Passion!

Honestly, the best pair of shoes.

It's cheap, cracked and not pretty. But I've been using it forever.

Harris doesn't look too chuffed being the third wheel. Haha.

I remember the first time I bought this dude. I came in with a friend, who would later custom fit and build the rest of the bike. It was on a Tuesday, and nearly 8pm. My friend spent the whole night bringing him to life. Eddy was beautiful, and also expensive. It took me months to pay off his debts, and now he's mine all mine. Everybody loved the bike, just not as much as I do. We made some pretty sweet rides, and he was reliable, and strong, and well, faster than my first. We conquered some awesome hills, and he kept me company during solo moments - the best moments. Some people spent the rest of their lives not knowing who they are, and Eddy helped me reclaimed back my identity. First a runner, and now a cyclist. But I am not fast, neither am I competitive. My 'coach/riding buddy' does not agree; he hates recreational cyclist, always pushing me to get faster, better, stronger. I'll see what happens.

Cycling aside, I've been working out steadily. Been doing karate 3 times a week now, and the first week when I did it I couldn't walk properly for days. All the muscle groups in my legs made themselves known. It was PAINFUL. All the squats; monkey squats, crab squats, sumo squats, whatever squats, they kicked my butt. The training was as tough as yoga. I still hold to this fact: Nothing is as tough as yoga, NOTHING. When done correctly, yoga BURNS.

A week before my wedding, I did my last yoga class for the session. The teacher has turned brutal on me, and the poses harder, more mentally exhausting than ever. I almost cried a few times. Oh God, writing this makes me miss yoga. Soon.

My running has been steady. Nothing much to report there. I will still consider myself a good runner, although the heart is not 100% in there. I complain more when I'm running, couldn't wait for it to finish. Yet I still do the laps religiously. During the bi-weekly running tests, I could still muster some energy to sprint.

Ramadhan month is coming! I love working out during Ramadhan. Makes you sooo much stronger.

Hello Again

2 years ago, I discovered sports events. My life somewhat changed, rather subjectively whether it was for the better or worse. For the first time after my university days I had a proper routine, and I was dead set to follow it. My friends and family thought I was crazy.

I was a 13 year old girl in love. Nothing mattered.

Three pictures I want to share with you guys:

This is a picture of my cousin who succumbed to leukemia at 23 years old. I took this picture, when we had just arrived in Bali. It was a cousin only trip - my sister and I, him and his brother. I can't remember how old we were when this trip happened, but he was in remission then, and just a regular old guy again, talking about girls and music. I still get pangs thinking about his absence in our family, and I think about him more so when I am exerting myself during a hard run, swim, ride, drills, pose, even when I am eating a good meal, or getting a good pay. Life is not always good, but at least we're living it. Thank You Ngangah, Assalamualaikum.

Lone runner in Hyde Park. Hyde Park remains to be one of the best place for me to run, and I don't know whether it's because of the whole scenery or the fact that it was such an emotional catharsis for me at one time. I must have ran it daily, sometimes twice a day, with the company of the album by Dirty Three (She Has No Strings Apollo). That was truly the time where I felt that running was a reliever, whereas now running has a meaning, or a goal, to be addressed. I am looking forward to have more runs like that this year, hopefully with none of the emotional baggage included.

If I want to sum up my sporting triumphs with just one picture, this would be it. I believe I have posted this up before, and will continue to be a favorite of mine. Why I love this picture is not really hard to guess: it was a picture of me haphazardly doing my first triathlon race. This picture for me captures the spirit of what I think sports should be: a mild passion of doing something you love, without caring about anything else. My bike was the cheapest and the worst off in the lot - I bought it for RM800. The tyres don't match, the frame was too big for me, my helmet was only 20 bucks (I still use it till today, until the accident cracked it), and I was wearing probably my favorite workout essential until now - a cotton tshirt. I have never embraced the dri-fit material. I had no idea what to expect, and I struggled badly during the transition, but I LOVED the bike portion. I passed about 12 women during this leg.

I got a better bike now, but to be honest I still think that my cheap ass bike was the best. It was steel, and steady like a boyfriend, and made me work harder than ever. It still baffles my mates how I was faster in the steel bike than I am in my carbon. I guess it was because things were new, and I had no expectations.

This year, I'm starting again my routine, whatever it is, after two weeks of complete abandon. And it will start today, insyaAllah.

Fun 5k Run

I was born in the middle of two very girlie sisters.

Maybe not girlie, but definitely not into sports like me.

This trip to visit our youngest sister in London was planned by my eldest sister. Being quite the shopper that she is (with the amount of shoes rivaling Imelda Marcos) 90% of our itinerary consists of shopping and more shopping. I didn't complain one bit, not even when they made multiple stops along one single road and when I had to attend to their questions of whether this looks nicer or whether this fits? Being a girl, I too, did some shopping of my own. I might be a cardio freak, but I do know my brogues from my Brooks (not that I have one, but in the interest of making this sounds better...)

My sisters in their natural state

On the second last day of our trip, I cajoled, coaxed, and last but not least, forced them to enter a running event with me.

It's a small, family-driven, charity-centered run that runs throughout the UK (about 24 races) and all runs are 5km. It's called the Big Fun Run, and the one we went was held in Victoria Park, London. We were all unprepared; little sister does not even have a proper pair of running shoes, eldest sister borrowed my running pants and I ran - for the first and LAST time ever - without a sports bra on. God. Plus, we were late to start, about 5 minutes after the buzzer sounded. When we arrived we saw only the last throng of runners.

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

On the way to the tube. Notice my little sister hiding behind.

The most reluctant participant, if you don't count a blustery 5-yr-old crying, "I want to go home Mommy!!"

My youngest sister running alongside me at the starting. Her only preparation was a steady 30mins of walking everyday to/from work/college.

One of the runners! He ran for Children's Autism Support
Group, I think.

One of the first few runners who already made the turn back.

The cheerful, rambunctious supporters. One of them went, "She's taking our picture! Wave!"

This photographer and I played snap snap with each other.

I ran a good race, eventhough it was a late start. From the first minute I ran faster than my normal pace and told myself to maintain it. The weather was COLD, the wind was STIFF and my fingers felt numb and I didn't think I sweated at all.

I finished the race in 25 mins, my 5k PB hahaha!

My youngest sister arrived not long after I did - such a natural runner, and in Converse and pyjama pants too! Her 5k time is 32 mins.

My oldest sister came not long after... shuffling with a totally red face! She came in at 39mins for her first ever 5k... or any k at all! I love!

The goodie bag! So nice... I love the sports drink and the candies were awesome! hihi.

Revisiting.

I always think of you most when I am on top of the hill, over the crest, and plunging downhill with the speed of 50km/h. The flapping of the winds in my ears and the blurriness of everything in front of me makes my mind peacefully empty, and for no apparent reason this always make me think of you. I miss you terribly the most when I am at my happiest moment, on my own. It’s not important for me to tell you the details of all the happiest moments in my life, but suffice that if I died on that highway crashed against the divider, you would be the last thing on my mind.

January First.

What a great year for me, 2009 was. And I'm only positive that 2010 would be equally, if not better, awesome.

My great 2009 recap:


Impromptu bungee jumpingMy sister and I and my bestfriend booked a 3 day trip to Phuket just to bungee jump (also because the tixs were cheap) and 2 hours after touching down we headed to the center to be the first jumpers. My sister and friend chickened out in the end, leaving me no choice but to jump alone (as I'd already signed and paid). Traitors!!


Annapurna Base CampThe highlight of my 2009, I would say. The story was straight to the point: met my friend Aiman at the induction program for new executives in my company (july 2008), found out that we both shared the same crazy ideas of traveling, kept in touch and booked for the tickets in April 2009, did not talk about it until August 2009. It was 16 days of absolute hell and heaven. I have never known such extremities existed; some trails and days were so tough that I gave up on giving up, nighttime were as cold as it gets especially at the base camp. But we met good people, ate good food, and enjoyed each other's company.



Flying fox and water abseilingA fun first quarter activities organized by a friend I got to know when I selamber crashed at her house in London 2007 (I went backpacking for 54 days - by the end of that I was brokeeeee and she was heaven sent). This trip is lightweight and fun: a short hike alongside the UIA highway and into the woods, flying fox and then water abseiling. The water abseiling was way too slippery and one poor girl banged her face to the rocks. 

Cycling at Bukit CerakahFavorite Sunday activity: whenever my boyfriend gets an off day, we'd wake up early, entered the park at 7am, rented the RM5 bike, and went crazy for the various routes. The uphills were a torture but worth it once you reached the highest summit. What an awesome view. Plus you get to go to various corny places like taman salju, rumah negeri sembilan and what nots. My favorite was watching the paintball game.

White Water RaftingI am a huge white water rafting fan, and my aim is to do at least one or two white water rafting every year. This year I only got to do it once, but at a new location - this was at Sungai Selangor, tougher rapids than at Sungai Kampar. To be honest, I didn't really enjoy it as we had to stop before attempting the rapids as they were dangerous. I preferred going down the grade 2-3 kampar where there were no interruptions. In this picture I am second from front, right side. We were about to capsize. 
 That was my 2009. Can't wait to do more things in 2010. I've already created my 'training plans' in 2010 and hopefully I would follow them religiously. Maybe I would share them here if I think it's not too embarrassing. I've allowed 2 Off days, while the rest of the week would be an equal running, swimming and biking days. My weekends would be packed mostly, cause I'd be trying to squeeze either a long run, long swim or long bike plus my yoga classes! Wheww! Ni belum tambah kickboxing class lagi aiyoyo.
 I also need to remember I have a life. I have parents I have to visit regularly at Nilai and friends to meet up... this is not as easy as I think.
 How does you training plans look like? 

PBIM 2009

The place we stayed, B-Suite hotel. It was a family room as the studio room was all booked. The hotel does not have its own restaurant therefore no room service which forced us to walk to the nearest shopping complex for dinner. We had Marybrown which isn't the healthiest of choices but well. I bought bananas and some oat drinks as well. But the room is well kept and clean and comfy. I love.

Me at 210 in the morning. I slept early; dozed off at 8pm and woke up feeling quite refreshed. I think I just ate a banana and was about to head out to walk to the mall. I was hoping to bump into other runners who would accompany me along the way. I ended up walking with this orderly uncle who wants to be called as PK and we exchanged anecdotes on our Annapurna Base Camp memories. I think he has done 9 full marathons.

Wish I could write 'hard earned medal' but to be honest I didn't really do any training and I walked for maybe a total of 10-15 minutes combined. I knew I could have gone faster! This is the problem when you were in a competitive sport before; you would want to try going harder longer or faster then anyone who passed you by. I forced my mind to think about how awesome for me to be doing this under 3 hours when I thought I'd finish waaayy later due to my knees. 

Things I want to write down:

1) I was kind of hoping that they have someone with one of those deep heat ointment because I so badly needed it during the race. Yes they did have 2 'stations' where they would spray those muscle ointment thingy but it didn't do much justice. When I was in the Mizuno Waverun, they had a guy with a huge tube of deep heat and it was useful and easier as I could apply the ointment myself and on any of my body parts as I wished without showing to other people (I had a nagging inner thigh ache when I was running in PBIM... no one could spray THERE). Also ointment would be easier to reach into hard to spray places, like the arch of your foot... where it was hurting the most! Must remember to bring my own ointment for the next race.

2) No Milo station! I've said this before - I look forward to the Milo drinks as much as the medal and certificate and finishing. I was already robbed of this luxury when I did the Great Eastern 10k in Singapore but I thought running events in Malaysia would have the Milo station since its... deeply embedded in our hearts ever since kindergarten. So all I did was ice my knees and feet, took my bag and then walked home.

3) The bagging system was a bit hassled. You know how you would receive a chip with the number your bag has on so it would be easier for them to locate your bag? Almost every place uses the system - the bowling alley, the library, gym - so it's a surprise when PBIM system consisted of just asking for our names and the description of our bag, which was why it took them about 20 minutes to find mine as I was using the yellow Digi bag that 60% of the participants used as well! Kudos to 2 volunteers who were energetic, chirpy and friendly even after looking for 2947728 bags all with the description of , "yellow digi bag."

4) I didn't really like that they gave out water bottles. I especially hated it when I see most of them were half empty and some were quarter full. What a waste! I feel like I have the right to feel indignant since I've been saying no to plastic bottles for 15 months now and hate to see excessive use of it anywhere when you're forced to use them. they could have given water in paper cups like most races.

5) This lady runner who sprinted like mad when going down the hill and later stopped due to knee pain. I was cringing when she was slop slop slopping down the hill. 

6) This lady runner who had a funny running form. It looked like her right shoulder is yanked by an invisible hand every 3 steps.

7) the uncle who shouted encouragements to runners at the roundabout near the finishing line. He was noisy and could be annoying but I enjoyed him. He was shouting in chinese but when he saw ladies in headscarves he went all, "Lari lari jangan jalan saja! Hanya 500m sikit saja!!" Loved it!

8) the run itself. I was going at a slow pace and carefully monitoring (or feeling) my knees and ankle. My feet or rather the arches started to hurt at 2.5km mark. And they never STOPPED. At times it got so unbearable which forced me to limp for maybe 1-2 minutes before I ran again. But I enjoyed it. When we reached 15km I was like wow really? It felt like a short distance. But then again, maybe t was because the run was in the dark without the heat. I might sing a different song in Standard Chartered!