Mizuno Wave Run 2008

After all the excitement of the Shape Run back in August, I was all fired up and trained hard for the second race - the Mizuno Wave Run (10k).

First thing I did was changing my running technique, and then trying to introduce some speedwork into my runs. A lot of tips and articles from Runner's World helped.

Keeping a regular training schedule was hard, but in the end I managed about 3 to 4 sessions a week - speedwork and tempo runs on weekdays, long runs on weekends.

Then, finally came the big day. It didn't help that the night before Cynthia was acting up, coupled with the fact that I couldn't sleep. In the end I slept for about 4 hours before waking up at 5 am to pick up my other running mates.

The course this time around was harder than the Shape Run, a lot of uphills. By the 7th KM, I was getting quite tired and the thought of stopping crossed my mind for a second, but I pressed on.

I finally finished in an unofficial time of 57 minutes, but the official time will probably be 1 hour, because there was a queue at the finish line! This was the first time Pacesetters was using a microchip to track the participants' start and end times, and one lesson learned would be that they need more finishing lanes in order to avoid congestion in the future. At one stage, I saw that the line was about 50 persons long :)

Next stop - improving my running technique further, increasing speedwork, more training on uphills in order to challenge for a better timing in the next race. Unfortunately, there aren't any more short races that I can participate this year, so the next race will probably be early 2009. Gambate!

Cinemagic

I saw a review of Homerun today, a 2002 Singaporean film by the (in)famous Jack Neo that I heard managed to be both quite touching and politically loaded.




I got to thinking why there aren't many meaningful movies that kids and teenagers can enjoy nowadays, apart from the usual slick fare that Hollywood churns out.

Then I remembered a film festival for young people called Cinemagic that happens around November & December every year in Belfast. The festival featured movies for and about young people from all over the world, both new and old. I managed to catch the '92 and '93 editions, and still kept the '93 programme book.



On a whim I googled for Cinemagic, and presto, its still going strong after all these years! You can go their site to find out what kind of movies they are showing this year.



Tucked within the usual blockbusters are movies such as Innocent Voices, a movie about how war had affected the life of a child.

Maybe we could persuade GSC or TGV in Malaysia to do something similar film festival one day :)

Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again

I didn't know about the Carpenters until a relatively late age - I was 18 when I first saw the cassette tapes at a music shop I used to frequent with some friends at PJ State.

But I was quite hooked on their soothing songs soon after, and collected quite a number of their song over the years.

In Uni, I found out that Karen Carpenter had passed away, and with that came the sad realization that I was not going to hear any more new songs from her.

But in 1995, a new single CD was released, around the time I was preparing for my final year uni exams. It contained two old songs, and a previously unreleased one - Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again.

The song was haunting - hearing Karen's voice on a new song was a spine tingling experience. I soon had it on repeat on my CD player as I slogged through my books.

Now, as I listen to it again, those months between spring and summer when I was coming to the end of my time at Belfast came flooding back to me - looking out at the students relaxing in the fields just outside the hostel, the dread-filled hours spent at the Science library going through the past year papers, walking past the Botanic Gardens towards the computer labs, playing football outside the Physical Education Centre.


At any moment he'll be walking through that door
But he won't find me behind it
'Cause the feeling is gone and just won't come back any more
I worked so hard to find it

I've been up, down, tryin' to get the feeling again
All around tryin' to get the feeling again
That one that made me shiver
Make my knees start to quiver every time he walks in
I've look high, low, everywhere I possibly can
But there's just no tryin' to get the feeling again
It seemed to disappear as fast at it came


Read every book, looked, for every meditation and poem
Just to bring home that old sweet sensation
But it ain't no use to me to try to get the feeling again

When did it leave me
How did I come to miss use such a beautiful bonnet
But baby believe me, I've done everything I can do
But somehow it's no returnin'
I've been up, down, tryin' to get the feeling again
Like a bloodhound searching for a long lost friend
Could you help me rediscover
The way to re-be his lover once again