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18 March 2012 will be the day to look forward to – Ironman 70.3 Singapore. I’ve been thinking about doing the half –Ironman again for quite some time now, having missed out on this year’s edition. But i’ve been yearning to get my focus. I’ve been distracted for far too long now and i miss the simple life of putting all my attention and focus on training. The process is painful in most ways, but one thing is for sure – the feeling at the end of the day/race is absolutely rewarding.

I’ve had good and bad races, but they all come with a reward. There’s always something to take away from each and every race.

Work has been a real drag and it’ll be a challenge to balance work and training for the next 6 months. But it can be done. I’m guessing that my social life will take the biggest hit. I will definitely miss the time hanging out with friends but it’s something i have lived with a couple of years ago, i can do it again.

Preparation for this year would be challenging for me, physically, mentally and emotionally. Physically, i’ve totally lost the game and i’m nowhere near my fittest during the 09/10 season. Mentally, i’m not confident having not clocked enough mileage during trainings and emotionally – oh boy.. there’s just been so much drama, i have to admit that this race is a big excuse to just escape from it all.

Time to start feeling good about my body again, time to feel prepared going into the race and time to cut away silly distractions that don’t do me any good in the end.

Things are really simple now – a 42km in Dec and an Ironman Tri in March. Guess that means that...Training. Starts. Now.

Gotta keep running

Life is so much simpler if i just keep running..

Don't have much time left to my 4th full marathon. I'm still clocking 14km during trainings and i've not broken the 30km mark since...last year's race. I've been distracted with a particular personal issue, but i pray that it'll get settled sooner rather than later. Because i don't want it to drag on any further.

But back to racing. I'm very much inclined to sign up for Ironman 70.3 again. I miss every single minute of it - the hours training, the sacrifice, the pain and pleasure during the race itself. And all this just made me miss the friends and a particular someone who was always at my races and supporting me in just about every possible way. I do miss her and sometimes i wonder if i'll ever find someone as supportive as she was to me. Can't help but think i could have been better to her.

Wish life was alot simpler, but i do acknowledge that it's all part of growing up and coming of age. Yes, only one thing is needful, to keep seeking Jesus Christ and all these things will be added onto me. I just pray that i find a way to rid myself of certain negativities. Is it possible to be happy 24/7?

If my body could, running non-stop would do the trick for me. Haha.. 

But for now, it just makes the most sense to distance myself from certain emotions, relationship traps and preserve my heart, mind and soul for just work and training/racing. So help me, Jesus.

Singapore Bay Run

9 years on, I participated in my second Army Half Marathon, or a sexier name would be the Singapore Bay Run. In 2002, when I could barely survive the mandatory IPPT 2.4km run, I needed to run the 21km to pass out from my SISPEC course. I remember running up Sheares Bridge with literally a whole platoon of sweaty smelly army boys. The only thing that kept me going was my hormones.

You know how girls like to wear sports bras to races? In 2002, with 19km left, all I could do was to fixate my eyes on this girl wearing a black sports bra and did my best to keep up with her. Yes, every single dirty thought a hormone-raging, sex-depraved army boy could think of was manifested in me running after a pony-tailed girl in a black sports bra. I think I finished the race in slightly over 3hours.

This time, it was a girl in a white sports bra.

Before I get to that, I must say that doing 21km under 2hours has been my best result so far. And it can only be a miracle from God, because I almost didn’t make it to the race. Was chilling with friends the night before, and only had 2 hours to sleep before trudging down to the start line at for flag off at 5.15am.

I wasn’t sure if I could survive, much less complete the race.

Somehow my body felt good and despite my head telling my body that I’m going to fast at the early 5km mark, my body just kept going. Maybe it was still sleeping.

But I did feel abit of burnout in my lungs at about the 7km mark and the fact that I couldn’t shake the crowd, make it uncomfortable to breathe or pace properly having to keep overtaking. That’s when I thought I would just pace someone.

Someone wearing a white sports bra. To whomever you are reading this, thank you.
Pacing you for a good distance after the 10km mark definitely helped to get me past the first wall. And it was smooth sailing all the way to the finish line. Overall, it was one of the best races I’ve felt in a long time. Thank God. Best part was, I had enough energy to walk to town, take a cab back, have breakfast (yeah, I didn’t even eat for the race) and then go to church. Awesome awesome stuff.

Phew. I wouldn’t recommend what I did for anyone out there going for their next race, but hey. Jesus Christ saved the day, even for perverted runners like me who pace sports bras.

I hope there will be more sports bras in Dec for my next race, 42km!

Oh no.

21km this saturday but i'm nowhere near race ready. I'm still recovering from a bout of flu, fever cough. I barely did 4km today when my body decided to shut down.

It's bad. But at least i know i've got the drama out of my system - I can't handle all the girl drama so i'm doing what i do best, walking away. Sad thing is alot of friendships at stake is going out of the window. I guess i can handle that.

Got too much to handle at work and time to prepare for Dec's 42km.

Goodbye drama, hello focus.

Choices

My time is running out and i have to make a decision hard and fast. Usually a good run would help clear my mind and set my heart at peace.

This time, i don't even have the mood to run. I changed into my kit and just sat there - i couldnt even lift myself off the chair to lace up.

I'm not depressed, i'm not sad. It's a happy problem you could say - but i'm just afraid of making promises i cannot keep. Saying things that i have to take back.

Maybe not so bad la. But my focus has clearly been off. 21km less than 2 weeks' away, i need to get my focus back where it should - juggling between gym and distance running.

Always.

OSIM 2011

Time for my race update! In short, I not only failed to improve my timing, I clocked slower and dropped in rankings. Depressed? Nope.

Firstly, there are legit reasons I could use as an excuses to explain the drop in timing. This year’s waves were tough. I found my strokes and rhythm all over the place, bobbing up and down and tossed off course. I found my swim leg down by a whopping 3 minutes.

The bike leg was surprisingly painless. Although I did clock a time 2 minutes slower, compared to last year’s race, my legs still felt fresh after the 40km. Oh did I mention that I only found out it was a 4 lap bike leg at the very last minute before the horn went off? A friend I met (Thanks KK!) at the start line casually wished me all the best for the 4 laps on the bike – say what? 4?!

Then on the bike leg, I actually asked fellow cyclists if it was 4 or 6 laps. Some said 4, others said 6. In the end, based on plausible timing, I settled for 4. Pity those fellas who said 6 and actually did it. That’s extra 20km on the bike. Wa. Might as well go do Ironman. Suayamakalaosai.

Anyway, back to the race. By the time I racked my bike, my legs were surprisingly fresh. I glanced at my watch and I knew I needed to do a hell of a run to make back the time. At about the 2km point, I figured I couldn’t beat the clock at the risk of burning out of air too soon. So I decided to just screw it, take my time and enjoy the race. Since I can’t beat the clock, let’s make this a race to remember.

And remember I did.

Race lesson #356 – Never try a power gel for the first time at the race itself. Sublime Lime flavor my arse! Rar!

That lime-flavored gel gave me the runs. I getting the runs while I was running. I was seriously fighting the urge to go take a poop. I was farting uncontrollably midway during the race. But heck I was too tired to care about people giving me stares or pinching their nose at me in disgust.

I clearly remember trying to psycho myself saying, “you can’t sh*t…you can’t sh*t…cos got no toilet paper..cos got no toilet paper”.

Don’t laugh. It worked.

And other than the minor breaks in running rhythm to break wind, overall I’m glad I kept pace throughout the run and viola! I managed to cut my run time.

So all in all, I clocked 3 minutes slower than last year. As I said, I could blame it on the choppy waves and tummyache, but that should be acceptable in every race and I’m not kicking myself about it. I’m glad I kept a good pace throughout and that, more than anything else, has motivated me (not out of anger and disappointment) to race better, train harder.

Next up in 3 weeks… 21km!