Saturday, December 31, 2005

Photos that touched our hearts

These are some photos that I have gathered (which my friends sent to me) throughout 2005 and I thot this will be a good time to share it with everyone. Everytime I look at the pics, it will made me reflect the past, thinking of where I came from and also tell myself how lucky I am.

Photo 1: Together, through Warm and Cold

(Photographer: An Hejie. Market Place, Town of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia)
Beyond the northern (Inner Mongoli) frontier, spring has arrived but the
cold weather lingered on. Snow fell on this April morning. Flakes danced
in the sky. A middle-aged man tended to his cart, on which sat a little

boy, wrapped up with blanket used to keep the vegetables from freezing.
From time to time, the father would tuck at the blanket to make sure that
his son was all right. These are the words from the photographer: "Set in
the dark and shadowy background and the dancing snow flakes, the pink

puffy face of the little boy stood out in great contrast to that of the
father which was apparently shaped by the caprices of life. And life was
indeed harsh. Father and son only have each other for support. When the
father yelled out a sales pitch on top of his voice, his facial expression
was shockingly touching. One cannot help but be moved."


Photo 2: Love

The father and his son live in an impoverished hilly area. They demand
nothing but a piece of land to call their own. Perhaps they will not have
a chance to see the outside world all their lives -- they will not know
what a staircase is, they will never ride in a taxi, nor will they ever

step into a movie theater. But the truth is these are the people who offer
us everything our lives depend on, generation after generation. The heaven
and earth have nothing to repay them. Love them! At least respect them in
your heart. Otherwise how can we possibly talk about ourselves as human beings?



Photo 3: Grandpa's Tears

Caption on the photo: The day, we found that we are able to attend school. We are so happy. But grandpa cried. Do you understand? The tears of an elderly man......) This semester has been dealt with, what about the next?




Photo 4: Amidst Rain and Wind

Your elderly mother and little children are waiting for you to come home
with the day's wages.



Photo 5: Old Man CryingThe old man sells roast yam for a living. Because he doesn't have a
license, his tools were confiscated and his tricycle was smashed, its
chain cut. All the old man can do is to sit there and cry. Tomorrow.




Photo 6 : Living in a blind spot
We must admit that there are people still living within the blind spot of our society. What if you were one of them?



Photo 7 : What is Love?

No rose, no diamond ring, but if this is not love, what is love?
With enthusiasm, love your life! Love the people around you!

Top 10 Resolutions You Won't Keep





Friday, December 30, 2005

Red is the color















Everton 1 Liverpool 3

Liverpool maintained their Premiership title challenge with a 3-1 win over nine-man Everton at Goodison Park. Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch gave Liverpool an early two goal lead before James Beattie pulled a goal back with a header moments before half-time. But Djibril Cisse sealed the win with a wonderful run and finish two minutes into the second half.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

It's 2 0 0 6

HaPPy NeW YeaR 2006










Its time to bid farewell to 2005 and welcome 2006. Time passes really fast, and its another new year ahead. Year in year out, it comes and it goes. Is life such a bore? No, not for me. If one plan your year ahead and knows what you want to do, then the year will be full of excitement and you will be looking forward to those planned events to happen. In fact I have already had things in mind in between months of 2006 that I wanted and needed to do for the year ahead. Are these considered resolutions for the year, well YES and NO. Some are things that I need to carry out to acheive my goals and some are more towards aspirations. If I can achieve those things that I aspire to do, then it will be a bonus for me within the year. Anyway I will take things one at a time, have a steady pace, just like running a 42km marathon. You must pace it out and be tactical as far as I am concern. So is running a 42km marathon in 2006 a resolution or an aspiration. Well your guess is as good as mine. Time and my body condition will tell whether I am ready for it again (since my last marathon was in 1990).

Cheers and a very Happy New Year 2006 to everyone.........



The Fish Philosophy



















Over the Christmas weekend, I dug up this book and read it once again. I have read this book a couple of times, but everytime I read it, the contents give me new meaning and made me strive harder to do whatever things I am working on. There are 4 key principles to the FISH Philosophy (not in any order) which are as follow:

1) Be There
2) Choose Your Attitude
3) Play
4) Make Their Day

Read more about the 4 principles, Click Here

These principles gives people a common language that inspires new conversations about what’s possible. New attitudes develop. Performance improves. Customers notice. Trust increases. FISH! gets into the hearts and minds of everyone at work, at play, at sports event, and anyway we are at, empowering all to be alive and engaged.

I love this easy reading booking, and in fact this is the right time of the year when we are approaching towards the end of 2005 and welcoming 2006. This is the time we set our goals and resolutions for the new year. We need to look back, correct it and move forward.

Cheers.......


Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0















Owen the anonymous

Newcastle striker Michael Owen spent most of his homecoming to Liverpool (on Boxing Day - 26th Dec 2005) watching the team he left produce a display of crushing efficiency in a 2-0 home win. Owen barely got a kick against Jamie Carragher and had plenty of time to view how effective his former club have become as they continue a superb winning run.

Poor Michael Owen - He won't have sang the Anfield Anthem "YOU NEVER WALK ALONE"

Rafa: Let's bring Owen back to ANFIELD..........He is a lost kid at The Toons.


Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Boxing Day



Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. It falls on December 26th, which is also St. Stephen's Day.

St. Stephen was a little known saint who achieved eternal fame by being the first Christian to be martyred for his faith, and he met his death by stoning.

Boxing Day is so called because on this day it was the customary for tradesmen to collect their Christmas boxes or gifts in return for good service throughout the year. Also, it included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, and the needy.

The holiday may date from as early as the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is not known. It may have begun with the Lords and Ladies of England, who gave Christmas boxes/gifts to their servants on December 26, or maybe by priests, who opened the church's alms (charity boxes), and distributed the contents to the poor and needy.

In England, this day has become part of the celebrations, of being with family.

A day to visit other relations, and to have a rest from the day before, to play fun games. Some families, buy a new game each year, but still bring out the old favourites :-)

For some it is good to have the 2 days, as on one of the days you can visit with your parents, and the other day your inlaws :-)

St Stephen is the patron saint of horses, so Boxing Day became associated with horse-racing and hunting. Other sports are also held on this day like football and rugby. And its full of EPL action for these week. Football, football, and nothing but football.

Happy Boxing Day, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday ahead and welcoming a new year "2006".

Cheers................


Sunday, December 25, 2005

A MERRY X'MAS TO EVERYONE



















A MERRY X'MAS TO EVERYONE

Time to unwind, visit friends during this festive seasons, catch up with families that I don't see often. Look at the past months of the year of what I have done and what I have not. Forgive and Forget, asked myself have I achieve my 2005 resolutions. If not, put the list of resolutions up for 2006 which is in a week time from now. Lots of other things coming up in my mind as I am writing, that I need to do before Santa Claus knocks on the door and saying GOODBYE to 2005.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAVE A SAFE JOURNEY FOR THOSE TRAVELLING

Cheers......






Friday, December 23, 2005

Dong Zhi

Dec 22 - Tung Chit (Festival)

Today is Tung Chit, and based on Chinese tradition the whole family will be together and eat the Tong Yuen (glutinous rice ball in sugar syrup)

Why was it celebrated by the Chinese.......

Winter Solstice Festival , 冬至 dōngzhì

Celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. It is the time when farmers and fishermen collect supplies and food in preparation for the coming winter.

In modern times, it is a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get together is the making and eating of Tong Yuen ( 湯圓 , as pronounced in Cantonese ; Mandarin Pinyin : Tāng Yuán ) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tong Yuen are made of glutinous rice flour and sometimes brightly colored. Every one in the family receives at least one large Tong Yuen and several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savory broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

Kuih Ee (glutinous rice balls in sugar syrup)

Traditionally, Kuih Ee (tong yuen) is served on special occasions such as during weddings and the winter solstice festival (sometime during the end of December, about a month before the Chinese New Year). These days however, Kuih Ee is available daily in Penang from certain hawkers in the Pulau Tikus and Ayer Itam markets in the morning.

In the popular local version, Kuih Ee consists of glutinous rice balls coloured brightly and poached in a sweet ginger flavoured syrup – a truly scrumptious experience!

A hawker located in an alley off Magazine Road (opposite Shangri-la Hotel) sells large sized Kuih Ee containing a filling of peanuts cooked in sugar syrup during tea time.

Whether traditional or localised, with or without filling, the round shape of the Kuih Ee glutinous rice ball is a symbol of wholeness, completeness and unity.

To make your own Kuih Ee, use the recipe below. You can also purchase ready kneaded coloured flour from most markets which is available during the Winter Solstice season.

If you'd rather not roll your own kueh ee balls, you can buy pre-rolled and coloured kueh ee balls – all you need do is to dump them in boiling syrup.

Despite all these conveniences, nothing compares to making it from scratch, with members of the family gathered together and helping out with the kneading and rolling of the coloured flour into marble-sized balls.

Ingredients

3 cups glutinous rice (beras pulut) flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 inch piece of old ginger (optional)
Screwpine leaves (daun pandan)
Food colouring (e.g. red, yellow, green, blue, pink, orange)

Glutinous rice balls

1. Set a pot of water to boil.
2. Add water to rice flour and knead to a smooth dough.
3. Separate the dough into several large pieces and colour them accordingly, and knead until colour is evenly distributed.
4. Pinch dough into small even pieces (depending on the size preference).
5. Roll dough pieces in palm of hands into a smooth ball about the size of a longan.
6. Pop the balls into boiling water. The moment they rise, they should immediately be fished out and put into the syrup.

Syrup

1. Bring water to boil.
2. Add sugar, ginger (optional) and daun pandan.
3. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until fragrant
.

Serve immediately.

Helpful tips

1. Kuih Ee should be eaten fresh and not refrigerated as this may toughen the texture of the balls.
2. Reheating Kuih Ee over a stove or in the microwave is not recommended.

The many variations of Kuih Ee – giving it a local touch and flavour


This simple recipe was handed down to me by my mother. Note that some Penangites break away from tradition and replace the sugar syrup with coconut milk (like bubur chacha gravy) and add sweet potato puree or green bean paste into the dough. A stall opposite Shangri-La Hotel on Magazine Road specialises in making Kuih Ee balls filled with crushed groudnuts poached in a sweet groundnut-based soup. All these little 'variations' add a touch of 'localness' and creativity to an otherwise traditional specialty. If you feel inspired to make tong yuen with a difference, go ahead and take the plunge. Be adventurous!

Just as the Winter Solstice festival is about balance and harmony in life, and a time for optimism, so the handing down of this recipe is a good example of unity within the family.

This season, I'm getting my daughter Jean away from her Power Puff movies and into the art of rolling and colouring Kuih Ee. It can be a memorable and fun experience that she will remember always, and then pass on to another generation.


Contribution from : http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/

More information

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Memories of the 80-ties

Since Monday 12 Dec 2005 was a Selangor State holiday, and I am one of the lucky ones that were not working, I decided to do some spring cleaning in my storeroom. After sorting out all the unwanted stuff and declared them as rubbish, I accidentally stumbled on a plastic folder which was stuffed with papers and certificates. Most of them are about the size of A4 paper and some are slightly larger like the Letter size papaer. I was curious what are all these papers stacked inside a folder and decided to pull everything out to find out what are the contents.





















To my big surprise, I found a stack of Marathon and Half Marathon certificates of completion. Wow!!!, I talked to myself. These are those sweat and hard training that I used to get myself into and then ran in all these races. One after another, I spent some time looking at it and at the same time appreciating the certifcates and the timing that I achieved. The oldest one was dated 1985 and the most recent one amongst the stack was dated 1990. That brought back fond memories of my running days. And I still remembered after 1990, I got married and decided to start a family, and that's when I decided to layoff running and spent more time with my family. The rest was history.



















From these stack of certificates, I manage to traced and found out that my PR in a marathon was achieved in Penang during the MAS International Marathon 1987. The time that I achieved was 3 hours 31 minutes. The PR for running a Half Marathon was achieved in the Ipoh Half Marathon 1987 in 1 hour 23 minutes. Both were pretty good timing, I thot to myself. There is no way I can do it now.





















I did not regret getting myself in a mess cleaning up the storeroom afterall bcos what I found were memories of the 80's that I almost totally forgot. And now The Empire Strikes Back, when I am back from my long, long layoff and back to running again. I know my body, legs and the arms are not as fit as before but if there is a will there is always a way. I am currently running regularly to get myself back to the fitness and have the endurance that can run comfortably in a 21Km race before attempting the full marathon. Wish this Ol Man some luck and hopefully by next year I will be running the 42km race again.

Cheers.........

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Marathon Cramps











Do you get cramps after reaching the 30KM mark, 35KM mark or 40KM mark. I believed many of us do. I am one of them that is very prone to cramps during my younger days when I am running marathons after marathons. According to professional sport doctors, Marathon Cramping can be from many reasons. One of the MAIN key reasons is inadequate training ie low mileage, and practically not enuf long runs during your training for the marathon.

The other key reason of cramps during a marathon are often the result of sodium depletion. Again according to professional sport doctors, anyone exercising in excess of three hours is at risk for running low on sodium, and the result can range from muscle cramping to more serious problems. One way to prevent cramps from happening is to use more table salt leading up to any runs over three hours, use beverages with electrolytes (like sport drinks) to rehydrate during races. While salt will not guarantee a sub-four-hour finishing time, it is a very good insurance against muscle cramps.

How to prevent cramps in a Marathon
More Information

The body's marthon effort
More Information

Note: The American Running Association's Editorial Board Member, Randy Eichner, M.D. suggests carrying a salty snack like pretzels to eat about every half-hour during a race.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

What a way to finish......




Singapore International Marathon 2005 (Dec 4)













Finishing a marathon in a Quartet, that's the way ahak-ahak. And hopefully they are not erhhhhhh.............. Anyway this is fun and unusual and especially running for 3-1/2 to 4 hours together on the tarmac and under the hot sun. Something to really celebrate together. I hope they did not think this was a relay race. Who says running the marathon is an individual event.


















And finishing the marathon with high anxiety. Puff, Puff, Puff. I beat the Ol Man behind me. Did I break my PR, what position am I in, did I do a sub 4........all the things in his mind after crossing the finishing line. Never mind but I did complete the race within the Qualifying time.


Cheers.........
Back to running & aiming for 42.195KM

Today was a fantastic day, clear sky with sunshine and I have decided to resume my weekly run after a 3 week break. Reached Lembah Kiara TTDI park and I was surprised that there were heaps of people (young & old, season & casual runners) in the park. I could not get a parking inside (which is extremely unusual) and have to actually drive out and park by the roadside along the houses. What happened, I talked to myself. Is it the school holidays or is it a beautiful day. Took it very easy today, just in case I strain myself and get injured. Legs and body are so so bloody heavy and practically I have to use more energy to pull myself along. Did 5km and thats it for the day. Just cannot imagine that one fitness can detoriate so fast after a 3 week break. Professionals had said that it takes at least two weeks to get back your fitness and form if you break for 1 week. For me, aiyoh and it will be in 6 weeks and hopefully I am ready for the Pacesetters 20Km run on Jan 22, 2006. And then KLIM 21Km in 6 March 2006, maybe the full marathon....he.he.he.....if body permits. Let see how it goes. Maybe I will get myself a tatoo (42.195KM) if I do a full marathon this year. This is what my buddy LIFEMOU did after completing his maiden Zingapore Marathon 2005. Where will the tatoo be, cannot reveal it now. Suggestions are welcome!!!!!

Cheers........

Monday, December 05, 2005

I AM BACK !!!!

I am back from my NZ holidays. Lots of unpacking and cleaning up to do. Back to normal life that is gotta go back to work. I would say the break is good personally for myself and family, and also to end the year. Looking forward to next year holiday, but no plans yet of which destination. Maybe to a place that is very cold during winter time.

Anyway will start to focus back on my running, after the intake of large amount of food during my holidays and got to get back in shape for next year races. If my body is willing will attempt at least one full marathon. Let see how it goes. And not forgetting the Charity Climb at Mt. Kinabalu in May 2006. Gotta start campaigning for donations now. SHOW ME THE MONEY, YAH !!!!

Cheers.... and doing the Chicken Little dance routine. KING KONG here I Come.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Greetings From New Zealand

Since I have the chance to log-in to the net, I took this oppportunity to say "HI" from NZ.



















Mt. Dobson along the way from Rotorua to Wellington on Desert Road.

Oops, wrong mountain. It should be Mt. Ruapehu, an active volcano which last erupted in Sept, 1995.

More information

Cheers......

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Aotearoa [aoˌteaˈroa]


Holiday Mood. Its starting to trickle in. Yes, I am going to take my usual year-end long break starting next week and won't be back until the 2nd of Dec 2005. I will be flying off with my family to the Land Of The Long White Cloud aka Aotearoa. Your guess is right, thats New Zealand aka Land of the LOTR. Running is totally out of the mind for me for the next 2-3 weeks while I am there. Looking forward to visit some friends whom have migrated there and attend to some other personal matters.

After that it will be on a Self-Drive expedition to explore the country (North & South) and maybe engage in some extreme sports like bungee jumping and high-powered speed boat cruising along some rivers.

I have also booked my family to a farmstay where I believe we can experience the life of working and staying in a farm in NZ. Feeding and milking the cattle and sheeps will be one heck on an experience.

Having a bath in the thermal pool will always be relaxing and soothing. Hopefully we can try the volcanic mud bath this time although it may not be the same as Poring Hotspring near KK Parks. I will definitely explore more new places in this trip although my family were there before in year 2000. But this time it is not the same, where my 2 kids are much older and the places I planned to go are new to me. Mount Cook is one of my destination where I can explore the highest peak in the country. Don't worry, I am not going for the summit because it is real cold out there and full of ice. Anyway time to sign off and do my packing for the trip.

Cherrio........
CLIMB 4 CHARITY
Mt Kinabalu, 4 to 7 May 2006















After our meeting with MAKNA today, we have manage to secure their agreement to be the recipient of our charity campaign. The next thing that we are waiting for before the real work starts is to wait for the issuance of the recipient letter from MAKNA. They promised to get the letter out to us by next Friday, 18 Nov 2006.

Once we have the letter, we can then start our campaign to acquire and lookout for sponsor to the CLIMB 4 CHARITY campaign. This is starting to be interesting especially when we go out there to talk to organization that we have targeted and get them onto the sponsorship list. Our target - RM50k, RM100k............ Lets give our best shot and moreover this is for CHARITY.

Will give an update and hopefully more good news to come.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Running in the rain.

Decided to go for a run today at 6pm even though the sky was telling me that it will definitely rain and very heavy too. Any way I have made up my mind for this run just before my long holiday year-end break starting next week. It had started to drizzle when I reached TTDI park and I was telling myself that it has been awhile since I ran in the rain. The consolation here is that the weather will be very cooling. I did my first 2 laps under continuous drizzle and I felt very good, coupled with a cooling weather and real fresh air. As I moved into my 3rd, 4th and 5th lap the rain started to become heavier and heavier. My shoes are getting wet and started to become slippery inside and heavier especially with the water soaking into it. I continued to finish lap 5 and started lap 6. I told myself this will be the last lap before I call it a day and half way thru the lap, the heavy downpour started. I completed lap 6 and my whole body is now soaked and wet. Immediately I took shelter at the Men's toilet area and cool myself down before going home. And next week I will be flying to the
Land Of The Long White Cloud aka Aotearoa for my vacation and will only be back on Dec 2, 2006.

Cheers and Ol Man signing off........


Monday, November 07, 2005

It's a RUN-IN............

If you are running a marathon, there is one piece of very important gear that you find it very handy: RUNNING SHOE.

If you are taking on the 42km marathon, then what you are wearing on your feet is even more crucial.

Firstly, the most basic of all: The running shoe must fit well. Too many runners end up with painful blisters and ugly blackened toenails bcos they wear shoes that are too small for their feet.

Secondly, the shoe should suit your feet and running style. Otherwise you could end up damaging your feet and legs severely if you are going such long distances.

This led us to taking a look at how our feet that lands on the road each time we are training or running a race.


What is Pronation?

Pronation
is the inward (medial) roll of the foot and in particular the heel and arch which occurs naturally at the heel strike as a cushioning mechanism.

Overpronation is when the feet roll inward too much.

Supination, also known as underpronation, is the opposite to pronation where the feet don't roll inward enough. Wearing the wrong type of shoe will lead to painful shins and joints, or even injury.


Here is a useful site that I read from The Strait Times Singapore, where the Singapore Sports Council took the initiative to do a shoe review in conjunction with the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2005
www.ssc.gov.sg/shoereviews



Saturday, November 05, 2005

MARATHON: What does it mean?

Many of us have ran a marathon or intended to run one in the near future. But do you know what does it mean and where was it originated from. You may or may not know, but for easy reference this is something I got out from a website that explains it.
Encyclopedia marathon race, long-distance foot race deriving its name from Marathon, Greece. According to legend, in 490 B.C., Pheidippides, a runner from Marathon, carried news of victory over the Persians to Athens. Pheidippides (fīdĭp'ĭdēz) , fl. 490 B.C., semilegendary Athenian courier sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon. He ran 150 miles in two days. At the conclusion of the battle, he ran the 22 mi (35 km) back to Athens, where he reportedly shouted “Rejoice! We conquer!” and then died of exhaustion.

In the first modern Olympics of 1896, a commemorative event retraced his route. The race soon became an Olympic event, its distance standardized in 1908 at 26 mi, 385 yd (42.195 km). The popularity of running as part of a physical fitness boom in the 1970s engendered a proliferation of marathons, some of them televised. Races in Tokyo, New York City, and elsewhere joined the famed Boston Marathon (begun in 1897). Tens of thousands of runners entered these and less celebrated marathons seeking to achieve personal records and to test their endurance. One of the most influential male runners was Bill Rodgers, who won the Boston and New York City marathons four times each between 1975 and 1980. Until the 1970s, women were largely ignored in (or excluded from, as at Boston) marathon racing, but in 1984, American Joan Benoit won the first Olympic race for women, and Grete Waitz won the New York City marathon nine times in 1978–88. Confronting the limits of endurance, some athletes enter ultramarathons, races of 50 miles or more, or of periods like 24 hours. The current marathon record for men is 2:04:42, set by Morocco's Khalid Khannouchi (Chicago, 1999); for women it is 2:20:47, set by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe (Rotterdam, 1998
)

http://www.answers.com/topic/marathon?method=6


Thursday, November 03, 2005

Do I want to run a MARATHON again??


LIFEMOU to OL MAN:
Do you have the courage to run the Marathon again??



To run between 3-1/2 to 4 hours non-stop covering 42km (26.2 miles)
is almost unthinkable for me now. Not that I do not have the courage but my body is not tune to this torturing race at this moment. And that's what I have been doing about 18 years ago and my PR for a marathon was the Cathay Pacific Penang Marathon in 1987, clocking 3hr 32mins (no bragging here) finishing at the Penang Esplanade near the Government office.

I am still extremely proud of that achievement till today because I knew deep in my heart I can never repeat such a feat again. Regardless of what I do in training
and the best running shoe that I can wear, age is not on my side to do it one more time. So I always cherish that moment when I hit the finishing line, and I knew that was my PR. And coincidentally that was the last marathon race before I got married two years later and start a family. After that it was history............until now. The Empire Strikes Back.

Whether to consider running another marathon again is everyone's guess but for now, I think I will not do it again. Do I have the courage to do it again?? Don't rule the Ol Man out, okay. At least for now, I am back to my regular running habits after the loooooooong break trying to get back my endurance to stay longer on the road and clock higher mileage. My focus at least for the next 6-12 months is to run Half Marathons. When age is catching up, one tends to be more prone to injury ie like what is happening to my right knee now.
It takes one lots of courage, determination, discipline and most important focus on long period of time to run and complete a marathon. That is not even considering the time taken to prepare for a marathon and I think it is easily at least 4 months. All you have is one chance on the race day itself to go get your PR within the goal you set, and if you do not achieve it you have to wait for the next race which can be 3 to 6 months down the road.

Ol Man signing off for the holiday seasons from down south across the border!!!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

No. 7 on USA TODAY's 10 hardest things to do in sports is running a marathon in two-plus hours. Here's why it's so hard, from a scientific perspective, from an expert athlete's perspective and from an average joe's.

Khalid Khannouchi crosses the
finish line in 2000 Chicago Marathon,
claiming the third of his four victories
in the Windy City race.

There are 26.2 reasons why running a marathon is hard — as in 26.2 miles from start to finish.

"There is no downtime. You are the machine," says physical therapist Jim Wharton of New York-based Wharton Performance, which trains world-class athletes and weekend warriors.

Marathoners run on hard streets. Wharton says the impact of each stride is three to four times a runner's body weight, transferred from ankles to knees to hips.

About 450,000 Americans (60% male) ran marathons in 2002. But there is no rule you have to keep running the whole way. Wharton says the accomplishment of just going the distance, no matter how, can leave people "feeling good about themselves."

When Khalid Khannouchi won the London Marathon last year, he didn't do any walking: He set a world record of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 38 seconds.

Five-hour marathoners can participate in the same event, "but in a sense you're light years away from the event he is running," Wharton says.

On his record run, Khannouchi averaged 4 minutes, 47 seconds a mile, 71.75 seconds per quarter mile. Try running such a lap around a quarter-mile track. Imagine keeping that pace for 105 laps, the marathon distance.

Elite marathoners train at high altitude, where thinner air prompts the body to produce more red blood cells to carry more oxygen to muscles. They also do speed training at lower altitudes, where they can run faster.

Wharton says it takes 5 to 10 years to develop a top marathoner. They run 100 to 150 miles a week, which makes resting periods critical.

On his trips to Kenya, Wharton has seen that nation's elite marathoners. "You don't see them going to the mall. ... They're not standing around. They're in a horizontal position at rest, or they're napping, or they're eating or they're running."

The debate about the difficulty of the marathon, much as the running, swimming and cycling components of the associated triathlon, doesn't center just on the physical aspects. "Motivation, confidence and mental toughness are necessary," says Stephen Russo, director of sports psychology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System, co-sponsor of the Pittsburgh Marathon.

In the pack, he says, some might choose to disassociate themselves from the pain by thinking of their taxes or singing a song in their head.

But he says research shows elite runners don't disassociate: "They somehow can manage to stay focused on their running and their stride and their pace. In some ways, your elite-level runner can withstand pain better and can actually function better when they're in pain."

Yes, even the elite feel the pain. But as Russo notes, "They don't have to deal with the pain for as long because they finish faster."

Full report:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2003-02-20-ten-hardest-marathon_x.htm

Posted 2/20/2003 11.56pm