Ultimate resolution for 2012

Turned 30 a couple of days back......

I had half a mind to expect a partial doom and gloom, and perhaps some epiphany of sorts....or some enlightenment that I would expect to be entitled to upon entering the new decade of life.

But instead.....it turned out to be mundanely normal.

Yes....no fireworks, no sudden appearance of fine lines, so sudden outburst of strands of white hair, no sudden realization of exponential decrement of functioning brain neurons.

Very eerily normal.

So...this is what turning 30 is all about.

I kinda blame Hollywood for my unrealistic expectations.

Sheesh.....and to think the anxiety of the week leading up to this "momentous" turning of age was nothing more than my own arrogant, self-important projections onto self.

Turning 30 was just another everyday occurrence.

Life really does just goes on.

I was recently asked by Mr. Anonymous about my resolutions for the new year....with entering a new age-group category and all.....and as I was about to regurgitate from my mental list of resolutions.....when I got past the number 1 and number 2 on my list, I paused.....

Mr. Anonymous asked if I was just starting to make up the list there and then.....

(I sometimes do have a tendency of doing that....)

It wasn't that.

I actually had a proper list made.

But as I was re-telling it, I realized that none of the resolutions in that list (I have 13, by the way) carried any weight of importance aside from, except maybe number 1 (yes, passing my first year post-graduate exam is of utmost importance!!!!), and I should really sit down and come up with just A FEW realistic resolutions that would, somehow, better my life in some way or another.

I thought about it the whole entire night.

(ok so that was a lie...I just thought about while I was stuck in traffic while driving back home after dinner)

I've decided aside from not failing the exam.....the only thing that I really want achieved before 2013 rolls around was to attain the virtue that is PATIENCE.

Simple...but true.

If you know me well enough, you would know that PATIENCE is never one of my strong points.

As a self-diagnosed Type A personality sort.....PATIENCE always seemed overrated.

I HATE waiting at the traffic lights (and thank goodness have not yet been stopped by traffic police for ignoring the red lights on a regular basis), I HATE waiting in queues, I HATE traffic jams...I HATE waiting for anything!!!!

Waiting and doing nothing is the worse human invention ever!!!!

(although I know many would gladly disagree to the above statement)

But since bidding adieu to my 20s, I figured I better get myself some of this PATIENCE before I head into mid-30s and REGRET starts being the regular occurring THEME in my life.

So....how do once attain PATIENCE?

Gosh I wish I knew.

I'm currently open to pointers....so feel free to feel that you can somehow contribute to the development of my PATIENCE.

But try not to take too long to come up with the advices.

I'm still very impatient in that sense!!!!

Later!!!!

Bring on the holidays!!!!

It is Chinese New Year eve.....

Frankly I can't believe it is that time of the year again.

Didn't Christmas just like....pass!?

And dang.....I still have yet to post up anything about the Newton New Year challenge on the first day of 2012!!!!

Dude....someone should really tell God to slow down the time process.

I'm losing track of the days gone by!!!

Anyway it is also dawning on me that the Hong Kong Marathon is less than 2 weeks away.

I've neither been running consistently.....or been doing any weekend long runs....like, for the longest time ever!!!!

My last long-anything.....was the 25km that I felt obligated to run on the first day of the year.

And after that.....nothing.

(not entirely true if you consider rock climbing and cycling as something....)

Honestly, I still have yet to find my missing running mojo.

Anyhow.....received the weekly running email from Winnie about the current long weekend running menu.

Saturday: 16.88km

Sunday: 16.88km

Monday: 12.88km

Tuesday: 30km (it's my big 3-0.....I feel extremely obligated to log the mileage)

(mind you that Terence is HUGE on the lucky number 8 for the year of the Dragon)

With a full marathon looming, I figured it is high time I get my arse moving and log the necessary mileage.

Not that I'm worried about not being able to finish the 42km distance (I can easily make it by in 6 hours, more or less, with minimal training)......but more anxious about not making a decent timing...considering I managed to sub-5 it at this race last year.

It's kinda like pre-performance anxiety.

And I'm not too sure how much cycling and rock climbing are gonna help in my performance on the 5th of February (aka race day).

So at 5.30am Sunday, I found myself at the Bukit Aman car park with Terence.....to log 5km before the 16.88.

So managed a 20km total (according to Garmin) on Saturday...(I took a short cut which explains my total mileage for the day)

It feels kinda weird to be running long again.

It also feels kinda weird when your running group has expanded exponentially since you last participated in it.....and you vaguely know the names of most of the other runners in the group.

(I'm sure some of them are in my Facebook list by now)

And it sucks that I feel my gastrocnemius and quads aching after JUST a 20km run!!!!

An absolute disappointing discovery considering at one point in time last year, we were logging 30-40km/day on a Saturday AND on a Sunday with minimal issues!!!

Figured if mojo fails to return before the embarkment of race, I'll log my mileage by sheer will power.

And trust me on that.....trying to get up this morning for another long run was definitely digging deeper than I would normally like to.

I took a short cut again and managed a 15km.

Not too shabby.....

The first few kilometers....I had to ignore that stupid voice inside my head that told me I was an idiot for not sleeping in.

It got a little better about 5km in.....

That was when I found a glimmer of hope of ever re-discovering my running mojo.

Running with KD and gossiping the entire way definitely helped.

So did the rain during the last 3km.

Post-run.....gastroc and quads didn't ache as much as they did the day before.

* Photos for Foo.....Saturday's run.

* Photo by YKK.....a very wet and drenched Sunday run.

Well....I have two more days to go....let's hope by the end of it, I'll be somewhat as passionate about running like I was earlier last year.

And maybe once I regain my former glorious self.....I might consider taking up the challenge of another ultra.

Erm....TMBT?!?!?!?!

Sigh.....I kinda miss my old running-self.

Later!!!!!

Battered bike

I knew Tobias is capable to an 80km ride to Port Dickson.

At least I secretly prayed that he was.

I am now thoroughly convinced of that capability....especially since he made it there and back.

However, the engine "failure" during long steep hill climbs during the last 20km on the journey back, well....that is a whole different story.

I am also thoroughly convinced that Tobias is capable of surviving a bike crash and still able to withstand the journey to PD.

Yup.....Tobias had another bike crash (his first was on our 2nd ride ever together.....like, a couple of days before our first ever tri together)......and this time around, only sustain minimal wonkiness to the front wheel.

Amazingly it didn't interfere with the front brakes so I figured he could still ride it out to PD.

(erm....we crashed within 5km of starting the ride. And I rather not discuss in length the incident. Just need to know that it involves turning to the left lane on a highway.....speeding black car......Ellya suddenly braking in front of me.....failure to brake in time......crashing into Ellya.....and then being hit from the back by Nyan......mechanism of injury unsure......cracked helmut and a very bruised back and right knee)

Otherwise, Tobias was pretty much unfazed.

I knew there must be some good points for owning a bike that weights a tonne!!!!

Anyway....had another fall on the return trip and made the front wheel even more wonky than before.

This time around, it was interfering with the front brakes and Ellya helped loosen the brakes so that I could still cycle back.

But enough about Tobias.

The ride to PD was Cyn's idea.....especially after we participated in Richard's birthday ride last month to Ijok.

We wanted to do something "memorable"......that includes some sort of training......like, by the way, to celebrate Syerol's, Cyn's, Rupert's and yours truly's birthday!!!

(there was also an open water swim and a 10km run which I happily sat out on both.....coz I was sane enough this year to not have signed up for any long distance/Ironman tri!!!!)

But in retrospect.....we ate a whole lot more than we actually cycled.

Oh what the heck........ain't that is what birthday celebrations are all about!?!?!

Friends.....holiday.....FOOD!!!!!

Photo-log:

(photos stolen off others.....you know who you are!!!!)

* Second pit-stop for the trip to PD.

* First "happy-birthday-to-us" cake cutting ceremony....

Cake courtesy of Pn. Liza of Petronas.

* Second "happy-birthday-to-us" cake cutting ceremony.....

Mind you we have yet to digest the first cake....

Cake courtesy of Syerol and his Petronas team.

* Third "happy-birthday-to-us" cake cutting ceremony.....

All within 5 hours from the first cake!!!!!

M-dot cake courtesy of Cyn....

* Fourth (and final!!! Phew....) "happy-birthday-to-us" cake cutting ceremony!!!

Tadonamo cake with M-dot lining at the side, courtesy of Ellya.

I have enough cake to last me for a couple of weeks!!!!

* Hershey's kisses courtesy of Yvonne....

* The ride back.....both bike and owner equally exhausted and sleep deprived!

*......yea yea.....will aim to get clip shoes before next birthday ride!!! (feel free to chip in monetarily!!!)

Anyway will be sending in Tobias to KSH for a fixer-upper....and hopefully he'll be back in action ASAP!!!!!

I don't care what people say but I *HEART* that bike!

Later!!!!

Updates!!!!!

Don't have to remind me....I know I've been neglecting this blog tremendously.

I can't even remember the last time I had a blog entry.....(although I did check and I now know it was 3rd January)

But for your info......I've not done much running since the Newton New Year 25km Challenge.....and that 5km run that I did last Thursday, which I am happy to report that I could still get done within 30 minutes.

Phew...good to know I'm not aging at an exponential rate yet.

Been heading to the gym on off......rock climbing on off......dusting the fluff off Tobias on off......

And I'm happy to report that Tobias has been getting a bit of a workout....but no, he has not lost any weight still, FYI.

And yes....I'm very well aware that it would be much easier if the owner/rider just lose the excess baggage but I figured it would be so much more realistic for Tobias to lose the poundage instead considering the owner/rider loves to eat a tad too much.

I'm also very proud that Tobias made it to Port Dickson and back, over the previous weekend......despite having a crash within the first 5km of riding....(which caused my helmut to crack and Tobias' front wheel to be a bit off alignment....and I'm now parading around with multiple bruises over lower limbs and lower back)

* Joint birthday bash....

* The PD-contingent!!!!

And I'll blog about PD, the ride and the joint birthday bash......one of these days.

Hopefully.

Also.....with CNY looming, I'm hoping to be at a ready mind set to get back into running.

Mind you, Hong Kong Marathon is about a month from right now!!!!

By hook or by crook, I better get some long runs in.....

Oh....and I'm thinking I'll just quietly pretend that the Newton 25km didn't happen and therefore I don't have to blog about it!!!

Later!!!!

Dude....is it 2012 yet?!?!?!

I swear I wasn't drunk, hungover or high on any illegal substances.....

But dammit.....I didn't realized 2011 had left the building!!!

I arrived at work, feeling absolutely still 2011 only to be rudely greeted by 2012.

What the hell happened?!?!

How did 2011 just ended without even acknowledging that I was still in fact very stuck in it?!?!?!

Argh....how inconsiderate indeed.

But seriously, the new year came without much of a bang.

Of course....I was in snooze-ville before the onset of the fireworks at the strike of midnight, but I would have thought 2012 would have felt a little bit more.....significant.

Ok...so I don't know how significant the new year is suppose to feel like....

And mostly I'm just annoyed that I spent the first day of new year awake way too early in the morning, while the whole neighbourhood was either out plastered and drunk, or fast asleep (which was much to my envy)......and I was running 25km with other determined runners and supporters (which several years ago, I would have labelled them as "no-life-ers") and spent the remaining day in bed, furiously trying to catch up on lost sleep.

But mostly...I'm annoyed....because 2011 seemed like such a momentous year....but yet again, I felt like I didn't achieve much.

Yea yea....ambivalence again. The recurring theme of my freakin life.

Sure....there was the whole training for Sundown 100km.....then the actual race.....then there was me trying my hand at OD tris......then got suckered into half IM distance......then more full marathons.......and a whole lot of other stupid things that I dabbled with.....(phew)

Yea I'm proud of those stuffs that I did....I guess.

Then again, I ended 2011 with my running mojo on the low and was desperately trying to regain it before 2012 only to have myself fail miserably.

Of course it ain't a such a bad thing to not be "feeling it" that much for running....but in comparative, I ended my 2010 on a running high, feeling I could run forever!!!

So you gotta understand why ending 2011 like this is upsetting me.

2011 was also the year that a lot of things changed....at least in my life, it felt that way.

(you do realized by now that I'm a semi-drama-queen and this blog is a pseudo-platform onto which I project my melodramatic self....if you don't, then most likely you're new to this blog)

I finally came home.....although I'm not too sure if that was much to the dismay or joy of my folks.

I finally went back into studying.....although I have my regular, intermittent doubts on my ability to return to hitting the books after much brain cell decay from being institutionalized.

I finally have some sort of direction in life amidst 5 years of "going with the flow" in terms of my career.

And with all these comes responsibilities which I've been frantically avoiding.

Also....with the arrival of January 2012, I'm constantly being reminded that my first year exams (major panic attack!!!!) is impending and I can no longer be in denial about it.

Oh....most importantly.....2012 ushers in my 3rd decade of life. Now bring on the bloody fireworks and champagne.

Now can you understand now why I want my 2011 back!?!?!?!

Anyway....whatever said and done, I'm still my delusional self and still somewhat optimistic about 2012......as long as my panic attacks regarding my upcoming exam is in check...and I keep telling myself that my 30s are gonna be awesome!!!

I want 2012 to be bigger....better.....and more memorable than 2011.

I want my running mojo to have a comeback that is outta the scale!!!

I wanna race more (after May 2012)......travel more......go hang out at the pool in a bikini more......experience life more......oh and go diving without perforating an ear drum at least once this year!!!!

I also wanna pray more....volunteer more....blog more.....read more......sleep more.....

I wanna LIVE more....so that when 2013 comes knocking (we're of course in agreement that the Mayan calenders were absolutely wrong and apocalypse ain't happening anytime soon), I'll know exactly where 2012 went.

Oh yes....I'll be blogging about the Newton 25km run, as soon as my internal body clock says its 2012.

In the words of Spock.....live well and prosper.

Later!!!!!