Rain rain come my way

The pre-dawn rain over the nite had created a perfect condition for this morning run. Although a few of the regular members were missing due to some other activities that they are into, we are not short of runners. Chipmunkrock was around, and joined by the Pacemakers group like DK, Tey, Jason Learn2Eat and der PM1. The weather was cooling and I was cruising effortlessly to enjoy the great weather. Although I experienced slight uncomfort due to the pain I had on my heel, I managed to pull thru. The pain doesnt seems to bother me at all as the run progresses. So long I did not put pressure on it by running too fast I think I am fine. Just needed to have enuf rest to ensure it heals completely. After the run, was introduced to Lawrence (another Pacemakers) and had the chance to meet Tony (one of the Penquins). He invited me to do a 30k training run at Putrajaya which he is organising on Oct 21 (Sat) which is on Deepavali day. Well, not too sure whether it is too early to do a 30k run when it is still at least one month away from the Singapore Marathon race.

Heel Pain

Develop a pain on the heel of my right foot (no its the left foot, what I am talking) when I woke up this morning. Look like the area around the heel bone had swell a little bit. Painful and uncomfortable feeling. I suffered this before and that was a long long time. Hopefully with a few days of rest, the pain and swell will go away otherwise I need longer rest. If not this will disrupt my training for Singapore Marathon 2006.

Getting into a business

I have recently written to a well known branded running shoes company inUSA hoping to represent them in Malaysia. They are almost unheard of in Malaysia, and because of that I am hoping that they will be interested in my high level business plan that I submitted via an email. I dont expect them to respond to me bcos they have no idea who I am by looking at the plan. But surprisingly they came back to me a couple of days (thanks to the power of the Internet) via an email from their UK office. They have shown interest to explore further and have directed me to work with their local distributor in Malaysia. Huh!!!, you mean there is someone representing them...and if that is the case, these people are definitely not working or do not know how to sell the products. Dont even see any marketing campaign from them to promote their products in Malaysia.

Immediately I got in contact with the local distributor and started a conversation to explore a business partnership. I told them they have to be somewhat technically sound to sell a running shoes, not just selling it of the shelves. It wont work. It will be to their advantage if they have people in the running communities to promote the shoes. Immediately I zoomed in from that angle to take advantage of the knowledge and expereience I had, and the value-add I can offer (I knew the local distributor will not have that). I am applying the BLUE OCEAN strategy, thanks to LIFEMOU for introducing that to me. Make your competitors irrelavant ie those dealers out there that are already selling the products but have totally no clue how to promote it.

After listening to what I have briefly explain to them on my strategy and my knowledge of their products (thats my marketing speech), they are interested to listen to a more detail plan. They have even admitted that I know more than them on the products they sell. They have requested me to come out with a more detail plan and are willing to explore the business partnership.

Bang,Bang,Bang... I hit it on the right note. Will spend some time carving out the marketing plan and get some market research activities going to equip myself for the next meeting. I will crack my brain cells over the weekend to see how can I able to get this brand to command a pie in the current marketshare. I will start to seek feedbacks, advise and evaluations from fellow running frens about this product and its opportunity of doing well in the Malaysia market.

Teee Tittt, Teee Tittt, Teee Tittt - the alarm of my PDA phone rang. Its 0545. My wiffy said, are you doing your morning run? Woke up with blurry eyes....and I asked myself, where is my marketing plan. And I realized it was just a DREAM. Dream I will and I have always aspired to do something like that ie managing a business that have relation to my hobby and that is RUNNING. I hope this dream will come true in the near future; like a Walt Disney fairy tale story. Hopefully my dream will continue to complete my business plan.

Thats all folks !!!!

Singapore Marathon Training Routine

This will be my training routine for the SinJiaPoh Marathon on 3 Dec 2006. Hopefully there wont be much biz travelling that will disrupt this program. The following are the weekend long runs that I will be looking at.

Sep 23 : 20k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Sep 30 : 20k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Oct 07 : 20k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Oct 14 : 25k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Oct 21 : 25k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Oct 28 : 25k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Nov 04 : 28k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Nov 11 : 30k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Nov 18 : 33k (weekdays: 24k-30k)
Nov 19 - Dec 2 : Tapering off and race day on Dec 3

No target set, no time pressure, just go out there and enjoy the race.

Pacesetters Mizuno 10k (17 Sept)

In this race I must admit I have set a target for myself but its something I know I can achieve. Although I did not put too much pressure on myself to achieve it but based on my current form, I know I can do it. Just a matter of how well I can do it. The target was a sub-1 hr timing, nothing more than that. Even a timing of 59 mins 59 secs will do. So the pressure ease of a bit, in fact probably not a pressure at all. I know I will run better under a no pressure condition.

Feeling good on race day except that my legs are still feeling a bit sore. Not fully recovered from the Putrajaya race. Sensing that there will be a large crowd, so I decided to leave home earlier to get a parking slot (kiasu a bit). Reached the Bukit Aman carpark at around 0615 and its already filled up with lots of car. Found a slot and get changed. Do some stretching and saw Carboman arrived. Greeted each other and continue to do some stretching and started walking towards the starting point in Padang Merbuk at about 0700.

Met the usual running frens and bumped into Megat (my colleague), Karen and her daddy, Cheong SH, Wong sifu and William. Having a usual chit-chat with them and out of nowhere the horn sounded, and the race had started. No speech, nothing......dont waste anytime. The big crowd of orange runners were filling the road, and I have to run on the pavement. Its a bit dangerous and especially with these kind of crowd. Sure enuf not too long after running, one man trip and fell on the ground. Try to help him up but there are other runners nearer to him and who got him back on his feet. Nothing serious except maybe for the shock of tripping himself onto the ground.

My strategy was to do a faster pace in the beginning taking the hills because I have to do catch up since I am almost at the back of the pack, and also the big crowd slows me down. Thats what I did, taking the hills in a faster pace, and slow down a bit at the down hill. Maintain the same pace all along to conservce some energy for the double-hills. Once out of Kenny Hills and onto the highway, take the slight uphill at a steady pace. Race at a much faster pace after the right turn towards the National Monument before ending at the finishing line. Crossed the line at 57 mins 58 secs. Was a good time for me, and no complain. This is the first 10k race that I dipped under 1 hour since my comeback.

Mingled around at the race site, some photo session and finally I met DK in person. Bumped into Eugene and YiXi at the one of the drink stations. After this left the race site together with Cheong so that we can joined the Terry Fox carnival run.

Cow's Milk Is For Baby Cows

I always find the topic very true.

It always amazes me to discover just how many consumers have been brainwashed by dairy industry advertising into thinking that milk from cows is some sort of essential food for humans. In reality, cow's milk is perfect nutrition for baby cows, but nutritionally incompatible with humans, most of whom are actually allergic to the substance.

Humans are the only species that will drink the mammary gland extract of another species. And we didn't even choose a species close to us like monkeys or gorillas. No, we've chosen to drink milk from furry, four-legged creatures mostly because they're the easiest ones to control and dope up with synthetic hormones that turn them into milk-generating machines for profit-motivated dairy operations.

All commercial milk from cows contains pus and blood, by the way. The USDA actually sets allowable limits of pus as a federal standard. (Check MilkSucks.com to see how much pus is found in milk in your State!) And that's not to mention the toxic chemicals, PCBs, pesticides, perchlorate and other substances frequently found in milk products. Even if they were somehow free of these chemicals, nearly all commercially-produced milk is pasteurized and homogenized -- a process that turns milk fats into artery-clogging substances that promote heart disease and atherosclerosis.

Yet western populations chug milk by the gallon, and then the people wonder why they suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, obesity, heart disease, sinusitis, acne, constipation and even diabetes. The answer is cow's milk, folks. You'd be better off drinking human milk, but even that's only for babies.

Truly, drinking milk from cows is about as silly as pushing a baby calf away from its mother and sucking on the teat yourself. Which is, of course, the very concept this comic is attempting to portray.

Note: This article is from News Target.com

Who let the dogs out

I am upgrading myself to the DSLR range of camera. The normal digital camera will be used for point and click, and for my runs. I am currently tossed between the Nikon D80 and the Canon EOS400D. Both models are newly launched in the market, and there are very little differences between them. Gotta go to the shop and check them out, and also based on some professional recommendations from my circle of frens which are semi-pro in this field. But it will definitely burn a hole in my pocket ~ RM4000 and above. And its an expensive hobby to get into.

Savoey Seafood Restaurant

Have you ever input a real bad review of a restaurant in Yahoo! Travel, and in a few days later it got taken out or deleted from the site. I am not sure who did it, but why asked for reviews and when the reviews are bad its taken out/deleted. The reviews I made was for the abovementioned restautant in Phuket. Now I am making it official in my blog so that customers do not faced the same bad experience that I got from them.










Savoey Seafood Restaurant This place sucks BIG time. If this is how Phuket is going to revive their tourism biz, this restaurant have to be tightly scrutinised. The service is BAD, food is BAD especially the fish and prawns that we ordered. It tasted like rotten meat. Complaints fell to deaf ears. Overall offering is a BIG Thumbs Down. BADDDDD!!!! Worst still they charged us for the tom yam soup that they didnt deliver to one of the tables. Doesnt admit their MISTAKE and insist that we pay. They even challenged me when I told them that I will make an official complaint to The Tourism Board of Thailand. Behaved like a bunch of gangsters. NEVER GO THERE !!!!

Rating: 1 (Worst)

1st anniversary of Comeback

My first race when I decided to make a comeback to long distance running was at Putrajaya Marathon 2005. After completing last weekend race at the same venue, it was exactly one year since I made that comeback. I slashed off at least 30mins from the timing of last year race. Within the year I considered myself progressing well based on the limited number of trainings and competitive race that I am doing. So far so good, and no complains. Slowly picking up the leftover business that was done 15 years ago. I think I am heading towards the right path and take things easy. No timing pressure and targets for me on any runs, just enjoy the race. I think this strategy suits me well because I am able to run better with no pressure on myself. And what do you expect a 44 year old man do,.....run a sub 1:30 half marathon and sub 3:30 full marathon. You are totally insane but this is what i can achieve during my peak ie when I am between 28-32 years old. Running with a small cute camera is my new found interest. I will do more photos capturing in future runs. So much for the 1st anniversary.

Putrajaya Half Marathon

The day started of with my PDA phone alarm ringing at 0400. I need to be at the race site earlier since I need to pass the bib to Eugene and son. Wash up, do my business and left home at around 0435. Was also not exactly sure of the place since this year the starting line is different from last year. The early journey will also give me ample time in case I am lost and cant find the place. Reached race site at about 0530 and parked my car 2 blocks away from the staring line. Got a call from Eugene asking me for directions to the race site and where to meet him to pass on the bib.

Met Eugene and YiXi, passed them the bibs. Managed to see the starting of the 42k race. Not many runners though. Maybe its too near to the Penang International Marathon. Then bumped into Francis Toh and Wong Sifu, and after that William. All of us checked into the runners area and the race started at 0630 sharp.

I have put no pressure on myself on any timing. Anything between 2:00 to 2:15 is fine with me. Since this was the first time I am carry a camera in a race, I was also taking quite a fair bit of pictures along the race. Bumped into Cheong and ran along with him for a couple of minutes and I moved on. Then I caught up with Jamie which started in the front of the pack. After a couple of minutes, I decided to move ahead and taking more pictures along the way. The experience was quite fun taking pictures while running. The only setback is that there is a lot of catch up to do since you practically slow down or stop to take the pictures of the runners. I clocked 53mins at the 10k mark.

After the 12k mark, I decided to push ahead and no more taking pictures from here and concentrate on my run. I was feeling good all this while and decided to increase my pace. Water stations were sufficient giving runners lots of fluid (water and isotonic drink). Kilometre after kilometre and in no time I was at the 17k mark which is near the Shangri-La Hotel loop. The water sprinkler around this area was refreshing. Ran thru that and turn left running towards the Putrajaya Mosque. From here I think it is probably another 3k before we hit the finishing line. At this juncture, my pace had slow down a bit. It is getting hotter by now and I just focused to maintain my pace and not falling behind.

I was looking for the finishing sign from afar but cant see it. Then I remembered we are running at a different direction (ie at the back of the finishing podium), and therefore my guess is that all the runners have to make a loop some way to end at the finishing line. True enuf with 2k to go, all the runners need to do a left turn, run on a parallel road, do a loop and finish. The last 1k was a long and winding road that never seems to end. The sun was shining on me and its getting even hotter by now. My pace was affected by it, but I just focus and pushed on. Finally all the runners are required to make a right turn and ran another 400m to the finishing line.

As I crossed the line, my timing was 2:03:10 with a position of 214 wriiten on a blue card given to me by one of the race officials. Although towards the last 2k, I was aiming for a sub-2 finishing but then I have no complain at all with this timing. I truely enjoy the race, a very well organised race indeed and I will be back again next year. Full Marathon.....well, i will think twice because this place is hot.

Seeya next year......

Take on the new Challenge, Capture the Splendour

Putrajaya Marathon captured.........









The starting line for the 42k and 21k race















H089, H090, H091.....The veterans














If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it














The 1st finisher from China in the Women 42k race












KC - the webmaster of Pacesetters
















Girls wanna have FUN!!!






Are you more interested in running the race or carrying these cartons of mineral water back home?


























This pakcik is 70 yrs old and completed the 21k race. He is a grand father who have 10 grandchildren. If he can run a 21k race why not the younger generation. The tagline below sums it all.











DETERMINATION.






More Pictures

Seeya next year.....

Phuket Is Back

Yes, thats the tagline adopted by Laguna Beach Resort in the beginning of 2006 to help revive the tourism business in Phuket after the terror incident of Tsunami hitting the island. It was a well spent 3D2N offsite for me and the whole company, charting out our company-wide plans, initiatives and strategies to go after our FY07 goals. The hotel services at this resort were extremely GOOD. Everything were in order when I do the spot-checking before our meetings starts. You only have to inform them once on what you want from them and when you arrive, everything are in perfect order. Thats an A+ for them.

And besides that we have some fun too, and what better way than to reach out to Patong beach and have a nite out. As I said, Patong had a lot more to offer besides the likes of Simon cabarets, go-go bars and some sleazy joints (you know what I meant). As I step onto the tuk-tuk to transport me from Laguna Beach Resort to Patong which is a winding 35mins ride, and along the way I saw lots of construction coming up. This shows that the island is making a real comeback, and this time even bigger.

As we are reaching the town, I saw lots of flat land and when I asked the driver about it, he told me these are the areas that were hit by tsunami where everything got flatten. There are lots of memorial monuments that were build around these area for those tsunami victims. I requested the driver to stop by one of them for me to take a look at. Everything were written in Thai (except for some English names) which I dont understand but for sure the memories of those victims will forever be there. I later made a token of donation to offer my help as a tourist to the local folks in maintaining these monuments.

Patong beach looks the same as before except that the walkway pavement are all newly reconstructed. Otherwise it does not seem to be hit by a tsunami one and a half years ago. The rows of small retail shops are all still around, except for some that are selling the photos taken during the tsunami incidents.

Bangla Road, the happening lane of Patong beach where it is line up with rows of water-joints, go-go bars, sleazy joints, Ah Gua table top dancing joints, and most interesting of all are the tailor shops that can stitch your suit in 24hrs. A few of my colleagues were interested in making one, and we ended up in one shop call Armani Best (end of BanglaRoad just underneath a Thai-boxing stadium). A full cashmere suit will cost around Baht4500 (~RM450) which is not bad. Once the deal is concluded, the so call tailor-cum-shop owner will do the measurement and cut the material. They will then have you back to the shop in two hours to do the fitting before the final stitching. Once that is OK after the fitting, it will be send to a place (god know where it is, but I believe it should be a factory where there are many tailors working 24hrs to support this industry in Phuket) for the final stitching. The suit will then be deliver to the hotel the following day. To me thats an amazing industry. It is so competitive.....

Overall this business+pleasure trip was good except for an incident where we have a company dinner at this restaurant called Savoey Seafood Restaurant This place sucks BIG time. If this is how Phuket is going to revive their tourism biz, this restaurant have to be tightly scrutinised. The service is BAD, food is BAD especially the fish and prawns that we ordered. It tasted like rotten meat. Complaints fell to deaf ears. Overall offering is a BIG Thumbs Down. BADDDDD!!!! Worst still they charged us for the tom yam soup that they didnt deliver to one of the tables. Doesnt admit their MISTAKE and insist that we pay. They even challenged me when I told them that I will make an official complaint to The Tourism Board of Thailand. Behave like a bunch of gangster. NEVER GO THERE !!!!

Travelling

I am hitting the airport again going out of country for another business trip. This time for the country biz offsite to rally the team in putting up their plans, initiatives and strategies to go after the new target given to us. Thats corporate life.....I wonder anyone wants to be in it. It does pay well (I mean better than a local company) but the stress level is also higher. Hopefully the intake of B Complex will help me to reduce that.

I would said MNC have very good processes to track and measure all the ups and downs, and thats why most of them are very successful in running their biz. Unlike some locally own company, and if some of them behave like a MNC (50% will do), I believed Malaysia will be more competitive. When it comes that, I will probably have to give it to the Singaporeans. They definite do better in that field although they have that Kiasu mentality but it made them a lot more competitive.

So much about that. I will be at The Lost Souls Island aka Phuket Island for this biz outings. People asked me whether its safe to go there.....and with me thinking in silence, my fingers tapping the table. My answer was "What do you mean by safe, Is Malaysia safe????" Hopefully those wandering souls were blessed and RIP, otherwise izit worth wandering around Patong town for a nite out.....no sinful thots OK. You can go to the all the likes of Simon Cabarets and paint the town red, but if you see it once you see it all. I would said Phuket have a lot more to offer than that. Just stop by a water joint and have a drink with your frens is good too. Enjoy the movement of the traffic of tuks-tuks and tourists walking up and down. And shopping, well I have done mine during the recent Vegas trip. And one of my lady colleague shouted out "Bras are good and cheap in Phuket.....well, let me check that out !!!

And I will be back in time for Putrajaya 1/2 Marathon........

A lazy run

Date: 2 Sept 2006 (Saturday)
Time: 0600
Place: Lake Gardens
Distance:20k

This was a run that I needed badly after 3 weeks of travelling and totally no running at all. I needed it to tell my body that I am back and next week there is a 21k race in Putrajaya. The run started of with 2 other running buddies in a lot slower pace then normal. I was not putting pressure on myself since I know this is more like conditioning myself all over again after the long layoff. We talk a lot catching up on things that happened for the past three weeks when I am out of town. It was a very very easy pace cruising along the usual route towards Sri Hartamas. We reached the Petronas station in about 1hr 15mins very comfortably. Rested for awhile and got our drinks and do the loop back. The return leg was done at almost the same pace except that now my legs are feeling a bit tired and not very strong in taking the slopes. I just paced myself slower as I hit the slopes and got back to normal pace on the straights and downhill. All three of us had been talking a lot in this run as we just want to make sure we will condition ourselves and be ready for next week race. Timing is not over concern for Putrajaya half marathon. We will be out there to enjoy it. As we talk and run, we hit back to the Bukit Aman carpark in about 2hrs 17mins. Thats not too bad a timing for me and if I run at that pace, I can finish next week race probably under two and a half hours. The only concern is both my legs are very tired after the run. Bumped into Carboman who had just finish his running clinic, and he was asking me whether I am running next week. My answer to him was "SURE, I will run and lets run together", since our condition are almost very similar. He was probably very busy with his work that he is finding no time to train.

Anyway I wont be running much next week before the race since I will be travelling again on Wednesday and only be back on Friday. Well NO FEAR, no matter what I will hit the tarmac of Putrajaya with my rubbers. Seeya at the starting line.......