking up to run. Thankfully I managed to do both this mrn.

The initial first 10mins was quite tiring, somehow the legs were heavy as lead. However I told myself there is no way I'm going to quit today.

Made some slight modifications to the route, but should cover about the same distance of 19km total time taken 2hrs 18mins.

Thurs Run

Usual run this morning.

1hr.  Shld be about 9km ba.

Feeling some pain on my left outer ankle.  Not sure whether its the shoes .... giving myself excuse to buy a new pair *hiak hiak*

Tues Run

Another fitfull sleep .. didn't sleep well as usual.  So ended up almost overslept.

Similar route with some slight variations at Esplanade.  1hrs 20mins.

Good Form

Had a swim again yesterday morning.

The sky was looking bright and cheery when I got into the pool but in less than 10 mins it started to look really gloomy.  Weather lately has been really unpredictable!

And before I knew it, the sky cleared again.  Really odd -__-"

Anyway, I had a very excellent swim yesterday.  Not sure why, the swim just felt right. The body, the strokes, the water, everything, just seemed aligned and I was able to maintain a consistently faster pace and even surpassed this lady who used to be ahead of me (ok, maybe she was doing a slower swim ytd haha).  Ah well, doesn't matter.  I just felt good about the swim.

Just hope I get more of such experiences ... 

Sure helped chase away a lil of the Mon blues! *thumbs up*

R&R

Things started to look bleak right after lunch ytd when things failed to work as planned and caused the rest of the activities to be delayed.  We were preparing ourselves for the worst case ... that we would likely need to work past midnight.  Friend smsed to ask about my progress and whether I'm done and my bleak reply was of coz not, that I would likely be staying til the following day.

So you could picture our huge relief and joy when things started to look up and we managed to complete the exercise at 10pm!  We were all beaming and relieved that we finally could call it a day and start our much awaited weekend.

And so I planned to sleep late but alas, woke up at 2 and then again before 7.  Unable to get back to sleep, mom & I went to the market for breakfast and casual pasar malam shopping.  Haha, I'm really not interested in pasar malam but ah well, still nice to be out on a leisure walk on an early Sun morning.

Since it was still early, I decided to check out the new gym at Fusionpolis.  

This is the roof-top pool.  Much shorter than what I expected, and not a heated pool.  But suited me well today since it was rather humid and stuffy.  Thankfully there were only two other swimmers in the pool and hence I was able to swim in peace.

The shower area ... 

Its a really relaxing dip this mrn, with the sky feeling so close to where the waters is.  Considering that the sky was gloomy, I still got a tan!  Ok but I'm not complaining coz I really enjoyed the quiet time.  Even spent some time just relaxing and reading on the pool deck for a short while before the cool breeze got a little chilly.

This is the view from the roof-top. Could see the clouds moving ...

Run to Work LSD

Truth of the matter is, I wish to run away from work.  

The irony of it is, I ran to work this mrn.

Its another longgg day at work.  God knows what time it will end today.  The last time we did it, we ended at 3am the following day, no thanks to some major screw up that caused a delay of 8 hours. Hope today will be smooth sailing.  Best case scenario, we will end at 9pm.  Somehow, I've never been blessed with good luck.

So anyway, considering that I'll be tooo tired tomorrow to run, decided to run to work today, to squeeze in my LSD.  Anyway, it at least makes going to work not as dreadful.

Took a different route since I want to cover a longer distance.  Ran pass Holland, Botanical Gardens, Orchard Road, Millenia Walk, National Stadium and finally Kallang Leisure Park (ok, so much for not wanting to go back there :P).  U-turned and headed back towards office.

Total distance should be about 19+km.  2hrs 13 mins.

I'm glad I ran today.

Bet those doing the Northface 100 are enjoying themselves right now.  

Thur Run

Almost didn't make it as Z monster was holding me captive :P

Thankfully I managed to pull away.

Missed the bus *again* so ran to work ... 

Thurs is always a short run ... so managed about 1hr 2 mins ... 9+ km ba.

Its time ....

First I found out on Mon mrn, to my biggest horror, that I can no longer do what I do everyday at work to keep from going insane .....

And not to mention that work sux BIG TIME ...

And .... I have to work tomorrow ... full day ..... business as usual ..... on a PUBLIC HOLIDAY!

WTF!  

I don't get thanked for the hard work, but I'm always remembered for all the dirty job .... 

I'm frustrated.  And that's an understatement.

Tues Run

After one week of SLACK, I finally got my act together and went for a run.

Quite laborious, and my shin hurts with every step up the slope *argh* ... not good

But managed to finish the run in one piece.  1hr 22mins.

Weekend!

Caught WallE on Sat.  A show really for the kids with minimal dialogue and easy to understand plot.  Totally no-brainer. :P

It was alright.  Better than expected since I went without any expectation.  There  weren't any shows that we wanted to catch really, but I just wanted to watch something (out of deprivation haha) and I snubbed at Babylon AD (I'm not keen to watch a piece of tough meat trying to express some facial emotions in futile) and Bangkok Dangerous (errr ... there are some faces that put me off and Nicolas Cage happen to fall in that category).  Mamamia ? Errrr .... yawn ... 

Anyway, I suggested to check out Kallang Leisure Park thereafter, and I have to say, its a HUGE mistake.  That place is such a BORE!!!  I really cannot imagine how shops can survive there.   Its like the most boring place one can ever be to.  That place is doomed.  There was just that few boring shops, definitely nothing interesting to pull in the crowd.  Ok ok, it probably might survive with the movie theatre, bowling alley, ice skating rink.  Those might keep that place alive for a bit until wear and tear and some place more interesting drive whatever remains of the crowd away.  I definitely would not want to step in there ever again.  Am just glad I didn't have to take a public transport there, else I would be damn pissed with myself for even suggesting it :P

SSW!!!

Oh My Gosh!  I cannot believe how slack I've become!

I did not run a single time this whole week.  The only weak/lame excuse I could conjure up was that I wasn't feeling all that well physically.  Was fighting a ticklish throat, headache and on-off mild fever. 

Anyway, I believe the biggest reason boils down to my laziness haha ... 

No run, no swim.  Only spin.

Ok, i better wake up my idea and get my lazy a** up and running soon ... 

SUPER-SLACK-WEEK!

RVPS

Found this on Facebook.  Gosh .... this brings back fond memories ..... 

Been so long ago ... and the school seemed so much smaller than what I remembered ....

I will always remember the class punishments (everyone standing on their chair and being caned in turn), teacher knocking on our little knuckles with the ruler, bowing to and greeting any teacher that we meet in the compound, brushing our teeth along the little drain in front of the court, the classroom, the canteen, watching public caning during assembly, practising the national day songs weeks prior to the national day ... 

awww ... those were the days.  seriously, why did MOE forbid punishment like caning and stuff in school ? I really thought those help to mold the students into better being :P We have much more respect for our teachers then ... 

And the school canteen has now become a posh restaurant!

I'm definitely going to check it out soon!

:)

Medical Alert

MEDICAL ALERT - CONTAGIOUS VIRUS

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically.

This virus is called Weary Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues, or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises. Take two good friends to the nearest grocery store and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

White Rabbit Candy No More!!!

wahhhhhhh !!!!  And now they have taken the white rabbit candy off the shelves!!!

*cryyyyyyyyyy*

there goes my 白兔糖！

Memory Lane

Didn't sleep well at all last night. Woke up repeatedly ... 1+am ... read til 3+am and finally drifted back to sleep when I was awaken by chatter & laughter at 4am *sigh*.  Turned out there was a big group of people gathered in the playground making merriment.  Laughing and talking and cursing (four letter words etc.) Sigh.  Two nights in a row.  Fri night was a bunch of kids playing guitar & signing past midnight.  

I called up NPP and they said they would send someone over.  Half an hour passed, the nuisance persisted.  Called up NPP again.  They said they had sent a patrol, I said it had been half an hour, the officer on the other line said yah, they are busy.  Sigh.  One hour passed, the noise continued ... don't think they ever got here .... 

Morale of this story .... don't reply on NPP even if ur life depended on it.  Seriously, if I had been in trouble and I had called NPP, I would have died.  So much for our home team.  

-___-"

_________________________________________________________________

So naturally when the alarm rang at 6:15am, I refused to wake up.  I even dreamt that there were strong gusts of wind followed by heavy downpour :P Thankfully I woke up before 7am and realised the sky was clear and I had to go for my run.

Decided to try to head to MR this mrn.  Had a vague idea how to get there ... 

Anyway, the plan didn't materialise as I got to the expressway and there weren't any path that allowed me to carry on, so I had to change my route.

Wasn't so bad afterall.  I managed to run the stretch at Arcadia Road, which I always marvel for the tranquility it seemed to bring to the place.  I had even dreamt of the area before ... I always envy the residents of the area ... the place provided so much peace it seemed.  However, this wasn't a stretch that I would like to run alone, especially early in the mrn or at night.  

Was a short run today, took many breaks as I wasn't feeling well physically.  But managed to do 11km in about 1hr 15mins including all the walk and water breaks.  Including even a 10mins break... not bad.

Also got to visit my own residential area ... been such a long time since I've been there.  The place remained largely unchanged, just seemed so much smaller than I recalled.  

Ok, too short a run this weekend.  But nevermind, will try again next week.

Thur Run

Missed the bus!!!! It was slightly early today ...

So I couldn't run my usual Thur route ....

Oh well, better that way since I've been toying with the idea of running from home to save some time...

Similar route as Tues ... DR shall not attempt to name the road names ... lazy to plot the route ... 

Should be 9km thereabouts.  1 hour.

Feeling a mild shin pain at the start of the run.  No good.  Time to rest.  Yippeee ...

Tues Run

Another routine run this mrn.  Running slightly slower today but all in all a good run.

1hrs 22mins, about 11+km.

____________________________________________________

Been having some backache and stiff shoulder for the past couple of weeks.  A gym instructress introduced me to one of the physiotherapists in Core Concepts and I finally went for a sports massage during lunch today.

Think I'm too used to the deep massage for the calves but oh man, the massage on my back and shoulders were something else.  Especially the shoulders.  He was saying they were very tight, can feel a big knot underneath my right shoulder.

But with all "torturing", I do feel much better (perhaps psychologically?) and my shoulders feel so much less stiff.

Hope I don't suffer too much from the after-effects of the massage tomorrow :P

Dual Parks Run

I couldn't decide where to run this morning, and also wasn't sure whether I'll stick to the run.  I just know that I wouldn't want to run the same park connector as its just way too boring.  I psychoed myself to just head out, even if its just for an hour's run, its better than not even running.

Decided to run to West Coast Park.  Didn't realise the route leading up to South Buona Vista Road was an upslope!  So was heaving so early into the run.  That wasn't nice.  Thankfully the winding road of S Buona Vista Road was going down slope the whole way, which gave me a time to recover from my racing heart rate.  Mental note to self not to run this stretch in the return leg as that would mean a long run at an incline.

Got to WCP.  Think the last time I was here was close to two years back, during this run.  Time sure flies!  Anyway, the coast wasn't pretty at all.  There was way too much litter *tsk tsk* People who went there to enjoy the sea breeze ought really learn to pick up after themselves. :(

Such a disappointing sight.  Only saving grace was the place wasn't crowded so it was rather peaceful.  

Headed back the same way I came, but since I wanted to avoid the S Buona Vista stretch, decided to continue up Pasir Panjang Road.  Since I was a short distance away from Labrador Park, decided to pay it a visit.  Oh, the very dilapidated coffeeshop outside the park is gone ... so no water break there.  Now the sight at Labrador is so much better.  The gentle breeze and cleaner water made the run so much more enjoyable.

Ended the run outside the park, shortly before PSA building.

Total distance should be close to 18+km.  2hrs 5mins.

 

Thur Run

Managed another run today ... Think was going *slightly* faster today .... not sure why.  May be the rest, or may just be my own imagination haha

Anyway, 7+km I think 49mins.

Hope I will do myself justice by going for a run this weekend .... 

Back

After a one-week break from running due to multiple reasons such as weather, work and plain lazines, I finally broke the spell and forced a run this mrn.

The break did a bit of good as my steps felt less heavy than usual, seemed to be that little spring in the legs, the feeling you get after a good rest.

Though it was just after the rain, the weather was kinda humid and stuffy, so it wasn't really that cooling.

Nonetheless, a good run.

12km in about 1hr 20mins.

Slow and steady .... 

I'm still bitten by the lazy bug, hope I can force myself to keep on running .... haha

News ...

In that short span of 30mins watching CNA news, I was bombarded with nothing but bad news

Political instability in Thailand, Taiwan (their people expect immediate results from the President they elected just 100 days ago. Duh ?? One citizen lamented that the President did not deliver on his promise about the stock market. Hello ? Hasn't he heard of the subprime crisis ?? Ok, maybe all this is just staged for some political reasons ... ).

Storm of Century in New Orleans. Their mayor had instructed the New Orleans citizen to flee .... seems like 50% are still staying put .. must be very hard for the people just 3 years after Hurricane Katrina. They are probably just slowly recovering from that and now this ...

Flood in India. Worst seen in living memory. People are eating uncooked rice mixed with polluted water.

About six people were run down by an errant driver in Spain and two of them were tourists who just arrived in the city.

I was just hit one after another by these sad news ... all while trying to get some breakfast in after that LSW. Though I lament so much day after day, I feel so unfairly fortunate to be comfortably at home in SG ... without the woes of political instability and saved from huge natural disasters ...

Hope they will see better days real soon.

LSW

The slacker in me finally prevailed and I ended up walking more than running ...

After 4 km I was ready to call it quits ... when ur mind wants to slack, it will find all sorts of excuses and the body sorta played along. The nagging backache (prolly due to the lousy sleep the night before), the slight shin pain, the weak mental state all but told me to stop running.

Then I happened to see some people walking across a bridge that seemed to lead to another jogging track so I decided to explore a little since I've decided to slack anyway. Crossing the bridge was a little scary as it was made up of 4 metal planks and I could see the canal thru the gaps in between the planks. It was kinda scary and I was regretting it half way across the bridge.

The track, about 1.8km long with 2 traffic stops in between, took one to Jurong East. Its rather quiet and hence its pretty nice to run along that stretch. But one traffic stop is under construction thus I had to dash across the road. Not very safe.

The park connectors are not well connected yet unfortunately and it is rather inconvenient to run along the whole stretch with the frequent traffic light junctions etc. I didn't run til the end as I wasn't in the best of (mental) state and considering I have no ezlink card nor $$ with me. I felt very insecure to be running too far out of homeground. Will explore further next time when I'm more prepared.

I think I didn't cover more than 10km today and it took me close to 2 hours. Haha ... this is definitely what Taz would consider as "junk miles" :P

Ok, as The Gifted says. "Nevermind lah, relax. Start again next week. " Yup, hope so.

Anyhow Run

Its been a long time since I last did an "Anyhow Run".

Didn't run ytd as it was raining. Was so happy when I heard the pitter patter as that meant I could sleep a little longer and skip the run :P

Anyway, the guilt kicked in soon enough and so I went out for a run this mrn.

Changed the route twice while running, but still managed to get to destination on time. There were one too many traffic stops this mrn, so had to compensate by running a lil faster in between the breaks.

Should cover about 9km 1hr 2mins.

Good run.

I Just want to slack

I felt less burdened after SBR that right after I was already planning excuses to skip my routine runs. Yes, I have in all 206 lazy bones in me (Googled and that's the number of bones an adult has ...)

Alas, woke up at 4am and was drifing in and out of a dream revolving around colleagues & work ... what a nightmare... torture

So decided that though I don't feel up to it, I would just do a slow run.

Surprisingly the very slow run turned out to be very enjoyable. The stress and unhappiness surrounding me before the run evaporated. No wonder they said exercise help lifts one's mood.

Good relax run.

Ok, continue to slack.

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

Random Musing

Another short run on thurs. Think about 6km 45mins. People finish 10+km in that time haha ... oh well.

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Feeling under the weather ... and so I've taken two days off. No activity. Nothing. NULL. I'm almost like just bed-ridden (by choice). And I don't even feel guilty about it. Just rest (slack).

PS : Thank Heaven for the rain the past 2 days. Somehow that calms me down.

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Ever since the National Day Rally (english) on Mon night, suddenly the single MOST important topic in the entire nation is about getting hitched and procreation. The newspapers ran endless articles about it ... and needless to say, whenever I catch the news on TV, its nothing but dating, babies, maternity leave.

And now Beijing parents congregating in parks to match make their kids no longer seem odd (if I dare say ridiculous?). Who knows, we might in time to come hear of aunties gathering at Bishan Park or East Coast Park doing the same ?

Not to mention dating services are now in the limelight and we should see the exponential growth of these services very soon.

Are they going to start obstracizing singles soon ?!?! This whole damn situation is making me a lil nauseous. Can we move on ?

Tues Run

Same old story. Struggled for the first few km before I slowly got the hang of it and managed to complete about 11km. 1hr 20mins.

Losing the momentum ...

Runs

Slacked for 10 full days. I'm not sure whether it was all psychological or just lethargy but I could really feel the significant drop in fitness.

I had to cut short all my runs this week ... sad.

Tues Run - about 10+km 72mins
Thurs Run - about 6+km 48mins
Sun Run - Truly an LSD - Long SUFFERING Distance
Mental was at its weakness. I had so much difficulty getting out of bed and just 3km into the run and I felt so much like giving up. My brain was just feeding me all the negativity, that there is no way I could run three loops, and that I might as well had just stayed in bed yada yada. It was mental weakness at its worst. Haven't felt that way in recent months.
Struggled throughout the run and managed to complete the targeted 18km in 2hrs 5mins.

I'm so going to suffer next week ... Am I worried ? You bet.

Japan 31 Jul - 10 Aug

Yeah, am back from my holiday to Hokkaido & Tokyo. My first trip to Japan and it was a last minute arranged trip (what's new?) and just glad we made it. :)

I've been plunged back to the realities of working life too quickly and been busy ever since. Didn't have (and still don't) the mood to blog and organising the pics are taking way too much time. Just too physically and mentally lethargic right now.

Realised the pics I took didn't do the place justice ... but anyhow ... some pics here to capture the moments ...




These are some of my key takeaways of Japan ...

1. Children are very well-behaved! These tykes do not make it a habit to run around, scream like their lungs are going to burst, behave rudely to one another and act like spoilt prince and princesses. They behave themselves in public and independent and best of all, they seem to have respect for their elders. As my friend commented, they seem to retain their childhood (tong1 zhen1). Yes indeed. If kids in SG can be so well-behaved, don't think they would repulse me this much.
   
   
2. Place is clean. Their toilets are CLEAN. Its always dry, not reeking of urine, toilet seats are clean and they have toilet seat covers in most of their toilets. Not to mention their toilets that can play a tune to mask the noises one make while answering the call of nature, cleaning after you etc. Its so common its the de facto in any toilet that we visit. So much so the guide was SOO shocked and surprised when we told her no, SG has no such facilities. She thought it was something we would have equipped ourselves with long ago. Ah bummer to us.


3. Eco-friendly. In addition to being clean, they have good civic responsibility towards the environment. You don't often spot litter in Hokkaido. There are few (if any) trashbins along the streets and according to the guide, their kids are taught in school to bring a trashbag with them whenever they leave the house so that they can keep all the rubbish in the bag. They would only dispose of the rubbish when they are home, and they would SORT through the garbage and separate into different categories (they have gone so fine grained as to separate the bottles from the caps etc.). When I see trashbins, its always separated into 2 (combustibles, non-combustibles) or 4 sections (magazines/newspapers, PET bottles, others etc.). Its amazing how eco-friendly they are.
   


4. They walk a lot. The subway stations can be huge. Switching between trains can mean a very long walk including climbs up flights of stairs (and no, they don't pair every staircase with an escalator. They climb. Period)

Oh, and what's with Jap women ?? Why are they all so slender and petite ?? Even the many mothers that I see with babies/toddlers in prams still managed to maintain a very good figure. My friend's theory was that the fat ones stayed at home and wouldn't be out shopping or strolling in the crowded areas :P True. I'm seldom seen at Orchard. haha

Now back to the reality of life ...