Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year 2008











May the year of 2008 bring you good health, happiness and most of all the joy of living everyday as it comes. Pia Kau Kau Lat if your resolution is to run faster this year, else just run to stay healthy.

My resolution for 2008 is to be more GREEN and save the world from disappearing.

Singapore Sundown Marathon ~ 31 May 2008























Its Open for registration, and quickily register online . Dont wait for last minute when its closed for entry.


Sunday, December 30, 2007

Der PiaMakers




















Ronnie See aka PM1




















Tay Poh Chye aka TPC or Tong Hai Low

















Kenny Tan aka AsthmaMan


I had the privilege to run with the threesome this morning around the lake. The intention of this morning run was for me to get familiarize with the loop around the lake and also the pace I shud be running. This is in preparation for Der Pacemakers Network Run 2008 this coming Tuesday ~ 1 Jan 2008. This can consider to be the very first competitive run to start the year and I will be in a mood to push myself a bit and see how fast I can go.

And coming back to this threesome. I dont called them Der PiaMakers for no reason cos you dun play play with them while running. While Kenny Tan can talk kok when running with you, his pace is a tad too fast for me to follow as we hit lap 4 and 5 around the lake. And dont forget he is an asthma patient, cinya!!!

PM1 as usual needed to do Der Pangsai act while we are into the 3rd lap and yet he came galloping like a wild horse to overtake me in lap 5 (which was my last lap). This fellar is full of energy and never runs out of steam. I noticed that he had a very unique style of running where both his feet curls back before landing.

The infamous Tay Poh Chye (TPC) is a runner where you will either love him or hate him. When your running with him, you either take him on and run far ahead of him, or let him run ahead of you. You will never like him when he start pacing with you coupled with his famous heavy footstep and fartlek style of running. If you happens to overtake him, he will come after you like bee to honey. Then he will fartlek you and run ahead of you. After a while he will slow down his pace and let you come after him. And the whole cycle repeats again. You think its irritating??

Anyway when you come to know him better, he is just an ordinary shy shy fellar. Cant blame his fartlek style cos thats the way TPC runs. But when it comes to training, his style of running will really push you to get on with speed.

And coming back to my experience in running with them, please dont go near the fearless threesome if you are not fit and fast to run with them. Their looks can be deceiving but when the rubber hits the tarmac, you will be potong sayur by them left, right and center. But today I must said I am grateful to had such a cinya good opportunity to train with some of these elites. Hopefully that will make me a stronger and faster runner for 2008.

I am wondering if I can run 21k with them and take on the threesome one of these days.

So long and seeya in Network Run 2008.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The 2008 Warlord

Year 2007 is coming to an end and the 2008 running season will begin in no time. I personally had targeted a couple of races that I will be focusing on. And now its the best time to choose my army to help prepare myself for the new running season. These are the shoes that will go out with me for battle, I mean races for the 2008 season. The shoes are specifically hand pick based on the past performance, runner's reviews and what I am having today.













Saucony Triumph 4
The ever reliable high performance trainer. This will be the trainer that I will used for most of my longer runs and may also be the choice for a 42k race within the year. Although it looks heavy and bulky, the looks can be deceiving. But once you put it on to hit the tarmac it will give you the world of cushioning that every runner is asking for. I need such cushy support to pamper both my feet as they are not anymore younger. Hopefully this will prevent me from having any form of leg injury for the year.














Saucony Trigon 5
This is the successor of my old faithful Trigon 4 that I used for 2006/2007 running season. I will be using it as the buddy in crime with the Triumph 4 as both of them will be alternate shoes for my longer runs. As it is newly purchased, I have not really tested it out on my longer runs but I believed it will be as good if not better than its predecessor. At least it feels lighter and if it performs exactly to what the reviews had written, then it can also be an option for a 42k race as well. Lets see how well it performs once I had the chance to burn the tarmac with it.



















Saucony Fastwitch
The Fastwitch is an older model of this series but it has already proven to be one of the better racers around. At least some of der Pacemakers are convinced that this is der shoe to use for a 10k and 21k race. And so this will be my racer for the 2008 running season especially in 10k and 21k races. I have already ran with it in the recently concluded KRI 12k in Ipoh and it came out with flying colors. Feels light like a feather yet giving me that cushy feel for the entire race. Its a racing beauty I must said.

As 2008 inches on, I may add one more model into the army if required, but for now I think it will be the 3 warlords that will go war, I mean races with me.


Tuesday, December 25, 2007

KLAVA Christmas Back to Nature Relay 2007

I was not supposed to run in this relay. As PM1 sent me a Yahoo message yesterday afternoon asking if I am free this morning to run in the relay as there was a last minute pullout. Since I was only planning to do a 8k or 10k run, I thot why not give it a shot to test out my speedwork and see how do I fare in a 3.6k relay.

The race turn out pretty well as our team der Pacemakers Lite & Eazy came out 5th in the Open Category. I was aiming to run a 5min pace but turn out to be faster than that. No regret coming for the event organised by KLAVA.

Details report, please click here, here and here