Tummy Obsession

Lately, I have been rather obsessed with the waistline. It started with someone commenting that I have a slight tummy. That was late last year when I was training for my marathon. Imagine that, I was running about 40km per week and I still had a bulging tummy. I can imagine how difficult it is for those who are less active to not develop a tummy. And quite sadly, the pull towards developing a tummy after 30s is very strong. I went around in Sentosa one of those days and was watching some guys playing 2 on 2 beach volleyball. One of them was a middle age Caucasian man who was playing a rather decent game - he could bum, set and spike. Despite that, he still had a tummy. Not many people I know can play a decent game of 2 on 2 beach volleyball so I already consider him very athletic. With the odds stacked so high against the over 30s male, maybe we should all resign ourselves to the fate that it is inevitable to get a tummy after 30s.

Currently, I have been trying to lose the tummy while trying to put on some muscle. Sadly, the weight seems to naturally want to gravitate to my tummy. Here are some tips that I have gathered on making your tummy look smaller.

1. Don't wear body hugging clothes. We know you can afford the adidas body hugging compression top that will cut 0.01% off your 10km time. However, please remove the suit after your run if you have a tummy and please don't wear it into the restaurant. I don't want you to ruin other people's dinner seeing your belly flop up and down. (This happened in real life).

2. Built up the chest and shoulders. It is a matter of illusion. If you can't lose the tummy, built up the chest and shoulders to hide your tummy. Suddenly, the tummy doesn't seem so big anymore.

3. Wear loose fitting clothes. You don't have to look like a monk but if your tummy is not big enough, loose clothing can actually hide some tummy. Especially if your chest is big enough.

Well that ends part 1 of my tummy obsession post. Maybe in the future, I will sum up some better solutions to the problem. I might even talk about something boring like dieting.

Moving Day

Today, I moved out most of my stuff from my current room to the new room that I will be staying in starting from April. I feel nostalgic because before I know it, I have stayed in the same room for more than six years. It's easy to keep track of the duration because I moved in to this place a few months before the landlord had a kid. Now they have 2 kids and their daughter is in primary one. Doing some simple math, it should be more than six years that I have stayed here. I guess age is really catching up with me because it used to be common to move every few months. Now, it's every few years. Pretty soon it might be every few decades... if I live that long.

I guess in the last six years I have accumulated quite a bit of junk as well. I was glad that Jane, Jerry & Ricky came to help me move. I am grateful that I have friends around who were willing to spend half of their day helping me move. Jerry got his father's vegetable lorry to help in the moving and it was a great relief for me. However much I would like to think that I am self-sufficient, the job would have been humongous doing it by myself. I guess John Donne got it right when he said 'No man is an island.' Jane kept exclaiming how dusty my room was and what a mess it was, while she help pack the remaining stuff that were still lying around the room. Ricky & Jerry just tirelessly lugged all the boxes down to the truck. And with people around, they quickly point out to quite a number of useless things I had that should rightfully belong  to the bin. Oh! That's my old computer speaker box you just flattened.

Hopefully I'll adapt to the new place soon enough. Aljunied. Very convenient and few more stops nearer to my work place. Rent is higher too due to the proximity to town. However, it's near to the MRT and rather near to a public swimming pool. It's also just beside a library - not that I foresee myself using it too often. Unpacking will be another nightmare that I am not going to think about for tonight.

My money training

In the month of February, I tried an exercise in cost cutting - I limited my cash usage to $700 for the entire month. At least I tried to survive on a daily $23 budget. So how was it? Well...I think for me living on a budget is like going on diet for some. They give a good effort but then they bounce back fatter than ever. It's like that for me...not that I tried very hard. Anyway, it was easy on certain days but then there's always the occasional stuff that crops up - visitors, special meals, concerts, books, movies. Honestly, I prefer not having to be stingy on every little decision. It is a good practice - like fasting.

Maybe I will try it again - one of the other months...being a person who aspire to be a bum...I am nothing like a bum. Well, I think Chris McCandles (Into the Wild) has great appeal for me. But he is quite extreme...more loner than I will ever be.

Departure

As I lie on my back nursing a backache that was caused by my stupidity, I am thinking about the news that was conveyed to me by my father about half an hour ago. My uncle in Ipoh (my mother's younger brother) has passed away. Although we meet only once a year during Chinese New Year, it saddens me that he will be leaving behind 2 sons who are still in school - 1, I think doing SPM(O levels) and the other in lower secondary school. It saddens me that my grandma who is still active and working hard to do house chores and maintain her dilapidated house will have to attend the funeral of another child - the main breadwinner of the family. I am reminded about how much she wept at my mother's funeral and how sad it will be for her in the coming days. Life is often cruel to some and it seems like my maternal grandma was not spared the pain of sending away 2 of her children. My heart goes out to her and my aunt who will be without a husband.

Death is inevitable for all of us. I pray for my uncle's family that they will not be overwhelmed with sadness and find the strength to move on. I pray for those who has been dealt harsh hands in life that they might find a glimmer of hope in their everyday lives. I am reminded that life is fleeting and to live it to the full. It is my reminder to be more grateful for the friends and family around.

Davao - trip to Mt Apo

Davao

It's been a while since I posted some pictures so here are some pictures of Davao. My friends and I went over to Davao last December to hike up Mount Apo. Unfortunately, there was a rebel conflict at the base of the mountain and the military was stopping people from going up. So we were stranded in Davao for a few days. We managed to get the guides to take us to a nearby waterfall and had a night camp there. The trek was short but was challenging because of the mud which was ankle deep. By the time we reached our camp, our shoes were soaked and mud-caked. The waterfall was not exactly what we came for but as they say 'Even a bad day camping is better than a good day at work'. I enjoyed myself and had a bit of opportunity to look around the city. We even managed to visit the police station because my friend, Fang, lost her wallet in the mall. She pouted for a few days because she was not able to hike up Mount Apo and was determined to get back to it this year. One failed trip but sometimes the detours that are served along the way are just as enjoyable.

Disgrace

I finished a book 'Disgrace' by J.M.Coetzee on my trip back to Ipoh for the Chinese New Year. It is about a professor who slept with one of his students and was forced to resign from his job because of the scandal. He goes and stay with the daughter at her farm and encounters a terrible event...Well from the title, you can tell it is a rather dark and forbidding tale. And that's probably why I bought it in the first place. Since the beginning of the year, I felt my life has been rather depressing and so the title fits with the current mood.

Besides that, I caught 2 movies with similar themes recently - JCVD and The Wrestler. I liked both the shows. The themes were depressing but the acting was brilliant and the characters were very real and believable. They are still only movies so I know many things were exagerrated. Nevertheless, it reminds me how messed up life can be in a short while. Even with success, it is never permanent. As the book of Ecclesiastes say "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind". Sometimes I wonder, if so many people don't know where they are going, why are they hurrying to go anywhere? Why the fast pace and why the hurry? Shouldn't most people stop and figure out where they are going first? Because if they get the direction wrong, hurrying will get them further from where they want to go.

2009 getting older

I just read a blog somewhere and the author said that she was getting old. She was turning 22. Oh my goodness! 22! I would kill to be 22 once again. But then again someone in their 40s would think I am young. Age is so relative. Once upon a time, I'd never imagine I would languishing in my mid 30s - single and grumpy. I'd imagine myself being a father of a 10 year old kid by now - teaching my son his school work and telling him exciting bedtime stories. I'd imagine myself turning into this spiritual giant - tirelessly extending love and concern to all who needed them. Oh...the ideals of my youth. But isn't age just a number. Does it have to limit our abilities or ideals? I don't know what I am rambling about today.

2008 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

2008 was an eventful year for me. The year was a mix of good and bad events. So here is my own list of good, bad and ugly events.

The Good: Physical fitness. Well, this year was certainly a year that was filled with numerous new things for me. I started this year with only one physical fitness goal - to finish the Kinabalu race within the cutoff time. I did not achieve that goal but attempting it pushed my running ability up a few notches. So some achievements for 2008 - attempted Kinabalu Climbathon - first attempt, completed the Quadthlon - my first multi sport event (with skating, swimming, running & cycling), a 30km runway skating event & I completed a full marathon this year in a rather respectable first time timing. Not to mention the numerous mini 10km-15km races that were completed in between these main events. I am definitely a better skater and runner now than when I started 2008. In fact, I am a better distance runner now than I have ever been.

The Bad: Finances. Well I take consolation that a lot of people got hit a lot worse than me on finances. Not that it will do me any good that some bloke down the road lost his fortune but at least I don't feel so dumb for losing my money. For a person who puts a majority of his savings in stocks, the downturn hit me rather bad. It is also not very consoling that I did not have much to begin with. Perhaps, I should take my own advice and buy more stocks, now that stocks in general has become much cheaper.

The Bad 2: Relationship. Last I check, I was still single. I do not understand why girls don't dig me. I am actually normal - a little shy when it comes to dating but a normal human being. And I have a job. In fact I have been single so long I am beginning to wonder if I am gay. Being semi-religious doesn't help the situation either. Too religious for the non-church goer and too 'unreligious' for the church goer. Maybe it's the "do you want to be the mother of my child" pickup line, it only works if you are a Hollywood star (you know I am just kidding about that, right?).

The Ugly: Spirituality. Rather than turning this blog into a confession session, I will just leave it at the fact that my spirituality is hitting rock bottom.

New Toy - Nokia E71

Yes, I finally went over to the Dark Side and am now a Nokia phone user. I bought this phone a couple weeks ago and I have been quite happy with it. The key pad is very responsive. Even though the keys are small, I have no problems with the keypad and the overall usage so far.

It has a built-in GPS and has been working smoothly with the Garmit XT mobile software that I am using with it. I also have downloaded Google maps on it and it is working very nicely, the few times that I have tried it. Yes and now you can send me messages in Chinese. Unlike my old phone, this phone does display Chinese brilliantly. Not that I am better at reading Chinese anyway.

Also, Windows Live comes with it so I can be on MSN 24 hours if I so wish. I can check my web email with it and that is rather useful since my office tries to block MSN and web email on my work computer. Yes and my family will be happy now that it works as an internet phone though I have not set that up. In fact there are a lot more functions to it than I care to find out.

So does this phone actually save more of my time? Certainly not. In fact, I have been spending some late nights trying to figure out what this gadget can do. As with most gadgets, many times they end up owning us instead of us owning them. Also it is funny how when you buy things there is this chain effect. For example, if you buy a nice TV then you might buy a new DVD player. Because you have a nice DVD player, you want a good sound system...and so on and so forth. In the case of my phone, since the phone supports so many internet functions, I want to get a 3G internet plan. Because I have a 3G internet plan... I do hope the list ends at the internet plan.

So the moral of the story? You do not have to change phones every couple of years. There is no shame in using an old phone and no rules stating that you must change a phone when your contract with your mobile company ends. Yes, use the old phone unless it is breaking apart and ignore all those irritating friends that have nothing better to do than nag at you for not keeping up with the trend. Their nagging worked on me and see how I turned out.

Music & Personality

My friend bought a used MP3 player and sold it to me. Quite a nice player - Cowon D2, 2Gb memory. Anyway that's not the topic of this discussion. As the Mp3 was "lost", it came preloaded with a lot of Korean songs and a few English songs. It has the full Dreamgirls soundtrack converted. I was wondering if one can tell a person's personality by listening to the music that she listens to. Anyway I think it is not easy to tell. For example, if one likes heavy metal music, what type of person is she. I think it is easy to stereotype but not easy to tell a personality just by music choice. Moreover, nowadays with digital music players going in gigabytes, there can be thousands of songs in a player.

Anyway, the player also had the movie Benny & Joon in it. I remembered when I was in college, the friends around me loved the show. It was one of those talked about show for a couple of months. I didn't really think it was so fantastic but my friends did.

My new love - Run Ning

Yeah lately it's all about Run Ning. She's my new love. I spend around 3 times a week with her. However she is also very rough with me. If I spend too much time with her, I might get hurt. She's not nice to me but to others they can spend 6-7 days with her and still not feel any effect. Even then, most of my free time has been consumed by her. I hardly play any computer games or go to the movies anymore. On days that I don't see her, I usually meet up with church friends. Also, rather than turning my blog into a shrine for her, I would much rather keep this as my travel and ramblings blog and create a new blog in her honour. That way I wouldn't have to bore you with Run Ning and still be able to write about my new love. It would be Run Ning's shrine.

Haruki Murakami - Kafka

Sorry if lately my blogs have all been about getting fit and running. If it seems like that it is because training for the Kinabalu run has taken a majority of my free time. I did finish a book from Haruki Murakami called Kafka on the shore while I was at Kinabalu. A friend lent it to me and highly recommended it. I found the characters in the book interesting - all of them rather weird. The main character is a fifteen year old boys who escapes from his home because he hates his father. He is also trying to escape this Oedipal prophecy from his father of him falling for his mother and killing the father. Yeah it is a rather dark book. What I like about it was that the story is weird and a little fantastical. Things do not necessarily have to follow the laws of physics and reality...cats talk, spirits can be projected out of the body, leeches can fall from the sky, etc.

Update on the Mt. Kinabalu Climbathon II

The race started at 7:00am Sunday. I woke up early at around 4:15am to get changed and to eat some breakfast as I was expecting the pickup van to come at about 5am. Fortunately, I got ready early because a car came at 4:40am to pick us up. Morning at around the base is chilly especially since I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. There were about 6 runners from the lodge that I was staying but the car could only pick 4. Actually the 2 that took the second round would have been more fortunate because we ended up having to wait at the starting line from 5:15 till the time that the race starts. For those that were inexperienced, we only had our racing gear. The smart ones had thermal wear and they were comfortably warming up till the start time. There was a baggage drop off counter at the start so they would transport your jackets back down to the finishing point.

The race started promptly at 7am after the roll call and was more a walk than a run for me. Even before the 1km mark, I couldn't keep running and had to revert to brisk walking. Simply too steep for my heart to take it if I was running. The route was uneven steps almost all the way until around 6.5 km I think. Then it turns to a steep rock face for the rest of the journey. By the time it turn to the rocky section, my quads were already getting cramps and my thighs were like jelly. I was just literally pushing myself up although I knew judging from the timing that I could not make the summit in time. Just did not train enough on steps.

Therefore on my certificate it wrote DNF (did not finish). I did not finish the race. I was a little too slow going up. At the cut off time at 2hrs 30 I was probably at 7.5km. The summit is 8.75km. The run marshals let me continue till about 8km then turn me back.

I decided to run down as much as the legs could take. However, the uphill part already took most of my strength so I wasn't fast coming down. I tried to go as fast as I could till I took a tumble. I tripped on a rock and fell. I scraped my knees and elbows. After the fall, I just took my time coming down as my left knee was a little swollen. Moreover, I knew that I would have a DNF anyway even if I sprinted down in the allotted time. Fortunately with all the skating falls, I had good experience with treating road rash.

Great experience, I guess (though still a little traumatised. Ask me a few more weeks and I would tell you what a wonderful time I had). My consolation is that many share the same DNF with me. Out of around 170 men runners, only 40+ qualified. So there were around 130 of us, who just went for the experience. It seems from the race director usually only about 30% from the men's open category qualifies. With this DNF race, guess I'll have my next year's fitness goal fixed as well - need to finish some unfinished business.

Kinabalu run update

Still in Kota Kinabalu but don't feel like talking too much about the run. Too traumatized to talk about it now. When I find a computer with a proper keyboard I will let you know how it went. So this message is to say I am still alive but slightly scarred.

Too much time?

Arrived in KK this morning and realised that I may have alloted too much time to just sitting around and doing nothing. Quite likely I'll be around the Mt Kinabalu base camp for a few days. Maybe it would be good to roam around the area a little. I remember from the map I saw earlier this year, there were a few trails around the base. Maybe take a few hours tomorrow to hike a little or go to the tree top walk and hot springs. But for now, I am stuck with my big bag and no itinerary except the run on Sunday. I'll probably take a bus to the base camp very soon. Maybe get a good bite and move on. As have been my experience, time usually flies once I start moving around.

Running late

Yes lately I have been in the best cardio shape than I have ever been. That is for as long as I can remember. Well since I am going to run the Kinabalu run in about 2 weeks, I ought to be but sadly I have to admit I am a little lacking. Tried to run a small hill in Ipoh and found it to be torturous - my calves were burning and I had to walk for the majority of the way uphill. That hill was about 800m...Kinabalu is 4000+m. Given that the tickets have already been paid for and the time off work has been scheduled, all I can say is that I will give it my best shot. I will likely try to squeeze in a last longer run by Tuesday if possible. Then it will be just maintenance till the race. Thinking about the race at least gives me something to look forward to rather than the monotony of working in corporate Singapore day in, day out. Yes for me in a fitness sense, this is shooting for the moon.

Second Gunung Ledang Trip

This is my second Gunung Ledang trip in the last 2 months. I go because it is something to do and I need some training for my legs. Anyway, just some pictures of the group that came along.

Ledang 2nd Trip

Kinabalu Climbathon

At the beginning of the year as I was making resolutions, I came up with a fitness goal that I thought would challenge me for the year so I signed myself up for the Kinabalu climbathon.

Here is what I wrote during the start of the year...

Year 2008. Just started a new fitness resolution for the year. This year I want to run below the men's qualifying time for the Sabah Climbathon in Malaysia. Why this event? I am staying in Singapore currently and have always like the mountains. I figured to go below the qualifying time for this event would be a great achievement for me. It is difficult enough that it is a real challenge. I know to some who are reading, they might think it is not a tough challenge. But difficulty is a very relative measure, to me a beginner runner, this will be my holy grail for 2008.

How do I, a runner who barely runs 10k a week, train and develop the legs to run a 21k mountain run? How do I prevent injuries when currently I get leg problems only after 5km runs? Currently, there is relatively few mountain running plans for the absolute beginner. That is, at least, from what I can find. The best stuff I can find so far is on the Pikes Peak marathon and that event seems much tougher than the Kinabalu run. So I thought if I write down the training plan, it could be a guide for beginner runners like me to gauge how much training is required for this run or similar mountain runs.

Another disadvantage is that Singapore is relatively flat. The best hill to run is Bukit Timah which is about 1.5 hours away by public transportation. Much of my training will be on the roads around my house in Simei and the threadmills at the gym, which fortunately I have paid for in advance.

Fast forward to July 1, 2008. I have definitely ran more than I did in the beginning of the year. Still it shames me to say that I did not come up with a definite plan. Let me sit down and plan after finishing this blog. With 50+ days ahead of me, I need to do the max that I can do to get below the qualifying times without getting any injuries.

Another thing with these type of mountain races is that it is difficult to know how much is enough without experience. Will 30k flat be equivalent or will 20k run on the threadmill with incline be enough? However, one thing I know is that what I am doing currently is not enough. If you have any good running tips to help me train, now is the time to let me know. I will try to keep you updated on the running schedule, if you are interested and do not laugh about it.

Spanking New Skates

Just got myself a pair of new skates. They are in between speed skates and recreational skates. I wanted to take a picture of them before I use them. I think given my beginner skill level and the length of the frame, I will scrape them on the ground soon enough. Probably on the first few tries and they'll not be spanking new anymore. The people in the skate shop kept reminding me not to go to any slopes with them before I could learn how to stop. I definitely don't want to skate in east coast park with them till I get proficient in these skates. That way I don't get to see the smug smile of those skaters who beat me but are on kiddie skates. However, that'll mean many months as my focus will be on running for the next few months. Anyway, I think after a few weeks I won't care what they think. Let the kids have their satisfaction. As one of the speed skaters mentioned, you have to start somewhere.

This setup is quite an upgrade from my 78mm recreational skate wheels. 100 mm versus 78 mm. I am not sure if I can even stop with the heel brake. Still it is not full speed skate as the cuff is higher. But I guess it'll be quite close. This toy will keep me occupied for some months. For now the focus is still on running as the Kinabalu event is just around the corner.

First skating event

During the weekend, I participated at a skating and cycling event at the Paya Lebar Air base. It was a annual event where they move out all the planes and open the air base to the public as a cycling and skating event. The course was 15 km per lap and there were varying events of different distances to cater for people with different goals. I participated in the 30 km endurance skate and tried skating for 30 km for the first time ever. It was a great experience but I also learnt that skating uses a set of muscles that I hardly train, the back muscles. At least for my skating style, I use a lot of back muscle. I must be skating wrong because towards the last few kilometers I could barely push fast due to the sore back. I also learnt that my skating skills need tons of improvement. Many were just zooming past me before I even got tired. If before I thought I was entering the intermediate stage, I just realised I am just a little better than the absolute beginner. Well I think I like this sport so I think next year I'll come back with a vengeance (if I am still in Singapore). Next year God permitting, I'll focus more on improving my skating skills. For this year, the sport focus will be running, in particular, hill or cross country running.