KL Marathon 2009

When 2009 came, I wasn't too sure I will continue running anymore, after all the pain and injuries I went through.

But after some googling around, I decided that my shoes could be the culprit. So, shortly after Chinese New Year I got myself another pair of spanking new Nike shoes. Nike Air Structure Triax 11 maybe quite a mouthful, but it brought the joy back to my running again. According to the sales guy, you are supposed to buy one size bigger than your actual size, as your feet will expand as you run.

Thanks to a good friend who also took up running recently, I slowly got back into training again.

When the Standard Chartered KL Marathon was announced, I quickly registered for the full marathon, which I immediately regretted! But since commitment is made, I decided to try my best to train for it.

The hardest part of the training was waking up early on weekends to do the long runs - if you don't start by 5 am or 6 am, the sun will make the runs unbearable.

By the time the marathon came around, I had logged almost 300 km in 3 months, including 4 races.

Before the race, the question constantly eating on my mind was - will I be able to finish the race? The furthest I had ever done in training is 25 km, but according to marathon training theory, anything between 25 km to 32 km in training should be enough to guarantee that one can finish the full 42 km.

Then there's also the weather - the race starts at 5 am, meaning amateurs like me will finish in the hot sun between 10 am to 11 am. And last but not least, there's the feared "hitting the wall" phenomenon, the moment when your leg muscles finally run out of fuel.

The race started in drizzling rain, which I was very thankful to God for, as it meant that the first 30 km was very pleasant - the rain was later replaced with an overcast sky and a gentle breeze.

After running through Petaling Street (km 32) and up Jalan Istana (km 34), I finally found the fabled wall. I had imagined it was going to be fatigue, but it was not - it was sheer pain! Both my legs felt like they were going to fall apart. I managed to alleviate some of the pain by doing squats and rubbing Counterpain. From km 34 to km 40, I was alternating between running 1 km and walking 1 km. Km 40 to 42 was mostly walking, with short runs of 300 m in between. It was agony, but I also knew the finishing line was near!

My good friend who was running the half had stayed back to cheer me on in the last 200 m. Thanks, Liu! I owe you one :)

I finished in 5 hours 6 minutes, above my target time but I was just glad that I finished :)

I ran 42 km and all I got was this finisher medal :) (plus a finisher t-shirt)

Dating Blind

There was an article in The Star recently about where ladies could supposedly hang out to meet guys. They include the usual suspects like the local Starbucks, to the weekend flea market.

For the Chinese in Malaysia there is the MCA Cupid Club to look forward to. Judging by the number of weddings they had, I would that say it is more successful than trying to snag a guy while pretending to browse through some old antiques :)

Anyway, from the early 80's until 2003, the British had a tv show called Blind Date that supposedly did the job. It was hosted by the irrepressible Cilla Black, who always ended the show with "ta ra then!".

The show basically had a guy choosing between three ladies who he can hear but can't see, and vice versa, after which the show sponsors them on a blind date at a usually exotic location.


The fun comes in four parts - in the answers to the questions that the chooser asks (most participants try to give as suggestive as possible answers to even the most innocent questions), in the fact the guy who gave the most charming answers was usually a fat bloke who you usually won't even give a second look, in the speculation of whether they tried anything with each other during the trip, and finally, in the behind the scenes post mortem of the date by both sides.



While the show was great to watch, as far as making real matches was concerned it was quite miserable, scoring a measly three marriages in its 18 years of existence. The BBC has a great write up about the show here.

The Taiwanese had a much more effective tv show called 非常男女 which was somewhat modelled after traditional Chinese match making. A group of ladies would sit opposite a group of guys, and the hosts then throw up topics for discussion which then helps the participants decide who they like.

The parents of the participants usually come along to give moral support - some of them even point out to their kids who they should choose! As usual, there is the inevitable guy or lady that everyone wanted to date, but for the most part, at least half of them end up with someone by the end of the night. And some of them were so serious they looked they were going to get married on the spot! The show's been discontinued, but you can catch an old episode here.

A Tale of Two Car Parks

The other day, a discussion at the office reminded me of a true story that happened at a place I used to work some years ago. No names mentioned, in order to protect the innocent :)


Once upon a time, there was a company that had an open air car park and a covered car park at its office. Only the two top big honchos of the company were allowed to use the covered car park, while the rest of the staff made do with the open air one.


Everyone accepted this arrangement, and all was at peace.

Due to tight project deadlines, some staff came back to the office on their own on Saturdays. There were no OT or extra allowances for doing so, but they were happy to sacrifice their day off. Since the bosses didn't usually turn up on weekends, they parked at the covered car park.

One Saturday, the big boss turned up. He was enraged that his car park was occupied.

The following Monday, his PA sent out the following email to all the staff:

"Please take note that no staff is allowed to park at the covered car park at all times."

From that day onwards, no one came back the office on Saturdays.

The End.

Now Everyone Can Really Fly

When I found out that my opposite neighbour was going to UK for a 10 day holiday, I was genuinely surprised. Going to Europe used to be a big thing, and boasting that you just came back from a trip there never failed to solicit the "wah's" from friends and relatives alike.

Prior to that, I also found out that my babysitter is going to Melbourne at the end of the year.

And nowadays, whenever any friend mention that they just came back from Bali, Bangkok, Phuket or Hong Kong, no one bats an eyelid or even bothers to ask for the photos anymore. Instead, most of us starts to compare notes on what we did at those destinations.

Thanks to Airasia, the world has really become a much smaller place for us Malaysians. On a whim, I checked for flights to UK next year, and managed to find fares of around RM 1200 round trip.

Thanks, Tony, for giving us the chance to live out our dreams to travel the world.

Naming Vanessa

A common question friends ask us is how we came up with Vanessa's name, and its meaning. A lot of them imagined a lot of thoughtful discussion and research happened in terms of names' meanings, etc.

Well, actually the truth is slightly more mundane, but it was still an interesting process for us.

One thing that got my dad upset when Cynthia came along was our decision not to follow the family's Chinese middle name. The Chinese word in question was 德, pronounced De, and usually written as Teck. Its quite a masculine word, and the tough part was matching it to the right female name to balance it out.

I told my wife that since its possible that we may decide not to have another kid, I wanted to honour my father's wish this time around. Being Chinese educated, it fell to my wife to find the right word to go with the middle name, and she came up with 2 choices, both pronounced xuen.

Closer to the birth date, we both traded lists of English names, and got it down to between Theresa and Vanessa. Our choices were based entirely on how we perceived the names, and not on any meaning behind them (sorry to all you romantics out there). I had wanted an Irish name, and it has always been my dream to name one of my daughters Siobhan (pronounced "Shevon"), but since the name is so rare in Malaysia, I had to agree with my wife the headache this will cause teachers and friends alike in the future.

Shortly after delivery, I told my wife I was leaning towards Theresa (on account of Mother Theresa, Theresa Kok, better match with Teck, etc), when I was told that my younger brother's coming baby was going to be a BOY. This changed the whole situation, as unlike girls, it is compulsory for boys to take the family Chinese middle name. Hence I no longer feel obliged to use it.

Right there and then at the hospital bed, we brainstormed a new name, and flipped through the day's Sin Chew Jit Poh for ideas. We decided to use the same middle name as Cynthia, i.e. Xin, and agreed on Hui for the name. Theresa doesn't really go well with Hui, so it was settled there and then that the our second daughter will be named Vanessa Ling Xin Hui.

So there you have it, our non-systematic, non-romantic and non-scientific way of coming up with a name for our kid :)

Vanessa

She came almost a week earlier than expected, but praise God our second one was delivered safely at 12.16 pm on 8th April 2009.

This time around, the labour pattern was completely different from Cynthia's. For almost 12 hours there was no progress, but once the doctor decided to induce, it all happened very quickly, so much so I had to leave behind my lunch at SJMC cafeteria and rush to the delivery ward :)

Vanessa at 36 minutes old

Vanessa looking around after arriving home

The difference between newborn and 2 years, 3 kg vs 12 kg - Cynthia and Vanessa side by side

Baby Rooms

When we first decided to take Cynthia out, one of the worries was whether there will be any places to make nappy changes. Initially, I thought it should be a cinch to find a suitable place, especially in the more established shopping centres.

The reality is actually quite a mixed bag - the good, the inconsistent, and the surprising.

The good - One Utama old wing gets our thumbs up for a having a large baby room that can accommodate around 10 babies, located on the first floor of Jusco. Part of the room has curtains in case anyone needs some privacy . And the best thing is, if you run out supplies, the baby products section is just outside the room!

Another place that gets high marks is the new wing of Sunway Pyramid - the baby room even has a playpen and a separate breastfeeding room. See pics below:



Ikea, of course, is another place that get good marks.

The inconsistent - having sung the praises of 1 U, I have to also point out that apart from the mentioned room in Jusco, there aren't any other baby rooms in either the old or new wing, and similarly for Pyramid.

In Midvalley Megamall its the same situation, in the whole gigantic building, there isn't a single baby room, while in the Gardens, its inconveniently located on the second floor, not to mention being small and cramped. To further add insult to injury, to get to the baby room in the Gardens from Megamall second floor, tough luck if you happen to be having a stroller with you - there are stairs to navigate, so I was forced to carry both Cynthia and the stroller up and down the stairs! Pic of the Gardens room:


In Times Square, the one and only baby room amidst 10 floors of shopping is so well hidden you have to ask for directions to get there. But to give credit where its due, the room itself is quite nice.

Another strange thing is, there is no other Jusco that I know of that has a baby room.

The surprising - have a look at the picture below. Nothing special, just a nappy changing board, right? Well, guess what, it is actually located in the MEN'S ROOM. The shopping centre? Kudos and bravo to Ikano! It is gratifying to know that someone actually realized that its not only the mummies who are taking care of the babies :)

Love You Forever

Have you ever encountered a book where you had not even read it, but it got into you?

I was at a hair saloon, glancing through a Chinese newspaper while waiting for Cynthia to get her hair cut. An article about an old book by Robert Munsch caught my eye, and before I realized it, my eyes had welled up.

Later, I googled up the book - Love You Forever. Tears flowed again....

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Malakoff Run KL 2008

Back in June, I never thought I would end the year running in a 12k race. I was pretty out of shape then, barely completing 3k in a single run.

After the Mizuno Run, I was bitten hard by the running bug. Before I realize it I was running 5 times a week; over 3 evenings, and Saturday and Sunday.

It felt liberating, pushing my body to do things I never thought it could do, and as I picked up more speed and distance, it felt like I could keep on improving.

Alas, the frailties of my body began to show, and I realized that I was not superman after all. First came the shin splints, which luckily was overcome by changing the running technique. Then came a painful ankle sprain after a long run one Saturday. I was in pain for more than a month and had to wear an ankle support. And finally, I was hit with ITB syndrome towards the end of the recent Malakoff Run which, again was probably due to improper running technique.

Getting all these injuries reminded me why I wasn't too much of a sportsman during my younger days. I got acquainted with the anti-inflammatory powers of Ibuprofen, which greatly relieved the pain and the swelling.

Sometimes my wife would look at me as I stood at the door in the evening putting on my running shoes, shaking her head as she wondered what crazy thing has possessed me to torture myself :)

The Malakoff Run was a weird 2 laps of 6 km, no thanks to a last minute safety concern of running on a highway, but it provided a rare opportunity of watching the front runners in action, who usually zoom off into the horizon after the starting gun goes off. And my, are those guys fast. They were practically sprinting, eating up the hills like they were nothing. And among that group of elites was a 50 plus Chinese uncle!

I finished painfully in 1:15, hardly my best effort. But as I reflected on the past six months of running, I only remember the joy and exhilaration. Looking forward to another year of running in 2009!

What Goes Up....

Yesterday when I filled up my car, I couldn't resist taking this photo:


Because almost six months ago I took this:


Its amazing how things went all the way up and then all the way down again within such a short time.

Its quite obvious that there are more cars again on the road nowadays, and the jams have become more pronounced again. Still, I'm thankful that now I will have an extra RM 200 in my pocket every month :)

Penang Revisited

We went up to Penang last weekend to attend a wedding dinner.  This was our first visit to Penang since 2003, when us and a bunch of church friends did a very ambitious food trek and ended up with constipation on the third day.

But I digress.  Driving up and down the west coast at this time of the year can be quite a scary affair due to the heavy rain, and we saw quite a few serious accidents on the way.  Thank God we managed to arrive safely.

We stayed at Gurney Hotel this time, which provided a great view of the Gurney coastal line, not mention proximity to the famous Gurney Drive hawker food.  Alas, rain put paid to our plans, and we ended up having Korean barbeque and steamboat at Seoul Garden in Gurney Plaza instead.  Here we were in the food paradise of Penang on a Friday night, and we were eating mall food :P

On Saturday we met up with an ex-colleague who kindly showed us how to get to Bayan Lepas and also brought us to the awesome Bayan Lepas food court.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Prangin Mall to meet up with some of the wife's relatives.  Prangin Mall felt like a cross between Pertama Complex and Sg Wang Plaza, and we were warned to watch out for muggers and snatch thieves.

On Sunday morning, we headed to the Botanical Gardens, but had to cut short our visit as Cynthia got quite cranky due to the heat and humidity.  She's getting to be quite a "puteri lilin", must train her to endure the Malaysian weather more.

An ex-teacher made an excellent suggestion of watching the sunset at Balik Pulau, but unfortunately, that will have to wait till the next round.  Despite some bad press, Penang is still a great holiday destination and we are planning to go back again next year.

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

The "IF" Tag

Ann tagged me to do this last week, but was pretty tired from work the whole week and couldn't rack my brains properly to come up with the five "IF"'s.

Anyway, I finally sat down to think about it this evening and, yes, I did manage to come up with five "IF"'s. So, here we go:-

First "IF": If I had passed my SAM exams at Taylor's College like I was supposed to, I would have ended up in Australia. And as a result would have probably known a totally different set of people. I suspect my worldview would also have been affected. And last but not least, it would also have affected my second "IF below.

Second "IF": If I had not accepted an invitation by a uni friend to attend a retreat at Peace Haven (Genting), I would not have ended up in my current church, which was where I met my wife, made a lot of close friends and brought me closer to Him. At the retreat, I met someone who invited me to join my current church. This second "IF" was only possible because I ended up going to UK for my studies, which was where I met the uni friend who invited me to the retreat :)

Third "IF": If I had not joined my first company, I would not be doing what I'm doing today. At my first company, I met someone from a software vendor company, who later invited me to join him when he moved on to another vendor. Through that second company I was asked to do project management, and also met my "sifu" who taught me what really needed to know in order to do my job well. As a result, I was able to move to better jobs.

Fourth "IF": If my wife had not decided to switch church eight years ago, I would not have met her and ..... you know the rest :)

Fifth "IF": If my auntie had not saved me from drowning more than twenty years ago, you would not be reading this post.

...Class Remembered...

When I saw the name of the person who sent me the Facebook invite a few days ago, a flood of memories came back to me.

15 years ago, I had the privilege to meet an unforgettable lady in uni. J was a few years my senior, and was doing a course somewhat similar to mine. She was never a classic beauty, but what she may have slightly lacked in the looks department, she made up in tonnes in personality.

J had a way of making you feel as if you are the most important person when you are in her presence. The way she holds a conversation with you, you feel like you could talk to her forever. She was funny, feminine, and playful. And the list goes on.

There were other girls who were physically very beautiful in my uni during those days, but to many of us guys then, none of them even remotely compared to J.

Which brings me to the point of my post - I realized what true beauty was when I met J. A lot of women assume that men are attracted to the physical and the visual, but in reality men are much, much more attracted to a woman with an amazing personality.

In fact, there was a news article recently on how most men preferred to date Helen Mirren or Judi Dench than a sexy young thing.

J, its a privilege knowing you :)

Beijing Olympics - A Tribute

Just finished watching the closing ceremony, and felt like putting a few final thoughts about the Beijing games.

The games has been very memorable, mainly because behind the spectacular shows that the organisers put up, the true spirit of the games still remains intact. We saw wonderful achievements, wonderful sportsmanship, and to see the athletes time and again exceed themselves was a joy and inspiration.

So, as a tribute to the those who so inspired us, I dug out some old MV's from Youtube from that perennial favourite of mine - Animalympics.

The first two MV's are a tribute to the sacrifices that each athlete makes and the discipline that they have to endure to get to where they are today:





The third MV is a tribute to all who have gone to Beijing and gave their very best:



And last but not least, beyond the spectacular presentations that Zhang Yi Mou came up with, the Beijing Olympics theme song for me best personifies the spirit of the games:-

Running

Since young, I was well known to be a kaki bangku, hopeless in all sports, except maybe for chess.

But in Form 1, I took up cross country running, and was instantly hooked. I wasn't very fast, but there was a certain sense of joy and fulfillment whenever I go out for those long runs.

Since then, on and off I will pick up running again. In Belfast, I used to go on bracing runs in the cold winter. The cold made it easier to cover long distances, and 8 to 10 km was quite the norm.

In my first job, I was encouraged to take up walking, and for 2 years I represented the company in the 10 km walk in the annual inter-insurance company athletics meet.

But later as I started a family and moved on to new careers, running took a backseat. The only exercise I got seems to be wandering around shopping centres during the weekend.

A few years ago, thanks to my good friend Simon I got a treadmill for a good price. I found out to my horror that my fitness had dropped tremendously - I could barely do 3 km before being forced to stop. Once a week I also jogged in the park near my home - again 3 km seems to be my barrier.

Then about 6 weeks ago, a church friend called and asked whether I was interested to sign up for a 10k race.

With that, finally came the incentive to really train and break through the barrier. I did 4, then 5, then 7 and finally was able to do 8 just before the race.

And finally came the big day. It was a wonderful feeling finding out that, yes, I can do 10k once more! The time of 1 hour 5 mins wasn't great, but finishing was still a fantastic feeling :)

Wither Malaysia?

I don't like to blog about politics, but it has weighed heavily on my mind recently.

Amidst all the shows and drama that are on display daily in our newspapers and in cyberspace, there are a few things that I felt are worth pointing out:

The dominant party in the ruling coalition has become too powerful, to the point that not the police, not the judiciary, not the parliament, and probably not even the monarchy is able to do anything about the rampant abuse of power by them.

I suspect it is not really the alternative coalition that the rakyat want, but rather a way to finally check and roll back the insidious influence this party has been having on all our cherished institutions. They see the alternative coalition as one of our final hopes of doing this.

The key players in the party have too much at stake for us to hope that they will find it in their conscience to do the right thing. They will surely have to answer to the Almighty in the hereafter, but at the moment they just don't care.

There is one other hope, and that for the other member parties of the ruling coalition to realize that they do have it in their power to turn this tide around. Minus all the other member parties, the dominant party cannot stand on its own. But most are either too cowardly or too self serving to have the courage to do the right thing.

--------------------------------------------

So, is there no hope for Malaysia then? Will the final remnants of resistance be finally snuffed out and Malaysia continue on its slow but sure path to self-destruction? The events unfolding in the next few weeks will tell, but at this moment the optimist in me has just turned off the lights and left the building.

Goodbye to Randy Pausch

Though I didn't know Randy Pausch in person, it was with sadness that I read about his passing on today. You can read articles about him here, here and here.

I first got to know about Randy I think around late last year. The original version of his "Last Lecture" was on Google Video, and though it took a while to download, it was well worth the wait.

It was heartbreaking that he left behind three young children, but they can be proud that their dad also left behind a legacy for millions of people.

Many people said they have been touched by his story - some stopped feeling sorry for themselves, some decided to "Seize The Day", others took courage from it.

Someone had assembled a tribute video to him on Youtube:-



A full version of his lecture (be warned, its 1 hour 15 minutes long):