Ze Code Plumber

Adidas King of the Road - I conquered NPE...well..a part of it.

1 hour, 6 minutes and 41 seconds. That's my time for the Adidas King of the Road 10 KM run. Much better compared to the 1 hour 15 minutes disappointment for the Siemens Run. However, even though I'm suprised at the good pace during the first 5 km, I can't help but feel disappointed that my left knee acted up in a big way in the 2nd half.

I had to run conservatively in the 2nd half since the pain was pretty intense during the uphill and downhill sections of the course. The ligaments probably contracted or something and that really sucks.

The finishing line area is a really cramped place, and with all the construction work going on in front of Pyramid, not a nice place to be either. The course itself was rather smelly, with the tyre factory and the sewage treatment plant on both sides of the road. I drive on this highway occasionally and the smell can seep into the car, so imagine running on it.

Even so, I had fun with the run (especially with the time improvement) and despite running without companions, I managed to chit chat with some folk during the run. So how was your Adidas King of the Road experience?

Lump, lump. lump

I've got a lump on my neck, on the right side. It's not that visible, but on closer look, it looks like a muscle gone rogue. Although I really hope it's nothing, I'm getting it checked. And yes, it's quite vexing. The last thing I want is that it turns out to be something else and a biopsy. I hate needles.

Siemens Run

The 3rd race I entered this year. I had fun, but more than 12 hours after finishing the race, my knees feel like they are coming apart. Must be the flight of stairs I walked up and down on earlier this evening.

Long Vacation

I'm back from my holiday, a long one at that, 5 days back in my hometown in Sitiawan. And besides being the longest vacation I took this year it was also the least "tourist-y", and yes, I managed to switch back to being a Sitiawan fella after a long while.

The things that I did and found out of the hometown that I love so much:
1. Attended a childhood friend's wedding. Met another childhood friend, cute as a button, and a whole bunch of family friends as well. It's like a mini reunion of sorts.
2. Played badminton with a bunch of kids that the uncle and aunties that I used to play badminton with were training.
3. Ate roti telur and mee kicap at the usual haunts.
4. Had dinner with family friends, all of which the husbands are retired RMN (Royal Malaysian Navy) officers (same as my dad)
5. Saw someone who was formerly married to someone that I was close with when I was a kid and found out some stuff that left my mouth literally on the floor. Aiyoyo. -> this is a shock to the system.
6. Found somewhere nicer to eat than the restaurants in Kampung Cina.
7. Attended church service at Wesley, I like the hall....alot. And I like the pews.
8. Got from Point A to Point B using the old roads, not the newer ones
9. Helped my cousin brother decorate my cousin sister's wedding ride
10. Attended a pre-wedding dinner, dinner.
11. Attended my cousin sister's wedding in the morning, took some photos of the groom and his "heng-tais" trying to get into her room. They got in all right.
12. Got a bunch of angpaus.
13. Attended the wedding dinner at night. Cousin brother cooked that night, as it was held in the family's restaurant.
14. Found out the restaurant's parking lot attendant is quite capable of crapping jokes, but to the wrong person.
15. Normal heong peah is way better than the white coffee laced variants.
16. If you have appointments to meet in the evenings, remember to leave early..Sitiawan police force is fond of making road blocks, and causing jams.
17. Don't ride a motorbike in Sitiawan.
18. It's possible to be stopped two or three times by the police in a single strech of road not more than 5km in length. Stopped and questioned...if you are riding a motorbike
19. ACS looks pretty as a picture.
20. I'm not getting enough badminton.
21. Balitong = very nice

Blog Readers

There are blog readers and then there are BLOG READERS. The later refers to people whose main source of information are blogs, blogs and more blogs. You read whatever information from blogs and regurgitate them to others, taking in whatever that is written (regardless whether it is drivel or otherwise) and claim there's no better source then 'em blogs.

You go claiming that you can't trust mainstream media or whatever you see on TV, or read on the papers as they are pro-government/censored/rubbish while the owner of the blog is stroking his/her inner ego as he has you eating out of his palm. You are delusional enought to  say that you are chummy with so and so blogger while the only thing you've done so far is post the most comments in his/her blog or at most e-mail the guy about something and then you went shouting in the street: "Man, I know Jeff Ooi!".

Does this make me an anti-blogger? No, it doesn't (if for a second there you thought that I'm gonna quit blogging/shoot bloggers/shoot blog readers/shoot blog regurgitaters, then gotcha...Happy April Fool's Day...fool...lol..rotflol) but here's some advice, if you are reading a close friend's/relatives blog to find out what he or she is thinking, don't, because it's lame and it shows you have nothing better to do then to stare at the PC screen all day long. Pick up the phone and start talking, it's faster that way.

Ambank KL International Marathon 2007

The adrenaline is still pumping but at the same time, fatigue is setting in a very big way. I finished the 10 km race of the Ambank Kuala Lumpur International Marathon in 60 minutes and yeah, I'm very happy as it is my maiden 10 km race.

The race started off at 7.00 a.m and having arrived at 6.00 a.m, I had a good look around of the starting venue, which was Dataran Merdeka. Thank God for PowerGel (with 4x caffeine), otherwise I would have been walking around like one of the living dead. Besides me, a couple of my colleagues and friends entered the same race but we were pretty much separated and on our own.

Participants started herding into the starting enclosure at 6.30 a.m and it turned out to be the best place to be as we got a front row view of the top 10 finishers coming in for the 42km marathon race. Participants for that race started running at 4.30 a.m and the top 10 were dominated by Kenyans.


Malaysian timing wasn't the order of the day (Thank God for that as well) and we started the 10km race right on the dot at 7 a.m. Honestly, the main thought on my mind at the start of the race was that I wanted to pee (seriously, I drank too much water) but that feeling was long gone when I running pass by the Istana. I slowed down to a walk at the uphill stretch towards Dewan Bahasa but started running taking advantage of the downhill stretch towards Pudu Jail.

The first water station was located at Jalan Imbi, after running pass the junction to Jalan Bukit Bintang. Kudos must be given to the water guys and ladies under pressure as they had alot of runners to serve. I chose to walk on the stretch leading into Jalan Bukit Bintang as it was another uphill stretch but started running again as the route lead into Jalan Sultan Ismail.

It was only at the last stretch of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman did I find my own pace. The relatively flat stretch was by far the easiest to negotiate and after the 2nd water station, I decided to sprint on Jalan Tunku Rahman and that helped alot in setting my time. Somehow, the sight of the Dataran, made it abit easier to sprint to the finish (although it was actually quite painful). Arrival time: 8.00 p.m, well within the 80 minute time limit and I got a cert for that!!

Running at such at early time in the heart of KL city gave out the feeling that we owned the streets of KL :). Having finished ahead of my colleagues and friends, I need to thank especially my colleagues as without pressure from them, I wouldn't have given the race a 110%. A fellow 10 km race finisher asked whether I was interested to run in another 10 km race, but somehow I didn't catch the name of event. Even so, running is pretty addictive, I'm looking forward for my next race.

Come to think of it, this month seems to be a good month for Malaysian sports. First, a Malaysian pair took the All-England doubles badminton crown, and just yesterday Nicol David took the KL Open squash championship.

Easy Lover

Somehow I knew that today would be a great day when my favourite song came on air. It's not easy NOT to sing along when Phil Collin's Easy Lover is on the radio, but I'm no American Idol either...so I'll understand if it rains :P.

Good day indeed.

Funeral

I attended a funeral today. My condolences to my friend and her family over their loss.