My race milestone

2010 was an active year for me as I had clocked total 136km and 17h 44m.

Look at my 2010 race calendar, I realised that I had run in different -
timing i.e. Sundown flagged off at 9pm, SCMS at 5am
route i.e. Sentosa, ECP, Marina Barrage, Orchard road
event type i.e. triathlon-relay event, looping, cycling

In year 2011 I will be more selective in joining the races. I want to run in other country with different route or climate. And of course to achieve a better PR for my full marathon. For SCMS, I was way way off from my target timing due to sprained ankle and lack of training. I will attempt full marathon once more to meet my target 5h 30m.

Anyway, I have signed-up a 12km race for April 2011 because the entitlement is very attractive - dryfit singlet, e-lace, hand held water bottle, compression calf guard

My first half marathron - Mind over body

Running at night was no joke - it was so humid and hardly any breeze.
Started together with Uncle B, Jess and Cynthia (ex-H colleagues).
And targetted to complete by 2hrs 30mins.
Slowly I lost them after 3km as our pace were different.
My form was good all the way till the 2nd U-turn i.e. after the 11km.
Whenever there was no street light, my mind was blank and body ready to go to sleep mode.
Regretted not listening to my mp3 as to keep myself awake.
I ran and brisk walked (thanks to sis-in-law A's tip) on the long stretch of Changi Coast Road (next to the Changi Airport runway).
Along the way, saw some puke at roadside (bet due to heavy dinner), some applied the muscle relief ointment, some walked at a dragging pace, some doing stretching (???), some resting at the street lamp (waiting for tur-toise).
The killing factor was the humidity - hardly any breeze and it was as good as running in the afternoon!!!
I lost my watch along the way probably due to my sweaty wrist. Anyway, I have an excuse to buy a new watch.
At the last 6km (damn tired and sleepy), readjusted my target time to be 2hrs 45mins.
At the last 3km (totally worn out), confirmed to be 3 hrs.
At the last 100km, put in my utmost to sprint to the finishing line and the clock stated 2hrs 40mins.
To my surprise, after checking my official result from the website, its 2hrs 36mins 15 secs.
Well Done, Good Job!!!
Its a boost for me to look forward to my full marathon in Dec and target timing 5hrs 30mins.

Encounters with SHD part 2

Remember my GEM kid - SHD (read Encounters with SHD part 1 )

More anecdotes:

1. She said: Teacher, I want to play now.

I refused: After you have finished your work, then I let you play. Quickly tell me, what is this?

She folded her chubby arms and stared at me angrily.

I insisted: What is this?

She stared at me and smiled superb sweetly: I like to look at you, Teacher

Very nearly fell into her trap, I persisted: WHAT IS THIS?

Encounters with SHD part 1

SHD is my GEM kid who is giggly, roundish and cute. I always enjoy the 1-1 session with her. Shared some of the funny anecdotes :

1> She observed teacher R and told me : Teacher I friend you ah, I no friend that Teacher ok.
I flattered by her remark (^_~)


2> I showed her a picture card of astronaut: What is this?

She smiled and said: Teacher, I dont know.

I told her: Astronaut.

She "instructed" me: Teacher, teacher ask me "What is this"

I played along with her: What is this?

She proudly told me loudly: Astronaut!!!

Then I praised her and she smiled broadly till her eyes formed a single line ...☜(⌒▽⌒)☞


3> Showed her a picture of ant and asked her : What is this?

She said proudly: Spider!!!

Showed her a picture of bee and asked her : What is this?

She said loudly: Spider!!!

OMG! all the bugs look like spider to her .... O_O

Good long weekend

I was really looking forward to this long weekend 1st to 4th April so that I could catch up with my beauty sleep ...

1st April - worked half day in the morning and had a Peranakan lunch with SME, peers, CMO, COO and HK guest ET. Overall, the food was below average except the pork chop with fries and the dessert (red ruby) saved the day. I would not go there again for sure. After lunch, went for a Pixel Peel at Vivo and do some shopping there. The after effect of the peel was my whole face like ON fire!!! That's also affect my shopping mood. In the end bought nothing.

2nd April - Sunny day ... because of my "sun-burnt" face, I chose to stay at home to avoid the sun. Practically, eat, laze on bed to read, sleep and play on-line game Farm Frenzy 3 American Pie - got hooked!!! Anyway I managed to clock up all my sleeping hours for the week.

3rd April - GEM day ... to meet my giggly roundish girl SHD. Before the lesson, packed chicken rice from the hawker near Bedok bus interchange. Wanted to try as always see long Q but disappointed as the meat not tender and oily rice not fragrant. Anyway, I always enjoyed the 1-1 time with SHD. During debrief, J bought some buns and bread as refreshment. I tried the cream bun and milk bread. I like the cream bun as was yummy! Now I have 3 choices from that bakery : Curry, Sardine and Cream. After TC, we went to T2 for dinner - I had Claypot Fried Tom Yum Tang Hoon. We went to T3 for la-kopi - I had Milo Dinosaur with aplenty of Milo Powder on top!!!

4th April - Rainy day ... woke up at 5.45am for the shoe trial at ECP. It started to rain while we were half way there. When we reached, there was not a van or shoe in sight. We saw 2 guys in red top and 1 gal in pink top loitering around Carl's Jr. Then the gal wandered home. Left only 3 of us and the 2 guys still faithfully waiting for the shoe trial to happen. Then at 7.45am, we saw a Ang-Mo lady with 3 big black bags arrived. 5 mins later, a van with boxes of shoes appeared. But the raining was still pouring. So did some warm ups by using the foam roller. And tried on the shoe with an expert gave us tips and advices on running. I like the shoe; maybe would buy it after my Glide worn out. Attended my usual 2 aerobics classes like zombie; could not remember the steps just followed the ladies in front of me. Retired to my bed early at about 9.30pm ... ZZZzzzzzzz

Collection of April Fool's Day pranks

Didn't blog much in March as busy (and I still am) with my Regional project UAT ... sigh
Anyway I am looking forward to my travel incentive at the end of the project ... FRANCE (hope it can be materialised as doing selection now).

Share some April Fool's jokes -
1. ex-colleague DL : to all friends and family, i have a confession to make. i am gay! and i have been having a relationship with a guy named adam. he's working as a security guard. in this relationship, i am the man and he is the woman...
While personally I think its a joke but not shocked if its a true confession ... he has already PHD -"short-circuited" his brain.

2. ex-boss DL : decided to drop his Facebook account.
This is confirmed a joke as he admitted :Yep. It's an April Fool's joke, but not as good as Googles.

3. little niece stared at me innocently: Gu Jie, do u know what day is today (1 Apr)?
I the Gu Jie stared hard at her : U ate too much till u forgot what DAY is today???!!!
little niece smiled slyly at me: Today is APRIL FOOL's DAY!!!
I the Gu Jie saved face : Of course I know that, I just pretended meh.

OCBC Cycle - Community Run 20km

I suppose to ride a very stylo-milo mountain bike in the race but last mins bro H took part in the 40km. So I had to ride a conventional bike with a basket in front and a pillar rider seat behind. And its gear is spoilt! So I had to pedal, pedal, pedal very vigorously till it went into a cruise mode... I forgave up the idea of completing within 1 hour. And took it easy by enjoying the scene along the way.

Scene #1. Upon hearing a shout "On your Left!", I steered more to my right to give way to a rider coming behind. Then shortly I heard the same voice shouted "on your Right!". Alamak what was wrong with this rider!!! So I steadily stayed on course and let her pass my Left! Then I realised she was only a community rider who has problem telling her Left and Right ...
Scene #2. On the return route near Collyer Quay, while I was enjoying the breeze, I saw a pedal rolling down to my right. Immediately I quickly checked ... HENG my right foot was still stepping on a pedal. Wonder whose pedal and still a long way back (about 5km) to the finishing point...

It took me 1hr 42mins to complete a mere 20km .... sigh. Next year must sign-up for the competitive race 40km and race in a stylo-milo mt bike. I was proud of my bro H who managed to complete by 90mins for the 40km.

My upcoming race is the 2XU Sentosa 12km on 11 Apr... start training now!!!

Renew my cycling

The thought of attending my usual 2 Sunday aerobics classes did not thrill me instead I find it bored with the predictable footworks. And the sight of the cute 2 he-instructors did not excite me anymore. (Z o Z)

So agreed to go cycling at ECP with Piggy, Moo and their 4 frens. It was my first cycle for this century; din cycle for dinosaur years. Naturally after choosing our own bike, everyone started to hit the cycle track. And naturally I am the last one to setoff as I need to wake-up my basic cycling skills like balancing, pedalling, braking and oriented myself to the "speedometer" of the bike. Luckily Piggy turned back to look for me and taught me how to set the speedometer - Left 2, Right 7. And we rode off together. \(^_^)/

When I started to relax and enjoy the surrounding people and scenery, I realised there were hunks running besides me!!! And some even running top-less to show off their fab toned body(*_*) Must coax my bro H to run at ECP so that I can come with his transport (^_~)

Started from ECP mac to Changi village food hawker centre and back to ECP mac, about 35km! ++ abt 35C sorching sun!! Enough practice for me to prepare for next Sunday cycle event. And now need to nurse my aching thigh and butt. (-_-*)

Health is Wealth

Both my dad and my aunt had admitted to hospital and made me realised how important health is. My dad was in and out twice and my aunt is still there since before CNY. Luckily my dad had an op to remove his growth in the colon. But my aunt is there and heard she is very feeble. My heart ache for her and my cousin especially when she told us with tears brimming in her eyes. Pray that my aunt could recover soon ....

CNY to me its just another public holidays - no need to work, laze at home, sleep till late, eat till sore throat. What I always looking forward is the gathering at my 大姨house - that's when my 大舅父，三舅父, my cousin's family (her GG girls) and my Chiang family (10 pax) will Lo Hei, makan, catch-up and photo-taking. Though we meet once a year, I like the bonding we have and I hope we could keep doing this yearly.

The price to pay for business trip

Manager asked: er ... 6 cycles is for Core uat right???

Me answered: no ... that uat for our Singapore Country only.

Manager asked again: then core UAT our users just need to verify the test result right?

Me said: Yes but we also need to do our own country specific uat.

Manager said: right lor, then the 6 cycles is for Core UAT

Moi Aku Saya said "clamly": no (pause to suppress my flare) the 6 cycles is for our SINGAPORE uat which our users need to do themselves and nothing has to do with the CORE. (end with a fakey smile)

Manager said: I jus wan to clarify so that when i present in meeting, the exco members are not confused

I think he is confused lor; the blind leading the blind

Sigh ...... so many emails, TC, status updates, reports, deadlines, meetings to attend ever since returned from HK .... Haaaaiiiiiiiii (long sigh)

the back-to-back meetings/TC were the cause of my sore throat and cough bcoz no time to have a cuppa -> no urine -> no way to detox -> so sick lor.

So jealous that Piggy and 大师兄 have gone prawn fishing while I was "ploughing" and coughing in off-pi.

Now I look forward to 2 things :
1. my Sunday's 2 aerobics classes with the cute he-instructors ; P
2. CNY so that I can have a long break ... dong chiang, dong chiang : >

Business Trip to HK

HK is one of my fave place which I enjoy the food, the shop, the people and the language. Was there for 1 week - it was relaxing to attend meetings, workshops and catching-up dinners.

Sunday - Met ex-H colleague A for Tze Char dinner at 旺記 - 銅鑼灣登龍街1號(a small lane near Times Square)and we sat at roadside table. We ordered : 蜜汁燒鱔, beef broth, veggie, fried chicken. The food was nice and cheap; perhaps the dust and smoke that made the dishes tasty and experienced 坐街的滋味. Then a 3-hr karaoke session at Neway Karaoke Box with 2 drinks per pax - a big room for 3 person and a PC to surf net.

Monday - morning meetings and afternoon workshops. Met ex-H colleague S for steamboat dinner at 新星海鮮酒家 and 義順雙皮奶 as dessert ; ) I LUV the dessert.

Tuesday - workshops whole day. Tze Char dinner at 嫦記 - 跑馬地毓秀街熟食中心2樓2號舖 food hawker centre with pm KL. We ordered : 風沙雞, 雞燉翅, Brocoli 炒鮮奶, steamed fish. 嫦記 food not as nice as 旺記 but a new place to me. (下次要試吓一樣多人的珠記比較一下.) Then again 義順薑汁燉奶for dessert ; )) I simply LUV it!!!

Wednesday - meeting and workshops whole day. Went to Ladies street and Garden street with colleagues L and J and scared the acid-pouring would strike again .... heng, nothing happened but the streets very quiet lor.

Thursday - workshops whole day and drinking session as OT at 29th floor of another building. it has a full length mirror view 落地玻璃 of the beautiful harbour view. Mingled with the project people and eventually "void cheque" walked us back to the hotel.

Friday - workshops whole day; skipped the hotel lunch buffet and went out to eat 再興燒臘飯店: 三寶飯包括豉油雞、叉燒及燒肉. Did last mins shopping at Wan Chai. bumped into Aunt Gloria and told her repeatedly not to tell Grandaunt that I was in HK ; P For dinner I have 愛爾蘭瘋薯 - 肉醬薯條 and 發記- 湯丸粟子露.

Saturday - woke up late; had 檀島Honolulu 蛋撻, 波蘿油 and 奶茶 for breakfast; walked 1 round in the Wan Chai computer plaza to ask abt the price of some gadgets.

BUT the burden that I brought back is invisibily heavy with work.

FULL FORCE ahead and may the force be with me for this project. V

Fruit Fasting - first attempt

Ate too much over the long weekends, I decided to fast on Monday 4th for one day :

Breakfast - 1 cup Dates, Raisins, Whole Grain Cereal mixed with 250ml Protein Shake
Morning Tea - Hot Soyabean milk with NO sugar
Lunch - ABC (Apple, Beetroot, Carrot) juice with NO ice
Afternoon Tea - 2 tubs of cut fruits
Dinner - Break fast with a cube of HK pineapple tart ; P
Supper - 2 mini Kaya croissants & 2 mini Choco croissants

Results : the urine was in clear colour and the body / organs felt light and rejuvenating. Surprised that I did not have dizzy spells and feel fatigue.

I will definitely fast once a week to benefit my health.

New Year Holidays

Some events and invites keep me occupied for this long weekend -

01.01.10 - CSR aka community service responsibility. Enlisted by my bro to help in being a usher for a old folks' event. So niece, I, bro n wifey had a wanton mee breakfast to store the energy required especially for bro as he needed to lift wheelchairs. Godson had his usual staple - 2 runny eggs, hot milo and kaya toast. Well I landed as a part-time photographer for snapping the arrival of busloads of old folks. Finally I served as a usher during the departure of the old folks.

02.01.10 - Joined a running club event - Scenic Northern 2010 New Year Fun Run. It was a 15km "flower smelling" pace run. Route highlites - Yishun Dam, Bottle Tree Park and Sembawang Hot Spring. The weather was good - cloudy with the sun playing "hide-n-seek", breezy, lots of photo taking, cheerful folks and encouraging marshall. As bro has another appmt, we left the group after bottle tree park. Overall, its a good scenic run that brought me to unknown places like the Dam and a cheery marshali kept suggesting its a good dating venue ...... he thought bro and I were couple .... no breath to clarify with him ; P

Makan party at R&T's house - what a feast I had - roasted duck, bryani rice, ayam curry, ikan curry, prawn curry, rye bread, red wine, white wine, beer, cheese cake, long-gan agar agar. To load the carbs I burned in the moring run. Chit chat, drinking, eating and Wii-ing. Fun evening, thanks to wonderful hosts - Mrs & Mr Chua.

03.01.10 - Woke up with some booze hangover but determined to kick off my Marathon training plan, so went for 2 aerobics classes and 30mins hill-pgm on treadmill. Now both legs felt like lead. Will rub some muscular relief balm and paste some muscular relief pads...good sleep tonight.