last running event of the year!

after running an event i think a lot of runners say to themselves "so when's the next run?".

i thought my last running event of 2010 was going to be the penang bridge 10 km but little did i know that i was going to push myself further and attempt a 12 km run only a few weeks after running my first 10 km.

runningbuddy and i followed the nike motto-just do it! and registered ourselves for the 12 km malakoff KL after finding out they opened more running slots.

a last minute, impromptu, let's go run in KL kinda thing.

imagine sitting in front of the computer at 12 am to be the first one to register when malakoff opened a few more running spaces-normal people would think we were buying concert tickets but no.

it was my second run in KL and the route was somewhat familiar. i spent a lot of time in bukitdamansara when i was growing up and remember the hills quite well so i knew the route was going to be torture.

2 rounds with 2 killer hills!

my main goal was to finish the run without stopping but that failed when i got a really bad stitch climbing the killer hill on the last lap.

i decided to walk at a fast pace till the stitch left and as soon as it did,i ran to the finishing line :)

i'm still happy with the run even though i had to stop for a bit.

earlier this year i struggled to even finish a 4 km run but now i can run 10 km without stopping-so i've made some improvement!

any run is great run so no complaints :)

the vibe post run is always amazing.everyone is happy and have smiles on their faces even though some can't feel their legs. something only those who run can understand,i think.

you also start seeing runners and their personal style-those that dress up and have fun,those that are extremely focused and want to win.

all in all,running has been one of the highlights of this year off.

this post is dedicated to those i've ran with in 2010.

theotherbro-mother's day run melb, PBIM

KSR&INM- mother's day run melb

thelittlebro- kebun bunga charity run

runningbuddy- kebun bunga charity run, PBIM, malakoffKL

THANK YOU for all your support and company during the runs and training.

YOU ARE AWESOME- here's to more runs together in the future!

how do i leave?

when i'm already counting down to the day i return to malaysia,

for good :)

december

today i choose to embrace december with open arms.

i will choose to spend everyday with the people i love and cherish.

i will enjoy my time in malaysia,

because i know when i leave in a month's i will miss everything and everyone i have here at home.

so today i started the day like any other day,with a big smile because that's they only way i can deal with the pain of leaving that i can already feel.

25th Nov

so it's been 4 days post PBIM.

ran the 10km in about 68 mins. my first 10 km event and i survived! wooooo hoooooo :)

the feeling of self satisfaction and sense of achievement is amazing. never once i thought i could ever run the bridge.

ask me two years ago if i could run and the answer would be "erm no!". that was when i was 14 kg heavier.

so last year i set myself the goal-to run the penang bridge. at that point i struggled to even run 10 mins straight!

the day before the run the island was filled with fellow runners.the normal running route had more people than usual-all very exciting!

2 days before the run,we found out that instead of running the timed 10 km, we had to do the fun 10 km run instead. initially i was disappointed but running is running-the finisher's medal doesn't mean anything. knowing that i ran the 10 km and achieved my goal was more valuable!

so on sunday morning,we got to QB around 6am+ plus the rain and all.went straight to the starting line.

and because it was the "fun" 10 km run,the atmosphere was more relaxed! people were there to run and have fun!

since it was my first time 10km event,i decided to run at a steady pace.

the first 5 km was rather easy-no rain and beautiful sunrise from the bridge.

the second 5 km was just slightly harder when rain started pouring down but i love running in the rain.it just pushes you to run harder and it makes you feel stronger!

my running buddy is awesome-thank you! we paced nicely the whole 10 km and finished fast at the end. my bro who didn't train at all did well too :) !

the end :(

nearly vomited twice after we stopped running and it rained quite heavily!

but the adrenaline rush-hello, another 15 km anyone?

then the rest of the day was spend like any other post run days: breakfast,shower,sleep,lunch and rest.

i will definitely be running the bridge again.

to me running is like life. the finishing line is the end goal.the aching leg,the shortness of breath,the rain,the heat is life's challenges.the excuses is all mental game & state of mind. if u want to get to the finishing line badly,just keep running and you'll get there. don't give up and don't settle for less.

running is more than just exercise.

so bring it on! new goal-21km by end of 2011.

November

credits:googleimage

5 days till the Penang Bridge run!

and my first 10km race!

running the bridge has been one of the things i've always wanted to do since moving to penang in 1995.

it'll definitely be one of the highlights of the year off which soon will come to an end in feb 2011.

more updates to come later.

inspired to blog once again :)

August!

august already?! what the...

my last post was in may. i'm sorry.

i've been back in melbourne for 4 weeks now after spending july back home.

the trip was a nice change.i came back to melbourne knowing what i want to be and where i want to be in the next 5 year.being home for 4 weeks surrounded by family & friends made me realise that i might have been away for far too long.

moving out of penang when i was 17 and having spend over 9 years overseas,i miss being home.

and as much as i love melbourne,i still cannot call it home.

Week 12,13 & 14

april went by just like that!

parents,bro & sis came down to visit.i didn't work for the first 3 weeks but instead played host to them and ate way too much food.

post 6km run

docklands on a sunday morning

i did the 6km run for water around docklands the weekend after the family left.my first 6 km run!! :) managed to run nonstop for only 4.5 km i think before my breakfast threated to come back up via my mouth.had to stop and walk for about 500 meters before i ran the last 1 km to the finish line.finished it all in 42 mins.

southwharf-dfo

i've also just joined a surf club-alba surf club and they go surfing every weekend!! my first trip with them was last sun-we drove to phillip island but there were no waves anywhere.ended up having fish& chips with new friends before driving back to the city.

phillip island

i've been working heaps in the last 2 weeks to make up for the weeks i didn't work.doing the mother's day run on sunday and i'm excited!!..last year i did the run and it was the first running event i've ever done in my life.this year i'm running again with a few friends so it'll be awesome!!

the next few weeks will be filled with exercising & working before going back to malaysia in june.

also i'm decluttering my room and collecting stuff to sell at the camberwell market in july.woot woot!!..

Week 10 & 11

the lil bro is in melbourne and here's what we've been up to:

first stop-st ali for brekkie

dinosaur at harbour town

rides at luna park,st kilda

lunch at st kilda

*AH's & *NJ's 22nd bday party

rockclimbing at south wharf

surfing lesson at torquay

2nd surfing trip to torquay

went up to the skydeck

thefather,themother and thelilsis came over to spend the weekend with thebros and i.it was a rather hectic weekend chillaxing with the family but much needed :)

the other bro joined my gym today.yay to another gym buddy!!

i'll be working in ED on saturday-i'm actually looking forward to it cause i haven't worked since the lil bro arrived.

the 6km docklands run for water event is also this weekend.at the mo,i've started training again and i'm hoping i'll be able to finish it without walking.

we're also planning another surfing trip before the lil bro goes back home this saturday. till then wait for somemore pics :)

Week 9

what??!! i haven't written anything for a month! shame on me..

SORRY FOR BEING M.I.A :)

how do those pro bloggers update their blogs daily?

i'm going to commit myself to updating this on a weekly basis :) so just check the blog every week or so.

besides trying to tick everything of my-year-off list,i've also gone back to

working part time. which is good fun cause i only work 2-3 days a week.

here's what i've been up to:

-4km docklands dash

my second of the super sunset series organised by the melbourne sports centre.i achieved my goal of running the whole event without walking so i was very happy at the end.it was a great running event cause docklands is my running playground :)

-run for the kids 5.2 km

ran 37:59 minutes straight and it was my first 5 km ever!!! didn't realise how exhausting it was until i got home,had breakfast and slept for 3 hours after the run. it was a great experience!

-freak melbourne storm

we watched as melbourne got hit by a crazy storm from our apartment.all of a sudden it was dark then the next thing you know,hail came pouring down. the city was in chaos and everyone was wet! it looked like melbourne was covered in snow.

-surfing trips

first lesson for the bro and *RJ and now they love it too.after their first lesson as we were walking back up to the surf school to leave the surfboards,it started to rain and hail!! but only for 10 minutes before the sun came out again and we were back in the water after lunch at bells.

rainbow on the way back to melbourne.this was the day after the melb freak storm. i think it rained the whole day in melb while we were enjoying the sun in torquay.

2nd surfing trip in a fortnight-this is the post surf binge. hello greasy fish and chips.spent the next few days working out at the gym.

-melbourne romp

part amazing race/treasure hunt to help raise money for the Burnet Institute. fun day out with the Makan Group.i could NOT feel my legs after one whole day of walking round melbourne. topped the day with having ABC at the new oldtown kopitiam at QV.

-cats,regent theatre

*B got us awesome front row tickets and the show was excellent!!! the costumes were amazing. i have so much respect for anyone who can do musicals and there's more musicals coming to melb this year.i cannot wait for hairspray in october.

-tropicana juice bar,elizabeth street

two days ago,i tasted their south american delight juice which they claim is the "best juice on earth" and fell in love with the place.the recipe is a secret but it's delicious.i've been back for more since my first drink and i know i'll be a regular. no more boost's energizer juice for me!!

-arabic class

enrolled myself for 8 sessions of arabic lessons at CAE. the first lesson was last night and it went for 2.5 hours.initially it was easy cause i already knew the arabic letters but then it got more complex when we actually started learning basic phrases. it was good fun as i love being a student again!

i'll be working this weekend before the youngest bro comes to visit next week.

Day 15,16,17&18

Day 18

super sunset series-melbourne zoo-4km

first fun run of the year.ran round the zoo for the first 2km and then inside the zoo. it was an interesting experience running inside the zoo,saw a few animals whilst i was running-gorillas,giraffes and baboons.

the next run will be on the 10th,the docklands dash,another 4km run.

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Day 15-17

last minute surfing trip with the girls. drove to lorne and spent the whole day by the beach & shops. it was a lake at lorne on sunday,i think there were only 2 waves in 2 hours but it picked up late in the arvo. spent monday at torquay and it was awesome!! back to back great waves and because it was a monday there were barely anyone on the beach! i spent the next day bumming at home cause i was exhausted from all the fun at the beach.

the woohoo revue played while we were having lunch

magic mushroom from the bottle of milk,lorne

bells beach

torquay

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so while i was away from updating the blog,here's what i did :

registered to a do few fun runs-doing 2x4km,5.2km for run for the kids and 4.7km for mother's day classic.

bought new runners :)

*A arrived for the week and i indulged in a few things i would never eat whilst alone like crepe and chocolate for example.spent an extra hour at the gym the very next day.

i'm currently reading the new jasper fforde-my fav non-fiction writer.am planning to reread the thursday next series after this.

brekkie at south melb- the usual mediterranean and a skinny chai followed by fresh&cheap oysters :) the ideal start for any lady of leisure.

Day 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 &14

sorry,i've been MIA.

i've been working the last 3 days and i needed one whole day to recover from 30 hours of work. initially i decided i'd take at least a month off before working part time but the offer was too good to say no.plus it was an easy but busy job to do-ICU so even though it was tiring it was a lot of fun!

i'll upload pics of what i've been up to soon but it's pretty much been hanging out,eating out and the gym.my first 4km run will be on the 24th around the melbourne zoo.hopefully i'll survive till the finish line.

tomorrow we're going surfing so i'm excited :)

i'll be back with pictures on monday.

Day 4

started the day at the gym and completed 8.2 (2nd run of week 8) of couchto5k. struggled a lot to keep running but all i did was focus on the wall infront of me till the time was up. i'm easily distracted when i'm running on the threadmill cause i can't decide what to look at!

can't believe i'm one week away to finishing the whole program then i'm going to start registering for runs in melb-who wants to join me?

image from google

the big goal is to run the penang bridge in november.the penang bridge connects mainland malaysia to the island of penang (where i live).it's about 13.5km but i'm going to start with the 10 km fun run. i've managed to convince a few friends to join me as well.it's something i've always wanted to do-ever since we moved to penang in 1995.the only problem was i'm not a runner-swimmer,yes,runner,no.give me the pool/sea/water and i'll jump in :)

so as part of my quarter life crisis last year (i'll explain that in another entry) i decided to pick up running after finding out about the couchto5K program online.the most awesome thing about it is now u can also get it as an iphone app. all u have to do is turn your music and run-then a voice will come on and say "run now" or "jog now" or the best one "one minute left".i highly recommend it to anyone who wants to start running.

Day 3

when i found out my brother was coming back on tuesday,i had to do a major clean up of the house.

so i finished last week doing nights and i've been slowly trying to pick up after myself.i reckon working nights does crazy things to you. all i do when i get back from work is sleep-no decent food,no cleaning up,no gym.hence everytime i am on nights the house becomes a mess.

inspired by recent pics by CM and her new ikea-fied bedroom,i bought the shelf from GH who had a help-me-get-rid-of-my-stuff sale.

a cleanup of my bedroom will be done in the next few days. baby steps to house cleaning i say :) my bedroom is another warzone. the reason my computer is in the living room is because my desk is full of stuff-i can't even remember the last time i used the desk to do anything,probably never.

i also spoke to an agency about doing some locuming* work.made it clear to them that i had to be based my melb and not some random rural area.as much as i'd love to make money-i'll miss out on things on my to do list if i'm away.

*for my non-medical buddies: locuming-working part time where there are shortages of doctors in a hospital. the best part is some locum shift pay $72-100 compared to the minute amount of $27/hr (variable) for fulltime doctors.

will be dropping by CAE tomorrow to enquire about their arabic classes,i hope it's not too late to register.

Day 2

my first sunday as lady of leisure and knowing the fact that I didn't have to go to work the next day was awesome.

started the day early at camberwell market.

yoga at the market anyone?

we drove to camberwell blasting 'easy',the faith no more version. it was the theme of the day!

borders

spent the next few hours at borders and in the 75% off box was this book. the journal or scribbles of a comedian-full of random thoughts.

N&Z's housewarming-great company and malaysian food.we played band heroes until it was dark.

everyone was talking about what they were doing this year.the new medical year starts on Monday-so there were some excitement about starting new jobs for some of my friends...I wish them all the best.

for me I've got nothing planned for the next 2 weeks :)