Happy new year!!!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Achievements for 2009
Top (L - R): adidas Sundown Marathon 2009, SAFRA Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2009, New Balance Real Run 2009, Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009
Bottom (L - R): Saucony 100Plus Passion Run 2009, Mizuno Wave Run 2009, The North Face 100 Singapore 2009, Penang Bridge International Marathon 2009
No medals given:
1) Tri Factor Series 2009 Tri Run
Did not Register:
1) Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2009
2) Run Singapore 2009
Did not Start:
1) Salomon X-Trail Run 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Christmas Batam Cable Ski 2009
Having breakfast at Habourfront Mac.
出入平安.
On board the ferry.
Gathering the gifts.
All the gifts from everybody and the lots.
Look what I have got!
Belated birthday celebration.
The gifts unwrapped.
Lunch time! Yum Yum!
Getting ready for the show of the day.
Getting ready.
The day did not end in a happy note. One of us fell into the water while doing some stunts and the impact caused some temporary memory loss. In the end we even had to send her to the A&E at TTS for a check up and she was warded.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
JB Trip 2009
There is a long queue at Kranji MRT going to Woodlands Checkpoint.
We walked across the causeway to the new CIQ. Its quite dangerous considering there are no proper pathway for pedestrians.
Pizza Hut at Holiday Plaza. We never miss it every time we come here. Food is cheaper than in Singapore and good.
At Mong Kok Char Chan Teng at Holiday Plaza.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009
The SCSM is here. For many of us, it was the finale of races for 2009, including me. Fresh with the memories of PBIM 2 weeks ago, here is another full marathon again. :)
I woke up at 0200Hr as planned. As usual, we need some time to prepare before the start of a race. If you run too, you will understand. :)
Every race, we were instructed to write our personal information at the back of our BIBs in case of emergency. It excludes TNF, which had our details printed at the back of the BIBs. Its always the same kind of information: name, NRIC, medical history, allergies, emergency contacts. For this race, I decided to just add in some humour into the usual mundane stuff.
Same like the previous year, each of us were given an encouragement tag to pin onto the back while running. This was mine.
Ha .. ok .. me know it reads very arrogant .. ha .. but then its all for the fun mah .. hahaha .. :)
I am feeling anxious about this race. Nervous too. Have been feeling nervous about this race even from 1 week ago. Afraid that my right knee will start feeling pain again. It was this knee pain that became unbearable at the 38km – 39km mark during PBIM that I had to walk back to the finish line. Let’s hope not.
A few of us had agreed to morning call each other at 0330Hr. The calls, or rather SMSes, came on time. A quick reply was sent back to let them know I was up. Nobody wants to be late for the race.
This was breakfast. Same kind of stuff I ate for PBIM. Its easier to eat early in the morning after waking up compared to 1 whole loaf of bread which I tried during TNF. However, its definitely more expensive.
We had agreed to meet at the baggage disposal area at 0430Hr. Start line was at Esplanade bridge. I like it when the races start there as I could walk there from my house. When I arrived, the rest was already there. Ok, I was around 10 mins late. Ha .. the stomach was calling to me when I walked past Fullerton Hotel .. :p
After the must have pre-race photos, we deposited our bags and made our way to the start line. This was my 3rd Stan Chart race. The previous 2 years I did the HM. I remembered the HM in 2007 vividly. It was my first ever running event. Yah .. I went for the HM for my first race and I did not train much for it. I paid dearly for it. My knee started feeling pain at the 10km mark. I tried to do run – walk for the remaining route until the 15km mark where the pain is totally unbearable. I was not even able to do a slow jog. The rest of the way was covered through walking. I crossed the finish line at 2.45. The pain at the knee was unbearable. I limped about for the next couple of days.
Having learnt my lesson, I started training in early 2008. I was planning to do HM during AHM and take up FM during SCSM. (My stupidity was showing again) Alas, I sprained my ankle in June. So the AHM flew out of the window. I was worried I would not be able to make it for SCSM. But then heng heng the leg healed after around 3 months. I went for SCSM and cleared the HM in good shape at 2.14. Kekeke .. :)
I had told myself one day I would take up 42km at SCSM. So now here I am standing before the start line waiting for the air horn to sound off in around half an hours time. It was crowded. Like me, people were waiting anxiously to start off. Everywhere around, you can see people doing stretching exercises, adjusting their MP3 players, chatting with their friends.
We were quite near the start line. I tried to look around to find other familiar faces and I saw the TFB pacers in their distinctive pacer attire and balloons indicating their target times. Honestly, I could not remember which colour is for which target time and I also could not see the colours clearly as it was still dark.
Time passed quite fast. Soon, the MC was informing everybody the race was about to start. Everybody waited eagerly for the signal. The mood was high. We were roaring to go! At a few minutes before 0530Hr on my watch, the air horn went off. The race had started.
A few of us were running close together. Fullerton Road, Collyer Quay, Raffles Quay, Cross Street, Robinson Road and turn right at Esplanade. We saw one of the female runners dressed up as Santa Claus. She even distributed sweets to us. Ha .. :)
All of us were able to stay close together. There were occasional over taking between each of us. At the water point along Nicoll Highway, we met Uncle Robert. He suddenly came to my side and shouted “Hahaha” and ran off. It was so loud everybody turned and looked at me. I was like “Errh” .. hahaha .. :)
I met another friend along Nicoll Highway. He was the guy who had warned me about the banked road surface for PBIM. Normally such running events would also be a time of meeting friends. It felt good to meet friends at races too.
The 10km mark was at Fort Road. My watch read 1.01. Ok, the pace seems around “there” and it felt good. The next 10km would be along East Coast Service Road. It was just a plain long stretch of road. You just keep running ahead. The gap between each of us started to widen up. Some speed up while others began to slow down.
At 20km mark at the National Sailing Center, it was around 2.02. Trouble came after that. Hai .. the right knee pain came back. I was only expecting it after 30km but this time at a much earlier distance than expected. I can slowly start to feel the knee acting up. I could still run though but the pace sure dropped. For this run, I followed my friend’s strategy of walking after each water station. So now I had to take a longer walk at each water station to ease off the pain.
Running the stretch from NSC back was more difficult as now we had to run in the pavements which winds around compared to the straight service road. The pace was starting to drop gradually. Finally we reached the roundabout just before turning back into Fort Road. This was where the 30km mark was located. They always say the real race starts at the 30th km. So I always wondered in that case why we never start at the 30th km mark. Hai ..
Somewhere along Mountbatten Road, we merged with the HM’ers. The road became crowded and we had to cut through here and there to go through. I was starting to struggle to maintain the pace. We cut into Stadium Road along Sungei Kallang where the dragon boats were lined up on shore. There was a water station at the 35km mark just before turning left into Nicoll Highway. I was taking a walk break and tried to stretch my quads by rising up my legs to touch my chest with my thighs. My right leg immediately started cramping! The muscles were stiffened and I almost could not move my legs. I tried to do a slow job and luckily the cramp went off. Next time no more doing such stretches during running!
We went along Geylang Road, Kallang Road, Crawford Street and back to Republic Avenue. “Reaching soon! Reaching soon!” I kept telling myself. Approaching the F1 pit stop, we could see a sea of runners in front. They were the 10km’ers. Its really demoralising to see such a sight and know that your route was going to merge with theirs.
I saw one of my JC juniors just before turning into the F1 pit stop. She came running beside me and slapped my hand.
She was running slightly ahead of me and said: “Hey, I can run faster than you leh! Come chase me leh.”
I was already very shagged and looked at her with those “WTF” look. “What distance you running?” I asked.
“10km”
“Kau .. the 10km people are in front loh.”
“Hahaha .. 21km lah.”
We turned into the F1 pit stop. It was so crowded! The worst thing was a lot of them were taking their own sweet time to walk and chit chat. Hai .. There was a lot of cutting through to move forward.
Now was the final stretch. From the F1 pit stop, we went through Raffles Avenue and turned into Esplanade Bridge. Still cutting and squeezing my way through, I picked up my pace. Turning right into Anderson Bridge, the home run began. The sides of the road were lined with supporters. No matter if they were supporting you or not, you could really feel the mood in the atmosphere. I spotted the 4.30 pacers in front of me so I tried to squeeze ahead of them. Going between Victoria Theatre and Singapore Cricket club, we turned into St Andrew’s Road. I could see the big word “Finish” right in front. However, there were no signage or marshaller directing us which side to keep to. I just followed the pacers and kept to the right of the road. They have a specific lane for the FM’ers but it was crowded. I started rushing and pushing through as I did not care much anymore and ran past the finish line.
Gun start time: 05:29:53
Chip start time: 05:30:37
CP10k: 01:01:44
CP21k: 02:10:45
CP30k: 03:08:13
CP32.5k: 03:25:08
Gun time: 04:31:25
Net time: 04:32:09
Avg speed: 6.26 min/km
0km - 10km: 01:01:00 (6.6 min/km)
10km - 21km: 01:09:01 (6.13 min/km)
21km - 30km: 00:57:27 (6.27 min/km)
30km - 42km: 01:23:57 (6.53 min/km)
We gathered at the New Balance booth after the run.
There were fruits and snack bars for us. There's cartons of 100Plus too yah. :)
Massages are also provided.
The keep from the first FM would always be precious.
The mood was high at the finish line. All of us standing at the sides were cheering for everybody coming in, even if we do not know them. Some of the runners were already limping yet they still persevered and ran through past the time mat. Really felt happy for them for completing the marathon.
This guy came in proposing to his gf. The guy behind with the banner was his supporter.
Later, it was back to taking post-race shots with everybody in their hard earned finisher tee and medals.
Somebody was kind enough to offer us free ice cream.
Still can jump. Dont play play.
Wanted to carry this back home. But then no strength liao .. :p
Had makan at Suntec food court after the run. We need to quickly load in some food for energy. I was feeling so hungry so I ordered chicken rice with extra rice. It was as though the rice was so delicious as I kept eating the rice only. After finishing the rice, I realised I had not even touched a piece of chicken .. :p
I missed my target of 4.30 by a small margin. I would try again next year. There would be more runs lined up for 2010.
Watch out for them. :)
I woke up at 0200Hr as planned. As usual, we need some time to prepare before the start of a race. If you run too, you will understand. :)
Every race, we were instructed to write our personal information at the back of our BIBs in case of emergency. It excludes TNF, which had our details printed at the back of the BIBs. Its always the same kind of information: name, NRIC, medical history, allergies, emergency contacts. For this race, I decided to just add in some humour into the usual mundane stuff.
Same like the previous year, each of us were given an encouragement tag to pin onto the back while running. This was mine.
Ha .. ok .. me know it reads very arrogant .. ha .. but then its all for the fun mah .. hahaha .. :)
I am feeling anxious about this race. Nervous too. Have been feeling nervous about this race even from 1 week ago. Afraid that my right knee will start feeling pain again. It was this knee pain that became unbearable at the 38km – 39km mark during PBIM that I had to walk back to the finish line. Let’s hope not.
A few of us had agreed to morning call each other at 0330Hr. The calls, or rather SMSes, came on time. A quick reply was sent back to let them know I was up. Nobody wants to be late for the race.
This was breakfast. Same kind of stuff I ate for PBIM. Its easier to eat early in the morning after waking up compared to 1 whole loaf of bread which I tried during TNF. However, its definitely more expensive.
We had agreed to meet at the baggage disposal area at 0430Hr. Start line was at Esplanade bridge. I like it when the races start there as I could walk there from my house. When I arrived, the rest was already there. Ok, I was around 10 mins late. Ha .. the stomach was calling to me when I walked past Fullerton Hotel .. :p
After the must have pre-race photos, we deposited our bags and made our way to the start line. This was my 3rd Stan Chart race. The previous 2 years I did the HM. I remembered the HM in 2007 vividly. It was my first ever running event. Yah .. I went for the HM for my first race and I did not train much for it. I paid dearly for it. My knee started feeling pain at the 10km mark. I tried to do run – walk for the remaining route until the 15km mark where the pain is totally unbearable. I was not even able to do a slow jog. The rest of the way was covered through walking. I crossed the finish line at 2.45. The pain at the knee was unbearable. I limped about for the next couple of days.
Having learnt my lesson, I started training in early 2008. I was planning to do HM during AHM and take up FM during SCSM. (My stupidity was showing again) Alas, I sprained my ankle in June. So the AHM flew out of the window. I was worried I would not be able to make it for SCSM. But then heng heng the leg healed after around 3 months. I went for SCSM and cleared the HM in good shape at 2.14. Kekeke .. :)
I had told myself one day I would take up 42km at SCSM. So now here I am standing before the start line waiting for the air horn to sound off in around half an hours time. It was crowded. Like me, people were waiting anxiously to start off. Everywhere around, you can see people doing stretching exercises, adjusting their MP3 players, chatting with their friends.
We were quite near the start line. I tried to look around to find other familiar faces and I saw the TFB pacers in their distinctive pacer attire and balloons indicating their target times. Honestly, I could not remember which colour is for which target time and I also could not see the colours clearly as it was still dark.
Time passed quite fast. Soon, the MC was informing everybody the race was about to start. Everybody waited eagerly for the signal. The mood was high. We were roaring to go! At a few minutes before 0530Hr on my watch, the air horn went off. The race had started.
A few of us were running close together. Fullerton Road, Collyer Quay, Raffles Quay, Cross Street, Robinson Road and turn right at Esplanade. We saw one of the female runners dressed up as Santa Claus. She even distributed sweets to us. Ha .. :)
All of us were able to stay close together. There were occasional over taking between each of us. At the water point along Nicoll Highway, we met Uncle Robert. He suddenly came to my side and shouted “Hahaha” and ran off. It was so loud everybody turned and looked at me. I was like “Errh” .. hahaha .. :)
I met another friend along Nicoll Highway. He was the guy who had warned me about the banked road surface for PBIM. Normally such running events would also be a time of meeting friends. It felt good to meet friends at races too.
The 10km mark was at Fort Road. My watch read 1.01. Ok, the pace seems around “there” and it felt good. The next 10km would be along East Coast Service Road. It was just a plain long stretch of road. You just keep running ahead. The gap between each of us started to widen up. Some speed up while others began to slow down.
At 20km mark at the National Sailing Center, it was around 2.02. Trouble came after that. Hai .. the right knee pain came back. I was only expecting it after 30km but this time at a much earlier distance than expected. I can slowly start to feel the knee acting up. I could still run though but the pace sure dropped. For this run, I followed my friend’s strategy of walking after each water station. So now I had to take a longer walk at each water station to ease off the pain.
Running the stretch from NSC back was more difficult as now we had to run in the pavements which winds around compared to the straight service road. The pace was starting to drop gradually. Finally we reached the roundabout just before turning back into Fort Road. This was where the 30km mark was located. They always say the real race starts at the 30th km. So I always wondered in that case why we never start at the 30th km mark. Hai ..
Somewhere along Mountbatten Road, we merged with the HM’ers. The road became crowded and we had to cut through here and there to go through. I was starting to struggle to maintain the pace. We cut into Stadium Road along Sungei Kallang where the dragon boats were lined up on shore. There was a water station at the 35km mark just before turning left into Nicoll Highway. I was taking a walk break and tried to stretch my quads by rising up my legs to touch my chest with my thighs. My right leg immediately started cramping! The muscles were stiffened and I almost could not move my legs. I tried to do a slow job and luckily the cramp went off. Next time no more doing such stretches during running!
We went along Geylang Road, Kallang Road, Crawford Street and back to Republic Avenue. “Reaching soon! Reaching soon!” I kept telling myself. Approaching the F1 pit stop, we could see a sea of runners in front. They were the 10km’ers. Its really demoralising to see such a sight and know that your route was going to merge with theirs.
I saw one of my JC juniors just before turning into the F1 pit stop. She came running beside me and slapped my hand.
She was running slightly ahead of me and said: “Hey, I can run faster than you leh! Come chase me leh.”
I was already very shagged and looked at her with those “WTF” look. “What distance you running?” I asked.
“10km”
“Kau .. the 10km people are in front loh.”
“Hahaha .. 21km lah.”
We turned into the F1 pit stop. It was so crowded! The worst thing was a lot of them were taking their own sweet time to walk and chit chat. Hai .. There was a lot of cutting through to move forward.
Now was the final stretch. From the F1 pit stop, we went through Raffles Avenue and turned into Esplanade Bridge. Still cutting and squeezing my way through, I picked up my pace. Turning right into Anderson Bridge, the home run began. The sides of the road were lined with supporters. No matter if they were supporting you or not, you could really feel the mood in the atmosphere. I spotted the 4.30 pacers in front of me so I tried to squeeze ahead of them. Going between Victoria Theatre and Singapore Cricket club, we turned into St Andrew’s Road. I could see the big word “Finish” right in front. However, there were no signage or marshaller directing us which side to keep to. I just followed the pacers and kept to the right of the road. They have a specific lane for the FM’ers but it was crowded. I started rushing and pushing through as I did not care much anymore and ran past the finish line.
Gun start time: 05:29:53
Chip start time: 05:30:37
CP10k: 01:01:44
CP21k: 02:10:45
CP30k: 03:08:13
CP32.5k: 03:25:08
Gun time: 04:31:25
Net time: 04:32:09
Avg speed: 6.26 min/km
0km - 10km: 01:01:00 (6.6 min/km)
10km - 21km: 01:09:01 (6.13 min/km)
21km - 30km: 00:57:27 (6.27 min/km)
30km - 42km: 01:23:57 (6.53 min/km)
We gathered at the New Balance booth after the run.
There were fruits and snack bars for us. There's cartons of 100Plus too yah. :)
Massages are also provided.
The keep from the first FM would always be precious.
The mood was high at the finish line. All of us standing at the sides were cheering for everybody coming in, even if we do not know them. Some of the runners were already limping yet they still persevered and ran through past the time mat. Really felt happy for them for completing the marathon.
This guy came in proposing to his gf. The guy behind with the banner was his supporter.
Later, it was back to taking post-race shots with everybody in their hard earned finisher tee and medals.
Somebody was kind enough to offer us free ice cream.
Still can jump. Dont play play.
Wanted to carry this back home. But then no strength liao .. :p
Had makan at Suntec food court after the run. We need to quickly load in some food for energy. I was feeling so hungry so I ordered chicken rice with extra rice. It was as though the rice was so delicious as I kept eating the rice only. After finishing the rice, I realised I had not even touched a piece of chicken .. :p
I missed my target of 4.30 by a small margin. I would try again next year. There would be more runs lined up for 2010.
Watch out for them. :)
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