When I Grow Up, I wanna be....

Typical 'what do you want to be?' question, right? But not for this AIR1.

One weekend, we dropped by a petshop. We will take them for a look-around if its in the mall we're at. So this time, he saw some hamsters and was very interested. He has never asked me for a pet before but somehow that day he did. I tink he was more fascinated by the hamster's cage than anything.

'Mummy can I have one?'

'No, not now. Next time when you are older'

'But I want, Mummy. Then buy this also', pointing to the hamster cages. My mum asked if I still had mine, but told her that she gave them to my cousins who have now given those away too. So, I guess the option to own a hamster won't be so soon. IF I did still have the cage, I would consider sooner, but now its going to be a larger investment, so no way! :P

Then that night, out of the blue I told AIR1 'Next time, when you are older Mummy will buy you the hamster, ok?'
'No, I don't want!' I was surprised, but glad in a way, but I probbed further.
'Puppy?' 'No!'
'Cat?' 'No!'
'Mickey Mouse?' 'No!'
'Rabbit?' 'No!'
'Chipmunk?' 'No!'

Exasperated, I asked....'but just now u wanted a hamster, now what do you want?'

'I want to be a BIG BOY!'

And we all burst out laughing in the car!! :)

Suspension Yoga

Photo Credit to google.com

That was what I did yesterday, and although there were a few other inversion exercises done before, this was the ultimate. It was the coolest thing ever. Right after that 'blood rush' to the head, my scalp was soooooo itchy :) But of course it is quite difficult to get it upright in the begining. I wanna do it again!!

Go search images of 'suspension yoga' and see all the different poses that can be done. Looks really tricky but actually not, unless you are really very very stiff, otherwise it is generally do-able.

Now lets get the upside-down moves going :)

S26 PE Challenge

Now, guess what's that?

Yeah, a crate-ful of milk...S26 PE.

And...it was free!

Long story which I never got to it until now.

Sometime during Ramadhan 2012, I received an SMS asking me to reply to that SMS if interested to participate in the S26 PE challenge. *PE means Picky Eater*...Well, truthfully AIR1 is not really picky but he only eats certain things. Other than that, he doesn't really want to eat and on certain occassions, he can go just the whole day having milk. So I thought I'd just give it a try.

A week later (or so), a lady called to congratulate me for being one of the chosen ones. (According to the SMS, there will be 500) so oklah, at least I'm part of the 500. And the SMS was sent to those who previously registered with them. Yup, once upon a time, I did try S26 for AIR2.

And anyway, the supply was supposed to be for 2 months, and now (today), approximately 6 weeks into it, I'm down to 2 boxes left. :) So much for 2 months! Buuuuuutttt, thank God for the chance to have this for 12 boxes of milk! :)

Last week, the 'counsellor' called to check if there was any improvement or change...but nah, I didn't really think so. He still eats the same stuff but is somewhat more willing to try others. Only thing is that his definition of try - take a small bite and that's it. I think its the age..he seem to be 'outgrowing' his wanting to only take milk the whole day and is willing to have meals. But his meals can be quite sad, from a parents' point of view. Rice only. Ane he means it. Anything he tastes hiding behind the rice will be carefully picked out or irritatedly thrown out, with a scream!

Now let's hope he will definitely outgrow this weird eating habit....

Solomon X-trail

My first so-called trail run, other than it being part of an adventure race or something to that effect. Signed up for it when it opened and was excited.  Close to my house so save travelling time J And then discovered it clashed with PJ Half Marathon. But I didn’t think too much about it as I wanted to try something different. Though I’ve heard it wasn’t too difficult a trail, but being the clumsy me, even walking on asphalt can be tricky. Yes…imagine that.

Was totally surprised that the ‘rack pack’ only consisted of a t-shirt and the race number. What?? What happened to at least a small piece of paper with at least the venue or time or date? Come on! I’m no first timer to races, but first time to this event. But what about first timer to races? I’m not asking for a booklet, but at least just one, ONE sheet of paper.

Found out my ex-colleague was also running and so we met before the start. Men were flagged off at 7am and women at 715am. We ran together until just before we hit the trail. Sorry, Yom, I had to leave you behind. A water pit greeted us at the start of the trail and there were people even taking off their socks n shoes before entering it. WHAT??? It’s a trail run…what did you expect? Clean and shinny shoes at the end of the run?

It was fun because I didn’t trip and fall although it was a slippery trail…after a bout of heavy rain. And I somewhat managed quite well downhill -  no mishaps, and even could take advantage of it to speed!! That’s really rare. I attribute it to the shoes, perhaps J And the uphill, on the ‘2^nd round’ was a bit of a killer. Maybe because I pushed myself quite hard (cos I felt really good that morning) and almost the top, I actually felt light headed. Luckily it was all good when I reached the top.

‘Land mines’ were plenty on certain stretches and it was quite hard to spot at one point because of the glare from the sun.

It was all good as for a 11.4km trail, I managed approximately 1hr 25min (or so) cos I forgot to actually set my watch until somewhere in the trails :P but I did check my watch after the finish, so gauged from there. Now, I am looking forward to more exciting runs like this soon!!

KL Rat Race 2012

That was on 25 Sept 2012.

First time doing the Rat Race after hearing so much about it. Now I know why my previous company never thought of even sponsoring a team!! It's really expensive, although its for charity, I doubt they would want to do it.

It was all fun, albeit we didn't have our 'team of supporters' like the other teams. Most were financial institutions or the likes of it. Few large construction companies and I guess we were one of the only non-financial consultant...:)

We started as a team and finished as a team...though somewhere in between we had 3 people and 2 people running together, trying to encourage each other along. It was all good fun! Maybe another one next year?

River Jungle Marathon 2012

The mummies (After 'morning walk' up the hill)



With the most dedicated runner cum photographer

 

 

It was all planned, knowing that RJM was about 3 weeks after Raya, I had to train hard. But what did I do?

 

I joined the gym just before the fasting month, to provide me with the milleage I required. My weekend runs of roughly 25-35km on Sat and Sun were not enough. I was not getting any weekday runs. So with hope that the gym would provide me with some desired milleage. And so it did. Morning or lunch time 30-40 mins and sometimes strength classes did help. Helped improve my core strength and I believe it did help overall.

 

And so when the BIG day arrived, I was nervous as though it was my first race ever. Yeah, 42km 6 years after my 1st 42km, which was my personal best and which I trained really hard for it.

 

Knowing it was 9 miles away from my house, I felt abit better, but knowing that there was going to be a 3km climb, I was worried. I'm not a hill person. Although I did hill work on and off, nothing has prepared me enough for this. PLan was to try to slow jog, but of course, it was just us, but everyone else seemed to be walking!! (except those fast runners)

 

So, taking it easy....we walked almost the whole climb up (between 17-20km) and slow jog down cos we're old and injured :P tyring to take care of our weak joints :P after the slope down, we started running again....errrr did I say run? ok, jog...:)

 

Somehow Fong asked me to go off first, just before the 25km mark, so likely it was about 24km. REluctant as I was, I left her, asking her not to stop...we didn't have enough training, but for her, she was only 6months post-partum..so it was definitely harder.

 

And so I didn't stop....except to get water, until the 28 (or 29th)km where we were served fresh COCONUT water from the fruit itself!! CAn you believe it?? and after gulping it down so fast, I had to walk about 50m before I could run! And so it started again....I ran until the road through Kg. Sg. Lui, where the marshall says '10km more', but road markers says '16km to batu18 town'..I tried to tell myself, maybe it's 12km, but because I've cycled that way before, I actually knew it wasn't :P

 

But I tredded on...and on...and on...until KM32 (I think) water station, which felt like forever. Ok, I was determined not to stop ....but it was getting hot and feeling of cramps were setting in. thank God for that small water bottle I had. At some point, Nizar cycled by and had like a 20s chat with him. It kept me sane....till KM36, which the road marker evidently still didn't lie, and said 8km to go.

 

At some point between there and the next water stop, I had to walk. It just felt never ending. The main road was not in sight. IT was taking forever. But I felt good because I was getting ahead of people who were previously ahead of me :) that kept me going. Now, 5hrs 30 mins, felt like possible.... so i tredded on.

 

AT KM40, the ladies were so cheerful, saying 2km more, but road markers didn't lie. Yes, 4km more! :P hahahaha so I just tried to keep my spirits up and just kept going. And then perhaps 5:30 wasn't too do-able. now, let's target 6hrs...

 

IT was a very long 4km....and finally '500m - simpang ke KL'...WOW! FINALLY! But that 500m, felt like 1km to me. It took really really really long to reach....and after that final turn, the finishing line was also about 500m away, but spirits were lifted. I was just a tad disspointed that I couldn't do 5:30 (but hell, I didn't train, so how could I?), and tired and knowing I left Fong behind, I wasn't really 'celebrating' at the finishing. hahaha, expressionless finisher, I would say!

 

But glad I took the challenge, and my knee didn't even hurt post race. My heel, which was giving me slight issues was fine too. Now thank God for being able to complete it. Just slightly out of 6hrs....:) And I think its about 43-44km!! :P

 

Now, lets plan for the next 42km..:)

Full Marathon - after so long

Considering conditions of my knee (and also time limitations), I have not been very keen to pursue a full marathon. I know my knee's capabilities, and am very afraid that it may fail me, or cause me to suffer the post-race-effects for very long.

So after long contemplation, knowing my time constraints, I decided to just go ahead and do the very scenic River Jungle Marathon (RJM) which starts literally, at my 'back door'. Well, 9 miles away, that is :P

Managed to convince Fong, who was also dying for some 'target' to train for (but obviously both of us seem to be so 'tidak apa' (not very bothered)), and also wrong timing, cos its only 2.5weeks after the fasting month, so we didn't really have proper training. My so-called proper training was throughout the month before fasting, and the first two weeks of fasting, where i managed some decent 15km during the weekend. After that, it was almost downhill.

After Raya was worse. And field work this time didn't make time for me to even run. My last minute training, the week before the race - Mon&Tues (speed work for 30mins), Wed (strength), Thurs & Fri (7min pace for 40mins) and those were during my lunch break. The only time I could afford :(

And so come race day, all nervous but just went for it.

Stay tuned for the next post for the race write up :)