Val D'or - Valley of Gold

Twas the last race of the year.
I found out at the last minute ( my mistake actually) that for Women's Open, we're only to run 8 k.
I found out the week before, my parents wouldn't be available to babysit on race day as they would be off to the East Coast sending my sister back to campus..
So one of us had to bail racing.
I got to race!
Hauled the whole lot on race day at 5 am to Nibong Tebal.
Sorry, but the venue reeked of chicken smell from the chicken farms.
But nevertheless, it was a small quaint town. Kinda like mini Bidor.
Aimed to finish 8k sub 50 minutes.
So good to hear my family cheering for me in the sidelines.
Race started fast. Everybody went running.
Race route was super, just like mini Bidor. ( minus the killer hills)
At one point, the chicken smell was alternated with the smell of palm oil husks.
But we kept running anyway ( did we have a choice?)
As we were nearing mile 5, I noticed the men still ran the same route as us women. I thought they were supposed to do 11k. Guess not.
Finished the race feeling good.
Hub welcomed me at the end of the line with a, " What happened to your sub 50?"
I said, " I did. Finished 8k in 48 minutes." The race was  actually 8.4k.
Yay!
Found out I got podium.
Huh?
Yayyy!
Got no 10 overall.
But had to wait 2 more hours to get the custom medal. Kena naik pentas daa..selang selit ngan cabutan bertuah.
I heart small races.

That evening went out for a 25 minute bike ride.
Naik incline, turun incline, kayuh laju, kayuh pelan.
Mak aih, sakit peha, nyah.
Came to work today kengkang sakit inner thigh.
Padan muko.

Great weekend nevertheless

Can also register on race day itself.

How cool is that?

Good luck charm

Model ikon Bomba Sukarela

Bila lagi?

Ratu kebaya - I'm the blue dot.

  The medal.

Sekianlah  .

Totally random

Of all weeks in a year, I love the 2nd last week of December the most. Mana taknya, I have my son's birthday, my husband's birthday and our anniversary all crammed in that week. Best part is, everybody get presents!
This year, I've asked hubs for... jeng jeng jeng.. a bike!
Er, no. Don't get any wrong ideas.
I'm not getting myself into triathlons, duathlons or any other thlons there is. Ishhh..
I just wanna ride a bike.
What suddenly sparked this?
Well, 2 weeks ago, while moving our stuff into our new home, I decided to take one of my husband's bike for a ride. Mind you, I haven't been on a bike since I was 11. So there I was wobbling, trying to get my balance, trying to remember how to balance. I managed to pedal two metres before freaking out and trying to stop the darn thing with my feet. In my panic I forgot that the bike was a bit too high for me, so as a result, my 'middle part' hit the bar - hard and I hurt my as Pui San would call it 'lady bits'..harhar.

I didn't like that at all. Not about the hurting my lady bits part. I didn't like that I , an adult, can't ride a bike. This will be in my 2011 to do list. To re-learn how to ride a bike and be decent at it, like a normal person.
So we're going bike hunting this weekend. Wish us luck.

I want one just like this - minus the complicated gears and the pricey tag,

can or not?

On the running side, I can't get my regular running routine in check as it rains here almost every evening. Before this, my weekday was like :

Monday - run
Tuesday - run
Wednesday - rest
Thursday -run
You get the picture.
Now it's like :
Monday - hujan la- no run
Tuesday - hujan lagi - no run
Wednesday - hujan lagi dan lagi - no run
Thursday - yay! no rain - run ( then it starts to drizzle tengah jalan)
You get the picture.
As a self proclaimed so called runner, I didn't like this one bit, And I told my other half this.
" Hah!" he snorted. "During your marathon training, when it was all sunny outside, you were constantly mumbling ' Rain, dammit, rain!' , remember?"
Ye la, ye la.

Ok, one final cerita. A day before my son's birthday, I asked him,
" Chiam, tomorrow, we'll go for your birthday dinner. You can have anything you want. Anything at all. Your call."
He looked at me, his brown eyes wide with innocence.
" What will it be , darling?"

"Biskut."

Did she really do that?

Today, I was inspired. And got a wee bit jealous.
A colleague of mine showed me a blog of this girl she knew, who finished her first marathon in 3:16. She was a normal person who self trained everyday. Entered small races and got PBs along the way. I was like in awe. Were she to race locally, she would have bagged the top 5 placing. Unfortunately, she ran her marathon overseas, which means you can only get a podium finish if you score a sub 3.

And I was instantaneously inspired. From feeling lethargic and actually malas tu run, I felt I wanted to run off my fever.

Okay, maybe a sub 4:30 can't be achieved this year ( wei, tinggal berapa hari je lagi da bulan Disember), or next year, or possibly the year after that but someday I will achieve it. And even thought right now, my head is filled with things to do at work, meetings, Chiam starting school, Adik starting pre-school, the in laws coming over, this and that, this and that, this and that, I am not deterred.
I will do this some day.

I really don't mean to sound pretentious. I swear I don't. Don't misjudge this entry. " Eleh" some may think.
Because I truly believe a 4:30 marathon can be achieved by anyone, a normal person like you and me who really, really put their heart to it and with their training.

And with that, with my stuffy nose, and 10% of fever, and phlegm-my  cough, and the clouds casting funny dark shadows, I went for my evening run. Who cares if it's just 3.1 miles.
It's a start.

Macam Robert ( bak kata Dato' Ct)

I hope nobody gets offended but this is effing hilarious.



Okay, stop sulking. Don't give me that.
You know you wanna laugh.

What's Next

Morning, peeps.
Phew, what a crazy weekend.
Guess what?
We moved! For the 2nd time this year !
Yep, had to do it all over again. And you betcha it was tiring. And not to mention emotionally and mentally draining.
Nope, I will not lose my running route. We just moved one house away. Haha.
Our previous landlord announced last month that they wanted to move back in the house so what were we supposed to say, kan? Through the help of our dear neighbors, we were able to seal the deal with the owner of our current house, who initially had no plans to set this house on lease. Thank God.
And although, it is just one house away, we had to hire a whole lot of people to clean and angkut-angkut our stuff. Then we had to rearrange the whole mess back up again to make our new house home. The silver lining to all this is, we can declutter our junk and start anew!
Banyaknya exclamation marks in this entry. !  ! ! !

So as a breather, I went for a celebratory run this morning. My other half couldn't take the day off. He has to work through the week - dental screenings for new recruits. So it'll be a busy week for him. I sent the kids to the nursery and ran. And boy , did it felt goooood. FYI, I haven't been running since last Monday's measly 3 miler on the thrillmill (due to this moving business) and to have my legs fatigued, chest heaving and my face burnt in the sun, was pure satisfaction as weird and ironic as it may sound.

Anyway, as this evening will be the starting of the Muslim New Year, it got me thinking on my future plans. Most of this year was dedicated to my work and running. Next year will all be about family. My eldest will be in standard 1 and the second will enroll in toddler kindergarten. They say this will be the real beginning of the super mommy year. My friend once forewarned me that I'll permanently have this chant echoing in my head ,
" Pick up, drop off, do this, do that"

But, yes, there is a but, I won't forget about running. Next year I will go on a mission to better my middle distance timings. A marathon is fun to be in but my God, looking back, sometimes I loathe the training for it. I don't mind the daily runs but sometimes the 18-20 mile LSDs are too much. The early mornings! Post run head ache( sometimes)! Getting back to the kids at 10 or maybe 11 am! . Getting tanned! Argh

 I will try, repeat , TRY to only enter races with the relatively small numbers such as 10K, 12K, 15K or the most 21K. Because I truly believe, to achieve a better marathon timing, I will have to somehow achieve better  half marathon or middle distance timings. Once I achieve this, my marathon LSD will be done in  a relatively shorter time ; less distress and drama for me, and more time with the kids.

My next run will be Valdor 11K Run in Penang. Valdor..doesn't it sound so grand? Macam one of those characters from Lord of the Rings ( which I slept through half of the movie). Or one of Voltron's nemesis. Anyway, I read from Run.mix.burn that it's a well planned race and most important -post race food!

     

 Adakah ini Encik Valdor?

atau inikah Encik Valdor? 

Now, if only I can hand in the borang before the closing date and train for it. Hmm..

Ok, I'm off to reignite the inner princess in me ( which has been on snooze mode for the longest of time) by catching Rapunzel in 3D. Hey, Ian, did you know that we have a movie theather here in Taiping. No, not the old one yang tayang cite Tamil je next to Taiping Medical Centre. And new modern one.
Gasp!

Zero Week ( Entry basi)

I'm kinda not happy with my running or rather, lack of running lately. Zero week has come and gone swiftly and according to plans, I'm supposed to return to my normal running routine sans the looonggg LSD weekends.
But by the looks of it, I may temporarily return to the thrillmill as it rains here, heavily EVERY evening.
It's all sunny , loodeedoodee doo but then at about 4 ish pm, the sky will suddenly open up and it will not stop pouring till the day's end.
But I guess, I shouldn't complain much. My marathon is over and I'm only running for the heck of it.
Until my next race, that is. Hee.

Here's some pic from my zero week. We went on a tiny cuti-cuti makan-makan. I'd love to set up a foodie's blog like KOG but when it comes to taking pics of the food at an eatery, I always shy-shy cat one.

ayam penyet - sambal pedas gile

st. cinnamon- my favourite

the best goreng pisang in Taiping- seriously

sinful nasi goreng kampung- tapi sangat settap..haha

air amra- kusyukkk dan masyukkk

the best burgers are the local ones ( provided they're Ramli's)- sangat sloppy dan menjilat jari

oh, noww I remember why I'm so anal on running post zero week. 

must.lose.extra.weight.

Oh and, konon sebagai hadiah ( konon) for our marathon. Jeng jeng

his and hers - okay, the purple one's not new, but the stand is.

goreng macam nasik goreng kampung.

Sekian, terima kasih.

pebim doplohseploh, cerita satu lagi

Daha lama gila dah rasanya aku tak menulis. Bukan apa, malas takde masa nak update. Lagi pun rasanya takde apa yang menarik nak cerita.

Hari Ahad aku lari maraton Jembatan Pulau Pinang. Aku rasa persediaan untuk event ni memang agak bersungguh-sunggh jugak la. Gila apa tak bersungguh kalo dah sampai training memalam buta, sebelum subuh, tengah panas, bulan posa, hari raya.. Orang kat tempat aku ni pun agaknya dah boleh cam dah kot aku ngan bini, the looney couple.. heheh..

Target aku untuk PBIM 2010 ada 3. A: sub-4:00, B: sub 4:30, C: sub-5:00. There, aku dah bagitau dah. All my previous race results points that I can achieve sasaran A tu, provided that I did proper training. Dan waktu training pun kebanyakannya, >90%, aku buleh buat ikut pace dan jadual yang telah diset. Yang tak dapat ikut sebab life got in the way atau pun mungkin masa tu hari bodoh aku.

Tapi apa boleh buat, aku cuma mampu merancang, Allah yang menentukan.

Untuk dapat maraton sub-4, strategi aku cuma perlu maintain average 9:05/mile pace all the way, no time-banking, with gels every 6 miles. And that's exactly what I did, up to mile 17, kemudian semua neraka pecah keluar..

Mile 1-7: semuanya berjalan lancar. berjaya kontrol tak start laju sangat, lari ikut pace seniri, tanak lumba ngan sesapa pun, cuma lumba ngan diri seniri je. Macam biasa, sampai je kat tempat volunteer, aku ucap terima kasih.

Mile  8-16: dapat kejar pacer untuk 4:00 kat awal mile 8 tu. kira ok la tu, on target la kununnya. Pastu cadangnya nak maintain je la ngan pacer tu. tapi aku perasan kan, geng pacer 4:00 ni (yang lain aku tak tau), diorang suka surge, pastu slow sebab nak minum, pastu surge balik untuk build time cushion kot, pastu slow lagi. Laju, pelan, laju, pelan. Pacer guys, even pacing laa.. kesian kat orang yang ngikut korang tu. Masa ni moral masih tinggi lagi. Lepas U turn kat tol pun masih steady. Hollered at bini at the other side of the bridge around the 13 mile point. Tengok dia lari pun steady je, kira ok jugak tu. Pastu merge ngan geng 21k, busy la sket. Tambah pulak tengah naik bukit kat tengah jambatan tu, pace terpaksa la dislow kan, tapi aku dah expect dah.. no big deal la. Angin sejuk sudah datang membelai, aku dengan peluh-peluhnya, lagi la tambah sejuk. Rintik hujan pun dah mula terasa. Bajet ujan la kejap lagi.

Mile 17: And then it rained, HARD. Struggled to keep pace. Pastu ada aura nak kejang perut ngan peha. Rasanya buleh shake it off bila turun jambatan nanti. And I was wrong.

Mile 18-26.2: Turun je jambatan masuk highway Jelutong, itu kejang perut sudah mari. tapi takleh lawan aku punya kejang kaki. Frustrating gila! Cemana nak cakap ye? I didn't bank time. Aku tak penat, tak mengah, tak semput. Tapi cuba la sedaya upaya pun, tak buleh jugak nak lari setapak pun tanpa otot peha tu mengancam untuk tarik betis sampai tersimpul buku sila. Maka bermula la death march aku sampai ke habis. Aku jalan kejap untuk ilangkan cramp. Lepas 1-2 minit jalan, aku try lari balik. Tapi setiap kali aku lari, paling jauh pun setengah batu je, mostly lagi pendek dari tu. Itu cramp just wouldn't let go. Pace jangan cerita le. Bila berlari 13 min/mile, bila berjalan 20 min/mile! Air pun dah tak lalu minum, pisang pun tak lalu makan dah. Itu la dia ceritanya sampai ke habis. Lebih banyak masa berjalan dari berlari. Bila lari je cramp tu menyerang dari peha turun ke betis sampai la ke jari kaki. Buleh berjalan-jalan pulak cramp ni ekk?

Masa berjalan ala zombie tu perasan la a few fast guys yang aku perasan selalu buat sub-4 (ada yang sub 3:40) pun berjalan gak. Makna kata bukan aku sorang je la yang kena geget ngan zombie ni.. Sesungguhnya aku memahami perasaan diorang. TENSEN SIOT!

Ingatkan dari bulatan Queensbay tu sampai ke tamat buleh lari, tapi tetap kantoi. Berjalan kejap. Nak habis sub-4:45 jugak. So dari traffic light ke garisan penamat aku belasah struggle lari.. Kalo terpaksa merangkak macam dalam video ironman tu pun gasak la.

Dan aku berjaya habiskan dalam masa 4:40:35 (chip time). Habis je suda ada datang aura mau pitam. Aku terus carik railing barrier nak support badan. Ada sorang budak St John tanya "Encik ok ke?". Aku tak sempat nak jawab terus dia letak aku kat atas kerusi roda pastu sorong aku pegi medical tent.

Sampai kat medical tent aku kejang lagi. Geng medical kat situ baringkan aku kat atas stretcher, tanggalkan kasut pastu letak la ais kat kaki. Sebenarnya aku takleh nak pikir clearly masa tu. Diorang tanya sakit kat mana pun aku kena pikir dulu baru buleh jawab. Ais punya ais, aku pun kata dah ok kot dan mintak nak kuar. Diorang tolong aku berdiri dan aku pun ngan pening lalatnya pegi tunggu bini kat finishing line. Pastu decide nak gi amik medal dulu sebelum aku terpengsan kat situ. At least dah amik medal dah. Kalo pengsan dulu kang, medal abih plak.. hahaha..

Lepas amik medal je baru nampak la bini aku dah beratur kat situ nak amik medal gak. Ok la tu, aku pun dah ada aura nak muntah gak. Berapa banyak aura daa.. Aku pun dah start wheezing dah masa tu. Kitorang duduk kejap. Pastu bila dah buleh bernafas macam biasa dan paksa diri minum milo, pegi tengok khemah makanan. Serius cakap, aku apa benda pun dah tak lalu dah masa tu, nak muntah punya pasal. Kaki pun dok kejang lagi, tapi perut dah tak kejang sangat. Ingat nak balik umah terlentang je.

Sampai je umah, memang terus baring. Dapat gak lelap dalam sejam. Dannn.. aku muntah. 2-3 kali.

Looking back, aku sebenarnya dehydrated gila-gila punya waktu race tu. The signs were all there. Chills, cramps, disorientation, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, super dark urine, among others. Bini aku kata mata aku sunken gila, pastu ada black rings macam panda bila aku bangun tido tu. Dia cuak gila. Taim dinner aku paksa diri makan extra, walaupun tak berapa lalu. Bila aku timbang badan lepas dinner, aku hilang 4 KILO dari berat pre-race! Itu timbang lepas aku dinner tu.. Kalo timbang immediately lepas race mau lagi parah. Hambik, kalo tak gila lagi tu tak tau la. Alhamdulillah tak jadi apa-apa yang lebih teruk.

Lebih kurang macam ni la rupanya. I kill you!

The day after the run (Isnin), other than lenguh kaki macam lepas long run, surprisingly I felt fine. No aches, no problems going up and down the stairs, no nausea, appetite back to normal.

Apa yang aku belajar? Salah aku la beb. Weather and terrain is definitely out of my control. But for the things that are within my jurisdiction, aku rasa ada tiga benda yang menyebabkan aku tidak mencapai A target:

• Dehydration. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb mistake. 
• Tak biasakan diri ngan gels, thus causing GI distress. Masa training aku guna 100+ ngan roti krim jagung je untuk long run.
• Long runs yang too slow for me (negligible factor. ni tak kesah, bini punya pasal. really glad to help her blast her target).

Feel free to learn from my mistakes. Hope you guys achieve whatever your goals are. Nothing substitutes real, consistent training. But watch out for injuries.

Hiatus perhaps?

-wan won-

PBIM 2010- Blood, Tears and Joy ( macam bagus je)

Hi kids..
My legs hurt and I think I'll develop a couple of black toes but otherwise I'm super.
I had a great morning running in Penang and I love almost every moment of it.
I have to get this written down ASAP because I'll be a wee bit busy this week and the longer I put it off, I might end up not writing this at all..heh heh.

Macam biasa le ekk? Point form is fine kan?

Pre Race

• We spent most of the time trying to get some sleep in the car. I got 1 hour. Hub got none.
• Went to the starting line at about 15 minutes before gun off. Chatted a bit with Ijam. Couldn't locate KakJune and the gang,
• Starting was quite slow as there is an increase of full marathon participants ( >1000) this year. Had to pujuk myself not to weave in and out to conserve energy. Cheyy. 

 Totally misjudged the bib. I thought it would be lunyai at the end of the whole 42K but it survived even the heavy downpour

 Mile 1-10

• I always have problems with stiffness of my left leg in the beginning of runs. This went on for like 4 miles and almost felt painful but luckily it went away.
• Saw Pui San and said hi. She was running with Mo Maniac and some other friend I don't know.
• When we got on the bridge, I was hoping it would be windy like last year but it was freaking hot, man. And it was worser on the first incline. That stretch seem to go on forever. Got my first gel out, my first experience with the apple flavoured kind. Tasted like medicine-yuck. Telan je la.
• At the middle of the bridge we went downhill. At first I soared down, but after a bit my legs got tired and I couldn't wait for the route to get flat again.
• To get me through to the first end of the bridge, I paced with this crazy guy wearing a baju melayu. Didn't get to catch his face though as he was in front of me all along. But we managed to exchange some remarks. He commented my red shoes and I commented his attire. Funny guy even farted and hooted about it. But I lost him at the turn around. 

Mile 11-15

• While running back on the bridge after the toll area, I saw a distance marker stating that it was already 20.3 K and I glanced at my watch and saw my timing was 2:03. Aik, biar betul. Laju la pulak. Just as I was about to go to perasan mode, I noticed Lillac showed that it was only just 11 something miles which is about  only 18 K.. Cis, penipu punya marker.
• I commented to a Sabahan girl that it's unusually hot that morning and that it's supposed to be cool and windy on the bridge. Me and my big fat mouth. Right after the 13th mile, it started to rain- HARD. It pelted heavily on my face and I was like, " Ouch, ouch, ouch" but shut up when people around me looked weirdly at me. 
• Only after a few seconds, I was drenched inside out. My whole attire felt heavy, my shoes were like blocks and I couldn't see a thing in front of me. Plus the wind was blowing hard against us runners. And the fact that at exactly that time, the FM route merged with the HM route didn't help either. 
• I trudged ahead with poor vision, but then suddenly I saw pacer balloon floating in front of me so I followed the balloon to get through the crowd. But that wasn't long because it was a 4.5 pacer baloon. Tak larat aku nak ikut all the way.

Mile 16-20 

• Turun je jambatan, I naively thought that the worse was over. I hastened my pace because seriously I thought the turning point would be at Tesco. Boy was I wrong.
• I've written down some posts ago that PBIM is a flat route kan? Well, I take that back. We had to go through 3 flyovers before the turning point tau. And we had to go over the same flyovers on our way back.With fatigued legs!.
• Saw hub as he was running the opposite direction. " Jauh lagi ke turning point?" I shouted from across the road. " Jauuuhhhh lagi". I thought he was kidding. Argh.
• Saw Kak June from across the street and managed to croak a hi. I planned to singgah at her kedai runcit on the way back but mysteriously, on the way back, I couldn't see her or her car. Pelik kan? And she SMSed me afterwards and told me she was there all along and missed me on my turning point jugak. Aik?

 Mile 20-26.2 

• On the turning point, I pujuk-ed myself, " Okay, only 6 miles to go ". It's so easy thinking in miles cause 6 miles seems so much less intimidating than saying " 10 K to go".
• I ran almost all the way from here with this boy from Ipoh. He told his friends I was his motivator. I kept him as a pacer. But it was nice to have someone to talk to , to get the miles go by.
• Sedor tak sedor, we only got 4 miles to go. I told Ipoh Boy, " Ok, 4 je lagi", kunun I was encouraging him la padehal tengah psaiko diri. At this time, I had to practically pujuk myself not to walk.
• Wei, the last 3 miles seem to go on forever. Tambah bila bertembung the 10K runners. Some were inconsiderate enough to go into our lane and made  us stop abruptly a few times to avoid a crash. Hey, I was tired, I got crancky, so I shouted " Tepi la!" at a few boys. Heh heh.
•  Ipoh Boy made a sudden surge at the last 1 K. Siot je. Haha. Tetiba je ada power to give a final kick.
• Last 1 K was pure torture, I was like " Where the hell is the finishing line?!". My tudung all kelepet from the rain, my attire drenched and I didn't care to smile or pose to any photographers because I know I look like a nightmare. 
• Finally crossed the finishing line at 4:51:52. Ni ikut Lillac la. Alhamdulillah.

Post-Race

• Spotted hub at the medal tent. Told me he had severe stomach and leg cramps and had to alternate walking and running right after the 18th mile. But against all odds, he was still able to complete his marathon in 4:40. So proud of him. He'll tell his side of the story afterwards in this blog. Tengok tahap kerajinan, katanya.
• I learned something new today. I never knew that rib muscles could get cramps. I coughed out loud to clear my chest and suddenly I felt cramps in my ribs and the pain was excruciating. 
• We lepaked and ate the post run meal in the car as it was still raining and our feet were still wobbly.
• Met Shahnaz. Cute gal. She's what I'll call a pocket rocket woman, so small but so fast.  
• Mom called to inform that the kids are having a tantrum so we had to head back early so tak sempat jugak meet the rest of RBUs and FMV. Next time , Gadget, next time. 

 The parking lot sudah macam bendang daa

 The jam to the ferry terminal.

 The medal. I wish it had a nicer color.

The finisher's tee. Kuning pun kuning la.

Damage done.

If you think this looks bad, try smelling it.

So all in all, PBIM 2010 was still a great race despite the weather. I had loads of fun but if you ask me, I don't feel like doing another marathon in a long time.Or is that the muscle soreness talking?
I'd like to thank hub/coach who endlessly encouraged me to train even on days I felt too tired for any letihan and to my parents for willingly taking care of the kids on my LSD days even though they don't get our craze for long distance running.

Congrats Ijam ,Yim  and others ( sape-sape saje la) for their sub 5 or any other personal achievements and thanks Zaki for cheering me on ( 2 times!) and bringing up my spirits while I was feeling a bit crummy at the time. You had no idea kan?
You guys exude awesomeness!

Sekianlah.

dag dig dug

Okay, on Monday I said I was less jittery.
Well, I'd like to take that back.
I'm a nervous wreck and it's getting worser in increments.
Like yesterday morning when I was dropping off the kids to school, suddenly I felt my heart fluttering. And I wondered, " Kenapa ye? kenapa ye?"
Then, I remembered the marathon. Then the flutters became palpitations and I had the sudden urge to go to the toilet ( okay, too much information).
I'm scared. But at the same time I'm excited.
Eh. macam nak kawin pulak.
Heh heh.

Good luck runners of PBIM. Let's all torture ourselves and wonder what we were thinking when we signed up together.
See you then.

T-6 days?

I can finally heave a sigh of relief. My on call week is over! No more antsy-ness when my phone rings. No more hanging on to my phone like my life depends on it.

Luckily, on call week has been kind. I only got 4 calls all week and none of them were really that gory. The only case that came with an exclamation mark was a 20 year old girl who woke up Saturday morning ,yawned a bit too wide, dislocated her jaws and couldn't get her mouth shut. Sure, it may sound funny, but I heard it hurts like hell. The poor girl had tears in her eyes when I reduced  the dislocation by pushing the joint back into the socket.
But then on Saturday, I had to spend almost 3 hours in the hospital discharging patients from the ward. I swear, paperwork here takes more time than seeing the actual patients.
Wait a minute, some readers might think. I thought she's a dentist.

Yeah, tell me about it.

Anyway, I'm happily tapering. Dengan jayanya tak lari for 2 days due to my chesty cough. I was hoping I could run today, even on the thrill mill, but I guess I better take care if myself these few days. I hope I get better come Sunday.
Did I forget to mention that my brother is getting engaged too? And it's on Saturday, the day before PBIM? He's 25 and he's getting engaged. Sigh. My baby brother is tying the knot ( well, almost). And although I think he's still young the take the plunge ( nevermind the fact that I got married at the age of 23), I'm still happy for him.
And thank God, his to-be-fiancé's house is only 45 minutes away and the majlis will be held just before Zuhur. Sempat-sempat je lepas tu ke Penang. Fuh! Nevertheless, I predict it'll be a super busy day. Heck, this week will be a super busy week what's with hari raya and all.

And I hate to admit it but I'm less jittery now compared to my first marathon.
But it's just Monday. Too early to tell. Don't jinx yourself.
Just shut your gob, Julin.

Crappy Run

I can simply describe this morning's LSD in one word : Ugh.
But that wouldn't be much of an entry kan?
It's not even a proper word.

Anyway, this morning I planned to run a simple no stress 14 miler. After last week's 20 miles, this one seems like a breather for a change. Or so I thought.
After a pre-run snack of a bun each, we were out the door by 4.30am and the first 8 miles seemed to go okay. Usually, I would munch on a small box of raisins at the 6th mile but after considering the brief Subuh prayer stop at the 8th mile, I chose to eat the raisins then. And because I couldn't find any other powergel flavor except chocolate the day before, I decided to forgo on taking any gel at all. What difference would it make, I thought. Besides I just ate a box of raisins. I should be alright.
Big mistake.

Right on the 11th mile, I suddenly felt my energy level plummeting down. My pace deteriorated, my legs fatigued and I got frustrated. On the 12th mile, I was practically dragging my feet. " Pick them up! Pick them up!" I half shouted in the darkness, which startled my husband a bit.
And because I couldn't run like I wanted to, I began to get snappy.

"Maybe we should cut the mileage" husband suggested.
" No!" I snapped.
"Maybe we should change to course to cut the monotony?"
" No!" I snapped
"" It's okay if we go slower"
" No!" I snapped.
Cough, cough
" No !" I snapped.
Breathe, breathe.
" No!" I snapped.

Thankfully he was patient with me. And accompanied me home until my 14th mile ( in which he turned back to complete his 16 miler). My legs felt like logs at the end of the run. I couldn't even stand straight. It wasn't because I was winded, it was more like I was tired to the core. But when I got myself some cold sarsaparilla, I felt almost 70% better. And wouldn't you know it, not even by noon, all the fatigueness was gone. Hub even joked and called me Wolverine. Kuikui..

So lesson learnt. Jangan belagak. Fuel up. I need sugar in my runs.
And oh,
Train your race, but don't race your trains.

Borak-borak lunch time

Hai,
Bes gile semalam kena bambu ngan Big Boss Negeri. Bukan apa, ada kesalahan sikit la kat jadual junior officers ( macam housemanship la) kat sini so aku point it out la kat dia sebab kalau tak buat camtu. benda ni akan balik menyusahkan keje aku jugak.

" Dr, sorry nak tegur tapi jadual ni salah"

Tup-tup dia tetiba defensive. Aku naik heran jugak la. La, tolong bagitau benda alah tu salah pun nak marah ke? Aku pun bagitau la kat District boss aku. Dia kata , " Laa..yang hang kata dia salah tu buat apa. Hang tau dak jadual tu dia yang buat"
Mana la aku nak tau. Setau aku, benda-benda mangatur jadual ni PA dia ke, kerani dia ke or orang kanan dia buat. Ni mesti kes pulun nak buat micromanagement.
Satu lagi, kalau salah tak boleh nak point out ke? Orang besar immune kepada kesalahan ke? Ego? Perangai orang tua?
Ntahlah.
Saya yang menurut perintah.

Anyway, ahad lepas aku buat la LSD peak aku. Semua orait walaupun slow. Tapi okla mandangkan aku survive on air, 1 peket powergel dan satu kotak kismis. Lepas ni, it's all downhill, bebeh. ( dalam mileage la). Minggu depan  taim taper ( ke tapir) pun aku oncall kat hospital, so ok la tu. Kalau kenal mana-mana orang di Taiping ni, tolong pesan ye sila pandu kereta elok2, naik moto pakai helmet, kurung anak-anak yang ala-ala rempit tu dalam rumah minggu depan. Kata aku yang suruh.

Oh ye, masa aku buat LSD hari tu, pacer baru aku, Si Lillac tu buat hal pulak dah. Lillac ni korang kenal dah kot sbb aku dah perkenalkan kat korang taim race report Tanjung 10K lepas. Anyway, aku perasan Lillac ni dok bunyik 'beep' kat tempat yang aku comfirm tak sampai lagi 1 mile. Pastu bila banding ngan Garmin laki aku, macam lebih laju lak pace dia. Mula-mula aku konfiden Garmin laki aku yang salah. Sungguh-sungguh cakap, benda alah tu abis bateri la, season la. Check balik, rupa-rupanya memang salah Lillac ku. Memang nak kena calibrate la ni. Hadui.
Duhai Lillac, hang memang la macam tuan hang. Nak lari laju pada masa lebih singkat pada mileage yang lebih pendek. Pendek kata, sama-sama perasan.

Padan muka aku.

Takde keje

For the first time in months..MONTHS, I'm not busy today.
I gape around my table, trying to find things to do ( other than my appointments) but I can't find any.
My to do list items are all scratched. And I'm writing this from the office. Gasp!

My LSD last Sunday went okay. ( tu dia, cerita basi lagi). Went running with hub as I can't fathom running alone at 4 in the morning. Yep, we ran at 4 am to beat the heat. It's so freaking humid nowadays that running at 8 am would be unheard of ( to me la). And it's funny when I found out it rained everywhere else in Malaysia that morning except Taiping. Imagine that! Boleh masuk X-Files ni.

And after our LSD, I was craving for a waffle at some fast food joint. So we ordered one with a root beer float. So the cashier person punched the order immediately without asking much.


Hub: Make that a one scoop ice cream float.
Cashier person: But I already punched the two scoop one.
Hub: We didn't say we wanted the two scoop order.
Cashier person: Well, I already punched it in. I can't undo it.
Hub: Why?
Cashier person: Because it's been punched in. I can't unpunch it out ( talks as if that's the most ridiculous suggestion in the world)

Huh?
I guess a normal sucker would shrug and be okay with that, you know to avoid confrontation. But we called for the manager instead.
And he changed the order in 2 seconds.
Ha, boleh pun.

Argh. Weird kan? Benda senang nak disusahkan.

Ok. Abis cerita. Let's enjoy the takde keje mode for today. Because this won't last forever ie tommorow busy mode is more likely to be back on.
Tata.

Rave Run

I've posted about my old running route, last year I think. We still run there, when we balik kampung some weekends. But now we prefer our new route near our residence.
Yes, of course we have to run in loops to complete the mileage but we like the familiarity of it. Besides, people there are getting used to two crazies running round and round the neighborhood And we noticed that there are more and more people (as in two or three)around the taman are taking up running occasionally. Ke kami yang perasan? Hehe,
Oh well. Some running is better than no running at all.

Last Saturday morning, I went for my LSD and got a few pictures. Please be reminded that I suck at photography.

It's 6.45 am and it's not even dark. I love the hills.

This, I call the Orang Kaya Road because most houses here are huge. See? Hardly any cars on a Saturday.

This road gives me 1.5 miles. It got inclines, downhills and a mini bridge. But it's kinda creepy sometimes because there's a couple of abandoned houses and there's this tree with bras hanging from one of its branches and that really freaked me out but now the bras are gone ( I guess the Majlis Bandaran people took care of it)

I love this road. It goes downhill and I always feel like I'm flying here for a couple of seconds. It leads to a mosque and the abandoned airport - my turning point. Okay, I deliberately took pics without passing cars because people tend to honk naughtily and pose if I aim my camera to their cars. Bengong.

On the 1.5 mile road again. It's now 8.30 am but scorching hot like it's noon. And naturally, for the 11,000th time, I forgot to wear my sunscreen. Sigh. 

Hub took this pic. He surprised me waiting by the side of the road with the kids handing me a cold 100 plus on my last 4 miles. 100 plus never tasted better. Here's the mosque/turning point.

I experimented running on this abandoned air field. It's really huge.A few years ago, some mat salleh made a crash landing here and died with his legs torn apart ( gory!). But the ATM and Fire Dept people uses this air field 2-3 times a year to practice parachuting. It's really cool to see raining men. And at that time of the year, it's like a freaking air show here.

The trail route on the abandoned air field. On most days, people use this field to play kite, exercise, play remote control planes or just go walk and lay down in the middle of the field for nothing. See, somebody is sending me a smoke signal beyond the hills.

That's it. My LSD done before our carbo loading session at a family gathering for the rest of the weekend afterwards. Precious.

So there you have it, part of my running route. Not exactly scenic scenic but not an eyesore either. To me it's an A. But doesn't receive an A plus because people here don't refrain themselves from open burning and it sucks inhaling black smoke while you run

On another note, I read in the latest issue of RW that Deena Castor's definition of hitting the wall is 7 minute/ mile. That's the wall for you??
All I can say is : Otak hang aih. Aku kena kejaq anjing pun belum tentu dapat 7 minute/mile. Puiii..

terms and conditions apply

I have come to terms that at times like these , when we have to take turns taking care of the kids, I have to run alone. Even if it's 12 miles or 14 miles or 16 miles.

I have come to terms that, although I know there are some people cheering for me, more people are making fun of what I do, plodding almost everyday in the scorching sun.

I have come to terms that, some mothers are looking down upon me, saying that I don't spend enough time with my kids, even if my weekday runs seldom exceed 1 hour. I think it is better that I do this, rather than let my brood off out in the neighborhood, being mini mat rempits and only come home when " they feel hungry' while I'm watching La Usurpadora or whatever crap soap opera that's the in thing right now.

I have come to terms that the sun, the heat and the rain aren't barriers but rather the natural elements of my runs. If people tease, " How the heck are you going to run in a weather like this?", I'll reply, " Just put one foot in front of the other. Rinse and repeat."

I have come to terms that, teenagers will laugh as I run by but then, teenagers will laugh at anything. They will probably laugh at a blade of grass. For nothing.

I have come to terms that sometimes, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have to tweak my running routine. Like today, the office meeting ended late and my parents announced that they are coming over so automatically I have to cancel tomorrow as my rest day, fasting or not.

I have come to terms that, there will always be somebody faster than me, even though they seem like they're slacking off. I'm okay with that. I'm running for me.

I have come to terms that, in races, people will always want to take over me because apparently , it's too embarrassing to lose to a tudung lady. It's okay, I'll take that as a compliment somehow.

I have come to terms that, even though my heart wants to race so bad, and postings of races here and there are tempting, I have to back off to concentrate on my mileage buildup. Ye, saya memang nerd.

I have come to terms that, on most days, I'll be so busy with work, family and my runs that I'll take 2-3 days to get this thing written and finally post it.

So there you have it. Amidst all the race reports, here's my breather entry. heh heh.

One Long Entry

The finishing line was just 100 metres ahead. I could see Hubs waiting for me at our car parked by the roadside. I thought I caught a glimpse of his brother Din, sitting on a metal bar behind the car, wearing his gray post run shirt grinning. Hubs  joined me in my last attempt of a sprint, encouraging me to push a little more.
I crossed the line happy.
Then I said, " Where's Din?"

Where was Din?
I told Hubs that I thought I saw him towards the end. Nope, Hubs was doubtful. How could he change in his post run attire when the car keys was with me all along.
So we waited.
Maybe he was so fast, he got a bad case of runner's high and forgot that he was supposed to meet us at the car.
But he's a sensible guy, he won't do that.
And we waited.
maybe he got cramps and decided to walk the whole way.
And we waited.
But even after the oldest uncles, veteran of veterans came shuffling by, even after they took down the Start/ Finish banner, even after they stopped giving away medals, we couldn't find Din.

We went to the officials.
Excuse me, I can't seem to find my brother.
I suddenly realized my voice was one octave too high.
My mind suddenly flashed to that poor boy missing during last year's run in Shah Alam.
Our brother is missing.

Oh, yes. Him. He was sent to the hospital.
What? Why? When?
He was running. They sent him on an ambulance. He's not warded or anything. Just an outpatient, I think. He's there at the hospital.
And then they talked to each other about something else.

We ran to the hospital. It was that close. Not even a kilometer away. The race was over but there we were still running. We went to the A&E.
Is our brother here?
Yup. He ran a marathon, and then there was an accident. He was jogging.
What? Who ran over him ? Is he hurt?
Ah, wait ah. I'll go check.He's in the Yellow Zone.
We looked around the ER. Every room was yellow.

Dr Geetha attended us. After I identified myself as a Dr. She produced all the medical jargon mumbo jumbo about syncope, ST levels, ECG, arrhythmias,dopamine,MIs while I was trying to remember all this from my 3rd year Medical class in Dental School.
Anyway, his BP level was really low but now it's getting better. I'm doing some tests to rule out MI since he's a young, fit fellow. I suggest a full cardiac assessment after he's a bit better. 
We took up everything in exclamation marks.

A hour later, we were called in again. Din hollered out to us, grinning as always.
What happened?
I blacked out. Then, I'm on the ambulance, then I'm in the ER. It's like in TV. The whole fuss is real. I got wires all around me. And they won't let me take pictures.
I ran hard, they didn't have markers. I thought every bend was the last bend. Then I saw a minah salleh with a stroller running past me. Then a few minutes after that, all I saw was black.

But he was okay after that. We even got him discharged. It was a case of dehydration and overexertion. He ran a 10K PR of 45 minutes back in UK a few months back and planned to repeat the feat here. Without proper training. Especially in this weather.

The things that baffled us were :

1. The organizers didn't provide medical assistance along the way. No St John or PBSM. Thank God, Din fainted near a hospital. In the middle of a race. In front of policemen. What if he was unlucky like the boy in Shah Alam. Who was dehydrated post race , and in his disorientated state, wandered to a secluded spot and fainted and nobody found him and he died.
2. They didn't accompany him to the hospital. They left him with the hospital staff. They didn't make any announcement. 
3. No water station along the way. Yes, it was an RM10 race but not all runners are capable of going the whole 10K without water. 

And the take home note from this would probably be :

1. Organizers need more organizing. Please, please be more careful in future races.
2. You can't cheat  running. You need proper training. Don't ever jump head first. Even if we feel we can. Latihan is letihan but the letihan makes it work.

Din, I know you're reading this. Like I said, it's not the end. Do more cardio. Do more on road training runs. Get that cardiac assessment done once you're back home. Just in case.

You'll do fine.
One day, we'll race again. And you'll be so fast, you'll get your runner's high and forget about meeting us by the car. But just for a moment.
Because after that I'll see you, waiting for us, grinning as always.

Tanjung 10K - The Huh? race.

After 2 months of not racing, this was our first race post ramadhan and raya and our last before PBIM. Just a simple 10K.
Or so I thought.

• Race kit collection was such a breeze. I love small races.
• It was also our first race with my brother in law, Din. And his first race in Malaysia. Previously he used to participate in races in UK.
• Din innocently asked whether they'd have water stations and I replied ," It's a 10K race, they'd probably have two." Boy, was I wrong. They had none.
• And no St John's either, because I could see none, and because none attended to Din when he collapsed ( But that's another entry, I promise),He collapsed just in front of Penang's General Hospital, Thank God.
• I ran, noticing the same people in races in the Nothern States. There was ' Uncle tak pakai baju', 'BM Leopard Runner who had cramps in Taiping Run', our friend Bakri, and a few dozen familiar faces we've seen more than once.
• Hubs zoomed ahead for a PB. I thought I zoomed too, but I guess I didn't zoom enough.
• Overall course was in Penang City itself, us weaving in and out from this road to that,inhaling carbon monoxide along the way from passing cars who don't give a f about us runners. But we had a long incline of almost 1 mile, which slowed most of us down.
• Slowed most of us down except this one lady mat salleh runner running with a baby stroller who whizzed past the rest of us up the hill and made us feel like burying our heads in the dirt.
• Ontahlah, rasa cam winded sket in this race. Probably due to lack of training outside ( just started two weeks ago) and lack of racing? Or maybe because I wasn't wearing my gray pants? Nununununu ( lagu twilight zone)
• So I achieved PB in an official 10K race. 61 minutes. It was actually 10.2 K

• But I've recorded better 10K time in a 15K race and a half marathon. But who cares. A PB is a PB is a PB. Bukannya menang pon. Kuang kuang.
• Hubs got his PB : 49 minutes. Here's a proof running slowly everyday helps.
• Din got his first experience in the ER but like I said, I'll save that for later and let him rest.
• When I got home, my daughter played with my medal and somehow 'lost' the darn thing. I'm still searching for it in the TV room.
•  Haish, ni mula la doubt berbunga-bunga untuk timing marathon PBIM nih.
• Pastu, kenapa bullet ni lari ke tengah pulak dah.

Isk.

 Exhibit A : Di depan Kolej Pergigian Penang. My legs look freakishly kurus like alien one and pose like Ultraman taro. Spelled p.o.y.o.

Exhibit B : Err..none sebab camera kaput lepas tu. 

Sekianlah.

• 
  

Get your barf buckets out.

When I went out running today, waddling my way, sweating like anything and panting like a rabid dog, a young driver in a flashy sporty spanking new Mercedes flashed me his lights and gave me a thumbs up.

And for a millisecond there, I felt like I was Kara Goucher.
I really did.

Okay, you can puke now.

Note: What's with the short entries? I'm still on call and my next race is this weekend. You'll have a race report and gory on call stories by next week. Till then, I'm still shutting up.

Bardebi

Yesterday's LSD was fun.We balik-ed kampung and used our kampung route. All was well except for the dead wild boar lying on the side of the road en route.

And oh, while we ran on the opposite side of the road ( of where the boar was sprawled) , we almost got ran over by this driver in a BMW who took an overestimated swerve to avoid the pig.

Huh. Sanggup langgar orang dari langgar babi. Ye la, kalau langgar orang  tak payah susah-susah nak samak kereta.
Haduuu..

I'm on call this weekend and so far everything is ok. But I don't want to comment much because I'm afraid it'll jinx me so I'll shut up now.

Free finally

Today in the menu was supposed to be an easy 3 miler.
Easy? Not quite considering what I had to go through at work today. Y'see, my department was scheduled for an audit from SIRIM today, with the auditor coming straight from Shah Alam.
And as a neurotic key player, I was bracing myself for the worst.
Thankfully, they found nothing major, just some glitches here and there that are correctable.
And after 2 months of patching things up and worrying my ass off, I can finally heave a heavy sigh of relief.
Glad to cross that one off the agenda finally.

Unfortunately, the closing meeting ended late and I had 10 minutes to do my Asar then hit the tarmac at 6.30 pm. It was dark post rain and twilight was creeping in but I ran anyway. Halfway, my left leg felt heavy and then it drizzled. By this time I was getting harassed by senja weirdos left and right.
That wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was on the last stretch of my run, I saw one of my neighbors releasing his dogs from his gate. Okay, I have no qualms about people having dogs as pets. Dogs are cute, yes but please, for goodness sake, don't have  dogs if you're too lazy to take them out for a proper walk. I mean, this guy lets his dogs loose and they roam freely in the residential area like they run the place. Sure, most of the time the dogs hardly bark. They're comparatively well behaved dogs behind the gate but well, accidents can happen kan?

So anyway, I was running and I noticed these two huge dogs running towards me. I know they weren't charging at me, and they did turn into another lane but it freaked me out to think that I may have to practice the Ape Effect so near to my house. Jiran-jiran mesti blacklist. Hehe
So I ran faster and faster towards my home, praying all that while the dogs won't catch up with me.

When I got safely home and checked my Garmin, it told me I did the last stretch  with a 7.09 min/mile pace.
What's cool was I did that minus the conscious effort without even wheezing, gasping for air (much),collapsing and dying (not necessarily in that order)
Now if I can only maintain that as my race pace.
Sigh. A girl can only dream.

Oh, and to the people of my taman who are reading this ( probably not), for Pete's sake, I'm RUNNING not jogging. Consider this your first final warning.
Huh.

Bananas

Hi kids! For today's lesson, I will introduce you to the action-reaction theory of The Ape Effect.

Okay, so imagine yourself in a zoo. You'll most likely see a bunch of kids gawking in front of the ape cage, hooting and making weird noises to attract the poor creature's attention. They will continue doing so until suddenly , the ape roars. This is the action. The reaction that follow will probably be : the kids will stop, giggle nervously then slowly disperse. This, is the Ape Effect.

Hail fellow runners, we can apply this theory in our daily runs.
A runner, while running in his/her running route will most probably get the occasional rude or smart alec crack from uninvited roadside spectators. What one should do is, one should make weird noises ( such as a caw or a bleat) or better yet, make a 'back-atcha' wisecrack, confidently to the spectators while maintaining direct eye contact. The usual reaction from these people to this would probably be : stop, nervous giggle then look/walk away. Thus, The Ape Effect.

I have tested this many times and can give my sound testimony that it works. Sure they'll think you're weird but at least they'll stop bothering you.

Anyyywayyy...I've entered my 10 week training period this week. And let me tell ya, after a month of running on the thrillmill, I've lost sight on how hard it is running on road. On the machine, I could do 10 minute/mile for 5-6 miles easy. But on the road, nak maintain 11 min/mile pun macam apa ntah. I was wheezing like anything, and coming across a slithering snake on the road doesn't help either.  I hope I can improve in time for my next 10K race in 2 weeks time. As usual, my hub manager says, " Boleh, boleh" while eyeing me as I munch on raya cookies. But I guess, if he's confident with me, then I should believe in myself too eh?

Oh and on the 4th day of raya, manager and I went out running and it rained halfway but we ran anyway. When we got back to my parents place ( we ran at our kampung route), my mom shook her head dissapprovingly, " You ran in the rain?"

Well, sure beats walking in the rain.

Berdialog

Pelik betul. Masa mula Ramadhan, berkobar aku nak treneng.
Badan tak larat sekalipun, aku bantai jugak paling koman 2 mile. Walaupun laki manager aku kata tu junk miles je
Tapi sejak aku demam hari tu, tetiba jadik malas pulak nak panjat thrillmill tu.
Rasanya sejak recover ada la sekali aku lari atas benda alah tu.
Pastu, hampeh.
Malam ni plannya nak lari. Kunun tercabar ngan manager yg dalam itinerary nya malam ni 10 miles. Malangnya aku mendevise plan dalam kepala otak geligaku ini untuk mengemas rumah untuk mengelakkan lari.
Kemas sini sikit, sapu itu sikit, lap ini sikit, sedor2 dah pukul 10 malam. Bed time! ( kununnya).
Tapi sekarang dah pukul 10.20pm dan secara magisnya aku dok depan komputer tengah type entri nih yang ntah pape.
Anyway, aku tetibe cuak sebab full marathon ku lagi 10 minggu. Macam tak cukup masa je nak treneng. Manager aku cakap, " Cukup, cukup" ngan sinar mata yang tak berapa konfiden dengan target time aku. Boleh ke ni? 10 minggu beb. Tu tak kira 2 minggu aku kena oncall. Adoi.

Aku teringat time aku abis first marathon dulu. Ada membe tanya, " Eh, ko abih 42K tu dalam masa berapa hari ek?" Hehe. Ada jugak ye soalan begitu.

Anyway, aku sebenarnya tulis ni saje nak ucapkan SELAMAT HARI RAYA.
Sori ek geng kalo apa2 aku tulis mengguris hati korang. Sesungguhnya aku tidak bermaksud begitu .
Lepas raya ni, kita pulun habis-habisan. No more thrillmills, lari luaq je ok ( kecuali hujan)

We can we can we can.

Sick

I have been under the weather for 2 days now. I guess I saw it coming after the 10th time my son sneezed on me.
So yesterday at sahur I swallowed 2 pills hoping that it would get me through the day. Unfortunately by 11 am, the effects wore off and I was left with severe chills despite hub telling me that it was scorching hot outside. Thank God it was a public holiday ( btw, Happy Merdeka everybody!).

But anyway, I suffered. The whole day, I was sort of bedridden. No wonder when they were sick, my children just laid on the couch and and made fun of each other from far, not wanting to move. Otherwise they  are usually up and about bouncing from wall to wall.
I was fatigued. I had a splitting headache and every time anyone mentioned food, I felt nauseated. Plus my temperature was running really high.

But dunno why, despite all that, nauseating as it was, I still decided I wanted to have a burger for iftar because nobody can resist a good burger ( at least not me, anyway). So we went to the nearest McD 5 minutes away, splitting headache and all.
When we got home, hub asked what I wanted to have first ( we ordered a whole lot, puasa la katakan),and all I could think of was two panadols. I gulped down the meds, laid down for a while for the antipyretics to kick in and tried to enjoy my Spicy McDeluxe ( yes, with a gazillion calories, I know).
Enjoy? More like forced fed. I can never recall a time I've ended a meal with , " Thank God that's over!" until then.
Tapi habis jugak.

Anyway, I didn't have enough strength to ignore the sluggishness and go through 2K on the thrillmill to complete the newly targeted mileage of 80 KM for August.
I guess 78K is still good.
( tapikan, kite baca kan, ada orang tu kan, dia buat 90 ish K in a week, puh! Kaki gazelle ke apa?)

Takdela hebat sangat

I have a confession. If I have the time and the kids aren't watching Astro Ceria, I like to watch E!

Don't cringe. It's true.

I watch The Kardashians. My dream run on the thrillmill would be a 50 minute run  at 10 min/mile pace watching Jerseylicious. Unfortunately the tv is upstairs while the thrillmill is downstairs.
Why would I expose my mind to such crap you might ask? Well I find it's the only channel that I can turn off my brain to.
Seriously, once you set your eyes on Giulianna Rancic, you can set your mind on sleep mode and gape away.

Anyway, last few days I caught on The Daily 10 where Sal Masakaela ( or however you spell his name) was interviewing Jillian Michaels of the Biggest Loser.He nonchalantly mentioned that he'll be running in the NY Marathon. " I'd rather die" Jillian replied. When Sal gave her a puzzled look, she told him,
" The two things I fear the most are running a marathon and drowning ". (Or was that childbirth? - see what I mean about switching my brains off)
And I'm like, " Well, I'll be. She's normal after all!"

   

So you're not so tough after all, lady.

And that's about it.
Itu je nak cerita sebenarnya.

Aduhai Ahmad Jauhari

 Just got this in the mail a few days ago. It's the Malakoff Penang 26K Finisher Certificate.

Once again ( sigh), my finishing pic is a mess so you won't get to see it here.

I'm allright with the timing, I'm happy with the ranking but the category?

Ermm.. ( staring blankly at the ceiling)..ah..ooh-kay.

Yang ni lagi kesian. Muka pun tadek.

Ha ha ha hampeh.

Kenapa saya malas update minggu ini

• Writer's block.
• Very busy with work
• No races.
• Not much patients ( so tak banyak ' kejadian menarik hari ini')
• dan saya digeget M-Bug of blogging ( which brings on the question : who first coined the term Mbug? Nik ke)
• today I the very malas-malasan ( I'm blogging from the office despite the high probability of  big boss appearing from nowhere to catch me red handed)
• It's only 10 days of Ramadhan and I'm already craving for kuih raya ( " Saya nak order kuih ini, ini, ini, ini dan itu, oh dan ini juge" what I said to the staff taking kuih raya orders)

Oh, oh, but I only got 12K to go to reach my 50K goal. Should be done by this weekend, InsyaAllah.
So I guess I should change my target mileage for August, huh?

Eh, already on the 13th line? See, malas-malas pun ada entry jugak. Hehe.
Happy weekend!

Ice cream flavoured dreams.

It's been a tough week at work. I'm super busy and I think I need a P.A. In the mornings, I turn on my computer, log in my FB account, don't even read through anyone's updates or messages, then proceed on  writing up reports for either the department, state or Putrajaya. Then I have to shuffle and reshuffle everyone's weekly schedule and try to devise a plan on how to reject some people's cuti raya ( untuk kepentingan jabatan) without them hating me to bits. Everyday, people have to line up to talk to me or give me updates, literally. And I'm like pointing to so and so and say, " Okay, you. Go!" while trying to get some filings done at the same time. On top of all that, I still have my clinical work to attend to.

So you can see why I've been so quiet this week. No blog updates, no comments on other blogs. I've been missing out on some of you guys' entries. Sorry bout that.

And I'm really happy to read ( once I caught up) that some of you are logging on some impressive mileage. Good for you! Can't say the same for myself, though.

Since the 1st of Ramadhan, I've only been running 3 times and that only accumulates to roughly 14K. My justification? Well, I don't run outside during Ramadhan. Where got time, meh? After work, I cook for iftar ( boycotting pasar Ramadhan for 3 years now), then bukak puasa, then after our terawikh at 9 ish pm, I get the house in order, then tuck the kids in at 10 ( with yours truly zonking out also). I try to squeeze in my runs at lunch break time, but I can only get roughly 2 miles.
Tonight I managed to selit-selit 4 miles, starting at 9.30 pm, finishing at roughly 10 ish. The kids were angels while I was on the thrillmill ( psaiko diri jap) for 40 minutes, the boy reading and doing activities on his preschool magazine and the girl drawing little female caricatures she fondly calls Bar-de-bi ( that's Barbie to the rest of us). I was parched on the 2nd mile but dare not stop to take a drink in fear that my kids will think I have finished and whine for this and that. So I sucked it up and got it done. I know I could do more but kesian la budak-budak tu. Oh and where was Papa all this while? He went off doing his 24K outside till 12 am. ( which I don't really mind because I wouldn't want to do the same during Ramadhan)

So after the run, I fed them some late night snack, brushed their teeth, and tucked them in, their hair smelling sweet like ice cream ( courtesy of the strawberry scented shampoo their dad bought earlier). Sigh. My babies.

Sometimes you can't be a runner and a mom at the same time.

And I think at this rate, cemana nak capai 5OK accumulative mileage for August ( tiru goal Sun)? Hohoho.
Or should that be huhuhu .

Running in Baju Melayu

Me? Ha! Fat chance. Not me. Him.
And this wasn't his first time. I think I've blogged about Larian Merdeka last year.
Let me check. Oh, ok. Here it is.

Anyway, last Sunday was Larian Merdeka 2010 in Esplanade Penang. It's pretty much the same as last year. Same organizers. Same sponsors. Same route. Almost the same shirt design. Difference was, I wasn't running. Hehe.

Hub has given up a couple of races to take care of the kids while I ran. So this time, I decided it was my turn to be the supporter. Rah rah.

And same as last year, hub decided to run this race in a baju melayu. Kira menghayati semangat kemerdekaan la ni. He planned this like for days but only took the effort to search for his baju melayu the night before the race. Of course la tak jumpa. Turns out he left it at our old home so pepagi bute we had to go there to get the darn thing.

When we arrived at about 7 in the morning, it was quite cloudy and we couldn't tell whether it was post rain or was just about to rain.

" Butang baju aku mana, Pah?"

Whatever it was, 5 minutes before guntime, it poured elephants and tapirs.

 Gile lebat. Worse than Ipoh Run 2009. But the officials were smart to gun off anyway.

Okay. You're dressed for a run. All geared up. Dah datang pun. So RUN ALREADY! But some people so manja, don't want to get wet. Thing was some had the audacity to demand the officials for certificates even though they didn't run with the argument that they paid. Dey?And then when the officals brought out 100 plus for the finishers, guess who helped themselves first. Dey?

( Gambar adelah contoh, takde kaitan sama ada hidup atau mati)

The kids and I waited for their dad to cross the finish line. The kids were in awe with everything. From the rain, to the crowd, to the DJ ( they kept staring at him). But they were captivated when they saw runners making a dash to the finishing line. Nganga. Kagum.

Hubs came in so fast, it was all in a blur.  Or, maybe I'm just a bad photog.

Apapun he came at 31:47 for that 6.5K. Not bad for running all clad up like that, plus barefoot.
You go, honey!

  And it only stopped raining after the race was almost done.

Post race 2010

Post race 2009

Kantoi takde baju melayu lain dah...kuikui.

And this may look like bad parenting, but I let my kids play in the rain.
Hey, you only live once. Let them have fun.

All in all, a very much recommendable race for larian geli-geli. Top organizing. Fees sangatlah murah. No hassle pre and post race. And I know somebody in particular who would love to be there last Sunday. It was raining. The official shirt was white. It was raining.
You do the math.

Oh, and selamat berpuasa everybody!