Coffs Harbour - The Banana Town

Brisbane

Gold Coast

DONG ZHI (WINTER SOLSTICE FESTIVAL)

Today is Dong Zhi, and its celebrated on every Dec 22 of every year. It is the second most important festival of the Chinese calender. Celebrated on the longest night of the year, Dong Zhi is the day when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. The coming of winter is celebrated by families and is traditionally the time when farmers and fishermen gather food in preparation for the coming cold season. It is also a time for family reunions.

In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpling soup on this day; while residents of some other places eat dumplings, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter. But in parts of South China, the whole family will get together to have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat TANG YUAN or KUEH EE, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour.

The Winter Solstice rice dumplings could be used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and relatives. The Taiwan people even keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They make cakes in the shape of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition. People of the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors in age order. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.

Have you eaten your Tang Yuan aka Kueh Ee (In Hokkien) today!!!

Ayam Back

Ayam Back (der Pacemakers Vocab) aka I am back. Yes back from my Gold Coast vacations. Spent the last 2 weeks in Gold Coast, Brisbane and then drive along the coastal road to Sydney and back. And that is like driving 2000km within 2 weeks.

It was the annual family year end vacation and this year was in Gold Coast because of one BIG reason. AirAsia X flies to Gold Coast and I did manage to get cheap fares out of their early launch. So its a no brainer as the cost of air tickets will be a lot cheaper than any other airlines flying to the same location. And also we have not been to Gold Coast so will be a first time experience for all.

Overall the vacation is fantastic, and holidays are always a pleasant experience. First time to Gold Coast and I must said this is the place for people who love beaches, sunshine and water. Next are all the babes and the hunks along the beaches....thats all I can describe. If you wanna see more, hop onto the next AAX flight into Gold Coast and see for yourself. I would said the beaches are lovely and comparable to those along Waikiki in Hawaii. Being a runner with a runners mind, I did a survey on the Gold Coast Marathon 2007 race course and I must said its a flat course with very little hills. This will definitely be a PR course for all who is coming for the Gold Coast Marathon 2008 (Australia's fastest and flattest marathon) in 6 July.

The coastal towns where I stop by for one or two nights on my way to Sydney are equally lovely too. These towns have their own specialties and unique offerings that are different from each other. The family enjoy the quiet and serene atmosphere of these towns as compare to the bustling high activities scene in Gold Coast.

Sydney is the same city where I visited nine years ago except this time we made our trip to the Blue Mountains and visited the 3 Sisters. Nothing changes in Sydney and everywhere are exactly the same. My memory image of Sydney 9 years ago does not change at all. So does not excite me as much as the coastal town and Gold Coast.

Living in Australia is darn expensive now. Taking aside the currency exchange rate of AUD1 is equal to RM3.03, all the things at the shopping malls, hypermarts, etc are so expensive. The standard of living have gone up so much. Property prices are shooting like rockets flying up to the sky. A pair of running shoes of brands like ASICS, SAUCONY, ADIDAS, etc are almost in the range of no less than AUD130 to AUD180 per pair. And IMHO, this is not the right time for those who wanna migrate to Australia. You get burnt left right and center.

So much about my trip and I will post some photos up later. Cherrio !!!

Be A Real Good Provider

I was reading this book "Fathering Your School-aged Child" and I am really amazed and cannot disagree to this part that speaks typical about the lifestyle of a working parent.

We want to be very good providers, but be careful not to be consumed by the pursuit of income or a workaholic lifestyle. Otherwise the relationships with our children will start to wither away.

Many researchers show that the most effective parents dont necessary have the highest income. An "A+" provider can have a "C" income. In this case, average and steady income is sufficient.

When a parent adopts this perspective, he is free to make career decisions based not on his neighbor's lifestyle or his company standards, but on his life goals, his family's needs and his children's future.

Too many parents are waiting to meet certain financial goals, then only they'll spend more time with their family. But often, when they reach their goals, they have established patterns at work and at home that are very difficult to change. There is often a shocking and sad recognition of what they have missed - and can never recover.

No matter how much money you have, the best life comes from well-connected relationships. Providing well for your family means bringing home a lively, caring and engaged parent.

Batik Fun Walk for Cancer

This morning I opt for the fun walk instead of sleep for a good course in the aid of cancer. The walk Start/Finish was at Berjaya Time Square. The number of participants of this event is small unlike those race events. But I thot the public shud be more aware of such charity event and come out full force to support it. Well at least for me, I have done my part to come and support plus the donation given. I wont write a report of this event but just post some of the pictures taken during the event.

Fei Kei Wong

王

MSN conversation with GL on Friday afternoon.

GL: I wont be running tomorrow. Need some rest
Me: Erhhh...tats not you. Never hear u need rest
GL: Old oredi, need more rest
Me: Sure or not
GL: Actually I will be running in a 4.5k race on Sunday
Me: Oh I see, not that kind of rest that you are not running at all on a weekend
GL: Yes, reserve energy and try to get a medal in the race
Me: Ok, good luck. I will be at the Batik Charity Walk on Sunday
GL: So u have to run with Fei Kei Wong, make sure he doesnt FFK on you
Me: I hope so!!!!


Saturday 5.30am - SMS

FKW: This morning not coming liao, body still tired

I was oredi on the road when the SMS reaches me. Anyway never mind lah, you rest well buddy (I talk to myself). With GL not running this morning, I hope PK will be there at the carpark, else I will have to run solo this morning. And true enuf PK was there waiting for someone to turn up for the 20k run. The morning was cinya cooling and is perfect for a long run.

Ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo? ~ Greetings from Korea

Dear Malaysian Running Friends,

I just want to give my respect to You for being able to do all the running that you manage to do in the hot and humid conditions all year long in Malaysia. It takes a lot of discipline and dedication to prepare for a marathon in those conditions. I know from my year in KL, where my results dropped a bit, even if I thought that I gave it some focus with early Saturday morning runs and boring treadmills sessions.

After I left Malaysia in the middle of August, for a little bit cooler destination here in Seoul, Korea, I have very quickly returned to my more normal marathon finishing times, without to much extra training sessions. It's just so much easier due to the cooler temperature.

During the last 6 weekends, I have participated in 4 marathons. Not recommendable perhaps, since the body needs a bit of recovery time in between, but it's to fun to avoid, especially in Korea where the running atmosphere is fantastic, without being able to talk Korean language. Lots of runners with big smiles over their faces.

Oct 14
Munchen Marathon (Germany) 4.32
During flight connection to Sweden ;-)

Oct 28 Chuncheon Marathon 4.09
Over 20.000 runners around a lake. The number one marathon in Korea. Beautiful place & fantastic atmosphere!

Nov 4 JoongAng Seoul Marathon 4.19
Also over 20.000 runners. Start & finish inside the Olympic Stadium.

Nov 18 Sportseoul Marathon 4.27
Cold & windy. The last 15 km's in strong headwind. Needed to do some walking.

Now, I'll better take a break from marathons, since the winter has arrived here. It was ice and below zero + hard wind, during the race yesterday. Brrrrrr ... Need to recharge my batteries.

The next big race here in Korea is Donga Seoul Marathon in March.

My overall conclusion is that you can probably add 1 minute per kilometer when you run marathons in Malaysia in comparison, due to your climate. My average results during my year in Malaysia indicates on something like 42 minutes slower finishing times there. I was struggling around and above 5 hours in most of the races. Penang Bridge was a disaster ...

So, keep up the hard work and bear in mind that you can mentally reduce a bit of time on your results when you do comparisons.

Running Regards,

Pelle

_________________________________________________
Perove Claesson
Volvo IT Korea
726-173 Hannam-dong,Yongsan-gu
140-210 Seoul
South Korea
Tel. +82 2 3780 9043
Mobile +82 10 7169 0429
Fax +82 2 3780 9272
Email: perove.claesson@volvo.com

Goodbye to you my trusted friend

Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We've known each other since
Seventy-eight weeks ago
Together we've take on all the race
Learned of cramps and all the sweat
Ran the race and
Climb the hills

We had joy we had fun we had
Running to be done
But the hills that we climbed were
The challenge that we done























Thats the parting words sang to the tune of "Season in the sun" with regards to my old faithful Saucony Trigon 4 that had served me very well for the past 78 weeks (1.5 years). This morning I had it on for a 20k run and I realised that it is not responding as well as before. This old faithful of mine had reach its lifespan of hitting 800km or more. Its time to retire from the running scene and enjoy life after that ie wont have someone weighing 70kg pounding on it.

The Trigon 4 had made itself a real good investment for me and the model that will replaces it is none other than its successor Trigon 5 which was release in mid 2007. I have since tested the shoe and it gives the same cushy feeling and the good news was its even lighter. The Trigon 5 will definitely complement the Triumph 4 which is my other pair of training rubbers.

So much about my old faithful and Adios Amigo!!!!

Etonic

What do you know about them?

A tad too fast

It was a lovely Saturday morning when I drove out of my porch and ready for my morning run with none other than LiBeHe, once my running buddy and still is at times if he does not FFK. As I reaches the Bukit Aman carpark, there I saw him out of the car putting on his rubbers. Hehehe....he didnt FFK on me this morning!!!. How dare he when he is training for the coming Singapore marathon. 4 weeks to go for him and not enuf mileage means he will see THE WALL very early in the race. And if the weather is not forgiving (unlike last year) he will be roasted too.

Anyway we started of with an easy pace and as we approaches Bank Negara' s junction, our pace increases. This continues when we reaches the Jalan Duta junction and I told LiBeHe that the pace is faster than my normal run. I told him that GL will loving running with us today but too bad GL is on vacation for 2 weeks. The pace eases off a bit as we take on the slope near the Govt Complex area but once we went past the KL Mosque, the pace started to be faster again. This continued until we hit the Petronas station at Hartamas. My watch shows 54mins 50secs. Wow and that is at least 5mins faster than my normal run.

Took a 5mins water stop and did a loop around Petronas before heading back to the Bukit Aman carpark. We took it easy on our return leg and by the time I hit the Jalan Duta junction, I was a spent force. LiBeHe was at least 50m-80m ahead of me by now. I was a tad too fast running the first leg and by now I am just hanging onto it and try to complete my 20k run. Step by step I push on and the downhill pushes the momentum a bit as I continue the run. One last slope to tackle at the Bank Rakyat junction towards the finishing at the carpark.

Reaches the carpark, legs felt wobbly and tired, but was a good run overall. My watch shows exactly 2hrs for the run with a 5mins water break in between. The first leg of the run was a test of my speed plus endurance, and I think I did alright. The second leg was more like hanging onto it and not giving up especially the fuel was running low and that is when you train your mind to take over your body. Every runner who is doing the marathon need that mental strength when you are at the 40k mark to carry yourself over the line.