Saucony Local Website

For more information on updates of new models for 2007 and technologies, you can now go to the local website that was just created.

Click Here to get the updates.

Thats the place I wanna be

Yes, that's the place I wanna be in my next vacation. I received this email yesterday from the Iceland Tourism Board, informing me that the new travel brochures is ready for ordering. And its FREE. Then I remembered I did register myself in their website last year while doing some research about ICELAND.

This place is beautiful and I cant wait to go there if I have the chance. Some FAQs that I found in the brochure that I downloaded.

How big is Iceland?
Its about the size of Kentucky (I dunno how big is Kentucky, but KFC yes lah). It has almost 300,000 people mostly live around the coastal areas.

Are daylight hours normal?
Well, for this part of the world, they are. In summer, you wont see much darkness. In mid-winter, expect of 4-5 hours a day of daylight. Spring and Fall daylight are very similar to North America.

So much about Iceland, and dream on. Well who knows one day I will be there....


An obviously, not to forget to lookout for a race if I am holidaying in Iceland.

Reykjavik Marathon
The Reykjavik Marathon is an annual event held on August 21, 2004. This international/annual event involves thousands of participants from Iceland and abroad. Marathon proper, half marathon, 6 miles (10 km) and fun run (4.3 miles). Contact: (+354) 568 - 5525, website www.toto.is/rmar e-mail rmar@toto.is.

The day I saw STARS

Two days before the GE 30k on 21 Jan 2007, Jantzen Tey (PM22) was asking me whether I will go all out for this race. My simple answer to him was "Tey, I have never run a 30k race before, the only 30k run for me are those LSD training for a marathon, so I dont know what to expect. But I will definitely run to my full capabilites on the day"


Nite before
The nite before race day, it was raining thoroughout and it shud benefits us runners the next morning. The temperature will definitely be lower and much cooler. I hit the bed almost at midnite, eventhough I need to wake at by either 4am or 4.30am the next morning. I am a morning person and normally do not required 8-9 hrs of sleep.

Race day
Woke up at around 4am, clean up and just drank a glass of water. I dont normally eat anything before a run or a race. Just drink a glass of water and thats it. No powerbar, cereal, bread or what so ever. Send a morning call to my race pacer LIFEMOU to make sure he is awake. Then drove my car out and in about 20mins I reached the Bukit Aman carpark at 5.15am. By that time the place was already half filled with cars and you start to see runners putting on their running vest, and some doing some light strecthing and warming up. Activities are inching up.

Next to my car, I greeted a guy (forgot his name) good morning. He was doing his first 30k and was asking me how many PowerGels he needed to bring along with him, while in his hands he was showing me the 8 packets that he have. I told him he shud consume one before the race and the organiser will give out one PowerGel at the 20k mark. At this moment, Wong sifu appeared. He had made it to the race (having a heel injury) and we chatted for a while before making our way to the starting point. Along the way bumped in Karen who was doing her warmup along the route. Chatted for a while and continue towards the starting point.

Start of the race
Registered myself and was at the starting area. Then out of a sudden my pacer of the race showed up. Saw Lee, and was asking him whether he see DK, my other pacer who was going after a sub 3 finishing. DK was not in sight and at 6.00am sharp the race was started.

The group of runners squeeze thru the narrow path going uphill and I was following my pacer behind. As some runners tried to cut into your line left, right and centre, I eventually lost my pacer as we ran out of Lake Gardens and onto Jalan Parlimen heading towards Bank Negara. And now I am just running alone without a pacer again!!!!!

I am pretty familiar with the 30k route, and so I know what to expect. I know the hills will eventually take the toll on me and saps out every bit of my energy and make my muscles work extra hard for the day. I ran at a pace which I am quite comfortable but definitely faster than the pace when I do my weekly 20k run with the group.

10K
Completed in probably slightly over an hour after reaching Tugu Negara, and we are back along Jalan Parlimen to start the next 20k to Sri Hartamas and back to Lake Gardens. By now the crowd of runners are kind of separately from each other where most were running in small groups of single file within a distance. I wasnt pushing myself too hard cos its still a long way to go with many hills to tackle.

20k
By now I think my so call pacer shud be way ahead of me and no way to be seen. I just continued to run at my own pace, just being very kiasu that if I push too hard I may suffer muscle cramp very early (like in SG Marathon). Reached the intersection of Jalan Duta and all the runners are diverted further up to the traffic lights to cross over to Sri Hartamas. And this is where the hills began. At this stage I saw the leading pack of the 30k race on their way back. Cut thru the path where the KL Mosque intersection is and all the way towards the Petronas Station of Sri Hartamas (where we normally have our water stop during our 20k LSD) Reached the 20k water station and wallop one packet of PowerGel for energy refuel. Then the turn back to Lake Gardens began and 10k more to go.

30k
At the midpoint before reaching Plaza Damas, I saw my pacer. Woh, I was surprise to see him behind me, no clue when I had overtaken him and where???? We greeted each other and I asked him to speed up. At a later stage , I saw both Karen and Nezz on the oppposite and greeted them. Crossed over back into Bukit Tungu area, and I know there will be two hilly slopes coming after me. Slowed down my pace a bit to conserve energy for hills and finishing. Took on the first slope which was pretty short and then the next one at Tijani's. This is the longer stretch and instead of running (which my leg is a bit tired now) I tried the speed walking style up the hill. In fact I was overtaking some runners which are running almost at walking pace. This pattern suits me well, and I felt to have reserve more energy after that and my down hill was pretty fast until reaching the JKR building for the last 1.5km. I know there will be another uphill from Bank Rakyat's traffic junction all the way to the entrance of Lake Gardens. As I reaches that stage, I adopted the same style, speed walking till the middle and engage back to running all the way towards the finishing point. Crossed the finishing line in 2:53.09

And I could not believe myself that I had ran a 30k race in sub 3 timing, and I know I always perform better with no time pressure. Just perform to my full capabilities, and this will be my tagline for all my 2007 races.

After collecting my goodies bag, I saw STARs and almost to a point of blackout. Couldnt stand on my two feet steadily and decide to sit down and rest. My body started to feel numb and mild cramps are getting to both my feet. Good thing my pacer was with me and he was kind enuf to get some drinks for me while I am resting. Later Karen was sighted and we had a chat, and rested together on the pavement. It took me more than 30mins to recover to my normal self. By that time Ben and Karen had left. I took the opportunity to mingle around, wallop three cups of Nestle flakes+milk (cos I am feeling so hungry) and bumped into Cheong and wife. Had a photo seesion with him, and the PM group before making my way back to the carpark.

Home-made brews passing off as premium liquor

As I was reading The Star today, there was an article that mentioned about home-made brew liquor which are sold as premium brand at your favourite club or pub. There are duping patrons into thinking they are famous brand.

How can it happened? Season drinkers will be able to differentiate a real whisky and a fake one. Unless the club itself is selling you these fake ones when you are so high after a few bottles that your senses are all gone. Could be true and if you are one of them, then you are just consuming home-brewed concoction of mineral water + caremel + some kind of low quality liquor (we called it the Moonshine Drink).

So beware the next time when you are at your favourite joint......and if you suddenly feel that you are knocking off after consuming very little, there is something wrong with your drink.

Happy drinking and dont get overboard!!!!

Charm

Today I was exchanging some messages over MSN with Lifemou and we suddenly went in the topic of CHARM. So we were challenging each other how charming we are, and my buddy was bragging that he is always charming enuf to attract chics to be with him in all his party popping hangouts.

So my question here is that "Is everybody charming?" Do we have an in-born charm to attract everyone to like us. Or people only find you charming after interacting with you for a longer period especially when they get to know you better. Do people find another person charming at first site? Is charm the 6th sense or the 7th sense of human. Or is charm all about hoodoo, black magic, etc

This is something that I wont be able to answer. Ask yourself the next time you see someone and you felt that this person is charming. Then ask yourself what makes you think this person is charming and what attracted you most to make you said that the person is charming.

Interesting or just a waste of time???

My wife asked me.....

My wife asked me......why do I select the Cicak as my business logo???










My answer: Erhhhhh......

Mix FM's Massive Appeal for the Johor Flood Relief

Mix FM is asking you to join us in our Massive Appeal. We are looking to support the Johor Flood victims and would like you to join us in our efforts. So, let's get together and lend a helping hand. The Johor Flood victims are in need of the following items:

1) Canned and dried food
2) Mineral Water
3) Toiletries
4) Infant Formula
5) Diapers
6) Blankets
7) Pillows
8) Foldable mattresses
9) Bed sheets
10) Towels

If you would like to donate any of the above items, please send them to Antarabudaya's Collection Office.

40A, Jalan SS22/21,
Damansara Jaya,
47400 Petaling Jaya,
Tel:03-77224866/03-77221105
Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday, 8am to 7pm
Saturday (20/1) & Sunday (21/1), 12pm to 4pm

Then on Monday (22 January 2006), Mix FM and Rena See of Interway Transport Sdn Bhd will collect all the donated items and send them directly to Johor @ Kluang Government Rest House, 943, Jalan Pejabat Kerajaan, 86000 Kluang, Johor.

NiaMah!!!!!!

Check that out.

No sound No picture

The nite before our normal Saturday run, I received a sms from Lifemou, my running buddy asking me whether I am running on Saturday. Replied him YES and he responded saying he will be joining me. After that it was almost midnite and I adjourned to bed since I've gotta wake up at 5am the next morning.

It was a cool Saturday morning (since it was raining on Friday nite) and I reached LG at the Bukit Aman carpark at about 0545. I was probably the only early bird on the day, with no one to be seen. Later in about 5-10mins time, DK and Pelle arrived, followed by Kenneth and his fren Meng. We greeted each other good morning and did some stretching and warmup while waiting for Anne (Jamie's fren) which was supposed to join us.

As the clock ticks, Lifemou is no where to be seen, not even a call or a sms from him. Soon Anne showed up and we introduced ourselves to her, and by that time it was already 0610. Rather than waiting I told everyone that we have to start and not wait for the latecomers. The pack of 6 runners started off slowly and having conversation among ourselves. No Geraldine (our hare and pacer), Lynn, Grace, Fook, Eugene and Wong sifu bcos there seems to have their own reason for not turning up on this Saturday.

There goes another run without Lifemou. Probably he was toxifying himself last nite that he cant wake up. Maybe we can do a detour and check him out somewhere at the water joints around Desa Hartamas. Another FFK incident again. Well seeya in the GE30k run and hopefully you are prepared for it, else jialat. But I shall never underestimate this fella, bcos he can be putting on the mileage in the gym and spring a surprise. Anyway lets see how it goes next Sunday, 21 Jan during the GE 30k race.

The birth of Ccube Sports HUB

The will be the logo that I will be using for all my future business transactions (with regards to the marketing activities of selling running shoes, attires and apparels) I have also set up the Ccube Sports HUB blog for new updates pertaining to sales promotion and offers, new updates on shoes and technologies. At this moment SAUCONY is the brand I am representing (from running shoes and running jersey, socks, Tee-shirts, vest and shorts) I hope to get some support from my running frens and communities that I know to give SAUCONY a try.

A blazing start

What a start for our 1st LSD 20k (the normal Lake Garden-Hartamas route) for the new year. As usual the gang was on time for yesterday run. As I reaches the Bukit Aman carpark, I saw a Volvo station wagon pulling into the parking lot. This must be our MIA fren ~ Ben and true enuf he step out of the car. Geraldine, Pelle, Fook and Grace was all ready to go. We wished each other a Happy New Year, and Geraldine commented that it must be almost 6 months ago that he ran with Ben. That shows how long he has been missing in action. DK was supposed to join us but due to his work (till midnite on Friday and some technical hitches on Saturday morning as he prepared he come) he couldnt make it for the run. Wong Sifu sms'ed saying that he is having a fever coupled with his slight injury on his foot (due to a change in his running style) Maybe he is trying to see whether he can run on water!!!! Eugene is monitoring his house renovation and wouldnt be showing up too.

At about 6.10am, we decided he hit the tarmac and start our very first 20k LSD for the year. And as usual we have Geraldine as the hare leading the pack. Grace was with her setting the pace. One very funny thing about this group is that we have very good ladies pacer for the men to follow. I was following at the back, exchanging conversation with Pelle, Fook and Ben.

As we turned into the hills of Bukit Tunku, I was telling Pelle and Ben that we are running a faster pace this morning as compare to all our previous runs. Geraldine and Grace continued to press on, and the mens are tailgating behind with me at the end of the pack. We reaches the Jalan Duta flyover to cross over to the Government office complex, and when I look at my watch it is showing 35mins and change (our normal timing is about 38-40mins, that means we are about 3mins faster) We stayed closer as a group as we approaches the mosque and towards the Hartamas housing area.

Once we hit the Hartamas bungalow area, I increased my pace (overtook everyone) and give it a shot to do between 53-55mins when I reaches the Petronas station. Ben followed pushing very hard from the back and I can hear his breathing get closer and closer to me. This is definite a good push for both of us as we tackled the two hills of Hartamas. On the down hill, Ben overtook me and was ahead by 1 body length. We continued to push till we reaches Petronas station. My watch showed 55mins 46secs, and that was at least 5-8mins faster than our normal pace. I told Ben that was an incredible first half of the run. In about less than a minute later, we have Geraldine, Grace and Pelle reaching, with Fook taking it very easily.

Timing was stopped during the water stop.

We have our water stop and when everyone is ready, we begin our way back to Lake Garden. Geraldine was again the hare leading the pack. This time she have Pelle running with her. I was again at the end of the pack, recovering from the fast pace set earlier. The rest like Ben, Grace and Fook are running together. This continues when we reaches the Jalan Duta flyover and crossed over back into Bukit Tunku. We continue to run within a distance with Geraldine and Pelle probably about 50m in front. After taking on the hills on the way back, I decided to increase my pace again because it is all the way downhill now. Overtook Grace, Fook and Ben, and keeping a distance within sight of Geraldine and Pelle.

Continued to push hard as I turned into the route towards the old PM office and Bank Negara. The sight of the leading pack is getting closer and as I took on the last slope before reaching the Bukit Aman carpark, Geraldine and Pelle was just about 10m in front of me. Both of them reaches the carpark slightly ahead of me, and when I touches the entrace of the carpark my watch showed 57mins 05secs for the return lap ~ and therefore the total time taken for this run was 1:52.51 Well it was a real good run with a pace that we never attempt to do before.

Pelle comment was he need this kind of pacing and push to make him more competitive in future races. I believe if the group continue to train and run at such pace (maybe even faster as we condition ourselves) doing a sub2 in a 21k is not a big problem at all. Geraldine was taken by a bit of surpirse that everyone was pushing so hard today ~ eventhough it was just the first run of the year. Well to me, this is the beginning of my speed work ~ pushing my body harder to condition myself for better timing in future races. And let the speedworks begin......

Note: DK, I hope ur around to PIA with us yesterday.

Two Double Zero Seven

No, this is not another James Bond movie, but 2007 had arrived to start the new year. Saying goodbye to 2006, cherished what I have done, thinking back of happy and sad moments, listing down all the new frens that I had made for the year and continue to aspire what I wanted to do which I didnt manage to do it last year.

I started my year end vacation pretty early, like 12 Dec till the end of the year. This was a solid 3 weeks that I have together with my family. No work, no business phone calls, nothing but just travelling together in our vacation in Vietnam and ChiangMai. Spending solid and valuable time with the family is my utmost priority although work is important too. But work will always be there ~ day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out and year in, year out. So it will always be there unless you QUIT work and retire!!!!! Luv to do that asap.

So coming to new year resolution ~ well I dont really have any but just ensure that I stay healthy, have quality time with my family and dont procastinate and get the job done!!!! As for my running mission in 2007, I also will not have any resolution but just get out there and enjoy the runs I sign up for. Runners Malaysia and Pacesetters site have the listing of this year running calender, but I have yet to list down those run that I will sign up. The only races that I am committed to right now is GE Pacesetters 30k on 21 Jan 2007 and KLIM 2007 42k on 18 March 2007. No timing pressure for me, so I will just run every races to my fullest ability.

And yes, I will try to broaden my scope in my part time business ~ selling more Saucony running shoes to my circle of frens within the running community. And with ASICS added into my stable, I should be able to offer a better variety of choices now. Wish me luck and hope to get ths support from all my running frens.

LannaThai

LannaThai was an ancient name for the 2nd biggest city in Thailand. Now it is known as Chiangmai, the famous town in the northern part of Thailand. Another 4 hours on road towards the north will take you to the border of Laos and Myanmar (previously known as Burma). And once you are there you can set foot at the Golden Triangle where the 3 countries met and the Mekong Delta flows through.

Chiangmai was the place where I spend my 1 week vacation after Christmas from 26-30 Dec 2006. (with my brother and sisters in laws). The climate was cooling and is ideal as a holiday spot. We touch down on 26 Dec, just about 12 days after a 5.1 earthquake hits the town and surrounding area. EarthQuake ~ yes, there was an earthquake that hit the area!!!!!

Visited the temples, Elephant Santuary (where elephants are breed and train), city tour, ChiangRai, The Golden Triangle, Mae Sai (Border to Myanmar) and Loas.

Some photos taken during the trip.


















Doi Suthep temple, Chiangmai















Hilltribe children at the Golden Triangle
















The Golden Triangle site














The Golden Triangle border point between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai Province, Northern Thailand. View from the Wat Prathat Phu Kao Hill to the casino in Myanmar (left side Myanmar, right side Laos and straight on to the furthest point is China)
















Casino in Myanmar along the Mekong Delta
















Thailand-Myanmar border Immigration checkpoint