Keonz Quek - The Dusty Experience

Dusty Run III

2010-07-07T09:04:00.000+08:00

First 2 days of 2010

2010-01-03T01:24:00.006+08:00

I have not been running on my own for quite some at night. It was a good opportunity for me to run alone. And i must say that i missed those days of running and training on my own, especially at night. As it was long weekend, i finally have time to do my own things. And i actually slept till late mornings on New Year and the day after New Year. That was not the usual me.

Just completed ultra marathon a week ago and i just managed to resume my running training last night (6 days after ultra marathon which was pretty long, considering that my frens already resuming theirs like a few days later). Decided to run from home to ECP via Bedok Camp and Bedok Park connector. Was quite happening at ECP as there were many groups of campers having BBQ. Was quite humid although it was quite crowded. Ran with my newton shoe and nike shorts and without my top. Was already perspiring before i entered ECP. Must be all the junk food accumulated during the festive seasons. Ran at a fast pace. After SCSM in dec, i was not able to run at the usual fast pace that i used to have. This was due to the past few months of pace training. Hence, i need to resume my pace as soon as possible and get ready for the Hong Kong Marathon in late Feb and Sundown Marathin in late May. Perhaps, i should focus more on ninja running which was what i used to do.

Have been spending some time at the gym lately for the past 1 month doing work out and carrying weights. For one reason - to improve my overall fitness level. I need to gain some strenght and improve my core muscle to achive a better performance. Have been eating quite alot and loading up with proteins. Have gained about 3kg for past 1 month. Body seems to expand quite abit. My shirt is getting tighter and i think soon i need to get myself a new set of office shirts. I need to bulk up abit. I think i am too skinny. Haha. My friends and colleagues told me i looked fitter now. :) i thank them for the compliment but i do think there is still alot more to work on. I used to dislike carrying weights at the gym, but somehow i am enjoying it. It was tiring and tough for me as i have no strength, but i am coping well.

New Year eve was fun. Was hanging out with running kakis at orhard. Dinner followed by movie. Movie ended at 12.00am sharp and just right in time to view fire work from Orchard. Was the same scenario back in 2008 eve. Thanks frens for the company. It was fun and enjoyable although the group was small.

Wishing all a Happy 2010 and may the year filled with hopes and peace for all of us.

A Series of Events in the last Quarter of 2009

2009-12-31T23:42:00.000+08:00

Pics from New Balance Real Run:

Pic from SCSM:

Pics from MR25 Ultra Marathon:

I have no time to update my blogs as i was too busy with training and stuff. Now that it is 2010, i thought maybe i should round up 2009 with the rest of the running events before i kick off with my 2010 blog entries. As i could not recall much, hence my thoughts will kinda short and sweet.

Mizuno Wave Run

The run was held at Ang Mo Kio - Yio Chu Kang area. Was my third time running for this event. A total distance of 17km ran although with a timing of 1 hr 11 mins with a relatively competitve fast pace. Was ranked in the top 20 position for the Men's Open Category. The route was pretty nice and there were quite a number of slopes. It was by far my best performance for the 3 mizuno wave run that i have participated.

New Balance Real Run

I remembered i did a 38km the day before the race. I thought i would not be able to perform for the Real Run. It was my second time running for this event. I signed up for the 15km competitive Men's Open category. It was a run which the route involved different types of terrain. They are road, trail and sand. I arrived very early before 6am to avoid the heavy traffic. Wore my 2XU tights and the TFB black running top. The 10km cat started off first. There were many elite competitors in the 15km category. I thought it would be tought to finish in top 10. I was hoping i could finish no longer than 1 hr 8 mins which is my record timing for the 2007 Real Run. It was a nice run and weather was not very hot. The trail part is great and was not those kind of trail at MR. Was dashing fast since the horn sounded off and was cheered by several runner frenz along the way. Finished the race in 1 hr 01 mins with the position of 16th for the men's open category. Was surprised with my timing depsite the LSD that i had before the day. Had a great time meeting up with several running frenz after the race at the air-con hall.

Nike Human Race

For this run, i chose not to participate in the North Face trail run. Anyway, 2nd time running for this event. 2008 was held in the late afternoon. This year in 2009 was held early in the morning at Singapore Flyer area. A 10km competitve race. A run that i looked forward to and the unique part of this run is that all participants were required to waer th official red nike running top for the race. It was like a sea of red at Singapore Flyer. As usual, ran a very fast pace for the first 7km and slowed down a little. I remmeber i was ranked 90+ in 2008. I didnt perform well iun 2008 but i am happy that i was also to run well and finished the race with a time of 39 mins + which was a new personal record time. Position was 26 for Men's Open Cat. Finally i managed to run below 40 mins for 10km. It was a target which i long wanted to achieve. I made it!

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM)

It was my 2nd time running for SCSM. Didnt run in 2008 due to clash with other activities. Anyway, came back to run in 2009 but not competitvely. I was running as a pacer this year. Yes, a 4:00hr marathon pacer. Frankly speaking, initially, i was not really able to accept the pace that i was assinged to. I was quite challenging for me actually. I didnt know the right pace to run to achieve a 4:00 hr timing marathon. My past marathon timing were like sub 3:30 hr. But through weeks of tranings, I was able to run correctly, confidently to achieve a 3 hr 59 sec marathon timing this year. I was really great to be a pacer. It was a different kind of experience as compared to running competivetly to achive personal best. As a pacer, we were supposed to help others to achieve their PB. Together with other 40 over pacers from team fatbird, we managed to deliver and performed well for SCSM 09. For your info, TFB pacers was the official pacers for SCSM 09. Anyway, i remembered we gather as early 3.30am in the morning to prepare ourselves for the race. Looking into 2010, i hope i can be a pacer again, but this would mean i cant run competively in 2010 SCSM. It is going to be another tough decision to make. Anyway, congratualtions to all marathon finishers and pacers. It was a job well done.

MR25 Ultra Marathon

Initially, i didnt want to run for this one. But in the end, still went for it. I was worried that my injuries would return. I was hoping to do as many rounds as possible. Probably at least 8 rounds. I started off the race quite fast and was in the top 5 positions for the first 4 loops. Was running quite close together with Henry, Baldwin and Bug for the first loop, but decided to speed up. Completed 4 loops (42km) in 4 hrs and continued another 2 loops to end my race at 2pm plus. I still have 6 hours to do at least 3 rounds and that should be able to put me in top few placing. But somehow i decided to stop at 6th loop. Reason: Lazy and worried my ITB will come back. Haha. But was a nice run, especially the 5th loops when Bug and i were walking for the first 5km and then continued with a fast and furious pace of 4min/km kind of pace. Was like speeding and flying in the jungle under the dark cloud with some drops of rains cmng down from the sky. Luckily, didnt ended up with heavy downpour. Congratulations to Darren, Henry and YN who all finished with top 10 placing.

Run Singapore

2009-09-20T15:24:00.007+08:00

This was the 2nd running event for the day. Earlier on in the morning I had the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run. Run Singapore is not a competiitve race. It was a charity run and part of the President's Challenge 2009. The distance was about 4.5km along the SingTel Singapore Prix F1 route at Marina area. The start point was at Padang. Instead of doing the usual run alone. A group of us (Team FatBirds) actually thought of doing something different again this year. After the fun we had at the KPE run last year, we decided to do it again at Run Singapore.

I got the group some balloons and whistle while Jancy prepared the red ribbon. The concept was so tie the 13 of us together with the red ribbon and run together as a group through the route. This was something new to me and of course first time for me. We met up at about 4pm at Esplanade. It was still quite cooling after the rain in the morning. Jancy, Esther, Suan, Beng, YN, Darren, Terry, Spencer, Charmane, Nicholas, AC Leong Anthony and Beverlywere in the formation. We formed up ourselves at the padang while waitng for the President to arrive to flag off the event. It was very crowded for the first 1km and it was very difficult to move through the crowd. We had our whislte to help us 'open up' the road infront. Some of the runners cheered us and were impressed by our initiative and creative idea. Freddie was there to support us by taking pictures of us along the way. We cheered and shouted along the way. Was indeed very fun and really bring us together as a team. Took several pictures and hang around at the field before we proceed to wash up.

YN arranged us for wash up at the gym and we arranged for a dinner at one of my favourite vegetarain restaurant at Chinatown area. I reserved a table of 12 and we had a yummy good dinner though the waiting time was quite long. We had food like shilin chicken, fried cheese wonton, tom yum soup, mango prawn, broccoli with mushrooms, sweet & sour fish, hot plate toufu and not forgetting desserts. We enjoyed the food very much and Beverly mentioned that she will bring her family soon. Great Job TFB. More fun run in the fuure. :)

Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2009

2009-09-20T14:44:00.002+08:00

It was Yellow Ribbon Prison Run. One of the new running race added to my list this year. It was a 1okm race cocering area in the east around Changi and Loyang area. I was in the Men's Open category. It was a meningful run which i believe that i can help the ex-offenders unclock their second gate. Indeed, this was the mesaage to bring across for this year's run. It was part of the Yellow Ribbon Project to raise funds. Somewhat, it was a charity run. And it was the first time i run of the route and first time entering Changi Prison Compound.

The start point was at the road nearby Changi Village. The race was scheduled to kick off at 7.30am and Mr Teo Chee Hean (DPM) was the Guest of Honour. Glad to see runners like Han, YN, Danny, Jancy & family, Serena, SC Lim & family, Stella, Eileen Khoo at the race. My legs were not very in very good form due to the long 18km i had the day before at ECP. There were quite a few competitive runners. I was at the start line as early as 7.10am but YN, Danny and Han. It started to drizzile a little when the race was about to start but it didnt really affect the runners. The mood and spirit was still high, really for a 10km run with several slopes along the way. I ran at quite a very fast pace for the first 2km but then slowed down my pace after that to save some energy for the slopes ahead. It was totally a new route for me and i must say that the route was nice. Something different and very nice view as well. The weather was so cooling and nice. Soon, i entered the prision, and it was about 1km left to end point. The view in the prison was great. Ran around the prison one round and reached the end point in about 40mins for a 10km route with slopes. Impressed with my timing although i was not in my good form. But it waa a new PB. Impossible.. i think the route is less than 10km.

Stayed around and enjoyed the view, the ice cream, the ice milo from the milo van, the goodie baf collection, etc. The weather was still very cooling and the wind was getting stronger. YN was fast enough to secure a 8th placing and Stella at 10th placing for the Women's Category. Very happy for both of them. As for me, i secured a 16th position for the Men's OPen category. I then started to rain. But we stayed at the large tentage to enjoy some performance put up by the prisoners. I was very impressed by their performance. It was a LIVE band with musicans and vocalist. Great performance and well done!

Took a shuttle bus to EXPO Mrt with Danny and YN and from there, we parted. Went home to rest before heading down to the next running event in the evening - Run Singapore. The 2nd race for the day. Tired but very fruitful day ahead for me.

With all the positive feedack on Yellow Ribbon Prison Run, i believe this is a MUST run event for me next year and i would encourage my runnning friends to participate.

RunNUS 2009

2009-09-20T13:57:00.008+08:00

This is probably one of the most hilly run road run i had in Singapore. Organised by NUS sports club - it was the RunNUS 2009. This was the first time i signed up for this race. Frankly speaking, i was attracted by the event running attire last year. I thought i should give it a try. The race start/end point was at NUS Sports & Recreation Centre. The race distnace was 12km covering NUS compound and some areas nearby beyond NUS.

I arrived quite early on time at about 7am as my flag off time was scheduled to be 8am. The registration process was so long and took me more than 20 mins to be myself reported for the race. My category was the Men's Open. Apparently, there was supposed to have 2 waves for my category and i was scheduled in the 2nd wave based on my bid number and in the instruction manual given out as part of the race pack i collected one week before the event. However, it seems that there was a change in plan. There were at least 5 waves on that day and it was a first come first serve basis. WHen you report early, you go to first wave, when you report late, you go the the later wave. Anyway, i was in the 2nd wave.

Saw several farmilar runners like SC Lim, Amy, Yong, Andy, Serena, Danny, Wei Ming, LS and MF SAFRA runners at the race. It was not a very big event and there were many other categories. My category was the first to flag off. The flag off time was delayed for half an hour which i dont know why. There was explaination given. My wave started off at about 8am. Together in the same wave with me was Andy and Yong. Soon after wave 1 flagged off, my wave flagged off then and there were about 75 over runners in each wave. I was running at quite a constant fast pace and maintaining the lead for my wave. I didnt allow any runners in my wave to overtake me. The slopes within NUS is still manageble, but those beyonf NUS can be slightly tougher. If it is a training, it is still arlgith but imagine you have to race through the slopes ? Sometime i felt very insecurerunning in the front as there was no one to follow and the marshallers may just give you the wrong directions. But overall the young student marshallers are not too bad.

I finished the race in about 50min for a 12km route of slopes and roads. I was happy to lead all the way for my wave and came in first in wave 2 but Ranked 9th position in overall with other waves. I was satisfied with the result and unfortunately prizes were only given to top 3 placing. Missed it again. But anyway, it was a good experience. Sad to say, it started to rain heavily shortly after i completed my run. Quite a big group of runners in the mens open cat got totally wet. And the most disappointing thing was that the rest of the categories (which was not even flagged off) was cancelled. It was indeed very disappoiniting for these groups of runners. But i do respect the organiser decision as i believe it was due to safety reasons. It is really unsafe to run in the rain when the slope ground is wet. Can you imagine competitive runners dashing down the wet slopes.

Because of the rain, most of the programme was cancelled or postponed such as lucky draw, prize presentation ceremony, etc. I waited for a while before i had my shower at NUS and proceeded to Clarke Quay and TPY sports hall to collect my race pack for other running events.

Anyway, after much delay, the results timing and the lucky draw result was released via their official website about 2 weeks later. It was not very well organised and there were many complaints. It was a nice route and i think i will run again next year despite all the negative feedback. Let's give the organider a chance to improve.

The Race Against Cancer

2009-08-23T21:23:00.002+08:00

It was Sunday morning. It was raining as early as 2am at night. However, the rain has more or less stopped by the time i woke up at 6.15am. Changed into my running attire to head to East Coast Park. I was still having that little kind of tiredness after the 15km run at MR the day before on Saturday with fellow TFB and friends, and not forgetting the laps training at the pool as well. Sometimes i thought weekend is supposed for me to sleep longer and wake up later when the sun is up. But it seems that i wake up evern much earlier than my weekdays. I long for the day when i can sleep till say 8 or 9am.

Ok anyway, i did a short jog to ECP big field near the Hawker Centre. This was the starting point for the Race Against Cancer. By the time i reached ECP, it started to dizzile and i saw many participants were already seeking and getting themselves waiting at whatever shelther they could have. For a moment, i thought the dizzile could make the run more meaningful. The path of life is not always smooth. At times, we see bright sunny day and sometimes we see rain or even thunderstorm. There are many obstacles in life that we can overcome and fight against if we believe we can do it. I told myself this could be a Race Against Cancer & Rain which signifies our obstacles in life. Somwhow, the rain stopped just and when most of the particpants arrived and when the Emcee started to get people ready to assemble infront of the stage to witness the presentation of the cheques donation from sponsors. It was quite a big crowd with most of the particpants wearing the event tee shirts. As for myself, i wore my own running singlet, shorts and newton shoe.

There were 2 categories. A 5km run and a 10km run. I signed up for the 10km run, It is not a cmpetitive race. Meaning that there is no prize to award the top runners. Of cours, i still take it as a competitive run to compete with my mental and to compete with the runners. I came with the intention to run for a cause and helped those who in need of our help. Those cancer patients that need our help and also those children whose parents are disgnosed with cancer. We are healthy people and we should do something to give back to the society. It is a meaningful charity run. Doing something i love and at the same time helping others. I would encourage my friends to do more of these.

The race for 10km flagged off at around 8am after the mass warm up. I didnt participate in the warm up. Instead, i already stationed myself at the start LINE. The Guest of Honour Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister, Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Finance and Transport, together with the CEOs of SingTel and Singapore Cancer Society flagged off. My colleague Linda happened to be there for the 5km run (which flagged off later) cheered for me when i ran past her a few meters after the start line. I waved at her increased my pace. I was constantly runing at a good pace and constantly maintaining a leading position together with another 'ang moh' runner. However, i could not really overtake him. I was about 8 meters away from him all the way from the start to the u-turn point at carpark B1. From there, our gap started to widen. Along the way, some cheered for me, although i dont know them at all. It was a good run and i reached the finishing point in the 2nd position. Good run and had a hand-shake with the first position runner and the 3rd position runner. I came in empty handed with no bag with me. Had a few cups of free milo from the milo van. It was rewarding.

Stayed around for a while, walked around and then took a slow walk back to home and had a good sleep and rest for the entire late morning and afternoon. And did a 42 laps recovery swim in the evening. Bought a new pair goggles, supplement products from GNC. All set ready for my lunctime swim when TPY pool re-opens tomorrow after months of renovation for YOG. Gonna get dark and tanned again.

Up next. RUN NUS on 30 Aug 09.

AHM 2009

2009-08-19T22:22:00.003+08:00

It was the Army Half Marathon/Singapore Bay Run. If i am not wrong, this would be the 4th time i participated in this event. It was one of the most significant runs that i would always want to participate in the year> It was Singapore largest running event. For the past 3 races of AHM, i registered as a Men Open category. But this year, i thought i should try the Men Closed category. However, whether it is open or closed, it is still the same to me. I came for this run with the imtention to do my best and to achieve a new personal best record time. I remembered i did a 1 hr 38 min last year. I didnt do well due to the injuries i had from Sundown Ultra Marathon 2008. Hence, i expect myself to do a much better time this year round. Have been training quite hard for the past several months every sat morning at ECP. Really appreciate Team FatBird's Ops KingFisher training programme that actually allow me to train and pace at a 1hr 30 mins time. I must say that i was hoping to see a sub 1 hr 30 mins for this year AHM race.

Anyway, i reached the start line at about 4.45am which was quite late already. Many runners were already getting standby and ready at the start line although it was still 45 mins to flag off. I did a short warm up by running towards the start line. Just wanna get my heartbeat ready and my tired body warmed up. It was a pretty nice weather. It was dry as compared to AHM 2008 when i was drizziling then. It seems to be quite humid and there was hardly any wind. I had my newton shoe, 2XU compression top and tights and my Sun shade for the race. I didnt get myself a watch although i wanted to. I dont really want my race to be restricted to the time on the watch. I rather dash and run throguh the race without looking at the watch. Hence, i never wear a watch to run. But perhaps i should start to get one soon since i will taking up the role as a pacer for the upcoming Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009.

Anyway, my running kakis were all closed together near the startline. We were about a few meters behind the line. at 5.30am sharp, the 21km competitive race flagged off by the Chief of Army. But i must say that the flagg off didnt really create a big bang. It was like an anti-climax. There was no air horn at all. The Emcee just said 3, 2, 1, GO! over the mike. I thought they should improve on this. A big bang will stir up the atmsphere and get the runners motivated for the race.

I told myself not to dash too fast for a start. I was not really on a good form. I had an hamstring pull and it was quite painful. I got that 2 days before the race during a squash training. But thank god the pain didnt really affect my running. I could only feel the pain when sitting down or lying down on the bed. I was running at quite a constant pace, over taking runners most of the time with a few runners over taking me occasionally.On avergae, i was running at a 4 min 20 sec per km pace. It was still quite hard as i entered and exited ECP. But i really this particular area at ECP when the lamp post lights were not on. It was very dark but there were green/red light stick on the side of the pathway. For a moment, it was like a mini runway. It was cool man.

Very soon, i exited ECP and ran throught Nicoll Highway. I would say that the route this year was much better than the one in 2008. Part of the route this year reminded me of SCSM 2007 and the AHM which i did in 2007. I simply love the route especially the Mouthbatten area. Soon, i was left with 1km to go. I still maintian the constant pace and ran through the finishing line at a time of 1 hr 31 mins. I was happy with my performance. There was a mixed feeling. I was happy yo achieve a new personal best timing. It was a 2 mins improvement from the previous PB whicch i got in 2007. I was a bit disappointed that i could not run below 1 hr 30mins. But anyway, i have done my best. I was happy to see that many of the runners who participated in Ops KingFisher managed to get their own PB as well. Kudos to TFB! Cngrats and Well done to all who completed the race, regardless of the time clocked.

Had some pics taken after the race. Photo courtesy of FatBird David Ong

Endurace Swim

2009-07-27T23:01:00.003+08:00

I have addicted to swimming. No, it is not just simply swim, but ENDURANCE swim. After a long run on the road, i thought i would be good that i can so some recovery sports and at the same time improve on my stamina.

I have started to resume my laps swimming. Endurance swim is somewhat similar to endurace run, just that i dun use my lower limb to swim. I simple use my upper body to glide through the water with the free style. So far, i have tried doing 60 laps at one go. It was damn shiok, the more i swim, the more shiok i feel.

What's more, swimming helps to build up my body. Yeah my frens all complained that i am too small size. I do not like to frequent the gym. I do not like to carry weights. It is not challenging and it is quite boring. I have no patience to stay in the air con room and do the reps of carrying those metal bar. I will prefer to jump into the pool in a sunny day to do my continous laps swim. Kill many birds with just one stone. I am glad Toa Payoh pool is re-opening soon. I can swim during my lunch time alrwady. :) People said i am crazy. But i enjoyed what i am doing. It is tiring but no pain no gain.

I have a target to hit 100 laps at one go. If others can do it, i see no reason why Keonz Quek cannot do it. Arghh, my shoulder is feeling tired. . .

21km Training @ ECP followed by 4.2km X Country @ MR

2009-07-27T21:50:00.009+08:00

It was saturday morning. As usual, i woke up early to report for training at ECP for the Ops KingFisher session 4. It was a day of excitement as it was the so called full dress rehersal cum shoe trial cum time trial. Met up with Terry and Samantha and headed down to Sand Pit, Big Splash @ Plyground which is currently the nest of Team FatBird.

It was good to see so many participants turned up for this session. There were close to 70 over runners. The day session started off with briefings by Anthony and David. I then took over to brief on the safety/health aspect as well as the running route for the day. There were distances caterd for 10km, 15km, 18km and 21km. Most of the runners ran for the 21km. I was the pacer for the 21km which target to complete the half marathon in 1hr 30 mins. I have yet to achieve this timing in the previous AHMs that i participated. However, i am now able to achieve that timing in the trainings runs. It seems that my running has somewhat improved after my recovery from ITB injuries. I was quite worried and dare to run too fast, too hard as i had a running race on that afternoon. Yes, correct 2 runs in a day with a short rest of a few hours. I was worried that i might have no ore energy to dash for the afternoon race which was a very fast pace 4.3km run at MR.

Anyway, though i told myself not to run too hard, i still managed to run on target timing. I finished the 21km training run within 1 hr 30 min. Unfortunaely, i was running alone and there was no runner targeting to run the pace of 1 hr 30 min, or rather Choon was not there to dash with me. I really hope to see more runners to run with me at the pace. Running alone can be quite bored. hahah..

After the 21km, i took some video interview with a few runners. Thanks Henry who provided us with our new toy for the TFB media team. Our prop are just getting more and more. It is not surprise that sooner or later, people will thought that mediacorp is at ECP doing some shooting. More professional props coming in soon. Keep a loook out for TFB Media.

Anyway, i did not join my running gang for lunch as i need to rush back home to have a quick rest. I had my own lunch and by the time i reached home, it was already 12pm. I took my shower followed by a quick 1 hour nap and then changed to my running attire, ready to proceed to the next run at Macritchie Reservoir.

It was the 25th Ministry of National Development Recreation Club (MNDRC) Cross Country. It was a running race which statutory boards (HDB, AVA, BCA, NDHQ, NParks, URA) under the MNDRC compete against one another. I was there to represent my company (HDB). HDB has the got the largest team with close to 50 runners competing in Individual events (Men open, Ladies Open, Veteran Open, Senior Veteran) and team events (Men/Ladies Open, Veterna/Senior Veteran). We were all in red saucony singlet top which was quite eye catching. For me, i wore my nike running short and my nike shoe for this race.

I was actually quite stressed as my main competitor was the defending champion from URA who was the champion for the past 2 years. His timing last year was very very close to my recent cross country timing. It was going to be very competitive. I had the full support and wishes from my team. My teammates even told me about my competitor running style and strategy which he adopted last year. I tried not to think too much and told myself to do my best to go for the champion.

Soon, at 3.30pm, the race flagged off. I kicked off pretty well, but started to realised that my running shoe was a bit loose. I could not run faster on the road than i wanted as i worried that my shoes might came off. Luckily, as i entered the trail, the loose feeling got better due to the terrain. I was in the lead all the way from the start which i always believe to be crucial. A leading men is at least half way to success. I do not like to see runners running ahead of me and my strategy was not to let any runners overtake me. Chin, my team mate was close behind me. I was surprised that the defending champion was not running closed to me. As i ran further in to the trail, the running footstep sound got softer and softer and i knew i have managed to widen the gap abit which hence further raise my confidence level.

From Left to Right (Keonz, Chin, Dennis)

Soon, i exited the trail and entered to the pathway beside the road. It was hot. Chin was still behind me, probably about 100m apart. I mainatained my pace and dashed through the finishing line to become the champion for the Men's Open category. This would be my second champion medal for the year. Chin came in 1st runner up and Wilfred, the defending champion came in third. My other team mates Daivd and Dennis came in 4th and 5th respectively. I was happy but i knew it was not my personal best. It was in fact 30 sec slower that my PB timing. Perhaps, it was the hot weather, my shoe, the fact that i just completed a half marathon in the morning? I do not know the reasons. I would like to thank all my frens for their besr wishes and support. Thank You !

I was also happy to see Bee Leng, my finance colleague to come in as female champion for the Ladies Open Category. It was simply an excellent performance. Club HDB managed to sweep the top posistions in almost all the category ranging from all individual to team events. No doubt, my men's open team was the champion team. The race ended off with prize presentation ceremonty and lukcy draws. I received my medal and vouchers. Perhaps, i am one of the younger runners there and this explains why the Guest of Honour asked me "How old are you?" I replied: "I am 26." Took a memorable pictures with the entire Club HDB Team.

Had a quick shower that the newly renovated toliets at MR. It was really a total different look after the renovation. The toliet is so much bigger, cleaner and more showers facilities. But the shower head is quite bad. Not much water. It was just like 6 lines of water shooting out from the holes at the shower head. Anyway, washed up and proceed to Esplanade to watch an evening play - SING DOLLARS.

Yellow Ribbon Prison Run

2009-07-03T22:44:00.002+08:00

This is the first Yellow Ribbon Prison Run. I have registered for the 10km competitve race.
It will be held on 6 Sep 09. Since this is a new race, so i thought maybe i should try this out. Sometime, it is good to run new race. Also, i have not been running many races this year as compared to 2008. But 2nd half of the year is going to be months of races. I counted that on average there will be more than 8 running events in the coming months.

For more details, check it out @ http://www.yellowribbonprisonrun.sg
Join me along for this run and give the ex-offenders another chance to start their new life ahead.

Updating

2009-06-26T22:44:00.002+08:00

I have not been blogging much lately simply becuase there is nothing much to update. There is no races lately. The next race for me will be in late July which is the Ministry of National Development (MND) Cross Country @ Macritchie Reservoir. It is going to be a race competition between all the statutory boards under the umbrella of MND. It is going to be a quite competitive since i was told that the men open defending champion timing from URA was somewhat very close to my timing. Have to start training to short distance dash next week already.

Anyway, i have not been able to run as much as i want to for the past 2 weeks. Monday to Sunday are so packed up with work, running training and course training. One after another, back to back. I am quite tired and some body parts especially my arms are painful. But was a good pain that make me tougher. Instructor told me the more my arms got hit, the more pain it will get and the more layer of flesh will develop and the tougher and fitter i will get. But really, no pain no gain. Instructor is right, treat ecery training very seriously as the world outside now is very different and it is not as simple as what we thought. I am learning to be more aggressive. I think i am not that agressive yet.

I missed swimmming so much. I could not swim during my lunch time already as the pool near my workplace is closed for renovation for next year's YOG. So on wednesday, i went to do my swimming at bedok pool. It was a good swim followed by a run. It was a cold night with some drops of rain coming down from the sky which i thought it as quite clear. I did my short biathalon. I didnt bring my towel. After getting out from the pool, i just wore my socks, shoe and my running shorts and ran to bedok reservoir. It was very cooling indeed. I really enjoyed myself becuase i brings back the beautiful memories in the past when i ran alone at the park. I was running at a quite a fast pace, but not race pace. I really hope i can have this kind of time. I could only afford to do this once or twice a week due to the packed schedule. How i wish i have more time for myself.

It was Friday today and i something quite meaningful just now. I actually did a voluntary work ti distribute groceries to the needy residents at one of the HDB rental flats at Indus Rd. It was a programme conducted by HDB Care Team. My colleagues at work are in the organising team. I thought i should show some support and also experice the life of those rental flats residents. It seems to me that the residents are really so poor. The flats they staying are 1 room flat wiith long dark corridors alley. Most of the residents are senior citizens. I had a good time distributing the food to them with Tze Liang and Li Ping. I will come again for the next voluntary charity event next month.

Long term course

2009-06-09T22:59:00.003+08:00

It is getting more intensive, fast pace week by week but yet getting more interesting and fun at the same time. It has been almost 1 month since my course started mid last month. So far, i have not missed any lesson. I cannot afford to miss any lesson as every lesson is a new topic. It will be so difficult to catch up if i missed a lesson. I remembered the chief instructor told us that when we came in dry, he would make sure that we leave the venue wet. True enough, i was wet at the end of each lesson. Tired, shag and with some sore and pain on my wrist and arms since i have to make use of my wrist and arm power to learn the tactic taught. Practice and practice.

It has been fun and something i will never get to learn outside. I know very sure for myself why i attended the course. I could have rested at home and enjoyed watching TV at home, but yet i chose to spend 4 hours learning new skills and techniques which is very essential in the near future. A total of 12 of us were selected to attend the course. It is the 70th intake. A team of 12 people with a strong interest and passion for the course we are attending now. I do not want to announce to the whole world of what i am currently doing. Only a handful of my friends are aware and they are supportive of my decision. Some admire of what i do. When i post my 'graduation' pics 8 months later here. You will know.

8 more months to graduation.

One moment in, one moment out and finally in.

2009-06-09T22:44:00.003+08:00

It was a mistake. A mistake that disappointed me at the recent Saucony Passion Run 2009. One moment in, one moment out and finally in. What's this?

I was disappointed with the way the organiser derive the position of the top 10 competitive runners. At the race, i was told that i am the 1oth finisher for the 15km. I was happy at that time as it was first time being able to squeeze in into a large scale mid distance local competitive race. 5 mins later, i was informed that they had some miscommunication and realised that they missed out someone in the list. Hence, i became the 11th finisher. Meaning? It means i have no chance to go up the stage to receive my prize from SM Goh. Not only i felt a moment of disappointment, some of my friends felt the same too.

Few days later, the official results was released on the web and i saw my name in 1the 10th position. I was puzzled and i wrote to the organiser. A few days later, the organiser replied with this:

Thank you for your email and sorry for the late reply.

We are pleased to inform you that you have came in 10th position. Kindly provide your mailing address for the organizer to send the prize to you.

What a stupid mistake they made. Actually, i am not eyeing for the prize. I do not know what's going on. Anyway, i just hope they can look into the procedure and ensure such things doesnt happen again in future.

Sundown Marathon 09

2009-06-07T22:51:00.012+08:00

It was Sundown Marathon 2009. This is the first marathon for year 2009. I participated in the ultra marathon 84km category last year. This year, i decided to do the marathon of 42km. Once is enough for the 84km or at least i do not want to get injured again.

I have been training quite well since March this year. All thanks to the Team FatBird 12 weeks training programme which i did not missed any of of the sessions. Prior to the race day, a group of us actually met up for a carbo loading session at one of the restaurants in town. As the restaurant does not serve vegetarian food, i 'dao bao' my food (vege pizza and pasta) to the restaurant to eat. I must said that i loaded quite a bit.

On the race day, a few of us met up as early as 1pm at Changi Village to have our lunch before we checked in to the Changi Village Hotel. Yes, we booked a room to rest and also for showering and rest after the race. Hence, we had our afternoon nap and woke up at 6pm to have our dinner. We were quite tired that none of us actually woke up on time. But thanks to the sms that one of our friends sms us that caused all our phone to sound off at the same time, creating a form of 'alarm clock' that woke us up from our nap.

We planned and arrange to wear our new 'I LOVE RUNNING WITH TEAM FATBIRD' white top prior to the race. It was like our first attire for the night. In fact, the support crew and photograph crew also wear the same. This simply shows the unity of TFB. The emcee even saw our tee ans read out what he saw on our tee over the mic.

We proceeded to Subway for our dinner and then to the race start point. Although our 42km flag off time was 12am, we actually went down to support and bid our final wishes to some of our 84km ultra marathon friends and TFB NightHawk participants. Their race was scheduled to flag off at 7pm sharp. Max and Jane were there to be the official TFB photograph crew. They had with them the cool professional camera and the TFB poster board. The sky seems to be very cloudy and i thought that it was going to rain but luckily it didnt and for the rest of the night, it remained relatively humid and warm considering it was a night race.

Then, we went back to the hotel room to rest for a while and watched TV show before we changed to our final race gear. As TFB has set up support crew around the route, we recived LIVE updates from some of the crew on the performance of the 84km runners. It was kinda of exciting and interesting. I had my usual race gear which was the 2XU black compression top and tights with my Kayano14 shoe as well as the New Balance visor and race belt and race tag. Of course, i did not include my sunshade with me since it was a night race. The rest were equipped with additional stuff like MP3, power gel/bar, fuel belt and water, polar watch, etc. We had a mini fashion parade to show some of our second attire for the night. We joke about the 'latest season' thingy. It was fun.

We reached the start point as early as 10.45pm, getting ready to pass the power gel to Henry who was on his way to complete his first round of ultra marathon with a respectable timing of less than 4 hours. It was already quite crowded and it seems the marshallers had to direct and stop the crowd to give way to the ultra marathoners to use the bridge which is very narrow. I was glad to see my fellow HDB runners and friends (Bee Leng, Bee Leng's Hubby, Annabell and Ivy). As they were not sure on how to use the new timing tag, i showed them the way to attach it to the shoe. Afterwhich, it was photo taking. Then, final toilet break followed by warm up of running short distance around to get our heartbeat up and warm our body. As early as about 1130pm, we stationed ourselves near to the start line. It was a strategy that i always adopt to start the race at the front which i believe is essential as i wont ended up being blocked by the crowd and of course it give an initial competitve atmosphere.

At 1159pm sharp, the race kicked off. I was running at a fast paceAt 11.59pm sharp, the race kicked off with a fast pace. I was running almost side by side with Dr Ben Tan for the first 5km. I was constantly maintaing in the top 5 position for the first 10km until some of the runners overook me. The first 10km was the most crucial part for me as i felt my stomach bloated at certain point. I even developed stitches in the first 10km although i didnt drink any water at this range. I felt quite weak. However, by the time i reached ECP, my body seems to resume the normal form and ready to take off again. Haha. Yup, the stitches and bloated sensation was slowly gone. Soon, i reached Bedok Town Park which i have been looking forward because i know that TFB support crew was there ready to support me and the rest. I really felt a sense of 'warmth' from i saw them. Really appreciate their support. You guys rocks and i knew it was not an easy task, having to be there during late night hours when they could actually sleep in their air con room at home. But they chose to be there. This shows how supportive and motivating they are. Apart from TFB support crew, my HDB support team were there as well. I was still within the top 10 position when i reached the 27km point. Had my drink and left the support point in less than 30 seconds. I didnt stop long. It was like a split of a few seconds. I was so concentrated on my race that i could only see David, Edwin, Anthony, Samantha, Max & Jane although there were like many more there. The rest were like just figures. I knew you guys were out there. Thank you !

Ran and ran and soon i reached 32km where another TFB support crew was stationed. Jancy, Beng, Suan, Kai Juin, Mattew Ho and the rest were there to give the support just like those at Bedok Town Park. Again, the warmth was felt here. Thank you very much. I had my drink here and i remembered i asked Suan for the time. She told me it was 2:45am. This means that i only have like 35 mins left to complete the remaining 9km plus if i want to achieve a new PB. But i knew it was quite tough. I was maintaining at a constant pace if no more runners over taking me. I confidently knew that i am still able to finish the race in the top 10 placing. The Pasir Ris, Loyang area was not as tough as what i thought. I was still able to increase my pace at this range of route.

Soon, i reached Changi area. At the last 2km, i stopped to take my final drink and suddenly my leg alsmost got cramp. Almost. I felt the slight cramp but luckily it was gone within a few seconds. I asked the marshaller for the time and was told that it was 3:30am. Felt a little disappointed as i could not run within the timing i target to. As i approached the bridge, i was told to turn tight a make a loop to reach the end point. It was a surprise instruction given as i didnt know that was the route. It was different from last year's route. Anyway, the marshallers cheered me and told me i was still in top 10. I picked my my final pace and dashed thtought the finishing line. I didnt know my position but confidently, top 10 was for sure. I knew only the top 3 would be awarded. But that doesnt matter. I am happy to be in the top 10. Anyway, when the result was officially released a few days later, i managed to secured a 7th position out of 3000 over runners for the Men Open Competitive category for 42km. YN managed to secured the 5th position for Women Open competitive category. Many complained that the route was more than 42km. Yes, it was more than 42km for sure, but not sure by how much. I believe it was out by at least 1km. For me, i personally feel that the race was quite tough. But glad i completed it well, although no PB.

The rest of my running kaki came back soon. YN, Spencer and Terry got their PB. Congratulation to them. You guys have really improved. Well done. We then took pictures, both individually and as a group before we headed back to the hotel room to have a nice warm shower and had our well deserved sleep. Terry, Spencer, YN, Charmane only had less than 2 hours of sleep before they proceeded to ECP Big Splash for the first Shape Run training. They were on duty. Darren and i wanted to tag along but we only have one vehicle and it was impossible to squeeze all into the car. So Darren and i continued our rest till 9 plus before they returned back again. Washed up, breakfast and checked out. Went home, rested a while and went for a recovery swim of 10 laps in the evening. Surprisingly, i didnt feel much pain and sore on my lower limb as what i usually have after completing a marathon race. I could walk normally. Perhaps, i have reached the 'seasoned' stage.

Sundown Marathon. It was more than just a race. It was a race that bring all TFB members and friends together to work together as a team to contibute to the local running community. It was a well planned and execution for the support. We received many compliments and thanks from the participants. Job Well Done, Team FatBird.

Sundown Marathon completed. What's next?

Saucony Passion Run 09

2009-05-27T22:05:00.015+08:00

It was the Saucony Passion Run 2009. I remmeber that in 2008, this run was held one week after Sundown Marathon which i did my 84km. This year, i am glad it was held one week before Sundown. At least i do not have to run with injuries and pain like what i did last year.

I registered for the 15km competitive men open category. I prefer longer distance and competition. The competitive atmosphere makes me perform better as there is a drive and motivation. That's my personal opinion. I came with the objective to break my personal record timing. Yup, i was hoping to achieve a new Personal Best. I arrived at about 6am sharp. Bose, Darren and Kai Juin were already at the carpark when i reached. The sky was still dark but the crowd had already started to come in despite it was still one hour before the race flagged off.

Went over to the SGRunners booth and took some pics. Soon, Darren and i proceeded to do our warm up by doing some short run to get our engine started. YN, Samantha, Spencer and Terry arrived shorty. Of course, saw other running friends like Beng, Suan, Andy and Serena. Max and Dave were there to take pics with their professional SLR camera. And i must say that their photography skill is great. We gathered very near to the start line to get ourselves ready. Already at the start point, i could feel the competitive atmosphere when i saw several elite runners.

At about 7.10am, the race flagged off and there i dashed. I started off doing quite well. I was running constantly in the 3rd position for the first 6km. Mok Ying Ren was obviously leading all the way. I could only catch his dust for the first 6km. Afterwhich, i could hardly feel the dust. haha..Anyway, i came in at least in the top 11th position. I was glad to recceive the 'potential winner' tag. It was my first time receiving this tag. Of course, it is only potential winner and not guaranteed winner as the timing still need to be finalised. Only the top 10 position will get to the podium. I knew i was not here nor there as i counted that i was around in the 9-11 position. Getting a new PB is my main objective, getting into the top 10 position is a bonus for me. I didint expect myself to get into the podium as it was always a competitive race. I ran this event since 2007 and i was never in the top 10. I was only in the top 40 (if i can still remember) for the past years Saucony Passion Run.

Soon, YN came back and she also received her potential winner tag. I was so happy for her since she really put in alot of effort. Ok the timing has been finalised. At back stage, the official announced me as the 1oth runner which mean i was in the top 10. I was happy of course as i never expect myself to squeeze into the top 10. But shortly after 2 mins, i was then called back again. The official actually missed out one of the runners who actually should be in the top 10 position. Hence, with the addition of this runner, i became the 11th runner and it means i have no chance to be in top 10 already and i missed the podium again. So close yet so far.

I was quite disappointed. I believe the timing between the positions were very closed, perhaps a few seconds of differences. But never mind about the position as long as i have break my personal best record timing. I have improved my timing by 5 mins. I am satisfied with my performance. YN secured the 8th placing for the ladies 15km competitive open category. Congratulation, well done YN. All the trainings paid off. We were all very happy for her and we cheered very loud for her when she moved up the stage to received her award from SM Goh.

Overall, it was a nice run and perhaps my best performance so far this year. 2009 seems to be a good year for me after the recovery of the injuries in 2008. I have achieved 3 PB this year for 4.3km, 1okm and 15km. Hopefully, i can achieve another new PB for the coming Sundown Marathon this weekend.

We (Myself, YN, Spencer, Terry, Darren, Charmane, Bose, Kai Juin) then went to Suntec City gym to washup and proceeded to collect our racepack for the Sundown Marathon. There was hardly any queue and i managed to collect my racepack in less than 3 mins. Had a nice lunch at the foodcourt and then to movie at Orchard. Tired long day but an enjoyable run and outing Sunday.

HDB Cross Country

2009-05-17T15:46:00.004+08:00

It was the HDB Cross Country. It was held on Saturday at Maritchie Reservoir Park. I have waited for this race for one year. I reemembered that i could not join this race last year as i was have not joined the organisation then in 2008. Personally, it was a highly aniticpated race. A race which i hope i can achieve something for myself and for my department.

I registered for the 4.2km Mens open category and team event as well. The weather was not very good. It was like going to rain as i could see from the dark clouds and the lightnings. I came as early as 2.30pm staright after collecting my race pack for the passion run at Novena Square. The race flagged off at about 3.55pm sharp. Personally, i feel a little bit stressed as my Big Boss was there to flag off the race. Also, there was some pressure on me to secure the first position for the men's open. There were several fast runners competing as well. And there were 'black horse' as well. My target was to run below 17 mins as last year champion timing was less than 17 mins. I did a time trial earlier last week and could not run below 17mins at the time trial.

As soon as the race flagged off, i tried to maintain a constant pace of 4mins/km pace. The initial part was quite competitive as we were quite closed together. But as we entered the trail, the gaps gets wider apart as the running footsteps that i heard get softer and softer. To fast forward, i dashed through the trail, exited to the pavement beside Lornie Rd and reached the end point with a timing for 16mins and 45s, coming in in 1st position for the men open category. I felt very happy. I performed up to expectation and didnt disppoint those who predicted my position. I was also happy to see my team mate came in first position for the ladies. Looks like my department performed pretty well this year.

Glad to see YN and Spencer who came down to support me. Really thank them and helping to take pictures. You guys rocks. Also Not forgetting my Finance dept runners who came to support and run for this event. My dept ladies team came in champion as a team while the my mens team came in 4th position (the best so far in history). Overall, my dept came in as 1st runner up which was just few points behind the champion department. Nevertheless, i am still satisfied with the results. I was lucky enought to get a 2nd prize for the lucky draw which was a voucher worth $160. Here are some pics to share.

A long awaited news arrived

2009-04-18T19:14:00.002+08:00

Ok. I have finally received the call from them. It was a voice mail as i believe my phone was off when they called. But anyway, i am glad to be confirmed to attend the course. I waited for months since i made my application 8 months ago in Aug last year. After going through a series of test, interview, screening, checks, it is finally confirmed. I dont know why i choose to attend this course. But i believe is my passion and interest. Is going to be a long course of up to 9 months. I am attending the 70th batch course which commence in mid May 09.

Dusty Run II

2009-04-11T17:21:00.018+08:00

It was Dusty Run II. This was the second time i have organised the run. Dusty Run I was first organised and completed on 11 April 2008. This year, it was on the 10 April 2009, which falls on Good Friday as well as the 15th day of the month in the Lunar Calandar. Hence, it was a run under the full moon on a holy day. What a good combination. This date was decided exactly one year ago, which was a day after the completion of Dusty Run I.

Extracted from TODAY newspaper - 13 April 09

Prepration of Dusty Run started as early as Jan 2009 with the initial planning of the route. It took me quite a while to decide on the location of the run. Last year was in the West. So this time round, i was decideing where to run. It was deciding between East and Central area. With the advice of Team Fatbird, i decided to have thr un at Easten Singapore. The prepration was followed by recee nad picture taking of the route. I had Spencer, Terry and YN to join me to recee through the route to ensure the route was safe and feasible one. Really appreciate their effort, especially when some of us got sunburnt and bruises/cut after the recee. Followed by the making of Dusty Run video trailer as well as the publicity Poster. A very big thank you to Terry
who actually helped me to design the official Poster for Dusty Run II. I am sure the poster caught a lot of attention which explains why the response was overwhelming. With the launch of the mass publicity to the local running community via forums, running clubs, blogs, facebook and even at Raffles Place i-run, we managed to attract over 100 participants. The next was the preparation of the props like the luminous light stick, conffetti and sng baos. Thanks to Samantha, Spencer and YN for the making of the Sng Bao. They were delicious and rewarding after a long night run. Also to thanks Esther for taking the trouble to loan the cable from her friends. Feel sorry that eventually, we didnt make use of the cable. But really appreicate her effort. The prepration continues even a few hours before the run where the map was senting for printing and purchasing of the poster stand, laser pointer, stationery. etc. I thought the map would be good to enhance my route briefing. It was very rush and it was a raining very heavily on that day and this made my travelling even more toublesome. But luckily all props and prepartion was well prepared on time before the show goes 'LIVE' at 8.30pm at ECP Carpark

It was a long day for me after the last min prepration. Was at the start point as early as 8.15pm with Spencer, YN, Terry and Charmane. We started off with the setting up of the poster, map and the loud speaker. Soon, we saw a few runners reporting. Without realising, soon, it was already 9pm, and the turnout was already as big as 100 particiapants. We saw participants from SAFRA running club, SGRunners, I-runners and others who joined in who just joined in for the training. There were also many first timers. I was happy to see the great response. Sunddenly, the start point at ECP become so packed that it is almost for the night cyclist at ECP to cycle past the track cos it was fully packed. We had Wee from TODAY newspaper to join us for the run and he took several pics. So perhaps, this run will be covered in the paper in the next few days. We took several group pic with the poster. As it was almost 9.15pm, we began our briefing with Anthony kicking off with the welcome speech, David's safety breifing and followed by my route briefing. And then is the big group pic before the run kicked off. After 5 mins toilet break, we gathered and the NightHawk Central 8 gathered infront of the crowd with Anthony and myself flagging off with the grand opening of the Dusty Run II with the Conffetti. POP! The run began.

If you were at ECP, you will see a long stretch of runners running through the park. Some of the night campers and cyclist were surprised to see such a big group in action. I believe we seldom get to see this except for Sundown Marathon. As planned, we ran thorugh the route. Some runners were running very fast at their own pace. While most of us adopt a moderate pace. I was running wit the mid pack for the first 15km. After that, i have to slow down and wait for some runners at the back of the mid pack to ensure they do not get lost. To fast forward, i reached the end point. The 10km and 20km runners were back and some have left. Some of the 30km runners were also back while the rest of the 30kmers were making their way back to the end point. The drinks were already set up by Beng, Suan and Jancy. The 5okm runners were making their way to the Changi Coastal Rd before they complete the remaining 20km.

It was a cooling night. The sky was clear with the moon in full shape watching us. It was rainning heavily in the day and i was very worried that the weather would be bad at night. But glad everything was fine. It was not that humid too. I must also thanks all the photographers who brought that camera to snap the pic for this run. And really appreciate Max and Jane who travlled to various location of the route to take pic of us with the poster. It was not easy for them to travel from point to point in the shorest time to catch us in action. Thank you. This really make Dusty Run II a very memerable one with the pic taken. By 4am, we have cleared up and proceeded to the nearby Mac for a nice breakfast. I was so sleepy that i dozing off in the car. And thanks to Bryon who gave Terry and I a lift.

With the completion of Dusty Run II, we are now half way through the TFB NightHawk Training programme. Thank you everyone who came to support Dusty Run II. The route was tough and physically and mentally challenging. This is the feature of Dusty Run. I hope everyone had fun and enjoyed the night with Dusty Run II. Thank you TFB for integrating the run into the NightHawk Training Programme. Some of us signed at the back of the poster. This is a good opporttunity for us to look back into this poster one year later we orgainse Dusty Run III.

Dusty Run III will return on 10 April 2010 with more features.

NightHawk Training #5

2009-04-04T23:48:00.002+08:00

It was the first saturday of April. With 2 months left to Sundown Marathon, the TeamFatBird Ops NightHawk training continues to train us and prepare us for the event. In this session 5 of the NightHawk Training, we continued with our training at ECP. The run route and distances range were the same as last week. Everyweek, we get to see newcomer joining us for training. We also saw several fast and furious runners from SAFRA mount Faber who joined us for a saturday morning run. The usual things went on as usual - route briefing, attendance taking, introduction of pacers, etc.

The run kicked off at 7.15am with runners like Bug, Teck How, Darren and Michael dashing off with their high speed power. Frankly speaking, it was kinda tempting to dash with them. But i believe i should not. I chose to do a slower pace just like last week, to run with runners and pace them and guide them along the way. Although the sun was up in the far east, it was not that hot. The tides was on their way to rise up as we ran past the canal. Along the way to Coastal Rd, i managed to run for s certain distance with runners for like Thomas, Anthony Quek, Nien Xiang, Han and Max. Han and Nien Xiang who are the regular fast pace I-runners did a shorter distance of about 20km.

Had a short chat with Anthony Quek who asked me if i am the teamfatbird camel. Haha.. i replied with a light laughter. Anthony Quek commented that my running style was so light and effortless, as if i was running 'qing gong' on the surface of a calm river. Actually, i do not know exactly how my style look like when i run. My mind was playing trick with me as i ran past several shethers. I was having the urge to u-turn earlier. But somehow i managed to overcome it and continued to run till 14km mark and u-turn. As usual, Darren did a further 2km up.

On the return route, i saw our Henry (who did his own training) looking quite tired, doing a slow walk at the coastal rd. This man has just did a 42km one round of Sundown route. Great effort, Henry! The weather was not as warm as last week. Along the way towards the ECP Mac, i saw a huge furry dog which really caught mya attention. I think it is the biggest dog i ever seen so far. It is rare to see such big dog at ECP. Anyway, soon, I reached the end point feeling good. Rewarded myself with 100 plus and had a short chat again with Anthony Quek who is already 62 years old and still running fast and looking strong. We shared with each other on things like running style, hydration during run and our weekly running mileage. There was no Sng Bao today as most of us were quite busy lately and had not time to prepare for it. But we did told ourselevs that shall be Sng Bao for the next run on 10 April night.

We had a new runner to choose a tree for us to take a group pic. Perhaps, a group pic at the tree symbolise that the fatbird and freinds has returned to the nest for resting after a long morning run. Afterwhich, i changed over to my white TFB top and took some pics both individually and as a group with the rest of the organising team members for Ops NightHawk Training. For the first time, 8 of us were in full 2XU tights taking a group pic where all of us were present.

As we ended this session of the training. We are all on our way for a final countdown to the next night run on friday which is the Dusty Run (Episode II). It is a run which we have been promoting around. From what we have gathered on the response, it is gonna be a big crowd at ECP, car park F2 on 10 April - 9pm.

Final Countdown 6 days to Dusty Run II.
Where will you be on 10 April night?

Join us along as we are about to begin another chapter for Dusty Run.

Poster - Dusty Run (Episode II)

2009-03-29T19:45:00.001+08:00

Speical thanks to Terry for further add on and design the pic which i took few weeks back.

NightHawk Training #4

2009-03-29T00:55:00.006+08:00

Field Report by Keonz Quek

Photos by Jancy Yap

It was the 4th week since the TeamFatbird Ops NightHawk training session began in early March. Very soon, we will be cossing over to April where the training will become more intensive as the distance goes beyond 30km. In week 4 of the training, we had our training at ECP (Playground @ Big Splash) which is similar to last saturday's training. I reached the meet-up point at about 7.00am sharp where most of the runners has arrived, all looking great and enthusiatic for the morning run. The weather was fine and the sky was very clear, without much breeze. The ECP was already LIVE up with some runners doing their early morning jog. The sun has already risen. And i told myself that it was gonna be a hot run. I was in my full 2XU attire in black, my sunglass and cap, ready for a good sat morning training ahead.

As usual, Anthony and DO commenced their briefing on the route when all the runners has arrived and gathered at about 7.05am. Apart from the regular active runners, we saw several new commers today who chose to run shorter distance. We also have runners like Julie and Lai Chee from SAFRA MF joining us as well. Altogether, it was a good turnout. Glad to see many runners waking up early to joined in the training on a sat morning. Meanwhile, jancy and Ah Beng were busy taking attendance and taking down the particulars of the new runners. The distance that we are covering are 10, 15, 20, 22 , 24, 26 and 28km. Team A pacers comprises of myself, Anthony, Daivd and YN with each of us running at different paces for distances covering all the way from 20to 28km. Team B comprises of Jancy, Ah Beng and Terry who will be covering shorter distance from 10-20km.

At about 7.15am sharp, the run kicked off. As the front pack pacer, i led the group with a steady pace all the way till NSRCC where the pace began to go slighty faster when we have warmed up with our body and reached the canal. By then, it was getting a little hot. Along the way, we saw several SGRunners like Andy, Tekko, IMD, Yee Hua running for another event held at the other corner of ECP. We waved to them as we ran past them. They were all having some fun :). As usual, the bikers along Changi were out in force dashing through the flat long famous Changi Coastal Rd.

I was running together with Ray (who had joined us for the second time in training and first time running at ECP) and Sealboon till 11km when sealboon made a u-turn to complete his remaining 11km to the end point. Ray and i continued to run towards the 28km u-turn point. Along the way, i told Ray about the various shethers which mark as a u-turn point for various distances. Soon, i reached the 28km u-turn point which was the 7th shether from the NRSCC. I stopped for a while, ensuring that some runners made a u-turn before i contiuned to run. Behind us was Teelee and Lai Chee. Both looking strong. Darren Goh and Lai chee did an additional distance and ran beyond 28km for their personal training.

Runners who did shorter distances

Some of the new runners

On the return route, saw runners like YN, Bernard, Anthony, Daivd, Eugene, Costner and some others running at a good pace. I waved to them while i ran with a faster pace back. I endured through as the weather gets hotter and more humid. Soon, i reached the ending point. Runners doing shorter distances were already back and the drinks were already well prepared to reward us. Thanks to the refreshment team who prepared all these for us. It was really a good reward for me especially when it was so hot and humid and the fact that i was in total black compression top and tights and that i tried not to have any water throughout the run (I am just afraid of getting stitches). I had several cups of 100 plus as well as the heavenly barley prepared by our Jancy. It was shiok.

A group pic after the run

As more and more runners progressively returning back, Esther and Jancy took pics of the runners running back. While the rest of us chit chat with one another and enjoyed the sea breeze. As most of the runners were back, we then took several group pictures from different angles (basically, it was a 360 degree turn). Afterwhich, we had our usual wash-up and proceeded to Old Airport Rd for our lunch. It was a nice morning run with my usual running group. It was touger run as compared to last saturday but i am sure everyone had fun today. This marks the end of the Week 4 training. Soon, we will be moving to Week 5 training when we see an increase in the distance.

Keonz & Edwin (Left-Right) trying very hard not to smile

As we end week 4 training, we began our countdown to Dusty Run (Episode II).

12 days to go.

Aviva Ironman Race

2009-03-26T15:35:00.000+08:00

A group of us went to support our freinds who participated in the Aviva Ironman race last Sunday. Some of our running friends who did the race include Edwin, Wei Ming and Han. It was my first time witnessing at this event. I took my camera with me and snapped some pics along thr race from 7am to anout 2pm. The weather was kind to all when it was windy and cloudy in the morning. But it became hotter towards the afternoon.

I was somehow inspired by the participants. I did try doing this 3 kind of sports (swim, cycle, run) one after another on my own a few years back. Of course, the distance were shorter. But it was kinda fun as it really test one's endurance both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, i am not a good swimmer at sea and i do not have a good bike to train. Many of my friends asked why i didnt join the Ironman. Well, i would want to give a try if and only if i am confident to swim at sea. I can swim in the pool continously for 50 laps. But of throw me into the sea, i dunno whether i can survive or not. My friends encouraged me to train up my swimming and cycling skills and to give biathlon or triathlon race a try in the near future. Worth considering..

Would like to congratulate all who completed the Ironman race on Sunday. Really salute to them. It was not easy. It was quite tough.

NightHawk Training #3

2009-03-21T21:20:00.005+08:00

It was saturday morning. The NightHawk training has reached the 3rd session since it started 3 weeks ago. It was a morning run for this session and it was held at ECP with the starting/end point at The Playground, Big Splash. I woke up pretty early as usual. Earlier than my usual day. Stomach was not feeling good. Nevertheless, i made my way to ECP and reached quite early at about 6.35am. Waited for a while before Spencer and YN came. Had a short chit chat with SealBoon while waiting.

Soon, Spencer and YN arrived at about 7am. Quickly, i put my bag in the car and proceeded to the start point where most of the runners have arrived. It was quite a big group. In fact, the attendance seems to get bigger and bigger week by week, which is a good thing. More runners are joining us to train together. Some were training for the upcoming marathons, while some just joined us to keep fit. Great to see that more and more people are into running. :)

Anthony and David did some breifing before the training began. An introduction to the pacer and leaders for the various distances was made to the participants. I was assigned as the Team Leader of Team A which comprise of YN, David and Anthony. We take care of distances ranging from 22-26km. Team B comprise of Jancy (Team Leader), Ah Beng and Spencer and they take care of runners do distances ranging form 10-20km. The weather was nice, the sun was lazy and was not up then. The ECP was still as nice as usual, but the AVIVA setting were all set up and ready for the event to be held tomorrow.

Soon the run began. YN and I led a group of front runners all the way till NRSCC where we ran together as a group. I told the usual dasher like Choon and Darren not to follow my pace today as i am on official duty to take care of the runners. So i told them i wont be dashing today. And after i told them that, Darren really dash ahead and disappeared. Haha.. It was nice to run at a slower pace again, but quite tiring as i actually spent longer time on the road than my usual pace. But it was a good session to train my endurace and patience and also to burn some of my fats that has accumulated for the past one week for the lack of daily laps swim.

Soon, i reached the U-turn point. I thought that was the 26km u-turn point. But i found out later that i actually overshot to the 28km u-turn point. Some for the runners followed me and did the same u-turn point as i did. I stopped at the u-turn point to ensure most of the front runners made the u turn at the correct point before i continued with my run.

The sun was finally up for a while during the return route. Saw Anthony and David along the way. They were all doing strong and chatting, motivating some of the runners they were running with. By the time i reached ECP, i could see that the cloud started to turn abit dark, but not to the extent of thunderstorm approaching. I maintained a constant pace all the way through, without having any sip of water and fianlly reached the ending point where most of the runners were back. Had a few cups of 100-plus. Chatted awhile and finally with a big group pic and the HigntHawk committee pic. I realised that the 2-XU tights that i was wearing seems to be quite useful in preventing my ITB from hitting me. Usually, my ITB pain will come in after along run on the hard group like ECP. But today, it seems ok for me or is it becos i was not dashing today? I dunno but what i know is that the tights is useful afterall in compressing my leg muscle.

Washed up and had lunch at Old Airport Road. Feeling very tired. Went home and had a nap all the way till evening before i proceed to the pool to do my swimming. Did a slow 40 laps recovery swim. And back here blogging.

Sub-Urban Run

2009-03-16T22:12:00.000+08:00

It was the Sub-Urban run. I did registered for this event. However, i did not run. I woke up early and realised that i have no mood to run. Seems that i am not in the ideal condition to run. Perhaps i was lazy or maybe becuase of the open wound on my right hand that is causing some pain.

Anyway, i did go down. But not with my running gear, but with my casusal berms, tee shirt, slippers and my canon camera. Yup, was there together with Terry and Spencer to snap some pic. Also to support some of our running freinds like YN, Andy, Serena Jane and Max. It was hot morning. Just some pic for sharing.

Dusty Run (Episode II) Video

2009-03-15T00:23:00.000+08:00

HDB Finance Year End Function

2009-03-12T23:09:00.000+08:00

It was my department's Year End Function. eld at Amara Hotel. First time attended this event since i only joined my organisation like 7 months ago. Not everyone staff in my department attended. The bid boss and the the rest of the VIP were there as well. The theme was 'ShangHai Night'. Obviously, i didnt wear accordingly to the theme. I just wore a smart casual jeans with a shirt. Simple and casual. But still kena pushed up to the stage for some stage games. As expected..

The Accountants

Dusty Run (Episode II) - 30km Route

2009-03-07T21:36:00.003+08:00

Start/End Point: ECP Carpark F2
Distance: 30km
Time: 9.00pm
Date: 10 April 09

Dusty Run 2009 - 30KM
Find more Runs in Singapore East, Singapore

Desert in Singapore?

2009-03-01T21:04:00.012+08:00

This looks like a desert in Singapore.

Actually not. But they are little particles that are responsible for our home.

They are what we are standing on now. They are surrounding us. They are the sand and granite.

I was there for work and managed to take some pic using my camera phone. Regretted for noe bringing my new canon camera alongc or else the quality will be much better.

Pictures

2009-03-01T20:29:00.008+08:00

Took a few pic using my camera

Location Sengkang

Time: 9am-10am

Still learning..

Looks like MediaCorp Raintree Production?

A Palm Tree under HDB Flat

Newton Active Run - A New PB

2009-03-01T19:09:00.017+08:00

It was the Newton Active Run which was held on 1 March at Sengkang area. It was a 10km race. I must say that it was a new running experiece as it was a route that i have never run before. The weather was cooling and there were quite a big crowd of runners. The guest of honour was Minister Teo Chee Hean and together with other MPs including Teo Ser Luck. I had the opportunity to have a group pic with them.

Spencer, Mr Teo Ser Luck, Keonz

Terry, Mr Teo Ser Luck, YN

Terry, YN, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Keonz

Terry, Spencer, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Keonz

The race kicked off at 7.30am and i only arrived like 7.05am at SengKang MRT together with Terry, Spencer and YN. So we have to walked at a faster pace to make our way to the start point at Farmway LRT which was like 1km away from SengKang MRT station. Terry and YN were there to support us. So nice of them to be there early in the morning snapping pics of us, holding on to support board with our names written on it. Cool ya? Really appreciate their effort in doing all these. Their presence really motivate me to dash and performed. Realising that we might ended up missing the start time, Spencer and i decided to run towards the start point while YN and Terry continued to walk. By the time i reached the start poin, it was so crowded. I tried to squeezed through the crowd and managed to position myself somewhere quite to the front, but not exactly at the start LINE. Beside me were Spencer, Bug and Teelee who were all very fast runners.

Soon, Ministers arrived and the run began. The first few km were relatively flat route with several turns and bends. It was quite a competitive run as there were many faster runners running ahead of me. I tried to maintain within the top 20, with several runners overtaking and me overtaking along the route. At the 1.5km mark, i saw YN holding the board that reads: Keonz, Spencer, Henry, Jia You !! I was running quite at a fast pace with Bug running quite close to me. He was fast enough to overtake me by the 3km mark.

Along the route, towards the 5km mark, there was were several slopes. After my u-turn, i also saw Henry, Spencer who were looking strong and steady. It was not an easy run as the pace that everyone was running is so fast and that i had to keep up to my pace competitively. My objective was not to be in the top or win anything but to do my best and hoping to keep within my personal best timing or hopfully break a new record, if possible. Towards, the end of the last 3km, we entered into a nice open garden with up and down slopes. It was great to see several MF SAFRA runners who were all very fast runners like Bug, Teck How, Trainer Ong, Wen Long, etc. YN and Terry has positioned themselves ready at the last few km, taking pics and motivating us.

The 3 runners whose names on the board are taking a pic together

I maintianed my pace and increased my pace in the last 1km and soon i reached the end point when the time read as 40:30. I was quite surprised with my timing as i thought i would come in like 43mins. But anyway, i was also happy with the timing as i have broke record for 10km and hence achieved a new personal best record. My previous PB was like 42min ++ but now it was re-written to be 40min ++. Again special thanks to my leg who didnt betrayed me. It seems that old injuries (ITB) has more or less recovered. Collected my goodies bag and walking and hanging around and also took some pic with my camera. Samantha specially came down at 8am plus to take pic of us with her newly bought camera as well. We were also rewarded with the Sng Bao made by Samantha and YN. It seems that Sng Bao has became quite a hot thingy now after every long run. Thanks Fierce Lee and YN for the Sng Bao. :) haha. Took many funny pics and group pics with my running group. It was a nice run. I enjoyself very much and i am sure the rest also feel the same.

After the run, washed up and a group if us (YN, Spencer, Terry, Benny, David, Henry, Samantha and myself) made our way down to Quality hotel to pampered ourselves with a vegetarian Buffet lunch. We were so hungry and it was glad to hear that the food is not bad. It was a lunch buffet that i recommended and arranged. Hope everyone is satisified with the food. Apart from the food, we were also entertainined with the teasing and laughter. I think we were very noisy in the restaurant, but who cares. :) We were so full after 1.5 hours of eating and soon we ended up with dessert and another group pics before we parted.

Keonz, Terry, YN, Andy

Spencer, Andy, Keonz, Terry, Jane (L-R)

A group pic after a heavy vegetarian buffet lunch @ Quality Hotel

1St row: Keonz, Spencer

2nd row: Terry, Samantha, David, YN, Henry

3rd row: Benny

Pre-Ops Run at ECP

2009-02-28T21:46:00.002+08:00

It was the Pre-Ops training session for the Team FatBird Ops NightHawk. I looked forward to this session since i really enjoysed myself very much at the series of night run training sessions last year in preparation for Sundown Marathon. Compared to last year, the usual runners that trained last year like myself, Anthony, David, Jancy, Vincent, Benny, Bose, Henry, Esther showed up for this year sessions again. It really bring back the memories of the night run las year.

The first night run this year also saw a few new runners and i must say that there were much much more participants this year. This is goes to the good mass publiclity and advertising by the Team Fatbird. Great Job!

There were several distances catered for different runners. 10km 17km, 21km and 24km. All started off at ECP - Big Splash Playground before 9pm after a short briefing on the route by Anthony and David. My usual running kaki were there as well and i am happy to see them there for a fun night run, making the entire ECP so lively. The night was still young with people having their BBQ over at the pit in different part of ECP. There were also several runners running on their own. The weather was great. It was not that humid and not that warm.

Soon, we kicked off! I was running at a moderate pace at the start, wanting to get my engine started and warm up before i increased my pace when i reached the ECP MacDonald. The rest of the runners were running at a moderate pace as well and some runners like David and Anthony were doing their Fat-burning pace. I wanted to do a fast pace night run since i have not been running at a LSD night fast pace. Soon, i reahced ECP park connector and continued to made my may to Coastal Road and made an u-turn shortly after. Along the way, Henry, Andy and Darren were also running at quite a fast pace towards the U-turn point. YN, Spencer and Terry were also running at a good pace. I must comment Terry for his great attidude to run despite his wound that was resulted from a fall few days back. Great Job, Terry.

Soon, i reached back to the start point. Those who did a shorter distance like the 10km runners were already back. I counted and there were about 6 of them. I did a total of about 23km. I was quite thirsty as i endured through the run, preventing myself from drinking water. Had a sip of water at 7-11 after my run and chatted with Jancy and Bose while waiting for the rest to gradually returned. By midnight, most of the runners, if not, all had retunred back strongly. 100 plus were already set up. Thanks for Suan and Beng for the bananas and not forgetting the specially home made Sng Bao from YN and Spencer. The Sng Bao were great and really appreciate their effort in making them for us. It was so great and popular that within 5 mins, all the Sng Bao were already finished. Those who came later missed the Sng Bao.

Had a nice chit-chatting and mingle around with the rest of the runners with teasing, joking around. Had my mid night shower at B1 carpark shower pit. You can imagine how cold were were when we had to shower in the open air. Then a group of us (YN, Spencer, Terry, Bose, Darren, Henry, Benny and myself) headed to Orchard Cineleisure for a movie. OF course, we pampered ourselves with supper before heading to the Theatre. It was a nice movie (at least that's what they said). I cant comment because i was half awake and half asleep after the show started for like 30 mins. I was quite tired after the earlier pushing and dashing at ECP.
Reached home at 5am and realised something happened to my 2XU compression top which i wore for 3 times only. Sad.

It was a great run and i looked forward to the next night run.

National Vertical Marathon.

2009-02-22T10:43:00.001+08:00

New Toy finally arrived

2009-02-22T10:37:00.005+08:00

I always wanted to get myself a digital camera. And i got myself one. This will be my new toy which i can capture every moments that will bring back the memories in future. SLR is too expensive for me. This will suit me better. :)

PowerShot SX10 IS

LSD - 21 Feb

2009-02-22T09:53:00.006+08:00

It was a different LSD training on 21 Feb 09 morning. I shared a cab down to Bishan Stadium with Terry and Samantha since 3 of us stayed in the East. I met up with Terry at about 6.15am and then continued to picked up Samantha at the bus stop near her place.

Soon, we reached Bishan Stadium at 6.35am after sharing our nightmare dream we had on the cab. Yup, terry and i had a nightmare the night before. Although different dreams but kind of a terrorist-related dream. 3 of us were the earliest among the rest. We were still tired and in the sleepy mood. We waited a while and soon the rest came. (Anthony, David, Suan, Beng, Min, Ang, Esther, Teelee, YN & Spencer). Were briefed on the route by David and we were told to do a 'fat-burning' LSD. Oh meaning we got to run at a much slower pace to burn off the fats. What i understand from Anthony and David was that our body burns fats more efficient and faster when we run slow and easy. Some of them were teasing me that there is no fats or me to burn.. Haha.. In reality, there are alot more to burn off from my body.

We started off at a very slow pace through the park connector and to the Bishan Parks. Along the way, we chit chatted. I find it kinda tough at a start. I was not used to running at this slow pace. But, i have to train to do so as i heard it is a good training. I endured thru a while and sooon our body had 'waken' up and warmed up and we continued throough Old Upper Thomson Rd (OURT) with a short stopover at the toilet ajt Lower Pierce Reservoir Carpark. The sun was already up and it was getting hotter. At this stopover and the OUTR, it reminds me of the Animiles route that we used to train back one year ago. I missed those days.

Anyway, soon we reached the end of OUTR and u-turned back to enter in theo the hills and then to Air-Con Rd. It was a nice hill training. Somehow, as our body was warmed up, our pace tend to get faster and faster. But we do had Dviad and Anthony to remind us to maintain a slow fat-burning pace, or else our bod would start burning our muscle. David, YN and myself were disussing about the Vegetarian Buffet that we intend to have in t near future. But that conversation irritated Terry as he was feeling hungry that time.. haha. All of us were still looking strong and steady although we knew that our legs were tired. And the sun was really hot.

We returned back with a faster pace. In fact, Terry, YN , Spencer and myself chiong towards the last 1km. Buy YN and myself did an additional 3km to complete the training with a distance of about 24km. We were all rewared with bananas, home made Sng Bao and 100-plus.

The home made Sng Bao was made by YN after we got the 'idea' from the Tampines Location Run last weekend. It wa really nice and cooling. I volunteered to make Sng Pao for the next LSD Training. I regretted for not bringing my swimming goggle with me. We did enter to the swimming complex, but not to swim but shower. I thought i could actually jump to the pool to swim a few laps, but my gadget was not with me.

We then made our way to have our lunch. Yup duck rice. It was Spencer's parents's duck rice stall which i was told that it is a famous one. True enough, there was long q when we arrived. I had my vegetraian porridege and a water melon + apple juice. The duck feast that the rest had were great, as i could tell that the dish was delicious. I was using my camera to snap a few pics.

Dusty Run (Episode II) Preview

2009-02-01T22:05:00.004+08:00

With the success inaugural Dusty Run in April 2008 last year, i decided to carry on with this run again this year. Hence, this marks the second year of this run. And i shall called it Dusty Run (Episode II). This is just a little preview to publicise this run. We had more than 60 runners who came for this run last year. Some covered 15km, 35km and less than 10 runners managed to complete the 60km (which was the main highlight of this run in preparation for the Adidas Sundown Ultra Marathon 2008).

I spent my Sunday evening night preparing for this video. It is just a 1 min short video which is not professionally done. The main introduction video will only come after i have done the recee of the route. So stay tuned for more publicity. Enjoy the video pls! And hope you guys can join in for the run on 10 April 2009. Spread the news around to your friends who are interested.

CNY Run

2009-02-01T13:46:00.005+08:00

I thought i should do something to give my blog a new look. Hence i spent the whole Sunday morning trying to revamp this blog. I tink the previous design of the blog is quite dark. Perhaps this brighter background will be better.

It was the 7th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Nothing much to update for now as it was pretty much the same every year. Thinking that i might ate a lot of unhealthy food during this period, i cointinue to train my run and swims over the new year. Yeah, glad thatthe pool was opened on the eve. But was closed on the first day of the new year. So i could not swim, and hence got to go to the reservoir to run in the evning after a day of house visit.

And of the first time, there was a Chinese New Year Run on Thurwday organised by Team FatBird. We started our run at 6.30pm with most of us carring one orange with us to run along Singapore River, Esplanade, Raffles Place. Most of us cam in red top to symbolise the colour of the CNY which is believe to bring good luck and prosperity. It was a nice run where we ran as a big goup of over 50 runners, attracting quite an atention from the people along the route. We sang and 'Huat' along the way. It was fun, fun and fun. After the run, we had some CNY snacks at the finishing point, photo taking and a very interesting short video clip on CNY greeting by team fatbird and frenz. And next was the usual makan session where we had LAO YU SHENG and dinner.

A last min short detour to Maina Barrage for a short 1 hour tour with Samantha, Freddie, Terence and Bryon. It was my second time to the Barrage. First time was during the Bay Run. That was only like 3 mins running past the Barrage. Thsi time round, i could really relax and enjoy the view and wind at the top of the Barrage. Really nice place to emo - according to Terence. Haha. But indeed it was a good place to be alone if you are upset.

GE30 2009

2009-01-24T17:00:00.016+08:00

It was the Great Eastern 30Km or in short we called it GE30 race. This was my second time participating for this race. The first time was in Jan 2008. And without realising, it was already one year. The race was held in KL, Malaysia. After the KL International Marathon in March 2008, i returned back to KL again on 17 Jan 2009. This was my thrid oversea running race. I looked forward to this race as i enjoyed myself in the previous GE30. The special part about this race is that the terrain is not relatively flat. In fact, there were many hills and slopes right from the start to the end. Everyone were rolling up and down the hills. But it was an easier race as compared to the GE30 2008 as there was a change in the route. There were more slopes (up and down), but not as steep as last year. Apart from the route, the weather was also an advantage. The race started off at about 6.15pm but the weather was cooling. I remember i saw the thermometer reading 21 degree celcius.

Similar to last year, a group of us (SGrunners/Team Fatbird) - YN, Darren, Spencer, Terence, Benny, Acid, Serena, Charmane and myself arranged to participate in the race together. It was a totally different group of runners as compared to the last GE30 in 2008. However, still an equally FUN group of people :) We travelled by Transtar coach and we reached there at about 2.15pm in the afternnon. At that time, it was very hot and sunny. But somehow, it was not that humid. We checked in to the hotel shortly, had a shower and went to the nearby shopping mall to shop for a while and sat down to have some light meal.

We continued walking around and soon it was time for dinner. I went to the food court and 'tao bao' my vegetarian meal. Glad that there is a vegetarian stall, or else i will have to eat fruits and bread already. We linked up with Anthony, David and Mount Faber SAFRA runners and we had our dinner at the famous resturant where we had 'ZI CHAR'. This was the traditional place where we usually had our dinner whenever we visit KL. Of course, i had my vegetarian food nad i must confess that i took 2 plates of green chilli as my side dish. haha..

Ok then we headed to shop for our breakfast at the supermart next to our hotel. I bought a small bottle of Yogurt, Almond Nuts, a small packet of Milo. and a big bottle of mineral water (which i ended up didnt drink and it is now still unopen, kept in my fridge). The normal bottle of mineral water which the hotel provided was sufficient. The next morning, we gathered as early as 4.45am at the lobby. Everyone looked cool and ready for the race. Justin who only arrived late via plane last night joined us. We took some group photos and soon the mini bus arrived and we proceeded to the syart point which was a few km away from the hotel.

By the time we reached the start point, there were already quite many runners there already. Some were queeing up for the toilet cubicle, some warming up, some just standing and waiting toe the race to kick off. The race was supposed to start at 6.00am ,but it was extended to 6.15am. I met up with Bug and arranged to run together. We waited for about 20mins and the race finally began with a horn. Bug ran off fast and ended up i was running alone throughout the entire race. He is a elite, fast runner. I dont think i can ctahc up to his pace. I dare not 'chiong' too much as i was not sure if my ITB injuries would hit me. As i mentioned earlier, the weather was cooling and one after, i overtook several runners. My leg was feeling alright, so i increased my pace a bit more.

After the u-turn, i managed to spot several of my running friends such as YN, Benny, Terence, Acid, Serena, Spencer, etc. They were all looking strong and steady. I was already quite tired and for the last 15km, i was trying to overtake another runner who looked relatively strong. We overtook each other at certain point. Between the 24-29.5km, he was leading a head of me. but soon when i reached the last 500m, i suddenly charged up and overtook him and managed to completed the race within 2 hrs 21 mins. I was surprised that i didnt stop to have a sip of water for the entire 30km. I was not thirsty and didnt want to drop my momentumn in the run. So i pushed on all the way.

It was a nice race. My leg didnt really betray me as much as i expected. :). My stamina was still doing good. And now i feel that the daily 26 laps of fresstle swimming really helps to improve and keep up my stamina and endurace. Yes, 2 weeks before the race, i swam everyday for 26-30 laps of freestyle. It works and i am going to continue this as long as i can. Ok anyway, everyone did pretty well for the race. In fact, there were several Singapore runners who managed to get into the top 5. Congratulation to them. You made Singapore proud. Keep it up. I must comment YN who participated this race for the first time and she came in in 6th position for the Womens Open 30km. Well done, YN.

The finisher medal was a rectangular one which i feel it is nicer and quite unique. The Finisher Tee was a surprise as i remebered there was no finisher tee last year. The design was simple but nice. . We retuned back to hotel, shower, short 20mins nap, group photos, lunch, last min shopping and we left KL at 3.30pm and returned to SG in 7.45pm on Sunday.

GE30 concluded my first running race for 2008. It was a good start for the running year. I enjoyed very much with my group of runners. Thanks all. We shall do it again soon ya. Up next will be the Natinal Vertical Marathon in 2 weeks time. Most of my friends were asking if i am going to do Sundown Marathon this year. I couldnt give a concret answer back then. But now i can say that YES. I will be going for Sundown Marathon. Howver, not 84km as i have already experienced that last year and i dont think my current leg condition will allow me to go that far. So i decided to do only 52km. Yup i am challenging myself to do 2 categories in one night since both cat do not clash. 10.5km Inter-Corporate (Team) at 8.30pm and 42km full marathon (Individual) at 12.00am. The focus will be 10.5km race since my team is the defending champiom team last year. Some said i am crazy but i want to challenge my physical and mental endurance and to replace the Standard Charetered Marathon which i missed last year.

Next Oversea race? KL International Marathon? Phuket Marathon? Both in June. Still decididng. .

Ok shall stop here.

Wishing my family and friends a Happy Luanr New Year. GONG XI FA CAI.

The return of daily laps swimming

2009-01-11T18:27:00.003+08:00

I am glad to see so many running events coming in the first half quarter of the year. At one shot, i signed up for 3 events. I must run at least 2 competitive race per month to satisfy my passion for sports.

8 Feb : National Vertical Marathon
1 Mar : Newton Active Run
15 Mar : SubUrban Run

It is going to be Run Run Year.

Lately, i have not been running much. Only running around the stadium track on a Thursday and on Sunday. Dare not run on hard ground. Afraid my ITB will hit me. And considering that GE30 race is just a week away, i better not injured my leg. But still i have to run to maintain the fitness and stamina right? Hence, i chose to run on the track instead of the usual Bedok Reservoir/ECP. Due to the decrease in running training frequency, i have to think of other ways to keep up my fitness. Hence, i decided to swim daily after work. Swimming is really cool. A good sport to build up and trim/burn away the excess fats. I insist in swimming at least 30 laps of freestyle. Breast Stroke might worsen my ITB injuries due to the bending of knee. Of course, i tried not to rely too much on my lower body to swim freestyle.

Instead, i only use my upper body to move and glide through the water. Of course, in this way, i have to use more of my upper body strength. After a consecutive days of swimming training, i find that i can swim more laps and faster now. Myabe one day i should Biathlon. But before that, i have remove the fear. The FEAR of swimming in the open sea.

Anyway, it has been a very progressive week for me. I feel it is really time to gear up my fitness level to prepare for the challenges ahead.

7 more days to GE30 Race.

2008 Round Up

2009-01-01T19:24:00.010+08:00

It was my last race in 2008. It was the MR25 Ultra Marathon. This race would probably round up my running race in 2008. This was my second time doing this race. My first time was in 2007. It was a tougher race as compared to the 2007. My ITB was not fuly recovered from the Sundown Marathon. The weather was extremely hot and humid. I decided to stop my race at the 5th round. For those who are not sure about MR25 Ultra Marathon, let me give a brief intro on this race. Basically, participants are given 12 hours to complete as many rounds as possible. One round is about 10.5km comprising mainly of macritchie trails. To qualify for a finisher tee and certificate, one must complete at least 5 rounds. In 2007, i did a total of 8 rounds. This year, i did only 8. My endurance level and leg strength has gone down after sundown marathon in May. I dont know why. Perhaps there is no disciplined traning as compared to the past. It could be due to busy work schedule, injuries, other sports commitment, etc. Nevertherless, i hope i can regain my endurance and strength in 2009.

Looking back in past 12 months, i have participated more races (running and non-running) in 2008 than in 2007. However, my performance was not that fantastic. To round up, i did my first ever night ultra marathion in May (Adidas Sundown Marathon). Did my first dragon boat race in August. Also did tried several other races for the first time such as Salomon Trail Run, Run for Hope, Nike Human Race. I counted tht i have done a total of 21 races (16 x running races + 01 x Vertical Marathon + 04 x Dragon Boat Races)

I must say that it was a busy year for me and a year where i moved on to the next phase of my life. Graduated from NTU in June and ORD from SAF in July and started off career as an Accountant in HDB. Started off my driving lesson in late 2008 and did more charity and more community involvement. Diversified into new sport - Dragon Boating and resume my routine swimming regime. It was a fruitful year and i considered myself lucky for the smooth transition and progress so far.

Looking into 2009, i hope my leg power will improve and my endurance can resume back like those days. Also hope to participate in more races in 2009. It was predicted that 2009 is not going to be a good year in terms of natural disaster and epidemic disease. I am mentally prepared. Let's all treasure our life now and live happily everyday while we still can. We never know what is going to happen the next day.

Just a week ago, i had a christmas gathering at my sis house. It was the first time we had a christmas celebration. It was nice to see everyone gather together again. Really appreciate my sis's effort in organsing this celebration.

For new year eve, I usually will head down to Marina to view the fireworks. I did that for the past 2 years. On this last day of 2008, i spent my time with a group of people with the same enthusiam and passion. Yes, my running kakis. A total of 14 of us had our dinner at Hong Kong Cafe where i had my dessert. It was crowded. Next was the movie - Australia. Before the show started, i told myself that it must be some romance boring show. But i totally changed my impression after the show. I must say that it was actually a nice, touching story to a certain extend. I will recommend you to watch if you haven done so. The show was like 2 hrs 45 mins which it ended 1 min before 12am. Just nice for countdown. Then, we proceed to a pub for chill out and chat. Played game and it was fun. I enjoyed myself very much. Thanks to YN, Benny, Terry, Darren, Bose, Wei Sian, Henry, Samantha, Charmane, Freddie, Shawn, Kai Jiun and Matthew for the great moments. You guys rocks. :)

I did my first run of 2009 alone. Yup, did my usual run at Bedok Reservoir. It was a short 7km recovery run. Felt the ITB slight pain on my right leg after toeard the end of the run. :(

Looks like it was not a good start for the running year. Anyway, up next will be the GE30km race at KL which is 2 weeks from now.

Looking into 2009, if everythings goes well, i will be quite busy from March onwards all the way to year end Dec (a total of 9 months course). It was a decision i made back in August. Since then, i have passed several stages. It is going to be a challenging but yet a meaningful years ahead for me. Wish me luck and i shall never disclose what all these is all about until the time is ripe. I am one step closer to my dream and passion. A Career switch? Not exactly !

I take this opportuity to wish my family, friends and readers of my blog a Happy New Year and Great 2009 ! May it be a better tomorrow.

Cheers

Vertical Marathon

2008-11-21T21:47:00.003+08:00

Had my second vertical marathon last Sunday at Swissotel, The Stamford. I did my first vertical marathon in 2006. That time was at the Republic Plaza (60+ storey). This time round it was 73 storey at Swissotel (the tallest hotel in SouthEast Asia). I do not intend to push myself too hard for this as i just want to climbed up the stairs within a reasonable time. Moreover i did a 28km long run the day before. My leg was quite a little bit sore, but still good for the climb.

My category was Men (age 20-29). My category race kicked off at 10am but i reported as early as 7.30am. Met up with Darren, Bose, Renoh at National Library and walked our way to Raffles City. The weather was nice and there were already crowd outside Swissotel. Saw the rest of the runners as time passed by. Nice to see Kelly with her camera, taking photos for us. She was there as early as us and was there to support us.

Climbing up this building was tougher than the previous buidling that i climbed. There were more turns this time round. Ventilation was still ok. However, i do feel that the staircase spaces are quite small. Nevertheless, i reached the top in 11 mins plus. The view was great and i guess it was my first time standing at the top of such high building. It was alittle hazy and yet hot and humid. I took my camera phone and took some pictures to capture the view. It was a nice race and i really enjoyed myself throughout with the gang of runners.

This was the third race in a row in November. Up next will be the PSIG Dragon Boat Race.
I hardly have the time to train for this Dragon Boat race as i have been my time on marathon training. Although i was given time off in weekdays to train in the afternoon, i was too busy with work to go for training. I finally attened one last training before the race. It was a tiring training but i did enjoyed myself very much.

I was at the ISBG (Inter-Stat Board Games) closing ceremony held at Meritus Mandarin Hotel ballroom. I feel proud to be there as my running team was the first runner-up for the cross country race. Only sports that came in top 3 are invited to attend this closing ceremony. There were many other sportman and sportwomen from other stat board at the ceremony. Some were like PUB, CPF, IRAS, LTA, DSTA, etc. My company was the largest contingent which cover more than 1/3 of the ballroom. We have more than enough reason to be proud to celebrate as HDB is the overall Champion of this year ISBG Game. I had a good time enjoying the performance, food and interaction with my team.

Up cominig races -
PSIG Dragon Boat Race - Nov 2008
MR25 Ultra Marathon 2008 - Dec 2008

SGRunners Banana Relay - Jan 2009
Great Easten 30km Race (KL) Jan 2009

KCC 8km Challenge

2008-11-09T10:19:00.003+08:00

I registered for this 8km challenge run organised by the grasroot community centre at my neighbourhood. I came to know about this event through a banner. So i thought why not participate and have fun on a Sunday morning.

There were about 100 over runners partcipated in this event. It was just a community running event with no prizes for the winners. My objective was to complete the 8km as fast as i can. There was aparticular runner who looks quite competitive. First look i know he is competitive runner. True enough, he was leading all the way. I happened to overheard from his conversation with some of the participants that his 10km timing was like 37 mins and 21 km was like 1 hr 27 min. Wow.. that's fast.

Ok the run was a 8km route starting from Chai Chee Community centre and goes via Bedok South Ave 1, Bedok South Rd, Upper East Coast Rd, Bedok Park Connector and cross the underpass bridge to reach Eact Park (carpark F2). There was a last min change of the ending point which was not announced prior to the start of the race. I was lucky enough to overheard that the ending point was at carpark F2 instead of the hawker centre. I was wondering how come the organiser didnt announce the change.

The route was relatively flat but there had to stop at several road junction when the traffic lights turn red (obviously there is no road closure since this is a small event - ok understand). There were marshallers and water point along the way. I was running as the 3rd runner for the first 3km until 2 runners overtook me. From there, i had been in the 5th postion until i reached the 8km mark. I ovetook one of the runners and was in the 4th position. With 2km more to go, i tried to maintain the pace. The 3rd runner infront of me was like 300m ahead. As for the 1st and 2nd runner, i couldnt see them already. I guess the first 2 were damn fast. When i was about to reach carpark F2, i guessed it was about to end. But i the 3rd runner who was ahead of me continued running. There were a few volunteers at the end point and re-confirm with them whether carpark F2 was the end point and i was given a confirmation. So i stoppped and the 5th runner arrived very shortly after seeing me stopped. So i presume the first 3 runners have missed the end point and went further down.

So it seemed that i came in 1st position for the mistake made by the first 3 runners?
Haha.. Anyway, the 3rd runner who was supposed to ahead of me amde an u-turn came back to the end point. As the first 2 runners, they actually came in half hopur later as they had actually went to the wrong route along the way. In fact, they didnt overshot the end point. They ran to the wrong route along the park connector. The first (supposed to be) runner came back and the first thing he asked was: 'where is the organiser'? He was complaining and can see that he was wuite angry with his body langauge. He was complaining for no mrshallers. But then if the rest can complete the run correctly, why cant he?

Anyway, i dun understand why is he so angry. It was just a fun run anyway. If it is a competitive race with prizes then it will be justifiable for him to complain. And i persoanlly feel that as a runner, we must be aware and farmialr with the route and take responsibility of our action and we cannot blame others for no depolyment of marshallers. From the start, i lready realised that he was not farmilar with the route as he almost ran the wrong direction for areas where there were marshallers. Obviously, he didnt study the route prior to the run. I just feel that he shoudnt blame the organsiser. If majority ran the wrong direction, then there must be something wrong. But there were ony 2 who ran wrongly, so i feel the organisser is not at fault. And i hope as a competitive runner, he should show the spirit of a sportmanship !

Ok, then came the lucky draw.. Ok no luck for me again. Took the shuttle bus back to start point and that ends my morning run. Looking forward to the next community run in March 2009.

Up next week - Vertical Marathon

Salomon X Trail Run

2008-11-02T16:53:00.014+08:00

It was the Salomon X Trail Run. This is the first time the race was held. The race area is at Tampines Mountain Biking Trail. I woke up pretty early in the morning at 5.30am after have a less than 5 hours of sleep from the previous night wedding dinner.

The weather seems very uncertain in the early morning before the sunrise. The skys were reddish, i guess it was going to rain. Arranged to meet up with my colleague, Simon at Bedok and then headed down to the start point.

For the very first time, i entered into the Tampines Mountain Biking Trail for the first time. It was quite a nice place, i mean the view is nice. From the start point, i could see the hill right at the top. There were already some marshallers deployed at the hill. Dropped by at SGRunners booth and met TLR, FD and Ripley. Didnt really see any other farmilar SGRunners at this race.

Pics below (courtesy of TLR, FD and Ripley @ SGRunners.com)

The race kicked off at 7.30am sharp after a mass warm up. I positioned myself at the start line to prevent the myself running through the crowd of over 1000 runners (competitive men open category).

As the race flagged off, i ran and there were already 20 over runners ahead of me. Entered into the 'forested'trail where i first encountered the mud pool. Initially, i tried to avoid those mud as i dont know my shoe to get dirty. But, after passing through a few muddy area, i guessed i just have to droppped the idea of avoiding the mud as it was simply impossible to do. So for subsequent muddy area, i just ran over it.

Along the way, there were very steep hump, rocky slopes, and not forgetting the hill and the challenging narrow up and down slopes that were so running like the letter 'S'. Oh yes, it was a series of 'S' in a row. As i ran, i wa wondering when was it going to end. I tried to keep up with the pace as there were 2 runners behind me. I could not slow down as the route was so narrow that it was imopossible for them to overtake me.

Along the way, I overtook several runners along the up slopes. I realised that it was easier for me to overtake in a up slopes. I tend to run fast up the slopes. This was an advantage for me. But i slowed down when i ran downslopes. I dont want to get injured and twsit my ankle so i slowed down.

For the last 3km, it was a nice run at the open area with long strech of up slope and down slope. The ground for the last 3 km was more stable with sands. No rocks and gravel. But it was hot and the sun has already risen. Luckily, I had my sunshade with me. :)

Finished the 10km mountain trail in one piece with a reasonable good timing. Again, i was not fast enough to squeeze into the top 10 for a medal. I think i was in the 15th or 16th position. But i must say that really enjoyed the run. Some of the ground are farmilar for me as i used to run in those kind of gravel, rocky, slopes when i was in army. For those who had been to St Martin Lane and 18DA, etc @ Seletar Camp, you will know when i mean. It was more challenging than Mac Reservoir. Before i ran for this race, i thought i will be running in an open air with no trees, with slopes and hump. But it was actually more than that. I didnt know running in the 'forested' trail is also part of this race. Like what TLR have said, it was like running oversea as i was a complete different experience.

At the end point, managed to see some of my HDB runners at the race (Authur, Alex, Linda, Eileen, Mong Chew, Poh Leong, etc). Nice meeting Alex (our newly joined HDB runner). Congratulation to 2 of our HDB runners who came in top 10 for the Men Veteran category.

I stayed and witnessed the prize presenation ceremony and also the lucky draw. Ok, as usual no luck for the lucky draw. Many runners didnt stayed for the luckuy draw so i thought maybe those who stayed would have a higher chance. But for those whose number was called and not around, the prize was 'roll over'. I thought they will re-draw, but they didnt and just proceed to the next prize.

Had a group photo taking with SGRunners too. The weather was still good and sunny. Took a bus and headed to the pool and enjoyed the sun. But then the sky turned cloudy on and off. Did a few laps. Wanted to do more but was quite tired after the race. Strange, the weather was hot but i feel cold. Went home and had an afternoon nap. Anyway, i hope this Salomon race will still be held next year.

Going to be very busy next week with work with deadlines. I guess i have no time for training on weekdays. Gotta work to late night. :( Although i was given time-off to train at Kallang for dragon boat on wed afternoon, but i doubt i can attend. INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORTING period time.. Cashflow startement, variance analysis., etc.

So what's next? Will be having a race again coming Sunday. Is a 8km challenge starting from Chai Chee Community Centre and end at East Coast Park. Thinking that i might not be able to run for this year Standard Chartered Marathon, i thought i should particpate more races this month to clock my yearly race.

Inter-Statutory Board Games - Cross Country

2008-10-20T11:16:00.005+08:00

It was the 20th Inter-Statutory Board Games - Cross Country. It was held on Friday 171008 at Temasek Polytechnic/Bedok Reservoir Park. This event is only held once every 2 years. I got a time off to participate in this event, representing HDB. Hence, i left office at 3pm and head down to Temasek Polytechnic. Thanks to Dennis who drove a few of us to the venue.

Together, my company sent a total of 4 teams to compete for this race.
Men Open
Wowen Open
Men Veteran
Women Veteran

Of course i am in the Men Open category. Each team has 5 runners and timing will be taken for the best 4 runners for each team. It was quite a competitve race. Strong competitors are those from IRAS and DSTA, especially IRAS who has many young runners. I am the youngest runners in HDB running team, also a new blood. I expect myself to perform my best and hope to achieve something for my company.

The race is 5.8km. There were about 100 over runners competing for the Men open category. Only the top 8 runners will be awarded with individual medal. I started off the race pretty good with a less than 4min pace per km. I wore my sunshade to run, although it was not that sunny. It was very cooling. I was in the top 4 position for the first 2km. Afterwhich a few runners overtook me. In the last 1km, i was till in the top 8 position. But eventually, i can only finish in the 10th position. No medal for me as a men opens individual prize. I came in first for HDB runners, followed by Chin, David, Dennis, Chee Boon and Arthur. As a team, we did well as were were very close.

Gradually, the rest of the runners (ladies open/veteran, men veteran) came back strong. Everyone looked shag and breadthing very hard, but i know they have ran their best. I believe there will be something for us later in the prize presentation ceremony.

Went shower and then came the prize presentation ceremony. One of our ladies secured in the top 8 position for Women Open and not surprisingly, 2 of our men veteran also secured the top 8 too. I am happy i got a medal too. Yes, my team (men open) came in 3rd position for the team category. Yeah, one more medal added to my medal list. 2nd goes to DSTA and champion goes to IRAS. Thinking back, i have achieved 8 medals (finisher + position) this year in 2008. I hope to achieve another 4 more by end of this year.

For the rest of the teams (Women Open, Women Veteran and Men Veteran), were also in the top 3 position for the respective team category. So, basically, every runners in Club HDB came in empty handed but returned home with a medal. Of course, each team also recieved a trophy.
Overall, HDB has came in as 1st Runner up for this entrie ISBG Running race. It was a better position as compared to the previous ISBG race (which was 2nd Runner-up). Oh, we have improved. And i overheard that Mens OPen long time never get a medal. But we got it this year.
I am proud of my team. We came in full force, all with the same set of running attire. We look strong indeed. Will upload some pics soon.

Time to take a few days of rest and get ready for the next few races in Nov. It is gonna be a busy Nov with one race per week.

2 Nov - Salomon X Trail Run (10km)
9 Nov - 8km Challenge (Community Grassroot event)
16 Nov - Vertical Marathon (72 Storey)
22/23 Nov - ISBG - Dragon Boat Race (300m)
7 Dec - Standard Chartered Singapore Marathn (42km)

Top View from Toa Payoh

2008-10-14T21:26:00.008+08:00

It was a visit to the Corporte Floors at HDB Hub. Basically, meeting the Management team (CEO, Directors, etc). It was a rare opportunity to be able to come to this level which is one of the highest levels in the Hub. It was 30 over level. The view from the top was nice. But it was abit hazy. I could see the Singapore Flyer, Macritchie Reservoir, etc. Could see almost half of Singapore. Just to share what i have captured.

Back to update

2008-10-11T18:31:00.004+08:00

It has been quite a busy month for me. Both at work and at physical training.

For work wise, i have been attending courses scheduled for me. Some are external courses while some are conducted internally. In fact, i just came back from a 2 day outward bound course at Pulau Ubin. It was a course where my company send new recruits to attend to appreciate and understand corporate vision and values through all kinds of fun activities. I must say that it was very fun and interesting. I have never attended any OBS camp. This was my first time. The facilities at OBS Pulau Ubin really impressed me. Unfortunately, most of the activities are not that adventurous. It was merely team building activites and problem solving acitivities. But it was fun. The group was about 18 HDB staff including myself. All came form different departments and i dont know them at all on the first day.

Just registered to 2 more events for November.
Salomon X Trail Run (10km)
Vertical Marathon (72 Storey at Swissotel)

For October:

SDBA 5-Men Crew Dragon Boat Race
It was my second dragon boat race. it was held at Kallang Basin. It was quite a last minute race that we registered for. The boat was so much smnaller and there were only 5 men on board to race. It was fun and good exposure for me. We didnt perform well but again good experience.

Run For Hope
I have just completed a 10km Run for Hope last week.
It was held at ECP and it was my fisrt time running for this event. It was a charity run.
Nice and quite well organised run. No prize no placing. Just a simple charity run. I love to run for a cause. yes, doing something that i like and at the same time doing some charity. It is doing a good deed to help the less fortunate people. I counted and i believe i came in at least top 5 for this race. Good thing that my injuries didnt hit me. Perhaps i have fully recovered? Hope so.

Inter-Statutory Board Games - Cross Country
This will be held coming Friday. Distance is 5km. There is a chance to get medal for this race. But i have to be in full form to get into the top 8 position for Mens Open category. I dont know if i can but i hope i can. Wish me Luck. Running 5km is so much tougher than running a 10km. I got to run very fasdt and sprint round the reservoir. Competitors may include people from other Stat Boards. I will try my best.

I have progressed one step closer to my dream. I hope i can pass through this step and proceed to the next stage. I shall not mentioned my dream and it was meant to be a secret. Keep you guys in suspense.

SAVA Sprints International IV Race

2008-09-20T14:23:00.015+08:00

It was the SAVA Spints Internatioanl VI Race. No no, it was not a running race or any track events. But it is a Dragon Boat race. I just joined the team for less than a month. I was glad that i could represent my organisation to participate in the race. I must admit that i am not a good rower as i am still in the learning stage. So i take the race as an exposure and hope to gain a valuable experience. So this was actually my second dragon boat race. The first race being the Inter-Department Dragon Boat race which was held last month.

As the race was on the 14 Sep 08, i have to forgo the running race which was held on the same day in the morning. Hence, i didnt run for the KPE Tunnel run. Just want to try something that i never experience before. Running for races has become part of my life. But dragon boat race is something still new to me.

I reached at about 10.15am and was late. Quickly i put down my stuff and joined in for the briefing. The first event that my team will be participating kicked off at about 11am. Received my entry pass, did my warm up and getting ready for the first event which was Inter-Corporate Heats. It was a 200m sprint of 10 men crew. As i was new, so i was arranged to sit at the back of the boat. My team came in 3rd with a timing of 1:06:05 and sucessfully qualified into Semi-Finals.

The Semi-Finals was held about 2 hours later, and this time round we row through a better timing of 1:00:72 but we were not fast enough to qualify to the finals. Only the top 3 in the semi final can proceed to the Finals. We were ranked 5th with less than 1 seconds slower than the 4th placing team. Anyway, we did our best and the rest of the team were quite strong. Glad that we did much better in the Semi-Finals.

The next event was held at about 4pm which was thr highlight of the race. A freestyle category. We came in 1st runner up for this 200m sprint of 20 men crew. Yup, one more medal added to my medal race collection. Why freestyle? Becuase we can row any style we want after 50m from the start. So we adopted the 'off-butt' strategy as our freestyle. Gotta raise my butt from the seat as we row through the last 150m. 2 of my team members also actually sat on the edge of the boat. I tried sitting on the edge of the boat and it was pretty cool and fun. But one might just lost balance and dropped into the sea. So only those who were confident enough did that. It was a close fight with the champion team. I believe we were like 2 seconds behind them. But it was a good experience and it was the first time my team tried this freestyle thingy. We only had one training session for this. I think everyone did well and i look forward to the next race in November.

Some pic to share with you guys:

Post-Human Race

2008-09-06T16:02:00.004+08:00

The first pic below was what i received as a token of participation for the completion of the Human Race held last Sunday. It was a nice run, and the weather was not that hot. In fact, it started to drizzile a little during the race. of course, that didnt dampen the spirit of the runners. It keep us cool and hydrated us. There were about 10,000 runners. The race kicked off at 4.15pm as i was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be in the front pack as i was holding the red tag (for those who can complete 10km under 50 mins). Blue and green tag are more different timing. I tried my best and run and came in around 44 mins. This is 1 min slower than my personal best. Haiz, i find it quite hard to break my personal best nowadays. I dont know why my standards has dropped over the months. Perhaps i didnt run as much as last time le. Or perhaps i diverge my sports to other areas. Disappointed. Anyway, i came in 94 position out of 10,000 runners. I was in the top 100 list. In fact, those in the top 200 are awarded with prize of a gym pack. I knew i was in the top 100 as i could roughly estimate less than 100 runners ahead of me during the entire 40 over mins of intense running race. It started off at Esplanade bridge, down to outermost of Marina South area, Raffles Place, Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and ended at Padang. I didnt stay back to recive my prize, so could only collect it on few days later.

And this is my latest toy, or rather gadget. Haha. I wanted a sport sunglass long ago but could not really afford it. Now i got it with my hard earned money. Really need this during my training outdoor under the sun, especially long hours doing water sports. It is a LIVESTRONG limited edition. By the way, it is Oakley.

Human Race

2008-08-31T10:05:00.004+08:00

Nike Human Race

On 31st August 2008 you'll be making history.

You'll take on the world in a 10km run like no other.

A 10km where every step counts

A 10k where a million runners will celebrate human potential

And you'll be proud to say you ran the day the whole ran.

This is a race which starts 4.15pm (Singapore time). Why such an odd time right? A time when runners from other parts of the world kick off the race at a same time. A Human Race - a run towards charity.

You vs 999,999 - race the world.

31.08.2008 - Where will you be?

Join me for this record making moment.

An Intensive Sporty Week

2008-08-30T19:04:00.004+08:00

It was a busy week. I reported to work with an uncomfortable feeling on my leg. It was the afermath of the AHM which caused my ITB injuries to hit me again. I didnt break my personal best timung this time round. I didnt perform as good as last year. My injuries produced this outcome. But still glad that i finihsed the race below a reasonable good timing considering my injuries. At least it was still faster than my first attempt of AHM back in 2004. Anyway, very happy to see my campmates at the race @ the padang. It has been about a month since i left them for ORD. Everyone still look the same.

After the race, went to collect my race pack for the next race on 310808. Yes, the Nike Human Race. The race pack collection was at Clarke Quay. And it took me 4 hours for my turn to collect my stuff. It was very crowded. I guess most of the runners just went straight to collect after the AHM. The collection was only Sunday and Monday. I guess most of us could not come on Monday and so we got to choose to collect on a Sunday. It was raining very heavily in the afternoon. In fact, it has been raining almost everyday for the past 2 weeks. So much so that the ground at Padang had becam so muddy. My shoe already tainted with mud even before the AHM race started. My poor Asic Kayao 14 shoe - which i only bought it for a month.

Anyway, the past one week was packed with trainings in the evening as planned.

Monday - 20 laps freestyle swim
Tuesday - 7km (recovery run)
Wednesday - Did a 20 laps freestyle swim + 3km short run
Thursday - Short gym sesssion + 7km fast pace run + 20 Laps swim (all within 3.5 hours)
Friday - Stais climbing from (level 3 - 12) x 2 sets
Saturday - Dragon Boat training + 20 laps freestyle swim (interval training)
Sunday - 20 laps morning freestyle Swim + Nike Human Race 10km (afternoon)

But i believe i can still improve on it. Could have been more intensive. Perhaps i should add in cycling and include more on gym and more swimming laps and more mileage or run. Dont get the wrong idea, I am not preparing for any iron man race. I just wanna improve on my fitness and getting myself prepared for the challenge ahead. Somehow, with all these training effort i put in, i also start to think that these effort should not go to wase. Hence, i got to e more cautious with my diet and the things i eat. Have focused more on minimum oil diet with more focus on vegetable, bread and potatoe. Even my hash brown and french fries was cooked in a 'bake' manner rather than deep fried one. I cut down my meal intake from the foodcourts.Firstly, i find them quite oily Secondly, it is rather expensive.

It was my second dragon boat session today. There are more rowers todayas compared to last week. And the weather is great. It was quite happening at Kallang today as there was a wake boarding event going on. Hence, the watr become very 'wavy' and uneven. Did a few sets of 2mins row and 3 mins row and a long >5 mins row. Compared to last week, it was not so tiring this week. Perhaps, i gradually got the technique right and uses less arm power to sustain the row. Coach commented that i was rowing fine but just need to be slightly faster. Also had our first try on a fresstyle row. I didnt know dragon boat also got freestyle. It was not easy as got to stand/kneel on the seat to row. It s harder and balancing on the boat is the challenge. Nevertheless, it was a good attempt. Preparing for a dragon boat race in 2 weeks time. Yes, freestyle race ! Looking forward to the next training next week. Hope it will improve my stroke week by week.

Over at work, my department had this Active Day.
Climb from 3-6 level of stairs (free $0.50 drink cuopon)
Continue from 6-9 level (another free $0.50 drink cuopon)
Continue from 9-12 (goodie bag)

I climbed from level 3-12. I was the first one to reach the top. Not because i am very fast but becuase i am among the first few to report for work. I almost forgot about this event until my colleague asked me along. I did my second round of clmb to accompany my other colleagues. Hoping to give them motivation and encouragement. Of course, my second attempt does not include those coupons and goodie bag. It was a nice simple activity that get everyone to do some exercise, especially for those who hardly do. Hope to see more of these in the near future. And that hit me to the next question - should i signed for Swissotel Vertical Marathon? I am still considering. . . .

AHM 2008 -->

Races coming up lo

2008-08-23T19:55:00.004+08:00

It is going to be a busy months full of training all the way to year end. As expected, the second half of the year are full of races. Of course, i cant possibility participate in all races but will try my best to run as many as i can. Here are some of the upcoming races which i will be running:

24 Aug: Singapore By Run/AHM (21km)
31 Aug: Nike Human Race (10km)
14 Sep: SWING KPE Run (10km)
5 Oct: Run for Hope (10km)
18 Oct: Inter-Statutory Board Run (10km)
19 Oct: New Balance Real Run (15km)
1 Nov: Singapore-Johor 2nd Link Bridge Run (10km)
7 Dec: Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (42km)
28 Dec: MR25 Ultra marathon (target: >80km)
17 Jan 09: SGRunners Banana Relay (2 X 3.5km)

In Prepartion for all these races, i have begin my training routine which incorporates swimming. And i come to realised that swimming really helps into improve my stamina, endurance, and at the same time resistance training which aid in muscle recovery.

I have also start to attend the very first dragon boat training for my Club HDB team. The training waS kinda siong. More tired than running training. At times i have problem catching up to the pace of rowing. I hope my technique of rowing and strength will improve with more trainings in the coming week.

It is not easy to work and train (run, swim, dragon boat) at the same time. In the past, there are more time and more flexible as a student. But now, i have to schedule my training at night after a day of work. Typically now, my day will end on average at about 9pm after training. I have to be determined and dedicated and have the discipline for all these. Looking forward to the months ahead as both my training and work pick up.

Success of Running

2008-08-20T21:31:00.002+08:00

Got a valuable advice from a senior runner.

An aoustanding run involves 3S and 3D:

Stamina
Strength
Speed

Discipline
Determination
Dedication

Dragon Boat Race

2008-08-16T20:14:00.003+08:00

It was my very first Dragon Boat race in my life. And i believe this could be the begining of my next challenge in the area of water sports. It was representing my department (Finance) for the Dragon Boat. Anyway, we lost and could not get a medal.
Somehow, our boat could not travel fast enough and was quite behind other team from various departments. We tried our best. I was the pacer and my responsibility was quite high as i was sitting right infront of the boat with the drummer infront of me. I was quite stressed at times but i row and pushed long enough.

Anyway, the game was over and i was quite disappointed with the outcome. Perhaps we didnt train hard enough. However, i just have to tell myself that it was just a game and i should take it as a learning experience considering that it was my first race. Our sports liaison officer did a great job. He really put in alot of effort and i must thank him for that. THough we lost, he did put on a happy face and motivated us alot. I beleiev deep inside his heart, he must be quite disappoitning. It was never easy taking this appointment. Planning, coordinating, getting people to join and all the tough training conducted during our busy work schedule. Kudos to him and of course to the rest of the participants who all played an impoartant role in the race. I am not sure if i can do a good job when the time comes for me to be the appointment holder. It is just a matter of time. perhaps next year or year after next, i could be my time.

All right, i got to go rest now and prepare myself for a final long run tomorrow at ECP, in preparation for the Army Half Marathon coming in a week time.

SOme pics to share:

A day of excitement

2008-08-16T19:45:00.002+08:00

It was Friday. Apart from the fact that weekend was approaching, i believe there was another more important thing to look forward to. It was the Civil Service Club Reservoir Run 2008. The event was held at Temasek Polytechnic and Bedok Reservoir Park. I was involved in the 10km competitive Mens Open category. It was a race where civil servants compete with each other. There were repre4sentative from Police Force, Ministray of Foreign Affairs, MOE etc. Of course, i was reprsenting my company (HDB) for this event. It was my first time running for this race. I just joined HDB for less than month and yet i have the opportunity to contribute to my company. I feel honoured and happy. There were also other categories such as Women Open, Men Veteran, Men Senior Veteran. These were the shorter distance of 5km. Mine was 10km which started from Temasek Polytechnic and 2 rounds of bedok reservoir. I must say that it was not easy to win a medal. Only top 15 finishers were awarded with medal. There were very strong competitiors from Gurkha (Singapore Police Force). They were running at a pace in which i could not catch up with. Obviously and as expected, most of them came in the top 15. Anyway, i came with a timing of about 42 mins. I was the first 10km HDB runners to came back.

I was satisfied with my timing as this was my personal best. The restof my teammate did well as well. In fact, one of our veteran runners came in champion. Based on everyone's timing and contribution, HDB overall was ranked Second. The Overall Champion was the Gurkha. Last year, HDB came in third. Hence, we improved. I hope i will get a medal in Oct for the Inter-Statuory Board running race. That will be a race when the strong competitiors wont be involved as they are from a Statuory Board.

While i was running, my mind kept thinking about the Olympic table tennis match which was concurrently taking place at Beijing. I was wondering how the match was.

Before i arrive for the race, i was at HDB watching the LIVE telecast of the match. I was supposed to leave HDB at 3pm, together with the rest of the runners. However, the race was too exciting that i told them that i would leave later by taking cab down. I could bear to leave the TV. Quite many HDB personel were also there to cheer for Singapore. That's the Singapore's Spirit which i realy felt it. The whole Singapore was behind the Singapore Team. It was a close and tough match. My heart was pumping fast at every moment. I know it was gonna be a historical moment today. By 4.35pm, i got no choice but to leave HDB as my race gonna start at 5.30pm. Singapore was on the lead of 2-1 at that moment.

I board the cab and the cab driver was asking me about the table tennis match. The radio was highly reporting on the match. At that moment, the national radio boardcast played the Singapore Songs (Count On Me, Singapore. The song was so strong that i felt a moment of the whole Singapore cheering and behind the team. I continued to catch the progress by listening to the radio with my MP3 player. But when my pace started at about 5.20pm sharp, i gotta put my MP3 aside and ran for my race. When i ran back at about 6pm, the race was still on and it was the deciding match as it was a draw of 2-2. A few minutes after 6pm, Singapore was confirmed with at least a Silver medal. A long wait of 40 over years. Singapore finally got it. I was happy and overjoyed that i shared the news to the runners besdie me. Yes, we giot it. For the past olympic in 2004 and 2000, i was always watching the LIVE teleacast of our table tennis player fighting very hard to get a medal. Anyway, well done team Singapote. Go for Gold. I will definetly stay at home to watch the final of Singapore vs China on Sunday.

Then, i went home and rest and prepared myself for the next competition race on Saturday. Yes the HDB-MNDRC Dragon Boat race 2008.

Work Life

2008-08-10T17:56:00.003+08:00

First, let me apologise for the late update. I was quite busy lately and i hardly go online. By the way, I have no internet access at work.

Have started work on 23 July 08 and it has already been about 3 weeks already. I must say that i am getting more busy day by day. I am currently on job training as there are still many stuff that need some training and guidance before i can actually take over the task. Working in a government sector, especially my workplace is somewhat similar to what i have experienced in NTU and army camp. Apart from my main duty as an Accountant, i am expected to involve in so called 'ECA'. Yup, have to participate in various events and activities. And also the army USMS is also applicable over here, but of course it is not known as USMS.

It has been great so far. My work starts at 8am and ends at 5.30pm. Howerver, we usually dont go home at 5.30pm. Sometime maybe up to 8pm plus due to the amount of work. I have yet to experice that but i know soon i will. Anyway, it doesnt matter, i must have the passion for all these. Currently, training for inter department dragon boat for the HDB Games. While there is Inter-Hall Games back in NTU Hostel, there is HDB games where department compete agaist one another. Yup i am involved in the dragon boat. The race is coming saturday at Seletar Reservoir. Training was very fun. Although the training was schedule at afternoon on weekday, i still managed to get time-off to train. Weather was kinda hot for every training. I am glad that i have been rowing pretty good. I might even be tsked to be the pacer. Yet the first rower at the front of the dragon boat. I am not sure if i can dothe job well, but i will do my best. Oh yes, I have already signed up to join the Club HDB dragon team. I always wanted to take up dragon boat but couldnt find the time to do so when i was still studying and during NS.

Oh yes, apart from dragon boat, i am also currently in the Club HDB running team. Club HDB running team is one of the best statutory board with a good running team. It came in champion for the recent Sundown Marathon 10km corporate race. I have started training with them. It is a good chance for me to get to know more people from other department. Currently, preparing for the Civil Service Club Reservoir Run which is scheduled to be coming Friday at Bedok Reservoir. Goonna be a race where all the civil servants competing with one another. Gonna be a tough race due to the strong competitors from other government sector.

Day in day out, it is work and work. Morning wake up and reach office at 7.30am. I think i am the first to arrive in office. Why? To avoid the crowd in the MRT train. Anyway, my ITB injuries still haven recover fully. I still experiece the pain when i i run at a fast pace over a long distance of more than 5km. Getting a bit worried of whether i can perform well for the coming AHM. I hope to achieve and break my personal best of 1 hr 33 min (AHM 2007 timing). Not enough time to run. I used to run daily. But now, i need more time to recover after each run. On Average, i only run twice a week now. I have to use the non-run day to swim my laps at the pool. I could only do that in the evening. Swimming in the morning before reporting for work is juts too rush and toublesome. Unfortunately, there is no pool over at HDB Hub. But there is a gym, tennis court, multi purpose court, billard lounge, dance studio and many other facilities. Everything is just really convenient.

After working for about 3 weeks, i recived a good news from the human resource. Basically just an adjustment to the salary. I feel that i am so lucky to be able to enjoy the adjustment. Reason being to keep to the market rate for civil servant. Shall not disclose my monthly salary. But i am happy with it.

Alright shall stop here. Happy National Day to all readers.

Graduated Loh

2008-07-26T09:31:00.008+08:00

It was a very special day for me. Soon after ORD on 18 Jul, the next key event was my convocation. It was held on 22 July at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). A day i have waited since young. I must say that i didnt really perform that well. But still, i heng heng managed to pull through the 3 years to get my degree. Thanks to all my friends especially to Rebecca and Yiling for their support and motivation for the past 3 years. They have been my project mates since Year 1. Really appreciate their understanding and help whenever i am stuck with my work.

Anyway, I arrived pretty early to catch some picture with my friends. everyone looked smart and happy for this ocsassion. Just a few pic to share later. The event was held in the late afternoon/evening. There were about 600 graduate for this ceremony. I was arranged to be among the 400 graduate based on surname and course. The ceremony was simple but grand especially when the NTU President and the rest of the Professors marched in with a very nice slow fanfare. I must say that i really find the music very nice. It was so grand that i feel the touched in my heart. This was the seond time i attended a convocation ceremony. The first one was my sis's which was few years back. Anyway, my ceremony lasted till about 8.30pm and it was buffet dinner after that. I didnt have the chance to take the dinner. I was in a rush to collect my instant photo as well as my grad gift. I am glad to have my parents to come down and attend my convocation. Not forgetting my friends in army camp, i took a pic of myself using my camera phone and send them to share my joy with them.

Myself and Sharon

Wei Hao and Myself

Yiling, Sharon, Myself
Myself and Rebecca

The opening of convocation ceremony 4

Oh yes, back at home after the convocation. I took the camera and took a pic of my mini heritage corner of my achievement both in academic and sports.

Ok, that's all for now, will update on my first day of work soon.

ORD Loh

2008-07-19T09:24:00.005+08:00

It was the last day of my full time national service in SAF. It was a day which i have waited for 5 years. It came finally. However, i had a mixed feeling as the day approach. I was happy because the end of national service marks the begining of my next phase of life. My career is going to kick start very soon. It is time i contibute to the society and also to earn income of myself and my family. I am very excited and of course i look forward to my first day of work as an Executive Accountant at HDB Hub (Toa Payoh).

I do feel sad at the same time. I am going to miss all my new groups of friends that i have made for the past 86 days. It was not a long period. Yes, through this short period, i got to know a group campmates. A group of fun loving friends that really make my stay in camp memorable. It was this period that i build a strong rapport and bond with them. Yet, i have to leave them right now. To my platoon 1 pioneers: 86 days ago, i came to Alpha with a very emo feeling. I was quite lost at that time, trying very hard to adjust my life from civilian to military. It was my 25th birthday when i came on that day, talking to you all at the corridor (next to Sgt Victor's car). Gradually, i must say that my morale gets higher and higher and motivated day by day beacuse of you guys. Thanks for all the time spent together. You guys rocks. I shall never forget all the fun and tough time we had spent together. Frankly speaking, i am really sad to leave you all. I wish i can continue to march you guys to the cookhouse, to talk cock with you all (although i seldom do that), to Keluar BARIS, to join you all every weekday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But all these are not possible right now. If i have the opportunity, i would want to do stand-by Ops, fight e-tap together with u all. It was indeed a different kind of experience this time round as compared to the time i left camp 3 years back. Going to miss all the jokes, laughter, noise, all the 'Wa-Rao', 'JUST', 'platoon 1' x 3 Thanks for the effort put in for the ORD gift you guys have prepeared for me. A simple and yet something that i really treasure and means alot to me. I am going to frame it and put in my office soon. All those on driving course, do well for the course and enjoy all the countless canteen break u all have. Haha. But do remember to maintain your fitness. And for those who are not course, pls keep your spirit high and train hard for AHM and all the team response trainings.

Alpha Commanders: Also a very big thank you to you all escpecailly to my platoon conmmanders [LTA (NS) Victor, LTA Wu, 1SG Andrew, 2SG Mester, 3SG (NS) Keegan, 3SG (NS) Jonathon, 3SG Raymond and 3SG Cai (soon to be sergeant). Really appreciateall the alpha commanders for the patience guidance througout this period. It was nice working with you all. Wish you guys the best for the upcoming Ops and future stand-by.

Yes, it was really the final day. I spent my final night in camp, hoping to catch all the last thing i can do in camp. I spent a while looking the scenery outside my bunk alone. The big parade squarem the bright flood lights, the dirt that i can see under the light, the LIVE soft music, the laughters, the shouting, the pioneers walking around, talking on phone, the night snacks, etc. In my mind, i reflected on what i have done for the past 86 days in camp. Some of the pionners and commanders saw me and asked why am i so emo. They wished me Happy ORD. I thank them for their wishes. I woked up pretty early like 4.15am, mistakenly thought that it was 5.145am. I washed up and wore my shoe and went down and came to realised that it was actually an hour earlier. No wonder no one was around. Everyone was still in their dremland. Oh my god. What's wrong with me? And then went back to bed and rested for a while before i decided to go down at 5.30am sharp. Just in time for flag raising. Usual time to fall in was 5.45am. But i wanted to specially come down to salute the flags for the last time as a militant. As the State Flag, SAF Flag, Army flag rose slowly to the top in harmony, i saluted with pride.

Later in the morning, i decided to join in for my final battalion run in camp. I did a short 9km run with my injured leg. Was a nice run at a pretty fast pace but i had to slow down my pace towards the last 2km due the pain that starts to come in at the side of my knee.

Later in the evening, it was the platoon cohesion session ay Yong Siang's house. It was the eve of his birthday as well. Everyone from my platoon came. Very glad to see everyone there and it was also a farewell dinner. The cohesion night just so 'choon' to fall on my ORD day. Thanks Yong Siang and family for helping to organise the wonderful memorable session. A session ended with a group platoon picture as well as a farewell song (entitled ORD Song) sang LIVE from my pioneers. I was very touched to recieve the gift from them. A platoon or response force is just like a completed jig-saw puzzle. Everyone is important in forming up the complete picture of the jig-saw puzzle. Together, everyone play a very significant role to make the mission complete. No more no less. Thank you. This is a very unique and meaningful gift.

Take care everyone and do keep in contact. I shall see you you guys at AHM 2008.

ORD = Operation Ready Date?

ORD = Oh, Really Depressed

regards,

3SG (NS) Quek Yong Qiang

Slowly back to run

2008-06-28T20:12:00.004+08:00

It has been 4 weeks after that Sundown marathon. I am slowly recovering from the injuries. Went for my first physiotherapy few days back at Changi General Hospital - Sports Medicine Centre. It was quite a different experience. I was told by my friends that the session will be a terrible one due to the pain that one have to endure during the deep tissue massage on the thigh. I came mentally prepared. I was first seen by a therapist who asked me about my situation. The therapist was a young lady who is rather friendly. However, i underestimate her. She used her thumb and pressed on my ITB along my thigh. It was quite painful. I thought she is soft but she has got certain strength. Haha.. Anyway, eas told that my ITB is still rather tight. I bend my tight knee and a 'crack' sound was heard whenever i bend. I can evemn feel the bone/bend moving when i do the usual stretching for ITB. I let my army mate touch and they said 'eeee'. Yup quite disgusting to feel the bone/bend moving.

Anyway, i can actually start to do slow short run for a start. In fact, i did that even before the therapist told me to do so. I just cant wait la. I need to sweat it out and let go all the calories and fats and toxic that have accumulated inside my body for the past several weeks. Weights training in my bunk does help me to perspire, but not satisfying. I need to shag out my body. Ok you think i am saddist, but i really dun feel good without running. So i decided to join my running kaki for a run this Sunday @ Macritchie Reservoir and Monday @ NUS. Ok i will try to run slow to condition myself. But i am afraid my competitve mind will make my leg go fast. I cannot wait to chiong and dash in the front again. I was tasked to lead in the mid pack as there will be over 50 runners running this Sunday. But i will try to stay in the mid pack as tasked or either ended up in the front pack or ended up as a sweeper at the rear.

Soon we will be reaching to the second half of the year. No doubt, there will be many races in the seconf half of the year with an average of 2 running races per month. I am looking forward to all these challenges, especially the Nike Plus Human Race charity run, AHM, Standard Chartered Marathon and MR25 Ultra Marathon which i hope to achieve a new PB record. As of now, I have confirmed registered for Mizuno Wave Run, AHM and Nike Plus Human Race run. Do join me for the Nike Plus Human Race run which is a charity run helping the less fortunate human or wildlife animal in the world. Let's all do some good deed to help them and help ourselves as well.

Soon, i will be leaving my army camp soon in less than 20 days. I am happy and sad. Happy because i am about to proceed to the next chapter of my life. Sad becuase i am going to miss the army life, the camp and the people in camp. I enjoyed myself so much in the past 2 months with my pioneers and fellow commanders. Although it is a regimenatal lifestyle with limited freedom but i dont seems to be affected by it. If i am an Officer, i will propably choose my career in the SAF.

2 more days to SAF Day

20 more days to ORD Day

24 more days to University Convocation Day

25 more days to first day of my career at HDB Hub

No more running

2008-06-21T16:42:00.002+08:00

I am quite sad. For years, i have been running day in day out. right now, i have to stop running. I am not sure how long i need to recover from the injuries that i have got it from the recent Adidas Sundown marathon. It is not a very serious injuries but it really take quite some time. Anyway, i have went to Changi General Hospital (Sports Medicine Centre) last week and the specialist doctor told me i have got ITB syndrome. Oh my god. This is an injury that no most runners are afraid of. Some of my running friends have got it last time and i have seen how bad it was. Now it is my turn.

I was told to stop running for 2 months. I have stop running for 2 weeks and i am afraid to run again as i do not want to pain to come back. I miss those days of running in the evening or early morning. I miss those days when i can fly and speed through the route with my fast constant pace. I miss those days when i was shag out after a long run. I miss running with my friends.
I am afraid that i cannot run as fast as anymore when i recover after 2 moths. I am afraid that i will lost interest in running during this recovery period. Maybe it is time for me to stop running and challenge myself in the water now? Another endurance sports perhaps? Swimming? Well, i have been swimming and doing some weights training during the past 2 weeks to maintain my fitness. Taking this 2 months to improve my strenght and work out on my upper bod. Perhaps, a cross training and hope i can come back stronger as a runner in 2 months times.

Adidas Sundown Marathon 2008

2008-06-07T10:25:00.005+08:00

It was by far one of the toughest run i had so far. But i was indeed a good experience. I didnt perform well this time round for the race. But i still managed to complete it. I wanted to give up along the way but i told myself to push up to the finishing line.

The road was pretty tough. It was hard concrete flat surface. I ran pretty fast for the first 42km. But then after that i started to feel the pain on my knee and ankle. I had to stop and walk for several times. Until i reached the 55km mark, I had to totally stop running and walked all the way back to the end point. I am quite disappointed that i could acheive the target i set for myself. Well, i have been training quite hard but came the last 3 weeks, i didnt have the time to train for long distance due to the pack schedule in camp and preparation of Exercise in camp. Insufficient mileage and insufficient rest could be the cause. I will try harder next year.

I reported back to camp a few hours later after the end of the race. I could not walk properly. I was limping all the way from home to camp. Back in camp, i was motivated by my platoon pioneers. They cheered and clapped for me for the successful completion of the race. I was so tired but happy. Thanks Platoon 1 and the rest of the commanders for the care and concern.

No time for LSD

2008-05-18T10:24:00.005+08:00

I am getting rather lazy to run long distance lately. Life in camp doesnt really allow me to do long distance running training. By the time i end my day in camp, it is already 8pm and by then i am quite tired already. Lately, i could only run short distance of about 5-7km on weekdays.

Somewhat, althought the life in camp is rather routine and regimental, i dont seems to hate it. And i enjoy spending the time with my group of trainees. Counting 60 days to ORD. I know i will miss the life here after 60 days.

It was Friday morning and had a battalion half day off. This was because of the out-camp run held at East Coast Park. Distance was about 5km but i felt that it was lesser than that.
It was not a race or competition. It was just a run. You know, army camp likes to organise run every now and then. Beside army personnel from my unit (39 SCE), other units personnel from 36 SCE and HQ CBRE Defence Group also came. It was a nice time once again to run with such a big group.

Of course, i see every run as a competition or race. No choice, i am too competitive-minded. Always putting 100% effort. The run was dispacted in groups with an interval of about 1 min apart. My group was dispatched as the second group. Hmm, well i guess i might not be able to return back as first since i am dispatched later. Nevertherless, i started to run fast when the green light was given, overtaking runners who were enjying the run at a flower smelling pace. By the time i reached the u-turn popint, i was already in the 4th position. On the way back, i saw my fellow OC, specialists and pioneers running towards their U -turn point. My PC encouraged me and told me to overtake the 3 runners ahead of me. Gradually, i did it and managed to overtake one by one and managed to came back first with a timing of about 17 mins. But 17 mins for 5km? I dun believe i can run that fast. All i could say was that the distance is less than 5km. It was a good run, managed to maintain my status and standard ever since i left the unit 3 years back.

I was sad to hear about the Si Chuan Earthquake. Life is so precious and yet so unexpected. We never know what's gonna happen next. But such disasters are actually expected to happen this year. I was not that surprised to hear about it. Time is really running short. Let's all do what we can to help and treasue every moment we have right now. Of course, continue to do more good deeds to delay and minimise all these disasters.

天时紧急, 天灾到处
Only we can help ourselves.

God Bless.

Back to Military Life

2008-05-10T21:01:00.003+08:00

Been quite busy after exam. Not much time to update my blog.
I am now back in camp to serve my NS liability. Counting down to ORD in 18 July.
First day reported camp, i was feeling uneasy. Not quite adapated to the life. Not many changes. But now I am getting used to the life. Back to the same unit, same company. Performing my role as a section/team commander for platoon 1. Busy training my men, getting them ready for exercise in 2 weeks time. But i have only a few weeks to get myself ready as well. I have lost touch to all the stuff. Anf got to learn new stuff. Afterall, i have been away for 3 years.

Exercise is at the same week as Sundown Marathon. Hope i dun get too tired during the week. Have not much time to train my running. Could only run after 8pm at night after a long day of training programme. Also Book In early on Sunday night to train as well. It was not that siong at the moment. I Have tried running in my SAF No 4 uniform (long 4) with combat boots and sometime with my field pack and gas mask instead of my usual running attire. Trying to add some difficulties and constrain to my training. My campmate tot i am prepraring for Ranger/SOF course. No la.. I am trainig for my night run. Adding diffficulties to my training does help in a way.

I musy say that running 84km is not as easy as i thought after running 42km on the actual route. The ground is so flat, hard and demorlised. After one round of 42km, it is quite tiring already. Imagine i have to go for another round. With only 2 weeks left, i hope i can perform well on the actual day.

Marathon aftermath

2008-04-05T18:25:00.000+08:00

Found this interesting clip at You-Yube.

A New Personal Record - KL Marathon

2008-03-31T15:55:00.004+08:00

It was the KL International Marathon 2008. A few of us registered for this race sometime in February. This was my second oversea race. The first one was also in KL but a shorter distance of 30km. KL International Marathon was also my second full marathon. The first one was Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007.

Arrived at Beach Road at about 7.15am. As usual, i packed my own food enough for the next 2 days. 3 packets of fried rice, food bar, buns. Met cheow along the way to Beach Road Golden Mile. Ken Mun, Deepcruiser, DO and RealRunner were already there when i reached. The weather was kind of good. Not raining. We waited fopr while, then came Freddy, SV, Kayano, Alex and Brokie. Boarded the coach and depart to KL at about 8am. On the coach, i actually took out my lecture notes to study so as not to waste time. But somehow i fell alseep after 2 hours plus. Along the way, alighted to have my breakfast-cum-lunch at one of the stopover canteen. I brought down my fried rice and ate. The weather was kinda hot.

Soon, we reached KL at about 2pm with some jam along the way, but it was not that bad. Checked in into Ancasa Hotel, washed up, rested for a while, and then we went went to collect the race pack which was about 10mins walk from the hotel. My pack was already collected by IMD who has ealier on helped some of us to register for the event. So i just tagged along with the rest. Bought 2 Power Bar which cost much cheaper as compared to those in Singapore. Never tried Power Bar before and so no harm trying it out. Then, went to chiantown for lunch. I only had barley drink as i was quite full while the rest had wanton mee. The sky turn cloudy. IMD then came and passed the race pack to us. SV, Ken Mun and Deepcrusier then bought pancake at the stall outside the coffeeshop. I didnt buy cos not hungry. Then we returned back to hotel and had some rest. Bought mineral water before back to hotel. cos need to hydrate myself for the race ma. I also dare not drink straight from tap water. Thank god, it started pouring very heavily after we stepped into the hotel.

We then gathered in the evening for dinner. The rain has stopped. And DO suggested trying the vegetarian restaurant nearby. I thouight they will want to eat 'zhi char'. I have bought my seond pack of fried rice along anyway. But the rest dont mind trying vegetarian dinner for carbo-loading. So we ordered a few dishes such as salted vege tofu soup, sweet & sour 'fish', ma po tofu, craypot tofu, creamy oat 'prawn', sweet gravy 'char siew', luo han zai, white rice. Initially, we thought that wasnt enough, but actually it was just nice. It cost $228 Ringgit. Everyone enjoyed the dinner and i was hoping everyone will get PB after eating vegetarian meal. Brokie told me she will treat me if she run a sub-4 timing. Over the dinner, we talked about some issues about garlic, egg, milk. AFter dinner, went to chinatown to jalan jalan. We bought the famous long-gan drink. Quite nice. Some of us also bought DVD and VCD. There was some joke about educational VCD. Haha..

Anyway, we retuned back to hotel at about 9pm to have an early rest as we need to gather at lobby as early as 3.30am. Deep, Ken Mun and I shared a room together. I did some strecting for about 10 min before i went to sleep. It was a nice rest without any interruption all the way to the next morning. I woke up at about 2.45am to get ready. Deep then woke up but he was not feeling that well. Oh no. But he still washed up. ken Mun who was doing Half - Marathon enjoyed another 1 hour plus to rest since his race only flagged off at 6am. We gathered at Lobby, head count and then we headed off to the start point. Reached there around 3.45am. Took some group pic, warm up abit. The i reported and get myself ready at the start point. As usual, i made myself to the front. At 4.30am, the race flagged off.

I ran at quite a fast pace. The front pack were the kenya runners and some other runners from all over the countries. I heard there were runners from over 40 countires participating in this race. Anyway, the first 10km was extremely tough for me. I almost wanted to give up. Body feeling weak. Maybe the breakfast haven take effect to give me the energy. Anyway, i endured through the my engine started to turn on after 10km. I started to pace up and overtook a few runners. The route was close to Airport runway, so kinda of take off for me. :) Traffic was very heavy. Pollution was kinda bad. The traffic was only partially closed with traffic police directing the traffic. Luckily i dun have to stop at traffic lights to Give Way to the car. Pollution was worsened by the buring of joss papers as it was the Qing Ming period. A few slopes along the way. Legs started to get tired at about 30km. Was running on expressway most of the time. Traffic jam also. And one point in time, some cars just by passed me as close as 1m !

Anyway, i endured through and completed my race at a timing of 3 hrs 20 min. A nEw personal record. I improved my time by 5mins. First marathon was 3 hr 25 min. I was quite happy but disappointed that i could not achieve my target time of 3 hr 15 min. Nevertheless, i tried my best. I looked at the result and was surprised to see that i was the first singapore runner to finish the KL Marathon race this year. The rest of the Sgrunners did quite well too. But Kejn Mun and Deep had to fall out from the race due to food poisoning. Hope they are fine now. Take care wo. Saw a few singaporean runners whom i know at the race. chatted ahwile with some of them and most of us were complaining abnout the route.

After the race, washed up, slept for a while, lunch and proceeded back to Singapore. Reached back home at 11.30pm, slept at 12.30am and woke up the at 5.30am and reported back to school for presentation and tutorial. Very tired. Was having headache today. I guess i need some rest. Leg is aching now. Muscle ache. Resting and recovery now. Thanks all for the well wishesd for me. Really appreciate. Thank you :)

It was another good trip to KL with the fun company with the Sgrunners.
DO, Freddy, Brokie, Deepcrusier, SV, Kayano, Alex (MF Safra), Seal, Ken Mun, Realrunner, Cheow, Prata - Thanks you guys for the great company.

KL Marathon results:
http://www.klmarathon.gov.my/result/cat_a.pdf

HDB Executive Accountant to be

2008-03-26T20:08:00.004+08:00

Yes, After 2 weeks of anticipation, the news came in on THursday morning. While doing my project discussion with my group members, my phone rang. I saw the number and i knew it was from Housing & Development Board (HDB). Nope, i didnt apply for any house. Too young for the moment i guess. But rather, i did apply for a job at HDB.

Yup, i got a job offer from HDB. I was happy to receive the news. My freinds were happy for me as well. I did my internship at HDB last year. Myabe this is an advantage for me. Checked my email and received the terms and conditions of the job offer. Seems reasonable and equitable for me. Do not really have any unfair contract terms. The starting salary is not bad and the benefits and welfare is good too. So my appointment is Executive Accountant and will be working at HDB Hub (Toa Payoh). Glad that there are a few nice vegetarain food over there. Thank god that arrange things so smoothly for me.

Anyway, i have signed the letter of appointment few days back and will start work in July. No choice, i have 84 days of National Service obligation to fuifil starting from May 6. Hope i can clear it before i start work. So i only have one week of 'holiday' after my examination.

It is 3 days away form KL International Marathon. Will be going there on Saturday morning via coach. I am hoping to achieve a new personal best timing this time round. THis shall be my second full 42 km marathon. My first marathon was in 2007 Standard Chartered Marathon (Singapore). I have set a challenging target time for myself. I hope i can achieve after training for quite some time. Been training hard with fellow SGRunners and SAFRA Mount Faber Runners. I believe i am stronger than before. Time to carbo load now. The worst enemy on the race road is none other than hunger. Once i am hungry, that's it for me. So i have to laod all the carbo from today. of course, more water intake and more rest. Haiz.. but immediately after my marathon, i have a presentation in school the very next day morning. LOoks like i need to bring my homework along to KL to prepare for the presentation.

Stayed tuned and hope i can update here my good news on my KL marathon (30 May).

Stardust

Hot Hot run

2008-03-16T17:12:00.002+08:00

I went for my first Sunday run (29km) at SAFRA MF. Usually, i will be sleeping at home on a Sunday morning. But due to the lack of mileage this week, i have to do run on Sunday to maintain some mileage since KL marathon is 2 weeks from now. Headed off at 7.45am with Trainer Bug and Trainer Ong leading the group. So, i just followed them since i dun really know the route. Shortly after about 2km, Trainer Jimmy speed up and ran ahead of us. By the time i reached Keppel Road, i was in the front while Ong and Bug were just a few meters behind me. Ong then ran faster and guided me through Anson Rd all the way to Marina South. The weather was getting hotter and was quite humid. I must admit that i cant really get used to such weather consdition. Ong was running at quite a fast pace. I was panting quite a bit trying to keep up with his pace. Soon, we reached the pier at Marina South. Drank some water and chatted with Ong while waiting for Bug to reach the Pier. Soon after, most of the runners came and made their u-turn, heading out to Price Edward Rd via a loop in Marina steamboat area. Bug and i were running together at a slow pace. I started to feel hungry and all the way we continued, exited Marina, bypass Singapore Conference Hall, Esplanade Bridge.

We made a stop at the toliet at Esplanade and drank up some water. The sun is blazing hot. I really waanna stop and walk. In deed, we walked for about 200m and then Jimmy overtook us. Reached the Ferry Wheel and continued forward to reach the second u-turn point. Hot Hot Hot. Tired, Shag out. No Energy. Jimmy continued running forward while Bug and i decided to take a walk. Chatted with Bug along the way and run and walk and run and reached Lau Pa Sat. Bug and i took another break. I got some stitch so decided not to drink. Bug bought a 100 plus. The we left and proceed to head back to clunhouse.

Of course, along the way, we still walk-run-walk. Really not used to the weather condition and didnt really eat enough for breakfast. Finally, we reached the clubhouse. Cool down, drank up, showered and went for luhc at the market opposite the clubhouse. I had You Tiao and Butterfly and my home cooked fried rice. Then the weather turn cool and started to drizzile. Thanks PS for the car ride to Red Hill MRT stattion. Reached home and slept for a few hours.

It was indeed a very tiring run. Sometime we complain of wet weather, but osmetime we also complain the Sunny weather. So what's the optimal weather? Skin is feeling abit burning due to yesterday Dagron boat training and today's run under the Sun. Feeling quite strain on my lower back as well.

New Challenge - Dragon Boating

2008-03-15T21:21:00.003+08:00

It was Saturday afternoon. The weather was so Sunny. After so many days of rain and wet weather, i feel so happy to see the sun again. Went for my first training for Dragon Boating at Kallang river. Deepcruiser and i actually went down to a Dragon boat team to see see look look since he has a friend inside the team and they are actually recruiting new member. I am kinda interested to take up new challenge. And so deicided to give a try. 29 members came down today. And because we are among the 'less experienced' member, the coach arranged us to take a smaller boat (10 seater) instead of the big boat (20 seater).

Put on my safety vest, take the oar and then board the boat and row the boat. Weather so hot. So exciting but can be quite siong for a first timer like me. But i did try my best to learn and pick up the basic as soon as i can. And i came to realised it involve the whole upper body coordination, not just the arms to row the boat. And team effort and timing is so important. The instructor told us that were quite good but just we rely too much on our arms (which will cuase us to get tired very easily). Hence, i observed and try to use the correct technique. Basically, push, pull, lean forward, look straight and power. Great time spent rowing in the sea. It will be a new challenge and area of sports that i hope to excel next. Of course, i will still put in effort in my running. In fact, dragon boating might be a good crossing training for my running. Glad to see Rory, one of the SGrunner at Kallang too. But she is in another team.

Looking forward to the next training and heop to train as much as i can and be ready for the Dragon Boating race in June. Oh, i guess i am gonna be super tanned again.
Alright, time to rest and wake up early for SAFRA running club training tml covering a distance of 29km. Hope it doesnt rain.

Another week of anticipation

2008-03-15T09:25:00.002+08:00

It has been a week after my job interview. I had an interview with Housing Development Board last week. I am still waiting for their reply (be it rejection of acceptance). Everyday is an aniticipation. Anticipate my mobile phone to ring and opening my letter box receiving a letter. Maybe i am too impatient. Was told they will notify me within 2 weeks. One week is gone. My hope left with only next week. Everything went rather smooth on the intreview. It was quite a short one (about 15 mins). Thank god that they didnt ask me difficult questions. How is wish i can start work immediately after exam (since they want fresh graduate who can join them early). But i have to go serve my 2 months NS..

Anyway, it has been raining lately. didnt really run much this week. Only a 15km run on Tuesday with SAFRA running club and my own short run on Wed night (5.4km)at NTU and Friday afternoon (10km) at Bedok Reservoir. Seems that i have been eating alot. Oh no. Putting on some weight. Gotta run more once the weather is dry again. KL Marathon is just 2 weeks away. Looking forward to the race and hoping to do a PB there. Have set a challenging target to hit and hope i can achieve it.

Wedding Run

2008-03-08T10:23:00.001+08:00

This was thr wedding run of Tktan & Doraemon.
My hand was itchy again and so maade a compiled video.
Video input provided by Brokie.
Enjoy

LSD for the week

2008-02-29T17:13:00.003+08:00

To shoot up my mileage for this week. I went to do a night run at the Sundown route starting from Bedok Reservoir via Tampines Park Connector, Loyang, Changi, ECP and back to Bedok Reservoir cobeing a distance of about 40km from 7pm to 11pm. Have to run faster and skip some of the route as i told my mum i will be back around 10 plus. If not, i will ended up reaching at 12am and so better not let her worried. I Lost myself at Pasir Ris area and went to the Pasir Ris Park instead. Ended up wasting some time inside the park until i detour and found the park conector leading to Loyang and Changi. I must say that park connector from Bedok Reservoir --> Changi can be quite misleading. Too many traffic along this side. And i somehow lost the park connector track again at Changi village area. But Bedok Reservoir --> Changi is pretty straight forward and easier. Anyway, ran through the Changi Coastal Road last night alone at around 10pm. Was very demoralised and seems never ending. Was my first time running this route at night. I was in the middle of no where. I didnt bring phone or cash. So i have no choice but to carry on. Good LSD for the week and will want to try again next weekend.

Oh yes, HDB has called me for a job interview. Happy that i am shortlisted.
But still waiting for SPF to contact me. Hope soon it will come.

HAve spent quite some time recce the run and created a video. Here it is.

Dusty Route

2008-02-27T13:18:00.001+08:00

Dusty Run
Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore

Dusty Run 2008

2008-02-24T21:46:00.001+08:00

Distance to be covered is around 55km in western island, Singapore. The Run will be conducted in night time, in preparation for Sundown marathon. This will be one of the Sundown Marathon Profgressive run series. This is a run with not much eating. But eating can be organised after the run. For those doing 42km for Sundown Marathon, you may choose to end the route earlier by enering into NTU via Nanyang Avenue, instead of continuing to Jalan Bahar & Lim Chu Kang Rd. Here are the details.

Date: 11 April 2008 (110408) Friday
Start time: 10pm
Estimated End time: 4am
Starting point: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) SRC Track
Ending point: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) SRC Track
Pace: 6.5 - 7min/km
Distance: 55km
Parking Lot avaialble
Shower facilities avaialbe at NTU SRC
After run: Makan at Boon Lay market (Nasi Lemak)

Running Route:
NTU SRC Track
Nanyang Lake (1 loop)
Nanyang Drive (slopes)
Nanyang Crescent
Exit to Pioneer Rd North
Pioneer Rd North
Along AYE
Jurong Hill (lopp)
Jalan Buroh
West Coast Highway
West Coast Park
West Coast Highway
South Buona Vista Rd
North Buona Vista Rd
Buona Vista MRT - Dover MRT
West Coast Rd
Jurong Town Hall Rd
Boon Lay Way
Boon Lay Drive
Boon Lay Place
Boon Lay Ave
Jalan Boon Lay
Jalan Bahar
LIm Chu Kang Road (run way)(u-turn point)
Jalan Bahar
Nanyang Avenue
NTU SRC Track

Above is the proposed 55km route. The run inside NTU has got quite a few slopes but it is quite cooling as it it located on highland. Jalan Bahar and Lim Chu Kang Rd are the roads where we will be running by cemetry (not inside cemetry) and also an emergency runway (demoralised flat route). There are coffeeshops and petrol station, toilets along the entire route.

Hi all, keen to join in for the run? :)

A Successful SRCR

2008-02-23T16:58:00.004+08:00

It was in deed a great and successful session of SWIM-RUN-CYCLE-RUN (SRCR). I started my swimming laps at about 3pm in the afternoon at NTU pool. The weather was not hot. In fact, it was kinda cloudy. The pool was not that crowded but with at least 1 swimmer in each lane. I chose to swim at the first lane. I just prefer to swim 1 or 2 lane to the pool wall. haha. My plan was to swim 30 laps covering a distance of 1.5km in a mixture of freestyle and breaststroke. I have not been swimming for so many laps. I can recall that i used to swim 30 laps 5 days a week.
Anyway, i extended my laps to 35 which took me a long 1 hr to complete. After that i took a shuttle bus and headed to canteen to grab my final meal before the run. Yup quite a big plate of rice which allows me to further carbo load. Went back hostel room and rest for about 2 hours.
Swim completed - 1.75km

By 7.24pm, Roadrunner, Deepcruiser and Chan Fan arrived and we did some preparation before we kicked off with our recee run. We went took a slow warm up run to NTU SRC and then started the run with one around of NTU and 1 loop inside Nanyang Lake which cover a distance of about 6.5km. It was already 8.45pm when we competed the round in NTU. Oh no, we were late. We were supposed to link up with Freddy at Jurong West Stadium at 8.45pm. Anyway, we were like 10 min late. Could not find Freddy initially but luckily he brought his mobile phone along. Wow. Freddy had ran from his house to Jurong West to meet us. We ran along Pioneer Road North and turn left to ran along AYE and then crossed over to Jurong Hill (near to Jurong BirdPark). It was my first time to this hill with about 400m of moderate gradient, 100m flat followed by 100m of steep slope. At the top of the hill, the scenery was fantastic. Could see the night view of the entire West Singapore.

Had a toilet break and proceeded downhill toward Jalan Boon Lay. Smelled chocolate aroma along the way. It was a boring run along Jalan Boon Lay. It was flat and what we saw was traffic and factories. Yes, quite demoralised. But the most demoralied route is yet to come. In fact, it was arriving soon as we got closer to Jalan Bahar. Had a final water break at Seng Siong supermart/foodcourt before we proceed to Jalan Bahar. We were still doing strong. Chan Fan started to have some slight cramp while Deepcrusier's earlier fired rice is yet to be digested and the undigsted grain of rice seem to be playing around in his throat. Haha.

Anyway, entering Jalan Bahar, the traffic was much lighter and air was quite misty. Quiet and some moderate upslopes. You cant find any single soul on the road. Only a few vehicle passing by the road. Were running on the pavement, ran past the Christain cemetry and reached a junction. Along the way, we heard some loud muslim prayer pl;ayed via some loud speaker near the Muslim Cemetry. Hmm, started to feel ait uncomfortable and had this slight eriee feeling. Nevertheless, Freddy and i waited at the junction for the rest to catch up. It was already 10.20pm and in fact we still had quite a dsiatnce to cover with the demoralised road being the next. We were supposed to proceed back to NTU by 11pm to get ready for night cycling. Anyway, some of us were quite tired. Roadrunner was hungry as his last meal was like 1pm on the day. Chan Fan with leg cramp (Chan Fan have not run such long distance for a very long time), Deepcruiser - undigested fried rice. Freddy and I were still alright but tired of course. We ran for about 2km along Lim Chu Kang Road before i made the decision to make an earky u-turn since most of us had to reach NTU by 11pm. As usual, the road at Lim Chu Kang was demoralied as i mentioned earlier. It was so straight and flat. This route is some what similar to the Changi Coastal Road. Hence, good training for Sundown marathon. Demoralised road are just good to challening the mind. Run completed - 25km

Freddy returned back to his home. Thanks Freddy for helping me with the recee to Jurong Hill. :) while the rest headed to to my room in the hostel to drink up and rested for about 15 mins before we head down to gather for night cycling. It was an event organised by my hostel for the D&D fund raising. $15 per head. Though we came at 11pm, we were still considered early. Anyway, it is a norm for hostel reisdent to be late. This is bad and should change! Anyway, the night cycling was scheduled to start at 12am but was told that there was a delay and was pushed to 12.30am. Roadrunner was so hungry and so i suggested that we went out to nearby coffeshop to take away some food. Great, Weihao got his car and we went off to the coffeeshop near city harvest church. Jiwei came long too. It was rare to get Jiwei to join us for this event. Happy to see him joining in.

Came back and had a brieifng, chose the right bike and then there we kicked off the first detail. This detail comprises mostly the seniors with a few juniors. I was tasked to be the rear scout to ride at the back of the group (15 cyclist including myself). I was fine with it. No point chiong infront since i dunno the route. It was quite cold and the traffic was still considered moderate. Maybe because it was Friday night. First stopver - West Coast Mac. 2nd stopover - Lau Pa Sat. Final Stopover - Indoor Stadium. Reached east coast park at about 5.45am. Took a group pic and we procced to Mac for quick breakfast. Deepcruiser, RoadRunner and i didnt eat. We were so tired, I took a quick 10min nap. Shag. Left ECp at 6.20am with a cab heading to Bedok Reservoir for the final run. Cycling competed - 35km

Reached Bedok Reservoir at about 6.40am. Quite a big group was already there. There were many new faces today. Great to see so many new runners joining us. Hope the winning of the bid to host the YOG can promote and encourage more people to take up sports like running. :)
Nice meeting Sotong, Taz, Lai Chee. Had a nice chat with them. Ran along the park connector. Pace was slow and easy for a start before i picked up the speed at the first overhead bridge. I was surprised that i could actually mainatain my usual pace after haing completed a half marathon 12 hours ago and a 6 hours to night cycling with no sleep. I thought i will ended up becoming a sweeper. It was not there to chiong, but just to run at my usual pace. Darren,(if i get ur name right) the new young runner was running beside me all he way to ECP. Great pace and i see good potential in him. Had some water prepared by Sotong and Taz at the ECP -uturn point which was near Carpak G. Rested for abou 20 min, while waiting for the rest to come.

Arriving at the mid point at ECP.. Happy to see water

Mid-point water break

Off we went for the return route to Bedok Reservoir Park

Darren and i then continue to lead the group back to ECP. By then it was getting hot. Mizunooo was behind us. Darren had a cramp and have to slow down at Kembangan area. I continue my pace and reached by Bedok Reservoir. Graduallym the runners came back. It was a great run and everyone put in there effort. Well done everyone. Thanks Sotong and Taz for the support and Hivelocity for the drinks sposnsored. I was tired, same goes to RoadRunner and Deepcrusier but were were happy that we managed to endure through the long hours of physical, mental enduracne. Thank Deep and Roadrunner for joining in for the run-cycle-run session. Next time, i shall get u both to join in the swim. :) Anyway, had a group pic before everyone parted.
Thanks everyone for the company morning run. Hope to see u guys again at the next Sundown Fam #3. Run completed - 25km

End point - hydrating myself

A group pic of SGRunners participated in Sundown Fam Run 2

Then, so tired and went back home to shower and head to the bed to sleep. Got an sms that my Dusty run got to increase the distance to 55km. This is double the distance that currently planned.Alright more recce and test route. :)

A summary of SRCR:
Swim - 1.75km
Run - 25km
Cycling - 35km
Run - 25km

Take care all.

Pictures - courtesy of Ripley, Sotong & Taz

Stardust

Youth Olympic Games 2010

2008-02-21T21:29:00.008+08:00

It was a very touching and yet happy occasions. It was Thursday evening. Unlike the usual weekday, it was a very different weekday in city hall. It was crowded at the Padang. Nope, it was not Chingay. But it was the Final Countdown for the Youth Olympic Games 2010. Yes, i was there to witness the announcement and the celebration after the announcement. Was asked to attend this event by Macritchie Runners 25 (MR25) running club. Since i was free, i went down to give my support. After all, it was probably once in a life time event to be there to experience this final countdown.

The event was scheduled to start at 6pm. I was early and they were already a large crowd of people there. Mostly were the youthful students from schools. Media were there of course to capture the historic event. They were there as cheerleader and supporters. Dancing, cheering, shouting, bringing the spirit high. I had quite a hard time looking for Vincent from MR25. Fortunately, i managed to locate him. Soon after, several other MR25 members came. As the clocck hit 6pm, more Representatives from various organisation arrived. Saw Ang Peng Siong, Tao Li, etc there as well. PM and other Ministers were there as well. Then there were performnce by local singers. I Looked around and came to notice that many who just knocked off from work in there executive wear came and joined in to wait for the release for the news as well. I was touched to see that. Singaporean from all walks of life came together to support Singpaore. I could really feel the strong bond and unity as we cheered for Singapore. It was very crowded and i could see a scene of red crowd. Yup, most of the supporters came in red top (including myself).

At 7.10pm, it came the live telecast from Switzerland. I was so nervous and heart beat was getting faster when the news was about to announce. There was a moment of Silence followed by a loud cheer. Yes. SINGAPORE ! We got the bid and will be hosting the Youth Olympic Games in 2o10. It seems that Singapore is very confident to win this for the effort put in to organise this celebration event. It was indeed a hostorical moment. Everyone was happy. The whole nation was in high spirit. The city hall then turned into a parade of party and celebration. I stayed longer and watched the youths and other supporters dancing in the street and stage. I even heard a group of supporters shouting for 'holiday..holiday'. Haha. hinting to PM Lee to declare a day of public holiday huh? Anyway, I never regret coming down. I am glad i was there to witness that. Well, there was a massive news coverage wordlwide for the bid to host this YOG 2010. In deed, it was a positive publicity to shwcase the uniquely Singapore. And the winning of the bid will no doubt bring about some economic boost for the nation. It is really a historical development for Singapore after 40 over years of independence. Some people may see it as just a small thing that doesnt concern them. But i feel otherwise. Perhaps because i am very actively involved in sports. I believe it was a piece of superb good news. First ever YOG somemore. If there is a need for volunteers to help out in the YOG, i shall help out for sure.

Singapore gonna welcome the world in 2010. Congratulation Singapore ! I am so proud of my nation! Join me along while we celebrate this historical happy moment.

Stardust

MF SAFRA Training

2008-02-19T23:22:00.004+08:00

It was Tuesday and my free day. No lesson day. But woke up early to do some tutorial questions at the library.

At noon, changed to head to the pool for some sun tanning and swim. The weather was good. Finished my tan at 4pm plus and it was still early before the evening run at Mount Faber SAFRA. So went to Bugis to take my dinner. And bought a running top attire.

Then, eveing was the training with SAFRA Mount Faber. The distance today was about 14km with relatively flat terrain. My running pacer Ricci (Bug) was not around. Heard that he did very well for his Hong Kong Marathon last Week. Congratulation to him. The run today is through Deport Rd, Portdown Rd, Queensway, Buona Vista, Commonwealth. The pace was fast for the return journey after the u turn point at Buona Vista. Very great have 2 fast runners to run together at a very fast pace to dash back to the end point. Sometime overtaking one another. But it was tough running through the pavement with people walking, especially at various bus stops. Eventually, i compleetd the 14km with several stops at traffic lights in about 1 hour. Very good training. Chionging all the way.

Glad to know a few runners for the first time. And thanks to various regular runners to guide me with the direction of the run. Thanks Trainer Ong and Trainer Jimmy.

The next race will be KL marathon. Have settled on the accomodation and tranasport. Looking forward to this race, hoping to break my personal record and achieve a PB.

3 more days to my ultra endurance challenge on Friday. Have to start carbo load soon to store the energy. 6pm - 10am of enduracne is shiok. Managed to get Roadrunner and Deepcrusier to join me along for this. Anyone out there wanna join along?

Stardust

When Stardust wish upon a Star

2008-02-18T20:25:00.005+08:00

After more than 10 months, i recived a pic from my fren. A pic taken when i was making my wish for my 24th birthday. Did my wish came true after 10 months? Well, i cant remember what wish i have made actually. haha

But i knew that some of wishlist stated at the side of my blog has been fulfiled.

By the way, i managed to get a full running suit recently. Is actually a triathlon suit. Tights and top which cost me less than $100. And the brand is Pearl Izumi (quite a good brand from Japan).

Does that mean i am starting to diversify into triathlon/Biathlon?

Time will tell u the answer.

Ex SRCR

2008-02-18T20:05:00.004+08:00

It is the month of Feb. Been running around for the past one week at different locations.. NUS hill run, Lower Pierce, North pioneer Rd, Jurong Park Connector and just did a recee run to jalan Bahar and Lim Chu Kang Road. It was a nice flat route. Running past cemetry and runway. Quite demoralised route at Lim Chu Kang. This could well be part of the Dusty Run on 11 April 2008.

Dusty Run has been rescheduled to 11 April 2008.
Start time is 8pm.
Venue is NTU SRC
Distance will be 25-30km.
More details will be out next week.

Am gonna do something mad this friday. My hall orgainsed a night cycling on friday night from 12am to 6am (NTU to ECP). I thought that was not challenging enough. Hence, i decided to add a swim of 20 laps, recee run of 25km, before the night cycling. After night cycling, i should be heading to Bedok Reservoir for the Sundown Marathon fam run #2 covering a distance of 24km via park connector. It is gonna be a mentally and physically challenging training all the way from 6pm to 10am. I am not training for ironman race or triathlon. Just wanna do something challenging to test my limit. Managed to get Deepcrusier to join along for this training. All ready to go. i called this training as Ex SRCR (Exercise Swim-Run-Cycle-Run)

Was kinda disappointed that Republic of Singapore Airforce has rejected my application. I haven even gone for an interview or test. The letter came and i have to accept the fact. Well, perhaps of my degree which is too specialised. Heard that SAf dun acdept specialised degree. General degree is preferred? Well, i dunno.

Stardust

Straits Times - Sundown Marathon

2008-02-18T19:43:00.003+08:00

17 Feb Straits TImes- Lifestyle

It was a good experience. Nice meeting a few runners at the photo shoot for the first time. This news report was a coverage on Sundown marathon which will be held on 31 May 2008. A few friends sms me and asked if that was me on the paper. Thanks for the wishes. I will do my best for this marathon.

CNY Run

2008-02-09T14:35:00.000+08:00

It was the third day of Chinese New Year. But, didnt really eat that much 'junk' food cos nothing much that i can eat. Haha. But still have to run to keep up the fitness and clock the mileage for the week. Woke up early and have arranged to share a cab with Mizunoo to NUS. Yup, it was a good time to do a LSD after doing short distance for weekdays. We reached quite early around 6.35am. No one was there. Shortly later. Freddy, then Xdd arrived. It was still quite dark. By 7am, most of the runners came and i must say that i was a large turnout. The regular group runners like DO, DreamRunner, RoadRunner3, Deepcruiser, Freddy, Brokie, Vincent, Sealboon, Hophlng, tarepanda were there. More than 30 over runners tuned up. Some were from MR25, SAFRA running club, etc. But no metter where we are from, we are all looking good for the 27km run. Gald meeting a few runners for the first time. After a short briefing by DreamRunner, we then kicked off the run and the sky was getting brighter.

The first hill was Kent Ridge hill. One of the steepest slope. The front runners including myself, RoadRunner3, SealBoon, Freddy, SlingRunner, LionKing went ahead towards the canopy walk while the rest did an additional loop within Kent Ridge hill. Freddy then told us to head back to the carpark. I thought we took the wrong route. Oh, actually the rest decided to do one loop before heading to canopy walk. No wonder we didnt see them. So we made an u-turn and Sealboon, SlingRunner and i followed and did the loop. We almost lost our way inside the loop but still managed to return back to the carpark and then charged up towards canopy walk. We took a big group photo infront of the 'tank' before entering the canopy walk.

Then we proceeded to the canopy walk. It was a very nice view from the top of the canopy. Some of the runners chose another route and retuned back to NUS as they need to leave earlier. While the rest continued and then headed to a bending route which was very interesting. The route was like the 'S', in fact many 'S'. So you can imagine how many bends and turns there was. So it looKs very nice from the top.

Soon, we reached Labrador Park which was the second hill. Gathered at the Dragon tooth and took another group pic. DO told us that if you make a wish at the Dragon tooth, your wish will come true. After that, we get out of Labrador hill and ran towards Mount Faber which will be the third hill. I was quite sure of the way to Mt Faber and so i led the group towards the hill. It was another long hilly terrain. Along the way, there were a few bikers training along the hill. Rested for about 5 mins at the top of the hill and waited awhile for the rest. Everyone was looking good and strong. Ready to charge up the next hill which was Telok Blangah Hill. Along the way, we by pass the neighbourhood and Mt Faber SAFRA. Did some hydration at SAFRA and then we proceeded to charge up the 4th hill which is Telok Blangah hill. Was a long but not very steep slope. Did a small loop inside Telok Blangah and then retunred back to the entrance of the hill where where proceeded towards Deport Rd, Queensway and then to Scicece Park. It was getting very hot by then and most of us were quite tired and hungry. But we had a final hydration at the air con biulding at Science Park. 3km left to the end point.

At Dragon tooth

Hence, we decided to run down Prince George Park (PGP) Residence at NUS instead of doing the original run-up PGP. In short, we took a shortcut la. haha. Soon we reached back to the start point which was also the end point. Sun is blazing hot and it was nice to have 100 plus and the barley water prepared by Brokie. DO brought along a Red Wine. Together with some of the runners, we went to the clubhouse at to wash up and shower.

After the long run, it was always the makan session. We went to the same resturant outside NUS. Oh, i didnt prepare my vegetarian meal. So i had one cup of wtaer chestnut drinka and one cup of soya bean drink. The rest had their beef noodles. Hophlng who was on the 70% vegetarian diet had drinks and dessert only. Good determination, Hophlng ! Keep it up. :) After the chit chat, we then made our way home. Thanks RoadRunner for the ride to the train station.

It was a nice CNY run. Good company and good route. It was indeed a hilly run.

Pictures - courtesy of Brokie and Xdd.
Congratulation to dkw whose little baby boy arrived during CNY.
It is time to have a good rest.
Glad to have recived ang bao during CNY. Time to invest on a good running attire.

Thanks all who came for CNY run. Meawhile, look forward to the next run on wed which was the LAO YU SHENG RUN.

Stardust

CNY

2008-02-07T13:03:00.000+08:00

Though it was Chinese New Year, it seems that this yr CNY is very boring. Year after year, it is always the same thing. Nothing special and perhaps the only thing that make me happy is none other than the reunion dinner and the ang bao.

Anyway, regarding my previous post about my career, i have submitted my application form for the position of Accountant at HDB as well as Air Force Officer (WSO C3) for SAF. Right now, just waiting for their reply and hoped i can get shortlisted for the selection process.

Meanwhile, the next application that i will be sumitting is to the Singapore Police Force for the position as a Senior Police Officer. I just cant wait to graduate. And looks like i must get myself prepared for the selection (if i am shortlisted). Apart from my running regime training, i have to incorporate other trainings to improve on my physical fitness. Time for more intensive strength training. Have not been doing chin up and sit up. And i know my standard had dropped trremendouly since i left NS few years back. Only been concentrating on running. Well, i must put more discipline on strength training now.

Stardust

World Harmony Run

2008-02-05T19:32:00.000+08:00

It was a wonderful run on Sunday. It was my first World Harmony Run. The run start point was Pasir Ris Town Park which is next to Pasir Ris MRT station. I was quite early and reached at about 8.15am. Some of the early runners were already there. By 9am About more than 30 runners gathered for the briefings. SGRunners like Peacefool, Tigger, Eliza, Laserunner, eatrun were there as well. Nice meeting Han Wen who is my current module classmate. Saw him at every lesson but didnt really have the chance to talk but we did chat quite a lot througout the run about the our module, Univeristy life and signing on. haha.

The whole journey was about 21km with 3 stopover various religious building. It was a good experience to run together as a group on the road when the traffic police on the motobike had to esccort us and open the road for us. Everyone had the chance to run in the front to run with the Singapore State Flag, World Harmony Run Flag and the World Harmoy Torch with flame. I dun wanna miss the chance and so i took the opportunity to carry the above 3 items and ran with it at different part of the run. The race start from Pasir Ris then to Tampines, Bedok, Geylang, Kallang and Merlion Park as the final destination. The weather was so nice. Everyone was so supportive and we even had Lion dance to welcome us at the chinese temple. I heard this was the first time in World HarmonY Run history. The Torch has been held by many runners all over the world from the west to the east.

It was a very meaningful run, bringing across the message the important of world harmony. Runners were all from different ethnic groups. But everyone ran together as a big family, taking care of one another. This shows that Singapore being a multi-cultural country is a harmony place to live in. It was great when people at the neighbourhood, streets actually waved to us and cheered on us as we ran past them. Some even unwind their car window to motivate us. The pace was slow and relax. No stress, no pressure, eveyone start together and ended the race together.

It started to rain when were were about the reach the destination at Merlion Park. And by the time we reached the park. It rained heavily. But the rain didnt not affect our spirit. Took a group picture under the rain, infront of the Merlion. It was very cold but the effort and spirit of everyone keep me warm. After the run, went to take lunch at Marina Square Foodcourt.

Will run again next year.

Pics (courtesy of WT Sim): http://www.flickr.com/photos/waitee/sets/72157603848421957/

Stardust

What's Next for me?

2008-02-02T16:08:00.000+08:00

January is over. Time is flying. 3 more months and i am gonna graduate from NTU. This would mean that my next phase of life is about to begin. It is time to consider and plan for my career. Hmmm, i have went for the career fair held in my school and it was a good opportunity for me to explore more about the jobs that i am keen. Basically, i am into government career. There were a few booth that caught my interest. Among these are HDB, CPF Board, PSA, CAAS, Ministry of Defence, Singapore Press Holdings as well as Republic of Singapore Air Force, Navy, Police Force.

Law --> Chemical Defence --> Accountancy --> ___________ ?

That's the blank that i must fill up. What's next for me? I have tried law, chemical defence, accountancy and what should i diversify into? Should i follow the path into accounting/finance line or should i consider others?

I was glad that HDB was there as i am keen to work in HDB since it was the organisation where i had my internship with. I was told that they need accountant desperately.

However, I am also interested into SAF. Yes correct, SAF. You didnt see wrongly. Singapore Armed Force. I was thinking of upgrade myself and diverse into a career in the SAF. Air Force Officer and Naval Officer are the 2 jobs available for graduate. Some of my friends were surprised that i actually want to sign on. Well, I am quite tired of accounting and i love to take challenging job. In fact, signing on did cross my mind when i was still a NSF. But, i decided to pursue my degree and put my career aside. I was still quite unstable and not mature to know what i want. I am actually quite a pro-Singapore/Government individual who always wanted to be a civil servant or woek in a statutory board or GLC. Hmm, did i mention that i have the Singapore State Flag hanging in my room? That's why i never wanted to go into Big 4 auditing firm. Both my internships in polytechnic and University was at SIA and HDB. I tend to choose the path different from my peers. Anyway, I believe there is more for me to contribute to as a citizen to protect Singapore as a SAF personnel rather than siting down in the air con office chair and face the financial reports and computer screen. Been running and training very hard for several years and came to realised that i prefer to be active and do things that requires endurance and keeping my physical in the optimal condition. I just love to challenge my physical and mental strength. Sense of self actualisation and achievement i would say. Maslow Needs Theory?? haha

I am still considering. Have asked around on the training, etc. Hmm, I was not trained as an Officer during National Service. Instead, i went through SISPEC and was trained as a Specialist and then a Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defence Specialist. If i really decided to pursue my career in SAF, i would have to attend Officer Cadet Course from May 2008 onwards and commissioned in Dec 2008. This is like back to army for military training. Situation was quite similar to that time when i completed my polytechnic diploma, getting ready to go BMT in year 2003. However, i believe should be more prepared than before. It is not gonna be easy. In fact, it is gonna be tough both physically and mentally. A few friends of mine told me to consider very carefully before making the decision. I have missed the chance to go OCS in NS. Perhaps, this is the time to upgrade myself and achive further. Of course, i have to go through intreviews, medical test etc before i attend OCS. The salary and benefits for an Officer with university degree is not bad. Starting pay is $3000. I am not eyeing on the salary but rather the different experience and challenges. Anyway, no doubt, i may have no time to train for my running and might have to miss a few running races as well as the various runs with the SGRunners and SAFRA runners.

Hmmm, still thinking.

Stardust

Sundown Fam Run + LSD

2008-01-27T22:15:00.001+08:00

Yup. after sleeping for 2 hours, i woke up at 4am again. Was so tired and sleepy. But have to get myself out of the bed and head down to ECP for a long run. I was early and Fennel was already there when i reached. Soon after, RoadRunner3 arrived and then Little Tigger and Raven with their vehicle. The rest of the runners arrived by 5.25am. Began our long run at ECP carpark F2 at about 5.30am. Our intention is to run to Changi Village to meet link up with another group of Sgrunners who are to begain their Sundown Marathin familarization run at 7am. This mean that we have 1 hr and 30 min to reach Changi Viallage carpark.

Roasdrunner and myself were leading the group with a moderate pace. it was my first time running the park connector after the end of ECp. It was a new route that was just ready recently last year. In the past, without the park connector, i have to run on the road. Now with the connector, running to Changi is so much safer and easier. It weas kinda cold and soon we reached the changi coastal road which is known as a demoralising road. It was indeed demoralise to run along the coastal road. It was a straight long route of about 6km which is like NEVER ending. It was so staright that i can see the other end which is so small. We spent about half an hour running on this route, wondering when will it end. The route was accompained by the street lamp post, bikers riding on the road as well as the plane taking off the runway which is on the other side of the road. Soon, we reached Changi Beach and then Changi village carpark. Ripley and TLR was already there when i reached. This ws the start point for them and my u-turn point. Rested for about 20 mins, waiting for the rest of the runners to return before we continued to hit back to ECP while TLR and gang procced to ECP to make a u-turn.

On my way back to end point, my leg was so tired and again have to run the demoralised route. Sianz. I was running together with RoadRunner3 for the first 2km. But RoadRunner slowed down a bit and i contibued with a constant pace. Soon, i reached the ECp end point. Totasl distance covered wqas 28km. Was surprised to see Prata there. Oh he was there to train for his ironman race. i was thirsty and Prata offered me his isotonic drink.. Thanks Prata. For a totla of 28km, i drank only 1 cup of water from the tap. Soon, prata went to the sea to swim. While i waited and sat down for the rest of the runners to came back. Terrence came back about 20 mins later, followed by Burnz, RoadRunner, etc. Chatted, stretched, drank isotonic drink from terence and tigger. Thanks terrence and tigger for the drinks. it was so refeshing.

Was supposed to meet up with Passion at Changi Village for lunch. But then i was so tired to head there and there is no direct transport from ECP and i also need to rush back home to carry on with my tutorial with is due tomorrow for dusccion in class. So, i went back home. Was so tired for the fact that i slept only 2 hours the night before.

Anyway, it was a good run. It was nicr unning at ECp again. Have not been doing LSD at ECP for many months. i guess this will be the training ground for the next few months.

Oh yes, i have signed for KL marathon which is in 30 March. Was told that KL marathon can hit PB. I was aiming for a challenging timing this time round. Glad that quite a few SGrunners are heading there for the race as well. Gonna be a fun trip to KL again. Oh yes, need to thank IMD for helping us to submit the form in KL.

Gonna rest for a few days ebefore the 2 coming events on coming weekend

2 feb - NUS ALIVE Charity Run (minimum 4km) 8am -12pm
3 Feb - World Harmony Run (21km)

Stardust

SGRunners Banana Relay

2008-01-27T21:59:00.000+08:00

It was the first Banana Relay organised by SGRunners. It was a very fun event. No stress as it was a fun run rather than a competition. But still, i still ran my best and take it as a training. Gald to know many SGRunners for the first time. It was indeed a good gathering for everyone. Nice company, nice pic, nice food, drinks and not forgetting the great effort put in my the organisnig team and the volunteers. Thank IMD who making this event possible.

My team mates are PassionRunner and Fennel. This was a radom forming of team through balloting. Both Fennel and PasionRunner are very committed and good runners. They really ran strong and done very well. Thanks Fennel and Passion. You all are great teammate. Very nice to have u both in my team. Basically, 3 runners in a team. Each person must run 2 laps and each lap is 3km. Hence, each person must run 6 km. It was held at ECP. I reached quite early there were quite a few runners setting up already.

Team pic (PassionRunner, Fennel, Stardust)

Race about to start

Running back for my final lap.

Registered, body marking on both my arms, team photo taking, interaction with other runners and the race began. Instead of baton, the passing 'baton' is a banana. The banana that my team used was rather ripe. But cannot eat, or else nothing to pass to my team mate liao. Eventually, my team came in 7th position. Well, it does not matter which placing we came in as it was relax and fun run. Objective was to know and interact with people around. Quite a good turnout of close to 100 runners. And thanks to the sponsors for the items (Nike water bottle and towel). And happy to recive a participation medal which is very nice and unique with 3 small banana on it.

Reciving my medal from TLR

Photo taking

A big family group pic

After that, showerd at ECP and then proceeded to ECP Mac for lunch with Passion, Wendy, Prata, Deepcrusier, Mizoono, Edwin. As usual, I have prepared my own food. Nice time spent on Saturday morning. Went home and had a good sleep. Tired. Woke up in evening and did my tutorial till 1.30am ... rested for 2 hours and then began my Sunday.. (continued at next post)

GE30 race

2008-01-21T13:24:00.000+08:00

Finally, i can put my homewoek and other committment aside and go for an oversea run. For the first time, i will be getting out of Singapore to run for a race. And the first stop shall be Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

Departing Singapore (19 Jan, 7.45am)
it was early morning Saturday morning. While many people were still sleeping, a group of SGRunners gathered at Golden Mile to depart for the Great Eastern Pacesetter Run. I was quite early when i reached. Deepcruiser and Prata were already there when i reached. The weather was colling. Then, Hophlng, Freddy, PassionRunner, Brokie, Vincent, Wendy and Cookie arrived before 7.45am. Boarded the Grassland coach and there we set off. The coach was normal and comfortable. Went through the checkpoint at TUAS followed by Malaysia. It started to drizzile along the way. Enjoyed the scenery and realised that Malaysia has got so much land for plantation. The road seems never ending and this explains why i fell asleep. At 1030 plus, the coach stopped over and we alighted for some makan. Nothing much there to eat. Luckily, i prepared my home cooked fried rice and ate it on the coach. Sonnafter, the coach arrived KL and we headed off to Coronade Hotel to check in. Traffic was heavy but yet we jaywalk to cross the road.

Arrival at KL, Coronade Hotel (19 Jan, 1.30pm)
At the hotel, was informed that there is no water supply..!!?? Oh god, that made evryone worried. How to hyrate, how to shower? But was told that the water supply would resume a few hours later. The tap water was quite dirty (colour is brown). And the air con didnt seems to operate fully. Anyway, Babumouse, Passion, Wendy, Deepcruiser, Hophlng proceed to collect our race pack. Took a cab there as it ws 4km away from our hotel. And Yes, 6 of us squezzed into one cab. 4 guys + 2 girls. Haha. hard to imagine right? But we managed to do that. Cost RM30 (cab driver charged higher due to overload of passengers?) . Reached and collected our stuff, paid. Sad that there was a prinitng error on the running vest. Instead of 30km, it was printed 10km. But never, the quality of the vest was not bad. Everyone was kinda hubngry and so this time round, we also took cab back to the hotel, but now spilted into 3 people per cab as it was will cheaper.
Then to the shaopping mall called LOT 10. Glad to see a vegetarian stall at the Foodcourt (hooray, i dun have to eat bread and cup noodle liao). The rest bought sushi. Then we went into the supermaket to buy bottled mineral water as we really need water to drink. Passion bought more than 5 bottles for drink, shower, etc. Haha. Recived our room key and finally check in into the hotel room. Room was not bad. Opened the curtain and realised it was a site of building construction which is very very near to us. i was telling Deepcruiser that if anything accident happends, the crane could just konck and boke our windows.

Dinner (19 Jan, 6pm)
It was dinner time. We gathered at the lobby at about 6pm. It was quite a big group. Dreamrunner and DO arranged to bring us to eat at this particular famous 'Zhi Char' restaurant somewthere along the street. And i remember that it was the same restaurant that i visited 4 years ago when i came to KL with my family. Anyway, there were 5 tables ocucpied by us. Wow.. at least 50 Singapore runners were there. I guess this boost the business of the restaurant. I had my dinner earlier on at the hotel room as i know there will be no food for me to eat. DO was very kind that he bought me many fruits to eat. For my table, they orderd 9 dishes. it was a great dinner for them and it cost more than RM200. Kayano's table ordered lesser dishes and cost only RM144? ? We were joking that Kayano knows taughter of the Boss, that's y got discount? haha Took a few group picture and headed off for some desserts. I was so full with the fruits. Os i didnt ordered any dessert. So sat doow and chit chat for a whikle beore we proceeded to Jalan Jalan. Well, it was 9pm and there was nothjing much to shop. Hence, a few of us decided to head back to hoel to rest early. Reached the hotel, showered (yes, the water is back and clean) and then drink up, hydrate and then sleep. Could not sleep for the first 1 hour, was turning around on my bed.. but still managed to sleep at 12am.

After makan dinner

Race Day (20 Jan 4.45am)
Set alarm at 4am, woke up, had a warm shower and then gathered 4.45am at lobby. Board the shuttle bus and there we set off to the start point of the race. Rached the start ppoint, registered myself, went to toilet, did some warm up, stretch, positioned myself at the front of the start line. Freddy was besdie me at the front line. Bug was also somewhere near at the start line. At 6am sharp, the horn sounded and the race began. I ran at a constant pace. The first few hundred meter was already an upslope. I was doing good and managed to overtake one runners after another. Was running behind Bug, watching at his bli9nk blink devices as i ran. It was still quite dark. At about 2km, overook Bug and ran upslopes to the private housing estate. From time to time, Bug overtook me as well. It was great time running with Bug, running side by side, pacing and overook one another from time to time. it was not an easy route. Think 70% of the route is up and down slopes (with more upslopes). made an uturn and saw a few runners such as Freddy, Dreamrunner, Passion, DO, prata, Brokie, tigger, Tktan, Cookie on my way back to end point.

The water point was quite insufficient. I think there should have more water point. there were like 4 to 5 water points only. But luckily, i did some 'camel' storing water before the race. Anyway, my leg was so tired that cramp almost came in. Bug was pushing me and asked me go faster and dun slow down. But i am so tired that my leg cannot go faster lei. So we ran together again..Then closer for the last 3km, i speed up and dash through the finishing point at a timing of 2 hrs 12min for a distance of 30km. This was well within my traget time of 2 hrs 15 min. Position no. 13. Quite happy with my performance. Did some stetching, drank up and saw the rest of the runners came back gradually. Freddy came back shortly , then Prata, etc. it was a great race man. Took a group picture then took a cab back to Hotel, washed up, packed up, checkout)

Pic taken by Pacesetter officials

Finisher Medal

Bib No

getting ready to take group pic

Group pic of SGRunners

Looking at this pic, i was wondering why were Kayano and i facing down? got Gold?

Post race (20 Jan 12pm)
met at lobby, bought packed my lunch, took more group pic, headed off to Ba Kut Teh nearby for lunch. yesh, i ate my vegetarain food. The rest went to Jap restauranr for buffet. Didnt join them as a Hophlng and myself didnt have the proper dress code. After lunch, went to Starbuck and we still have more than one hour before we board the coach. Coach arrived 10 mins late at 3.45pm. But the coach was a Royal VIP one. quite luxury. Own mini TV, more spacious, etc. Slept a while and wachted the the chinese Vampire movie. Those Vampire movie that i used to watch when i was a little boy. Really nice and funny show. Crossed check point, Reached Singapore at 10pm. Went home, walking slowly, limping. Checked email and slept. Woke up at 5am again and head off the school for lesson at 8.30am. Tiring.

Thanks all who joined in for the GE30 race. It was fun and enjoyable trip. unfortunately, it was only a short 2 day trip. I would love to stay longer if i have no school. Well, might have to wait for another 2 months before i head down to KL again for the KL marathon (which i am still considering wherether to go :) ) Anyway, all rest well and speedy recovery for the next fun race at ECP - Banana Relay.

Checked out and ready for lunch

Relaxing at Starbucks before heading off to Singapore

Above great pic taken by Brokie and Passion. Thanks Brokie & Passion.

More Pics will be uploaded soon.

Cheers
Stardust

My Name Card

2008-01-14T21:46:00.000+08:00

A namecard service provided by my school. This is my namecard. Hope it will be useful when i apply for my job. Anyone got lobang for accounting/finance job must tell me wo.. :)

Name card in process of printing.

Wedding Pic

2008-01-14T16:32:00.000+08:00

Earlier on, I promised that i will post some pictures of my sis's wedding. Here it goes.

My Sister and I

Myself and my running 'heritage' corner

My little naughty nephew @ wedding dinner

My nephew trying to be a kaypoh.. cute ?

Wedding Dinner

My Brother-in-Law and I and the big 'ang bao' ... :)

My Family

Front Row: Mum with Daryl, Dad, Grandma

Back Row: Bro-In-Law, Sis, Sis, Bro-in-law, Myself

The Big picture with family & relatives

@ Wedding Dinner cocktail reception (Grand Plaza Park Hotel)

Another family pic

Serving tea to the bride & groom

Ready to go down and receive my Bro-In-law

Here comes to groom

Wedding Dinner

Prata Trial Run

2008-01-12T10:34:00.000+08:00

It was Friday evening. Woke up quite late and realised that i have overslept. Supposed to go for a recovery swim in school pool. But still managed to swim although it was quite rush. Managed to stay in the pool for an hour only due to the lecture at 11.30am. The swim was meant as a recovery exercise for my leg, especially feet. Hope the resistance in water helps. Yup, it does help a bit but not much.

Ended my lesson at 3.30pm, proceeded back to my hostel room. Catch a quick nap, changed, early dinner and then headed down to Macritchie Reservoir via bus from Boon Lay Bus interchange.

Macritchie Reservoir (Carpark B - 7.30pm-8pm)
Took me 1.5 hours to reach. Drizziling and quite a heacy traffic. Luckily, i reached just on time. DreamRunner, Prata, Sealboon, Gugugaga, XiaoPang were already there. I was carrying all my barang barang, labtop, bag. Roadrunner, Babumouse and Deepcruiser arrived shortly. Anyway, waited for Passion, Brokie for quite some time before they arrived. Did some warm up, had briefing by Prata and we started off our Prata Trial Run at about 8pm sharp.

Casuarina Prata (8.30pm, 4-5km from MR)
First stop was the casuarina prata shop (next to Old Upper thomson Road) which is about 4km from start point. Pace was moderate for a start. Great to see that another SGRunner, Tohmin joined us at the shop. Roadrunner, myself and Deepcrusier were in the front and reached first and so Roadrunner went to order 4 piece of 'kosong prata. Cutted into a few pieces and each person (except me) ate a smal piece. Took a group pics. Rested for about 10 mins and then headed off to the next Stopover which is Yishun Dam

Yishun Dam (10pm, 14km from MR)
Ran along Old Upper Thomson Road. Pace is faster now. Roadruuner and i leaded the group through, out to Thomson Road, Yishun and stretched all the way to Yishun Dam (which is about 9-10km from Casuarina Prata). Along the way, have to stop for traffic lights. Weather is cooling. No Rain, no drizzile. Arrived at Yishun Dam at about 10pm. The Bridge is kinda long, environemnt is nice. Saw a group of cyclist at the bridge. Then came a cyclist: "Are you all SGRunners? Prata Run?" Wow, looks like SGRunners quite well known, even cyclist also know about our programme. But then realised that he is one of the SGRunners as well, but didnt join us for this run and decided to do an 'Island wide cycling'. Tough training too. The rest of the runners, looking strong, gradually made their way to the Yishun Dam. But then Prata who was sweeping all the while suddenly appear infront of us. For some reason, Passion was already at the next stopover waiting for us. She took a cab there. Haha. Rested enough, Next will be Jalan Kayu Prata

Jalan Kayu Prata (10.45pm, 18km from MR)
To reach Jalan Kayu, we ran along Seletar airport, Seletar West Camp. Along the way, some upslopes. These roads bring me some memory during those days in Seletar Cmap when Roadrunner and i occasionally ran out of Seletar camp to do some running at Seletar Airport road. A mini playground i can say. By the time we reached Jalan Kayu bus stop, mg leg very tired le. Waited at the bus stop for the rest as Roadrunner, myself and Passion didnt know which prata shop to go (to choose between the the Famous one and the Original one). With the advice of DreamRunner, we settle our next prata at the Famous One (which is the one in front). Many people there were like Looking at us (we were very sweaty and shag). Sat down and i had 01 x can of 100 Plus and 02 x can of tap water. The rest ordered a complete piece of Prata. No sharing this time round. Sat down, chit chat, rested. Spent about 30 mins there and then we left.
Of course, we didnt run immediately, took a walk for about 1.5km and resume back the run at Yio Chu Kang Road, heading off to our first stopover, Casuarina. Tohmin fall out and took a slow jog back home nearby.

Casuarina (1230am, 25km from MR)
It was tough to start running. Legs were tired and difficult to lift up. But still, I tried to pushed abit and the momentumn resumed, but the stitch came and gone. Roadrunner and I leaded the group back to Casuarina, DreamRunner and Sealboon were just shortly begind us. Everyone doing great, looking strong. But Babumouse, Gugugaga and xiaopang took a cab back to end point due to cramps. Waited at the Casuarina for the rest, then comes Brokie and her husband. They didnt stop much and proceed ahead to the end point. The came Deepcrusier, Prata and Passion.
Bringing back the momentumn, we headed off to Mac Reservoir which is the start/end point. Deepcruiser fall out and went home along the way. Hmm, so good to stay nearby. hehe

Macritchie Reservoir (1am-1.15am, 30km)
Everyone reached back gradually. All doing fine. Total distance covered is 3o-31km. Did a cool down, chit chat, drank up 100 plus provided by Roadrunner. Some carry on with the bathing at the toilet. I think it was quite cold. For me, i changed to a dry set of attire and 'longpang' Roadrunner's car to Serangoon. Took a cab back home. Thanks Roadrunner for the longpang or else the cab fee will cost me alot. Reached home, showered, massaged my feet, anke and back to bed for a nice rest.

Yes, body is aching but is normal. Who doesnt ache after running 30km right? Feet and ankle is fatigue but still doing fine. Injuries is not there. Thank god man. Anyway, really thank everyone for the Run. Great company. Meeting Gugugaga and Xiaopang for the first time. Thanks RoadRunner for the 100 plus and car ride. Thanks Brokie for the pic taken. Thanks Gugugaga for the bag deposit in your car. And of course prata for initiating this trial run cum farewell run to Passion. Hope everyone is recovering well, resting well and ready for the next training.

8 more days to GE30km Race (KL)

About to Recover fully

2008-01-10T16:01:00.000+08:00

I cannot take it anymore. I need to resume back my running training to maiantain my endurance and fitness. I cannot afford to slack too long. Hence, i finally back to the training ground. But i dare not run for too long. Just a merely 3km in NTU with hills and sopes.Thank god that my anke was doing fine. No pain after the run. But will gradually increase the distance day by day as well as the pace.

And just got informed that there is a race next wednesday night. Is my annual hall run. Well, i will be taking part of course. Just a short 3km race in NTU. Pace gonna be fast and furious. Shall be my first race held at night for the year. well, of course i hope to withhold and defend my title as the defending champion. Gonna be quite competitive. But will try my best to go for it.

10 days to GE 30km Race (KL)

Cheers.

Recovery Well

2008-01-08T16:48:00.000+08:00

It is a slacking week. First week of semester. Nothing much for the first week. Only introduction lectures and seminars. I thought i can have a free day on Friday every week. But then cant get the elective i want, and so ended up have to take another elective which is scheduled for lecture every Friday till late afternoon. That goes my 3 day week. So now it is 4 Day week. Tuesday is my free day.

For the past few days, I have been restricting myself from running. It is now the recovery stage which is very crtitical. Soaked both my feet into cold water and then warm water. Also massage the painful spot. Drank alot of water and sleep. A totoally slacking life for the past few days. feeling very uneasy. Back to healthy diet. The usual organic brown rice soya bean, whole grain cereal, wholemeal bread. The pain is reducing day by day. progressing well. But still need to rest for another few days. Just worried that the pain will come back once i start running. So better rest longer though the pain is gone. Of course i am very tempted to run. By Friday, i should be able to resume my run. And start training for the race on 20 Jan which is 12 days from now. Time is running short.

Time to take a break

2008-01-06T11:26:00.000+08:00

"休息是要跑更远的路, 飞得越高越远越快".

I am very tired. I guess it is time to stop running for a while. Leg have not been doing well since the Ultra marathon last Sunday. It has been a week. But the pain and ache is still there. I thought i have fully recoverd and so did a 27km run yesterday at animiles route. But after running for 10km, the fatigue of leg came back. Cant lift my legs up. Have to walk. Very sad.

So how? Have to rest and rest maybe for another week? Not used to it. I have been running everyday but now have to take a long break. But anyway, i will take the advice to rest and recover well. If not, i will never be able to fly again.

School semester gonna resume tomorrow. LookIng forward to the final sem but yet sianz because i have not rested enough for the term break. My mood now is quite bad due to the inability to run. Forgive me if i pull a long face if u see me.

13 days to GE 30km Run (KL)

Pictures of Ultra Marathon

2008-01-02T13:24:00.000+08:00

Here are some of the photos taken during MR25 Ultra Marathon 2007.

Thanks to a group of photographers who went round the route taking pics of the participants.

After running 4 laps. . Weather is extremely hot. Fell, injured and got my attire dirty

Changed to a new set of attire. This should be the 7th lap

After 11 hrs 18 mins of run, i returned with an 8th lap, waving to those who cheered for me. :)

Prize presenting ceremony. 6th Position. Sky was getting dark.

Countdown to 2008

2008-01-01T09:28:00.000+08:00

It was New Year Eve. The final day of 2007. Same as previous years, i went down to Marina Esplanade to coundown to 2008. I like to see the spectacular firework display. It is an annual thing and we dont get to see firework and countdown as a nation every now and then.

My ankle and leg is still aching. But i managed to pull my leg along down to Esplanade. I reached there pretty early around 7pm. Walked around the Bay and settled down with a good spot with a nice view of the sky. On my left and right are a group of teenagers gathered with their friends and played poker card. My spot was considered spacious such that i can simply change my sitting position if my leg got cramped.

Crowd started coming in from 9pm onwards and it was very very very crowded. With many people, especially the Blangah trying to push into the crowd and get a good location. BUT, there was already no space in the front and they still tried their way in. There was this old uncle and auntie (50+ of age) who were standing at a particular spot who prevented the Blangah form going into the crowd and shouted the Blangah: OUT! GET OUT!. Yes, they were quite fierce. Good Job done. No space still want to 'cut q'.

I must say that the overall, the firework was not that impressive. And i really suggest that they should make full use of the powerful spot lights and played the music and create a magical river musical at least for the last 15 mins before the countdown. But yesterday was only 10 seconds of countdown and then firework. Kinda boring. 2 years ago, i remembered there is some 'river show' before the countdown.

On the way back home, i took more than 1 hour to get to City Hall Mrt. Cant stand those Blangah who kept on pushing and pushing the crowd like nobody business. So fad up ! And i realised that my leg seems to get worse after the long hours of sitting down/waiting. 30 Dec was was 12 hours of run and 31 Dec was 6 hours of sitting down (with restricted movement). I guess i have to skip my New Year run at CBD today. I need ample rest before i can start training for the next race.

By the way, i went there alone. Just want to spend the time alone. Sometime it is nice to be alone, reflecting the past one year of what i have done. It was a good 2007 that i have spent. Great achievement for myself and many first time. National Vertical Marathon, Standard Chartered Marathon, MR25 Ultra Marathon etc. 2007 was indeed a start of my public running competition/race. I have participated in more than 10 over running events in 2007 (the highest so far) and ran about 2300km in 2007.

2008 is indeed a year to look forward to, with more running events/competition, first oversea race, university graduation, career and hopefully a driving license. My resolution for 2008 is to achieve a better running performance than 2007. A faster timing and more laps for 2008. More Personal Best! And most importantly, my graduation in 6 months time and get a good job and start off my career in a govt sector. Anyone got lobang must tell me ya. :)

Wishing all a Happy New Year.

Stardust

MR25 Ultra Marathon

2007-12-31T09:42:00.000+08:00

It was my very first ultra marathon. The longest distance i have ever ran in my life. I managed to endured through the whole race from 7am to 6.18pm. A total of 11 hours 18 mins of continous run with a short break of 5 mins in between. A total distance of about 84km. Running in the macritchie terrain. It was really a tough day, tough run and body torturing day with aches all over the body, abrasion, cut, bruises, blood.

Woke up as early as 4.30am in the morning. Had a plate of fried rice which my mum cooked earlier in the night. Packed my stuff, changed and i left home for the race. Have brought along one packet of fried rice, 2 buns and 3 food bars along. More than enough to last me for the day.

Took a cab and reached MR. There were already quite alot of runners when i reached. Quickly registered myself and got a bib number of 1036. Hang around and chat with a few runners. Everyone well prepared and ready for the race.

At 7am, the race started. I was running alone quite at the front. Until Roadrunner overtake me. Ran through the trail, but roadrunner, myself and another runner actually ran in the wrong route. Instead of turning left, we ran up further. We ended up with a tough terrain. I was very worried and thought that the route would led us to some other unknown location. Was quite sianz half way.. but then somehow the wrong toute led us to the corect route. What a relief. Speed up and catched up, and from there onwards, i ran through the entire race alone. Took about an hour to complete the first lap. (well within my target time).

2nd lap (58 mins)
3rd lap (1 hr 5 min)

By the time i ran the 4th lap, i was quite tired already. Lower limb starts to ache and i even fell down and had a cut on my elbow (somewhere before the golf course). While singlet become dirty.
Took a 10 mins break before i set off for the 5th lap. Caught up with Cheow12 and Deepcsurier, Jordan along the way. All doing well. Motivated each other. Completed my 5 laps around 12.30pm. Half an hour later than my taget time of 12.00pm.

Took a longer break, had some food, water and set off for the 6th laps. More aches, abrasion, thirst, pain developed. Endure Endure and endure and the sun is blazing hot. Running along Ronie road, beside the road is extremely hot. Had a good chat with the rest of the runners at the resting point. Many were resting there and some decided to stop at 5 laps.

I was lazy when unsure wherther to carry on for my 7th lap. My mind is still strong but my leg is very tiring already. cant really lift them up after running for more than 6okm. But then i changed to a new attire and proceeded to walk amost the entire 7th lap as i actually decided to stop after this lap. So might as well just relax and enjoy the scenery and smell the flowers. It started to drizzile and sky turn darker by this time. I took a slow 2 hours to complete my 7th lap.

By the time i completed the 7 th lap, there is still about 2 hours left to the cut off point. I was encouraged by several supporters and runners such as Terrence, Cookie, Bryon, Deepcrusier, Passion to go for one more lap as the chances of getting into top 10 is pretty high if i go for the 8th lap. I was still deciding whether to carry on as my body is really aching. Wanted to call it a day and collect my finisher Tee but the MR25 organiser refused to give me the finisher tee and told me that i should carry on with one more lap. Drank abit, rest for 10 mins, deiciding... With all the motivation, encouragement, i then decided to kicked off for my 8th laps (and must complete within 2 hours). The timing is realistic provided i dont walk.

True enough, i didnt walk and ran all the way. Somehow, i didnt feel so much ache and pain this time round. Along the way, met Lai Chee (this year women's champion) and TLR (this year men's champion - doing his 9th lap). Took about 1 hour and 5 mins to complete my final lap.

Final timing - 11 hour 18 mins and 18 sec for a total of 8 laps (84km ++). Heard some cheers when i returned. Thanks to those SGRUnners over there for the wishes and suppport. You guys really pushed me further. The weather was so kind on us that it only started to rain extremely heavy after the entire race event was over. Yup. It rained at 6.45pm.

Thanks to Deepcrusier - for looking after my bag
Thanks to Prata - offered me H2o drink when i returned
Thanks to Passion - who offered me Deep heat (although i didnt use)
Bryon, terence, Cookie - your motivation and encouragement for my final lap
Raven - for offering to give me a ride to MRT station

Yup, managed to secure in the top 10 men's open. My position was 6th. Recieved prizes comprizes of Nike Shoe, Nike Waist belt, Nike Arm wallet, Nike Socks, Nike Cap and a set of MR25 Runners running attire. It was my first time receieving prize for a public running event. I am very happy. I didnt think of getting into top 10, i only aim to achive a target that i have set for myself. But i didnt achive the target that i have set. Hope to train hard and go for more lap(s) in 2008.

Congratulation to all other prize winners as well as all who partipated in this race. It was not an easy run but everyone has made it (regardless of how many laps we did). Thanks to MR25 for organising this event as well as NIKE for their kind sponsorship and not forgetting those MR25 personnel who were at various water point under the hot sun, ensuring there are suffiient water, 100 plus and bananas for us. Kudos to you guys.

Right now, i am sure everyone has a aching limbs now. Recover well guys.

Next up - Great Eastern pacesetter 3okm race at KL.

Stardust

Exam results

2007-12-28T09:09:00.001+08:00

It is finally over. All the worries and uncomfortable feeling that i had ever since i stepped out from the examination hall in November last month is finally over. Exam result was scheduled to be released on the 28 Dec. But somehow, everyone knows that it will be released the late night before. Before i actually hooked myself to my computers, I had a great run at Esplanade and Kallang.

It was afternoon and headed down to Queensway shopping centre to collect a plaque for my school hall resident. Arranged to meet Passion there since she stay only one bus stop away from Queensway. Walked around the shoppinf centre, looking at Sports apparel. After that proceeded to Funan the IT Mall. Not to buy IT related stuff, but there for run. Was hoping to run the Fort Canning hill. But the route arranged by the organiser was an alternate flat terrain route.

It was my first time meeting the Funan Centre - Running Lab running group. Most of the runners were those that i already met at previous other runs. It was a good turnout. There were about 20 runners. Good misture of male and female. Some the female runners took a shorter 5km run. The distance that i covered today was about 10km. Starting point was at Riverside --- Raffles Place --- Esplanade -- Kallang -- made and u-turn and head back to start point. Total distance covered was about 10km. Met a few runners for the first time. Had a good chat after the run. The weather was cooling and the pace was a very fast one. I started off at a moderate pace but speed up after exiting from the Esplanade. Eddie, Myself and another runner (heard from passion that he is in the National running team) lead the group througout the run. It was a very good opportunity to run together with a natinal team runner. He is fast and it was great running beside him. :)

Back at home and that was when i started to get very nervous. Hoping the exam results would be released soon. Waited for 2 hours, clicking the link once every 5 mins. At 12am, the result was released and i was lucky enough to be among the first few Kiasu student to log into the system. Those of my classmates that logged in a few seconds after 12am had problem accessing the page due to busy network. I guess thousands over students were accessing the server at the same time.

OK. I passed. I thought that i would FAILED one of the subjects. The deadly AA306 was the one that made everyone in my cohort worried. Nobody will confidently say that they will pass it. Everyone was nervous. But it seems that there was some moderation made. Yes. I was happy that i managed to pass the deadly AA306. Although, not an excellent grade. But i am satisfied enough. And guess what? I managed to get the very first 'A' in my NTU life so far. Finally got the chance to smell it and touch it. The rest of the course subjects was not very fantastic. Only average and i must say that i did badlt for Psychology. Too much to memroise already. Hmm.. it seems that 2 subjects taken on the SAME exam day with only a short 1 hour break in between can really cuase me to score badly. This explains why i scored bad for AA306 and psychology.

But anyway, it is over. As long as i know that i have done my best, i am satisifed. Compared to running, when it comes to academic, i am not so ambitious and competitive. As long as i pass and did resonably on average level, i am more than happy. Exam results is not everything, integrity and positive attidude re far more important.

Congratulation to my frenz who did well for the semester. For those who didnt perform well, dont be sad. Life still goes on and work hard next Semester ba. For me, it is gonna be my final semester before graduation and I am gonna to put in 101% effort to push up my GPA.

It is friday already. No more running for me. HAve to rest my body and prepare for a big and super siong race on Sunday. Carbo loading gonna start today. Basically just rest at home. Can feel my body is quite tired now, after running for the past few days of fast furious pace.

2 more days to MR25 Ultra Marathon and 4 more days to Year 2008. Looking forward.

Stardust

A Good Start for 2008 Running Year

2007-12-26T13:36:00.000+08:00

Looking at the first 2 months of my running schedule, I realised it is gonna be a busy year start running around Singapore and even outside Singapore. Here is what i will be running in Jan and Feb 2008

20 Jan : Great Eastern Pacesetter - 3okm (Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur)
26 Jan : Banna Relay - 02 x 3km (ECP)
26 Jan : NTU Inter Hall Road Relay Race - 2km (NTU)
2 Feb : ALIVE!08 NUS Students' Science Club Running Charity ? x 4km(ECP)
3 Feb : World Harmony Run - 21km

Shiok Shiok start for the year 2008 running year.

Join me together for the run.

Cheers

Great Eastern Pacesetter 30KM

2007-12-25T13:20:00.000+08:00

Have signed up for the Great Eastern Pacesetter 30km (GE30) running race. Yup, this will be my first running race outside Singapore. Always wanted to go out of Singapore and experience the run overseas. It will be good to see the world outside. GE30 shall be my stepping stone to more international run in th future. Oh GE30 will be held in KL on 20 Jan 2008. It is not an easy run. Gonna overcome many uphills along the way. But, i shall be a good oversea running experince for me. Managed to book a hotel room for one night and a 2 way bus journey. Thanks Deepcrusier for helping to book the bus. Got Deepcrusier as my roommate for the hotel accomodation. Thanks Deep.

Now, Looks like i gotta to bring my own food to KL already. Maybe bread and water. I am not farmilar with KL and i am not very sure of where to locate my food over there. Perhaps i should do some research to source for my food. Haha..

A few runners have asked me how to run fast and endured through the long distance of run without water. Hmmm, i guess the answer to this is simple but requires very strong self-disciplined. Just share with you guys my 3 steps to running training that i adopt for myself. Well.. basically.. :

(a) Train hard (challenge your limit/endurance) ,
(b) Keep running (daily),
(c) Vegetarian diet

Long period of Vegetarian diet helps to improve my endurance and maintain the clear and light 'qi' within my internal body. The air or so called 'qi' in chinese will be very light or 'qing' in chinese. It is medically and sciencetifically proven. But then, are you willing to give up the meat to adopt a vegetarian diet? Well, it is up to individual.

A date with 3 Hills on Christmas Day

2007-12-25T12:53:00.000+08:00

It is Christmas today. Phone alarmed at 5.15am in the morning. But still refused to wake up. Feeling very tired and sleepy. Have Been waking up very early almost everyday for the past one week. Anyway, managed to make myself leave the bed at 5.30am. Had 01 x biscuit and water and left the house at 6.00am.

Took a train down to Tanjong Pagar MRT. Had arranged to meet Hophlng and Passion at 6.45am. I was early. Hophlng and Passion was late. Met up the rest of the runners outside the MRT station. Had some introduction and short briefing on the running route. Then, the run began.

Ran through several areas and ran up 3 hills today. The pace was slow and relax for a start but gradually, i increase my pace on the first hill onwards. The 3 hills are Mount Faber, Telok Blangah hill, Labrador Park Hill. Among the 3 hillls, Mount Faber is the longest slope among all. It was a very good hill training. Looking forward to more hills. The view at the top of Mount Faber and Telok Blangah view was great. It was at a highland. Running up the slope at fast pace. Good training for the upcoming Ultra Marathon (5 days left). Along the day, had a terrible stitch and slowed down for the first half of the run. Met several runners for the first time. Along the way, we stopped at checkpoints to take a short 3-5 mins break. Total distance covered was about 17km. This is the first Long Distance run for this week.

Thanks Littletigger for organising a run on christmas day. It was indeed a wonderful morning run. Everyone completed the run. Good job, everyone. Hophlng fell and injured his knee cap during the last few km. Hophlng - take good care and speedy recovery ya.

After the run, drank a few cups of H20 and walked my way to Outram Park with Passion and Deepcruiser to take a bus home. On the bus, i was so sleepy that i fell asleep.

For Christmas eve, went to do my own tun at Bedok Reservoir and also to try out part of the park connector. But was quite lost with the park connector leading to East Coast Park. Quite unsure with the overhead bridge to take. But ended running Half round of Bedok Reservoir, Bedok Park and ran back to Bedok Reservoir using the Park connector. It was 1pm in the afternoon. Weather was kinda hot. Ran at a slower pace. Sometime, running under sun and hot weather does improve my running at night. Looking forward to ninja training under the hot sun. But the weather seems to be rainy and cloudy these days.

To all readers of my blog - Merry Christmas and thanks for reading my blog. Enjoy the festive seasons with loads of blessing.

Cheers

Wedding Wedding

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000+08:00

It was not my weding of course but was my sister wedding today. Quite a busy day. Early in the morning, my house was crowded with friends and relatives. It was a very happy occasion. The 'sisters' group of my sis prepared all kinds of test and 'tekan' tasks for my brother-in-law. It was not an easy task. Having to ate bun filled with chilli padi, Wasabi, etc and to go specific door-to-door in my block to get wishes from neighbours. Luckily, i was not part of the 'brothers' group. I was only tasked to open the car door and receive my brother-in-law. At the same time, also can get 'ang bao' from him. Thanks Jimmy. Haha.. Quite a big amount wo.. The weather was great. Cooling and nice. But it rained quite a bit in late afternoon afternoon, but stopped by evening. Everything was so smooth. Thank God.

Then my brother-in-law successfully received my sis. Photo taking here and there. The photographer and videographer were very professional and friendly. Hmmm, i even requested them to take a pic with my running medal and trophies. Will upload the pic soon. For me, i cooked a big pot of Nasi Brani rice and vegetables/mushrooms. The buffet catered was not vegetarain. i requested not to cater vegetarian dishes for me as i was not very confident if the dishes are really adhere to the strict vegetarian ingredients. So to play safe, better prepare my own meal. Glad that my relatives also had the opportunity to try my nasi brani rice. But it was quite plain. Perhaps, i didnt put enough salt. But the feedback was generally not bad. Haha. Unfortunately, i was so busy and forgot to take a pic of the rice that i cooked. recieved my second and third ang bao during the tea serving ceremony when i offered the tea to my sis and brother-in-law. And the fourth ang bao for the receptionist task in the evening. Thanks thanks.

At night was the banquet dinner held at the Grand Plaza Park Hotel. I was tasked as a receptionist at the entrance of the ballroom. I think i am quite experienced with the task. have done this task for many ocaasion from Hall Dinner & Dance, Hall Production, Eldest Sis Wedding and now my second sis wedding. Also made a short video clips for my sis and brother in law. Yup a video clips with pictuere of them from young till now. They saw the video that i did for my hall and so requsted me to do it for them. Of course, i accepted the task as i love doing this and also i should them. Was a great gathering with relatives that i have not met for many years. It was a very starry and beautiful night where everyone came with their best suit and gown. My mum wore a cheong sum for the first time in her life. For me, it was a normal formal attire with tie (which i bought only a few hours before the dinner as all my current tie do not seems to be suitable for my evening shirt that i would be wearing. Everyone in my family look so great, i also want to look smart ma...hehe..afterall it was my sister wedding lei..) Food was great and everthing went on very smoothly. I was very happy for my sister. She really looked elegant with that evening gown and my brother-in-law look great with his evening suit as well. It was a touching night.

Congratulation to Jimmy & Valerie. Wish them the best and looking forward to carry their baby in the near future. Jia You. Off they went for their Honey Moon now. What a lovely couple. :)

Pics will be uploaded soon when they return from their honeymoon.