Meh..

Nobody likes being sick, I'm no exception.
It
1) forces me to skip my runs
2) makes to too weak to work out
3) increases my appetite three-fold

Combine that altogether and you have yourself a recipe for a noticeable loss in muscle and added fat to your body due to excess calories! YEAH!!!

Labels: Sick

Or more specifically, a Mizuno addict.

I'm already my third pair. I went to RunningLab in the hope of getting another Wave precision 8. Fortunately, they didn't stock them. Why fortunately? Because if they had, then I would not have discovered a totally awesome running store in Peninsula Plaza. It goes by the name of Feder Sports: Running Specialist. Walls of Asics, New Balance, Saucony and most important, Mizuno, line the inside perimeter of the store. I could have sworn I was in heaven.

The Mizuno rack was displayed prominently near the mouth of the store. I eyed the blue Wave Precision 8, thinking that it would greatly compliment the red one that I'm currently using. Then my eye wandered to the sight of a very familiar thing on the same shelf, but I just couldn't recall what it was. Ever get one of those awkward moments where you meet people on the street and they greet you by name, but you just can't put a finger on the person's name so you just respond with a 'Hey, you!'? Yeap, same situation here.

Then I remembered. Wave Precision 9. I couldn't believe it. How is it possible that it has already arrived in Singapore? I told myself that it's gotta be a fake. Upon, further inspection though, I realised it really was the real deal. Queried the shop-keeper and after the mandatory haggling, he lowered the price to $115. Needless to say, I took it. I then browsed through the Saucony line, looking for the Grid Kilinney. Sadly, they didn't have it. I then, paid up, took my shoes and left the store, but not before a long and hearty chat with the shopkeeper about last year's Wave Run, the rigidity of Saucony shoes and it's history (He told me Saucony pioneers were originally from Asics) and the pathetic shoe selection that RunningLab has.

Mizuno Wave Rider 9
Mizuno Wave Precision 8
Mizuno Wave Precision 9
All together now!

Last year's event was a complete fiasco, a combination of a bad running route (2 choke-points), lazy route marshals and a disgusting baggage storage system. All that, coupled with the fact that drizzles turned the Bedok Reservoir part of the route into a wet and muddy swamp, made for a bad race experience.

I was hesitant about joining this race again this year, but I just signed up because the venue is just a 10 min walk from my home. I can safely say that the organizers have redeemed themselves. They changed the route, so instead of exiting TP via the gates facing the reservoir, we exited through the gates near the street soccer courts and turned left to run the perimeter of the polytechnic before going u-turning into the asphalt section of the reservoir. Things were pretty tight during the first 7 minutes, probably due to the narrow path. I saw other runners spilling into the adjacent road and thought I would be better off running there than on this narrow path I was on.

There were only 2 waterpoints along the whole route, not that it mattered to me because it was only a 10k. I loved the 2 groups of cheerleaders from ACJC that were there to spur us on. Yummy.

So I got two Sub-1 10Ks already. I should start training for a sub-50. =D

Show on Friday @ NTU. Pics of rehearsal space on Sunday.

Gorgeous building Kinda has a warehouse vibe Mine Effendi's Acoustic amp and 5 piece drum set (we never use them) Mixer
Due to the lack of amps, we just plugged direct into the mixer board. EQ-ing the direct guitar's signal was tedious, but apparently Effendi has magic hands that can transform the most nasal, thin and compressed sounding guitar sound into a more open and bigger sounding guitar.

Labels: Bands, Dualtone, Rehearsal

Should I even think about it? My previous year's half-marathon attempt was torture, to say the least. The hard part wasn't the 21.1km I did on 3rd December 2007. No, it was far from it. It was the 4 months of shit that I put my body through to prepare for that singular attempt on 3rd December. During the training, there were moments of pure, unadulterated ecstacy, the kind of high you wish would never cease. For ever peak, there are obviously valleys and in my case they came in the form of moments of dread and self-doubt, and the ever lingering question, "Why the fuck am I doing this?"

'Why the fuck am I doing this?' I asked myself that so many times, but I couldn't find the answer. I guess that question can be thrown and locked in the same vault as questions like 'What is the meaning of life?', reserved for god to answer come judgement day. I remember having a break-down just 3 weeks before the race. During one the tempo runs, I just stopped. I walked over to the distance marker and sat on it, head between my thighs, and silently wept. The pain was unbearable.

Should I put myself through hell again?
Hmm.. Well, why not? =D

Labels: Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2008

Thanks to Brokie, I get to run the MWR 2008. She mailed the receipts straight away after receiving them on Friday. The receipts arrived on Saturday and I immediately went to collect the race pack at *scape.

Awesome number Oversized shoe bag Back of the shirt Front right breast logo I find that Mizuno running singlets have the best cutting compared to FBT, adidas and brooks.

Labels: Mizuno Wave Run 2008

My Mizuno Precision 8's have been serving me well so far. I absolutely adore it's low ride height and the racer-like lightweight properties that it exhibits. Cursed with a supinator's feet (high-arched), I needed more cushioning than a neutral or mild/heavy pronator's feet. However, my light body weight meant that I did not require much cushioning to begin with. The Mizuno Wave Precision 8's provided the just the right amount of cushioning. Also, due to it's light weight, I can effortlessly floor it if someone tries to engage in a friendly mid-run race with me. Hur hur..

Just recently, my Mizuno Wave Precision 8's has just breached the 800km mark. I would need to get a new running shoe asap. I would probably be getting another Wave Precision 8, or maybe something similar to the characteristic that the Wave Precision 8 has. And if money permits, I won't mind blowing it on a racer. Saucony's Grid Kilkenny XC2 looks so fucking yummy!

Just fucking great. My habit of not checking my emails regularly could just lead to a race disqualification. I hope Brokie snail mails the receipts to me in time. Shit.

I agreed to meet up with Wen Bao at 8am at SP's track. In typical 'janji Melayu' fashion, he arrived at 9. Don't ask how a Chinese could inherit this 'janji Melayu' disease. While waiting for his fat ass to arrive, I did some core exercises and ogled at two dragonboat chicks going through their repertoire of push-ups and sit-ups in between sets. Girls with muscles are hot. Geeky girls with muscles are sizzling.

I did 16 laps on lane 8. Wen Bao did 2, only because the southside of his right foot was cut up as a result of the friction between that area and the shoe due to him wearing too low a sock. My left calf felt good during the run, but most importantly it felt normal after it. I'm so glad I rested, albeit with much conflict with my inner competitive side.

Labels: Injury-free

Running and cycling are as different as day and night. They require the use of different types of muscles and burn different amounts of calories for the same time period of activity. That being said, your ability to run 15km with normal to minimal effort doesn't mean that you'll be able to come out of a 15km bike ride unscathed.

Now I'm left with the undesired effects of over-training: Injury. The nagging pain in my left calf hinders me from clocking my running mileage. I only managed a 9.3km run on the treadmill in school this week. The run felt great, but it made walking a nightmare after that. And apparently the gym had a no sweating rule too. Wow. Stick your ass in a treadmill for 50 minutes and try to stop yourself from perspiring.

I hope the injury clears up by Sunday. I'm gonna stop running until then to let everything heal. If this injury takes a downward spiral, I'll stop running altogether and bulk up to get the 20 inch biceps that running would not allow me to have. Hah.

Labels: Calf injury

After 2 pussy-less years, I finally got someone to call 'dear'. Things should have gone smoothly, and we would be married after 5 years of courtship, with a house and 4 children to call our own. But no, life would never let me off easy. Instead, it threw me a 15 year old teen. She falls in love with me, and then tells me so. What is a hot-blooded 17 year old guy to do? I was torn between conscience and the need to satisfy my insatiable horniness. And if that wasn't enough, life mortared yet another girl at me. A brash, rude, boyish but strangely attractive girl whose age would have deemed me a peadophile right away. I liked her, but I knew that there was no way in hell we could be together. 5 year differences are acceptable in adult courtship but in my opinion, it is not during teenage courtship. Still, that didn't stop me from spending time with her.

The time spent watching movies with 15-year-old-teen and teaching guitar to brash-rude-and-boyish drove me further and further away from dear. My mind got deeply engrossed with thoughts about fucking the other two that I didn't realise the awesome girl that I already have. Needless to say, she left me. Then, like a Shakesperean tragedy, 15-year-old teen vanished and not long after, brash-rude-and-boyish left for Vietnam. I lost everything, all at once.

I don't understand why life had to give me 2 pussy-less years before handing me 3 girls. Why couldn't they be spread out over the 2 years? The need for a 2 year hiatus? I have no fucking clue.

And if its not about girls, it's about bands. I was band-less since Oct 08. And now, I'm in 3 bands already. And there's also a jamming improv try-out see-what-you-can-add-to-make-the-sound bigger thingy with the Dualtone girl. I have no idea if I'm going for that one. I'm tired. I have no money for Sunday's jamming with Sal's band. I'm hungry. My throat hurts from downing soft drinks. I realise I'm still in love with Tiara. I'm so fucking sleepy. I'm not going to school tomorrow. I wanna play XBOX 360 and guitar for the whole fucking day!

Labels: Bands, Girls