Nasihat Nenek

Hi kids.
With 2011 closing in, I noticed that my postings for this year have deteriorated to half the amount of the postings I wrote in 2010.
In which I concluded, banyaknya cerita aku taim 2010!
Apa ntah yang aku bebelkan?

Looking back, I'm glad I managed to complete my full marathons in 2010. Little did I know back then that I wouldn't have the time and commitment to fully train like that for years to come.
No, I'm not exaggerating. When you're a working mom with two kids going to school and a spouse working almost 300KM away from home, sometimes training takes a back seat.

Funny thing is, I was able to participate in more races this year than I did last year. Okay, one more is still more. Despite the mileage being shorter la.
But I like this. Being in the middle. I'm neither a middle distance nor a long distance runner. I'm the in-between. I guess for now, as in this moment, I'll settle with that.

Come 2012, with a whole load of other life plans, I want to improve my 10Ks and 5Ks. If I can somehow juggle the training for a half marathon, maybe I'll throw in an aim for a new PB in the mix.
And maybe, just maybe I'll take up that offer in trying out for KKM's track and field team just for kicks. This year, Sukan KKM buat kat Sabah, ba.

And next year, we plan to focus on races up north. There will be races in KL/Selangor here and there but mostly we'll be up north. So kalau hangpa mai kat sinin utagha, and you see an unassuming lady wearing normal PJ pants with a male barefooted partner, say hi whydoncha. Kami kampun-kampun saje.

For 2012, let's just run. Be it short, middle or long distances, just keep running. For fitness, for socializing, for racing, for getting that 15 minutes of fame, whatever. You can choose to write about it, FB about it, Dailymile  it, or not, whatever. You can run alone, with a partner, in a group, with your family, whatever. Just run. Don't stop. Be better.

And be nice.

But those are just plans. Things will get in the way of plans. Good things, unsuspecting things, apa-apa je la. I know somehow I will be okay with that.
It is, after all, just a piece of my time.

Great year everybody! Let's hope for more.
See you guys anywhere.
I'll see you when I see you.

Malaysian Army International Run 2011 - Edisi PCPJ Zon Utara

So 2 weeks ago, WW told me that his boss pulak paksa him to enter a race in PD.  Pulak,
We were reluctant at first as we were going to be very busy with a reunion in Lumut later in the afternoon on the same day tapi permintaan boss, macamla boleh tolak, kan?
So somehow WW's people got me signed up in the Kor Kesihatan DiRaja team. Which was quite an honor really. Siap bagi their running vest to wear ( which I didn't wear, macam biasa).

 Baju KKD

Baju larian berwarna ke-askaran. Jangan main.

Sangat Grand

Race day, we arrived at about 7 ish since the race was scheduled to start at 8.00. Lewatnya, korang mungkin kata but this is an army organized race la, biasala tu, kate WW.

I was to be in the Women Open 10K which i was a bit nervous about because
1. my last 10K was ages ago
2. training tak sesungguh dulu
3. In the rules and regulation, siap cakap " . Be properly attired during the race taking into consideration that the race will take you through jungle tracks and trails." Aduii, aku berdoala takde trails, but WW told me not to worry as the rules and regulation part was a copy paste version of SAS International Eco-Challenge punya. Cit
4. Tapi knowing it's organized by the army, WW warned that of course the route is going to be challenging.  Kalau tak, tak askar la, katanya. Great.
5. Bila berkumpul, baru nampak ramaaaiiiiinya askar, from all different states, from all different divisions.Dari Sabah ngan Sarawak pun ada turun mari.
6. Muka depa-depa ni semua jenis gaunt, tanned and chiseled. And I'm only talking about the girls !

lagi gambar abang askar tadek motif

During the race briefing, and while scanning for familiar faces (takde sangat sebab tak ramai civillians joining this race), tetiba nampak Deo di depan mata tersengih-sengih seperti biasa. Puh, power la Deo. Esoknya nak buat MR25 lagi. Sungguh gigih.

Dalam pukul 8.00 bila WW and Deo bersama-sama pelari Men Open 22K yang lain di flag off, kami Women Open dan Men Veteran lepak-lepak sambil dengar MC membebel dan merapu. Siap pi interview pelari at random sementara membuang masa ( we were to be flagged off at 8:15am). Tetiba dia interview a Kenyan Woman runner
" My best timing for a 10K is 34 minutes" kata akak Kenya tu.
Dengan otomatisnya, dengar suara-suara sumbang,
" Jom, kita semua balik!"
" Jom balik sebab dah dapat sijil dah tadi!"
Heh heh.

Sempat jugak sembang ngan satu prebet pompuan ni yang based kat PD jugak.
" Adik, kita punya route ni masuk kem ke?"
" Masuk!"
" Ada bukit ke?"
" Ada, kak. Tinggiiiiii, curammmmm"
Dem.

Bila flag off, aku rasa cam aku dok barisan paling belakang. Mana boleh saing ngan perempuan-perempuan berupa lelaki kat barisan depan tu. Dan, ramai betulla perempuan-perempuan berbentuk lelaki dalam askar ni aku perasan. Sampai kadang-kadang kena tengok kaler bib untuik tau dia pompuan ke lelaki ( bib pompuan kaler pink gitu)

Cool kan bib ni?

The first 400m I noticed my Garmin showed only the timing and not my pace or the distance. Double dem. Time ni la nak buat hal. I fiddled with the thing a couple of times tapi still tak boleh jugak. Last-last I decided lari ikut instict je la. My plan for a PB by this time was aborted.

At about 1K we hit the first hill. Gile curam. Triple dem. Almost everybody at this point started walking. Kalau yang run pun macam myself, sebenarnya buat gaya run je tapi pace cam orang jalan jugak. Yang mentalnya, masa mendaki bukit curam ni boleh nampak ada lagi bukit kat atas and you can virtually see the other faster runners making their way up the incline. Gile! Bukit atas bukit.
Masa ni, aku kata bye-bye kat sub 1 hour timing,

Lepas panjat bukit, panjat bukit lagi dan lagi. Sampai ada satu peringkat tu macam ada tiga tier bukit. Orang kat bawah nampak orang kat tengah, dan orang tengah boleh tengok orang kat lagi atas bukit. Ada jugak jalan yang kita baru nak turun downhill sket tapi kat depan nampak ada lagi incline yang lebih tinggi. Mental gila.

Tapi nasib baik geng Mat Tirap ni sangat friendly. Ok, dalam race lain, biasanya runners akan pasang game face dan muka tak bleh blah, tapi what I like about this race is almost every one of the army runners are really-really friendly and funny. Ada je komen-komen yang buat aku tergelak sampai terlupa nak menyumpah bukit. Encouragement sangat tip top.

Dan nasib lagi baik aku bawak air sendiri. Sebab water station ada satu je. Tapi sponging station ada 3-4 kot, which is a lot. And thank God for the sponging station because it was getting hot along the way. Ada kadang-kadang tu, ahem, sebab air sponge tu sejukkk sangat jadi aku pun tergoda take a sip sikit. Mmmm, somehow ada rasa a tinge of Milo. Macamana tu?

Bukits aside, best jugak lari masuk kem ni. Bukan tiap hari depa nak bagi civillian masuk kem. Walaupun aku sebagai army wife pun jarang masuk kem. Baru tau, besau betui kem askar ni, Siap boleh buat 10K race course.

Anyway, almost 1K upon finishing, kami bertembung the faster pack of the 22k Men open runners. Depa baru nak masuk course 10K berbukit bakau gunung ganang  after 12K of pounding on relatively flat route. Adoi, kesiannya.

So I crossed the finishing line at 64 mins at position no 23. Haha seperti dijangka. But I found out from Moey ( finally met Moey of Penonton!) that it was actually a 10.7 K distance. Sebagai pembenci bukit, I'm kinda happy to keep a 5:58 pace at a hilly course like that. Lagipun seperti dikata, mana bleh calen army man-girls dan atlet army yg laju.

Lepas tu tunggu WW balik pulak. Sambil tu lepak-lepak, ambik gambar, sembang-sembang ( remember, abang-abang askar sangat ramah-tamah) dan belek-belek goodie bag. Sebelum race dapat goodie bag ngan sijil, selepas race pun dapat lagi seketul goodie bag. Malangnya, no finisher medal tapi bila pikir nak medal sangat pun tak perlu sebab kat rumah dok berbelen dalam beg dan kat but kereta berlambak lagi tak hangkut dalam rumah.

Tetiba WW sampai with the timing of 2:00:24. WW in his futile attempt to convert from barefootedness to Vibrams for this race, somehow forgot his Vibrams that morning and ran barefoot jugak with no injuries. Glamer sekejap sebab ade oarng ingat dia geng komando.

Military  PCPJ ok

Tak dapat medal tapi dapat ayam goreng ala KFC. Macam race omputehs gitu

Anyway, it was a fun race despite the tough course, Will I join again next year kalau ada lagi? Semestinya.
It was very well organized, traffic was manned brilliantly not only by the military personnels but also the police,and the post run food was quirky but awesome. Despite all the drama of Garmin-not-working-well, bukit-bakau-course, lot of man-girls, sipping-on-milo-flavoured-sponge, I really had fun.

Lepas tu kalut balik sebab nak berangkat pi Lumut.

Well that's my final race for 2011. Phew, what a year!

Larian Rakyat Penang 2011 aka Pulang Modal

 2 weeks before the actual race, I got a call from the organizer:

Organizer : Ni Cik JJ ke? Saya call ni sebab baru dapat fax borang penyertaan cik ni. Betul ke dari Taiping?
Me: Ye saye. Betulla tu.
Organizer: Taiping, Perak? Race kami kat Penang.
Me: Tau. Eh, tak boleh ke? ( memandaangkan tajuk larian adelah Larian Rakyat Penang)
Organizer : Boleh je, tapi Larian kami ni larian kampung-kampung je la
Me: Takpe je.
Organizer: Bukan taraf Penang Bridge Marathon ke ape..
Me: No hal.
Organizer : So takpe ke datang jauh-jauh?
Me: Haha, takpe la.
Organizer : Kalau cam tu kami nak ucap terima kasihla sebab nak join kami.

Haha. Sweet tak? Dahla larian free, siap telefon untuk comfirmation.
Ya, you read it right. It's FREE.
Apa? Tak dengar? FREE
Tak reti eja?
Ianya adalah F.R.E.E

Di kala dan waktu racing fees makin lama makin meningkat, di kala semua benda naik harga, di kala nak pi jamban pun kena bayar tiga ploh sen, this free race is a blessing.
Aku pun gebang la kat staff aku sapa yang teringin take part in a race tapi kedekut nak bayar untuk join race ni. Beria 5-6 orang tunjuk minat.
In the end, sorang je turn up. Hampeh.

Anyway, race kat Sungai Dua, Seberang Perai. 5K je. Okla tu untuk aku yang separa train, separa keretapi terbabas.
Kami sampai agak lewat sebab kegagalan mengkaji race site sebelum race. WW tanya ada race map tak? Beria aku kata takde walhal aku tak scroll down page Penonton sampai habis..thehee ( cue kaum suami menggeleng kepala)

15 menet race nak start baru terhegeh-hegeh nak pi daftar. Cute gile nombo bib letak dalam plastik kuih pastu kita pinkan saje kat belakang ngan depan baju. Sebelum race mula ada taklimat dulu, MC pesan hati-hati masa lari, tengok kiri kanan sebab hari tu hari Sabtu keta banyak. Polis pun buat ucapan cakap kita bila lari nampak orang tapi orang tak nampak kita. Ok, noted.

 Note bib diperbuat dari plastik kuih. 

 gambar tadek motif

Flag off pukul 8: 15 pagi. Organizer race ni jemput Persatuan Olahraga Amatur Penang untuk kawalselia race so race agak teratur la. Mana nak dapat race 5K ada 2 check point.

Mula start race, budak-budak sekolah meluru laju like there's no tommorow. Aku pun mula-mula terikut sampai aku jenguk Garmin nampak pace 3:30/km..hoih ngarut. Ni 100m dash ke hape. So aku slow down.
So lari la lari. WW dah lama kat depan sebab nak lari pada pace dia.

Sampai KM 1 kebanyakan budak-budak sekolah dah mula jalan. Tinggalla kami orang dewasa terus lari. Tengah jalan ada sorang  budak sekolah tanya aku, check point no 2 jauh lagi ke? Aku cakap jauh lagi , dia terus cakap , "Ayoo, aku suda tak larat la kakak" So aku ajak la dia lari ngan aku. Ada la dalam 30 saat je, aku  kalih-kalih dia dah jalan pulak. Aisey.

Depan aku nampak ada sorang amoi kategori veteran ni. Waa, agak laju jugak . So aku cangkuk dia. Nak cangkuk punya cangkuk pastu dalam hati pasang niat nak reel in tapi malangnya aku pasang turbo lewat sebab perut seperti biasa buat aksi senak kalau nak lari laju sket, so last minit walaupun hanya 5 saat kebelakang, aku tak dapat potong dia ( laa..nama pun kebelakang). Masa nak cangkuk ngan aksi senak perut sempat lagi aku tengok Garmin yang kata setakat tu dah 24 minit berapa saat ntah berlalu so aku bajet boleh cross finishing line dalam 25 minit beberapa saat.


 Bila aku cross je finishing line, aku tengok jam tunjuk timing 25:35. Magiknya grey pants aku ni !
 WW pass air Sunquick perisa apantah warne oren-oren kuning merah. Masammm tapi sebab dahaga sangat ku bedal jua. Masa tu kami diarahkan dengan sangat bersistematik untuk ambil sijil dan goodie bag. Wah, larian free pun dapat goodie bag. Taim aku amik goodie bag disambut penuh senyuman dek pekerja majlis daerahlah yang depa bagitau aku dapat nombo 2 kategori Women Open. Alhamdulillah. Minah amoi tadi agaknya dapat no 1 veteran women. Women Open no 1 melunjur laju bajet pelari USM. Beza ngan aku dalam 4 minit jugak la. Kuikui.
Aku tanya WW, timing dia berapa, dia kata 21 minit beberapa saat. Aku tanya dapat placing tak? Dia kata dia pun taktau sebab kat finishing line sape-sape pun tak dapat placing card. Agaknya nak menambahkan elemen misteri kot.

 Dapat lagi hamper dinosor

 Medal  berat tapi tak seberat Taiping Heritage Run punya. Tapi kalau libas Mat rempit boleh cause permanent damage jugakla. 

 Bahagian depan ( ke belakang?)

Ada kaler.

Cantik walaupun mamat tu tangan kudung sebelah 

 Alih-alih, rupanya WW secure tempat no 7 Men Open.

Tepuk tepuk tepuk.

Syok disebabkan taiming, tak lama ,sebab bila kami berdua kaji Garmin, tengok-tengok distance 300m short of 5K. Hampeh.Alih-alih timing aku hampir sama je ngan my previous 5K race kalau di calculatenya. Nak laju pun dalam 5 saat je.

Tapi apapun race ni memang best. Organizing ok, race route ok dan traffic di jaga dengan elok, volunteers sangat friendly, air free banyak ( ada sunquick, ada Vico, ada air kordial layan diri free), goodie bag lagi, medal cantik, hamper besar cam dinosor.
Serius aku kagum.

Layan gambar :

 Ada sunquick ( takpayah beratur)

 Ada Vico ( tak payah beratur!)

Mula-mula ingatkan ni van Milo ( tak payah beratur!)

 Lepas acara larian ada acara sukan rakyat. 

Ada bola sepak, ada lari dalam guni, ada lari kaki tiga.

Serius panas terik, aku heran depa ni nampak ke dak bola tu.

 Hamper dinosor hampir menyaingi ketinggian Adik.

Budak dua orang ni la paling best.

Malangnya mama suruh opah sorok kat kampung..haha.

Sekianlah.

HS Balls

I accidentally caught an episode of  Scrubs last night. The one where Cox experienced his first day as Chief of Medicine and I thought to myself , hey I totally get that!
Not that I'm Chief of Medicine or anything but the scene where Cox sighs as he sees staff coming in and out of his room for all kinds of requests, favors, and complaints while tons of paperwork are piling up on his desks and in the mean time, his personal assistant/admin officer (?) shoves papers to his face for him to sign, I can totally relate.
Except I don't have a personal assistant slash admin officer.

If you ask me 2 years ago, I would have never fathom being in this position. Back then,I was in my 5th year working in a small rural clinic with 10 staff and average patient load of 10-15 patients a day.
But then I got bored.
And so I applied to  be transfered to a bigger clinic. Konon nak challenge la konon.

Mana la nak tau at the time the current head of clinic's application to further her studies got approved and guess who was next on the hierarchy?
I almost choked.

Cox put on a bored face on his first day as chief. My face had pure horror painted red.
How was I going to handle a main clinic, with almost 70 staff with average patient load of 60 on a good day and  120 people on a bad hectic day? And with 20 schools lined up for incremental treatment with almost 10,000 schoolchildren and preschoolers to attend to?
I had schedules to plan.
Schedules to follow.
People to dictate.
Answer to complaints.
Smile to praises
Student nurses and dental assistants as well as first year dentists to train and grade.
Kiss up district and state bosses.
Kiss up medical counter-parts.
Kiss up specialists
KPIs to achieve.
Leaves to approve.
Leaves to disapprove.
Programs to plan
Programs to attend.
Meetings to plan.
Meetings to attend.
Paperwork to complete
Paperwork to sign
Schedules to approve.
Filings to do.
Audits to plan
Undergo freaking stupid audits
Patients to treat.
Answer  no to ridiculousness such as patients who think they will get special treatment and their maids ( maids!) will be wavered from the waiting list just because I had a nice conversation with them ONCE.
Staff to counsel
Staff to motivate
Inventories and assets to indent
Accounts to verify.
Do my work.
Do people's work.
and 70 freaking SKTs to grade.
or as Michael Buble would say,
holy shit balls.

Did I leave out anything?
Oh yeah, lots.

But after a year and a half, I'm getting the hang of it.
I'm not going bald.
 Most of my staff are tolerable and I go home with a headache only once a month. I still despise audits to the death and meetings bore the hell out of me but my staff and colleagues make me laugh.
Best  of all, they're supportive of my running.
Even managed to motivate 2-3 to take up running
Hey, 3 outta 70 ain't that bad. Heh.

Sorry to rant about work.
I got nothing this week.
If I'm able to race this weekend, you can expect to see something about running next week.
Till then, keep your fingers crossed.

And I'm off for some me time tomorrow.
Me and retail therapy.
Oh and some food. Om nom nom nom.

p/s Hey, someone from Scranton, PA visited this site.
    Is that you Jim Halpert?

First Food Review..Ahem

For starters, I've never been a fan of meat. With this I mean authentic 100% beef and not those beef burger patty kind.
And if I do order real meat, it'll be so well done, it's crispy on the outside and inside, taste nothing of beef and salty. And there's a particular place in Kampung Baru we go to every now and then to get this daging bakar.
Other than that, I usually avoid beef dishes.

They kinda have that strong smell especially really fresh beef. It's worse if I see the actual animal before being slaughtered off because sadly I'll be too squeamish to ever be able to stomach it. In short it's okay if I don't see it alive beforehand. So every AidilAdha, I'll be that sad loser moping around poking at my nasi impit and kuah kacang while everybody else is polishing off the 'so-called' delicious beef rendang and sup tulang and rubbing it in my face.

But after watching show after shows of Gordon Ramsey marveling on how delicious a good piece of steak is, I felt that I gotta be fair and give a real good steak a try. A. Real. Good. Steak.

And not the ones you usually get from your local restaurants listed in the menus under 'western food' and their idea of a steak is a thin piece of beef, cooked to the core and is so tough that it distorts your fork while you cut into it. Or a tiny piece of beef that tastes like what my husband calls  slipar berperisa black pepper. Or as they sometimes spell it 'Black Paper' or 'Black Pipper'.

Alas, when we heard about this quaint little restaurant called Me'nate Steak House that promises real fresh wholesome steaks and that their beef are fresh from the farm, chilled not frozen, we thought we ought to give it a try. Somewhat in an attempt to restore my faith in locally prepared steaks.

Masuk je , ambiance ok. Some patrons even took the liberty of dressing up to eat at this place. Which to me is kinda weird. Tapi mungkin they dress up like that on a daily basis and I'm just an out of town hillbilly so who am I to judge.

Layan Gambar :

This arrived first, Curly fries. A whole mother load of them

 Next: Real fresh beef sausages. No beef smell ! Presentation-wise: could be improved. They look more like kopok lekor. Taste great though.

 WW's wagyu tenderloin .

Cooked medium. Cost a bundle. Worth every penny.

And no, for the record ,the wagyus here are not fed beer. 

I could never in my life imagined I could stomach meat with a little redness oozing out but surprisingly this tasted great and without the beefy smell. Hurrah!

The beef was really, really tender. And you get to choose your meat before they cooked it for you.

 My grain-fed ribeye. Besaunya mak ai. 

Cooked well done la, apa lagi.

It was so tender and tasted really good even without the brown sauce.

Perfect. Almost converted me into a beef lover. Almost.

I couldn't finish the whole portion because it was too large and I was getting dizzy from all the beef.

That's what husbands are for.

The kids' beef Olio. Big portion

Sorry, sangat kusyuk makan sampai lupa snap gambar bila mula dihidang. 

Sedap but I imagine my mom would've commented that we just ordered an overpriced plate of fried noodles.

 Some coffee to finish it all off. 

Best thing is the beverages are, get this..FREE.

And they're free flow. With the condition you finish it or they'll charge you RM 8 per glass.

My verdict 8 out of 10. Layanan Ok. The Executive Chef goes around to ask about the food. The waiters are helpful enough. You have to get your own drink at the drink station though, but that's okay for me.  It's quite pricey tapi bukan tiap-tiap hari nak makan a great good slab of meat kan?

But if you're a little bit on the queasy side like my son and I, better avoid looking around as the walls are full of pictures of cows. Real, big fat cows. And you might want to have a seat facing the main entrance because you wouldn't want to eat facing a large meat chiller stacked full of fresh bloody meat, of all size and portions.

But then if you're not a wuss like me, then feel free to be seated anywhere and look at everything.

Tapi at the end of the day, after all that juicy delicious steak that made me finally believe there is such a thing as a melt in your mouth piece of beef ( and I thought Chef Ramsey was always bullshitting), I still prefer my Kampung Baru daging bakar. Well, well done, Crispy from the outside and inside, taste nothing like beef and salty.

 Yum.

(with this, my husband slaps his forehead) 

***Hey, wait a minute, you might say. Sejak bila dia ni jadik food blogger? Saje je. Sejak ada handphone that allows me to discreetly take pictures of my food and it would look like I'm just nonchalantly texting. Hehe

 I'm shy shy like that.

Konon.

And with that I end my one week holiday. 

Back to working out. 

DNS Tapi Pulang Modal.

Ha. Didn't think there'll be a race report, kan?
Yes, as some of you have read in FB, I couldn't quite make it to PBIM.
The night before the last day of school, my son complained that he had a stomach ache and felt nauseous. I was quite sure it wasn't food poisoning as he ate the same thing as the rest of us did and we were all fine.
Well, he started vomiting that night, and continued to feel bad the next morning. He couldn't stomach in anything solid for the rest of the day but felt fine on Saturday.

Manala nak tau it was actually the stomach flu and it was contagious. After my race that Saturday morning (tell you about that later), I had  a nap, konon nak get some snooze before PBIM. It was funny that I tossed and turned for  ages before falling asleep because everyone who knows me close , knows that I fall asleep easily. Lepas tu after an hour of napping, bangun je , pening nye mak ai. And suddenly I felt sick.
I tried to brush it off. Said to my WW that it's probably something bad I ate at the food fair that morning. By 7.00 pm I was vomiting my breakfast and lunch and felt crappy but I still had my hopes high. We thought that by 10:30 pm, if I felt a bit okay, we'll head out to Penang and see how it goes from there. But after staring blankly at my McDonalds dinner, and feeling nauseated after a cup of sundae, the only thing that I can force myself to eat that night, I made a decision to abandon the thought of racing altogether.
Macam suicide je pon kalau pegi. Not much fluids in my body. Carbo-loading jadi more like carbo-dumping. It'll be like me running on empty.
Kang tak pepasal ada orang bergolek atas jambatan. Hodohnya pemandangan.

So racing plans aborted.,balik rumah terus tengok bola Indon lawan Vietnam. Pastu went to bed, and woke up at 2 ish with tummy cramps and I thanked God Almighty for giving me some common sense.

Oh ye, this is supposed to be a race report jugak kan?
Okay so on Saturday I raced for my department in Larian Kesihatan Perak. It's a 5K race held once in every 2 years and the participants are solely KKM staff from all over Perak.
Aku masuk suka-suka je. Boss aku suruh masuk  untuk menang.
Aku pikir, kalau tak menang pun takpe sebab the coming Monday tu aku cuti, so takdela dia nak membebel. Heh heh.

Gun-off bajet race kecik pukul 8:15 am. Cuaca nasib baik ok. Tak panas, tak mendung, sejukk je. Participants tak ramai, dalam 100 orang. Yang paling best apa tau, korang? Yang paling best my family was there to support me. Nothing beats standing at the starting line with your spouse and children screaming words of encouragements at the sidelines. Baru semangat nak lari.

Majlis tajaan gomen takkan lengkap tanpa senbamrobik dan skirting bunga raya

My main rival (cheeeewaaaahhhhh) during the race was one particular girl from Hospital Teluk Intan, a KKM state runner called Anu. Now, I've been in 2 races with her prior this race and twice I fell to second place. But don't get me wrong, it's totally  friendly rivalry.We're good friends and  for 2 years, she's been trying to get me to try out for her team. ( macamla aku layak)
Tahun ni, jeng jeng jeng, to her dismay (because she loves a good competition),she saw that I'm in a different category.Yaa , tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, saya finally masuk kategori Senior Women..huhu. And she, being only 27 is in the Women Open.

Anu dan err..pakcik enterprem kat belakang

Satu lagi benda best , this year's run is held at Taman Tasik Taiping. So route yang agak familiar. Like I said, lepas gun-off maka  larilah kami. Me and Anu initially paced each other and had a bit of a conversation about races at the first 500m, pastu seperti biasa she eased her way in front dan saya seperti biasa malas nak kejar awal-awal , biarkan je sebab saya takut kepancitan
Sepanjang race, I noticed Anu asyik pandang belakang to me je, I'm not sure whether to see  if I was okay or to see whether I was close enough to overtake her. At some point when she glanced back, I gestured for her to go on ahead sebab perut ku senak. Sakit jugak wo lari laju  (sket dari biasa) and trying to maintain it for 5K, but I remembered WW said that a 5-10K race is supposed to hurt so I pujuk diri je.

Seperti biasa dalam 500 m nak abis baru teringat nak summon turbo tapi bila Anu nampak aku dah makin dekat, dia pun pasang turbo. Dan..seperti biasa, I lost to her by 10 seconds kot. Tapi sebab kami different categories, dia dapat nombo satu dan saya juge dapat nombo satu..hehe.

Women Open leader kat depan. Senior menyusul di belakang sana nun. Maklumla, senior..

Best tak? Team Chiam and Adik tukang sorak.

Deme ni senyum sebab lega akhirnya kami dah sampai.

Yang bestnya bila tengok Garmin, I got my PB in 5K 27:35. For you guys out there mungkin tak laju benor, but for me kira okla tu (by my standards la) Huhu. Dan at her defence, sebab korang mesti pikir , takkan KKM state runner standard 5K 27 mins je kot. I truly felt that she held back and wasn't running her full potential

Yang tak syoknya bila dapat placing kena tunggu dapat hadiah, lamanyaa . Biasala, tunggu all the formalities and ucapan pembukaan. Katanya majlis serah hadiah pukul 9:30, alih-alih nak dekat 11 lebih diberinya hadiah lepas VVIPs makan-makan. Hadoi. The kids were getting a bit cranky but lepas dapat hamper saiz dinosor, depa happy balik. Dapat la jugak a bit cash money, pulang la jugak modal tak pi PBIM..alhamdulillah..hurhur.

Ada jugak Walkathon held at the same time as the larian in a different location.

Budak PLKN pun dipaksarela  dijemput masuk. Huish macam berpiket pun ada.

Itu je la kot. Now for that one week holiday..

Retro, Pseudo and Pocoyo

A few days ago, my childhood bestie posted a picture of our gang back in the day.
I cringed when I saw this pic.
Ugh.

Thing is, this wasn't me at my biggest.
Sure, you can say that it was like 13 years ago. Justin Beiber pun tak lahir lagi ( eh, yeke?) But on bad days, after I'm bloated from all the food that I practically inhaled, or when the numbers on the scale goes slightly up, I still feel like I'm the same girl times 100.

Last two days, I was almost shocked when I saw I've gained almost 3kgs from the weight I had during marathon training. I say almost because well I kinda expected it due to all my eating and comparatively less training but I was hoping the weight gain wouldn't happen. Pocoyo kan?
Trouble is, I'm still in my marathon carbo loading mode, even after a year.
Trouble is, back then, my running was complimented by weight training and strength exercises.
Trouble is, a year ago I was a health freak, counting my calories and almost became a pseudo-vegan (?).

I'm eating everything now. The once banned nasi goreng in my diet is back on the menu. Sure I still watch my portion sometimes.. But all the food around me seems soo gooood, it's kinda hard not to indulge.
Right now, as I'm writing this, I crave for an ice-blended cappuccino topped with vanilla ice-cream from Nelson's. Argh.

You may say, " 3kg is not worth all the drama" but for a person who was once overweight, this is kinda an issue.
I'm baring it all when i confess that sometimes I run just to keep the weight off. When I feel bloated, I run 6 times a week. Sometimes, after a 'heavy' meal, I'd go for a 2 mile run even after I've had a run earlier before. I know it's just junk miles, but at least, I think to myself, it'll burn some amount of calories.
How do I put it? It's like being unhealthy in a healthy way. It's not like I don't like running but it's like I like running for the wrong reasons.
Or is it the right?
I dunno.

Irony is, I know what's wrong and I know how to solve it. I just wish the numbers on the scale wouldn't be an issue throughout my life.
Even after 9 years of being in the 'normal' range and having a healthy (?) lifestyle, 8 years of marriage, 7 years of being a mommy, I sometimes still feel like the fat kid I was once before.
And it sucks, even it it's only  for a millisecond



Okay, I feel better letting this out.

On a lighter( no pun intended) note : Remember the graffiti In Taman Tasik Taiping I've posted before. After raya, we noticed that they've changed the graffiti to a Hari Raya theme. But last 2 weeks, somebody vandalized the whole graffiti and the creepy rabbit had the word f**k sprawled across its poor face.
Bodo punya mat rempit atau sape-sapela yang buat.

Before vandalism - creepy rabbit masih tulus, suci dan murni 

But last Saturday, when we were out running for the so-called 10 miler turned 10K in the rain, I've noticed they've re-done the graffitii. Yay! Bless those RUN TPG people, whoever they are.

  After - and they omitted the creepy rabbit!

Itu saje. 

.

No Harm

2 weeks from a big race, baru terhegeh-hegeh nak training. I'm doubting these two weeks will make any difference, but hey, no harm trying right?
Last year I had a planned schedule magnet-ed on my fridge door , dammit. Even for a half marathon.
This year, the only schedule on our fridge is my son's jadual waktu.

After weeks and weeks of 20 ish K mileage per week, last week I succeeded in getting 35K. Tu pun jenuh nak tweak my daily schedule.  This week, with my longest LSD of 10 miles (je?), it'll be twice as hard to commit especially during the weekend. Dengan jiran tetangga nak buat party barbecue nya, dengan nak servis keretanya, dengan nak send back WW to stesyen basnya. Nasib baikla my son has finished his exams, boleh la take a breather sikit sebab tak payah bertukar profession jadik cikgu waktu malam

Why am I semi-committed of training this time? Be-cause believe it or not, I have two different races on the same day (almost) and I can't decide which I will pour my  commitment to.
The first run, my larian jabatan will be held on the 19th. There's not a day gone by where I am not reminded of this race by my staff and colleagues. My boss points to my forehead and says he's counting on me - exclamation mark. Now what am I supposed to say to that? Sure, it's just a 6K, but it'll have to be a fast 6K - and very painful.

And then on the 20th, not even the next day after , rather the following early morning, I have PBIM's halfie. I feel that I have to do my best in this one too because it'll be my last race for the year as I've reserved December for vacations, reunions and back to school shopping sprees.

I'm thinking will I be able to complete both in the timing I've planned? Ke I'm setting my hopes too high? Being too optimistic? Being too analytical ?

Kalau tanya WW, he'll say " Hantam saja la" but this is coming from a guy who thinks that training for a March marathon starting from November is still 'not enough'. Hantam saja la? Alih-alih aku yang kena hantam. Pitam pun ada.

Poyo je kan? Pocoyo pun ada.

 Bole ka tarak bole?

p/s A big thank you goes to a certain Mr FS , who kindly decided to take over WW's bib. If you see a guy wearing a bib with WW's name on it, give him a big cheer and a pat on the back.

The Rise And Fall Of The Urban Fixies

Once upon a time, in this part of town, there lived a small group of young riders fondly (or secretly) known to the locals as ‘the urban fixies’.


As said, they were riders, free-spirited and young ( late teens  to early twenties)with their DIY fixies spray-painted to perfection. They did not ride but rather flew through town, with their dreadlocks,afro cuts, loose shirts and bowler hats. Their tanned faces sometimes glistening with sweat under the warm sun and their calves  rippled to every crank. They came from nowhere or anywhere. You'll see them when you see them. But when you do see them, either riding in the sun or gliding through the night, you will be awed.

Awed by their simplicity. Awed by the way they carry themselves. Calm. Collected. Focused. Too cool to care. You seldom see them talk. They say , the urban fixies communicate by gestures, by grunts, by eye twitches.  They will stop long enough, not to hang around, but to regroup. Once they are one, they will flock elsewhere.

You could tell, sometimes from afar, that they were happy. And they were peace-loving beings. Non- believers of nuisance and nonsense. They were law abiding citizens, only an eyesore to old folks who fail to understand their self expression.

 But one day, like black clouds creeping in on a beautiful sky, a small new group of riders infiltrated the town. First in small groups of 5s, then 10s, then 20s until it seemed that they were everywhere. It was understood that they were  initially  imitators. As mimics of the urban fixies. They came into town from miles away, riding their neon coloured generic fixies readily available from Kedai Basikal Ah Ba. These bikes were pitifully tasteless but deemed awesome by the new riders now known to the townspeople as 'kampung fixies'; no disrespect to the kampung people.
But as uber cooless could not be replicated or imitated, the kampug fixies failed to carry themselves wisely. They were simply wannabes. Not trend setters. Everything was overdone.

They spun into town making a racket. Flocking the streets as nuisance.They were ruthless, rowdy at times. Loitering and tastelessly hogging parking lots and conquering the roads. An eyesore, an ear sore and a stick in the behind.

What happened to the urban fixies in the mean time? They stood watching as their town was taken over. But as peace-loving beings, they did not reciprocated. Instead, to avoid territorial conflict,they dispersed. They disappeared, one by one into the masses.

Until one day, they were gone. All of them, dreadlocks and all.( **cue dust and debris scattering and rolling bushes for dramatic effect)


And to this day the kampung fixies still roamed the town. Terrorizing people with their hazardous wheelies and lameness. Most are only young ‘uns, not even through middle high,clueless ,trying so hard but alas, are greatly annoying.
God help us.

I believe one day, when the craze has ended and the madness has ceased, the urban fixies will be back. Emerging one by one from the crowd. Slightly older, slightly worn, but they will come back. With their dreadlocks, afro cuts, loose shirts and bowler hats. With their beautiful DIY-fixies, spray-painted to perfection.

They will be back, flying into town, coolness oozing from their ears.


Sekian sessi bercerita saya pada hari ini untuk melepaskan geram kepada kampung fixies yang sangat menyakitkan hati di pekan saya yang terchenta

The Mysterious Watcher

Short post
No time.
On call.

Quick question.
Would somebody please tell me who runs Penonton.blogspot.?

I know Bro Haris runs Run. Mix. Burn and I think I have a vague idea who's running Chap Ayam website but who the heck is in charge of Penonton?
Puas aku cari kat blog dia, talak jumpa ma.

Takde la, bukan nak saman ke apa.
Just want to say that you're doing a very good job.
What will we runners   ( or cyclists or triathletes) do without Penonton.
Gigih cari pelbagai race untuk di upload almost everyday.

Syabas, sir/madam.
You, my friend, are truly appreciated.

Hugs.
JJ & WW (ok, he offers his handshake)

Bonkety Bonk

Hi.
You read it right. I bonked.For the second time this year. Heh heh. It's SCKLM Half revisited minus the hot sun.
But difference was, this time I had fun.
Serious.
It's kinda weird how you could feel so bad and have fun at the same time. I guess last week was a good week. Maybe that explains it all.

Pre-race I guess I was kinda asking for it. We had a late breakfast and then decided before dropping off our kids at my sister's, we'd have our lunch late at Bangi. Manala nak tau semua orang Bangi nak makan Domino''s jugak at 3 :30 pm. As a result pizza sampai lewat, so we ate at around 4 ish. Pastu we polished half a can of my brother's "slimming mixed nuts". I don't get the concept of eating nuts to make you slim but hey, who can resist eating really expensive roasted almonds and pistachios especially when it's not yours.

Anyway, we got to Putrajaya at about 7. By that time, perut rasa kenyang lagi from all the pizza and nuts so I just ate a quarter of my prerace snack, a cream bun. Pastu, because during my last half, I didn't take any gels and only ran with a bottle of Gatorade, I figured I'd do the same in this race and managed to talk my husband in doing the same. Ya, satu lagi bad choice.

At about 8 berlegar-legar at race site and we bumped into our old schoolmate . Sembang-sembang, kutuk-kutuk, gelak-gelak , last-last terlepas nak cheer on the Full marathoners. Aisey.

Then at 8.10 pm , we went to line ourselves at the gantry. Baru la nampak the famous KakJune with her fans. Gile semua beratur nak tangkap gambar ngan dia. Tinggal diorang nak mintak sign autograph je lagi, Kak June oii..hehe. Had a quick chat and then we were off lining ourselves behind the starting line cam cattle.

Mak ai panasnya. Tak padan ngan malam cuaca lepas hujan. Tak start race lagi pun kiri kanan bau ashem.
Aku konon nak try pace 10:15/per mile. Up sikit la dari last HM.
Huh, hareeemmmm.

Mula-mula start lagi takde countdown apa pun. Sedor-sedor je 'pom' bunyik gun.
The thing I don't like about big races is, there's too much crowd (duh!)
Dia ni himpit dia ni. Dia ni pijak kasut dia ni. Dia ni pasang muka saiko nak menang. Dia ni  siku dia ni.
In small races, everyone is friendly. Almost everyone is like, " Hey, have fun". And the runners are more cheerful.
Yang ni, mula-mula race je pakat pasang game face masing-masing. Adoyai.
Tapi  not everybody la. Korang yang baca ni aku tau tak buat..heh heh.

But the thing is in big races, you'll meet all different kinds of interesting people on the road. Ramai gak yang tegur WW's barefootedness. WW pun pantang tengok rakan sekaki ayam, mesti pakat sembang and then aku pun terkial-kial nak catch up.

Anyway, frankly speaking I didn't really like the route. Sebelum ni pi Putrajaya tak penah pun perasan the rolling hills. Mak ai, route dia asyik naik turun je. Well, WW claimed dia naik turun but I felt that It was like 60% naik je. Naik elevation banyyaaaaakkkk, pastu turun ade la ciput pastu naik balik sampai kadang-kadang tu aku ingat diorang ni nak suruh lari sampai Genting kot. Define your inner strength konon.

Somewhere along the way I said hey to AzHana. Azza, I have this ability to 'cam' people from their backs. Don't ask me how. I just know. I can even cam some of the regular runners by the way they run. Anyway, man, she was doing so good. Aku ni macam separuh mati nak kayuh lagi 10K , dia steady je. Tabik!

After 10K mark which I felt took forever, my legs felt like jelly and I suddenly felt hungry. So walaupun, I was guzzling Gatorade every 2 miles or so, I downed half a pack of Powergel and washed it down with Gatorade lagi. Dapatla sugar rush dalam 5 minit pastu hancus balik. My tummy started churning pulak pastu side stich ada datang mari pulak. It was freaking hot and there was no breeze. But you know what helped?
The random conversation with strangers and fellow runners along the way. Best jugak sembang-sembang sambil lari-lari anak ni. Bila sembang-sembang buat lawak sambil bitch about the hills, sedar-sedar je your already on top of the incline and you're your way down.

What I loved most about this race is the support crew. Fuh, memang tip top. Dengan kumpulan gendangnya, dengan cheerleaders nya, dengan music Pittbull pasang full blast tengah-tengah God-knows-where, dengan metalic-mime people ( I don't know what you call them) sitting creepily atas jambatan cam hantu boncengnya, dengan volunteers yang sangat cheerful if not very helpful and committed nya.
In short, memang BEST GILE.
Aku yang separa nak tergolek atas jalan pon sangat terhibur.

Anyway, I lost count how many inclines we had to go through because I sucked at all of them. Tu la, sapa suruh tak training hills. Padan muko. Dekat nak habis pun ada bantai kasik incline lagi. Masa tu aku redha je la. I promised myself this time, tak larat camne pun taknak jalan We met Kam Kasturie along they way, who gently said, " It's okay, jalan je la". Haha, that's really easy to say coming from a guy who walks with the same pace as my running.

I hate hills shows on my face

(pic courtesy of Kam Kasturie) 

Racing towards the end was the nastiest part. It was a long straight road where you can see that you have to run towards the digital clock but it seems like it's light years away.

So lari lah daku pada tahap kura-kura with WW running backwards to support me. Dekat end of the line,  bila ada banyak orang at the sidelines cheering us on, baru la aku pasang turbo anak penyu nak masuk laut.
Maka bolehla dapat timing sub 2:30. Haha

End of the line, One nice volunteer said to me while handling my finisher's shirt,
" You're an S"
" Nope, " I said. " I think an M"
" Takde la kak, You're definately an S"
She made my day the most.

 With Azza and KakJune. Get to finally chat with you guys. Sorry as usual got to go early for the kids.
Sorry gambar blur sebab pakai C3 jo 

I finished at 2:29.
I wouldn't call this a personal worst. It's a all out effort in a condition that I can't control. I guess I just can't handle overheatedness and too many hills. That's all there is to it.
And the idea bijak bistari Gatorade made it all worse.
Because when I got back, I threw up all my Gatorade. One whole bottle of it.
Heh

Song Sung Blue

I have yet to write about my other interest.
Yup, I like something other than running. Thing is, I can't commit to it fully (partially?) like I do with running.
Last month or two or probably three months ago, I purchased a Paul Smith guitar.
After my younger sister tricked me into giving her one of my guitars, I thought it was better for me to upgrade. And since WW was also thinking of buying a new amp, he contacted his musical acquaintance, Melvin.
I go, " I'm supposed to buy a guitar from somebody called Melvin?"
Because to me Melvin sounds more like a guy who would understand what E=mc2 is and actually cares about it.

But Melvin proved to be quite the opposite. Melvin the music guy/salesperson/musician extraordinaire pushed a Paul Smith guitar in my face, strummed a few notes and I was instantaneously in love. With the guitar la.

Thing is, now Paul Smith is on its stand with me staring at it and it staring at me. Sure, I'd learn some new songs on UltimateGuitar 1 or two days but after that , Paul Smith will be back on its stand, capo still on the 2nd fret and gradually going out of tune.

Bilakah saya akan commit fully?
The callous on my fingers have gone soft.
This is not supposed to happen
Argh


Sekian, drama untuk malam ini.

Hometown Glory.

Masa mula aku dapat  tau ada orang nak organize Marathon kat Taiping ni, aku antara yang skeptical
Aku pikir, sapelah manusia yang sanggup jadik lab rat untu marathon yang bukan dianjurkan oleh runnning club mahupun runners dengan cut-off time yang ntah pape.

Pastukan, pada suatu  hari sewaktu bersiar-siar di shopping mall, I saw a registration booth and I thought, what the heck.
So we registered for the half.

Manala nak tau the same weekend would be very busy for us.  A month after registering, we found out that there would be a gotong-royong kenduri kawin next door on the Saturday of race weekend. Pastu, somebody at the office came up with the idea of having the department's family day on the same Saturday.

Wah, sangat kelam kelibut.

Saturday, pre-prace day, kalut-kalut bangkit pagi to go the family day. As I was in the committee, I had to be there early to make sure nothing was in shambles. The golf club where we held the event suddenly decided to put us in the back seat just because some royalty from Perlis decided to have some function on the same day. As a result, the food arrived 1 hour late and the drinks weren't replenished smoothly as promised.
I was practically on my heels the whole day with my baju kurung drenched with sweat trying to make sure things won't fall apart..
Then at noon bila balik, takkan masuk  buat donno je kan? Kena la tolong jiran tetangga jadik bentara kat kenduri. Angkat pinggan, basuh pinggan, kemas meja, sengih-sengih. Pukul 4.30, baru bleh rehat n kami terus zonked out sampai 2 jam ..ahah. Malam tu pulak pegi open house. Hamik kau.
So due to this, and the fact that we would be running in an event organized by inexperienced people, we braced for the worst.

But the worst never came.
Sure, ada a few glitches here and there tapi overall it wasn't too bad.
Aku bagi point form la

The Good:

1. Small town race, small crowd, no fuss, no lines.
2. The route was nice. 3 uphills but mostly flat. Weather was good although it got a bit hot later.
3. Pakcik dan abang polis traffic yang baik lagi penyayang.
4. Good flow in goodie bag collection, no hassle for race kit pick up. It was so easy getting your race kit, Ian. Contoh my conversation ngan budak jaga race kit,   

                  " Kawan akak tak sempat balik amik bib dia, boleh akak tolong ambikkkan?"
                   " Boleh, akak tolong bagi no I/C dia"
                  " Alamak, tepon akak yang simpan no I/C dia dah kaput. Akak ingat no 74 je"
                   " Takpela, cari je nama dia pastu kami bagi bib"

        Puh, tak payah bagi a copy of I/C bagai.
     5.Enough water stations. They even had energy drinks macam tin power root tu and bananas.
     6. Supportive aids at the water stations - they serve you water and they cheer you on.
     7. Oleh sebab small crowd la, I managed to get podium. Dengan timing yang tak seberapa. Hantam sajala
     8. They gave me 4 different medals. One participant medal, one finisher's medal, one qualifying medal ( I  have no idea what I qualify for) and one 8th placing medal. And a trophy! Makcik kayo! ( kayo medal jo la, duit tak dapat pun)
     9. Plenty of Milo and post run food. Goodie bag ada banyak harta karun : 1 isotonic drink, 1 energy
         drink, 1 balm ( macam tiger  balm thingy), salonpas ( wajib ada) 1 mineral water, instant white coffee
         powder dan 1 lolipop berbentuk tapak kaki ( so appropriate!).
    10. Cheap! Registration for half marathon is only RM30.

The Unexpected (Saya ikut cakap sifu saya)


1. We were mostly running on our own. Traffic was manned only at main junctions. Yang lain pandai-pandai
     korang le. Rasa cam LSD pun ada. Nasib baikla most Taiping motorist adelah bersopan santun, kalau tak ramai jadik roadkill.
2.Insufficient route markers. At times we had to rely on the police and water station aides for directions. Route marker untuk kenduri kawin serius lagi banyak dari route marker race ni. Distance markers pun yelek.
Mostly we had to depend on runners in front of us to see where the route was going.
Tapi according to full marathoners, they were well taken care off. I guess officials tumpukan their whole attention on full marathoners kot. Nama pun Taiping International Marathon.
3. A few race officials acting more like pakcik keypoh rather than being proper professional race officials. Puh geram sungguh. Pagi-pagi lagi, spoke to me like I'm in standard one.

"Eh nombor awak tu selit la belakang tudung, haa baru nampak" ( padehal aku memang tengah buat pun)

   " Ni apa ni bib pon senget. Tadak orang tolong ke , girl?" (Takpela uncle, lain kali saya bawak protractor untuk ukur)

    " Girl, you boleh ke lari ni?" ( takdela, saya nak lompat bintang)

 Yang paling best, just as I was crossing the finishing line,
 " Girl,ada lagi ka orang belakang you?" 
 Ayuhai uncle, betapa hinanya daku dimatamu.

4. The race officials claimed that the cut off time was 5 hours and a half for full marathon but nobody was there at the finishing line when Ian crossed it at 4:40. Kesian gila. Nasib baik he such a nice guy.
5. Tak nampak pun medical aid mana-mana along the route. Agaknya kalau kau pengsan tengah jalan, teruskanlah pengsan sampai the next runner finds you.

Ok, kali ni ada gambar. Wanwon at last ingat untuk bawak balik kamera.

           Timing 2:14 je. Like I said, race kecik dapat la.

Budak nombo A020 tu senyum jo walau  apopun torjadi. 

Sapentah pakcik sebelah tu aku pun tak perasan.

And yup, you saw it right. The grey pants are definitely back. 

Run as you can

I have to admit it. It's been tough to properly train this year.
This time last year, my fitness was the best it has been in years. Weekly mileage was 40-50 Ks per week.
La ni kalau dapat 20K per week pun kira alhamdulillah.

Truth is, I have other commitments. I lack the time. And maybe, just maybe a little bit lacking of motivation.
Last year, when I'm back from work, dead tired or not, I'll lace up my shoes and go for a 6 K.
Now, I'm so pooped from work that sometimes I just laze on my sofa, doing nothing but watch the kids play from inside and wish somehow, magically, just maybe by watching my kids run around, I'll burn the extra calories as well.

When I run on the treadmill, my kids won't allow me to go for more that 40 minutes.
" We bored!" they'll say
" How can you run for so long and call that fun?" they'll  poke.

And I'm caught in between.
But I'll always favor my children. I will always be on their side.
I guess that's the dilemma of a running mom.
You have to make sacrifices most of the time.

But I guess it's okay. I'm not training for anything big. I'll be lucky if I get a PB for any half marathon this year. It no big deal. A PB is nothing but a PB. You don't get a prize, you only get to gloat for a few months, tu pun kalau orang lain paham..
Contoh:
Cik Bedah: saya punya PB half adelah 2:06
orang lain: huh, lama nya hang lari 

See?

Hurm, actually scratch everything I wrote above. Who am I kidding?
Actually, most of the time I don't miss the extra mileage. I just miss the eating-everything-without-gaining-an-ounce-of-weight part.
Ha.
That's more like it.
Baru bunyik cam JJ khennn?

saya harap anak dara saya tidak dressing macam di atas.

Right as Rain

Hi.again.
Somebody commented recently that nobody ever really blogs regularly now 'cept for me and Diket.
If you can call blogging once a week as 'regular'.
So I'm wondering if anybody still reads this anyway.
Anyway, I replied that this comes naturally to me, I've been blogging since I was 17. On and off.
And then, I realized that statement made me look like a dork.

So what if I'm a dork?
Arf.
?

Anyway, since you're here, I guess I should tell you what happened at Taiping Heritage run.
Like I said earlier, ni run main-main punya. Letihan cam hampeh. Weekly mileage rarely exceed 20K. I just ran during Ramadhan to see how much weight I could lose.
2kg, by the way.
Which I easily gained back in 4 days during raya..
Hi.

So sebab lari main-main, makan pun pulun-pulun. Mind you, I usually watch what I eat pre -race. I stay away from food that will most likely make me feel funny during race. Tapi sebab main-main kan, the day before we went to an open house.
Makan.
Uuu, rendang kaler hijau. Apekah? 
Makan. Makan.
Jemputla, kak. Ni rendang itik spesel.
Ha? Itik? Alamak. Dah selamat dah masuk perut. Redha je la.
Then pi rumah Ian.
Makan mii kari sedap. Mana-mana mi ngan kuey teow anak-anak aku tak habis, aku pulun.
Gelak-gelak. Makan-makan.
Balik rumah parents aku. Makan lagi atas niat carboloading.Late night plak tu.

Esoknya, my tummy don't feel so good. But ignored it.Amik air sembahyang siap-siap konon
Sampai race site, tummy agak memulas. Nampak port-a-potty. Ingat macam kat PBIM.
Bila masuk tadak air. Terus takdak selera. No1 je sempat, tu pon sebab ada air kat singki.
Did I mention hujan? Hujan mak oi.
Tapi biasa la tu, Tepen.
Amik air smayang ngan air hujan, first time.
Abis solat, simpan barang dalam keta,  tetiba dengar orang dah flag off.
Semua orang lain dah lari, aku baru terhegeh-hegeh nak mula.
So we started at the back of the line.

So lari je la.
Route agak sama ngan tahun lepas.
But it was still raining. Best pe. Sejuk je.
Sambil lari sambil sembang ngan cik abang. Pok pek pok pek.
" Manyak pandai ooo," kata sorang uncle dari Penang ni. " Lu banyak tenaga lari oo"
I get this a lot from uncles.
Diorang encouragement memang tip top.
Padehal diorang lari terer,umor dah cecah 60'an and steady je potong aku.

Sampai Kamunting, lori banyaknya mak ai. Sekali dia lalu tepi, cam ribut.
Ingatkan U-turn kat Sekolah Bukit Jana, rupanya nak dekat sampai Changkat Larah nun (okay, I'm exaggerating)
On the other side, nampak Yim pakai baju trademark dia, Ray ngan kawan dia ( tak prasan plak sapa) pastu tetiba je Deo potong kami. Ni mesti dah 2 kali round.

So larilah lari ( cilok syed punya jap). La la la lu di du.
Sapa nak potong , potong la. Aku siap bagi, " Sila, sila"
Semua ok je, tapi bila 4K lagi nak habis, tetiba rasa adehh lemaunya.
Larian gila-gila santai, jadi gila-gila struggle plak.
 Rasa cam nak jalan je. Tapi dah dekat. So lari la dalam kelembapan siput sedut.
Abang dan pakcik polis dok bagi encouragement, " sket je lagi, sket je lagi"
ada mamat rambut afro dok tepuk-tepuk tangan.
Luar aku sengeh, dalam,'  otak hang aihhh"

Last-last abih jugak. Takdak la rasa nak pengsan tapi penat jugakla.
Cross je finishing line, nampak sorang pompuan dok senyum kat aku.
Rupa-rupanya my Oral Surgeon's wife, one of  the head nurse in my department.
She was diagnosed with cancer last year and had just finished her course of chemotherapy.
" Hi, " I said, " Who are you waiting for?" Assuming anak dia dipaksa rela masuk race bajet budak sekolah.
" I've just finished racing, " she beams.
"What?"
" 10k " she smiled proudly .
And I'm baffled. That's so inspirational.
I tell almost everyone at work about it (  she's still on sick leave)
But everyone's more interested in asking if I won.
prffft.

Anyway, I ran it in 2:20. Finished 20th.
Wawasan 2020.
Medal besau, berat tak hengat.
Serius kalau libas mat rempit boleh mati.

Sekian terima kasih
p/s kali ni tadek gambar sebab
a) Wanwon lupa bawak balik kamera
b) gambar nak cilok dari orang pun nunjuk tudung kelepet

Huhu

Temporary Fix

Malassssss..tolonggggg!
And still you guys keep coming here.
Thanks :)

You know what irony is?
Irony is a jar of lime green kelapa pandan cookies sitting next to the treadmill.
And I still can't figure out which one I'll choose.

My significant other has started his letihan. Seems that some others are on the bandwagon as well.
Argh you running nerds.
Huh.
Ack.
Erk.

Hmph.
Sorry, sugar withdrawal.

Okay, treadmill wins.
But I get  ice cream afterwards, okay?
Today's running mantra will be " Almond pecan praline, almond pecan praline, almond pecan praline.."

             padan muko 

Cha Cha Cha..

This is how technology savvy I am.

While running recently, my Garmin bleeped loudly and I glanced at  the screen. The words scrolled,
" Low foot pod battery"

I looked at my husband,
" Darn, these things run on batteries?"
He rolled his eyes at me up to the point  where I thought I heard  eye ligaments snapping from their sockets.
" Course they do."

Huh, and all this while I thought they ran on the power of kinetics.

On another note, I'm posting the running route for Taiping Heritage Run's Half Marathon.
You know, just in case you're not one of Kevin Ooi's 4 million friends on FB ( kidding, boss..hehe)

Seems like we'll be running through Taiping and Kamunting right up to Bukit Jana. But don't be intimidated by the word bukit, cause it's mostly flat there. I'm guessing traffic control will be good. You don't have to worry about motorists in Taiping. They're mostly passive-aggressive or should I say aggressive-passive. They can cut into lanes and lines like nobody's business but nobody ever really cares. If you go through  Taiping town, you'll see everyone cutting lines  but nobody ever bothers to honk,really. Just as long as you give your signal or a hand wave, they'll politely let you go ahead. Kalau kita lambat jalan lepas lampu hijau  pun, usually they'll just politely wait for you to go. Kalau ada kasi itu horn pun, most probably orang luaq la tu.

I plan to enjoy this race. No plans for any PB.  I want to just enjoy the scenery and the crowd and just let go of any personal goals. Habis dalam 3 jam pun 3 jam la. I'm just using this race to run off the calories I'll take in during raya.
Training pun cam  caca marba. Tak kuase la pulak nak treneng sungguh -sungguh bulan pose. Haha. I was singing a different tune pre-puasa kan? Cam aku kata la, plan baik punya..tapi execution? Hancuss..hehe.

Lagipun this raya is the time I want to pulun eating raya cookies. I'm a real kuih raya hantu.And it's the only time of the year where you get to pulun 20 cookies in one day and no one looks at you like you're a glutton.
Right?
Err....right?

Post-Call-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

I think I've just encouraged some of my colleagues to sign themselves up for their first 5 K race.

Now if I can only pry my butt off this seat to run a decent 5 miler...err 5 K.

See, being in the fasting month doesn't mean you have to stop your postings, people.

Even if it is a useless entry.

Isn't this grotesque? It's so creepy to look at. 

Killed off your appetite for that iftar watermelon, didn't it?