RUN KOOKY, RUN!

Checklist for doing the ultra (marathon)

2011-11-22T21:37:00.001+08:00

There has been some buzz for the 2012 edition of Sundown Ultra 100km which I assume will open its registration in December, much like last year's. I'm guessing that there'll be more participants this year if they continue to keep their cut off time to 18 hours, much like last year too. For me, it would make business sense.

You should think about doing longer distance if you are :

1. Feeling bored with the 42km crowd
2. Getting support from your spouse/family/friends/employer (to make sure these people are still around when you cross the finish line later)
3. Extremely stubborn/determined
4. Having no injury at all
5. The rare few who has high tolerance of pain or loves pain
6. One who collects medal and finisher tees for no apparent reason
7. Nothing better to do for the next 5-6
months

There. I know you fit the bill. So when the registration opens in December, be sure to be the first few in line.

Growing pains

2011-11-04T12:42:00.001+08:00

It's been a few weeks since I updated this blog. I know I had not been a good blogger. The thing is, I don't have my own personal desktop at home and Darma took hold of my iPad from Day 1 that I bought it. I hate blogging from my iphone and my children are on their computers when they are home. Everyone got their own laptops or desktops, except me. We have become solitary with our games, videos and online social media that it's really hard to get everyone together. My kids are growing up pretty quick as teenagers and they have their own interests and habits. I reminisce those times when they were little children and begging me to take them everywhere I go. How times fly.

But the thing about having grown up children is that they could be your best friend. You can talk to them about grown up stuff and you'll be surprised to know that they know some stuff more than you do. We can learn a lot from one another.

One of the most important things I tell my children, or rather what I nag my children constantly is to do their prayers without fail. I'm like the second adzan, when the first one which was on time failed to move them, and then I come to the picture to remind them to drop everything else and do their prayers. I know this sounds tiring but I will not stop reminding them. My children are not rebellious and they get up to do their duty when I asked them to, either because they want me to stop nagging or they actually wanted to. Maybe sometimes a little bit of both. We were all once a teenager, remember.

I really feel blessed that sometimes I get to see the end of things. Life now has never been clearer. That would often jolt me out of my ordinary life and put everything into perspective. It's really hard to explain things to other people who don't see things the way you do. It humbled me completely, not that I was not previously but I see things differently now. Sometimes it does comes out preachy but that's all right. Everyone will see it at different times in their life when it's time, though it's really hard to see the significance of things that is happening around us if you don't have faith in the first place.

I read that God sent His angels to give hardships to his servants, because He misses us and wants us to talk to Him, to pour our hearts to Him all our troubles. So take time to say your zikir on a daily basis.

'Remember Him in time of ease and He will remember you in time of need'.

Have a good Friday, take care of your health and do so 'kerana Allah Ta'ala'.

As I stood from my balcony, I noticed how low the clouds seem to be, like as if we were able to touch them. What do the clouds carry in them?

The Northface 100 2011

2011-10-19T23:36:00.003+08:00

This is my third draft. The first one too short, the second one too long and too objective, like as if I was reporting the race for someone else.

So I am going to summarise it.

I really enjoyed running this race. It was challenging, it was difficult, I was fatigued. Tired. Sleepy. Hungry. But I didn't feel shitty like I did last year. I brought food, in the form of sugars. And I wore proper trail shoes and not a pair of running shoes like I did last year. Things not to do when running TNF, checked. I have to be prepared this time, expecting to run this trail on my own. I made an ambitious target to complete this run in eight hours. I like to set myself some target but unfortunately the heat brought me to my knees. It got so hot, I am reduced to walking as I was feeling light-headed and taking longer breaks at the water stations. There were a couple of confusion on the trails as well as there were no directional signages on some parts and a lot of us got confused. So time wasted as well.

I really like running through the Durian Trail. I made a mental note to run this trail during my training runs. Mandai was not so intimidating now. I have no problems running all the downhills and walking the uphills. I was alone this time but occasionally accompanied by Endon and Aida, my new running mates. I don't really mind running alone. But it was super hot. At the water station, they gave out towels which I soaked in iced water and told myself to hang on to this until at least I leave Mandai. I use the cold towel to cover my head and my back and cool my face so that helped to shelter the heat. Sort of.

Coming back to MacRitchie was a relief. I was doing the same thing I did earlier. Run downhills, walk uphills, and fortunately going back saw a lot of downhills. But I was slow. Painfully slow. I could sense fatigued creeping in and my whole body was aching. My legs were just heavy, refused to go any faster. I was getting impatient. Where is the end? My hands felt tight and when I looked at my hands, I was surprised that it was all puffy and bloated. Later, Syah told me it was caused by having too much sodium in my body. Well, kiasu punya pasal, sampai ter-overdose electrolytes.

I did not stop running until I reached the finish line but I barely made it through the 9-hour cut-off time. 8 hours and 55 minutes, that was the time I took to complete this tough 50KM. This is no ordinary ultramarathon and one that tested your physical and mental endurance.

I should have learned by now not to make promises or use words like 'giving up', 'retire', 'insaf' when I have just finished a race and when the painful memory is still fresh in my mind. I am already craving to go back. I am craving to try this route one more time. But I'll come back when I am fully rested, I have to give my body and legs time to recover.

So that's it.

I hope I did not bore you with my lacklustre story but I really had nothing much going except that I wished I had clocked a much better timing. And my bib is still intact, with hardly any scratch. But I am thankful that I have managed to complete this without any injuries. I can run tomorrow if I want to.

However, immediately after the run, my whole body felt like one big cast iron. It was heavy and my muscles were aching pretty bad. Even though I had a massage after the run, it didn't help one bit. My plan to do a recovery run the next day during NB Real Run did not materialise as I couldn't get out of bed and when I did, I can't walk. Run? Don't count on it! It took me three days to finally be able to walk properly. I had to take a cab to the office for two straight days (I usually walk to work) as I cannot bear the thought of going up and down the stairs.

There. My biggest race this year done. The one that I actually registered and sort of trained for. Hehe.

Till the next race...

We meet again. So happy to see you guys!

Waiting for our food to arrive at BaliThai, Novena Square.

Gone too soon

2011-10-13T15:26:00.001+08:00

I am still shocked and saddened by the passing of my good friend. We did not get to say our goodbyes. You have gone to a place that we both often talked about and I hope my prayers reached you crisp and clear.

I will miss you, my friend. You are now closer to God.

Learnings from Northface 100

2011-10-12T02:24:00.001+08:00

Its amazing how we have forgotten the pain that we went through. Barely a year ago I made a maiden journey to run the Northface 100 in Singapore for a 50km trail run. At that time, 50km seemed like a reasonable distance especially after you had done countless marathon and a few months earlier completed an 84km ultra marathon.

But it was not an easy journey. It was memorable though but needless to say, I suffered tremendously. The toughest race I've done by far. Even my 100km stunt did not come close.

I'm taking the learnings from last year and hopefully this time, I will have a better race. Now that Nik will not be running with me.

1. Full breakfast on race morning
2. Maintain energy throughout by refueling
3. Walk uphill and run the downhills
4. Hydrate often
5. Small steps, fast cadence
6. Focus on finishing even when I'm in doubt

All the best to all of us. See you on race day!

iSad

2011-10-06T12:19:00.000+08:00

Thought I'd share this with everyone. Goodbye, Steve.

We lost…

2011-10-06T10:19:00.004+08:00

Today I am compelled to write because the man who has inspired me, who made me become who I am today, the man who ignite my creativity, the man who made my talent into a career, has passed away. Steve Jobs passed away last night, amongst his family members after battling years of cancer. He was 56. I am saddened by his passing. We may have other geniuses but we have lost Steve Jobs.

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." Barack Obama, US President

And thanks to you, my Darma is a happy boy. He live, breathe and sleep with the iPad. His life revolves around the iPad. Having said that, we need another one for me.

Not to disrespect Steve Jobs, but I guess he can say that iDied.

Apple makes simplicity uber cool!

And thank you dear God, for sending him to us so we can see a glimpse of your genius. You truly are our Creator.

I don't get to run SG

2011-09-27T13:13:00.001+08:00

Well, if you know me by now I run for the free t-shirts. So you can imagine my disappointment when the registration for the We Run SG NIKE 2011 race was closed barely 48 hours after it was opened. And we are talking about 15,000 slots here. Singaporeans…c'mon!! Have you guys got nothing better to do on a Sunday morning?

On the other hand, I won a slot for the We Run KL 2011 for taking part in one of NIKE's online running event. But I'm being cynical here, I think it's not going to happen.

24K of euphoria

2011-09-24T23:44:00.001+08:00

What a day! I'm slightly feverish, fatigued from this morning's run. I thought I was going to run solo 3 loops of MacRitchie but I ended up running with a group of running Freakers to Mandai.

24km of trail sounds short relative to a marathon but we took more than 4 hours to finish. We got lost on the trails, but who cares right?

Well good news, I bought a new pair of trail shoes and it did great today. No blisters, thank goodness. At least that got me enthusiastic. Haha.

However, I'm also just slightly pissed now that I just bust 400 dollars on a pair of boots and some plants. What was I thinking?!

But it's a cool pair of boots by the way...

Same-o, same-o

2011-09-21T00:44:00.001+08:00

Two weeks later.

I'm still in the same situation I was before. Pathetic 10km mileage per week. Not counting the 4kms warm ups and running up staircases at night when people are asleep or watching tv in their tiny little apartment.

I'm tired in the mornings as well as after work. Why has it becoming a chore? I used to be able to run every morning, up and running before the sun's up. But I know at the back of my mind I need to get back into routine. But herein lies the problem. The getting back to routine. Sigh.

This weekend is do or die. 30km on the trail. No compromise.

I've got two new projects to get me excited. And nope, it's not about my job. More on that later peeps!

Giving up is for dummies...or is it?

2011-09-11T02:01:00.001+08:00

How time flies.

I've been meaning to write but there are so many events happening. Moving back here, Ramadan, new everything...and I am really trying very hard to like this change. But I'm not sure if change was what I was looking for. It was something that I didnt expect but I am taking it as my life unfolds. Nothing is certain but Allah knows what He is doing,and He knows best, that I am certain.

I have not been running. With Ramadan and all, I skipped running altogether and paid the price. My fitness has dipped to zero. As I ran at McRitchie this morning with my brother, I thought about switching my 50km bib to a 25km bib cos running is soooo... hard (I was whining like a baby) and then I thought about the pain and the agony that I had to go through last year and I know this is all insane. I'm so not prepared (like I ever will). But as I thought about it, I realized that most people would just give up things that are just too difficult to attempt. It's so easy to give up. At that point while I was running, giving up was the easy option. It was so easy cos like a click of the fingers, poof! I could make all this pain disappear.

Well, if you all know me by now, I am a stubborn girl. Someday I might regret this macho-ness and the gung-ho attitude but for now, I'd say let's train for it. Let's do it. A lot of things can happen in my 5 weeks, right?

Anyone has books on 'Training for 50K in 5 weeks for Dummies'?

Amazing grace (of Allah)

2011-07-14T15:53:00.000+08:00

Hello from the little island of Singapore.

I have to mention the 'little island' remark because being in Singapore reminds me of a good friend of mine. She hates it when anyone mentioned Singapore as a country. She adamantly insisted that Singapore is an island, just a little dot on the map. And boring too. No, I was never offended with her comments. We love each other to death despite our differences in opinions on just about everything. Funny thing is, she never gets under my skin with her laser mouth. Four years working in the same agency and she is the only person who's like my alter ego. You know what I mean, like your conscience. The person you can talk about anything under the sun, never agree on anything but still got along fine. She is that person. She'll be that someone where I will never forget as she left an indelible mark on me. Unfortunately, she has this principle that she use in her life, "out of sight, out of mind". We are so not alike. Haha...

Anyway.

My first week back in sunny Singapore had been pretty good. I had two meetings with Creative Directors in two very different companies. But first a preamble. When I resigned from Publicis, I left with no job. Some of my colleagues were concerned. It was justifiable. I was beginning to get worried too but not worried enough to actually went out to look for work. And I was thinking, no employer would want to wait for me for three months, so I said to myself I will look for a job maybe a few weeks before my last day. The first call I got was a few weeks before Sundown 100 in June. I made an appointment on Friday, before Sundown race but they changed the appointment date to Monday, which was after Sundown. I did try my best to walk as normally as possible, thank God no stairs. I got the good news the next day. They offered me a job to freelance but with a full time offer to be given a month later and I accepted it. A week later I got two more interviews set up and this week I went to see both. And now I have three job offers with really great companies with a pay I could only dream of getting five years ago.

God has been kind to me. A good friend said to me in an SMS that God is looking over me. He's right. Not only me, but all of us. All you have to do is ask. He is waiting for us to ask Him. Like what I wrote in my Facebook status the other week, a quote that I took from a respected Muslim writer, Yasmin Mogahed, "When you beg of people, they hate you for it. When you beg of Allah, He loves you for it." I asked for my journey back to be less difficult. It wasn't that easy, there had been bumps but it was not something I couldn't handle. I am grateful for what I had been given. And these things that had been happening to me, I know will lead to something good.

Our Prophet once said to his companions, "My brothers (referring to his umat) are the ones who believe in me even though they have never met me." Profound.

A leaf falling from the tree will not happen without the grace of Allah, let alone our fate.

I was blind but now I see

2011-07-08T09:40:00.003+08:00

It's really amazing how God works. I was given a jolt in my life and I went through weeks, months of grief, regret and hate. I went out searching for answers. And I turned to Him. I turned to God to help me out of my misery. And when I did find answers, everything became so clear. I now know why I was given what I was given and my purpose in life.

He spoke to me in ways I cannot describe. He showed me how to accept, forgive, forget and love again. And He showed me that nothing in this world in permanent and that I shouldn't hold on to people and things that is in this world. We shouldn't let them own us. Instead we should hold on to Him.

We are like a long distance traveller, travelling through this life on our way home in Jannah (Heaven). He is waiting for us there and it's the biggest reward to finally meet our Creator.

I was blind but now I see.

I know, cliché. But clichés are often true.

Enjoy the outdoors

2011-07-04T18:56:00.001+08:00

There's so much we can learn when we start talking to other people. I was in PD last weekend to accompany Cynthia to do her first open water swim tryouts for the PD Triathlon later this month. During the swim, I met Grace, a very bubbly young woman who has an infectious smile and I am smitten by her honesty. We talked about a lot of things and she mentioned about Templar's Park. And I am bowled over when she described Templar's Park. I have to see it and try it.

This Saturday, after our FRIM run, we plan to swim here which she told me is not far from where FRIM is.

FRIM run
7am, junction near mosque
please bring some snacks for our picnic up at Helipad (Steroid's Hill)

Templar's swim
10am, entrance of FRIM
Come on, let's enjoy the outdoors. We can picnic here. If I can pack nasi lemak I would! She has a detailed report on the park here.

Hope to see you during the run or swim!

According to Grace, the shallow part is about waist deep (4ft) and the middle part is almost 5ft. The deepest part is yet to be explored. We can do crazy laps here.

Free falling

2011-07-04T01:26:00.001+08:00

A week after Sundown 100, I became ordinary again. I know there are some things I have done without much thinking, like the Kapas Marang swim and this 100KM run. But between the two, I think Kapas Marang swim was the most scary. I would someday like to attempt this swim again. And this time to finish it.

This week will be my last week as a resident of KL. I am filled with sadness but also happiness. I am sad to leave this place I have called home. I have met so many interesting people along the way, made some friends too and I have done things that I could only dream of. I have so many things to be thankful for. My short life here has changed me, I am not the same person I was when I first came here. And in an odd way, I am happy how things have turned out. Even if it turns out much worse than what it is now, I would still be thankful.

I have lost some people and some things in my life. They chose to leave me but because I know in this world nothing is permanent, I have accepted the course of fate. God has made plans for me and He knows what's best. I have never felt so much at peace with myself before. I guess its when you have accepted what's happening in your life, to learn to let go of things, to let things happen the way it should be, only then you can find happiness. I am really free falling. You should too. I've never felt freer knowing that there is someone out there looking out for me.

Bersih

2011-07-01T01:40:00.002+08:00

I was not involved or even know Bersih 1.0 existed back then. The time has come for Bersih 2.0 to rise again and up till today, I must admit that I am not 100% sure of the motive of the march, apart from wanting a fair and clean election.

Whatever it is you guys are marching for, I think it's better than not doing anything to get your voices heard. Political apathy is for the meek.

Let me share with you, sort of, a similar story. Something bad happen in the office yesterday. A colleague of mind left her Blackberry on top of the fridge while she washed her cup and absent-mindedly left her phone there and didn't realised it was gone till about 7.00pm. She went to the pantry where she left it but the phone was gone. She tried calling her phone but no one picked it up. The next morning, she called again but the phone was switched off. And so, she wrote an email to everyone to ask if anyone has her phone for safekeeping to kindly return it to her. No one replied.

Naturally, I was pissed. I told my colleague to make a police report. And then pleaded to my HR to do something. But they did not want to do anything. They said that even if they were to threaten with a police report no one is going to own up. For me, that is not the point.

There is a phrase that I have read somewhere, "It is better to regret doing something than to regret not doing it:"

I'm staying home on 9 July, 2pm to catch up with my DVD series. It's not that I don't care, but I have only a week left in this country and I do want to get home...:)

Post insanity

2011-06-29T18:13:00.002+08:00

Post 100KM. Post insanity.

I am still alive. And back at work. I am no longer limping from DOMS or the blisters and its healing really fast. And my toenails are all intact. I like the idea of looking ordinary but doing something extraordinary for my own little pleasure.

Somehow the news that I did a 100KM marathon made its way around the office. "Why, Kash? Why did you run the 100KM?" I said I wanted the free t-shirt. "I could have given you a free t-shirt and you don't have to torture yourself. I could give you 10 free t-shirts." I laughed. It's true. Nothing is as insane to a non runner as running a 100KM. Heck, to a runner, even a 100KM is an impossible distance. It was for me too. Until I actually did it.

So. Nothing is impossible. Impossible is Nothing. Adidas was right.

Why I ran the 100KM

2011-06-27T19:37:00.007+08:00

The complete question would be, "Why did I decide to run the 100KM at the last minute." I don't think there is a good answer, in fact I don't think I have an answer. But you probably know it was not an easy journey, it was hard to the point of breaking down your spirit into many pieces. It was not just a test of your physical strength and endurance but it was also a test of your mental strength, and in my case almost 18 hours of it. I have many times, during the run even doubt whether I could actually finished it but what helped me was that I divided the distance into small pockets of 10KM. That was how I cope with the distance. It's less daunting to know that the next run was only 10KM instead of another 70KM. The organisers made that easier by having pit stops every 10KM and at each pit stop, there was a nice spread of sandwiches, muffins, fruits, gummies, biscuits, potato chips and endless supply of water and 100PLUS though I think what's missing was a cold glass of MILO....

I am really not a good text book example of how to prepare for a race. I went against everything I had learned and followed. I ran this race with minimal training, the longest single distance was 42KM four weeks before the race, and that was during Sundown Marathon and I did that once. I went from 10KM to 30KM in just one week during my training runs. I did not run anything more than 10KM since last December. I bought a new pair of shoes with less than 20KM mileage on it. I didn't even sign up for this race, I was given a free bib.

Physically, I was screwed. But I took with me a lot of insanity, some courage and a large dose of determination. I was hesitant to write this post as this was not something I would encourage or advocate anyone to do. It's thoughtless, it's stupid and it's reckless. If I got hurt, I would not only hurt myself but also the people around me. But, I still went out to do it. I have nothing to prove to any one. Not even to myself. And I wasn't even running this for charity. It's certainly not for glory. My name is not even on the Hall of Fame. But no one would believe me if I say I did this for no apparent reason at all. But if you put a gun to my head and ask me why, I will say I did this for the free t shirt. So there.

The race atmosphere that day was the same at every race. Runners are a cheerful lot, we took photos and wished each other good luck. I was trying to be inconspicuous, somehow I didn't feel that I belong here. I didn't train at all, it's like insulting these hardcore runners who had spent a lot of time perfecting their pace and putting in effort to train and in choosing the right outfit and shoes to wear. I wore the same outfit as last year when I did the 84, not because for good luck but because I had not really planned the race carefully. My special needs bag (if you want to call it) was almost empty apart from my cap, some plasters and Vaseline, I had no change of clothes or shoes or special powder to boost my energy. I bought the waist pouch and my handheld water bottle the night before at Mustafa Centre. That was how prepared I was for this race. I know some of you by now, would probably want to give me a good lecture. And honestly, I deserved it.

But with me, I brought the necessities. In my small waist pouch, I had tiger balm, medicated oil, blister plasters, electrolytes powder for cramps (in capsules), muscle rub, money, handphone, towel and most importantly powergel for that caffeine boost I needed. I also carried with me, sort of a pace guide, so I know what time I needed to get to each 10KM checkpoint, so I won't miss my cut off time. When you are tired and your mind can't think straight, the last thing you want to do is to start doing simple Maths.

It was hot when we started the race at 6pm and it was super hot when we finished at noon. I was already perspiring even before I started. I took the pace easily and ran with Zack but he was often ahead of me, that was OK as long as he was in sight. Sometimes I lost him and then we met again at the pit stops. The first 10KM was a breeze, ahead of my pace time. We ran passed some private housing along the East side, had to climb an overhead bridge and an underpass before getting into ECP. Of course, the first 10KM was easy but we had to do the same route coming back and when you had just done 90KM, climbing an overhead bridge took some Herculean effort.

The volunteers did a great job here handing out snacks and peanut butter sandwiches to the runners. There were cold sponges at every pit stop which was great because of the heat. I ate the sandwiches and snacks before filling up my water bottle with 100PLUS and made my way to the next 10KM.

It was approaching dusk as we ran along ECP. As usual, the whole stretch was filled with people having their BBQs with their tents pitched along the beach. We ran ECP and exited near Changi Air Base and another buffet was spread before us. I felt good on the first 20K and I think its because I kept the pace easy. I think this is where I met Zack again and he told to me that he had a bad case of stomach ache. It was slowing him down. We had another round of food, this time I had oranges and some muffins.

I couldn't wait to get to 50KM actually but the journey was long and tiring. It wasn't painful but it was tiring. I took about 7.5 hours to reach 50KM and it was passed midnight when we got here. And at each pit stop, we sat down, ate and stayed for about 5-10 minutes, longer at the 50KM mark. I also updated my progress on Facebook though I wished I could write more at every pit stop but my fingers were not really cooperating. We kept to the plan of running 1.5 hours every 10KM including rest time. The second half of the run, I kept to the pace of 2 hours every 10KM. For non-runners, if you must know, this is really a brisk walking pace. I have to be realistic here, I only aim to finish before all the cut-offs. In between the run/jog/walk, we also stopped to rest the feet, go to the toilet, adjust the shoes, socks or remove sand from our shoes and did the occasional stretching. And each time, Zack waited for me. His walking pace was my running pace. So when he walked I have to run. And when he ran, I would be somewhere behind him but even that, he waited for me to catch up.

There were really some amazing moments. We had second wind after 50KM. We split the 10KM into walking and running but when we ran, it felt awesome. We put in some speed and by the time we got to the pit stops, we were sweating profusely. I really liked that.

Everything seemed to be going well, but I got hit by the blister bug right after 80KM. Initially, I thought I got sand in my shoes but realised it was blisters forming near the ball of my left feet and another one on my right heel. I was trying to treat my blisters but as the distance wore on it got painful to walk. My feet also began to ache badly by now and my legs felt heavy like I was dragging metal. From here on, there was no running. Just walking. I felt horrible for Zack. He was walking really steady and I'm sure he could finished it earlier than he did.

The last 10KM was excruciatingly painful. Maybe if I had grit my teeth harder I could try to run. But I was afraid if I run, I might aggravate the blisters or worst, develop a cramp and that would render me useless to even walk. I would kill myself if I were to DNF at 90+KM. So I had to make a choice, walk through the remaining 10KM and ensure we finished within cut-off or try to run for a better timing and risk an injury. Obviously I chose the former.

Once we reached Marina Barrage, we had to cross the bridge and Zack signaled to me he was going to run to the finish. I wave an OK back at him. As I was walking with Simon, the guy whom we paced on and off, I asked him if he could run and he said yes. So we ran. And guess what, the pain on my feet went poof! Just like that.

There were a lot of cheering from the spectators as we ran up the bridge into the Barrage, and the final slope up the finishing gantry. And whether I came in first or last, it didn't really matter. I went through almost 18 hours on foot, covering a distance of 100KM. The cameras clicked as we crossed the finish line and they gave us a big white towel, my medal, 100PLUS and water and best of all, I got my free t-shirt. We all congratulated each other and we chatted for a bit before attempting to walk down the stairs in the unmistakable crabby walk, to wait for my family. Unfortunately, they couldn't come earlier as my children had tuition that morning.

On Sunday, I was almost bed ridden. My left feet was swollen and it felt tight. My thigh and calf muscles are going through the same soreness which I had when I did my first marathon. And the worst pain I thought I had during the run which was the blisters, was not even that painful anymore. I could say, I got away with doing the 100KM unscathed. I should be thankful. God did not punish me for my stupidity. It could have been worst. But I must admit I could not have done it all by myself. Zack definately had a lot to do with it but I also believed I had some divine intervention. It felt amazing.

Unofficially, I crossed the finished line in 17 hours 33 minutes, off by 3 minutes from the pace list I have written for myself. I don't really care as right now, I belong to an elite group of the 100KM Sundown ultramarathoners!

It felt amazing to pass through here. I can't describe it in words.

When I asked Simon to run ahead first, he told me we will finish this together. And no, I wasn't emotional like last year. No tears this time, Zack make sure of that. I cried before I started the race. And thank you for the shoulder to cry on, you know who you are.

Zack, you are indeed my hero. He carried my water bottle when I couldn't.

Welcome and hello

2011-06-26T21:04:00.001+08:00

I'm glad that I am able to write again. A lot of things has changed in my life since I last wrote, one of it is that I will be going home to Singapore in two weeks. More of that later.

Welcome back to this site.

Waiting for the rainbow

2011-01-31T10:21:00.000+08:00

It has been raining for a bit now. Even today on this gloomy Monday morning. It's really cozy just to stay in bed, but work beckons.

I just want to inform everyone that I will be temporarily closing this blog for a while. I will be busy with other things and I hate to go without saying goodbye.

It may be raining now but there will be a rainbow at the end of it. Chin up.

Till we meet again.

Live everyday like its our last day

2011-01-28T12:44:00.007+08:00

Last night, while we were watching American Idol on TV, Nady, my 14-year-old told me one of his schoolmate had just passed away in a road accident. He was on the bike, on the way back from school, hit the back of a truck and suffered massive head injuries. He was 17, a Form 5 student of SMK Seri Hartamas. He is also the elder brother of his friend. My heart went out to his parents who one morning, have a son and by the afternoon, without one. How fragile our lives are. How do a mom cope with grief? Grief for the lost of a child. I don't know if I know how to.

I was watching American Idol last night and the last guy who sang in the audition had a really sob story to share. I burst into tears. There are people whose lives are filled with tragedy and sadness but it is also filled with hope. I must always remember to give thanks to Allah for always providing for us and keeping us safe from harm.

We must live everyday like its our last day.

This morning, I did a presentation to our client. The thing is I realised, while I was sitting down and listening to other people making justifications, if you really like something, you'll do anything to protect it, even though it's not all rational. Love is never rational. That is why love can work if only there is connection. And that connection touches the heart first.

I was in my car, waiting for the light to turn green, and I wonder if I should consider going over the other side of the fence. Being in a creative agency has its merits but what if I could call the shots. I will jot that thought down in my fake moleskin and come back to it when I am bored stiff with my job.

Work distracts me from my real job on this earth. But I have to earn a living. Can we live without money? Can we and our family live with nothing? If your first instinct is to say no, try to think again.

If you missed the American Idol audition last night, here's the vid. Some husbands don't even help their wives carry the grocery bags, let alone lift her spirits up. This guy is one in a million. And when a heart breaks, it doesn't break even. It's difficult to put the pieces back together again.

Voices

2011-01-27T01:13:00.001+08:00

This is one of the most beautiful African sounds I've heard. Thanks to hubby who introduced me to this album more than a decade ago. We have lost this CD when we moved. It's called African Voices.

It reminds me of our old house. I still think about the house a lot. But then, I am a person who likes to reminisce.

He is singing about the coming of the rain and calling everyone to bring the cattle home. He is also calling for the children to come back home when the skies begin to cry.

It's a story about accepting another person's culture and way of life. As with all things, its easier said than done. This movie is rather controversial even though it has won several awards.

I have a (secret) fascination for things African. If you have time, there is a movie called the White Masai, about a Swiss woman named Carola who went to Kenya for a holiday with her boyfriend but ended up falling in love with a Masai warrior. She gave up her life and married him. You can watch the whole movie on youtube.

Note: Don't watch with the kids.

Masak masak Sunday

2011-01-23T18:59:00.001+08:00

Another reason why I love the weekends is the chance for me to try a new recipe. I have been wanting to try out this simple dessert but didn't quite get around to it.

Bolehlah tahan for first attempt.

Sorry, I don't have a step by step photo as I was prepping it last night. I was in a half slumber by 9pm (tired from the swim) and forced myself to wake up as the mixture needs to be kept overnight. Here's the simple recipe.

Apam Eno

Ingredients

300g rice flour

300ml water

1 tbsp yeast

10 tbsp sugar

2 Eno packets

food colourings

grated coconut

1. Mix the flour and water.

2. Add the sugar and yeast. Mix well.

Keep overnight.

3. Separate the mixture into two.

4. Add one packet Eno to each mixture and mix well.

5. Add food colourings of whatever colour you like. Stir in the colours.

6. Place the mixture in small bowls and steam for about 10 minutes.

7. Steam grated coconut with a little bit of salt.

8. To serve, place apam in a plate and add in the steamed grated cocount. Serve it with a smile.

I put it into a steamer before going out for a 10K run and asked my maid to continue with the rest. I came back home, all hot and sweaty but happy to see that the apam turned out to be pretty OK.

The idea of being vegetarian was long gone. Burger steak topped with grilled mushroom with chicken sausages stuffed with herbs and cheese. On the side is grilled tomatoes with salad.

The open sea

2011-01-22T19:26:00.007+08:00

It was one of those weekend adventures I love. No training pressures, no mileage that we were targeting but just a group of friends doing something we all love. Open water swim is one of my favourite activities, just after trail running. You can say I was still high hours after the swim. I drifted in and out of dreams when I took a short nap while waiting to send Nady to his music class. I got a new tan today, the kind of skin colour a person gets when he or she has spent quite a considerably amount of time in the outdoors. And my face has that nice, warm glow (*puji diri sendiri… haha).

The drive to PD took us about an hour and half. Everyone has just arrived as well and we found a spot to unpack our bags and changed. Jaja, Nadia and myself, we swam out to the sea, which was quite cold but it felt so wonderful. The tide was quite high and just a few metres from shore, my feet couldn't touch the ground anymore. I used to be a total wreck when I see the open water. Nervous like crazy but not so much now. And the sea was calm so that help.

We started to do a warm up swim around the vertical poles that was about 50m from shore, turn left and swam another 50m or so and make another turn around another pole before swimming back to shore. It felt like a race when we started. Kicking and swimming too closely to each other, I guess no one wants to be left behind but no one wants to be first either. Well, that was easy. Warm up done. We drank some water while discussing our swim plans. We all decided to swim like how we did the last time to the bunglows past the marina and from there we'll decide to swim back the same route or take a shorter route to Regency Beach.

I started at the back with Ian and Kabus, the two guys being our sweepers and we saw in the distance our kayak support, Amir who was so kind enough to volunteer. When I text him last week to ask him if he could help, without hesitating he said yes, after checking his work schedule. We really appreciate you being out there today, Amir. Thank you so much.

Before long, I saw the two strong swimmers in blue and pink cap, Syah and Nazli respectively and set about to get into their pace. I got no strategy but just to make sure I was always swimming with the strokes that Eric drilled us. I decided to do a two stroke breathe as this was a long distance swim and I wanted to get comfortable. I normally swam with a 4 or 5 stroke breathe when I am in the pool.

I passed Nadia and Jaja and soon I was behind Nazli and Gary. My sighting has also improved and did not go off course as much as I did previously. I saw Nazli turned around to see if anyone was around him and I stopped as well to regroup, while Gary was doing an easy breast stroke beside us. Gary almost swam the whole distance with breast stroke and he made it so easy. I saw Syah surging ahead like a torpedo. This guy was unstoppable. He was fast. We continued swimming and this time the 3 of us swam together. I kept them on my right so I could always see them beside me. I did not see Syah anymore after this and I was thinking he must have been really torpedo-ing to our check point.

I think 30 minutes into the swim, my neck and my arms were feeling quite sore, but not fatiguing. I just wanted to reach the shore as fast as I could so swam at a (faster) pace I could sustain. The shore was made of rocks and boulders and the current was quite strong here. The waves were pushing us towards the rocks. We waited for the rest to arrive, but I couldn't see Syah. Ian told us that Syah has swam back to shore. I felt that I have failed him somehow, strange but I really wanted him to be here. To be where we were sitting. I really thought he would've have reached here before us.

We decided to cut the swim short as the current was getting stronger and the chances of us being swept to sea was there, so we decided to swim back to Regency. This time I swam really slow and not even pushing my already sore arms and neck. We swam together as a group this time. I was alternating with front crawl and breast stroke and swam beside Nadia. When we reached the shore, we walked back to Bayu Beach along the rocky path.

Later we showered and sat down by the beach eating the spicy beef stew I brought while Syah brought some Nasi Goreng. Ice creams and oranges were passed around and we sat down talking about the swim we just had. I totally enjoyed the swim today, more so because we swam not to target any distance but we were here to firstly accompany Syah on his first open water swim. I hope everyone had a a good swim and thank you to those who came today to keep each other company. I wouldn't be able to swim this alone.

We drove back to KL and Nadia as always, entertained me with stories of her adventures, whether it's work or her yoga or even her cycling escapades. The drive home seems short, thanks to Nadia for keeping me company. We had a good time together and I hope to do this again. I think we should.

Nazli recorded the swim on his 310XT which he kept under his swim cap. The total distance was about 1.84m and we took an hour to finish it.

A nice shot of Amir on the kayak. Don't you just love the horizon?

I was tailing Nadia at the back. She paced herself very well.

(thanks for the photos, Ian).

Gaga

2011-01-21T17:54:00.000+08:00

OK, it's Friday night. Time for some entertainment. Perhaps next time when we do another party for the kids, we'll choreograph this song and dance. I'm sure everyone will be entertained with our off-key singing and bad dance moves, but who cares, right?!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Flutters

2011-01-21T17:04:00.001+08:00

Back then this video gave me the inspiration to swim in the open water. I was envious looking at how these human-like sea creatures swim effortlessly easy in the open water. Of course, the first thing you need to have is the skill and technique to swim. After learning how to swim, you will need the confidence to swim in a body of water where you don't get to see the bottom of the pit. It can be overwhelming. But when you get passed that, the depth of the sea ceased to matter.

I love these little flutters of butterflies in my tummy. My heart beats so loud I was afraid people might hear me. It the same kind of nervousness I have before my presentation. But when I begin my speech and get into the moment, every thing else falls into place and I am calm and relax once again. Then I speak with confidence.

Let's pray for good weather tomorrow.

The apple of my eye

2011-01-20T23:17:00.005+08:00

I am loyal to only you, Apple.

Hey, look what I found. A decal of the old Apple logo. I bought this from a secondhand shop for RM1. And that Macintosh Colour Classic is still working with the complete set of keyboard and mouse (though I think I have lost the mouse when we moved). I bought this from a computer geek who was selling it on ebay Singapore. He threw in some old computer books as well.

The logo used to be in multicolour before it became a polished chrome. The Apple brandmark is one of the most widely recognised brandmark in the world. And if you haven't noticed, they don't even need to put their name on it anymore.

I don't use any other personal computers even though we have a hp computer at home. I bought it for Nady to play his games, after he persistently asked me for it.

I am closed on Mondays, Sundays and Public Holidays (i.e no running). I was busy waking up late, tend to my garden, lunch and dinner with the kids, make pizza and moving furniture around the house. Those are my other hobbies. I don't have a pizza pan so I used the back of my baking tray. It's always been my habit to share whatever I am cooking with my next door neighbour. I hope they liked it.

Lion King

2011-01-20T15:40:00.000+08:00

Inilah kuasa Allah. Binatang pun ada perasaan kasih dan sayang. But to hug and kiss? Masha'allah! It's too heartwarming! Awesome, kan?

Fragile

2011-01-19T13:26:00.001+08:00

It's one of those days where I let myself get carried away with my sentiments. It's good to cry or laugh out loud sometimes. Our life is fragile, handle it with care. It's really your choice on how you want to live it. But whatever it is, we must be ready to face the consequences; in this life or the next.

I should be lucky that I have only been bitten by leeches and not something else. Anyway, check your legs before you leave for home, just in case. The snake is too cute.

Another reason why we shouldn't bother to lose weight.

The cartoons are done by Natalie Dee from her website. She makes me laugh, hard.

Ugly truth

2011-01-18T23:10:00.000+08:00

There were some fierce discussion about marathon and quite frankly, I am really tired of the marathon. The race don't appeal to me anymore. I may attempt the 42km on any given day on my own rules but I don't need to run it in a race.

Here's the ugly truth. I have completed ten marathons but I have not run a single one.

Break up

2011-01-17T13:00:00.004+08:00

Here's something to cheer up your Monday. Unfortunately, it's only funny to those who understands the Malay language. Someone in my office pasted this up around the office billboard.

Ketawa keluar kuat, lah (Laugh out loud). Hehe.

Break up Letter
Tijah ingin memutuskan hubungan dengan boyfriend Mat Salleh nya…Dia tidak sanggup bertemu muka, lalu dia pun mengutus surat…surat tu macam ni bunyinya…

Hi, my motive write this letter is to give know you something.
I WANT TO CUT CONNECTION US. I have think about this very cook cook.
I know I clap one hand only. Correctly, I have seen you and she together in town with eyes myself. You always ask for apology back back. I don't trust you again!! You are really crocodile land.
My friend speak you play wood three…Now I know you correct correct play wood three. So, I break connection to pull my body from this love triangle. I know this result I pick very correct, you love she very high from me. So, I break off to go far from here. I don't want you to play play with my liver. I have been crying until no more eye water thinking about you. I don't want banana to fruit two times…safe walk…

Tijah

Makeover

2011-01-16T23:36:00.000+08:00

Don't you think today is the perfect weekend for a blog makeover? Like my new look? Fret not, I am still the same person. I did not have an epiphany about life. I thought about moving my blog to wordpress but apparently wordpress need time to learn and get used to and I don't think I have time and patience to do that at the moment.

Darma is becoming increasingly attached to me and he is growing to be a handsome young man. I need to find a way to quit my job but still earn money on my own. I need a miracle. Please give me a sign.

Careful baby, there's leeches on those leaves. I probably need to get the annual pass to FRIM.

FRIM was gorgeous last weekend (as always). Syah, Daniel, Rashid and Shanaz are the usual suspects while Che and Ray joined us for the first time. Hope to see you guys again. Thanks Che for the photo.

A bloody and sweaty run. And I didn't even feel a thing.

Changing gears

2011-01-14T14:14:00.001+08:00

Many new swimmers, me included, will find that the most difficult thing to master is the breathing. The theory is very simple really. Ask yourself this, do you hold your breath when you run? No, right? Then why do you hold you breath when you are swimming while your face is under water? The technique is to learn how to breath out slowly and then turn to take in air, just like how you are when you are on land. My coach used to make us do this. Do 3 strokes then breath, do 5 strokes then breath and do 9 strokes then breath. Repeat. It's best you practice this in a 50m pool.

Today's swim lesson was not about breathing but I thought I should mention it as it's one of first few things you should get comfortable with when you start to learn how to swim. It certainly help to increase your confidence level.

Today we had to do a lot of counting. A lot of one-arm pull, understanding how you can use your pull to adjust your gears just as you would adjust your gears while cycling. To swim fast is not to shorten your pull or kick faster but to adjust the strength of your pull.

We did a lot of laps with this drill until I lost count of the number of laps we did. The main set was just 200m but we need to have the most efficient pull. We need to count our pull in every lap to ensure we are consistent. I was doing 26/27 strokes per 25m while the guys did an average of 20/24 strokes.

Triathletes at PD Triathlon 2010 swimming out to the open sea. It's one of the most liberating thing I've done. Swimming in open water never fail to make me nervous but once I am swimming with the fishies everything else becomes irrelevant (Picture taken by Ming).

Terrified

2011-01-12T13:45:00.002+08:00

My friends from work don't get it when I tell them I am on a diet and that I have gained weight. They thought just because I run I cannot gain weight. It's a fallacy that all runners are fit. Nevertheless, I think my scale is busted. Two days ago I weigh 64kg but this morning, I was 60kg. Definately busted.

But. But.

I have really cut down on my food intake. No snacks. No sugar. I had rice once last night, 3 spoonfuls (I was having rice-withdrawal syndrome). My daily calorie allowance is only 1245. Its seems hard the first week but it will get easier. I am giving myself a month to bring down my BMI to the middle of the healthy level. Right now, I am borderline healthy.

At the same time, I am just starting to take chia seeds which will make me fuller longer because chia seeds slow down the spike of sugar into the bloodstream. It's like converting normal food into a lower GI food. Hence helps me lose weight, indirectly, because I tend to eat less. Chia seeds looks like biji selasih when soaked and I wonder if its the same thing. When left in a glass of water for 15-30 minutes, it turned jelly-like as the seeds can absorbed 10 times of water than its body weight.

For runners, this is a good thing because it can keep us hydrated longer. Apparently this superfood is mentioned in the book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall where a tribe of super runners in Mexico take a lot of chia seeds as their supplement.

Chia seeds also contain antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and packed with Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 helps to reduce inflammation and reduce the effects of aging.

I take about 3 spoonsful each day. One spoonful before a meal. I let it soak in a glass of water until it becomes jelly-like and I either add that to my protein shake or I add a bit of juice and drink it just like that. It doesn't add any taste to your food or beverage. The good thing is, Chia seeds is not expensive, making it a great addition to your diet.

Best jamming session these two. I love Kara's body language when she sings. Sexy.

Dynamite

2011-01-11T13:12:00.001+08:00

I have to post something today as today is 11.1.11. Happy 11.1.11, everyone.

One of the pick-up-the-speed-or-else tracks in my ipod. I love running to this song.

Story teller

2011-01-10T13:19:00.005+08:00

What a nice Monday so far eh? Work is not so hectic, no Monday meetings, no pressing deadlines, weather is OK OK and I am having a nice homemade sandwich for lunch while typing this post. But there is still something bugging me. Two things, actually. And I am going to tell you what, whether you like it or not.

One, is my weight. I stepped on the scale last night after weeks (or months) of freewheeling and horror of horrors, I weigh passed 60kg! I am something like, 64kg (I got off the scale immediately). I am short of 3kg of my pregnancy weight. Anyone who knows me, will know that I am too short to be a 64kg. Though I'd like to think that the old scale has gone cuckoos (I need to get a new one just to be sure), I think this is one reality that bites hard. I am going on a diet. No sugars (rice), no ice cream, chocolates, cakes (that means no baking for a while) and the only beverage I will be drinking is water. No Milos, no Gatorades, no 100Plus, no juices. Zero. Nada.

No wonder every time I run, I was huffing and puffing like a pregnant walrus. I am (temporarily) depressed.

Well, the other thing that bothers me is something that I have thought about for a while. When two opposite sex (the married ones) share the same interest and passion, there is bound to be some connection. We have to make sure that that connection is platonic and not going to develop further into something else. You can disagree if you want. My point is, we have to be responsible adults. If you think that something else is about to happen, back off. That is all I am saying.

But then, if you are a good story teller, you can wiggle yourself out of any situation.

Keep your pants on, its only Monday. Have a great week.

(One of the Gold Lion winners. I like this one. It's funny. It's not funny if you are caught in that situation but it's still funny nevertheless.)

Positive energy

2011-01-08T20:04:00.001+08:00

This morning I woke up at 7.02am with a jolt and couldn't believe the time. I was supposed to meet everyone at 7.00am. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth (no shower…hehe sorry) when Kam called, asking for direction. I wasn't sure what I said to him but somehow he found the place. I reached FRIM in less than half an hour, and everyone was waiting for me. I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting.

As usual, the run at FRIM always leave me breathless. After the last marathon in December, I haven't really found my groove back. I am always out of breath. I can't keep up with these guys and worst, I am reduced to walking at the inclines. This is my fourth time here and every time is the same. I think I need to do more hill runs and short, fast runs on the weekdays. You know like those so-called interval runs I used to do. Whatever it is, FRIM is a good training ground for trail running. I like it here.

I was watching a video on youtube the other day which explains why we humans feel at peace with nature. It has to do with energy. Each one of us produces energy and nature produces positive energy. And when two positive energies meet, you get a lot of positivity. The video also encourages us to surround ourselves amongst people who produces positive energy like spiritual leaders. Well, the video explains it much better than me but that's the gist of it. I think that energy is probably our soul. And trees have souls too, you know. I mean, they are living things too, but their form is not like us.

I thank God every single day that I am alive, I am given the iman to think about Him and I hope until the day I die, I can still utter 'Lailaha illallah'.

Spend some time to feed your soul too.

No one actually grew this chili plant. But my maid swept chili seeds on the floor out to the backyard and the seeds fertilised and now growing in between the cracks of the cement floor. I now have kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves, pandan leaves and I think what looks like spring onion growing at the backyard. Unfortunately I do not have a big area as the owner cemented a large part of the backyard. I hope this is a sign of good things to come, insyallah. I like to be optimistic about the future. :) It helps me to stay motivated.

How about a cuppa?

2011-01-06T17:40:00.003+08:00

I was never a coffee drinker, never. My mom used to have to explain to our hosts that her eldest daughter don't like coffee or tea. The poor host then had to make a special drink for me, usually a cordial. I often felt guilty. Sometimes we would just keep mum and let the host served me with hot, steaming coffee or tea and my mum would then drink it on my behalf and letting the host think that I actually drank it. Cool eh, my mom.

So when cafes sprung up all over the city, I couldn't care less. I seldom frequent places like Starbucks or Coffee Bean and find the prices for a cup of coffee in a paper cup ridiculously high. But of course as a student of branding back then, Starbucks has always been a great case study. Up to now. Even with intense competition from other brands, Starbucks often revamp itself to keep the brand relevant to its market. Starbucks invented the 'third' place. The place where everyone goes to if they are not at work or at home. You didn't know that, did you? You see how branding can play mind games with you.

I have heard and read other stories regarding Starbucks (or other controversial brands) but we'll keep the religion stories in another post. And oh, I have so much to share. So much that you might labelled me as a lunatic. All I can say is right now, there are plenty of signs that point to the end of the world. And the end is near.

Did I just scare you?

Brands always has the need to stay relevant, otherwise no one will think you are cool anymore. The question is, how do we make our brands relevant. Simple. Listen to what your customers are not saying.

What's with the Siren doing a split (1971 and 1987)? We only get to see the first Starbucks in Singapore in 1996. The first outlet was in Liat Towers at Orchard Road. Starbucks came to Malaysian shores two years later in 1998, and the first outlet opened in KL Plaza at Jln Bukit Bintang. I googled. Hehe.

Road ID

2011-01-06T13:05:00.001+08:00

I'm getting the red one - sport.

Apart from carrying your medical card with you on your weekend adventures, one other important thing we need to carry with us when being on the road is some sort of an ID that will help your rescuers identify you and contact your next of kin should anything bad happen to you. Yim wrote about his experience here.

I am trying to coordinate orders to do the Road ID but I am limiting the numbers of orders to just 10. We will share the shipping cost. I am only coordinating these orders:

1. Wrist ID sport - comes in 6 colours (USD19.99)
2. Wrist ID Elite - comes in 8 colours (USD29.99)

Product information can be found on the website here.

If you are interested, kindly write your email address in the comment section and I will contact you via email to get things going.

Let your RoadID speak for you when you can't.
(Cewah… ada gaya macam advertisement tak? hehe)

The good earth

2011-01-04T15:17:00.001+08:00

Sorry about the rants yesterday. But I think the rakyats deserved to be governed by smart people. Is it because this beautiful country is too big to be governed efficiently? Or is it because our politicians are too busy to win a popularity contest that they forgot the very people that they are supposed to serve. But I won't lose hope. This country has got potential. Loads of it. We need to nurture our younger generations and to not follow the footsteps of the corrupt and/or inefficient politicians. Someday, I hope this country to have at least one thing; super efficient city planning.

Did I mention we are thinking of getting a permanent resident status here? I didn't? Well, we were just thinking…. you know setting our roots more permanently. The trees are growing and we need good earth to sow our roots deeper. Here, the earth is good indeed. This land is blessed.

First day

2011-01-03T20:30:00.001+08:00

I hate first day of school like I hate first day at work. That is why I seldom leave a job unless I have to. Really have to. And I hate goodbyes. I am not good with goodbyes.

Today Citra joins the ranks of her predecessors in a secondary school. She's very excited to be in a new environment and I am really happy for her and hope that she will enjoy being a teenager. It's not easy having to manage the demands of two growing pre-teens, they are both so different in characters with different likes and dislikes and the fact that they are both different genders add to this mad equation. As parents, its our job to give our children the best education we can afford but apart from this compulsory education, I also make sure that my children are well versed with reading the Koran as well as doing their daily prayers diligently. It's not an easy task, it makes me look like the Commander-in-chief all the time. But it's my job, I'll lectured them till my throat ran dry.

In my opinion, we should do away with first day of school with the school fees, school books, forms filling etc. We had like a whole month to do all these stuff, and I wonder why make it a chaotic day with everyone doing the same thing at the same time. I really hate to compare but in Singapore, our first day of school was to drop the children to school and bid them farewell until we see them in the afternoon when the school bus sends them home. We are not even allowed to linger in school. School books, uniforms, badges, name tags and fees were all settled before school starts. There's no anxiety on the first day. Everyone had a really calm, easy first day. Including the teachers.

But today, I had to do everything in one single day. Everything. I had to take the day off from work. It doesn't make sense. I think we travelled more than 100KM today. Sigh.

The day has not ended. I am going to the bookshop to buy Nady's school books pulak. And guess what, there's no booklist since all students get free textbooks except for non Malaysians. You see, they forgot about us. So, what am I to do? I asked one of Nady's schoolmate parent to help me by writing the list of the textbooks she received.

Take a deep breath, Kash.

How to celebrate the new year

2011-01-02T01:38:00.002+08:00

I am not much into celebrating the new year. No partying, no late nights. New Year's eve was spent at home with the kids, had dinner and watching old DVDs, happy to the fact that we are not sweaty and jostling with the crowd. I am too old and too jaded for that sort of thing. In fact I spent ushering the new year in my bed, dozing off as I heard the fireworks in the distance at One Utama and Curve. However, almost everyone I know who is a runner celebrate the first day of the new year with a run or bike, thanks to all the status updates I saw on Facebook. I chose to spend my morning with nature.

A great morning run at FRIM with the hardcores, Syah, Shanaz and Daniel and I totally enjoyed it. This is my third consecutive run here. Running FRIM is still quite a challenge for me and I really appreciate them waiting and slowing down for me, especially Daniel who slowed down to a walk to keep an eye on me. Thank you, everyone. Jangan serik to invite me again. Hehe.

I love FRIM and will try my best to be here at least on alternate weekends. I think it is safe to run here alone (though not recommended for ladies) and you can go crazy with the mileage. I have found my training ground for TNF. It has quite a good mix of different terrain and the slopes are good too. The trails are easy to navigate as well unlike Kiara Park where it is a bit technical and the trails are endless. You could end up somewhere else, like Hartamas, if you are not careful.

In the evening, I hosted a small gathering of friends. Thank you for being here tonight and bringing the goodies, ice creams, donuts, peanuts, rojak, seafood rice, fish cake but unfortunately I forgot to bring out Diket's creme caramel. Now, my ehem… kids are going to finish it! Sorry I did not have photos to share but I hope a kind someone would post some of the photos he took tonight. But not of me, I hope. :)

KA and Zarin stayed back to help me clean up and afterwards we sat down with a hot mug of tea and chat till almost midnight. Thank you, guys!

We should do this again someday yeah?

I had a great 2010 and had done quite a few things that I would say, beyond my expectation, whether work-wise or my running. I love everything that came my way, the good, bad, and even the sad ones. It is through all these different experiences we have in our lives that will make us a better person, if not a much stronger-willed person. Let's hope for 2011 to be the best that we can be, as a mom, dad, co-worker, friend, daughter, son, wife and husband. I am who I am also because of the people around me. I've met so many amazing people in the past few years I have been here and I really appreciate the friendship they gave me. May God bless you all.

I hope you find inner peace doing everything you love and love everything you do.

Selamat Tahun Baru! Happy New Year!

B.I.G win

2010-12-30T12:53:00.001+08:00

Thank you to the Malaysian football team for winning the AFF Suzuki Cup. Well they lost the match last night but they won by aggregate. A win is still a win. Because of this win, we all win as well. The PM has declared a public holiday tomorrow. Yay to that! Anyway, some companies have an off day anyway as replacement leave for New Year's Day being on a Saturday.

Have a great Friday. But what to do on a Friday morning?

Congratulations Malaysia for being victorious! Wonder if NIKE sells the football jersey?

Put it on

2010-12-28T17:05:00.001+08:00

Next time when you catch yourself saying that you don't need a seatbelt because it's a short drive, remember this TVC. I love the message because it is so profound. Love your family, put your seatbelt on.

"A community project by Running Wild" :)

Dont take anything for granted

2010-12-28T16:56:00.000+08:00

I think this is just so awesome and freaking inspirational. Don't ever take the sun for granted.

This reminds me of a 2007 vampire movie called '30 days of night' where a group of bloodthirsty vampires attack an Alaskan town when the sun didn't rise for 30 days. It's one of the best vampires movie I've watched. The best!

Let's go to the movies

2010-12-28T13:02:00.000+08:00

Brilliant movie making. I have always love horror movies and stories but I think this one is tops.

Happy Tuesday!

Monday blues, NOT!

2010-12-27T23:59:00.002+08:00

I wish all my Mondays are like this.

I so love walking at FRIM! But love running it even more.

We will be running FRIM again this Saturday morning. It's going to be a regular run for us. You are most welcome to join us.

Time: 7am
RV: Road junction of the surau, FRIM
Distance: 10-12KM
Pace: Moderate (or run your own pace). There will be a sweeper for the last runner.

Have a great week!

Making time for life

2010-12-26T21:39:00.009+08:00

A weekend that feels…long. I still have a day off tomorrow and going to spend the time getting the kids ready for school. The boys need a haircut badly and I have bought for them new shoes, socks etc. They will not get new bags as last year's bag is still good. The children need to learn to take better care of their things. I used to have to replace new mechanical pencils almost every week. And erasers too. And rulers. When I asked them where did all these things go, they told me their classmates borrowed them and didn't return. I think it's mutual. Sometimes I see pencils or erasers which I know were not theirs. But as they get older, other things started to go missing, like shoe bags, files, house keys, phones, watches, wallets, school t-shirts and the top of the list, water bottles. I have lost count with the missing water bottles and tupperware. From adidas water bottles and tupperware, they are now using the ciplak ones but that too never came home. These have to be replaced every few months or so.

The children had their triathlon race this morning. It was a small affair as most of the expats kids were still away for christmas holidays. I helped to marshall the bike course on the u-turn. It was quite a tough job I realised, as I must keep track who the leaders and the last cyclist were in each category so that I can guide them to enter transition or to make another u-turn. The thing is I also have to keep count on how many loops the leaders had done. Counting 1-2-3-4 was easy but counting them minutes apart was like freaking hard. I know this sounds retarded…hehe… and I hope I got everyone doing the right number of loops.

This triathlon is organised under the Triputra and Young Endurance Athletes banner with race directors Jason Thiang and Dino, both are accomplished Ironman in our small circle of triathletes. This was a very good first effort, guys. Keep up the good work. It will only get better. I really like to help small races like this flourish either by volunteering or getting my children to participate. I saw a couple of our triathletes like Det, Doc Hisyam and Zul Hassan with their juniors as well. Doc Hisyam's youngest girl swam with a float and rode a pink bike and she was so confident with her run. And she's only 5. This was not her first race as I have met her before early this year on her first triathlon race. She's really brave. Read Doc's short account of the triathlon this morning. There are more nice photos here. I was busy trying to count loops, you know.

Citra started her bike with a flat back tyre and I told her to just ride the bike as she only had to do one loop. I had changed the tube the night before and I am suspecting that either the rim or the tyre is busted. Will send the bike to KSH tomorrow for a check up. I am so proud of all the children who finished today and everyone finished the race.

We were at Putrajaya since 7.15am this morning. Perfect weather, I must say.

Auntie Kash suka sangat adik ini.

She is so comey, kan kan? Doc Hisyam accompanying her on her bike and run. Congrats to daddy too!

Hmmm…teka anak siapa ini. Clue: Handal macam abah dia jugak. I got a very important job marshalling the cyclists to u-turn for another loop or go into transition. (Thanks for the photos, Zul)

As for me, a run at FRIM on Saturday morning was the highlight of my week. All those stressful days this week melted into oblivion. All I can think of was to try to keep pace with everyone and was determined to try to get fit so I can at least run this stronger. I hope to run up steroid hill one day. I have now got three leeches bite marks on my legs and I thought I would get squirmy with them but I don't think I really mind. Well, I did get bitten by the baby ones not the big ones. I am going to try to tape my my legs and wearing high socks next week and see whether that will prevent the leeches from having a bite.

Well, its a fun weekend for sure. I've got a lot of things done these two days. Since I'm off from work tomorrow, I think we'll go to the pool at The Club and maybe catch a movie afterwards. Next week is a short week and I don't plan to do any serious work in the office. Shhh…don't tell anyone.

I hate this, I love this

2010-12-24T12:46:00.002+08:00

This week has been a roller coaster ride for me. I am really swamped with work even though it's the holiday season. I get stacks and stacks of job brief on my table almost every morning. There are times like this I hate my job for trying to take over my life. I don't want to start to mention about annoying clients. I still get paid the same thing when I do less. I like less, it gives me time to think about my work and find a better solution instead of doing something just because I need to finish it. I hate it when the work that we do gets rejected. It spoils my mood. It makes me feel…crappy. I hate my job. I love my job.

I have a chronic disease. I am constantly waking up late every morning. It disrupts all my running plans. Most times I get zero mileage in. Sometimes, I get 2KM in, like this morning. I am just going to wait until December ends. I hate December. I love December.

Hate/Love from CRUSH on Vimeo.

The kind of emotions creative people go through on a daily basis. Hate one minute, love one minute. Publicis gave all employees a notebook similar to Moleskin and in between the pages, they printed inspirational phrases to get us contagious on creative ideas. The one that I like is this "Do what you love, and in return love what you do, passionately, deep inside without limitations and shyness".

Weekend starts today. Have a great one.

Sorry I'm late, I have to run this morning

2010-12-21T13:17:00.000+08:00

I got up late but forced myself out of the house to run. It was slightly drizzling but I managed to get a 5K in this morning. Well…if I have to run with the boys, I better make sure I can run otherwise I will be terribly lagging behind.

Julin has posted the Ironman version, so here's the runner's version. I thought the Ironman one was more hilarious. Enjoy.

I'll get there someday

2010-12-20T13:00:00.001+08:00

Something to inspire you this Monday morning. Never let obstacles prevent you from getting and doing what you want. Have faith.

Have a great Monday.

The Legacy continues on

2010-12-19T17:52:00.001+08:00

I rarely do a movie review but if I do one, you can be sure the movie blew me away. By the end of the movie I was still craving for more action, there weren't enough of the games action to keep me satiated. I was wow-ing with every single movie technology they used. From the older Jeff Bridges playing his young self (amazing!), to the grid, to the portal and the vehicles they featured in this movie is just out of this world. Well it is, it is the digital world. Everything is about speed, agility and you will not see anyone fat. They wore compression suits with glowing lights like how we wear our compression tights when we run.

Somehow being a spiritual person, I cannot help but think about Heaven as it is said in the Koran that what you can visualise in this world cannot be compared to what that you will see in Heaven. If Man can design something so spectacular like those vehicles I saw in Tron, then I cannot imagine what God, our Creator has in store for us in Heaven. Even the disc that the 'programs' wore on their back which stored information about who and what you are, what you had done is something like our own book which will be given to us during Judgement Day to determine whether we will be sent to Hell or Heaven. And in the movie's case and the protagonist in the movie, Sam Flynn, he was sent to the Games.

I love guys (or girls) on bike, especially big bikes and Sam Flynn in the movie rode a Ducati in his 2D life. There were a couple of Ducatis in the movie and the bike was awesome. He outsmart the traffic police after violating the speed limit (of course!). And the trick he did at Encom building during the Board meeting was nothing short of genius. Sam Flynn is a tech genius, and he's not afraid to take chances. Sam Flynn is as great as his father is (was).

Daft Punk lend their musical genius in this movie and I thought the whole movie soundtrack is just awesome. They also played a cameo in this movie as a pair of DJs in one of the scene when Sam Flynn was sent to meet Zuse.

I am not going to be a spoiler by telling you the ending of this movie. You need to go out there and watch it. And watch it in 3D please. For me, I think I'm going to watch it again.

This motor vehicle transformed itself from a short stick.

Daft Punk, the awesome duo who wrote the soundtrack in the movie.

Fatigue Friday

2010-12-18T16:47:00.001+08:00

Friday morning was spent swimming easy with my swim mates. We will not be starting our swim class till January but Richard wanted us to have breakfast together but you know athletes, we must justify our makan first with some swim or run. I did 9 x 100m laps with some chit chat in between and later we went downstairs to have a nice local spread breakfast. Both Arif and Richard just came back home from Ironman Busselton and they did really well there. Read Arif's account of the race here. Congratulations, boys! I was told that next year 2011 Busselton Ironman slots are all filled up! The race conditions there are second to Kona and since the race is always well organised, I guess everyone had a great experience and came back to race year after year. I cannot imagine myself doing the Ironman but I think this is one race I would like to experience. Scary? Yes.

I am seriously stressed at work, coupled with the lack of sleep and its creating havoc on my energy level. My quads are sore due to the strength training I did on Thursday. By afternoon, my body felt like its been ran over by the bulldozer and coupled with a terrible headache. I went home, straight into bed without even changing from my work clothes and slept for two hours. I text my colleague to inform him that I will not be able to attend some office event that night. I was done for the day. Totally spent. When I woke up, I contemplated whether to DNS the run at FRIM on Saturday morning with Nik.

I decided to sleep over it.

I was woken up by the phone ringing, Nik was on his way here. I think I went through the whole motion of changing and packing half asleep. I ran FRIM nevertheless but I was already tired even before I began. FRIM's trail is beautiful, it's so well maintained and it is wide enough for runners to share with cyclists. I like it here. The trail is very runnable. I will make it a point to train here every week for my next race, including running the infamous steroid hill. I will need a better pair of trail shoes, a seriously good pair.

I have book tickets to watch Tron Legacy tonight. In 3D. Can't wait for that. But before that, taking Nady, Citra and Darma for a run and walk at Kiara Park. We'll have ice creams afterwards.

Have a fab weekend!

What will it take

2010-12-16T23:19:00.002+08:00

Two weeks has passed and I only managed to run a 4.5KM this morning. But the good thing is, despite missing almost two weeks of running, I am still loving it. The post run euphoria is indescribable, you have to be a runner to know what I am talking about. I not only like being a runner, but I am attracted to the idea of being an endurance runner. The long and lonely distance with the non stop drama, pain, ache and suffering is somehow comforting. Where I can't run with speed, I can run with endurance.

I was listening to a podcast today from Endurance Planet (I listen to podcast when I am working) about endurance and listening to how these runners train more than 100 miles races at Badwater and Western States and I wonder how and why they do what they do. Two friends attempting to run the Erie Canal (in New York), all 363 miles of it, running this distance for about 5 days by running two marathon a day. I am intrigued. Isn't that super awesome? What does it take for them to get to that level of running? What goes through their mind when they make that final decision to do it and what do they have to give up to be able to do what they are passionate about.

Will I ever know?

I was looking at past photos of my Sundown 84 run and I must confess I miss everything about it. The long, lonely training runs I did with hubby as my companion, standing at the start line, running during the race itself and the emotional finish. The thing that kept me moving was the determination to finish it. I run the route in my head many times. I picture myself finishing the race with my arms raise high (minus the emotional part). I know I can finish it, I've seen myself finishing it in my mind. I was on a mission. Sundown 84 was something that I wanted to do without even the need to think and rationalise too much.

But for Sundown 100, I cannot see myself finishing. I cannot see myself running the whole night. I cannot see myself pushing through the pain. And this upsets me. I have lost the passion and the fire that I had when I embarked on Project 84. I am not ready to get onboard. My heart is not in there. Only when I have found the same passion, the same fire and the same ruthless determination I brought with me when I ran that long night in May will I make that decision to run Sundown 100.

Until then, I am just going to enjoy going to the park to run my 10KMs and the occasional long distance run and also run short races with the kids. This year, all I can see myself doing is to finish a race with Darma running beside me. He will earn his first medal this year, even if I have to carry him on my back. I will see to that. I think I know where my heart is now.

Real only when shared :)

2010-12-13T18:29:00.008+08:00

Thanks for inviting us to your home, Ian. And sorry, I didn't know I was supposed to share the recipe then but here it is. Been wanting to share it in my blog but haven't got the time to do so. This recipe is a hand-me-down recipe from my mom-in-law and it's been a family favourite. I don't really have exact measurements/units and usually it is based on how much chicken I am using. I am sharing it with you so now you can share it with your family. Recipe is real only when shared…hehe.

Chicken and Corn Soup

1kg chicken

1 can corn kernels

garlic, ginger (pounded)

corn flour, to thicken

oyster sauce

2 eggs

salt to taste

Sauté the chopped garlic and ginger with oil until fragrant.

Add oyster sauce, about 3 tablespoons.

Add about 2 litres of water and 1kg of big chicken pieces

until chicken is cooked and soup is boiling. Drain the chicken from the soup

and peeled into thin strips/pieces.

Add the chicken pieces back into the soup. Add one can of

corn kernels (drain the water first). Then add some corn flour to thicken the soup.

Add two eggs. Make sure the soup is really hot so you

will get nice egg swirls.

Stir well and add salt to taste (about 1.5 teaspoon).

I guess you have to bear with me with the no running again today. Reason: overslept.

On another happy note: My colleagues and I all got our lucky draw prizes. I got my RM2,000 voucher in a non-gleaming envelope in which I will share it with my other half for having to put up with me. It's not enough to pay for your grievances baby, I know. Hehe. The other half will go to pay for my away races that needs travelling and a short weekend holiday somewhere. Another colleague won a 32" LCD TV and she has to lug it back home in her Kancil. We all envy the MacBook Air that my other colleague won. Everyone had a second chance of winning this grand prize and it was won by someone deserving. She was just saying in the morning that she hoped she wouldn't win the Macbook as the office might ask her to bring her work home. Haha...smart girl! And we were all ooh-ing and aah-ing the gorgeous ipads and ipod touch. Nope, I didn't win the ipad. Don't worry Citra. You'll get yours soon, baby. A promise is a promise.

Happiness is real only when shared.
(Quote from the movie "Into the Wild". Last entry by Christopher McCandless)

Zero weekend

2010-12-10T14:16:00.001+08:00

I haven't run since last Sunday's marathon and have slept in every morning. I am overloaded with work in the office and have been over eating which is a bad thing. Though I really wanted to run, the mornings have been besieged with rain and with Darma cuddling beside me, it's really hard to get out of bed. I always say there is tomorrow to start again.

I miss running, as crazy as it seems I think I am hook on running.

And I miss my two children too. Come back to KL soon, kids. The house is quiet without you.

Publicis will be having our Christmas dinner tonight. Everyone is hoping to win the ipad, me included. One can still hope, right?

Have a great weekend. For once, I have nothing planned. Zero.

The kids at Universal Studio last weekend. This week they will be off to a Toy Convention.

His legacy

2010-12-09T19:21:00.000+08:00

They are so many reasons why I shouldn't run the 100KM but there is only one reason why I should. Unfortunately this year may not be the year I will run it, but I know there will be others who will make this journey not just for themselves, but also to others who are less fortunate.

Jamie posted an article from the late Ngae where he ran 100KM to raise money for charity and if you are running the Sundown 100 this June, perhaps you should think about continuing his legacy.

Sweet treats

2010-12-07T23:47:00.001+08:00

While I was in India, having meals is a culinary experience. I learnt a lot in terms of taste and smell. I also learnt about the different cultures in India, all thanks to my host. Even the work I was doing taught me a lesson or two. I was shooting Indian desserts. The most popular dessert in India. If there is one dessert that unites all of India, this is it. It's kheer. In our language, its basically rice and milk. But if you know Indian desserts, it is very sweet.

If you want a sweet treat, try this. It's very easy to do.

Kheer (Rice pudding)
Nestle Milkmaid 1 tin
Basmati rice 100gm
Milk 1 litre
Garnishing: Raisins, cashew nuts

Wash rice and cook in milk for 10 minutes or until rice is soft.
Add Milkmaid and cook for another 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly until it becomes thick.
Garnish. It can be served chilled or hot.

I did not shoot this image, but it's close. I can't show you yet the one that we shoot.

Apart from the desserts, this is my favourite salad that I picked up from my host. I was a bit hesitant to try it at first because I don't really fancy plain yogurt but the combination of tastes was just extraordinary. You can pair this salad with any meal. I had it with curry chicken and rice and they served gulab jamun as desserts. I love the simplicity of the whole meal.

Yogurt Salad (I don't know the actual name)
1 tomato, chopped squares
1 onion, chopped squares
Few stalks of coriander leaf, loosely minced
A pinch of salt
Plain yogurt

In a bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well.

I served this to my guests and everyone loved it! It's great with our fried rice too. I had yong chow fried rice and pair it with this salad. All their meals used basmati rice. I brought two packs home, one white and the other brown basmati. I am going to try a new recipe with the brown rice and if it works, I'll share it here later. So, who wants to be my guinea pig?

Salaam!

2010-12-07T19:45:00.001+08:00

I just got home from Singapore and it's been one long weekend. In fact, its been one long week and I am relieved that I will fall back into some sort of normalcy. We all thrived with routine. I am probably not going to run the MR25 as something urgent has come up. So that means last weekend was probably my last race for this year. I have not thought about next year. The only race I want to do next year is Northface.

The Singapore Marathon official results are out. I don't know how they do it, they are always fast. My official time is 6:19:52 and I am position 7899th out of 14853 who finished. That is one awesome statistics. There are other statistics on the results page and looking at the numbers are just mind boggling.

I came home with lots of ideas for the future. I hope things will work itself out.

On a more urgent note, the fridge and the pantry is empty and I have to look forward to work tomorrow. Blurgh!

Today is the first day of Muharram. This is when Muslims celebrate the New Year. Last night was spent reciting doas (prayers) to welcome the new year. Prayers are an essential part of Muslims way to show piety to Allah and as a way for us to communicate with our Creator. We are closer to Allah when we say our prayers.

To all my Muslim brothers and sisters, Salam Maal Hijrah 1432.

It's not the final chapter: Singapore Marathon 2010

2010-12-06T15:46:00.003+08:00

I really don't have anything interesting to write about this journey. Nothing emotional or inspirational at all. But it was definately one of my favourite marathon even though my brother, Kam and I clocked the worst marathon timing, 6:20 and all of us had some sort of muscle cramps, knee pain and blisters (me). The blisters happened at the same spot on my toes where I used to have them.

The day before was somewhat of a marathon for me. We were out the whole day and at night, what was supposed to be a quiet family dinner turned out to be a carbo load party for 12 people. I cooked the whole dinner and it was quite a decent spread. But I enjoyed the dinner we had with family and friends. The story behind the blisters was this. I bought a new pair of shoes. It's a Zoot. And this is one of the most comfortable shoes I've ran in (after Pearl Izumi). Though I don't think Zoot would've caused me the blisters, it may contributed to it. I misplaced the blister powder I bought the night before and thinking that the blisters would not form on the same spot, I put on the blister plasters everywhere else but at the old wound. I mean during Sundown and TNF, I never got any blisters or cramps, so I thought I was somewhat immune to it. I was wrong. When the pain was a bit too much, we stopped just before we exited East Coast Park, and took off my shoes, and wrapped the toes with blister plaster. It felt better and I could run normally but the cramps came in at 32KM. The first one I got was on my calf. It felt like someone hit a baseball bat on my calf and I yelled "ouch". I think it was loud enough for other runners to turn and looked. And after that my thigh and my inner thigh was hit with cramps too.

After the cramps, I resigned to the fact that we will never make it back in 6 hours. Not with the walking and running. But we did run our best. You see this is why I don't really mind the timing. I did my best with the circumstances we had. I was still running, albeit slowly despite the pain. And I am proud of us. I think we did good. I thought I will be disappointed but I wasn't. In fact I felt satisfied. It's like I have done what I came to do. Not with the timing, but it's mission completion nevertheless. My running companions as always been my inspiration. Thank you for sticking by me.

I know I am not PB material, but I will not stop trying. So what if I take longer to get there. It doesn't matter.

And congratulations to everyone and my friends who were there at the start line and finished the race. We didn't get a chance to meet each other in the crowd. But I heard KD, Pui San, Ziff and Irwan called out to me on different parts of the route. Thanks for the support, guys. I know you all did good. Congratulations!

I am still now aching all over, especially on my thigh and sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do. If it's not because of passion, I think I would've stop on my first one. To think of the many long, long runs, fatigued body, early night on the weekends, very early morning runs, ugly toe nails, and even uglier tan lines can just be too much for most people. But I guess, this is why we are different from most people.

So here's to many more marathon. For the worse or for the best. Right?

Pinkie, my new zoot looks like she needs a bath. Just one day out, and she looks like she's done ten marathon. But this is the most comfy shoes I have ran in and the best part is, since its designed for triathlon, you don't need socks and it dry itself super fast. Since I got myself a new pair, don't think I'll retire from running. At least not until she wears out. And must I say how gorgeous the medal is?

Different sights and sounds

2010-12-02T02:05:00.002+08:00

Namaste everyone.

I am in the beautiful city of New Delhi and the first thing that I enjoy the most is the cool weather. The sun shines brightly but the weather is cool like you are in an ice box. The next thing I enjoy here are the conversations. It felt like I am in a Hindi movie. But they don't exclude me out of conversations because everyone I've met spoke English. And they speak very well too. But nope, I didn't see anyone good looking enough like those actresses and actors we see in Bollywood films. What I have been told, most of them all in Bombay.

The food are so full of flavour and texture, I don't think I have to explain further. You know what I mean. We all love Indian food, whether it's Northen or Southern cuisines.

I don't have much time to see anything as I have spent the whole day at Nestle's office going through the work and been in meetings. The traffic here is crazy and everyone honks for no reason when they drive.

And…I don't think my shoes are ever going to see the light of day here. Such a waste, the weather's really nice but Delhi is no place for anyone to run outdoors. I'm not sure whether its haze or its dust, but outside looks hazy. Anyway, there's a gym here but ekk…run in a dreadmill?

It's so cool outdoors! I can get use to this. Is Publicis India hiring?

This is the taxi I saw on the way from the airport. Awesome, yes? Of course there are taxis which don't look like a blast from the past. I need to get used to drivers/doorman opening and closing doors for me. I like to come back here to see the Taj Mahal one day. Just 3 hours away, I was told.

Manic Monday

2010-11-29T23:39:00.002+08:00

This is one of those Mondays that I wish the day would stretch longer. I got plenty of stuff to do in the office as well as at home. In fact, I need to make sure the fridge and pantry is full while I am away this week. Tomorrow I am flying off to New Delhi for a photo shoot. It sounds like a glamourous job to go for an overseas assignment but we have planned everything back to back. My days are packed. It's only two days of work but I am spending the remaining time on the plane. I am already having an upper back ache right now from, I assume, a very bad sleeping posture last night.

I got another exciting email today but I have yet to respond. I hope all these emails would lead to something big, I don't know but we'll see.

I just realised this Friday, within 24 hours, I will be in three different countries in two time zones. India, Malaysia and Singapore.

The kids had their triathlon on Sunday morning and the one that got soo…tired are the parents. After we had lunch, we got home, unload our stuff, shower and me and hubby slept for 3 hours straight. Totally knocked out, like I had run one long LSD. The only run I did was to accompany Citra and another boy on their 2KM run as they were the last two in their category. Nady did well to complete and after he finished he swore he is not going to do anymore tri races but yesterday's race was his third race.

Despite not enough training, the kids managed to finish.

I am sending them back to swim classes. His strokes were all wrong. This is the 13-15 age group swim and they have to swim 12 laps. Later he told me he was relieved that he was not last. Fourth last to be exact. Hehe.

He wants to rename Mamat to some Japanese name. Must be anime-influenced.

And we took some time off to watch Rapunzel. I must say, I have a huge crush on Flynn Rider. He is charming and good looking with a manly voice to boot. The whole movie is just beautiful. As usual, I cried but thank goodness for the 3D glasses to hide those tears. Bring the family to watch. And watch it in 3D. You might want to reach out to the floating lanterns.

Hansem, kan, kan?

Three special steps…that's all you need

2010-11-27T23:14:00.003+08:00

Today is my baby boy Darma's birthday. He is 11. In autism years, he is still 2. Or to us, he is still a baby. As promised to Darma, I was going to bake a cake for him.

Me: Darma, do you want Dibo or Oso?
Darma: Oso.
Me: Do you want Oso or Dibo? (note the swapping of names)
Darma: Dibo.

We will play this game until I get an answer which is consistent. Today he wanted Special Agent Oso. See, isn't Oso cute? He is also very short.

I think God took pity on me. This time, the butter cream frosting was a success. I baked a simple vanilla cake and the easiest topping for this cake. Hubby did his magic. I am amazed after repeatedly failing to get the perfect butter cream, today I had it made.

I just love the the texture of this butter cream. It's firm and soft at the same time. All you need to do is just add colour. I went crazy with the colours and bought all the colours the store has.

Papa Rais did the Oso sketch with colour indications. It's a big project.

I only did the baking and the prep of the butter cream frosting, Rais did the crafting of the cake. He's really good. The first cake (became Oso's lower body) was not flat because I forgot to lay the baking tray with baking paper. Some of the cake got stuck to the pan.

Laying the base colour for Oso's yellow furry body.

Oso is coming alive. It's really awesome to create something from nothing.

Almost done! Rais adding his finishing touch to Oso's jacket. By the way, the jacket is supposed to be in red, not pink. Haha.

I made a last minute decision to do a BBQ instead of ordering pizza for Darma's birthday makan. It was yummy. Hubby BBQ'ed mini lamb steaks, chicken, prawn and a foot long chicken sausage filled with cheese and herbs. We had that with garden salad tossed with Italian dressing and toast spread with either sundried tomato cheese or garlic cheese. It was better than the Las Vacas dinner we had yesterday. It was better because we had it at home. I would have invited some friends over if only I had more time to inform them.

Hubby did the BBQ almost to a perfection.

Enjoyed the dinner so much! Thank you, Rais.

I don't really have a green thumb but for the last couple of months, my plants have been growing and flowering. There was a time, when I have to throw plants away after a few months because it died every time I brought it home. So sad. I like old stuff and I have a habit of picking things that people throw. The wooden planks I found discarded in front of a shop and it was left to rot in the rain.

I rescued this white hibiscus when people in my office wanted to throw it away. It was only 10cm high and with a few leaves when I brought it home. I took 4 home and only two lived. The other tree, I planted in my backyard and my new maid cut it down. I was almost in tears, it has grown taller than me.

I don't know the name of this plant/tree (what do I call it?), but we potted it when I moved to this house almost 4 years ago. Today, the roots have outgrown the pot (the terracotta pot broke) and its too big to repot. It's about 9-10 feet tall now.

When we moved here, the front lawn was bare and muddy and we planted the carpet grass and the wooden planks ourselves. This is the most expensive pot we bought, its a lime stone and I love the green moss that is growing on the outside. This plant has died many times, but I pruned the dried leaves and every time it came back to life with baby leaves. But at the moment, it is sprouting the biggest set of leaves I've ever seen.

I have nothing expensive in this house, my furnitures are all old and it's a mix and match. The house is old too. Even my TV set is an old fashioned 29" box TV. I have this old rattan swing but it's not used. It's resting on top of a huge wooden pot. Anyone got a good drill and would like to help me hang this up? Darma would love to swing on it again. Hehe.

I had such a wonderful day today. I took the kids for their triathlon clinic this morning and spend the rest of the day grocery shopping, baking, marinating and sending Nady for his music class. Basically, I was on my feet the whole time. My feet ache like it has done 30KM of distance. But the truth is I have not ran a single mile since Thursday. I wanted to do a late afternoon run today but the BBQ got in the way. I think tomorrow we might catch a movie, probably about a boy named Harry, but after I fit in a 10K.

Happy Birthday, Darma. You are my Special Agent also.

Friday of sorts

2010-11-26T13:34:00.002+08:00

Today is the last swim before we break for December. Richard and Arif will be going next week for their Ironman in Busselton, Western Australia while I will head out to Singapore to run the Singapore Marathon with 17,000 other marathon runners. Isn't that awesome? Unfortunately, Syah will not be able to join us in Singapore due to some parenting duties. Bapa mithali.

We did an easy workout today.
1 x 200m warm up
1 x 200m drill with the two pull (I am beginning to enjoy bilateral breathing but water keep entering my ears)
5 x 200m main set to focus on race pace

I bought a new pair of TYR goggles yesterday. This one's cheaper than the one I am using now, but it has more rubber padding around the socket and thicker band on the back. I bought it for Nady to use for his triathlon this weekend so I tested it out today. Passed with flying colours. No fogging of the lens and the pool looks crystal clear. He has no reason to stop and adjust his goggles now.

Richard, who ran 3:38 in the recent Penang Marathon gave me a valuable tip to run a good marathon so I am sharing it here. It's no mystery actually. Thanks Richard for the pep talk and advice this morning, appreciate it.

To run a good marathon throughout (i.e no walking):
1. Train well for the distance. That means you should reach a certain peak (say, 35KM) in your LSDs.
2. Refuel on the go. And consistently refuel up to 35KM (or the last 10KM). Make sure you refuel at 27-28KM as well because after 3 hours, you would have depleted your reserves. It will take at least half an hour before for the food/gel to digest. So don't wait till you are at 36KM to eat, it might be too late (next time I will support you guys at 30KM instead of 36KM). How much to take and when depends on your sweat rate, your body weight and the calories you are burning. But a general rule would be to refuel every hour, at least 110 calories (one sachet of energy gel). And of course, don't forget to drink your isotonic as well. Hydrate every 15-20 minutes.

Have a good Friday at work, chillax and enjoy what the day brings. And then on the weekends, we play.

Weekday vegetarian

2010-11-25T12:18:00.000+08:00

I think I am SOLD. Nothing with a face on the weekdays. And on the weekends I can choose to eat fish or seafood instead of meat. But if I want to eat meat, I still can do so.

Make an impact

2010-11-24T18:37:00.002+08:00

It's Wednesday and I got a new pile of job reqs on my table. But before I go into stress mode, its important for me to unwind and find some vids to watch and get entertained. It's part of my job to try to be on top of the current trends, especially to find out what our consumers are doing. How do we fit our brand(s) into their already busy lifestyle? That way I get to play different hats. The young hip, college kid, or the busy but guilty mum or the high achiever executive.

Hey, in case you are looking for a job, Facebook is hiring. Why working with Facebook is da bomb, listen to what their management team (*which looks like my son's seniors) has to say about work.

"You will never get criticise for trying something for the right reason and making a mistake."

"What we are trying to do is to encourage people to see the gap. And that requires being critical and extremely imaginative."

"Coming to work with a sense of urgency about what we are doing. I mean, even if it seems like a simple task kind of day-to-day basis, getting it done is the thing that lays the groundwork for everyone else to do the other things that they are doing that it all adds up to something huge." Mark Z.

I like the last one best. When it comes to work and life, you need to take risks sometimes.

Go if I have to

2010-11-24T11:09:00.002+08:00

Next Sunday, when I run the marathon, there is no way I am ever going to stop and queue to pee. If I have to go, I will just go. Last year I lost my pacer in the midst of 17,000 runners and never caught up to them.

I am top 40

2010-11-23T18:34:00.001+08:00

I woke up this morning and told myself I am going to take another day off from running. Running can wait. And went back to sleep. I got really bored with work too. Like seriously bored. And it's not that I am not busy. I have a dateline tomorrow. But yippee, I am taking it easy.

This is my favourite episode of Glee from Season 2. Gwyneth Paltrow sang Cee-lo's "Forget You".

"What do you know about Cee-lo, cos you're like 40."
"Top 40, sweet cheek!"

Watch here. I can't download the video.

Go but no go

2010-11-21T19:20:00.002+08:00

There's nothing more than the truth when someone said we should listen to our body. I was humbled when on the way back from doing my third lap, I had a sharp pain on the left side of my rib cage. All attempts to run were futile. Every time I made an effort to run, it send a shooting pain right through my rib cage. Felt like I was stabbed with a knife (not that I really know how it feels like). At one point, I had to bend to reduce the pain. And today for the first time ever, I had to sit down at the mamak for a minute while pouring the chilled 100+ into my water bottle. My final lap was sabotaged with a pain so intense I was reduced to walking. I started to run slowly near Plaza Damas. Walking was more tiring than running. It was hot by this time and my feet was burning. I just want to finish this as fast as I could.

But the good news is I still finished 3 minutes earlier than last week's run with the same distance despite all the walking I did.

I was doing quite well pacing with Arif and came back done with the second loop in 2:30ish. Arif was already back at Petronas when I asked him to run ahead first while I find a toilet at Medan Selera in front of the Bangunan Kerajaan. After about ten minutes or so, I ran back to the carpark as fast as I could, not wanting Arif to wait too long for me. But when I reached Kenny Hill, I was so tired that I walked half way up and also at Plaza Damas when I tried to catch up with this guy who was walking. Can't even catch up with him on the incline…haha.

A quick check with Mr Google tells me that the pain on my rib cage (better known as side stitch) is caused by stretched ligaments that protect my organs. If the ligaments are stretched, it will send out pain signals. One reason for the cause of stretched ligaments is the increased intensity in the workout. What we can do is to do some stretching and obviously, reduce the intensity. Well, well, what do you know. I went out too fast, but it was fun!

And for the first time after a long time, I had muscle cramp on my lower calf right up to my toes. I had to stop to stretch my calf. Arif gave me a salt capsule to take and it helped to keep the cramp at bay. Thanks, Arif. Lucky you were there at that time. But I really liked going faster. There's nothing like a good workout when you know you have done something relatively hard.

TSB and his friend (sorry, I forgot her name) also started off with us, but they went on their own pace and managed to run 13KM, somewhat in between what they had planned (10-15KM run). For me and Arif, we both discounted the distance less one loop (Arif did 2, I did 3) but I think 33KM for me is good enough. I finished earlier than last week as we started off the run at 6.30 am this morning.

I met a lot of runners today. I thought most runners would be in Penang. I heard it rained when they were running and caused plenty of blisters. But it didn't stop Richard from finishing his marathon in 3:38. Congratulations, Richard. You know you are a bad 4-hour pacer but whoever followed you would have PB-ed as well. Hahaha.

Post run: eat, massage, sleep. And I would do this again every week.

I have a busy week this week with several datelines. I have been bringing work home for the last few weeks and falling asleep in front of my lap top. It's not healthy, I know but I am excited with the work we are doing. My visa to India has just been approved last Friday and I am going to New Delhi next week for a shoot. The day after, I am off to Singapore to run what probably would be my last marathon. I said marathon, I didn't say ultra marathon. But don't get your hopes up for the Sundown 100. It's a no-go at this moment, but who knows.

Have a great (taper) week.

Full circle

2010-11-19T13:22:00.003+08:00

I intended to write this reply as a comment from my earlier post about running Sundown. But I am posting it up as a separate entry.

"9min/km for 100KM is impossible with my standard. Let's be honest here. Maybe I can do it up to 40-50KM but that's really pushing it. I won't be quick to say yes this time. There are other things I need to weigh now since I have been thinking of making other plans. Running this will take 6 months out of my one year. Last night when I woke up, I realised that I may not want to spend 6 months running like crazy. I will do it, just maybe not this year. Like the 84, they have increased the cut-off time from 14 hours to the current 15 hours. Maybe in future, the cut off will be 18 hours. This distance is for runners like Yip, Richard, Frank who can do sub 4 marathon without even trying. For sub 6 runners, its going to take a lot from us to get to where the sub 4 is. I am thinking that I should try to better my marathon timing first even before being overly ambitious. I have nothing to prove if I run this and if I dont do it, its not going to make me anything less of a person. Running Sundown 100 is not going to define me. On the other hand, if I do it, I get a chance to raise money for charity and also see how far I can go. But why would I want to do that? Why do I need that challenge. The marathon is enough of a challenge. The Kapas Marang swim is enough of a challenge. The Sabah Adventure is enough of a challenge. The Aviva is an even better challenge. But we'll see, I am still 50-50. But I guess you know where I am heading."

And thanks for the confidence you have in me. I know if I have set myself to do something, I will go out and do it. And when I do it, I want to do it well.

We have an awesome swim workout this week. The plan was to do 3 sets of 1KM. I almost fainted when I heard the distance but phew! I only needed to do 800m while the guys did 1KM. We were asked to count the strokes for about 200m and each lap should be about 24 strokes for me. I was breathless after 150m that I have to stop to breathe. The thing is, we were pushing hard and long in order to cut down the number of strokes and I did 800m in 17:20. We took a short break and then continued with the second set. I did my second swim easier, no stops this time and completed the second 800m in 17:40.

We didn't manage to do the third set as we did not have enough time. I totally enjoyed this workout with the guys and working out with people who are driven makes you want to improve yourself as well. At least I aimed to not let Richard overtake me so many times! Haha. Thanks Richard and Arif for a great workout today.

If only I have a coach to help me with my running. I am giddy with all the swim I did today but I can also say, my life is great right now. I am happy. I am stressed at work but I think I am happy enough. I think in life you need to be sad and broken to cherish being happy. Then you can say that you have come full circle. Then you repeat. Life is like that.

So you see, do you think I need a 100KM to tell me that? Hahaha.

Have a great weekend!

And all the best you Bridge runners. You guys are crazy to run 2/3 of the marathon on a godamn bridge. But you need to be insane to complete 42KM so there, it's justified. Grab that PB! Well, at least aim not to do a PW. My thoughts are with you!

Sundown 100

2010-11-19T01:01:00.002+08:00

Sundown 100 is the only topic any decent marathon runner is talking about. Anyone who has done one or two ultramarathon would want to consider doing this race. It's a big, big decision. Huge. Ginormous. Doing the 84 took a lot from me. A lot. I was physically and emotionally drained. I was broken, inside out.

I have two more races in December. The question is now not whether I can finish the 100, the question is whether I can finish the 100 in 16 hours. I know I am not a fast runner. I have to be able to do a 50 in 6 to even want to think to run it. I don't want to finish it when everyone else is already packing it up and gone home.

I will only know after December. We'll see.

Shortchanged

2010-11-16T01:40:00.003+08:00

First and foremost, Congratulations to all the Powerman duathletes who managed to complete the race in good timing.

I managed to get a run in yesterday but there's good news and bad news. Good news is, I cut down the timing to one hour less than the previous time done with the same distance but having done that, I was a bit apprehensive on the distance and checked it on google map. The bad news is, it was under-distanced by 6KM. So meaning all my 39KM runs was only 33KM. And my 26KMs was 24KM only. The only best thing I got out of this was that I managed to reduce the timing for the same distance.

Alright two more weeks to do a long run. Well, actually this week will be the last week, before tapering (don't like to use this word). I checked again the FM run map and it will pass by near Chinatown (Maxwell Food Centre) at KM4. That's nearby where hubby stay. You can see the Pinnacle from here, I think. I was wondering if I can get hubby to come support as we are leaving the East Coast Park. A cold can of Gatorade and chilled grapes and bananas would be amazing at this point. Let's see if we can get transport in there.

Kiddos did not get the brick training done yesterday as it was drizzling. So we went to tapau Ayam Penyet from Curve and eat out at home. I know its the same routine, when you cannot get any training done, spend that time eating. Hehe. Kids triathlon will be next weekend. This should be fun! The kids did not train as much as I would like them to and they are not even bothered with the lack of training. Anyway, their distance is not that long, but I want them to have at least enough training for the run part. The swim and bike, they are all OK. If they have a good run means the race is successful.

I had a good 11/2 hour of foot massage done yesterday and this guy's the best one I had, bar none. He kneaded my arch and my calf and I felt the pain dissipating into thin air.

All the best to everyone who's going to Penang to either a) run Penang bridge b) makan or c) BOTH!

I need to plan menu for Wednesday (Daging Rendang is a must!). Selamat memasak kepada kaum ibu-ibu (dan juga kaum bapa yang rajin membantu).

Selamat Menyambut Aidiladha (Ada open house jugak ke?)

My world won't krumble

2010-11-13T18:41:00.005+08:00

I overslept this morning. The alarm from my phone went quiet. I don't know which one to kill first, the phone or the wall clock. I wanted to run today so I can spend Sunday morning having breakfast with hubby and the kids. Sigh. Not meant to be, I guess. As punishment, 39KM is mandatory tomorrow. Family breakfast postpone to lunch.

Instead of mopping around the house, I swapped the weekend plans and did Sunday chores today. Before I left the house to do grocery shopping, I did a quick check on friends' blog and read updates on my Facebook. Almost everyone was up. Pui San posted a super yummy Apple Crumble topped with what looks like custard sauce on her blog. My tummy (c)rumbled. Lovely, I thought. And a quick google on the internet revealed a super-easy-than-my failed-cupcakes-icing recipe. If you haven't know already, baking is my new hobby. While running takes me away from the mad world of advertising, baking helps me to channel that extra endorphins. Whatever it is, I am learning as I go along. I am not afraid to fail. Well, if I fail, try again.

Apple Krumble

Ingredients:
Making the crumbles:
6 oz (170g) butter, slightly softened
6 oz brown sugar
250g self raising flour

3 big apples
cinnamon powder

How to make:

Combine the flour and butter and mix them with your hand

Then add the 4 oz of the sugar. Mix it until it becomes crumbly. Leave it aside.

Arrange the cored apples in a baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining sugar and the cinnamon powder.

Spoon the crumble mixture onto the baking dish.

See, so nice. Ready to be baked in the oven.

Baked for 40 minutes at 170ºC. When cooled, cut them using the roller cutter (used to cut pizza). You can make the top more brown. Just set the timer a bit longer. Make sure lightly browned not black.

Whoops, sorry gambar gelap. All I can say is, there is no time to chill it in the fridge. Gone in minutes. Citra asked me to bake some for her classmates for their farewell party. What do you think?

This is just the basic recipe, and you can add oats or cereal when you mixed the crumble. Eat them with custard cream and/or vanilla ice cream.

How about it? Not bad eh? I also tried baking the Bread Pudding but I guess everyone knows how to bake Bread Pudding already, so maybe next time I share the recipe. Go and try it tomorrow. I guaranteed it's fail-proof.

We had lunch at home, Kari Ikan Tenggiri and Fried Sotong coated with cereals. Then we all went swimming at Kelana Jaya around 2pm. They did 500m while me and Darma played in the pool. The kids just came back from their 20 minutes run around the park in front of the house. The work of the coach (mum) is easy. I just need to tell them what to do while I watch TV with Darma. They came back home with the smell of apple crumble in the house. And this is the second pan(?) I baked. I baked three pans today, one to give to the neighbour.

Tomorrow will be my turn to run and the kids will get to do their first brick. I'll let you know how that turns out. I love the weekends!

And power to the peeps doing the Powerman tomorrow!

Love and hate relationship

2010-11-12T00:24:00.005+08:00

One of the things I like doing with the children is to watch TV with them. I watch "Step Up and Dance", "Amazing Race" and the occasional anime with them. Did you know some of the anime on TV is like soft porn. They have kissing and suggested sex scenes. I wonder if anyone from the censorship board ever watch those animes. They are not cartoons OK. Not like the ones in Playhouse Disney.

This week "Amazing Race" travelled around Australia. I would like to visit Australia one day and even better if we can live there. Hehe. Anyway, stop daydreaming. One of the places they went is a dirt track for WRX race cars and I thought that is so cool to sit in a Subaru WRX (stereotyped as Ah Beng's car in Singapore) and drive as fast and as crazy as you want. I will probably never own a sport car in this life (unless I have lots of money for a 3rd car) so if I am ever in Queensland, the WRX Experience will be one of the places I would like to visit.

I like Lani and Jess, they are so together and chummy. Go, girls! Always first to arrive. But our favourite team are Malaysians Ethan and Khairie. Khairie had to eat a grub after throwing a boomerang and he chewed it like gummy! Gross! And speaking of boomerang, I have a few boomerangs at home (in Singapore) when hubby went there a few years back. Never had the chance to get the boomerang to turn back to me though.

The last to come back are Sunaina and Dimple, two very pretty ladies. I like her last comment after they were booted that she will choose her best friend over the prize money any time. Awww…so sweet.

Citra got her UPSR results today. She's not the brainy one but she always does her best. Citra is creative. Pity, sometimes she has to stand behind the shadows of her brother. She needs to stand on her own and be the best that she can be. I want her to be happy being herself. Citra scored 3As and that's good enough for me. I don't know if I am a bad parent for not being over zealous. I cannot see myself harping my children to score 5As. I think secretly I wanted her to score 5As because I wanted her to be proud of herself. I don't brag about my children to anyone. But I think as parents we want our children to be happy first. You see, if you are in Singapore, you better be scoring As, otherwise they will channel you into a path called vocational institute, where kids who are not academically-inclined will be sent to. Their smarter peers would go to junior colleges and polytechnics before pursuing their degree in the universities. The problem is, a lot of these kids are Malays. Hmm…this needs a separate post but if you are a Malay Singaporean, if you open your eyes wide enough, you will see big discrimination everywhere. For me, I went through my life with my eyes open and my heart closed. You just need to grit your teeth to live.

Being a Malay where you are the minority is not easy. So when Malaysians complained about Malays defending Malay rights in this country, sometimes I think these Malays don't realized that they are lucky to have someone defending their rights. But. Start being a racist and you get to talk to the hand. And someone might just be given the hand. Try me.

I am feeling really blurrrgh! today because I never thought I could have a bad design sense. Maybe I thought that my idea was too good and it hit me in the face when it's not. When it comes to work, try not to take things personally. I don't mind bringing work home but I hate bringing emotions from work home. Leave it at the door. But I can't help feeling blurrgh! I also don't like the new place that I am sitting. A cubicle for 4 now sits only two of us. I feel lonely. I sit there like a misfit. And the gossips! They are horrible!

I know I have a lot to ramble today. I need to unwind the mind. I am seriously stressed at work! I went through the day hating and loving. Down and up. Thank God, days like these are far in between. I can't wait for the weekend.

Anniversary

2010-11-10T18:33:00.001+08:00

Thank you for putting up with my nonsense for the last 15 years. You are the only person who can stand me being me.

Happy Anniversary.

Same same but different.

Marathon is boring

2010-11-08T13:03:00.002+08:00

Hold on, don't hate me yet. I love marathon but it's just that its boring.

This is not the first time that I fell asleep watching the marathon on TV. Last night, Astro televised 'live' the ING New York Marathon. It was touted as one of the best marathon in the world. If I can fall asleep, I can imagine how boring it was for non-runners to watch the marathon. Two and half hours of watching someone run the same pace over and over again can lull you to sleep, if not bored you to death.

Half hour into the marathon, I was in slumberland already. That fast! What a lullaby.

What I observed:
1. These non-human runners ran a very consistent pace throughout.
2. They hydrate on the run and did not stop to walk (obviously).
3. They wore v. light clothing, almost half naked (a-ha!).
4. They stood in front of everyone else at the start line, not behind (haha).

Me on the other hand, does the opposite:
1. Start slow, finish even slower. Very much slower (aka walking pace).
2. Take my own sweet time to rehydrate at water stations.
3. In full gear head to toe.
4. Stand at the back of pack.

In four weeks time, I will also be racing in one of the most popular marathon in this region, the Singapore Marathon. This may be my last marathon there. Well, at least next year, I won't be racing Sundown and Singapore Marathon. I want to seek other pastures (correct word?). I want to travel and race at the same time. However, I got a few obstacles namely:

1. No money (but can save or get sponsored, which is not a real problem)
2. Not enough leave and can't take too long leave (which can negotiate with Boss but must show I am working hard now)
3. Family (can negotiate with my No.1)

Since all are negotiable I am keeping my options open. It's not so bad after all.

Happy Monday.

Footnote: Haile G. who dropped out of the marathon (I read in the news) will announced his retirement. Running has an expiry date, it seems. So now he will probably do walks in the park and run 5Ks. Hehe.

So syok weekend!

2010-11-07T21:15:00.000+08:00

This weekend is one of those rare long weekends and with long weekends you end up tiring yourself silly with activities. Activities would be an understatement to be honest. I did swim, run, bike and managed to fit in a 3KM run with the kids and also baked cupcakes. While the cakes are super yummy, soft yet firm, the butter cream topping was an absolute failure. Again. I will not go into details but I failed in terms of presentation.

I had planned a good long run of 39KM on Saturday but I had to cut it short as I had to send Citra to her skate class. I woke up late and started my run at 7.45am, in LSD standard, that's really late. I hate waking up in the wee hours of the morning. I don't sleep till late and waking up early is not my favourite thing to do. And especially not to wake up early and run. I don't like to wake up late either, not when the sun is up. I did 31.5KM in 3:43. It was really hot when I was running, but the heat didn't bother me much.

This morning, a few of us spent the morning riding to Limau Manis. No, this is not Jalan Limau Manis in Bangsar but its nearby Putrajaya precinct and we rode a short distance of 35KM in 1:30, more or less. The battery of my speedometer went dead so I am not that sure. In one of the hills at Limau Manis, I had to unclip and pushed my bike up. It was too steep for me, my thighs were burning and I felt my bike going super heavy slowly. So its either I rolled backwards or I got off and push. I never push my bike when going uphill, not even when I rode to Frasers, or up the Broga route but this short hill was tough for me. I had not ride Willy since June and its showed how unfit I was climbing up. The guys managed to climb up but us girls we pushed. I was the first one to surrender and followed by Aini and Nadia.

We rode back towards Putrajaya and felt blessed that the weather was kind. I should ride out more. But I should also try to lose weight. My jersey felt tight around the waist. Hehe. I know I just wrote about losing weight but after the ride I had two mugs of iced Milo and one plate of Maggi Goreng with telur mata goyang. Nasty!

And guess what? I had registered for the MR25. Surprise! Haha. I know I have said that I shouldn't run two ultras a year but I didn't say I shouldn't run three ultras a year. I might regret this, I know. But the idea of taming MacRitchie is good enough reason for me to come back. The last time I check the score was MCR 1, Kash 0. Nik is not going to be there to bail me out this time, so I have to be 200% prepared, both physically and mentally.

After this, I won't be racing till April. I promise.

I took time off to watch Megamind and the Facebook movie, The Social Network. Both are good. Particularly Megamind. I did a LOL (Laugh out Loud). I love it when bad guys turn good. And did I mention Mark Zuckerberg is a genius. He is. He deserved to be a billionaire for being a genius (what a mash-up review!). Code: Go watch it!

I am so not looking forward to Monday. I have two deadlines and (horror!) I am blogging instead of working. gtg!

Sight far

2010-11-05T12:00:00.003+08:00

Maybe I shouldn't bring up the topic of sighting. You see, my main weakness in long distance swim is navigation. With no bottom of the pool to guide you, I swim all over the place. I thought I swam straight but in fact I swam straight off course. Maybe because I breathe on one side or maybe one side is stronger than the other or maybe I was just too weak and got pushed by the waves. Whatever the reason, I need to improve my navigation.

Drills
1. Swim while holding the pull buoy in front of you and keep your head out of the water, but partially. Only your goggles is visible above water. But the thing is, you need to kick hard because your hands are not paddling. Tiring.

2. Swim front crawl like how the water polo guys swim. Head above water and arm stroke doing freestyle. Not easy either. I tried this without using the goggles. Had a hard time keeping my head above water. At the end of the drill, my lower back was aching. Tough!

We did 100m for each drill, I think.

Main set
1. 500 x 1 and 300 x 1 freestyle with four strokes of sighting, head above water in every lap. The plan was to do 500m x 2, but after the first set we all asked for a big discount of 300m for the second set. Only Richard did the full 500m.

My time for 500m was 12:00 something. OK timing, as I was swimming easy. The sighting part takes a lot of energy. My problem was when I breathe (while swimming with head out of the water), water entered my mouth and when I closed my mouth, I have to hold my breath. Need to practice the sighting part and to make sighting as easy and seamless and when I do normal freestyle in the pool.

After the swim, we talked about upcoming races and which race we'll likely do next year. I am doing less races next year (like 4 or 5) but keeping those races big so that I have time to recover and rest. Most importantly, I need to balance my work and family. My work is going to take a lot more of my time, and I am already bringing work home sometimes. I also foresee I will need to travel more for work. We are preparing to pitch work in Indonesia early December.

Don't worry, guys, I don't go down easily. I have so much going for me in my life right now, I don't have time to go down or think about being down. I am fitting a swim, run and a bike ride with my favourite girls on Sunday. And in between, I am training my children (and two of their friends) for the upcoming kids triathlon end of November. And between in between those things, I am trying to get the cupcakes right, imperfect or otherwise. I promised to get that right before Darma's birthday. I must try.

We have 24 hours in a day. Spend it well. Have a great (long) weekend.

Breathe

2010-11-04T18:42:00.000+08:00

I believe in giving people a chance. Sometimes when you are unhappy with someone or you don't like someone, most of the time its about you being jealous of the person. If he is good, he is good. We'll know and he'll know. Otherwise, he'll fade into oblivion sooner or later. Time will tell.

Work politics sucks. But ain't advertising grand? The daily bickering and throat-cutting is well… interesting. I need to breathe.

Thank God I got my running. How's everyone's plan for the weekend? Go long.

Fun is contagious

2010-10-28T23:43:00.006+08:00

He's passionate when he talks about his cycling as well as his work. All our company short holidays around Malaysia are selected on whether we can cycle there or not. We have gone cycling to PD and Terengganu. Dean, next trip to Vietnam please, so we can cycle up Sapa Mountain.

I know we are a day late to talk about work but I just want to share this news about the person that leads our agency, our CEO, Dean Bramham. Dean is very inspirational, always upbeat, confident and he believes in the potential of his staff. He came on board about a year and half ago and this year alone, we have won three new accounts, one of which I've mentioned before, i.e Maggi and the other two, 100PLUS and uMobile. All big brand names in Malaysia.

Publicis CGS is the design and packaging arm of Publicis Malaysia. I am one of the two Design Directors in CGS, which is headed by our Creative Director. We have a pool of creative talents working with us. I have been given the responsibilities to handle all in-store Retail Design and packaging for the two new accounts, and the Creative team will handle all above-the-line work such as TVC, radio, outdoor advertising and the rest. Those are the fun stuff actually but I am not trained in advertising art.

Clients love Dean because he has a lot of great ideas. We are, after all in the business of selling ideas.

Dean is also an avid cyclist and he rides every week up Genting or Frasers with the Le Tua team. We share and swap stories of our weekend adventures when we meet in the office on the work week. All I am saying is, if you have a boss who loves life and has a fun spirit, you can imagine the kind of workplace we can create. We all need bosses like him. Well, you can say, I've got a cool dude for a boss. Hehe.

As what Dean mentioned in the article, we are doing work for UAE and India. I am handling those brands as well and I know we are trying to expand not only to Indonesia but also to Vietnam and India. We have Publicis offices in those region as well. But you see, Publicis Malaysia is the only agency in the region to have a design and packaging arm so we have a slight advantage.

Our work for the brand, Nido (or Nespray in Malaysia) which we did for Nestlé Dubai. This was my second project with them. We have just finished our third project for another brand, KLIM.

Without a doubt, I have more work now than I did before, but the truth is, I love the kind of work I do. It's definately not a bed of roses and I get pricked by the thorny thorns on some (most) days but its when you can overcome the problem and rise above yourself is when you feel the effort that you have put in is all worth it. And the crazy thing is, you'll want to do it all over again. You have heard this before, what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. I think that is exactly what happens.

Actually, it does sound like why I keep doing ultra races when I know the distance is beyond me. I have such a low threshold of pain it's a miracle that I can withstand all those pain I had while I was running and walking. And the post-run pain? Mashallah, only God knows how battered and broken I was.

I am sticking to what I've said before. I can do what I can dream. And someday I'm going to put that on a T-shirt. The weekend is almost here. Time to go out and play. Play long.

High five with a smile

2010-10-27T13:27:00.001+08:00

I don't mean to make fun of anyone but I just find this hilarious. Have you ever come across a person or persons that speak like this:

"thanks you"
"thats mean…"
"thanks God…"

At first I thought it was grammatical error (bukanlah my grammar pun betul sangat) but when we speak face to face, he said it more than once. So I reckon it's part of his vocabulary. Cute. I always smile when he said that. You make my day, buddy.

My running is going as planned (which is not a real plan). I should make it more structured like you know on Tuesdays run intervals, Wednesdays do hills. But nowadays I run according to my mood. Most of the time, my mood says run easy, masih recovery. Relaks lah. Yesterday, I tried a so-called interval run. Run fast for 1KM, rest 2 min and repeat. I only managed 3 KMs of that before feeling like I was going to collapse (drama!). Today did some mini hills at Kiara Park. Baahhh! Too easy! Hahaha. Real runners do real hills like the ammah and appah hills at Kinrara.

There seemed to be more and more of women running in Kiara Park and that's a good thing. But why they avoid eye contact me with me daaa? I just want to give them a high five (or a smile), that says "Yeah, women runners rock!" Do I look intimidating or repulsive? Maybe they have not been properly introduced into the running circle here where runners are one big happy family.

OK, I need to get back to work. Lunch today was chicken soup with corn bits and rice. Thought of the day, do one kind deed to your office colleagues. Smile.

How to be beautiful

2010-10-26T17:24:00.001+08:00

Life is short. Make it good. I like the last line best.

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others."

- shared by Nita (thank you, Nita) written by Audrey Hepburn when asked to share her beauty tips.

Failed!

2010-10-24T23:09:00.003+08:00

A weekend of failed baking! See how bad the icing turns out. The chocolate cake was OK but the icing melted the moment it's piped onto the cupcakes. I gave Citra some of it to bring to school. I ran out of icing to practice.

My two kids will be taking part in the kid's triathlon next month. I think Det's and Diket's kids might be on to it too (oops is that supposed to be a secret?). Like their Mama, their training will be instant as well. We went to Kelana Jaya pool but the pool was closed for the whole day for some swim event. What a disappointment! if I were to drive to other public pools, it would be closed by the time we reached there. At times like this, I wish I am staying in a condo with a big pool.

I am going to still ramble about the ridiculousless-ness (there's no such word) on the closing of public pool in between hours. From where I come from, we pay $2 per entry and we can stay for as long as we want. But I can assure you no one stayed longer than necessary unless they want to shrivel up like raisins. We ended up at a private pool in Bukit Utama and next time I will just bring them here. The pool and shower is clean, not crowded and we have free use of towels. But more importantly it does not close in between hours. I can come any time I want. There's a separate section for kids to play with slides and rides.

I managed to persuade them to do a 500m swim with wall break every 50m. Of course I have to bribe them with McDonald's afterwards. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing masak-masak with the cupcakes. I cooked Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang for dinner and then late afternoon, we went to watch Charlie St. Cloud (after we found out that the movie 'Red' is rated 18+ and they refused to watch 'adult' movie like "Life as you know it" or "You Again" with me). We came back home and tried piping the icing after the cupcakes were cooled. I got a D-. Better than yesterday. Yesterday was an F.

I must solve the cupcakes conundrum. Why did the icing melt? I must try different type of toppings like maybe with a meringue or buttercream. I need a Kitchen Aid.

Oh well, at least my baking score is on par with my running score.

Since we are on the topic of baking, here's my classic brownie recipe. I tried a few different ways of baking it and came up with this recipe. The key to this recipe is adding vegetable oil since I prefer my brownie to be fudge-like (and moist) instead of cake-like. If you prefer it cake-like, add one or two more eggs and remove the oil. If you like it real chocolatey, add chocolate syrup (you know the kind you add to ice cream). It's actually fail-proof but if you are like me who is poor at baking (particularly icing for cupcakes), there's always Auntie Betty.

Kooky's Super Fudge Brownie (saja je kasi nama glamer…hehe).

Ingredients A
250g butter
250g chocolate bars
(both melted together but not over direct heat. Place another pot over a pot of boiled water)

Ingredients B
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
(beat well. I use a hand mixer)

Mix:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
(add Ingredients A and B to the above and fold in the mixture well)

Optional:
Toasted nuts
Chocolate syrup
Sugar icing to sieve over after brownie is baked

Before pouring the mixture, make sure you layered the baking tin with oil/butter. Bake in 190º celsius for 35-40 minutes.

I forgot to add icing sugar to the brownies I brought to Ian's house. It should end up crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Well, have fun baking!

Here's the recipe for Cheese Popiah. I remembered I posted it here before but couldn't find it maybe because I didn't tag it. It's a hand-me-down recipe from my Aunt and I am sharing it with you so you can share it with your family. It's an all-time favourite as so far no one I know not liked it (unless you hate cheese lah).

Cik Yah's Cheese Popiah (Cik Yah is my aunt)

1 packet frozen popiah skin

1 box mozarella cheese

2 eggs (1 use as a glue)

Grate the cheese finely. Add 1 egg and mix well.

Place the cheese onto the popiah skin and roll them neatly. Glue the popiah skin at the tip with the egg. Fry them until golden brown. Ensure that you tuck the cheese neatly otherwise it will explode when you fry them.

There's more than enough recipe to get your hands dirty this week. Get busy!

No DNF-ing in life

2010-10-23T22:16:00.001+08:00

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that in order for you to have a smooth swim and regular breathing, coach told us not to hold our breath underwater but instead release the air slowly until you resurface to breathe. His explaination is (and I concur), is that when we run (on land), we do not hold our breath, run, and then breath. In fact, we let the air in and out naturally. We can apply the same concept as how we breath on land as we do in water. We practised this new breathing technique for a couple of laps. I used this technique on the 1.5KM I did yesterday. It's relaxing though it will take some time for you to know how much to breath out before the next resurfacing.

I managed to run 15KM this morning. Took me 1:52 (or is it 1:55?) to finish the 15.3KM. I ran around my estate, as I did not want to run alone along KLGCC in the dark. I waited till there's daylight before I run outside. I started at about 7.45am and finish almost 2 hours later. But I am used to running under the heat. Nothing is worst than what I went through during TNF. While I was running, there was this runner that passed me and he told me not to wear black when running in the heat (I was wearing black from head to toe). I smiled and told him I was training for the heat. Ah, if only he knew how much I have suffered.

The guy who writes us our utility bills gave me a thumbs up sign as he passed me, so I stopped and asked him why he walked from house to house instead of taking his bike and do his rounds. He said he preferred to park his bike at the corner and walked. He is a short, rotund man with a friendly face. I waved him goodbye and made my way for my last two loops. I did a devastatingly boring nine loops. It's a miracle I could mentally withstand the nine loops. Next week, I am doing 26KM and no way I am going to do 18 loops. That would be insane!

I tried baking cupcakes this afternoon but I cannot get the icing right (and it's store bought!). It was a mess! I am going to try to do it again until I get it right (not going to DNF). I also need to get those table top mixer to make my own icing. I only have handheld ones. Darma's birthday is coming up end November and I want to bake for him something nice. Maybe a Dibo cake. He likes Dibo. Well, its Dibo or a purple dinosaur that looks like Dibo. Whatever it is, this year he will blow candles from a cake that his Mama bakes. Messy or otherwise.

Dibo, the gift dragon and friends. C'mon I can do Dibo. He doesn't look that difficult to colour with icing, right?

Long distance swim

2010-10-23T01:53:00.006+08:00

I have always like my swim session every Friday morning. It's a nice break in between the running before doing any long runs in the weekends. We have been doing sets of 500m for the last two weeks. Last week we did a timed 2KM (10 x 200m) and the week before 3 x 500m. So when Coach said that we will be doing a 1.5KM swim non stop this morning, I was nervous. 1.5KM in swim-speak is considered a long distance (like a half marathon distance). Not sure why though. I swam 5KM in the pool before while I was training for Kapas Marang with Ian. I swam in the ocean for 3.5 hours until I got sick. I was nervous maybe because we were timed. It's like in a race.

I started off easy, maybe faster than my normal pace as I was trying to keep up with Syah. But after 100m, I lost him and went back to my pace. I was comfortable. Breathing was OK, I did a mix of 4 stroke and 2 stroke breathing. I corrected my strokes when I started to feel tired towards the middle part but somehow gained momentum towards the end. I lost count of the laps somewhere past the 500m and I used Syah as my lap counter (thanks Syah!). I think he passed me twice so I continued another 100m after he was done. That's adding 3 minutes more to my time. Overall I finished last at 36 minutes while Richard the first guy to finish, finished his in 27 minutes. But I enjoyed it. After the swim, we discussed about how we feel during the swim and then discussed the techniques to swim long distance, especially when there are hundreds of other swimmers around you. I learned a lot today and I hope I can remember to apply it when I am up against other swimmers. Know my strength before trying to pace with others.

Anyway, during triathlon my first loop is 18 minutes, but when I got out of the water from the second loop my time was 39 minutes. I took extra 3 minutes probably wasting time and energy doing sighting. The truth is, swimming in the pool is much easier as you can see the bottom of the pool to guide you to swim straight. In the sea, you have to sight. But nevertheless I love the open sea. It's the only reason why I love swimming. Once you are out swimming in the sea, the pool is so blurgh in comparison!

Judging from the time I am writing this post, I doubt if I can wake up early to join any of the planned Saturday morning rides or run. So I am just going to forget about those plans and do what I can tomorrow. If I overslept, so be it, I'll bring my kids to the pool instead, go to the market, and do the usual like sending them to their classes. Oh well, it's not the end of the world.

I am still aiming for a sub-5.15 for December's marathon (standard turun sikit from sub 5) though I don't have a real plan. I have Maggi mee training plans and I have been doing this since Sundown. Bad example, so don't emulate.

Here's what's planned.
24 Oct : 15KM (Kiara - Hartamas Heights - Kiara one loop)
6 Nov : 25KM (Kiara - Jln Duta - Kiara one loop)
14 Nov: 32KM (Kiara - Bt Aman - Kiara one loop)
21 Nov: 39KM (Hartamas Matrade three loops)
28 Nov: 25KM (Kiara - Jln Duta one loop)
5 Dec: Race Day!

All the best to me. Again. Doesn't this sound like TNF all over again? I never learn, do I? Matikudasai!

Facebook woes

2010-10-22T19:24:00.004+08:00

(Yikes, I just found out Haza is sharing the same link and writing about the same topic. Sorry, Haza, not talking about your post here. It was a coincidence, really!)

Someone in my friend list in Facebook shared this link. Anyway, most of you might have seen his link in Facebook. But here is my point of view which I posted this comment in his link. There is a difference between people hating Facebook and hating the people in Facebook. The difference is, there is a real person behind every status update, every photo tagged, every comments wrote. Whatever they did is not exclusive to you. So stop sulking and grow up.

Well, you should hate Facebook. You know why? You have made Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire by the time he was 23. There's a Facebook movie coming up end October. Based on the review here, its not exclusive to Facebook addicts (everyone I know is a closet Facebook junkie), as it is full of drama and 'action', just like any other movie.

A Facebook movie about someone's life. Just like reading Mark Zuckerberg's status update.

Justin Timberlake is in the movie, The Social Network, as the guy who invented Napster.

Come back to reality

2010-10-21T13:23:00.002+08:00

Have you guys heard of augmented reality? I think its has been around for a couple of years but I only got to know about it, today. Yes, no surprise I am no techno geek, and probably not the target audience. We are trying to do this for our new client, by inventing an interactive game online using the AR technology. Well, the bottom line is, whatever we are doing for them, it has to boost sales.

See what adidas did for their AR online. The QR code is printed on the shoe and you have to use the shoe as the key to the online game on their website.

You can do it via your phone also. This one's is for iphone. There's an app you can download.

I think if you can do for places, you can also do the same for people. Don't get me wrong, I like cool stuff and technology but I think sometimes we should just shut down and come back to reality. Knowing too much may not be such a good thing.

And speaking of reality, my overzealous effort yesterday to get back to strength training by doing plie squats and lunges has caused my thigh and bum to ache badly, so I ended up walking for 3.4KM this morning instead of running.

Baby Party

2010-10-18T18:07:00.003+08:00

On Saturday, we had a party for babies of our running friends at Ian's private studio.

Clearly Auntie Kash tak pandai dukung baby Alya.

Alya terpaksa dipulangkan kepada Mamanya sebab Auntie Kash dukung tak sedap.

Saya bawak brownies dan popiah keju. Syah did the salad ensemble. Yums!

Hmm…Ian's pasta. Perut dah berkeroncong.

See you, going dinner with my family pulak.

(photos semua Encik Nik yang shoot, taken from his blog).

(Almost) last, but not least

2010-10-18T17:40:00.004+08:00

We are not last! Team Fit-Geek will need a new name. Nik, ready for next year's? Hehe…

The last guy to come in finished in almost 12 hours. Wow, salute to him for not giving up. Perhaps he was injured?

I think the organisers should make it mandatory for team mates to finish together in the 100km Duo. You don't have to run together but you need to finish it together. For one reason, it's a team event and running together as a team provides emotional challenges as well, not just the physical part (just watch Amazing Race and you'll know what I mean). Otherwise, what is the point? Might as well run as a solo participant. They should have a new category, 50KM solo.

Check out the results here of other teams. The first guy to finish the 50KM did his in 4:45. Not surprising his team's name is F1. Blazing speed.

And the 100KM solo runners? I can only gape with awe. 15 runners (out of 35 runners) finished within 17 hours. Congratulations!

** I forgot to congratulate Team Macam Bagus (Amsyah + Arfian) for being the top team of Malaysia!! Total time : 14:21, position 19/117. Saya tompang gumbira!

Saying my thanks

2010-10-18T08:49:00.004+08:00

It was one of those rare Sundays. It's a diferent Sunday but it's one Sunday I will never forget. I think many of us who were there that day, including the children, will remember this day for a long time.

I want to thank the efforts and the smiles of all the volunteers that day who spent time away from their friends and families to help out. I hope I don't miss anyone out. But if I do, I apologise but you already did good in God's book anyway.

Thank you to the organising team: Allen Lai, Karen Loh, Julie Wong, June Malik. I started this project with them without whom this project will not be successful. They got the project going while I was suffering during TNF and then recovering (and bedridden) the next few days. We only communicated via email (very long thread), sms-es and phone calls and we met one time last Friday, a few days before the day to discuss the final details and programme.

The artists: Chai (balloons), Sze Anne (face painter), Kelvin/June (sand art), Wai Yan (games), the group of musicians (sorry I didn't get their names), and our good friend, Ijam who came as a clown. They worked non stop entertaining the kids and also the adults. Pueh Tian and Yim also helped to take photos and videos (PT< how could I forget you, I am so sorry!! Please forgive this forgetful makcik).

The volunteers: Yimster, Khairul Anuar, Tina, Sadas, Nita, Maymun, Azza, Pueh Tian, Syah and family, Rais and my two children. Thank you for your hard work, helping out with all the details. Thank you for spending your precious time with the children.

Medal contributors: Yim, Karen, Pueh Tian, Julie Wong, Khairul Anuar, Arfian, Amsyah, Pui San, Tey, CS Wong, Meng Yong, Kash, Allen, Nik Arif. Most of them gave more than one. Did I miss anyone out?

Also, thank you, Jee for feeding us with the generous spread of nasi goreng, bee hoon, chicken, fruits, cakes and sandwiches. And to Nita who bakes beautiful cupcakes and birthday cake.

Thanks to all the nurses and staff for your generosity and your kindness not only towards us but for doing God's work in providing care for the sick children. You are the unsung heroes. Thank you Yati, HUKM PRO who was there the whole time ensuring we get support and had what we needed.

Group photo after a fun-filled afternoon.

The balloons were gorgeous.

Some of the sickly children. My heart went out to them. It must've been hard for their families.

A short briefing before we start.

HUKM gave us a momento. Thank you.

Every medal has foam hearts with the contributor's name.

The tray of medals. The range of colours looked beautiful. I loved this.

Thanks for the beautiful cake and cupcakes, Nita. Sedap!

Photos taken from Pueh Tian's and Yim's album in Facebook. Thanks for the photos, guys!

How the Kingfisher came to be

2010-10-15T13:27:00.003+08:00

Today we did 10 x 200m in the pool. It seems I am slower when I used the paddle. The last to come back 50m behind Richard. He kept chasing me and I tried not to get pass over by him. It was fun…haha. Coach asked me if I was OK after the 5th set, must've look like a I was struggling. Only after the paddle was off, I felt I can swim faster. My arms are super weak, need to bulk it up. Right now I can feel the burn on my triceps.

We were given 5 minutes to complete per 200m so the faster you are the more time for you to rest. Because I averaged 4:40 per 200m, I only have less than 20 seconds break each time. But I am glad I can complete the set.

We have a new swim mate today. Hadi was my relay partner when we did the 70.3 Ironman this year at Putrajaya. He was my cyclist and Nurina my swimmer. Hadi did the sprint at Desaru recently and completed the swim segment with breast stroke. Congratulations, Hadi. Don't feel bad that you are only doing one - arm stroke today and for the next few lessons. Syah had it worst with learning how to blow bubbles for a whole month.

So now everyone know how and why Syah is THE Kingfisher.

On a happier note, Nik Arif and May Senn are now husband and wife. So happy for you both! If you don't know yet, Allen Lai is May Senn's father. Like father like daughter, very kind, thoughtful and always full of smiles. God Bless you both.

(terasa macam reporter).

Friday is here. And this weekend is an all party weekend. I am no social butterfly but neither am I a social recluse. Let's party!

Post suffering

2010-10-14T23:23:00.002+08:00

Five days post TNF what have I been doing? Nothing. And not that I didn't try. For two days, I went to Kiara Park, after I drop the kids off to school, in my usual running gear including my NIKE+ sportband (which I regretfully forgot to put on during TNF) but ended up walking a couple of laps around the entire park. I have a valid excuse, you see. I am still traumatised by the whole TNF experience. TNF has taught me a valuable lesson. Running equals suffering. That's only half true. Running without knowledge equals suffering.

I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I was naive and behaved like a total newbie. When you embark on doing endurance races, being naive and innocent doesn't cut it. I need to know the game, I certainly need to know how to handle situations which could put my life in danger (like when to DNF). I should know first aid, I should know what to do if I sprain my ankle. I should know what to do if I got lost. I should know what to do if I got bitten by insects, snakes, scorpions etc.

In short, I should just be fully prepared. I should have a list of 'what-to-do-if' all checked. I didn't have any list or was I prepared. All I know was that I wanted to run and finish it. I thought this would be just be another marathon + 8KM. I've done the 50KM Duo last year, how hard could it be? I was wrong, so very wrong.

And if I ever do the TNF in Singapore again, I will not repeat the same mistakes hopefully and I will make sure that I :

1. Fuel with more calories during the run, more than during the usual road run races
2. Shower with cold water before and when the heat hits you
3. Wear proper trail shoe that fits which can withstand the rough terrain
4. Will get my brother to provide support just before Mandai with iced cold grapes and Gatorades!

Why is it that after the pain is gone and the brain starts to forget the suffering, you find that the thing you feared most is not as intimidating as you thought it was?

Sigh, I so need therapy.

It's not all Happy!

2010-10-14T10:51:00.001+08:00

This is such disturbing news.

Sally Davies, a Manhattan artist photographed a Happy Meal each day since its purchase. Six months later there is still no sign of mould. According to her, the food just turns hard and darker.

Serve happier meals to our children at home. I am going to share this story with my children. Read here.

Day 1.

Day 180.

June/Karen, I don't think I wanna serve the children at HUKM Happy Meals!!! We need plan B.

On a separate note, Dollah Kassim, Singapore's football legend passed away today, aged 61. Al fatihah.

TNF fever

2010-10-12T13:07:00.005+08:00

The TNF fever is still burning. I am having dreams about the run, fleeting dreams like a dream within a dream. One moment I was in the trails running and the next moment I was high-fiving friends at the finished line. It went on loop like a bad record. Or until Darma wakes me up to take him to school.

On Sunday, I was partially bedridden, can't walk properly but can shuffle to go for a massage lah. Then send Citra to her skate class, all done in a daze. On Monday morning, I called in sick and slept in the morning till about 1.00pm and then went to work. Also in a daze. I slept early last night, the earliest I have slept in a long time but did not translate into waking up early.

By noon today, I am feeling pretty normal (brains working), though my thigh is still aching, slightly. I found some photos on Facebook, taken by various photographers/friends who spent an equally insane amount of time under the hot sun to wait for friends and other fellow runners to finish. These support crews are just fantastic! You are food to the soul. Thank you.

This is what I was talking about, Nik pushing me to move it, move it. Muka tengah poyo!

Have I told you guys I love you all? Friendship built on love and trust not easy to break. And there's my best friend, you know who he is. For all the 15 years we are together, baby. Emo. My brother (second from right) with his newfound partner, Mari Anne (on the right) and she's a perfect fit for him. All of us took the First Coach bus to KL that same night. Thanks KD for the great photo!

Northface 100KM Duo: Defining my limits

2010-10-10T23:15:00.009+08:00

I really don't know where to begin my story. But here's the truth. I would not make it in time if not for my running partner, Nik Fahusnaza. Both of us crossed the finished line after 8 hours 52 minutes on the trails, barely 8 minutes before the 9-hour cut off time. I am still not sure why Nik chose to stick by me throughout the run, he could've aced the race himself, earned a PB and stood proud amongst his peers with a timing he would have been proud of. Anyone else would've left me to do this on my own. Not only had he ran/walked/pushed me, he did all this with patience. He said this to me while trying to get me to move, "I am not going to leave you behind, and that's a promise." And he kept to that promise until the very end. I know now there will never be anyone like him. He is a friend like no other. No, more than a friend. He is my sole mate.

After I did the 25KM last year (50M Duo), I thought maybe this year would've been a great way to celebrate my 40th doing everything ultra. And though I did the Sundown 84 in 14+ hours, the Northface 100KM Duo was by no means close to the 84. The game plan, rules all changed. The terrain, the weather, the climate greatly affect your mental strength and I must admit that many times during the run, I thought of giving up, I had nothing left in me, but giving up would've been easy. This was not a marathon plus 8KM. This was more like a marathon four times over. If you must know, it was not the distance. It was the endless route that on some parts lonely and most parts deserted that would've killed your spirit. There was no one to cheer you, no cars to annoy you with their impatience and no bystanders to stare at you. It was more so the heat that we have to contend with. It was also the terrain that was made up with deadly stones and rocks, which could easily puncture a mountain bike tyre let alone a pair of running shoes which had seen better days. In layman terms, it was horrible. And horrible would be an understatement. Somewhere along the trails, I saw a guy with his soles almost came off from his shoes but he still kept on walking. I offered him something to tie those poor soles (not sure what I had in my first aid box) but he thanked me and said he was OK.

The first 10KM was pretty OK and we had quite a good pace, completing the 10KM in 1:20. But after 15KM, everything changes. The terrain got more difficult, there were more hills to climb and the sun and heat were getting to me. By the time we completed 21KM, we took more than 3 hours. On some parts of the run, I ran together with Mohan and Pui San right up where the huge unrunnable barren hill was. It was like a monster waiting to gobble anyone climbing it. The photos didn't do justice. It was much more steep and scary. I was climbing on all fours and in the process of pulling myself up, I sprained my shoulders.

We tried to spot the 25KM marker but couldn't see any and didn't know how far we have ran. The Mandai trail seemed to go on forever and ever amen and it didn't help that the terrain was made up of stones, rocks and rubbles probably from buildings that they had demolished and dumped it here. And what made it worst was the downhill. I had a bad case of two bruised toes as my toes kept hitting on the front of my shoes as I tried running downhill. A good trail shoe would've been a sensible investment. I squirmed and screamed (in my heart) as I tried walking downhill, each step was like walking on shreds of glass. And when we had to walk up the hill, Nik pushed me. Not verbally, but he literally pushed me. I think he would've carried me up on his back, if I am not such a heavy weight. But then, that wouldn't be fair to other runners.

I bonked many times. I lost count on how many times I felt I couldn't go on. I had gone way past my limit. I wasn't hungry as in hungry with a growling stomach. But I think I needed energy, I needed glucose, I needed something to perk up my energy level. I ate everything I had in my bag. OK, not ate. I gobbled them up. Powergels, Mars Bars, gummies, bananas and I drank from my hydration bag until its all dried up and even filled it up with more Nuun water and 100+. I even had Nik's powergel. I needed a wake up call. It was like trying to get a car to move when the tank is going almost on empty. It was a miracle that I was still walking. I must've walked like a zombie. I remembered praying, "Ya Allah, please help me". I know a lot of people must've been praying that day. I think I can hear the trees and the wind carrying the prayers.

Nik kept 'barking' orders at me to move, I can barely hear what he was saying. He saw the worst of me. I complained, I mumbled things I can't remember, I peed in the bushes, I ate like a pig with my mouth stuffed with gummies. I even snapped at him when all he tried to do was encouraged me. With that, I am truly sorry Nik if I have hurt your feelings.

There was one time when I had second wind. I didn't know what came over me but I got a sudden surge of energy. And I ran and I picked up speed and almost ran past Nik. And I ran and ran until I couldn't run anymore. I didn't care about the pain on my feet, about the killer stones or the crazy hills. I ran past runners who were walking and looking dejected. But crazily, I didn't care. I didn't feel anything. And I ran until I was out of steam. Why couldn't I run like this earlier?

The last 5KM was mind boggling enough. I swore the trees and the trails were playing tricks on me. It didn't feel like 5KM. It felt like a long 15KM. Even though it was the same route we started from, I don't remember the terrain being filled with stones. It was painful to run it now. I should not have dismissed the idea in running with a good pair of trail shoes. I think I have killed my Izumi but I am thankful that the poor shoe did not break into two.

For me, the Mandai trail was the most difficult of the three trails. It went on forever and felt like we were going in circles as the trails all looked similar. When are we going to come out? I thought. It was one stony hill after another.

Still laughing and clueless before we entered Mandai trails. The second time we passed this place, we were so relieved to get out. Nik was already ahead at the water station. Mohan was running with a Vibram. I think this photo was taken by Sasha. I like this photo. Thanks Sasha.

Just after the water station. The guy in red, I called him "Lost", we ran and walked and chit chat together at some parts of this stretch. He had done an Ironman race and found TNF tougher than Ironman. Can you believe that? So that means I can survive Ironman lah? Hehe.

Going into Mandai jungle. Looked decent enough but it was torture. The four of us ran together until Mandai split us up. Mohan ran ahead of us after 30KM and Pui San got sick after the unrunnable hill and was slightly behind me and Nik.

I kept checking my watch and Nik reminded me that I needed to try to run to make it back in time. Please Kash, move your legs. Get those feet moving. We can't finish on time if we walked. So run we did. We ran most of the last 5KM. Slow but at least it was faster than walking. When I saw the head of the MacRitchie trail I was relieved that it was going to be over. Maybe I could actually finished on time. Running on the tiles, tarmac, road is such a welcome respite from the brutal trails. 84KM on the road is nothing compared to running 50KM on killer stones, let me tell you. Like I said, it was not about the distance. It was the terrain. And the hills with the killer stones.

I guess I am lucky that I did not have any blisters or suffer any muscular cramps but my worst enemy was both my bruised toes coupled with a big dip in my energy levels. What seemed to be a minor pain was amplified when you are fatigue and extremely tired. I learnt that the hard way.

I'm with Mohan and Nik after we have just finished the run. I tried to smile but looked like I was grimacing in pain. The thumbs-up sign was a lie. Haha. Nik seemed to be able to go one more loop. Hubby hugged me when I finished, just like what I hoped for and I cried buckets on his shoulders. Nik, that's for keeping my promise not to cry while running. Haha. This is our second ultra run together and both times we barely make the cut off time. We joked that we should name our team "Team Just Ngam Ngam" if there's ever a next time. KA was there to congratulate us too (not in picture but he's worth the mention). Thanks for being there and waiting for us. He was there when me and Nik completed the ultra.

In case I needed to be reminded on how the medal looks like. As promised I will give away my medal to one of the children at HUKM. I took these photos from different photographers in Facebook. Thank you for the photos.

I think I have lost some weight after the race. The pair of jeans that I wore on Friday felt loose on some areas but I bet I gained back the weight when I whipped up Chicken Briyani Bombay for lunch today. I had two plates and did not even feel guilty. And I baked brownies too. I gave the children the Kalkitos hubby bought for me yesterday and I gave Citra a start up kit to start doing some collage of her own since she likes Art. I saw beautiful paper cut outs and stickers, ribbons and buttons and imagine creating beautiful memories like how Sasha did hers. She makes beautiful collage of her kids and family. I loved her work.

I am still limping with the usual limp and I hope I recover fast. Life doesn't stop when I am recovering after a marathon. I got family and work to take care of. I guess that's the part about being a part time 'athlete', you don't get a day off when you are injured or recovering.

I had an amazing race, it was tough but Nik helped to make it possible for me by being there and running it with me. No offense to Rashid (my partner which Nik took the bib from), and I love him like a brother but things happen for a reason. It was not luck that Nik became my partner. It was not just a coincidence that Rashid couldn't run. For whatever reason(s) God has sent him to me, Rais and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for what you have done. You left your family that day to run this with me. So, thank you very much. I am eternally grateful. And I love my hubby for being supportive, for caring and for always been there for me. And when he couldn't, God sent Nik.

There's nothing else I want right now. Well, maybe I want one more thing. And if I do get it, you'll be the first one I will tell. I love this weekend, pain and all. The emotional journey was worth the pain. Clearly, there are no limits to the human spirit. I can do what I can dream.

Free falling

2010-10-08T10:18:00.001+08:00

One last entry before tomorrow's race. As always, Friday is a swim entry. Coach was not in a forgiving mood. Last two weeks, he gave us light workouts and also I got off early because of morning meetings. Our swim class is always divided into two, drills and main sets.

Drill for today focus on continuous pull, that is knowing when to pull when your other hand enters the water so that you'll have smooth continuous swim. The target is to have the same speed with long, slow pull thus conserving energy instead of short, fast pull which uses a lot more energy. We did 12 x 25m of this same drill. I like this drill, although at first a bit huru hara.

For the main set we did 3 x 500m focusing on the above drill. My time for each set average 12 minutes. Always the last one to finish; I am about 100m behind Richard. But I love training with my swim mates, they gave me a goal to meet.

Here's another one of my many life's little nuggets to anyone who cared to listen. And I never target these nuggets to anyone, so please don't take offense. I have learnt that we cannot go through life blaming anyone and hating everyone of our misfortunes. The only way to be happy in life is to be happy with what we do not have. So let go. Free falling.

I am going TNF 1) undertrained 2) with lingering aches and pain. So what can I can expect for tomorrow's race? I will be punished for sure. But what will I do when I am punished? Free falling. Whooppeee!

Come back on Sunday OK. Hopefully I will. Ta-ta.

Make it your own : Kalkitos

2010-10-08T01:17:00.001+08:00

Do you remember Kalkitos?

Kalkitos is in Singapore this weekend! What a pleasant coincidence. My parents used to buy for me loads of this toy/game to play all day. This was before electronic games were invented. Or at least before my parents can afford for us the Nintendo (Remember Donkey Kong?)

Check them out this weekend at:
The National Art Gallery Open House
9 & 10 October
11am - 7pm Old Supreme Court (High Court)
1 St.Andrew's Road, Singapore 178967

You can get your Kalkitos signed by the artists only at this event. Check out the website here.

The illustrations are oh-so-cute. I wanna go grab some (if got time).

Make this the best race

2010-10-07T19:44:00.000+08:00

Yay, two more days to race day. It's just like Sundown all over again. It felt like Sundown because I know this year, a lot of my Malaysian friends are going to be there, unlike last year, where only 3 of us (Syah, Ian and myself) went, race quietly and went home. Last year the race was a bomb, we had a good time running and this year without a doubt, we came back to do the 100km Duo. I enjoyed the race running alongside my baby brother.

This will be my second ultra, and a first on the trails. I am excited. And nervous. And so looking forward to coming home to meet my hubby and family. And like I said, it's just like Sundown. The only difference is this time, I have my no.1 to greet and hug me when I finished. I promise there will be no tears this time and I promise I'm not going to get emotional.

Make this your best race. You have after all, come a long way.

Malays can sing, meh?

2010-10-06T13:16:00.002+08:00

This is a very unrelated entry.

Singapore Idol title had been won by a Malay for the last three seasons. Taufik Batisah (2004), Hady Mirza (2006) and Sezairi Sezali (2009). I voted vehemently for Taufik Batisah in 2004 and that day alone my phone bill was more than SGD200.

I hope someone does a thesis on this phenomenon.

Slyvia and Sezairi were the final top 2 in 2009 Singapore Idol. Slyvia Ratonel is the first female to be in the top 2 and I think she's pretty OK (boring but OK). Anyway, as with everything else local, most Singaporeans would brush off this reality music show as lame. I am an idol addict, so sue me for being lame.

And not to be perceived as biased just because I have lived here for the last five years, I think Malaysians have a wider talent base and there are really musically talented people here. Last weekend I was at D'Cengkih for breakfast and we were entertained by live music. He was singing Ronan Keating's 'When you say nothing at all' on acoustic. I was thinking if I should invite him to sing live for the children at HUKM. Nanti orang ingat ini macam konsert pulak. Hehe.

Support

2010-10-06T12:20:00.002+08:00

Rumors has it that we are going to move office again, and this time, the whole group, including Leo Burnett and Saatchi and Saatchi will be housed under the same roof. Isn't that swell? Three giants under one roof. Well, I want a new chair for one, one that has ample padding on the seat and a curved back to support my lower back. Since I wasn't going to wait for that to happen, I brought my stability ball to the office today and as I am typing this from my new 'chair', with my back straight and my abs engaged, I am feeling rather comfortable.

I went for a Chinese massage last night and it was painful. But I grit my teeth, clenched my fist and bear with the pain. If I can run in pain for 14 hours , I can tahan this for an hour. Although my back is better now, I can still feel the dull ache on the lower back. Strengthening the lower back will probably help to keep the pain off. In any case, I know I have bad posture. Bad habit.

The perils of corporate life. Sitting down too much.

I have finally been 'summoned' to go to New Delhi maybe next week (or the week after) for a shoot. What's good to do there, apart from the Commonwealth Games?

No run today, so instead in the morning, I cook Pasta Carbonara and had that for breakfast. Carbo loading, katakan. My lunch today is just rice and sambal terung with apple for dessert. Yum!

My bum and back is finally supported.