Ended off the year doing what I love best.

and starting the year on the same note too (:

2013, bring it on!

almost the end of 2012

thought I'll blog today

and then I see a cbox comment by a troll. Well there's a first time for everything!

This week was a pretty decent week of training compared to the last few. So 40km+ in C1 for this week, and 30km+ in k1. Plus weights and run. One of the better trainings was Friday's swim, 4km then 2 x 50m 100%. Thought i'll just swim 1km at most, judging from the previous attempts of 750m and less. But strangely, shoulders didn't hurt at all, and it felt so good to be back swimming.


I will recover fully and I will get even stronger and much faster than before, and I will represent Singapore at the SEA games (and beyond) and win gold medal(s).

If you tell me I can't do it, then well, I'm not listening anymore. Time to revive that spirit that made 2009 such an awesome year. And yes, that includes steering clear of small-minded people. Sometimes I think lapse too much into being kind. It's strange (for lack of a better word) how some words/things stick in your mind. A trusted friend once said you need to be selfish at times.

And perhaps that's what I'm doing now.

Let's keep the specifics to next week; there are details missing in that declaration above; rmb the last time I wasn't specific about MY gold medal? Some new dream is brewing. A wise man once said, "when one dream dies, dream another dream".

What if you believe?

Been having a good run of trainings with the boys. They are improving and I'm happy for them. Did some fun weights today. Bench pull 4 x 25, heavy enough to kill my forearms. Haven't felt this kind of pain in a long long while (actually, was just thinking about it after reading the NYT playground article). And it was all good, thanks guys. It's still premature, but thank you for allowing me to walk this journey with you.

So it is back to school next sem, albeit partially since FYP is still at the lab. You know what's the biggest drawback about internship? It lets you see the possibilities out there until there is a slight reluctance to return to school. But no worries, will get into the swing of things... starting with course registration on friday!

A couple of weeks ago, I thought my thoughts were just spur-of-the-moment impulsiveness. But now it is clear, as I wrote in my feedback form. Speaking of which, poorly designed forms irk me extremely. I am looking for a different purpose in life (from what the job could offer), and I know where it is/where I belong. I know a place that can marry my skills and passion; I found it 7 years ago (:

Work last week was rather draining, both physically and mentally. Took the weekend off to rest. Too many battles to fight, I need to dig up the resolve to only fight those that will get me to where I want to be.

When one dream dies, dream another dream.

Mr Low's Fb status update just jumped at me. From the man who said "When your work is your life, it is balanced",

When one dream dies, dream another dream.

So today I got down to being a subject in a solid pilot trial, complete with temperature pill ingestion, arm cannulation and lots of cycling + drink ingestion. Was some experience, the whole thing took 10 hours!

42.195 round 3

Round 3: 5h 55m 11s (2012)
Round 2 was ~6:50 (2008) and the first sattempt ~7:30 (2007).

So yes, definitely not fast, but still it's my PB by quite a lot (:

Was an interesting experience. Got up at 3am to get ready. Thank you SMRT and SBS drivers for waking up so early so that we the stan chart runners could get to the start line on time.

So there I was, 5am at the start line with many other people who thought this was the best way to spend a nice Sunday morning.

Started at a very conservative pace, was aiming something like 8-9km/h only. After awhile, I caught sight of the 5:15 pacers (thanks guys!) and stuck with them for 20 km. Just checked my splits, took 2h 23m, so actually on course for sub 5. Oh, did I mention these five (japenese?) who were dressed as power rangers? Like the full works, and they had the go-go-power rangers song too! Ah yes, and more superhero spotting, wonderwoman, Zorro and a couple more others.

 Ok so back to the run, then things started getting painful at the 20km. That's where I dropped off from the 5:15 guys+gal. This was not good, since previous years my legs usually ko at the 26km or 30km+ mark. At that point of time, only one thought going through my mind: "I'll never do this again. If you see me at the full marathon next time, you have permission to break my legs"...

So it was a painful trudge/slow jog/walk + stopping to stretch (that felt good!). Each kilometre seemed forever. Oh yes, and the part about over-drinking? I figured my hands didn't swell because of hyponatraemia-like symptoms since I felt it as early as 2km into the run! But was quite careful, so I only drank the first time at 10km (or was it 12?), then only 2 other times including the one at 20km. Haha, yes, but after that, threw out all the plans. Decided some water and 100 plus would help to lubricate the joints, total I must have had close to 20 cups of drink (~6 water 14 100 plus). I have no complaints about the route, but east coast park has once again proven to be the bane of my marathon attempt.

Don't know if it's cos so much time has passed since the last time I did the full (I did half last year), but the fellow runners didn't seem quite as chatty. Not that it matters to me though! Oh and the feel I had was that there were less female runners this time round?

And suddenly (ok not quite, it took forever remember?) I found myself at the 30km mark. Didn't sound too bad, only 12km left. Actually from 22km I was already counting to see if I could make a 5:30 (No, the 5:30 pacers ran past me at ECP). But I could still make sub 6h if I went at a decent pace. That means no walking for the whole thing!

And suddenly again, it was 6km to go. But before that, there was that mega slope outside MBS. When I saw it from afar, I thought that was when I was going to have to walk. But when I actually got there, I took one step, then another, then another- didn't seem quite hard! As it was with the rest of the run, it was really about taking the next step. Another note of thanks, this time to the awesome cheer squad at the marina barrage and outside the esplanade.

And then we have almost arrived. I find myself at esplanade with 2km to go and very quickly it became 1km to go with city hall/ padang in sight. Previous years my feet would have been in too much pain to even attempt picking up the pace. But this time it was different. I started speeding up, telling myself that at most it's another 1200m set, and hey, I can do that in 5 minutes right. There was some frantic watch-checking to see if the sub 6 was still possible.

Remember the part about "never again"? The last 500m changed my mind. The crowd was just amazing and cheering their hearts out for the runners. In one word, the atmosphere was electrifying. As I ran past them, I picked it up further, and for that fleeting moment I really believed I could fly.

So yes, it was painful, but to do it all over again to feel that last 500m would be worth it.

On a more practical note, I don't think my legs/feet are cut out for anything >2.5h. So half marathon and 10k still falls within that (actually, the 10th position for women's open 10k is 46m, not impossible I think!). Hm.. and yes, had a few scares with my shoulders during the run. Some awkward swings were enough to jolt me from whatever pain there was in the lower limbs.

Conclusion, overall I felt the race was much better organised so thank you to the people who made it possible. If you haven't tried a marathon, make it happen within a lifetime!

(: