Twilight Ultra Challenge - 26th till 27th March 2011

Remember that I mentioned previously that I wanted to hit 70km?

Moreover within 10 hours?

Yup...failed on both account.

Terribly too.

But on the good side of things (there always is a good side!!) I've learn somethings that I should/should not do for the Sundown 100km in June this year.

Anyway....flew into Singapore Saturday morning and was glad I bumped into a tiny fraction of the Malaysian contingent heading for the race.

(please refer to picture below)

* At KLIA, with TPC, Frank, Julie, Jamie and Paul.

Arrived and got through custom check with minimal issues.

Arrived and got INto aunt's place at Bedok with minimal issues as well. I'm glad to report that the directions given by my cousin via Whatapps were terribly accurate and I didn't get lost!

After settling in (aunt's gone to Hong Kong for...something), headed back out to meet DOdo and Sandy for lunch at Mount Faber.

Lovely place!!!!

(again, refer to pictures below...and big THANK YOU to Sandy for the pick up/drop off, free shower at office and a great time, plus epic support at race site!!!!)

* At Mount Faber with Sandy and DOdo.

* Lunch at Emerald Lodge. Great view!!!

* The food was pretty good!!!!

* Thanks Sandy for everything!!!!

Got to race site at around 4pm with an hour more to spare.

Race scheduled to start at 5pm sharp.

Collected race bib and cam-whored to no end until the start of the race.

The weather wasn't too sunny or hot....but it was still warm and humid.

And there were so many people at East Coast Park that it might as well have been at Orchard Road!!!!

The race route is simple enough.

The start of the race is the center of it all.

Run to the left end for 2.5km until the check point, turn around, run back. Gives you 5km.

Head on to the right end for another 2.5km (but I swear it felt longer at this end!!!), hit the check point, turn around and head back to the start.

All in all, it was suppose to be a 10km loop.

* With Alexis and Winnie.

The first 10km, was running with Alexis, Winnie and Mo-maniac.

Personally I felt the first 10km running was terrible.

I felt tired.

I felt hot (not the head-turning-wolf-whistling sort that I was hoping for!).

I felt ready to take my afternoon nap.

And I felt like going to the SPCA to get myself a dog...(erm, nevermind...)

* The Malaysian contingent!!!!

The second 10km was easier.

I was already in the groove of things.

The tiredness has somewhat vanished and my legs were in a comfortable running rhythm and I felt that I could go on for quite a bit.

However, we kinda lost Alexis at the second round.

We figured she must be still sorta recovering from Seoul Marathon the week before.

The good feeling lasted for the 3rd 10km loop.

Then things started unravelling.

Started to feel sleepy....(you have to understand that my usual bedtime is 10pm)

Gulped down a bottle of NaughtyG to keep me awake.

Pace slowed down but not that I really care at this point in time.

I just wanted to keep going.

* If you're wondering how we killed time at pit-stop....answer is, mostly cam-whoring. Like above!

And there was a problem of wasting too much time at the center check point.

I wanted Winnie to complete this run with me coz God knows she needed the mileage for the upcoming Sundown 100km.

But I guess she was tired.

In fact, I had a bad feeling that if I've gone off without her, she'd happily settled for 40km and call it a day.

Waited quite a bit for Winnie and Mo-maniac to return from their completion 35th km.

The longer I waited, the more difficult to keep going.

Completion of 40km was a huge relieve for me.

It means I'm over the halfway mark!!!!

And I'm starting to get chafing at the oddest of areas....(but lets not get too specific in chaffed areas in this blog)

After completing 40km, quickly BodyGlided these areas.

Unfortunately the "damage" had already occurred.

Completing 50km was mostly done in pain.

Alexis had a surge of energy after 40km.

So I literally chased her until we completed 50km.

Bringing along my iPod helped tremendously!!!!

But the pain was getting ridiculously unbearable.

Blisters I can handle.

Muscle ache I can ignore.

Chafing.....I rather not talk about it!

Alexis mentioned pre-race that if she, I and Winnie completes at least 60km, we'd get free Italian food. And I LOVE Italian food!!!!!

Oh...and I LOVE it being FREE!!!!

So with new target in mind, tried to nail down 60km and reassess condition after.

Walked from 50-55km.

Then the last 5km, tried to run but the chafing hurt.

But at least I made the 2.5km running and walked the remaining 2.5km.

I swear it was the longest 2.5km ever walked!!!!!!

It felt like forever!!!!

Each step felt like my clothe were grating into my skin.

I wanted time to pass faster.

For the end of the line to be near.

Completed 60km and I know I was not gonna be doing another 10km.

I'm done.

I'm ready to go shower and scream profanities to no one in particular.

I knew the chafing and abrasions were that bad.

* The medal would have cost me extra during registration. Being cheap, I opted for NO medal. So here I am with Alexis' medal for picture taking!

So it was 60km in over 11 hours.

Exact time.....God knows.

I wasn't paying attention to the timer.

So this is what I picked up as lessons from running TUC in preparation to Sundown 100km.

1. Enough sleep leading up to the start of the race. I regretted not napping (although lunch with Sandy and DOdo was more fun!)

2. Lube up!!!!! Like...EVERYWHERE!!!! Lube up at places that I don't usually lube at all coz after 40km, that area (wherever it may be) will start to chaff!!!!!

3. I don't need junkfood to survive ultra. I just need a lot of Coke (the legal drink), coffee and NaughtyG!

4. Not to spend too much time at pit-stops like we did. It kills the momentum and it takes effort to restart the running.

5. iPod IS essential regardless what anyone else says. It is a fantastic time-killer and takes your attention away from the fatigue and aches.

6. Pace someone consistent when finding own rhythm is difficult. Nancy (running as Florence) was brilliant and was superbly consistent in her running pace.

7. As Mo-maniac always say....encourage and BE encouraged!!!

8. Oh yes.....must wear compression shorts!!!

So...am I ready for my 100km?

Gosh....I really hope so.

Special thanks to DOdo, Yimmy, Tey, Kim Lai, Mo-maniac and Selly for the photos stolen for this blog.

Later!!!!!

16 hours is a LONG time!

I'm flying off to Singapore tomorrow for the Twilight Ultra Challenge.

Similar to the one we did back in January at Putrajaya.

Loop at the East Coast Park (10km...more or less sorta loop) as many times as you'd like for 16 hours.

Why 16 hours?

Well....my bet is on the fact that this year's Sundown 100km race's cut off time is 16 hours.

If you can complete 100km in 16 hours at TUC, Sundown is just dress rehearsal and an absolute cinch.

Except the fact I don't plan to be in my feet the entire 16 hours.

Firstly.....since this weekend sorta coincide with 'that time of the month', I'm feeling extra fatigued....and I've not even put on my running shoes yet.

Secondly....running/walking/crawling for the whole 16 hours is just gonna hurt.

Yes I know to a certain masochistic extent, I do like (and on some days, LOVE) the pain, I'm not too keen to be risking injury just yet at this point.

I still have to go push Tobias up those hills at Kenyir Lake Tri!

(shit....I have yet to call Samantha Chan!!!!! *whacks own forehead*)

Can someone appoint themselves to be my official anti-procrastinating reminding officer?!?!

Thirdly......it'll be nice to finish before (like way before) 16 hours, shower, replenish the glycogen lost, and laugh at the people still running and slogging away until the 16 hours is up!!!

Ok fine....not laugh at.....more like cheer and encourage which includes a good dose of humour, resembling laughing. How's that instead?

Anyway...better not curse myself just yet.

I might suddenly find myself on the other end of the laughing line.

But hopefully, I'd complete 70km.

70km within 10 hours (more or less) and I know this 100km thing is in the bag...(preferably leather, stylish and right off the pages of next month's Vogue)

I haven't quite figured out the eating-part of the race yet as I've mentioned earlier that I kinda gave up junk food for Lent.

And I know running that sorta length of distance and duration, I always ALWAYS crave junk food!!!

The saltier the better!!!!

Shit...I'm hungry again.

Anyway....I'm partially packed and ready (sorta) to roll!

Later!!!!!

Abomination unto Nuggan!

Did I mention that I signed up for Kenyir Triathlon?

It's Olympic distance.

Well...something a little further than the usual sprint for me.

This was one race I was never really keen to go for.

Firstly......I got booted out of Terence's car as the applicants for transport in the car was filled up pretty fast.

Yea yea...I was too indecisive early on.

And I figured might as well let those who were a little more serious about biking go ahead onto the car first.

Secondly......Kenyir Tri is famous (as well as synonymous) with rolling hills.

Thirdly.....it was just so freakin far away!!!!!!

It might as well be on the other side of the planet, come to think of it.

Finally.....I didn't block my Monday clinic the day after the event. I usually do for such far-away events just in case I don't make it back to work on time.

(or rather to take a day off to sleep in after the long travel back)

I had already given up on going.

Running long that weekend just seemed more convenient, probably burn a whole lot more calories (thus allowing me a HUGE post-run breakfast!) and didn't involve lugging Tobias in and out of a vehicle (he hates it...I hate it.....mutual hate for lugging).

However, a couple of weeks back, my hospital decided it was gonna celebrate its turning a 100 years in actualization this year by organizing a local run.

So localized was this run, that it was only gonna be 3km for ladies.

(to highlight the sexist categorization, the men get to run 5km!!!!)

Red Turban.....a smart man that he is, knowing that the participation rate among medical staffs was gonna be at an all time low, decided to make it COMPULSORY for all doctors to join this race unless an emergency were to crop up.

Emergencies would be someone dying, if you're on-call, getting hitched (or somewhere along the process that needed you to NOT be at the hospital on that day) or if you're having labour pains.

Other than the above (and probably some other criterias that I've missed), it is COMPULSORY to run/walk/crawl at the event.

I was obviously not keen to be stuck in Ipoh on a weekend that I could be logging like, 30km on Saturday AND on Sunday.......

I really do not wanna be IN the hospital on days that I don't necessarily need to be.

(I do try to limit my hospital-contact time to a bare minimum. It helps my state of mental well being)

Before the announcement of the compulsory-ness of this run, I quickly logged onto the website using the really slow internet connection at the hospital's computer room, and got myself registered for this event.

When you have a smart boss, you kinda really have to think a few steps ahead.

And I almost registered too late.

Several days later at the staff meeting, Red Turban brought up the topic of the Hospital Run and mentioned that it was compulsory for doctors to run and for those deciding on NOT to run, better have a pretty valid reason.

I posed to the crowd that I was doing this tri....and luckily Red Turban said nothing against it.

Woohoo...I'm technically off the hook for this run.

Unfortunately, now that I've mentioned it to him, everyone at work now expects me to race at the tri and come back with some "momentos" ie photos/medals/t-shirt/whatever.

Can't back out now even if I wanted to donate the RM70 registration fee to the organizers.

Yea...I'm now SO looking forward to pushing Tobias up those hills.

Oh well.

Can someone please remind me to call Samantha Chan and get myself a seat on the bus heading up to Kenyir....ASAP!?

Later!!!!!

From the good people of Fresh Air Fund....

....unfortunately I'm not one of them.

I was contacted by Sara again to (in some way) help the Fresh Air Fund garner from publicity for their summer vacation host family sponsorship.

Those keen on knowing further details...please click HERE!

I always feel that Sara thinks too highly of the "capabilities" of this blog of "spreading" important news.

Do click on the link above to learn a little bit more about this foundation.

Later!!!!

Weekend warrior.....

....described me to a T for my current running situation!

So I only had 7km last Monday and I really wanted to hit a minimum of 60km weekly mileage (70km would be Godsend!!!) and the only way to do so was to ramp up the mileage over the weekend.

And you know how I hate running alone.....

As annoying a friend as I was, managed to persuade Winnie to join my long run plans for Saturday AND Sunday. The reluctance for the Saturday 5am start was prominent.

But I figured she too needed the mileage in preparation for Sundown 100k end of June....and like I always say, misery adores company.

And then there was Vincent.

In his persistent denial that he hadn't signed up for Sundown 100k, he proved otherwise by consistently showing up both mornings half hour (at least!) earlier than I did and ran for extra mileage before setting off with us for our long runs.

So....

Saturday, we hit 30km.

Ok....so I rounded up the 29.5km as I had already hit my mental/physical/whatever "wall" and couldn't be bothered to run/walk another step.

(although in retrospect, I should have gone for longer as the weather was gloomy and spelt impending rain....the sorta weather I love! In retrospect, everything seems to make sense.....)

Sunday.....we hit 27km.

Yea yea yea....I so wanted it to be at least 30km.....(in my delusional world, the ideal would be 35km!)

But it was very difficult to arouse from sleep this morning and my legs felt like concrete made with high grade cement (if there was such a thing.....) and all I really wanted to do was head back to snoozeville.

Not exactly a great way to start my long run.

The first 6km was an absolute drag.

And since I was anticipating the fatigue, I brought along 'highly-concentrated-caffeine' mixed with my usual isotonics so keep me from sleep-running.

Sunday's weather was bright, sunny and hot!

Never ideal to run long. I guess I wasn't too keen to even walk the extra 3km in such weather condition. I know....I'm extremely sun-phobic!

But on the up side, I've logged 64km this week!

Yea...I do realize that its probably insufficient in preparation for 100k.....but on the brighter side of things....I've logged 64km this week!!!!!!!

Next weekend, Twilight Ultra Challenge (TUC) in Singapore.

Alexis (PB alert, guys!!!!!) and I have agreed we'd try to hang in there for at least 70km.

I was thinking that if we could hit 70km in 10 hours (TUC gives us 16 hours to run as many kilometers as you want), then we'd be more or less confident that the Sundown 100k would be doable in 16 hours (official cut off time).

I know Jeff had gotten one screw loose again somewhere between his ears and is planning to run until the 16 hours is up at TUC.

I'm currently not too worried about the distance I'd be covering at TUC next Saturday.

Instead, I'm a little worried about what I'm gonna be eating during the whole time.

Prior to Lentan season, I'd say Double Cheeseburger and Double Whooper.

But since I gave up junk food for 40 days, I have another 28 days of no-junk-food clause.

I'm wondering how God would feel if I were to bargain with Him about letting me extend my self-impose noose just for that weekend.

Sigh.

Oh well.

I'd figure something out when the time comes.

Later!!!!!

TGIT!!!!!!

OMG it's Thursday again!?!?

Starting to think time is really trying to out-do me in running pace.

Anyway it has been a tiring and stressful week.

And a little inactive, might I add.

After last Sunday's half marathon, ran a 7km in my trusty KSO on Monday.....a sorta recovery run.

Although come to think of it, not really so, as I tried to push the pace slightly.

The only recovery I've gotten was when I had to walk to ease the tummy rumbles mid-run.

(It's always nice that your stomach never fails to remind you that it's time to eat....even though it's no where near dinner time)

Tuesday.....was finally feeling the fatigue.

Did my planks, free weights and squats.

Partly due to the fact that yesterday's run left an annoying blister at the edge of the right big toe.

Wednesday.....well, I did run....sorta. At least my mind was doing all the running.

In my head, I've done an ultra and then some.

Y'see.....I was on-call and the cortisol level was skyrocketing with no means of plateauing anytime soon.

Everyone seemed to be fighting and attacking each other.

At least I had a good evening brisk walk covering the entire hospital attending to various cases.

Least to say the cortisol levels maintained even at supposed rest at night, as I was up at some ungodly hour mediating between an angry patient and her son.

Caught between the crossfire of verbal attacks and slippers thrown, I consider myself lucky to admit one, shoo off the other and returned to the on-call room unscathed.

With adrenaline pumping, it was very difficult to head off to snoozeland.

Plus some annoying phone calls and a couple of off-the-charts blood pressure readings, it was safe to say I was pretty zombie-fied this morning.

Throw in the Board of Visitors meeting this afternoon (and the tension of getting bombarded on why my patient died of metastatic lymphoma.....like it's my bloody fault that God decided to throw him the cancer-card), I was in no mood to run this evening.

Yeah...shitty TGIT!

I'm not even gonna bother setting my alarm earlier in a 'most-likely-will-fail' attempt to wake up earlier to run before work tomorrow.

I know my body and it is telling me to give it up and stay in bed until it is absolutely necessary to part and head to work.

Anyway...praying (extremely hard) for a double long run weekend!!

30km Saturday AND Sunday.....anyone?

Yawn....

Later!!!!

Bareno Half Marathon - 13 March 2011

First official half marathon for the year of 2011.

(and to think prior to this, I've already done my ultra and full)

Well....here's what went down.

Although predicted to rain the morning of the race, the skies coincidentally dried up right before the start.

Henry and Alexis were kind enough (or perhaps showed some degree of pity) to pick the third wheel up...ie yours truly, for the race.

It left me with a little more time to snooze.

Also left me with enough time to cook up a concoction mixture of lemon flavoured isotonic and NaughtyG shot to carry along during the run.

(besides, since I forgot to charge my camera's battery, I'm left with free hands to hold a water bottle which running)

The race was scheduled to start at 5.30am.

And we got there like.......a little after 5.

Still....enough time to camwhore to whichever camera that was willing to snap.

Despite having just rained, it was rather humid and warm.

Race started on time.

Ran with Mo-maniac, Winnie and Carrie.

Due to the limited medal counts, everyone was in a hurrying mood and sprinted off fast. Thank goodness the rain water had dampened the dust.

Started sipping on my concoction (which Alexis found weird and forewarned me of impending tummy upset) during the first 5km.

I was sweating up a storm and felt really warm and uncomfortable.

The water stations were far and few in between.....

(how far and few in between? Well...there were a total of THREE water stations....serving ONLY plain water! Heck...even Ipoh International Half Marathon does a better job at hydrating its runners!!!!)

I think the kick that came with the NaughtyG shot came in pretty handy as I found the hills to be more fun and effortless than I would usually care to think of them as.

I also found myself to be running faster than I'd like (I'm too prone to late race burn-out and I was trying to pace myself) and many times had to stop at the curb to wait for the rest.

At around 9-10km, after the second water station.......I kinda lost the gang.

I wasn't too sure if they were in front of behind.

I tried waiting for a bit....but no sign of them.

I figured they must be in front.

I charged on (still high on concentrated dose of caffeine thanks to NaughtyG shot) hoping to bump into them.

I completed the first 10km in 1:09....pretty decent in view of the slow start.

At 12km, found James (of themarathonshop.com.my fame) handing out SIS gels.

I asked about Mo-maniac and the rest.

No one saw them.

I was then damn sure they were still behind.

So since I had company of James, John and Gee (who was helping out with the gel distribution)....I hung around waiting for them.

I figured something must have gone wrong.

About 3-4 minutes later, they showed up.

Turned out Carrie vomited once after second hydration station and was in a not too good condition.

We continued pressing on.

It was less than 10km more to go.

My handheld bottle ran dry and I was desperately looking for the next hydration station.

Except that it never did come.

Thankfully the first-aid team were all too kind to offer me some of their water.

(for your info, the third and last water station was around 4km from the finish line)

The last 3km were terrible for Carrie.

She vomited again.

(I have some vomitus stain on my shoes to prove it!)

She said she needed to walk.

Kept urging me to run......or I'd ruin my timing.

(which by the way, if timing had mattered, I would have dump the group once the NaughtyG kicked in!)

Then she started getting dizzy....her visioned blurred momentarily.

I was getting worried.

Yea yea...I know I'm a bloody certified health professional....but does anyone realize that I function in a mental institution?! Or in any medical emergencies, I actually rely a lot on my paramedics to get things done?!

Anyway.....pushed the worst-case scenario thoughts out of my mind.

We are SO close to the finish line.

Told her we'd walk up the hill.

I think she felt better at the downhill as she was able to start running slowly.

Mo-maniac came back to get us....Winnie waited in front....somewhere.

We started together....we're gonna end together.

(perhaps someone might have quoted some famous lines from some combat movie with some heart-wrenching-camaraderie music playing in the delusional background)

And Carrie was absolutely brilliant! She hung in there till the very end.

She ran the entire last kilometer to the finish line!!

(of course, Dannie's presence 500m from the finish line with his camera did help her overcome whatever mental demons she was dealing with)

We both cross the finish line together (more or less)....in 2:32!

No. 89 and 90 position respectively in women's open category.

Not too shabby.

Pretty good Sunday long run with a little hills and speed training thrown in.

A few more photos I stole off my friends:

Thank you Kim Lai, Dannie and Elaine for the photos. Your contribution to the "success" (or lack of it) of this blog shall be duly remembered.

Next race.....Twilight Singapore!!!

Later!!!!

TGIT!!!!!!

So I did mention before that I was gonna wake up super early on weekdays to get my run-ins before rushing off to work.

On a daily basis.

At 5am.

Groggy and tired.

EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I failed on all context.

However (thank goodness!), I did manage to run on Monday, Tuesday and today, due to the lovely gloomy (who doesn't love oxymorons?!) weather that we've been enjoying in Ipoh over the past one week.

Gone are the really hot and scorching evenings and welcome back late afternoon showers that ends ideally before it's time for my runs!!!

Since one week prior to Hong Kong marathon, I've been running in my dependable Brooks Ghost 3 (in all honesty, the previous model was much much better) to get myself back in the groove with running in shoes.

Yes yes...I didn't manage to soar up to the ranks of running a full marathon in VFF yet.

And the maximum I've gotten to was a measly 31km and it was painful after the 20th.

In hindsight, I am thankful that I donned the shoes instead of going with my heart and killing myself on the race course in my VFFs.

I did PB, after all!

But now....it's back to running in my Vibram KSOs again.

First run this Monday.

I forgot how painful the calves could get post-run.

In fact the amnestic phenomenon totally overwhelmed me and forgetting that I had calve pain, decided to run again in the KSOs on Tuesday.

I suffered.....tremendously.....on Wednesday morning.

My calves were achy.

Decided to declare Wednesday as my official day off from running and did some planks to strengthen my core, although it didn't provide the adequate endorphin-oomph that I usually get from running.

But no matter.

Ran again in the KSOs today evening.

Still achy in the calves but in much better condition.

Well...serve me right for giving up the VFF for almost 3 weeks.

I feel like I'm back at square ONE...which is really frustrating.

But not being one to give up easily......I'm determine to increase my "VFF-mileage" back to previous level.

This time I'm gonna take the conservative approach. I'd still do my longest runs in my shoes (as I still need to be running in them for the Sundown 100km) and most long-ish races shod as well.

For example, this Sunday's Bareno Half Marathon. Yes....running in shoes.

I'm not ready to go long in the VFF.

I don't want to be having arch-pain...again.

I'm gonna let my feet adjust accordingly.....however long they wanna take.

So yea......

Come say hi if you spot me running this Sunday during the race.

I'll be the one walking up all those dreaded hills!

Later!!!!

p/s: ....and I still can't find my Marathon Maniac vests. I really need someone to manage my wardrobe!!

Soaking wet and LOVING it!

So the Saturday's really LONG run turned out to be 25km in total distance.

Yea...not that long as initially imagined...(but I did sleep in my compression tights just for the heck of it)

Not that we didn't want to....but Vincent had a nagging knee pain, therefore the really LONG run was cut short really quickly.

Might as well....the weather wasn't that conducive for many hours on the road. It was too sunny and warm, too early in the morning.

And I figured I'm probably too young to wanna develop skin cancer.

Sunday, total mileage was 17km.

Alexis and I had the Adination Breakfast Run at 7am but we were determined to log extra mileage.

(ok ok...so I was the idiot who was super determine for extra mileage as Alexis was post-PB-marathon in Tokyo and was looking for a chill recovery run)

However, the sleep debt that I've collected over the past week finally caught up with me that morning and I was literally running on empty.

I still find it very amazing that I managed the 3 loops for the Adination Run at Lake Gardens.

(the hills were crazy.....especially since I was ready to head back to sleep!)

And since I had measly mileage for the past week (a total of only 42km.....c'mon, hardly suffice for ultra training!!!!), I've made up my mind (really really really!!!!) to make sure I continue logging some mileage (who cares if it's just junk miles?!) during the weekday.

I (promise promise promise!!!) am determine to wake up super early to get my run-ins before heading to work...fingers crossed.

But since I headed back Ipoh this morning, I had no choice but to make sure I run in the evening.

The weather was not as scorching as usual.

In fact there were some random grey clouds over the horizon, strategically covering the dreaded sun rays.

I got to Polo Ground to start my run, initially planned a 7km....preferably 10km.

And I needed to get myself back into my Vibrams....(I've been in shoes since HK marathon!!!)

I started my run.

Felt alright.

Tired....yes, but not fatigued and can still carry on running at a decent pace.

More grey clouds overhead.

Then a drizzle or two.

Great!!!! The weather is starting to look lovely for a run!!!!

About a kilometer in, the occasional drizzle progressed into a constant light shower.

Yup....definitely perfect weather for an evening run!

About 500m on, the rain was pelting against my skin. Within 5 minutes, I was soaking wet.

But I am not going to turn back.

I was already 2km-ish into my run.

I'm already drenched. I might as well just complete this.

The next 2km....the rain was massive!!!!

Sides of the road where I was running on was now mildly flooded.

My feet were underwater until ankle level.

And I was splashed by passing cars so many times I that I stop bothering to count.

I decided I wasn't going to go the whole 7km.

I make a detour to complete the 5km loop instead.

My running shorts were soaked through and through every sweat-wicking fiber and it was heavy with the weight of the rain water.

And throughout the last kilometer, it had threatened many times to slide off my perky behind and potentially allowing me to moon every single vehicle overtaking me.

But in the end...completed the 5km in 33 minutes.

Not too shabby....for my standard anyway.

I quickly climbed into my car, and probably allowed the water off me to soak through my car seat.

I'm sitting there, an absolute mess....and loving every minute of it!!!

I've never felt to invigorated in quite a while.

I'd say...bring on the rain!!!!

Later!!!!

TGIT!!!!!!

Yea I know TODAY is Friday......but I've yet to post up my TGIT nonsense yet.

I blame the crap internet connection yesterday......y'know, the non-existential sort.

Anyway....I'm yet to start my morning run since the last blog post.

Well....Monday was dedicated to working on my core (which since I've started, no more lower back ache at the end of long runs!!!), Tuesday was spent running around on hospital grounds attending to other people's psychoses and neuroses (like, literally), spent Wednesday walking around like the living dead (and unfortunately, the sort that doesn't find sleep easy to fall into), failed to wake up on time on Thursday morning (and spent Thursday evening at the movies)....and brain was in hyperactive mode post-movie and couldn't get myself to enter slumberland, thus resulting in oversleeping on Friday morning!!!

Yup...that just about summed up my whole entire week thus far.

Anyway......

Vincent asked if I was interested to run REALLY long on Saturday morning and to start at 4.30am.

I don't know how long is REALLY long...but I presume that it would necessarily require some sort of compression wear for the lower limb post-run for recovery. Yea...that sorta 'long'.

But considering that I'm still recovering from my lack of sleep all the way back since Tuesday night, I wasn't too keen to wake up too early to run.

But REALLY long piqued my interest and after the brain and body debated over the pros and cons of waking up super early to run, we've come to a conclusion that we'll start running at 5am instead.

The wonderful bargaining power of an extra half hour of sleep.....priceless, don't you agree?

Well....since there isn't much to blog about running per se, I'll just randomly post up some photos of food (my absolute favourite!) and other nonsense I've encountered this week.

Photo-log:

* Mom and I stumbled onto this really interesting restaurant last Saturday night as we were roaming the streets of Uptown Damansara in search of something interesting to eat for dinner.

We came across the shop entirely by accident. She needed to go to a nearby bank...and there was parking right in front of this shop.

It's called 'Gomei' (I don't know if it's word play with phonetics for the word 'gourmet') and it's a fast food restaurant...Japanese style.

And I definitely recommend the bento set which cost only RM10. The beef teriyaki is actually pretty good!!!

* There are other stuff on their menu as well...but none is as worth our inflated currency as the bento set!!!! Must MUST order the beef teriyaki!!!!!

* Mich has been showing me the latest book she's reading at the moment in anticipation of her blind date this coming weekend.

Of course, it was aptly named "The Art of the First Date"......

(although come to think of it, it was very worrying that she actually bought this book from a Christian bookstore!)

* She was reading out to me all the quirky notes from the book.

The above is (apparently) a sure-fire way to tell if a girl likes a guy...or at least somewhat interested in.

She told me to give it go at one of my male runner friends to see if it works.

I told her I ain't the sort that giggles.

* We decided to head for Ayam Penyet (squished up chicken would be my direct translation).....just to say that we've tried it.

No big deal...and we've decided we ain't going back there anymore!!!

* ....and the worst part was that the chilli gave me tummy upset the very next day.

* Went for Hong Kong dessert as well. I was still on my HK-high.

Luckily there was this dessert restaurant right opposite the squished-chicken place.

* ....let's just say we are crossing this place off our 'places-to-recommend' list.

* Steamed milk.....I really miss the HK ones!!!

* Going Korean for lunch.

Bibimbap and beef gulgogi @ Onix Jun in Ipoh Garden East area.

I LOVE this place.

Alright. Better pack myself off to bed for my 5am run tomorrow morning.

Erm....are you hungry yet?

Later!!!!

Ho-hums....

Weather in the evenings in Ipoh lately has been pretty sucky.

It has been fluctuating between extreme scorching heat that could mimic Badwaters.....and freaky thunderstorms that could easily lift off trees from its roots, with trunks larger than my waist circumference on average, and with rainfall of such great amount that it could drown stray kitties on the streets (don't mind the dramatization).

Between those two spectrums of undesirable weather.....that leaves me with (3) choices:

1. having to endure the extremes in weather and run regardless....

2. not run and risk killing myself during the Sundown 100k....(not to mention the unsightly possible weight gain, which could lead to metabolic syndrome in the near future, thus killing me in the process anyway)

3. having to wake up at some ungodly hour in the morning on a WEEKDAY to run before work.....

Gosh....I don't know which is worse.

At first glance, none of the above 3 choices seemed doable.

Ok ok...so I'm exaggerating to no ends.

Perhaps I should re-phrase it and mentioned that none of the above 3 choices seemed desirable at the moment.

I know I know.....I should stop being such a lazy bum and start waking up early to run.

I mean, I've done it before.

I do it on weekends, for crying out loud.

But waking up earlier than it is necessary on weekdays just seemed....cruel!!!!

Oh alright.

I'll give that waking up early on weekday thing a go...erm....on Thursday morning.

(because I'm on my 35 hour work thing again and will be spending Wednesday morning in the hospital...therefore, no run!)

The thought is just so depressing....

But totally necessary to live to boast that I've succeeded in running 100k!!!!

Later!!!!