Updates!!!!!

Ok let's see.....

I finally gotten my bus tix down to Singapore for this Sunday's marathon settled despite the initial Oh-my-gawd-I-totally-forgot-to-buy-air-tix-and-how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-go-Singapore fiasco.

However in the same fiasco fashion, mom accidentally booked only the going-ticket....not the coming-back ones.....which again left me in a bit of a worrying state.....but thankfully was able to hitch a ride with David back to KL.....of course, he was more than happy to offer since I actually offered to drive him, his passengers and myself back.

Thankfully I like to drive long distance.

I'm sure David is pretty thankful for that as well since he's trying his darnest to sub-5, before his IM Melbourne early next year.

Having that settled.....(plus settling my leave from work).....I am definitely at a peace of mind.

Last Sunday's working at the Nike 10km Run didn't turn out as bad as initially thought....thanks to the power of POSITIVE THINKING (excuse me if I start to sound a little new-age-Rhonda-Byrne-NLP-shit, but I swear it works!).......

Not only was I stationed at the "easier" medic tent (we only got hassled for muscle cramps and blisters), my medic tent was situated right next to Auntie Jenny's volunteer tent and the ice cream van.

Aside from the medic peeps (GlobalDoctors) feeding me breakfast and steady supply of coffee, Auntie Jenny fed me Domino's pizza (don't ask me where these volunteers get them from) and my friends kept giving me free ice cream they've scored off the ice cream van (part of the sponsors, I suspect).

Oh...and I got paid! Hoorah!!

Work finished on time....and I was home in time for my late morning nap prior to lunch!

(hey...it's tapering week for my Singapore Marathon....I say I need more rest!)

Photo-log below courtesy of Elaine, Azri and Dannie.

* Caught eating ice cream while at work. Well...it wasn't busy and I thought it was awfully rude to reject free ice creams!!!!

* Met up with a lot of people...including long time "patient", Mo-maniac.....

Not been taking his meds, obviously....

* Everyone thought it was funny to come into the tent for analgesic creams and cold spray.

Anyway, I was sifting through the store room and found several pairs of running shoes that I no longer run in for reasons I rather not discuss on this blog, I decided to bring them to the Running Lab at Tropicana City Mall to donate them for the Project Love Sneakers that would benefit Karen's Run For Orang Asli.

Each pair (in wearable condition!!!) donated will receive a RM100 voucher for their next running shoe purchase (minus Asics) from Running Lab.

This program ends 11th December 2011. So if you have a pre-loved (or never been loved!) pair of running shoe still in good condition and you are looking to dispose of it, do drop by Running Lab and hopefully, your old shoes will be given new life (one way or another) by the Run For Orang Asli organization.

* My old Brooks Axiom and my Nike Triax. Hopefully they will find a better home than my store room could offer.....

* Get your old shoes in by 11th December 2011!!!

* Well....I kinda used one of the vouchers to purchase another pair of "Lizard"....this time in black. Hopefully Daryl will be nice enough to lengthen the second toe-sock to accommodate my Morton's toe....(coz I absolutely love what he did with my old blue "Lizard"!!)

* Say hi to Frank when you get there. Don't bother mentioning my name....you ain't getting any special treatment that way.....(and this ain't that kinda blog!!!)

On a more sombre note, last Sunday my friend Cyn was at Phuket participating in the Laguna Triathlon and was unfortunately involved in quite a major mishap that includes her....her Specialized bike....and a road divider.....and is now still in hospital admission in Phuket.

I'm praying for her speedy recovery and I do hope she'll be back well and able....and raring to go back in action.

* Picture courtesy of Nik.....yours truly and Cyn at Miri Tri....

On a less sombre note, I'm having major Chatime addiction and I'm up for any get-togethers that include a stop-over at Chatime!!!

5 days until my final (official) race of the year.

I'm gonna be SO depress after this....sigh.

Later!!!!!

Much ado about nothing much in particular.....

I'm a little depress since yesterday over the fact that I won't be running tomorrow's Nike Run KL 10km run due to work commitments (and yes, I was reminded that I was a fool for being a bit too empathetic towards my colleagues and thus giving up running tomorrow's race to man the medical tent at the same said event), although in all honesty, I hate the word WORK and the word COMMITMENT and I hate it even more when they are used in the same sentence.

And I hate people rubbing my face in at the fact that I won't be running especially when said people are my so-called friends.

Anyway felt a little better after this morning's 10km run, dressed in what I would have been wearing if I were to race tomorrow (silly...I know, but heck....it does help!!!), despite receptors in the brain not yet fully saturated with endorphins......but I'll take whatever I can get.

What is getting me through is knowing I could run on Monday since it's a public holiday.

(you gotta love this country for its inexhaustible public holidays!!)

After this morning's run....I was reminded by someone that I still am in debt by 2 race reports for this blog....being the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon and the Miri Triathlon.

I did mention a few blog posts earlier that I was in no mood (then) to blog about those races since it's been quite a while and I'm kinda lacking in things to say about those races (which is kinda rare an occurrence for my situation coz I almost always have something to say about things)......but I guess I should at least try to post something (anything!?) about those events.

I guess they do deserve to be listed on this blog (although I'm not too sure who is actually interested in reading about a couple of races that I did a couple of months back).

But let me ease into blogging about past events by posting several pictures taken from my week off work in East Malaysia.

Mind you, these pictures were taken off Rupert's mobile phone camera.....(in the process of packing really light for the trip, I somehow decided that my camera was a tad too heavy to be brought along....yea yea I know, dumb idea)

Photo-log below are pictures taken when we were in Miri (several days after the Climbathon and a day before the tri).

* Flight from Kota Kinabalu to Miri on MAS Wings. It was a really tiny plane.

* First day in Miri, and since devoid of ideas of anything interesting to do, we cycled around in search of a decent beach. We still have not found it. Tobias above resting underneath a very sparse coconut tree.

* Since there was no way in hell we could be doing Mulu Caves with the time limitation we were facing, Niah Cave was the next best thing since it was a one-day trip.

* Ready for the caves....

* The pictures does the actual view and cave no justice. I guess nothing beats actually BEING there and experiencing it.

* Toying around....although I honestly cannot remember what the heck I was doing...

* Coming out form the pitch black darkness of the caves.......reeking of the aroma of bat excretions.

* Found some rare life form during our trek back.....and no, I do not mean us.

* Despite the guide repeatedly mentioning that it was very VERY rare a lizard to be found around in these parts of the national park, Rupert can't help but feel very hungry....

So now....have a little patience and I'll get around to my write up on the Climbathon and the tri.

I'm thinking super-positive (or at least trying my best to) about working tomorrow morning.

Perhaps (huge perhaps) I'll score some goodies from the organizers, get paid, no one gets injured......and I get to go home really early!!!!!

Yes....positive thinking......

Later!!!!

Penang Bridge Marathon - 20th November 2011

Penang bridge marathon is always such a sleep deprived run.

A race that starts at 2am for a full marathon which requires me to get to the starting line by 12 midnight to avoid road closures, which means I have to be prepared by 11pm to go.

That doesn't leave me with much time for snoozing.

I keep telling myself I would never put myself through that sorta sleep deprivation again after last year's event....but found myself in Penang on race weekend, registered to run and all raring to go.

Sigh.

Sometimes I just never ever learn.

(who says doctors are a smart lot?!?! I reckon my IQ drops by 1% with every additional number to my chronological age)

Met up with the usual who's who in my immediate running circle.....ate a lot.....met more people....

The usual race routine...

Race kit collection went off without a hitch.

* Nope....not elite yet....but it is always good to have a dream.....well, more or less.

* KD came all the way from Kota Kinabalu just for this race.

Barely with any shut eye in our sleep-bank......Carol, Elaine, AP and I made our way to the starting line at around midnight.

It was amazing to see many other sleep-deprived people hanging around Queensbay Mall area waiting for the race to start.

Gosh I can't remember the last time I was up and about so late (or early!) in the day.

(I'm the type that sleeps early and probably snooze off during midnight movies, which honestly is such a waste of money to be sleeping in the cinema)

* Terence handing out salt tablets.

The full marathon started at 2am.

(probably just getting around to my REM sleep at the moment and having my cells regenerating and repairing itself......if I was actually in bed!)

Standing at the starting line.....I have absolutely no aim for this race whatsoever......except to finish before 6 hours.....with minimal blisters.....and hopefully no chafing.....oh, and preferably with some hot dude's phone number written on my forearm.

Despite not sleeping for the past God-knows-how-many-hours, it is always good to be optimistic and hopeful.

* At the starting line...

* Dannie and Mo-maniac with getting their whistles on!

Race started right on time.

I ran along side Winnie, Mo-maniac, Lawrence and Carol.

I didn't know what their aim was.....but I was too lazy to set my own pace and was quite happy to tag along someone else's.....at least until my muscles are warmed up enough and I'm fully awake.

* Chooiwan pacing the 6 hour group.

The initial 5km was very humid....very packed.....very tiring.

Breakfast (or supper) hadn't quite gone down well with the digestive tract yet and I'm sweating bucket loads and feeling super uncomfortable.

.....and then we got on the bridge.

The cool night breeze was very refreshing.

Running with the group was really fun......it was like an ultra-long LSD done in the middle of the night, far away from the comforts of KL.

......aside the fact that Mo-maniac did not permit us to walk up the incline on the bridge and my tympanic membrane had to endure his intermittent whistle blowing.

* Half of AP....Karen......someone......and Winnie.

* The turnaround for the half marathoners......

* Karen Siah (I wanna grow up to be just like her....then I realized that she's younger than me...hmmmm) with Mo-maniac.

Getting to the end of the bridge was alright.

I felt great (once I was awake!) and the pace felt pretty effortless.

I didn't wanna pull away......I didn't wanna lose the camaraderie......and I suspect I might have withdrawal symptoms if I lose the whistle blower too quickly.

Once across to the other side of the bridge.....I was starting to feel a little tired.

I told myself I was gonna walk up the incline this time around....regardless of what the whistle blower says.......

I was also starting to get a little hungry.

Passed the 20km mark....glanced down at the Garmin.....2:25.

A very typical timing at this point in time of a very typical full marathon race.

Ain't gonna be sub-5-ing it....but it'll be a comfortable sub-6 for sure.

Passed the top of the bridge going onto descent, I was praying very VERY hard for rain.

Rain could have presented itself as an uplifting motivator (I love running in the rain minus the probability of death by lightning strike).......and it was as good as a strong cup of coffee in perking me up at that point!

Alas.....someone else prayed a whole lot harder than me for a very dry race.

* Lawrence and Winnie...

* They served buns!!!! It was very bland...but I was very hungry and I didn't really care what it tasted like.

* Lee Yong, Mo-maniac and Winnie

I was starting to toy with fatigue at the end of the bridge, just as we were starting off into Jelutong Highway.

At that point, I was running with Karen, Winnie and Mo-maniac.....more or less.

I was so tired that at that point, I was doing intermittent-run-walk with Karen.

We kinda lost Winnie somewhere back there.

At the turn around further up the highway, we kinda lost Mo-maniac as well.

So run-walk-run-walk.....take pictures of people I know on the other side of the highway......continue run-walk-run-walk.......

Honestly, the run-walk-run-walk routine was a whole lot easier and broke the monotony of the endless road that is Jelutong Highway.

It made things more fun and time seemed to past a whole lot faster.

I don't care what people say about this technique....but I made a convert out of Karen.

* Yours truly and Karen....

Heading back to Queensbay....we could see the sun rising over the horizon.

Absolutely breath taking.

We merged with the 10km and the fun-runners.....and we knew we were THIS close to the finish line.

The last 3km was horrendous.

Literally running on empty.....my lower half of my body hurts.....I'm tired.....I'm sleepy......I'm hungry.....I'm in pain.....(someone remind me why the hell am I doing this again!?!?!)

And I just wanna get to the finish line and stop running!!!

2km more to go.

Everyone around me was running fast.

So yea....they were running a 10km......but it was shit annoying that everyone around me seemed to be happily overtaking me. And I seemed SO bloody slow!!!

I'm NOT gonna walk....and I'm gonna run all the way until the finish line!!!!

1km more to go.

I just want to stop running NOW!!!!

Karen was still beside me.

I didn't wanna walk coz I was encouraging her not to walk and I didn't wanna be so hypocritical about the whole thing.....so I kept on pushing through the pain.

I can see Queensbay Mall!!!!

Just a little further up.

I so wanna throw my running shoes away and soak my feet in ice cold water right NOW!!!

Gotta keep going.....

I can see the finish line!!!!

I always always ALWAYS sprint (or at least it seemed like a sprint to me) to the finish line.

Dig deep.....grit the teeth.....and run fast.

Once I cross the timing mat.....paused the Garmin.....and huge sigh of relief.

I'm done!!!!

* Queensbay Mall right ahead of us!

* With Lydia

* Jason and AP

So.....finished in less than 6 hours (checked!)......minimal blisters (checked!)......no chafing (failed!)......hot dude's number (epic fail....but that was because the field lacked potential!)

Now the pain is gone, the chafing healed and I'm back to "normal".....then I realize.....

.....I'm doing it all over again in 2 weeks time.

Sigh.

Later!!!