Who let the dogs out!!!!

Confucius (孔夫子) said "It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop."

My principle in running this Sunday Singapore Marathon 2006 :
"It does not matter how slow I go so long as I complete the race."

And this is not a good time to catch the flu bug but I did. Having a mild cough, phlegm and irritation of my throat. On medication for the past one day, see how it goes.

Testing time

Tomorrow, another major sport event (can be consider the biggest in Asia) will commence, and yes that is the Asian Games 2006 in Doha. And yet Malaysia had sent a contingent there to participate, and with the hope of doing well. And I must remind - how many times can we hope to do well, year-in-year out and in any international events. The standards of Malaysian sports are falling behind, lack of commitment and dedication by the sports fraternity.

I believe we probably have spent millions of ringgit from taxpayers to train these group of athletes up, and wanting them to be medal prospects. For these athletes, they have to perform and deliver and not hope for the best. In such high pressure competition, you cannot hope for the best to come. Either you are there or not there. I am just an amateur long distance runner, and yet I cannot hope for the best when running a race. I know I must train to a level where I am confident to achieve certain level of standards.

At the end of the day, the results will speak for themselves. These Doha bound athelets have to deliver and tell us if the money spent on them had gone to waste. (And this is not the first time, look at how pathetic our football and hockey team, soon will be the sepak takraw team)

And having said that, when the Games end on Dec 15, MALAYSIA shud achieve what we have set for, and not make execuses of not delivering again. If we dont get the results, then we should rethink of spending more money on those crumps and losers.

MALYSIA BOLEH or MALAYSIA TAK BOLEH.....Let the Games begin.

Twice A CHAMPION

Congratulations to Nicol David for being 2nd time World Champion. I must admit she is the only Malaysian that have achieve such a feat for the past 5 to 10 years. No other sport personalties or team have done it before. This is what I called MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!, the rest of hoohah we made in the sports arena are just vaporware..... If I will to be the Sports Minister I will just build on this momentum and maximise our authority. Pump more money in developing the sports and grassroot, and please REWARD the best, and get all the rubbish out of the way. Dont try to be Jack Of All Trades, but try to be The MASTER of One. The rest like football, sepak takraw, hockey, etc can take a second seat (who cares) and be sideline because whatever amount of money (tax payers $$$) we pumped in, they show no commitment and positive results.

Nicol, "Thank you for not letting we MALAYSIANS down!!!!"

The Final Countdown

Its finally here and this morning was the last LSD of 20k before next week Singapore Marathon 2006 on Dec 3. The last Singapore marathon that I ran was in year 1986, and it was 20 years ago. Although I had step foot into Singapore very regularly during these years, I have never imagine that I will race in the Merlion Island city again. Comeback I did and lets see how this race will stack up for me.

My SIM06 training routine started sometime late Sept this year, and it has been almost 2.5 months that I keep pounding the tarmac and doing my long runs on every Saturday with the furthest run of 34k. I hope this will help me break that mental barrier of going beyond 30k and not hitting the wall. Anything beyond 35k in a marathon is all about mind game and how you pull your body thru the heat, tiredness and crossing the finsihing line.

This morning run was easy together with Wong sifu, Fook and Grace. Fook and Grace will be running their maiden marathon next week, and are very excited about it. I hope they will do well in the race. They have agreed to pace together with me, since they found my pacing very consistent targeting a sub-5 finishing. In fact I hv asked both of them to raise the bar to sub 4:30, which I think is achievable since they are very young and energetic vs this 44 year old apek. For me, I am going out there to enjoy the race and try to complete it within sub-5. Any faster timing for me is a big BONUS and will get me even more motivated to take on KLIM07.

And I will be running using my Saucony Trigon 4 Guide......and SinJiaPoh here I come. Too bad no good food as a bait after the race unlike in Ipoh and Penang. It will be an IN and OUT trip for me. Have a good weekend!!!!!

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry

This is an article I received from Melbourne, Australia today from a friend of mine (that was publish in one of their daily newspaper). Very interesting article and now I know why recently our Minister of Foreign Affairs made a big fuss and argued over it why this article is so,so wrong. Read on and asked yourself how right or wrong it is........

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry

Michael Backman
November 15, 2006

MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the
economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns.
It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race
are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's
time Malaysia grew up.

It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a
country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get
on with the job of creating it.

The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay
hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over
huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is
absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but
at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so
the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a
gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local
think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock
prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher
resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to
"Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at
wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the
national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then
collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.

This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of
its place in the world.

Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their
country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to
Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir
Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York
could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or
capital city.

As if to make this point, a recent episode of /The Simpsons/ features a
newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place
called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made
up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script
writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when
compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in
neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's
problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to
underwrite all manner of excess.

The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes
the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were
built, which was their point.

It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur —
there wasn't.

Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had
little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and
the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies.

They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's
handled by Australia's Westfield.

Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian
rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3
million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and
Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next
target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans
will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will
consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of
others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but
no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The
trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program.

Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490
million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that
Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather".

But the summer Olympics are held in the summer.

So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions
by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's
construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a
clue.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city —
Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that
Malaysia can ill afford.

Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is,
Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years
away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is
so sad.

It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil.
But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is
more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when
Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing
about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

Beep, Beep !!!!!

Yes, its the Ipoh RoadRunners KRI X-country 12k run that I attended yesterday.

Reached the race site early at about 6.30am and there are lots of race marshall along the road that guided the cars to a designated parking area. Ample parking spaces for all the participants. SMS'ed DK to find his whereabouts to pick up the Saucony sample vest from him, but got no response. Decided to walk towards the starting point (near SunCity Lost World Theme Park) of the race site. As I was walking bumped into DK, with Tey, and the Klang gang ie Lee, Peter and Albert. Got the vest from DK and went back to my car to leave it inside. As I was walking back towards the race site, I managed to catch up with Lee and DK. All the sponsors tent were coming up just be to ready and in time for the finishing. Also met Tony of the Penguins, and had a chit-chat with him. Asked him did KC came for the race, answer was NO. Tony was commenting that KC should be here to take pictures of all the Ipoh leng luis, summore all fair-fair one, not like in KL one very dark and tanned!!!!!

At about 10mins to 7.30am, all runners started to gather at the starting line to be ready for the dash. I was with Lee, DK, Albert and Peter. Lee was asking DK to pia kau-kau lat again. The airhorn sounded and that signals the start of the race. Out we went and ran around the SunCity housing area where it comprises of bungalows and semi-dees. The air was cooling and fresh. As I was following the pack with DK and Albert, Lee was about 30m ahead by now. There is no sight of Peter, and he must have dash of way ahead. Bumped in Wan and say "Hi and Good Morning" to him and went ahead. I took off once I reached the entrance to the hill area where we were running on sandy and untar terrain. As I took the corner, I saw a huge slope or uphill right in front of me. And this is whatz in it for all the runners.















Holy mountain, everyone have to take on this uphill to reach the top. As I had chosen to wear a pair of all-terrain shoe, I have all the grip in the world to take me up the slope. As I ran up slowly, there a lotz of people who have started walking and blocking the way. I have to run almost in zig-zag formation to overtake and avoid knocking on them. As I ran further up, I saw Tey standing by the side taking photos. Heard him calling me and I waved back at him while he snap a photo of me climbing up the hill. I have to walk at the three quarter mark since the way were blocked by all who slowed down and started walking. Managed to catch a breathe here .

















After the uphill which I think was easily at least 1km, I reaches the top of the hill and after that it was downhill all the way. I was fortunate enuf to be wearing the all-terrain shoe and the grip going downhill give me more confidence in running faster. I was overtaking at least 50-60 people along this route and finally we reached the flat towards the end of the mountain on the outside of where we started. Reached the village area and onto the normal tar road again. Now my all-terrain shoe felt a bit hard hitting the tarmac. But I continued to run at a pace which I was very comfortable and potong sayur all the way to the finishing line.

















Reached the finishing line, crossing it in a time of 1:10:58. And there was Tey, snapping another picture of me at the finishing. Tey, thank you very much for taking the trouble to take our pictures in this race. After the race collected all the goodies, drinks, stay on for a while before making my move back to my mother's house.

It was indeed a good and fun race, and KRI actually have put up a good show in organising this race. Later in the day, I actually sent an SMS to Mr Chong - The President of KRI for a job well done. He was the one that help me in my last minute registration and confirm everything for me. I told him I did not regret making a last minute decision to join the race. Will be back next year.

Beep, Beep !!!!


Pictures courtesy from RunWitMe and Tey ET

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Is your Streamyx connection given you problem lately ???

Read on for the cause of it.......

Click Here, and good luck surfing on the NET.

Will you be back?

This is always a question we asked ourself or your frenz will asked you after you have completed a gruelling 42k marathon, irregardless of what timing you have achieved. Generally at that very moment when you felt so tired and exhausted, you normally do not really pay much attention to it and put it aside. Or your immediately answer may just be "I dont know, it so f**king torturing running a marathon, why shud I be back.....tell me, tell me, tell me!!!!!


And today while going thru all the certificates and medal that I have collected in my past races 15 years ago (because PM1 aka Lonnie See, opps its Ronnie See ~ wants to have a record of it.....he is so passionate about collecting medals) I actually stumbled on my first medal and the certificate where I completed a marathon, and that was in the year 1985 where I first ran The Kuala Lumpur Internation Marathon 1985. I still remember the pain and suffering that I endured in this particular race that I will never forget as long as I live. I suffered heat stroke, encountered cramps on both my legs from 30k onwards, have to be assisted by the medical team ~ lying flat on the pavement along the highway in Jalan Parlimen!!!!! My timing when I crossed the finishing line - a whopping 5h48mins.

Running a marathon needs lotz of personal discipline, commitment and sacrifice on time to train yourself up to be ready for a race ~ physically and mentally. And generally the answer after the race is that "No way I will run a marathon again in my life....that will be my maiden and swansong marathon race...I stick to the shorter distance. Good luck to those who continue running the marathon" There will be runners who will curse, swear and say whatever they want after the race ~ telling everyone no way he /she will be back.

After running thru all the medals and certificates, I dont think I actually have collected a lot of medals. First of all there isnt a lot of races 15 years ago, probably less than 10 races in a year and I believed I have also misplaced some of the medals. Dont know where I kept it, but its definitely in the house. So whatever is accountable for is actually 30 medals to my achievement. And since I am into it, I might as well check out my PB.

My PB
- MAS Penang International Martathon 1987. Timing of 3h31mins
- Ipoh Half Marathon 1987. Timing of 1h23mins
- Penang Bridge Run 1987. Timing of 1h37mins
- cant seems to trace back on my 10k timing
- 1987 was my peak....and I hang up my rubber trainers in 1989/1990

And after what those people said ie "That they will never run a marthon again", you will start seeing them doing their training and preparation for the next marathon. And their answer is "I want to give another shot at it and see whether I can improve my timing". So it wasthe same for me too. My immediate response after the 5hr48mins race was "I am not coming back, you guys are crazy man!!!" But that doesnt seems to happen because when I am back to training, with the support and encouragement coming from all the running buddies and also seeing the fun when training for a marathon, my next marathon race was 6 months down the road. That was the Cathay Pacific Penang Marathon 1985. Timing was 3h56mins....a whopping improvement of almost 2hrs. And my confidence level become so positive from that day onwards and by 1989, the number of full marathon races that I ran was about 15 ~ averaging about 3 marathon races a year (not including other shorter distance races)

I believed a big number of runners out there have ran their maiden marathon, they will have this question "Will you be back?" put right in front of them after the race. They probably will have or continued running at least one marathon (if not more) a year ever since their maiden race.

Lance Armstrong quotes after his first marathon during the recent New York City Marathon 2006.

He called the race "the hardest physical thing I have ever done" — even more grueling than his worst days on the Tour.

Will he be back?
"Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind," he said. "I don't know how these guys do it."


SO, WILL YOU BE BACK?????

I M P O S S I B L E .........

Nothing in this world is IMPOSSIBLE
Coz the word IMPOSSIBLE itself says

I M POSSIBLE

KEEP SMILING ALWAYS

SPG

While driving to work this morning, and as usual I will turn on the radio and listen to my favorite station MIX FM hosted by Richard, Shazmin and Ika (the ThreeSomes) It was a normal morning for me until the three of them started a topic on SPG. They will talking and talking about SPG which i totally have no idea about it until Shazmin spelt it out in full.

SPG - Sarong Party Girl

Something that I am not familiar and is alien to me. Maybe you know who these sarong party girls are, but definitely not me. And with this topic, I definitely learnt something new. Sarong Party Girl are general refer to a local Asian woman (Chinese, Indian, Malay,etc) who dress extraordinarily and behave in a provocative manner to attract, and exclusively goes after or date Caucasian men. They consider the Caucasians much superior to their local counterparts.

On searching Wikipedia, it was also mentioned that the term SPG is heavily used in Singapore and less frequent in Malaysia. Ar-so-neh, no wonder I hardly hear this term being used. But now I know what is SPG. Come to think of it, I do encountered or see with my own eyes in certain occasions especially in malls, water joints, posh hotels, etc - these ladies which are with the caucasians behave one kind, as if they are the only one that can date a Mat Salleh and no one else in the world. They try to look elegant but actually overdoing it. Some even speaaak with some accent and when the conversation starts, you know they are trying to imitate the slant. Actually their Engrish are like us one!!!!

I think their motive is to leech with all the expat Mat Sallehs, and hopefully try to live lavishly with them. Follow them all over the places, irregradless of whether is for work or for pleasure.
Well so much about them.....

Do you know where are all the Sarong Party Girls in KL !!!!

Saucony Trigon4 Ride and Guide Tester Report

The tester of the above model is no other than our Carboman aka Dr Jamie Pang

Click here for detail report on the Saucony Trigon4

Carboman, Thank you very much for being the tester of this model and the effort that you put in to come out with the review and report. I hope with such ongoing activities, we will be able to help and inform runners of all walks of life to choose the right shoe for themselves.

Saucony Fastwitch 2 Speed - Test report

The test report is finally out by our tester Mr Chen Keat Hoong.















Chen's personal best race timings

42.195km - 3h 43m 13s: KLIM '06
21km - 1h 30m xxs: PortDickson Half 06
10 miler - 1h 10m xxs: KRI 10 miles Run 05
10km - 41m 16s: KRI 10k '04
7.5km - 32m 52s: Larian Amal Merdeka DBKL 7.5km
6.1km - 25m 15s: Larian Merdeka Cheras 6.1km























Click image to enlarge

Click here for the detail of the test report

I would like to thank Chen KH for taking the liberty and effort to provide us with some insight of the Fastwitch 2 Speed based on his experience in various kinds of racers in the market. Thank you very much.

Subang Jaya 10k debut for duo from Pacemakers

By NG WEI LOON

COME Sunday, some of the new faces from the Pacemakers (PM) will be surfacing at the Subang Jaya 10km Run at the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) Sports Complex in USJ5.

The duo of D.K. Dineshkumaran, 28 and Lai Fong Sang, 36 are among the rookies in the pack making their debut appearance in the Run.

“I don’t know what to expect. But, my running buddies at Pacemakers have assured me that it is going to be an interesting event,” said Dineshkumaran, who lives in Klang.

Dinesh took up running about 18 months ago to lose weight and he has trimmed down from 86kg to 72kg.

Over that period, he has taken part in more than ten 10km races.

(From left) Ng, Dinesh, See and Lai training at the KLCC Park.

He holds a personal best of 50 minutes in the 10km distance.

This year, he also completed the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon in five hours in his debut 42km race.

“I am looking forward to improving my timing in running 10km at the event. Going below 50 minutes will be a good achievement,” Dinesh added.

Meanwhile, Lai is rated as the most improved member in the group.

When he took up running seven months ago, he remembers the agony of struggling to finish a 10km run.

Now, he is beaming with confidence that he could finish a 25km run with ease.

“Currently, my personal best for 10km is 47 minutes. In my first 10km race, I ran at more than six minutes pace for a kilometre on average. I am enjoying road racing now. Running helps me to release stress,” said Lai, an accountant.

Pacemakers are avid runners, who are members of the Pacesetters Athletics Club Malaysia (PACM) that have embraced the advancement in information technology to share their passion for running with each other.

That was the reason http://pm1.blogspot.com website was set up following the Penang Round Island Race two years ago.

“We discuss everything related to running on the website among ourselves. We exchange information about running equipment, training schedule, upcoming events as well as members’ race reports and results on previous races,” said team captain Ronnie See, 30.

To them, nothing beats the feel of putting on their running attire and going for their regular runs at KLCC Park’s 1.3km running circuit after working hours on weekdays.

“The undulating terrain at the park makes it an ideal training ground. In addition, the running tracks’ soft synthetic surface takes the impact off the joints,” said Dinesh, who works in the IT industry in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

“Running helps me to keep fit. Besides, I enjoy the company of my running mates,” added Dinesh.

As for Lai, he runs up to thrice a week at KLCC Park and complements it with a long run from Lake Gardens to Sri Hartamas on weekends.

They derive a lot of satisfaction from clocking the mileage on the road to improve on their respective personal best in road races.

Pacemakers also keep track of the members’ personal best of between one to 13 laps around the KLCC Park in training.

During the fasting month, the Pacemakers organised a Networking Run for its members to prepare for up coming races.

A total of 43 runners took part in the six-lap route on the 2.3km circuit at Lake Gardens in mid-October.

“It was sort of a trial run for our members to keep them in shape as road racing took a break during the Puasa month,” said See, who will be taking part in the Subang Jaya 10km Run for the third time.

Even the recent hazy spell did not deter them from doing their regular evening routine at the KLCC Park.

“We feel lethargic if we are deprived of running. But, we reduced the intensity when it was hazy,” said Kelvin Ng, 45.

Ng, a familiar face on the local road-racing scene has been featuring in the Subang Jaya 10km Run since its inception in 2000.

“I am quite selective about the road races that I sign up for. So far, I am impressed with the organisation of the Subang Jaya 10km Run,” added Ng, who has raced in 14 marathons.

The appealing finisher’s medal is one of the reasons that Ng comes back year after year.

“As the number of participants hasincreased over the years, it is harder now to clinch a finisher’s medal. But, I will definitely be staying back for the lucky draw at the end of the race,” Ng pointed out.

The Run has 12 categories – 10km men’s and women’s open (18 years and above), 7km men’s junior veteran (40 years to below 50 years) and men’s senior veteran (50 years and above), women’s veteran (35 years and above), boys and girls (13 years to below 18 years), men’s and women’s special (wheelchair participants only), 5km men’s and women’s special (non-wheelchair participants only) and a 3km Fun Run (adults and children).

The Subang Jaya 10km Run is organised by MPSJ, The Star and the Selangor Amateur Athletics Association.

Participants can collect their running tags, reporting cards at the MPSJ Sports Complex today from 10am to 5pm.

The sponsors include Milo, Sports Toto, AmBank Group, DiGi Telecommunications and Sparkling H-Two-O.

PROGRAMME

6am: Registration of participants
6.45am: Warming-up session
7.15am: Arrival of MPSJ President Adnan Md Ikhsan
7.20am: Arrival of Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo
7.30am: Flag off 10km participants
7.35am: Flag off 7km participants (special - wheelchair)
7.40am: Flag off 7km participants
7.45am: Flag off 5km participants (special - non-wheelchair)
7.50am: Flag off 3km participants
8am: Expected arrival of 10km participants
Entertainment - Combo MPSJ,
RedFM and SuriaFM
9.30am: Prize presentation

Courtesy: The StarOnline