Raining Ophir to Raining SG

What's the diff? Nothing much, apparently.

U might wonder, why am I back online so early? In fact, a day earlier?! Shuang posed that question, though I half-sensed she might have reasoned it out. haha.

But I'm back early 'cos of one reason which I can't control - the weather. I'm super sian diao by the weather there. It had been raining for the past 2 days prior to our arrival, and rain did not cease even when we reached Tangkak, awake from a somewhat happening bus ride. The participants were just super enthusiastic, playing, having fun and filling the bus with noise throughout the journey, clearly excited by the prospect of reaching the summit of the 6th most difficult mountain in South-East Asia.

Terence, Liyang, Hwibee, Lijun, Steph


Hwibee and me at the M'sian immigration side


Taxis awaiting at Tangkak


The drizzle which greeted us did little to dampen their spirit, however, and they proceeded to have their lunch whilst we trip ICs and co-ICs did our usual stuff and went to get things ready; I made some small talk with the taxi drivers in Mandarin and asked them regarding the recent weather and situation around the area. According to them, it had been raining rather persistently for the past 2 days, and it is into the 3rd day of raining. To me, it seemed like a bad timing to go Ophir, but I was hoping for the rain to stop for us to go to the base camp, at least.

Getting into the taxi and going towards Gunung Ledang, the dark clouds which loomed above us gave us a forecast of what was going to happen - drizzle and maybe slight rain. But we were still optimistic about the climb and making up to the summit at that point in time.



May, Lionel, Wilson in my cab


Whilst walking in, we took pictures...


Upon arrival at the resort (which is at the foot of the mountain), we prepared our stuff and settled administrative issues, when it suddenly poured. The participants quickly whipped out their raining gear, from the simple ponchos to the more armified Goretex jackets. Raincovers were placed on the bags, and for those without it, the ponchos served to provide some basic protection.


Poncho-ed for the climb

Soon, all preparations are done, and we were all raring to go! This, despite the slight drizzle.


All ready to go!


Hwibee and her gigantic leaf


Forging ahead!


We made light work of the steps which greeted us en route to CP1, the ranger 'immigration' hut. It seemed pretty fine, the rain was light, so we moved ahead to try to cover distance before getting ourselves drenched and all shivering in cold. However, en route to CP4, we were forced to take the inland route as the river crossing was impassable due to the forceful current and waves. It was also due to the usage of this route that I got to see the waterfall (which we used to play in) in its full glory of fast and heavy flow of water! It was simply too breathtaking, and we were drenched by the water splash from the waterfall!



Look at the waterfall behind us!


Before going into CP1


Look at the sheer flow of the river!


Me, Lijun, Terence


How to light a mosquito coil without a holder


Upon reaching the campsite, I noticed about 4 other groups there, all in their tents waiting for the rain to stop. There was a local group, from SP (one can notice a Singaporean by the attire and brands in which they carry to trek). We quickly set up the participant tents, then the committee tent, and proceeded to huddle in the tent to escape the cold rainy day.

The rain did not cease there and then. It raged on and on, even while we were cooking in the wet tent, throughout the night, and till the next day.

To while our time, we started cooking, drinking hot soup, to keep ourselves warm. I was really very sian of the weather, and I knew it would not stop by the next day anyway. Bad luck indeed. But getting some good food like pineapple rice, fried rice, 汤圆 and omelette sure helped to deal with a growling stomach.

With a wet tent, dampened spirits and raging wind and rain outside, we (the comm) decided to turn in early after CK and WH started drifting into sleep. Did we all sleep? I think I was the only one to, but then again I had to constantly shift my body from left to center, from center to right, and from right to center again. My toes were totally numb, white from all the water collected at the other side of the tent where my feet were placed. I was cold, but not really shivering. It did help that I was sleeping on a drier spot, which made the sleep all the more better.

On top of that, I had not changed into another set of clothes for the night, as I was already dry (well what's the definition of dry in a wet weather? Haha...) and I was pretty comfortable with my clothes at that moment.

The night was just full of rain sounds on the top of the tent, winds which threatened to blow the flysheet, as well as the sounds from the other participant tents. Lijun, Liyang, Steph and Terence's tent was super flooded, and in the end they had to stand up (or squat) to sleep, and they sang throughout the night to keep themselves awake. They couldn't even rest on the ground, 'cos it was simply drenched and full of water already.

Soon, before we knew it, it was already almost 6am, and the rain STILL HAD NOT STOPPED! After consultation with the guides, it was confirmed that we could not push up to the summit already, which disappointed the participants (but we had no choice too). This presented us with 2 choices: One is to stay for another night, and take the bus the next day; the other is to head down, go back to the town, and get bus tickets out of Tangkak. The latter seemed more favorable as the tents were flooded, and the thought of staying for another 24hrs in that weather was unthinkable.

We took the same route for the return journey, but this time round the route was more wet and muddy at certain areas. However, the thought of going home, getting out of that wet and windy area, was more than enough to push us (or at least me) on.

Although movement was at times slow, due to the slippery route and helping of the female participants along the way, it was good progress and we managed to reach CP1 earlier than we thought. The rain had not stopped then. But the shelter which greeted us was definitely a brief respite from the constant trekking under the rain.

As we made our way from CP1 to the foot of the mountain, I noticed that the staircase was now flooded with water, and the river flow was much heavier than the day before! What a day of rain could do to the river! Amazing!


The wet wet tent


WH and HB (we've reached CP1!)


Shelter! Finally!


All of us, drenched, wet, but still smiling!


Ophir's supposed to be dry...but here's Ophir waterfall!

After washing up and a failed attempt to get the taxis to fetch us out of the resort area, we took the Gunung Ledang Resort's minivan out of the area to KFC, where we had a nice meal of chicken, fresh and hot! This really helped satiate our appetite.

Luckily, we were able to get bus tickets for all 20 of us out of Tangkak and back to Larkin, which was really good since by the time I reached SG, I had heard of news of SG flooding after a 24-hour non-stop rain. And Johor, is flooded in certain parts.

Though the trip was not complete, and we were all cold, wet and tired, but I still believe that this trip taught us a lot of important lessons, and it was ironical that we had went to see Mother Nature in its glory, only to be thwarted by Mother Nature herself.

Current Mood: Cold

Current Music: Wu Yin Liang Ping - Shen Bian

Northern Island Xpedition!

And well, as the term goes, there's only 1 island in which we explore (did we truly do so?) in the north, and even so, it really aint actually the North!!!

Haha, I'm talking about the event organised by the Canoeing Sub-club. The meeting time is at an unearthly time of 7.30am at Pasir Ris Park, which is super early for not just me, but anyone who does not live in the east!!! Sheesh. They could do better with the timings though.

Actually, I din feel like going for the event in the first place after clicking on a link Yi Si sent to me the previous day. Added to the fact that I was tired and required rest, and an early trip back to the East, I was really tired and feeling sad already.

Anyway, I still managed to wake up and met up with Skadians Joyce, Minghui, Xiangyu and Yisi, and saw Zhanwei with his friends at the event. Pasir Ris Interchange was a hive of activity with teenagers and their parents, bags in hand, moving over to a particular spot at the Interchange, and that was due to them having to go over to Tekong. Well, 'tis the time of the year again. Haha...

Saw Siu Hang and he was apparently tricked into joining this expedition by his friend. Haha. But the number of participants seemed quite fine for such an expedition, there were a total of 19 doubles and 7 singles. How I wished that I was on a single canoe for this trip, but after the trip I was silently happy to be in a double with Siu Hang. It was great, cos 2 of us had some experience in canoeing, so it was kinda more fun! The groupings for the canoeing were based on friends basis, so there was no re-pairing of girl-girl doubles or guy-guy doubles. This made things slightly difficult as the slower canoes made the entire formation drag too long and this meant that the fast crafts were really fast, and the slow ones were really slow.

On top of that, I felt that I was fighting the current for some parts of the trip (eg along Ubin), and it was quite bad especially since it takes up energy and is not favourable. Still, we managed to make it to Ubin and shore up for lunch, but not before rain hit and we had to hide for shelter in one of the newly-built huts. And the hut was where our Ohana campfire was held!

After lunch, we canoed over to the nearby Frog Island, but was hit by a passing shower with rain that pricked the skin. Forced to seek shelter between the shore and a big rock due to the waves, it was a momentary 10 minutes of respite. Frog Island is near Chek Jawa, and we managed to move our canoes very inland despite having about less than a fifth of paddle length till the bottom! Took pictures and had a rest there before embarking on the trip home.

The trip home is the worst in my opinion. Although the current was in our favour, and rightfully we should be canoeing with relative ease, the current was quite unpredictable and we had to deal with shifting waves too, which pushed our canoe sideways, and we ended up canoeing in a zig-zag fashion. That was bad and we wasted much energy getting ourselves back on track most of the time!

And that was made worse with the 1km wide crossing which we had to do. Despite being in the clear, the waves and current made me want to give up at times, 'cos it was really too crazy and nutty to be canoeing and constantly being shifted off course. In the end we went left-right-left-right and then before we knew it, we had reached our destination: Pasir Ris Park.

Relief indeed, and a sore back and muscles to account for the entire day's activity. The ending was rather smooth, with a black NIX tee and then off to take pictures and wait for our turn at the nearby public shower.

Most of us were sunburnt, with obvious tans for those with spectacles or caps. Yi Si was pretty much burnt like a red-hot lobster, and Xiangyu was in similar fashion too. Joyce, Minghui and Siu Hang have 2 shades of colours - paler above the nose and rosy cheeks.

Skadi then proceeded over to White Sands and we had our dinner at Cavana (it's Halal!) and then to Swensens' for some Earthquake desert! And poor Minghui encountered an incident and in return, got a free Happy Feet tee, this after he mentioned how he had wanted to watch the movie when he first saw the trailer but never did till now. lol!

Went home with Joyce on the 88 (all the way for me) while the rest took other routes home, and I was so tired that after Joyce alighted I KO-ed all the way till the interchange, and had to take another bus back to my home. Sighs.

Concussed on the bus, but full of energy now! Ophir next!

Us before setting off!


Me and Siu Hang (Hangman!)


Highly flammable CarrotCak


Minghui...unforgettable.


Minghui attempting to chop his ice-cream


Resting on a rock


Here, There, Everywhere!


Our transportation for the day - canoes


Participants of NIX 2006!


Whose hand is whose?


Dun remind Minghui how he got this (limited edition) Happy Feet tee...

Current Mood: Tired

Current Music: Samantha Jade - Step Up

Monsoon hits Singapore

Played badminton with Jianlong, Kheng Hui and his friends, and I must say, it's great to be holding a racket and playing a game of badminton. Need to find other things to do other than swim/run/trek. Haha. KH had booked 2 courts, and if not for someone's last minute pang sei *ahem ahem* we could have played a doubles game with rotation!

But anyway, it was pretty fun. The not-so-fun thing was to get up super early at 7am to go down to Clementi when one has only barely 4 hours of sleep lor. 'Cos Lai Yee was waiting for her fren to go clubbing, so I just stayed and kept her company, besides her friends were either inside Zouk or still on their way there. Anyway, it was just another rainy night which many things ain't done right - We never got to watch the movie "The Last Kiss"; I was late in meeting Geoks at Queenstown; the Winning departmental store is closed at 8pm (sians) and I made my way back to Orchard to change bus, but in the end I met up with Lai again; Lai couldn't get correct shoe size or jacket size; I was home late with a $9.30 cab fare to boot 'cos I was hit with a midnight surcharge while my original intention was to go home via bus; my shoes were wet from the rain and everything. Ugh.

Oh wells, nothing seemed to go along to plan yesterday.

At least I managed to walk around and just enjoy the soothing Malay/Blues in the cafe at The Holiday Inn. Pretty nice I must say, but I'd prefer a live band and a pint of beer in front of me anytime. Talk, sit, relax, view the people around you, stare in amazement at the scenery, and just chill.

Will I get to do that? Packed calendar seems bad in doing such stuff.

Anyway, back to today...digressed again.

After badminton, the 5 of us proceeded to have some cheap (oh really?) Japanese food at Clementi, then pool...but we changed to LAN gaming 'cos all 5 of us could play at the same time! And we started off with CS, only to be pissed with the repetitive nature of stopping play after 5 minutes of gaming or so, and the server has to reset the map. So we changed to DOTA. But my computer kept giving problems and I had to change it not once, not twice but 3 times! The new computer I managed to be on was much more stable and we managed 2 rounds of DOTA. Fun indeed! Trying to thrash the computer but kept getting pwned in the 1st round (not to forget, most of us had little DOTA-ing experience), the 2nd round was much better!

Fun scenes would definitely include asking KH not to go too near to the tower, only for him to get killed by the tower and other creeps around him. Haha. But guess we need more playing time eh? (KH - more LAN gaming next time perhaps?)

After that, met Jason and Hwi Bee at Clementi to go to Beach Road to get the gas lamps. Alas, we have to make a detour into Raffles Hotel due to the sudden pouring rain!!!!

And in Raffles Hotel I saw an old uncle trying his best to remove the water which had accumulated due to the sudden thunderstorm. Pity him, at his age still working, I wonder what has our society become? Will we end up having to work till his age, or maybe even older? I shudder at that thought at times. Why can't the older generation get a rest and enjoy the life which they should rightfully have, after toiling for the past 20 years or so? Maybe, it's just the social and economic system which we have here.

Moving on, we were at the Raffles Hotel waiting for a cab when we saw a BMW awaiting for its passengers at the front of the Hotel. What made this BMW different was that it had flags at the front and apparently the passengers were so distinguished that the staff of Raffles Hotel made their way to the porch with them (a couple) to send them off.

Well, the 4 of us just stood there in awe, but our concern was just to catch a cab...so I approached the guy at the counter to help us in getting a cab, which we managed to get one en route to Bedok. (Another note: Why do we see so many cabs changing shifts at Bedok!?)

Managed to get a ride to the "Army Market", where I saw the wonderful dual-usage architecture which we have in SG!

This wonderful design allows 2 things to be done at the same time: 1) It dispels water away from the market efficiently and without hitting the covered areas (blue), and 2) It allows the watering (or too much?) of plants (red).

What a great piece of architectural skill...and I guess the poor plant must be wishing there weren't that much thunderstorms in SG? It sure hurts (oww...) as a plant to be hit and flooded by so much water lors.

Another interesting thing noticed:



No bicycles, but still having bicycles there? Hmms...it's akin to having "No Smoking" signs but still having irritating people smoking like crazy in the bus stops. Geez.

Anyway, never managed to get our gas lamps, all sold out, and the only store which carried the original version is selling it at $45 by some shoplady who gave such a black face. Wonder what's her stupid problem. Geez.

So to cut short our failed trip (and thereby having to make ANOTHER trip again...) we received a call from Mufeng regarding his meeting with HB and KH, and he wanted us to find some LPA76 batteries for him. First time I'm hearing such batteries!!! Gosh. KH and I asked around but the shops carried the normal types. Wonder which place would carry such batteries. Watch shops?

Made our way to City Hall with our sugarcane drinks in hand and boarding the bus, with the bus captain telling us not to drink, and then missing a stop to arrive at a ulu bus stop at the Padang with light rain and some tourists viewing an old tree near the memorial tower.

Went over to Starbucks @ Suntec and HB, KH, MF continued their discussion proper, whilst Jason and I settled some logistical issues. After that, we went to the food court for dinner, and then some desert (the ice there is really smooth!!!) and finally parting ways to go home.

Almost 13 hours of non-stop activity...Feeling tired, but I'm happy. Being busy and having outings sure makes time pass by fast. Yet, I'm looking at the end of holidays soon...time really flies! It's Friday!!! OMGOSH!

I wanna play Mahjong, have fun, go K...anyone??? =D

Current Mood: Exhausted

Current Music: 2moro - Nan Sheng Nu Sheng Pei

Up and Down, Datuk I've come and gone

Well, as Candice once told me about a year ago, "Each trip is different". And indeed I truly and surely believe so. Every trip I've gone during my time in the 26th has taught me new things, and the first official 27th trip did so too.

The 3rd time (ok I mis-counted...) for me up Datuk, and well some things went well, and unexpected things happen...but the most important thing was that all in all, things went smoothly, no safety issues, and no major hiccups.

Why do I not feel the spirit of Rovers during the trip? It felt so different, so quiet, so dead, during the course of the trip. Maybe it was because the comm was adapting to the new terrain, learning the routes, getting used to the rigors of a tough trek which is Datuk. Or maybe...it's just DATUK.

Datuk's a tough trek in my opinion, and it's worse than the KFC of Ophir. This is because of our weight that we're carrying and the incline in which we need to conquer.

I had none of my MacDonalds' breakfast, although I've my MacLemak; I din bring 7-Up or Coke up, but I had a can of 100 Plus up there (chilled!); I din have my Pizza Hut meal which I crave for, but I had fun on the way back, and well, thinking back, it wasn't half as bad as we had initially thought it was.

But nonetheless, the trek has been great for me so far. About half of the participants I do know prior to the trek, so it was kind of a reunion of some sorts with friends. The 25th came along as well, with IJK (Ivy, JJ, Kian Ann), Chin Khiong, Huifen, and my 'uncle' participants from my previous Berkelah, Desmond and Yah Siang.

The first thing which was out of our expectations was the late arrival of the train and a slower ride than normal to Tampin. So that delayed our arrival at Tampin, but of course, not before we had fun on the train! Who-Is-Your-Friend (aka bridge) started automatically on the carriage. Damn fun and happening, and in a way allowed me to keep awake without needing to will myself to sleep.

This lil kid was super active and even waved to us after we left!


Datuk has become Chalet Datuk


Me, Zhai, Geoks

The trek up started later than usual, but we managed to hit the summit on time, which was a relief as trekking in the dark was rather dangerous for everyone. But we missed the sunset, and had to camp somewhere else as there were too many tents up at the summit. I was rather relieved that we had a place to camp for the night. However, I had to risk taking water from the water source below in the dark, and I brought Zhihui and Junwei down for the water collection. The water was more than just a trickle now, and I managed to fill up 7 1.5L bottles very fast.


Resting on the way up!


Geoks, Me, Huifen, Geri, CK

Night cooking was great! FOOD is always GOOD! With fellow black-holians Pei Geok, Shuying, Weiguang, as well as Geraldine and Zhihui, we managed to feast on our 5 packets of noodles, 8 servings worth of pasta, as well the chicken and other food which we brought up...so much so that we had too much to spare!!!!


Guang


Geri


Yings


Geoks


Zhai


Me


Cooking!!!


Climbed up to the top (as usual) to admire the night sky, the stars, the town lights and get bathed in the winds. Well, I always preferred the night sky in Datuk than in Berkelah or Ophir (they dun even exist, I think). And it sure is much colder up in Datuk than in any of the other places (other than Stong in the morning and Sabah) I've visited before.

So much has happened since the last time I came to Datuk. Oh wells...at that time I was still happily attached, it's a wonder how much things have changed in 10 months. But change is the only constant, aint it?

Woke up in the morning to the sounds of the participants cooking and moving noisily about, and proceeded to the cooking area with the intention to cook some breakfast before the rest of the comm was awake, but was too stoned to do anything. And we moved up to the summit once again, in the day, to take more pictures. Well, the place definitely looks beautiful up at the top! With only the 6 of us up there, it felt so quiet, so away...lest the lack of water, Datuk is really a place I would love to go up over and over again!


This grasshopper is BIIIGGGG....


Whose leg is this?


They call this the Pi1 Li1 Pa1 La1


CK and his pancake - Nice!!! MacPancake has arrived!


The grass up there - strong enough to resist the harsh winds


Me, Zhai, Geoks, Yings, Geri


Look up!


All 6 of us!


In thought


Another lesson learnt after reaching the foot, but I guess we all learn better from our mistakes than from someone telling you what mistakes NOT to commit? It was kinda out-of-the-blue actually, but well, this tells us that accidents do happen. However, take it in the right stride, since everything still turned out well and dandy.

Dinner was settled at the food alley near City Square, where we had sumptuous seafood and Muslim food! The hunger just set in, after non-stop bridging on the bus and keeping awake for the 4 hours on the journey home.

And journey home was jammed-packed with cars returning to Singapore, so much so that the vehicles entering Johor cannot enter, and the vehicles clearing customs have slowed to a trickle! As we walked along the causeway, I counted the number of 170s which were stuck going into Johor - 10 in total, maybe more. It was almost empty at the immigration area, but at the waiting area for the buses to Kranji MRT and beyond, it was super crowded...So much so that we just played S-hole Dai Dee to while our time away.

I need rest! lol...

Current Mood: Tired

Post-Exam Reliever!

Ehhh...I din mean the back of my running attire last Sunday...

Went out with the Fuego peeps for a Post Exam Celebration today, after Anqi's paper (yea she's the last!) Not all turned up though, only Anqi, Kent, Mark, Weili and me.

Was in school waiting for Anqi and helping Peiyu with her laptop problem, and originally intended to wait for Wanling, but that ger ended up being at home. Awww...Rest well. lol. Saw Candice, Lianguo, Chin Khiong, Lionel, Weiguang, Andy, Shuying and Zhihui around the table. And of all of them, 2 chem engineers were already in holiday mood, yet they were back in school! Why? Hmms..

Whilst doing the re installation of PY's OSX, Shuang and Tianqi appeared, and the guys had a birthday celebration for CK! Sheesh...that LG very good ah, never tell me anything though I know they had something up...haaz.

Went swimming after my 'job's done, in an attempt to relax the aches in the muscles, and to see if there's any other 'problems' after the run. Sore foot...that's about it. Tired thighs to add. Sounds reasonable, especially after a 42km run. Hehs.

Met up with Anqi after her paper, and we waited for Kent for 5 mins (well in the end we waited for >5 mins till the 4th 96 bus, and he appeared, and we took the 5th...so did he mean to wait till the 5th 96 bus?! o_O") Reached Clementi and Weili and Mark were already there, and we made our way to The Cathay.

Along the way, there was this uncle who was quite 'enthusiastic' about moving to the rear of the bus, but the problem is, there weren't people to follow his move and squeeze to the back! We were sitting with 3 across the back, with Kent and I turning ourselves (and well our legs sticked out a lil) to talk to the rest, so the uncle just decided to happily be in between all of us with a large gap between him and the next person standing. Geez. Well, I dun mind his attitude, but if people dun wish to move backwards, it doesnt help rite?

Here's the top down view...left's the rear, right's towards the front...
o o o o o
o x o o o
x *___%%
x x o o o
x o o o o

Hmms anyway, it was not a big issue, so we managed to talk less, rest a little, and crapped more later at dinner at The Manhattan Fish Market!!!! Hahaha...

Played arcade later, just a game of Daytona and this dude had to come in to chup ji ka. Geez. Luckily he got crashed out by YOURS TRULY. Super sian cos we wanted to just have fun and not to WIN...It was supposed to be fun. But justice was served and I managed to crash him out via the use of the wall (well he tried to cut in via my left side -_-)

Then we moved on to the ground floor of PS, where there was a digital camera exhibition, and Weili was musing on which to get. Lotsa models, newer than mine! Suddenly my camera seems so old and in need of a change. Oh wells.

And The Cathay has a PINK Xmas Tree! Looks prettier at night than in the day, and it's so pinkish, it looks like a huge candy floss. o_O"







Happy Feet is a must watch! Tap dance when you're happy! Feel it inside you, and let it out! :) I love the 5 amigos. Damn cute, with a Mexican/ tang. Goes to show that:

1) There's no correct way to express your feelings. You can express via singing a Heart Song, dancing, musicals, etc etc...
2) Please save the environment. (And yes, after watching the movie we were kinda guilty on eating fishes just prior to the movie)
3) Baby Penguins are cute!!!!! (I just wanna pinch their cheeks!)

To me, Happy Feet seemed partly documentary (U know, National Geographic and the like), with environmental themes inside, whilst incorporating the great music and visuals. And when we first see Mumble's parents, it's quite obvious they are caricatures of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.



I wanna find my happy feet.... =) and I shall do everything penguinly possible. :P

Current Mood: Happy

Current Music: Robin Williams - My Way

SCSM marks the end of another year of running

Oh yea. Well, actually MR25's Ultra Marathon really marks the end of running for us runners, but for me, I cant make it for the New Year Eve run this year, so I've to step back and take the SCSM as the last (official) running event this year.

This year wasn't a good year for runs, for me especially. After the Dualathlon in Feb, I came down with chicken pox and never really got going after that. So essentially I think I lost about 3 months of fitness.

Then the major events came. Mizuno, NBRR, AHM. Of the 3, I missed the NBRR and AHM, 'cos of Rovers commitments. But I planned to try training on my own to make up for the loss training during AHM.

Sadly, was mistakened and the packed reading week and exam schedule proved fatal. Din manage to better my timing last year, only managed to squeeze in a sub-5 with loads of thanks to Lionel who kept pushing me on and running with me throughout from the turning point at ECP till the end.

Essentially I think I need more training la. The thighs do not feel good this year, and I reckoned I hit the wall at an even earlier time, possibly at the 20km mark or so. So that meant that I could last maybe an additional 5-7 km before I'll pull up with cramps.

The start was so-so for me. Intended to go slow and take it easy for the first half of the marathon 'cos it would mean that I could last longer, and I think I kept pace within the first 10km. The next 10km was rather fast, with about 3 100 Plus stations, 1 banana point and seeing the 21km racers returning from their U-turn. The banana did not seem to go down well, but I still managed to finish it. My priority was to try to get to ECP and maintain my speed and form. But it kinda failed. lol.

Was looking out for the deep-heat stations and stretching the muscle groups cos I felt tension on running from Fort Road towards Kits Runners. Was thinking to myself "Why din I try to get more runs under my belt? Or run the 21km?" Well, did contemplate doing the 21km instead of the full on the eve, but it was kinda too late. lol.

So as I went along, I saw Tianyuan and Huiqin, as well as Lionel, who joined me for the return leg after the U-turn. Saw OTC and some other familiar faces, and managed to pass him a spare Powergel cos he seems to need it.

The return leg was painful. Cramps came in, felt like puking and I hit the 'wall' and personally I felt it was quite doomed. 'Cos I knew what this would become. The puking part was probably due to the banana + 3 packs of powergel + not enough food. With 9km to go, each step taken hurts. But to finish, was a miracle. Haha. After the race, was really relieved to finally sit down, do nothing but nuah in pain and agony.

Shall go and train up some more, and hope to get back to shape next year! More runs!!! For those who've done their marathons, happy resting and stretch those muscles! Sleep is good...as always~

Time for trekking season! :)

SGRunners :)


Me and Lionel!


Current Mood: Achy

Current Music: Penny Dai - Tan Shui He Pian

Exams over!

Not-so-good paper yesterday.

But still, end result is: I FINISHED EXAMS!
(Well only results after xmas would spoil the jolly mood. bleah.)

Most of the class taking 6 mods, so not many free for a game of DMJ at Jax's place.

Only Ghim, Jax and me, 三缺一, but end up managed to find Andy who's (I quote) OUR CLASS de.

lol. Damn funny.

Zhan joined us for dinner, had some nice zhica near his place. (yea, after Jax changed car and he went to fetch his gf from the house too)

Was a bit slow, I admit I'm still quite a n00b at DMJ and my skills were so-so compared to the rest...but wells...it was a great day yesterday!

Hopefully the luck could have been transmitted to the exam hall instead. Ugh!

Gonna prepare for tml...wake up at a time people are going to sleep...I'm going nuts + deprived of sleep + excited for tml!

Haha...

Gonna hydrate more!

For those with papers on Monday/Tuesday, good luck yea? :)

Okay...just a point to note:
Shi Xin Hui's new album is out! Heard it's pretty good!
And I'm promoting the following songs in the next few blogs! So if ya wan can ask me haha!

Current Mood: Awake

Current Music: Zhang Liang Ying - Girl Of Your Dreams