Sundown ended with a Sunrise

I tried to be greedy in this run. Eagerly to test out what's my actual endurance in a long run with a bit speed. I found a good pacer. A lady. She ran so steady with her consistent pace. Then, suddenly, she slowed down at 21th. I can't 'wait for her' coz ahhem, I am married ;-) In fact, I actually had speed up without noticing it.

I was doing well until 33KM, the pain & cramp were back to haunt me. Whacked 1 pack of gel at each 10th KM seems a redundant effort. It didn't help to hold back the cramp. Not to mention, that lady strolled over me like the famous 'tortoise'. Yes, I was the 'hare' indeed. If I have more patience, maybe the timing would be very different.

Worse, my nikeplus was giving me a wrong reading. The distance read faster by 2KM. Time to calibrate la... And the iPod, it saved the best for last by failing to detect the signal and went into DISCONNECTED stage to the nikeplus device! Darn. Must be the sweat that had interfered with the nikeplus receiver.

Strangely, this is the 1st time I felt immense soreness on my feet with Asics GT2130 on. Time to have a new pair?

My time? 4hr32min. Shrug...

That distance should be 37KM, at the time of the transmission disruption.

Of coz, the highlight of this event is to witness our FIRST (& Im very sure the ONLY too) OX ULTRAWOMAN, Chui Miew.

When she replied the reporter (oh ya, forget to check on ST newspaper) that she felt can still run 1 more KM, I felt like @#$%^*& her... Big achievement for her. Clap clap.

Isn't that 1st photo is cool? If the organizer can guarantee me a shot of such, I mite think of joining. LOL.

The Sundown Race is on Tonite!

Since last wk's 20KM, I have been hibernating. Carbo loading since Tue, now, feel like a bit overdone. Man, my little tummy just slip out!

A great day today. Went to GNC shop to buy some gels. Trying out the GU gel for the 1st time. Met up a lady at the counter who offered her membership card to me, so that I am entitled to 1-for-1 deal for the GU gels. How kind. So touched. Bought 4 packs. 1 each for an hour interval! Gotta pamper myself with better energy distribution this time. Hope cramp would stay away.

Had a dinner with Ameba, Rwen & Jason today. OX fish soup at Chinatown.

Tomorrow, can't wait to put on the shoes and run under the stary night. I hope it will be a stary night.

8wks to go for Sundown

Trying hard to have more consistent training this time for Sundown.

Wanted to join PM1's gang but, it was too much for me to get up when my bus arrived Pudu at 1am. With Ameba going back to hometown (probably bring someone home too) for parents, I've turned my hope to Tey as my running companion last Saturday.

Fortunately he's available even after running 20K on Saturday. Very very lucky to have him paced with me. Extremely lucky when I needed tissue paper the most, he had it in his pouch! Don't ask too details. Embarassing. For those who might smell something awful around Tijani2, I am really sorry. It was an extremely urgent call that I must reply. At the verge liao.

At least, 20K is a comfortable distance for me now. Hope to push for 25/30K this Sunday, after Im back from a short Bali vacation. SGD50 back and fro airfare is hard to resist.

Gotta plan carefully my schedule from now on. Every wkend is crucial! I can't miss a single wkend LSD from now on!

It's my vow for this marathon preparation. 8wks to go. Im a bit excited.

Olympic Marathon

Watched the Olympic marathon race on TV today. A Kenyan won the race in 2h06m. World record is 2hr04m.

Previously, I will tune to other channel immediately when it's a running event. It's bored as per most people, and it's a 42km race. Not this time for me as I know a bit more about running. My heartbeat went faster when the race was tight between a group of 5 leaders. It was like I was 1 of them too. Keep the pace, keep close to the leaders, keep stride...

That's why, I won't rule out that I will never love golf in the future. It's the most boring sports for me, period.

King of the 'Rolling' Road, I am!

I almost miss the fun. Watched Batman until 3am. Only managed to sleep for an hour. Luckily, the 'snooze' saved me from kidnapped by joker in dreamland.

Met up with appleyee & gang to depart. Have to be remora to tag along someone since I'm a genuine road blind outside PJ.

Surprise surprise. The long gone TBK was there. Even Rwen & Ironman-in-waiting, captain KMeng were there. KMeng made a wavy sign with his hand. Got it. Camel back route ahead of us.

As usual, the cavalry surge at the beginning. Packed. Wanted to pace with Ameba but hmmm... someone showed up besides her with the same pace. Just got to know they are the wind and fire pair.

TBK to the rescue! He sailed pass us, and I decided to tag him. Good decision, else, I mite be blown away by wind, or burnt by fire ;-) But the fact was, TBK damn kiasu. He was already in gear4 at 3KM and even used gear5 for hilly part. His pace was too fast for me and I knew I was going to have a weak finishing. Haven't been running as constant as I wanted to but work has been the shadow that I tried hard to get rid of. Anyway, guess even myself tired of giving the same excuse over and over again.

We turbo all the way and caught up KMeng at 13KM. At 16KM, I started to drop out from TBK's pace. Rupa-rupanya, he had been doing close-door training.

He finished with 1hr56min, me got 1hr58min. Good to have him back. At least, he will give a good fight with Tiger, when he's back from close-door-gym training in US.

McD Olympic Run 2008

Short distance race really makes me puff harder. 5min high speed run makes me feel like 30min. The mind, heartbeat, abs (6 in 1 also kira la) muscles & leg muscles all were not synchronized. When mind wanted legs to run fast, legs were yet to warm up. When legs were ready, abs' turn to have a contraction (not enough speed train, O2 flow not efficient). Then slowed down to let everything subside. By the time legs & abs were ready, the mind got de-motivated when I looked at the timing watch (out of target time).

Don't care la (我不管）, just run afap and don't accept any excuse or regret afterwards.

Sailed thru the finish at 34min. Approx.


*afap = as FAST as possible.
*many thanks to Julie who picked up the hassle to register for me.
*as usual, thanks to Tey for the photos.
Bumped to an old gila-gila fren from UM. Never expect that she runs... Hope she will continue to do so.
"It's what I eat & what I do" from McD sponsored shirt. After race, cokes and wall's aiskrim were served too. Good to refill the lost calories. Ironic right?

Sundown Marathon wrap-up

It's a special run. A special night run of coz. Can't really tell the running course coz it's still dark. But I am aware that I did passed many many pavements, a reservoir, overhead bridges (according a source in PM1, 5 of them and I hate all 5 of them), HDB flats and East Coast Park (some lunatics offerred us beers there!).

So unexpected with the result. I clocked a PR for myself, 4hr27min.

Maybe some muscles sets were trained after Rinjani.
Maybe I ate lots of rice & bananas after my excessive badminton games on Thu.
Maybe the badminton games itself helps.
Maybe is my Phiten.
Maybe my dinner was Sakae Teppanyaki (Unagi Brown Rice with Shitake Mushroom).
Maybe I am nocturnal! Didn't yawn like I did Night 30K with Ching Tai & co.
Maybe it's the Supernova Cushion 7. Much lighter than AdiStar.

Definately, pressureless mentality helps. Not setting any target time at all.
Definately, a pacing with Ewe Cheong, a new Penang friend helps.
Definately, a pacing with a UNKNOWN lady at the distance between 3o-38KM helps. We kept exchanging lead.

The strong finish really revitalised my thought of aiming sub 4 in my next marathon. Anyway, I always hopeful but never stick to the training plan. What a shame but can't help much sometimes. . .

The island gang! Pre-run pose with Adizero apparel. Very body-fit.


The Adidas Response apparel. The finisher T.
This lady, is the one whom I started to pace from 30KM. Checked her result. 5min faster than me eventually. Courtesy from tekko & Tey who had directed me to his page. My nipples nice huh! The Adizero is too sexy for man. Thin and body tight.

我的名字叫‘青龙’

看了后，暗笑了很久。好一个比喻！也好，终于知道我隔壁那只老虎的颜色了。昨天的21公里，有如这星期Sundown Marathon的救命泉源。不然的话，我真的不敢想象42公里后的后果。

话说回头，那个‘蓝色的’也真得让我非常惊异！跟得紧紧地，我还以为是我太慢了。心里想着，这‘蓝色的’才刚刚爬完山的脚是否那么‘四倍够力’，还是那位叫‘林义杰’的男生在作怪？果然是。。。

跑完不久，那只‘白的’也到了。一见到我就一轮嘴的告诉我他被那只‘蓝色的’追得他很惨。果然，脸色已经是‘白白的’。迷恋一个人觅到能自我提升战斗力，应该没多少人吧？

Singapore Sundown Preparation

It's so important to have companion in a long run. Back to hibernation after the KLIM.

Thanks to Rwen's invitation, we did a 20KM at East Coast Park (ECP) 2 weeks ago. Slow and easy. But fly kite Rwen on next week.

Fortunately, I was back to Msia to settle something. Bumped up with Tey via MSN and he led me to Ching Tai. They were organizing a midnite run of their own in preparation for the coming sundown in Spore.

So, 4May, 1145pm, I arrived to meet up them. Not knowing anyone, not even Ching Tai himself, I introduced myself. Asking around who is going to run 30K but with no reply. Everyone was going for 60K! Jaw drop... But then, what da heck, planned to follow them the 1st 25K, then, 5K back on my own. Jz hope that wont bump to any robbers.

Slowly, warming with a chat with Ching Tai and gang. We started with 11ppl. Most of them are Ironman & lady. Soon, left 8 who has the same pace. The rest flew off. In the group, a guy from Spore, Mohan, who pratically comes to Msia to run with his friends here every week.

After crossed over to Hartamas area, at every subsequent 5K, ChingTai had earlier dropped off a pack of drinks and foods for us to replenish ourselves. I was damn hungry. There's even icy fruits! Runners, you should be able to imagine how refreshing it is.

The pace was just nice for me. Thank god that they were aiming to run 60K. Or else, I am sure they would go faster. Met up Fook with his girlFRIENDS too. 1 man, accompanied by 3 ladies. Sigh, for me, that's history though. Haha.

At 20K, Hartamas Petronas, 3 runners wanted for just 30K. Great, I got companions. The last 5K was killing me. I puffed so hard, trying to keep pace with lady M. I was so sleepy and hungry I guess. But then, the harder you push, the faster you get over it, and you feel the stronger you are.

I can't remember why I stopped at the last 500m. Really bad memory nowadays. But I did and could only recall that I waited for lady M along. Safety in Msia, never take for granted. The other 2 went on for extra miles as their GPS showed they are 1K short of 30K.

Yawned and yawned. Drove back safely and plunged to bed immediately after bath. Satisfied.

Too bad that I would go trekking the week next. Else, I will join them again. And, I should contribute the foods and drinks too. Nice to know some new friends, who made of IRON.

KL Marathon 2008 - Race Day Updated!

I am quite disappointed. Even though it has yet to start. Recent workload has piled up and family commitment do affect my training schedule. Should not have any excuse anyway. Else, it would soon become a habit... Well, let's see how far I can go. I won't force myself until stupidly, injure myself. Mentally, I am prepared. Preparing for the worst. No regret as I did not give out.



30Mar2008

I took 2 days off to settle my errands in Msia. Then, Qing Ming on Sat. It was tiring. I don't even remember to buy any PowerBar/Gel for this race. It just showed that I'm not taking seriously in this race. Or, not able to.

Woke up at 3am and just drank a cup of milo. Crazy, I can't find any solid bites for my stomach at home. Meeting ameba & Rwen (the one who had given me the idea to GAVE UP) at Dataran Merdeka. And, the 'Tiger' showed up too, coming for a free run. Hmm, I should have given him my bib!

From the start, Rwen had suggested to just run 27KM, the point when we wil turn back to Dataran Merdeka. That's luring, with my poor condition. Ameba kept coughing. I didn't aware that she's sick. Poor 'bride'.

I was hungry. And, it's the 1st time that I felt so sleepy while running. At 10km mark, I think the 'threesome' (Rwen, Ameba & Me) were already set the mind to stop at 27Km, with tonnes of excuses. Tiger had tried his best to wait for us but soon, missing in the bush of marathoners.

1st Failed Marathon. Not shame of it. Glad instead as being part of it.

KL Full or Half?

Two minded. Tossing a coin. Head, then full; tail then other wise...

Tossing... Head! Eh, 3 sets 2 wins la.
Toss again... Head. Eh, 5 sets 3 wins la.
Toss again... Head. Aiya, 7 sets 4 wins la.
Toss again... ... ...

Arrgh... 101 sets 51 wins la!!!

GE 30K - 竟然可以顺利完成！

To my surprise, I'm still able to finish the race unscathed in ~3hr8min. Perhaps...
- I had a 'in time' carboloading during a good friend's wedding dinner last night.
- I wore the 'Phiten' that my brother gave to me. Blood streamed smoothly in my body.
- I slept early.
- I took it too easy. No pressure & no target at all.
- It would be the last time that I will wear my adiSTAR shoes. Great shoes with at least 5 marathons by now.
- It would be Tey's last photo snapping as to be serious in running.
- It was due to SAP High Class Consultant's provocation ;-)

Perhaps Love... ;-)

Courtesy from Tey. Reaching finishing line. Man... I really need to snap wedding photo earlier before my hair runs out ;-)

Thanks to Hinwai too. More Pic to view. OXs & PMs are in there.

Singapore Marathon - 02.12.2007

Oops, I did it again! Yeah, without much preparation, I did not expect a good timing too.

Only manage to sleep for 1hr. Awaken by a call from office at 2am, and had to work for 2hr before I rushed out for the bus.

My legs lost the muscle power at 30KM mark (again). It took me 3hr+. Luckily, the will power was able took over.

The rest of the 12KM, 1hr40min. My mucles was between Cramp & Going-to-Cramp. Contraction was ON-&-OFF! Once I crossed the finishing line, the words surged to me... PAIN IS PLEASURE!

Hope other marathoners who I know have done well too!

Marathon. 再来一个！

Rwen sent us a motivation clip. Yeah, it's a good mental food. As good as Team Hoyt & 'The Marathon Boy' (left).

3 different story with different purposes on their own about why they do marathon.

Why did you do it? Why are you going to do it? Let's share our own version of story.

Me 1st in the comment box.

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge NYC - 06.10.2007

The weather:
The weather was just nice on the running day. Cloudy and not too cold. It's a significant sign of global warming wherever I go.


The Goal:
One realistic goal - not to finish LAST! Not having any timing in mind to achieve as I did not run for months and I was very much in vacation mood. Worse, I was sick.


The Run:
I jogged through the 3.5miles but really not enjoy watching other runners overtook me like Ferraris. My 1st ever running experience with dry air and low humidity. It hurt my nasal system quite badly. My throat was uncomfortable with mild pain after the run.

The Result:
Most of them are serious runners. Just look at their timing. And, we got 34 out of 35 in our Mixed Team category ;-)



The Gallery:
1) The representatives from Singapore. HSBC, Singapore Army - SAFSA (ladies in RED) & SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE - Gurkha (gentlemen in BLUE). Backdrop is the Grand Central in NY. Equivalent to KL Sentral Msia.

2) The aftermath: Half dead face. Puffed hard even I just jogged through it. Start to feel the chill too.3）My teamates. We reached a consensus - the best part of this trip is the shopping experience!

New York Trip - 03.10.2007-12.10.2007

After a terrible experience with US embassy in sg, the horror continued at the US Custom. Me and my Indonesian colleague were held for an hr, being 'interrogated' at JFK airport. We were already tired with the jet-lag effect, so it really made me felt upset on how they treat on certain nationality. Halo, if not due to the invitation, I won't thk of going yo your country too!

Other than that, I really feel the courtesy of the organizer and the people in NYC. Yeah, courtesy. Say, when you ask for direction or you drop something, you can expect someone to give you a helping hand volunteerly. Everyone seems friendly. But, when day turns into night, it was my instinct to stay alert from any kind of crime. I don't feel safe at night.

Have to overcome the jet-lag on the 1st day. But, my team mates were already talking abt shopping. Words like 'Coach bag', 'True Religion', 'Ed Hardy', 'Abercombie & Fitch' kept being reiterated. Eventually, we went to shop at Woodbury warehouse. Absolutely fantastic shopping experience! And, Macy's deparment store too (The world's largest!) Tonnes of cheap branded stuff. 5-star recommendation!


Time Square at night: It is a MUST that every retail store to parade their brand in such vibrant ads. This area never sleep!

UN: This land area is owned by all the members in UN. Given by the US gov. No wonder US not shy to use their veto.

Underground Steaming System: It keeps the NYC warm. Reaching every neighbourhood.

Grand Central: Equivalent to KL Sentral but much better managed of course. The very beautiful Chrysler Building, once, the tallest building in the world before overtaken by the Empire State Building.

NYC Subway: The most sophisticated subway routes in the world. Cover almost every corner in NYC. But, the train & the statis looks rather out-fashion and a bit stuffy and smelly. Heck, as long as it brings the convinience.

Nobel Medal in UN: Special dedicated to TBK. Make sure you fulfill your promise ok!

Rockefeller Center: Equivalent to Suntec Singapore conceptually but far more larger in terms of vision and the size of development. Rich with history & vision. Can only feel it when you know more abt it.

NY Financial Center: View from Brooklyn side. The JP Morgan dinner was held in 1 of the tower in picture.

NYC Night View: From Empire State Building. Misty night.

Intercontinential Hotel: Nice. Sponsored by JP Morgan.
Statue of Liberty: Finally, I got to know why is it so special. History it is.

Empire State Building: Made famous by King Kong. In fact, that film rescured the building owner by making it a fame via the film. Full occupany after that.

Sky scrapers: Matchless in any other cities. Hardly feel the sunlight unless you are at the crossroad.

Parade of Sky scraper: Basically, that's the height of each building at each block in NYC.

Church in NYC: Each church is uniquely built by each nation along 5th Ave. Italy, Norway...

Time Square at dawn: Their never turn off the light.

Former Venue of World Trade Center: Paying tribute to this landmark... World Peace everyone! Imagining the magnitude of the destruction. All the buildings around it still undergoing repair.


It's an eye-opening trip indeed. A city rich with history. History of American entrepreneurship, American Dream, bold vision to develop the city, city of opportunity for all the post war immigrants. I have to admire how those people built this mega city.

New York? New York??

Up to this moment, I still feel skeptic if I am going to make it to the New York flight or not. Thanks to the US embassy here. Due to 'unforeseen' reasons, they were yet to approve my visa until my sports club superior & team captain showed the quality of leadership to ask help directly from JP Morgan people to contact the embassy. Being told would get back my passport with visa tomorrow.

Keep the finger crossed.

New York! New York!

[phone ring]
me: Hello IT.
eunice: Hi chongwah, are you free during 6/7oct?
me: Who's this?
eunice: Eunice ah. Running 1. So are you free?
me: [sounded cagey] yeah, should be ok. Y? Any running event that you need my service?
eunice: Are you interested to go to New York? For the JPMorgan run. Accom & flight all 'bao'.
... ... ...

We got 5th, and we are eligible to go? Yes in our case because all 4 teams in front of us have won in other category. So, after filtering... it's HSBC ;-)

What a late birthday gift! New York!? I never dream to go US for 1 reason -> expense in USD & yet to cover the whole SouthEastAsia. Furthermore, the date is just nice after my project release, and, before the OX mountaineering trip. Wonderful! New York New York! I'm coming!

JPMorgan Chase Singapore - 03.05.2007

The official result from JPMorgan Chase on 3 May.


The lesson is, if I really want a good timing in a short run event, I must position myself at the front pack to avoid the 'cavalry surge' at the start. It was a massive jam!

But didn't feel I got a strong legs that day. Not having a luxury time. Damn... I keep running, but just can't run away from work! Work always catch up.

Time of 23m43s; ~4.23min/km.

My SGD30 bib. Self funded.

PJ Half – 11.08.2007

Pick up Grace and reached Stadium at 545am. Found a carpark easily. At the starting line, somehow, I was lucky to meet up with wan lin. He was actually holding a bib. Photo Tey is very kind to pass PM Saiful bib to him (as he can’t make it), and then to me. Else, I will run illegally again.



I know what lie ahead at the last 5km since I have not been running more than 15km this year. So, to mitigate the torture of cramp, I try to run slower. At least, the pain strikes me at last 3km. Cramp almost came to me too. Wanlin overtook me at last 1km. Thanks for the shouting encouragement buddy, but I was in pain la. Do not want to aggravate until it turns to a real injury.



1hr58min.



For quite some time, I never have such a hard time in running. Chest pain, knee pain, Achilles pain and heart beat harder. My body was steaming, I can feel my blood streaming thru my nerves so quick which is a good feeling too. Oxygen was a luxury. But, the finishing made me felt so great. To get over an ordeal, always make you have the extra reason to celebrate more.



Ok, my 1st 21km of the year… have to sustain the mileage though. Else, it would be meaningless to run today. Cant wait to release my project in mid Sep…




Many thanks again to Photo Tey.