Swoosh SG 10K - 09.10.11

Ran my first Swoosh 10k today with bro, wifey and chicken.
The weather was a bit gloomy and breezy... its nice for running.
Good start-off for me as I clocked under 7 mins for first 1 km.
The remaining distance was a disaster ... stomach upset and right calf cramped.
Finally completed after 78 mins .... LOUSY!!!

KUDOs to the race organizer -

• Cute race MCs - Mr Incredible Tale & Miss VJ-dunno-her-name

• All runners must wear the given running tee. The sight of runners on the road was so AWE-some!!!

• The finisher's gift was a Swoosh shoe - 2 GB flash drive ... Cute hor ; >
  

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.