42.195km in 4 hours 26 minutes

The Standard Chartered Marathon was my goal race for 2008. I was targetting a sub-5 hours timing (meaning completing the marathon in less than 5 hours).
I started the race following the 4:45 Fatbirds pacers - with an aim to finish the marathon at 4 hours and 45 minutes. The race started off good and nice - the weather was good, the pace was comfortable and drinks stations were plenty.
I was still feeling great at the 30km mark and with encouragement from the Fatbirds pacers, I decided to break away from them and run at a faster pace to achieve a better timing. Which I did.....:)

My bib with the champion chip
Shoes ready with champion chip
I had a sponsorship from Adidas and they printed my tagline on the back of my running top

Me @ the end with the Finisher's Medal

With some of my Starwood colleagues who did the 10km Corporate Challenge

The rest of colleagues Close-up of the Finisher's Medal The Finisher's Tee

48 months and counting...

Coffee celebrated his 4th birthday recently. Time really flies; 4 years. I can still remember vividly the first time I carried him in my arms :)

He seems to be growing up to be a pensive dog - look @ how he is "thinking" about his life :P

Oliver bought Coffee a nice carrot cake!
That is Coffee stealing a lick of the cake
Look @ the cream on his chin. It was intially all over his mouth before he licked them off!

I bought him Hainanese Chicken Rice doggy style. It looks and tastes yummy!

Lamb meat balls

Assorted muffins

Biscuits

I decided to buy him some food for his birthday this year as we did not do anything for last year. He loves the food a lot and didn't wanna eat his kibbles after that when he finished all these "human" food. That boy!

The Battle

I felt weird beginning of last week. I felt as if a flu and cough was coming on. I mean I was not totally sick sick per se but you know, you can feel it in your body.
The regular doctor that I went to near my office was on 2 weeks' leave and I did not want to see the locum. So I went to another clinic near my office which I have been to before.
Two things pissed me off regarding this doctor's visit:
1. The clinic lost me medical records! They could not find my card! I have been to that clinic many times and even did a full body health screening there. So what happened to my medical records? Aren't medical records supposed to be sensitive and confidential?!?!
The receptionist was like "It's OK, I can always issue you a new card". I was like "No, that is not the point about getting a card. The point is - what happened to my medical records?!?!".

2. Again the doctor whom I normally see at this clinic was out on a conference that day (it seems that the whole medical world is against me!). So I saw another doctor in the same clinic. I have not seen him before and he saw my "new" card and was looking at me suspiciously. He thinks that all I wanted was a medical certificate so that I do not need to go back to work. (For the record, he did not give me one).
So he gave me some useless medication and kept saying that I need a lot of rest (Again, note that he did not give me a medical certificate to cover me for a day to go home to rest).

Meanwhile, I have been boiling and drinking ginger water and keeping myself warm whenever I can.

It is now 3 days to the marathon and I am still fighting the battle with the virus. Some days are good, some days are bad. I am all wrapped up in the office as if it is winter in Singapore; the centralised air con in the office makes me feel worse. I feel much better when I am at home without the air con.

I am determined to run the marathon and to complete it. Now the big question is whether I will feel well enough on race day to get the timing that I want. Keep me in your prayers.

17 days.....

It is 17 days to the annual Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon.
If you remember, I ran the 1/2 Marathon last year and wrote about it in an earlier post. I felt great after the race and it was life back to normal the day after.

I decided to do the 1 Marathon this year (yes, all 42.195km of it). I was supposed to have done it before I turned 30 years of age, but I guess better late than never! :) I have been running regularly since I stopped travelling in August this year (but still not clocking enough mileage!). Running a full Marathon is not as simple as running two 1/2 Marathons. The human body is designed to take stress/work up till a certain point and anything beyond that is just pure pain. It is how we learn to deal with the pain that determines how well we run a marathon.

I am beginning to feel a bit "stressed" about the upcoming run. I guess the difference was that when I was training and running the 1/2 last year, there was no pressure and no expectations at all. I was just looking forward to running the race and enjoying it. It was my first long distance run after the infamous injury and I was very happie that I completed it.
This year, there are some expectations I have of myself when I step up to the starting line. Not only will I be aiming to complete the whole marathon injury-free, I am also gunning for a "desired timing". But then again, you see, these two aims/objectives are kinda in conflict with each other, right?

Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers! :)

Which Primary School are you from?

I have been asking frens this question whenever we end up talking about children and having them.

It has become a ridiculous madness when parents are getting their children registered into Primary One these days. For the uninitiated, children in Singapore start attending Primary 1 @ the age of 7. Each year, the registration exercise brings tons of angst and anxiety to parents island-wide. The number of cardiac arrests increases with the popularity of the primary school based on the number of straight As students the school produces at each year’s PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination).

There are a few phases in the registration exercise; in order of priority (for the benefit of those with kids or planning to have kids!):

• Phase 1: For a child who has a sibling studying in the school of choice. All children registered under this scheme will be given a place. But then, it won’t apply to your first kid!
• Phase 2A1: For a child whose parent is a former student and current member of alumni association;
• Phase 2A2: For a child whose parent is a former student;
• Phase 2B: For a child whose parent is an active volunteer of the school or parent is an active member of a church associated with school;
• Phase 2C: For a child who is ineligible or unsuccessful in earlier phase (meaning you and/or your kid is screwed);
• Phase 3: For a child who is not a Singapore or Singapore PR (Why bother trying?).

For all phases, if the number of applicants is more than the number of vacancies, children living within 1km radius of the school will be given priority in balloting over those living within 2 km and outside 2km radius.

I know of parents who (and this list is not exhaustive):

• Sold off current house and bought a new place so as to be within 1-2 km radius of their preferred primary school;
• Started dedicating time to volunteer in the primary school of their choice;
• Became Christians so as to get their kid to that Christian primary school;
• Baptized the kid to be eligible to register under phase 2B;
• Changed church to one that is affiliated to the preferred primary school;
• Donated money;
• …..

My primary school has closed down. So how? Is is really worth going through all these trouble to get your child into the "preferred" primary school? Does the "right" primary school make so much difference in how your child will turn out in life, successful or not? My bro and I went to a neighbourhood primary school and I would love to think that we both turned out okaaay....

Hello.....

My blog entries since the beginning of 2008 have been all pictures from my travels. It has been a crazy "world tour" and 2008 is probably gonna be remembered as the year where I spent almost the same amount of time in different hotel rooms and @ home. The year is not yet over and I have visited 23 cities in 11 countries so far.

I am not complaining about the travelling; in fact, I am grateful for the opportunities to travel and visit places which I may have not gone on my own. I
· Experienced one of the coldest winters Japan ever had in Sapporo, Hokkaido;
· Walked on the marble of the Taj Mahal;
· Saw the sunrise and sunset at The Grand Canyon;
· Soaked in a real onsen in Hakone, Japan;
· Had a visual replay of Tomb Raider at Angkor Wat;
· Revisited the Sydney Harbour Bridge;
· Shopped at the world’s fashion capital in Milan;
· Admired world famous artefacts at the Uffizi Museum in Florence;
· Eaten the best French toast in a small local café in Hong Kong;
· Took a camel ride in Jaipur…

It was great. I immersed myself in different cultures, tasted varieties of local food and in some instances, tried to live like a local wherever I am (by taking public transport and even eating from the roadside stall in India!). I took many wonderful pictures and I accumulated tons of souvenirs from my trips. New friends were made and beautiful memories were created.

However, after a while, it all gets tiring. I miss home. I miss my family and I miss Coffee. I miss having some stability and predictability (read: boring) in my life. I miss hanging out with close friends over a nice brownie in a nice café on a Saturday afternoon. I miss putting on my jogging shoes and going out for a nice jog whenever I feel like it. I miss going for my regular Sunday morning hot yoga class. I miss going for family dinners with my folks.

I was living out of a suitcase, literally. I reached home, opened my suitcase, took out the dirty clothes and souvenirs/food that I had bought, packed in clean clothes, spent a couple of days in Singapore and I found myself in a taxi headed for Changi Airport again.

Life still goes on at home when one travels. Bills still come in the mail and need to be paid. Coffee still needs to be fed daily and taken for walks. Clothes still need to be washed and dried. The toilet still needs to be scrubbed. And I start getting the feeling that I am missing out on all these regular (and mundane) routines in life.

With the uncertain market conditions, there had been travel restrictions imposed in my company, which means I do not travel anymore (at least until the end of 2008) and I am happie about it.

Now I work 4 days a week at my company (and yes, at 80% of the salary in case you are wondering) and I spend one day each week teaching at NTU where I enjoyed the interactions I have with the undergraduates.

I try to jog at least three times a week and I go for my regular Sunday morning hot yoga class. I arrange for dinner with my folks and I plan for catch-up sessions with my good friends. I have the pleasure of playing the hide-and-seek game weekly with Coffee trying to get him to bathe! I am back to my routine of scrubbing the toilet every two weeks.

Interestingly, these routines, though simple and some may say boring, bring joy and feelings of stability to me and my simple life. Mabbe it’s an age thing – I am just getting oooooold…

Foggia, Italy '08 - Food

This is a food post! Shows some of the food I had in Foggia - the best I had in Italy during the whole trip coz it was part of the wedding! :P

Pasta with green peas and spinach Pasta with beef stew Rack of lamb with fries Cheese platter Tiramisu with chocolate biscotti - I didnt touch the tiramisu coz I wanted to stay alive :P Cheese appetiser Zucchini Flowers with Cheese - very yummy! Mushrooms sauteed with olive oil Pasta in another form Roasted potatoes with spinach. I didn't touch that lump of meat in the top corner. Fruits straight from the farm for dessert Salami with cheese as appetiser Pasta in yet another form This looks like curry chicken but it is actually chicken cooked with tomatos and olive oil. I could not have enough of it!! Dessert!! The Italians are quite similar to the Japanese - they place soooo much importance on presentation. Some kind of ham as appetiser. Nice presentation! Pasta cooked with some kind of veggie with olive oil Tomatoes and mozarella cheese Hazelnut chocolate cake. The lavender flower was plucked fresh from the garden just before the cake was served. Attention to details!!

Darn! Writing this post makes me sooooooo hungry now!!

Foggia, Italy '08

Foggis is a city of Puglia, Italy, the capital of the province of Foggia. It is a 2.5 hours train ride from Rome. Spent four days in Foggia for the wedding.

Foggia train station Phone booth in Foggia The Italian countryside Sunset with the rolling hills.... Grapes in the vineyard where the wedding was held Accommodation during the wedding
View of the Foggia countryside in the background from the room. The foreground is the vineyard. Me in my pretty cheongsum for the wedding :P My cousin Colin - one of the cutest boy I have seen!

Rome, Italy '08

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio and is Italy's largest and most populous city. It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, on the Tiber river.

Rome stands on top of more than two and a half thousand years of history, was once the largest city in the world and the centre of Western civilisation. Rome is still the heart of Christianity, being seat of the Roman Catholic Church which controls the Vatican City as its sovereign territory, an enclave of Rome

Today, Rome is a modern, cosmopolitan city, and the third most-visited tourist destination in the EU. Rome's international airport, Fiumicino, is the largest in Italy and as one of the few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character.

View of The Colosseum from The Roman Forum

The Colosseum

Close-up

Inside The Colosseum

The middle of The Colosseum

Me inside The Colosseum

The Hypogeum - This was where the gladiators used to walk....

Me taking a breather inside The Colosseum

The other view of The Colosseum from the back

An ancient assembly ground in the Roman Forum

This reminds me of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris...
Some of the ruins in the Roman Forum

The Roman Forum Me @ The Spanish Steps

Herculaneum - the ancient Roman town that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, together with Pompeii

Me doing a feet dip in the middle of downtown Rome!

Me @ Fountain at Spanish Steps

The Pantheon

The River that runs through Rome

The Vittorio Emanuele Monument

The Westin Rome - "home for 4 nights"

The Mouth of Truth

Me on the Roman subway
Me with the artist and the artpiece that we bought

Rome was the city of gelato for me! Yummy!

The yellow was champagne flavour - very unique!

More gelato!

Look @ my happie face :)

I read about San Crispino in a biography and hunted this place down in Rome! :)

A gelato just before hitting The Colosseum

You can never have enough gelato while in Rome

I had two gelatos from this same place on two different days Home-made Italian bread

Black pepper chicken chop

Italian appetiser that looks to me like a spring roll

Pork chop - and no, its not mine; I have not converted

Lemon dessert

Tomato pasta

Fried chicken with grilled potatoes

A single size mushroom pizza - I could hardly finish it!

Carbonara pasta for lunch - it was the worst pasta I had in Italy. It was @ this dodgy cafe by the roadside.

Pizza with Italian cucumbers and anchovies. This is a single size pizza and you can see the size relative to the fork!

Grilled chicken

Fish & Chips

One of the Italian sandwiches I had for breakfast

I was so sick of Italian pizzas and pastas towards the end of the trip that for my last dinner in Rome, I went to buy this roasted chicken from a cafe and had that for dinner! It was yummy!