One down, 2 more to go

Did my first 30k LSD on Saturday in preparation for PBM 2007. The so call LG-Hartamas-LG 30k route to me is probably only about 28k. Unless u do 3 loops of 0.8k around the neighborhood at the back of Petronas kiosk, I believe that will give you a total of 30k at the end of the run.

Anyway I am not too concern of the distance but more towards having myself on the road for 3 hours. This is to ensure that my body and legs can still take the toll of running past 3 hours. There is still 42 days remaining to race day, and minus 2 weeks of tapering that means it only leave me 28 days to train and hopefully peak on race day itself. My aim is to go out, have some fun and a comfortable run, and back in 4 1/2 hours.

Overall I am happy with this Saturday LSD except that my legs and upper body (especially the back muscle) were pretty tired. 2 more 30K+ LSD and that will complete the final run-in to my training for PBM 2007. And for those who have yet to register for the event, you can still do so online at the following site. Dateline is 27 May 2007.

Penang Bridge Marathon 2007 Registration

The faces of Shanxi Province, China

Are we WINNERS?

In life, we are all WINNERS in one way or the other. Each and everyone of us will have something that we had done that we are really proud of ourselves. And to keep this going, I think the following statement is very important to achive something significant in life. And you can adopt this in your work life, training strategy or even in your next competitive race.

"Winners Don't Do Different Things, They Do Things Differently"

Tough comeback....a 25k run that didnt happened

Its was a tough comeback for me after almost 10 days being dormant (out for my China trip). The Sat morning run started at Lake Gardens (Bkt Aman carpark) with the usual buddies like Jamie, Tey, Wong, Geraldine and the MIA guy Bro Ben. My aim was to do a 25k this morning together with Wong to catchup with some mileage.

Jamie and Tey opted for a 10k run (making their turn back at Selangor Properties) and the rest of us continue to do the LG-Hartamas-LG route of 20k. I was running sluggishly after the 10 days break but trying hard to keep up with the pack. Reached Hartamas in 58mins and did a loop of abt 800m around the block at the back of the Petronas petrol kiosk. Stopped for water and continue our return leg back to LG. My body and legs were giving signals that I am tiring out so I just maintain a slow pace behind Wong while Geraldine and Ben were about 200m in front. That continued till we reached Bkt Aman carpark. Stopped for water and I am totally exhausted but told Wong that I want to do one lap around the lake (via Carcosa route) instead of 2 laps.

We set off slowly with the aim to finish the one lapper and at least that will give me 22.5k mileage for the LSD. As we run we spent most of the time talking about my China trip and that helps keep me away from thinking of the tireness. Soon we are back to the carpark and as we walk towards our car, I told Wong that I can probably push for another lap very slowly (which he agree too) but bcos of my tireness I believed I had made the right choice to call it a day and not get myself injure. There will always be another run that I will feel stronger and come out better as my training progresses towards the next 7 weeks in preparation for the Penang Marathon. I hope to peak at the right time cos this will be my last 42k race for 2007. The second half of the year will be for shorter races (10k and 21k) and probably focus on my speed.

Its always hard to make a comeback, but never giveup!!! More importantly take each run as a phase-in rather than rushing into it. Its better to gain back the momentum slowly than getting injured.

Hukou Waterfall

I needed to travel on a 4 hours bus journey to reach this waterfall situated in a small town and took a video clip of this amazing site.

Located 165 kilometers west of Fenxi City, Shaanxi Province, and 50 kilometers east of Yichuan in Shanxi Province, the Hukou Waterfall is the second-largest waterfall in China after the Huangguoshu Waterfall in Guizhou Province; it is, however, the largest waterfall on the Yellow River. The river narrows dramatically falling some 30 meters into a big stone pond, just like the neck of a bottle. It is therefore called Hukou, which means "mouth of a kettle."

As the world's only yellow waterfall, the Hukou Waterfall takes shape as the Yellow River flows through the Hukou Mountains on the Shanxi-Shaanxi border, its 250-meter-wide bed sandwiched between the canyons, and then abruptly narrows into a 30x50-meter basin.

Snowing in WuTaiShan

This video clip was taken as I was about to start the day for some sightseeing in WuTaiShan, China. Its Spring time there and yet its snowing, quite a amazing condition bearing in mind that during winter, the temperature can be -40 degree Celcius.

Dormant

I will be dormant (from running) from Thursday onwards till the end of Apr bcos I will be going to China and visit Wu Thai San aka Five Plateau Mountain. Its a pilgrimage tour as well as doing some sightseeing around the Shanxi province, about 8 hours bus ride from Beijing. According to Yahoo weather, the current temperate ranges from -1 to 8 degree Celcius. Therefore have to bring along some Thermal clothing, and this time I will be putting my NorthFace thermal jacket (Water and Wind resistance) to test the cold and windy weather.

With this trip, I will be dormant from running for the next 1.5 weeks, a disruption to my training for PBM 2007. Well consider myself starting the training only in May, and I have only less than 8 weeks to get myself to a level of fitness that I can sustain the 42k race.

Cinta punya pasai!!!!

This morning as I was sending my wife to work along Jalan Sultan Ismail near Corcorde Hotel, I saw this young man stopping his car at the opposite side of the road. At that moment my car was stationery due to the heavy traffic and also its near the traffic junction.

He came out of the car, went over to the passenger side and opened the door for a lady (cud be his GF) She came out of the car, and the man then grab hold of her hand and slowly guided her to cross the road. Both of them stop at the road divider in the middle of the road and then he lifted up the lady hand and give her a kiss on the cheek and then her hand.

Then she crosses the road on her own while the man went back over to his car. As both of them reaches the other side of the road on the opposite, they turn around, then stare at each other for a moment. After that they waved at each other before the lady walked away while the man get back into his car and drove off.

Wat a scene and i thot this only happen in a movie especially the Bollywood ones. Well in fact I saw one in real life this morning!!!!

LOVE is so so strong......

Tags: Love

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We are the Children
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The rain

It was good to be back to the ground where I considered as my old training ground. Yes, its no other than the Ipoh Polo ground. I was back in Ipoh over the weekend and deciced to run at the ground again to catch up will some mileage.

Was there early with my family at 5pm sharp. Did some warmup by doing some brisk walking around the running track. After 10mins, begin a slow run to get my muscle going. Then started my first lap. Am not too sure what is the distance of one lap, probably have to check with either Master Chen or Kenny Tan, who also use to run at the ground when they are back in Ipoh.

As I complete the first lap, the sky seems to be covered by rain clouds. I was praying that the wind will blow it away, and as I started my second lap the sky was getting darker. The wind was blowing strongly by now and as I continued to run I saw most people at the ground starting to leave and getting back into their cars.

I completed the second lap and by now the rain clouds are all over the sky and I know in no time it will start to rain heavily. As I finsihed the second lap and starting the third lap, the rain came pouring. Me and my family have to rush back to our car and have to cut short our workout for the day. Too bad and do I have a choice to go against the nature.

So all in all its just a 25mins workout for the weekend but the blessing in disguise is that after the rain, the weather in Ipoh is very cooling . I do enjoy it.

Ai Yoh Yoh

What talk you Yang Berhormat !!!

"Bloggers using locally hosted websites may be asked to register with the authorities, Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said. "

Click here for full story.

Last time was one dude opening his mouth about banning Pan-Asian looking Malaysians from the advertising world. Got a mouthful bashing from the public and the industry then kept his big mouth shut. Now see, nothing happened....and we continue to see Pan-Asian looking Malaysians in the advertisement.

This Shaz dude probably dont know what a blog is all about, short of having one himself. Have he particpated in the blogging communities before saying such things in the Parliment. Does he know what kind of people are in the blogging communities? Maybe Pak Lah need to sound him out!!!!

If this dude wants attention, do bring out something more logical and sensible. Not something like that which to me is totally no sense of logic.

Some remarks from the writeup:

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who interjected when Shaziman was speaking, said the negative comments of several ministers about bloggers reflected their lack of understanding about information flow in cyberspace.

Ahirudin Attan of Rocky's Bru said the move to compel local bloggers to register was effectively the Government trying to control what Malaysians were writing online. "This violates the Government's no-censorship policy with regards to the Internet," he said.

Marina Mahathir, a blogger and activist, said the Government really should "get real."

Can u sell something that nobody wants

Well if u asked me, it will be a hard sell with very little success. Then you would asked how did the product end up in a situation like that. And this is a totally different dynamics altogether on what causes the downfall.

This topic came about just after I stopped by the Shell station along Jalan Damansara (opp Eastin Hotel) this afternoon to fill up petrol for my car. As I came out of the car to slot in my credit card at the pump, out came a lady promoter. Very politely she asked me what credit card I am using, and immediatley I realise that she is one of those promoter engaged by a bank to promote their credit card.

She asked me whether I am a credit card holder of that bank, and I told her NO. And almost immediately I followup with my next statement that is "I am not going to use this card in my life" She was quite shocked to hear that and asked me why. I described my experience that I had with this bank when I apply for a credit card from them 5 years ago. Reason: Got rejected and didnt get a reponse from them why was my application rejected. Call numerous time and no one bother to return a call to me. And for me, thats it. End of story, will never use this card again.

She was very persistent in trying to get me sign up but I politely rejected it. Then she went over to the next pump that's just next to me and did the same sales pitch. To my surprise I overheard the remarks given by that person and it goes like that "This is the worst card that I have ever known and used, will never used it again!!!!" Wow!!!!, there goes another rejection.

I thot to myself, its not me that is having such bad expereince with this bank. And if this continues, all her effort will be wasted in selling the product. Its not her that she is not a good salesperson, the bottomline is the product itself. Although her energy level was still high, but I subtlely told her that she is wasting her time trying to sell this product or credit card. 2 rejections out of 2 customers, expressing almost the same remarks that they dont want to even look at the product at all. I told her to report such feedback back to the tele marketing company that she is working for, or directly to the bank itself.

So wat causes such downfall? Well it could be from many angles eg not listening or responding to the customers, customer service level is totally not there, no market survey on how do consumers out there value the product, and the list goes on. And to sum it all, one could be the biggest company in the world or having the best product in the world, but if you dont take care of your customers or dont listen to their needs or you dont look at market conditions, it will cause a downfall.....and if that happen its hard to recover. Just like this bank.

Good luck to this bank!!!!!

Buckeye Outdoors

Was recommended by Carboman and Waterman. Its an online electronic running/training planner to log your activities. Highly recommended to all runners and you can view your running buddies log as well to give you some motivation. Check it out.

Pak Si Bo Chow!!!!

Pak Si Bo Chow! (“Will not go or run away even after being punched to death” in Hokkein) has become a tagline for the Barisan Nasional and the opposition party in the coming Machap by-election in Malacca.

“We will continue to serve the community here. Pak Si Bo Chow!” Malacca chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam told a crowd at SJK (C) Machap Baru school hall here yesterday.

But for we runners, our tagline will be the reverse.....Pak Si Ai Chow! ("We will run even if we are punched to death" in Hokkien). So keep on running but please make sure that you have enuf REST in between your runs.

Happy running!!!!!

Kereta Potong

This was the picture shown on the NST Online today. After the accident, this car broke in 2 parts, and obviously the driver did not survive.

Click here for details.

Ding Dong here, Ding Dong there

Well, i think this statement is quite widely used in Malaysia and maybe also across the causeway. But when u quote this to a foreigner (whether u are conducting a biz discussion or just a casual talk), s/he will not understand what are you trying to said.

To us Malaysians, the phrase "Ding Dong here, Ding Dong there" is pretty common, and we do understand what the other person is trying to explain or tell us. Well to cut the story short and for those still dont understand it, the meaning of it is "Things go back and forth without a solution to it"

An example, " I am waiting for a response from John on the closure of the sale, but according to him the decision was not made by the decision maker of the company bcos things got Ding Dong here, Ding Dong there" Got it!!!!

Another phrase that we often used, especially for an excuse of being late for something is "I am on the way!!!" HeHeHe.....sounds familiar. Well,when you said "I am on the way", please be very very specific. 5 minutes to reaching your destination vs you just step out of your house/office to go to the destination is a big big difference. So for me when someone tell me s/he "Is on the way", I always asked for specifics ie where exactly are you?, how far/near are you?

We Malaysian are very used to saying "I am on the way" when someone or a group fo people are waiting for us to do something or go somewhere. So be more specific the next time and respect the people that are waiting for you. Set the right expectation, else you lose your credibility overtime.

Any more common phrases that we Malaysian uses in our daily life? Do let me know.

PD 1/2 Marathon

There is a FREE bib in the Mens Open category for this Sunday race. Those interested to pick it up please contact the following individual.

Bong
0193126725
kevbong0@yahoo.com.my

A lazy run

Saturday run was a lazy recovery run after KLIM07. Guess who turn up in the morning.....Lifemou. Finally he turn up after MIA for a while. I thot it was a good sign that this fellar is coming back. He can be a very fast runner if he trains well and a good pacer too. Captim Ron aka PM1 was with us too. Little Ant was around too with her fren. As this fren of her is no other than The Gal aka Yee Hua, which ran the first 25k together with me in the recent KLIM07. Lynn, her brother and his fren was also in the run. Today was also the day I tried out the Saucony Triumph4 for a longer run. This will probably be my preferred shoe for PBM07 else will stick to the old faithful Trigon4 Guide.

As usual, Lifemou speed off together with Geraldine and PM1, while Jamie and DK was running in front of us. Just running at talking pace so as to make sure the muscle are well stretch but not stressed too much. In our conversation Little Ant was thinking of doing the full marathon in Singapore this year, which I fully encourgae except that Little Ant had to do more long runs like 25k to build a good foundation. Yee Hua was supposed to move to Singapore permanently sometime in June to join her husband which is no other than Ben Swee aka Ironman Dreamer.

While on the way back Little Ant and The Gal stop running near Tijani. They wanted to take a slow walk back and I continue running back slowly. Taking it very slowly and soon I am back at the carpark at Bukit Aman. Jamie, PM1, Lifemou and Geraldine was having a conversation when I arrived. I joined into their converstaion and after resting for a while went for my shower.

A slow and lazy recovery run after KLIM07. The Triumph4 seems Ok except that the Archlock is a bit tight for my feet. Maybe I shud loosen the shoe string a bit to compensate for its tightness in my next run on it. Else the cushioning is perfect and seems to need very little run in for a brand new rubber trainer.

Everyone Runs. Eventually.

Here's an addicting advergame from Saucony in support of it's new Saucony Propel shoe.

Check out the site.