KLIM no go

My thanks to my running friends for their advice and words of wisdom. Logic tells me that I must take a break from running, for now. With KLIM only 18 days away, I'm certainly in no condition to run in a time that I can be satisfied with. Looking ahead, the next big race will be the Penang International Bridge Run. I had a very enjoyable time there last year, and part of the experience was watching the early morning sun rays hitting the columns and the cables of the bridge itself after making the u-turn and running back towards the finishing line. Alas, with the even earlier starting times this year, there's no possibility of that.

For now, I can only do "maintenance work" on my fitness- I will keep off my feet and cycle in the gym. Not fun at all.

Azwar, congratulations!

I'd like to congratulate Azwar on his performance in the recently concluded Ironman Langkawi 2007. Read his gripping report (dated February 28 2007) by visiting his blog.

Well done!

Online footy

Welcome to the World Of Internet, the place that you can download, read, check and find anything of your interest. And now, the World of Football can be access thru the Internet via this site. Hopefully you will find this site useful for those clips of major EPL matches and great teams of the past. As Carboman stated, this is a useful site for non-cable subscribers. But, I would like to add that this link is useful for people like me- I usually will not stay up to watch the weekday matches; the repeats on Astro are sometimes not at a convenient time for me; I just want to see the goals because I don't have the time. Now, I can check out the goals online!

Click on http://www.saikaiball.com/

ouch

Plan was to hit 2 (or 3) loops of Carcosa with Loco and Kenny. Unless you read yesterday's post, you wouldn't have known that my arches have been hurting since Friday evening. There was a hint of pain/soreness as we started our run yesterday evening at 615pm. I thought it would eventually go away once I've settled into my run but it turned out to be the exact opposite- it worsened with each passing minute. When we were approaching the Deer Park I was trying hard not to grimace. I laboured on and completed the loop in 30:45. I continued running despite the pain/soreness before finally deciding to stop at the t-junction by the National Mosque. Workout duration- 51:00 approximately.

Dejectedly, I slowly walked back to my car. Went home, had dinner and watched the Oscars.

Plan today- will head to the gym to cycle. I think I have to rest my feet. Sigh.

Meanwhile, enjoy the pics of Hayden Panetierre, taken at the post-Oscars Vanity Fair party.

weekend

Look at the picture above and I will tell you about my pain/soreness which I started experiencing since Friday evening.

Friday (23rd Feb) I made my mind up to run FTAAA Cross Country which was to be held on 25 Feb. I had made plans to meet Shine via pm1's chatbox to collect the bib (which belonged to BoSe who unfortunately had to pull out due to a suspected injury). Arrived at Lake Gardens, limbering up for my easy run with Kenny, Ron and Adam. I had noticed extreme pain on both my arches as I was limbering up. The pain was there as we started round the lake, whereupon we decided to take the Cross Country route. Ron led us throughout the route; my arches were extremely painful and I had to slow down while the rest pushed ahead. I laboured on and ultimately completed the route without telling the guys about the pain I experienced. Thinking nothing of it, I didn't run on Saturday although I had my fill of aerobic/cardio workout on a stationary bike in the gym (1 hour).

The soreness on my feet was still there as I met Carboman and family on Saturday evening for dinner at Puchong, although I dismissed it, thinking my feet were just tired. Shortly after we settled into our seats, came the heavy downpour. It was then that I became undecided whether to run the race, because I felt that the route would be more slippery than it already is (and therefore more hazardous for me, at least). After dinner, Carboman and I headed to a nearby mamak to catch the Fulham-Man U match. Man U won despite Fulham being the superior side for most of the match. Anyway I'm digressing- after dropping Carboman off at his home, I had decided to not go for the race. After a late night/early morning I texted Shine to tell him that I won't be making it.

Sunday evening I tried to run but I lasted a mere 30 minutes on the treadmill, having to stop due to my painful arches. I resorted to the stationary bike, cycling 30 minutes. I'm not one to diagnose myself (because one can be mistaken on the symptoms) but I don't know if I may be having plantar fasciitis. Look at the picture of the feet (above). The pain was at No.3 , and after Sunday's run, it is also at No. 4. I hope I didn't aggravate it when I went for a concert last night at Stadium Negara. It was the British super rock group, Muse. After the concert, both my feet felt painful/sore and I had difficulty walking. I went home, massaging my feet for about 1 hour as I sat in front of the tv, watching Heroes on DVD.

The pain/soreness seems to be better today. I plan to run with Kenny and Lai today but we'll have to consider the condition of my feet. I will run for as long I can take the pain, or is it unwise to do so? Oh well, I'm going ahead.

Hayden has truly blossomed!

Man this girl has really blossomed and she is HOT. CLick on her link for her profile on myspace. She's only turning 18 this year! She's the cheer-leader in the tv series Heroes.

Happy CNY everyone. I headed to Kluang on the eve of CNY. Traffc was horrendous- a usual 3 hour journey took almost 5 hours instead. Traffic was slow at the entire Seremban-Melaka stretch. I got off the Ayer Hitam exit, where I headed to Kluang and drove another 33km (approx 20 miles- good long run distance!) to a village called "Kahang", which is where my grandparents live and the entire Lee clan (from KL and Singapore) have congregated.


Arrived just in time for the reunion dinner but a small hiccup- there was no electricity and the it was too dark to have the dinner in the kitchen. My dad came up with an idea instead- there was still enough light to have dinner, Al Fresco style, so why not have dinner outside the house, on the driveway instead? Whereupon a mad rush to arrange the table and to place it at the driveway ensued. Light was quickly fading, after all.

Dinner was catered; my grandmother was incapacitated my a stroke some 3 years ago and since then, she has been confined to a wheelchair. Otherwise, grandma would have taken it upon herself to cook duck with thick sweet black sauce, which she considers to be her signature dish. Anyway dinner consisted of:- duck stuffed with herbs and black sauce; deep fried prawns in batter (tempura style); very un-halal pork slices (with fat)with sliced yam and thick black sauce; very un-halal pork knuckles with sea cucumber; lobster; char kuey teow; 4 seasons starters; Monk-Jumps-Over-the-Wall (or was it Buddha who jumped over the wall?); fish; tofu in thai sauce with sliced onions and mangoes and cucumber. You may noticed that there are no vegetables, and you are absolutely correct! The tofu was the closest thing to any vegetables that were served. It was a very rich, high cholesterol dinner. Had some oats after that, even though I was so full! And, of course, zero running.

CNY 1st day was the usual morning mass at my grandparents church- (Protestants) followed by breakfast. Gave angpows to my cousins. Ungrateful @#$$%%. But it's not about that, isn't it? Spent another day in Kahang before heading to Melaka on the 2nd day of CNY to have lunch with the in-laws' family. Traffic into Melaka was horrendous. Why on earth do they place the eco-forest, Zoo and the crocodile farm on the very main road of Ayer Keroh that leads to Melaka town is beyond me. And there are too many traffic lights! We arrived late for lunch- we left at 10:40am and arrived at 2pm and hung out until 5pm, before driving back to KL. Traffic was quite heavy and we arrived around 730pm. Had dinenr witgh the in-laws to celebrate their belated anniversary. Zero running.

I must say that traffic is definitely the worse this year, of all the years I've travelled down south for CNY.

All this time- zero running. With 3 weeks to go to KLIM, I have to re-assess my goals for the 21k. Training has not been as structured and disciplined as I would have liked and time is really running out. There's little else I can do in the next couple of weeks which will put me into the same shape as I was pre-Singapore. pm1, pm38 and pm27 have been putting in the mileage and I will expect a good showing from them.

I hope I can get off work today earlier- word going around the office today is that we may get to knock off at 4pm. So we'll see.

V Day

Valentine's Day should be celebrated every day, so they say. One does not need a particular day/date to validate or affirm one's love for the other. I agree, and while all this is true, there's no harm in making some effort at least to celebrate the love of 2 people, however low key it may be. On my part I dispensed with the majority of people out there who took their loved ones out for dinner at a restaurant (just check out the traffic yesterday- horrendous). Costs too much anyway, and these restaurants (not to mention the florists) make a killing out of these occasions. I decided to work from home- I will cook my wife a nice, healthy 3 course dinner, something which will fill you up but not fatten you at the same time. I scoured the net, read magazines, and voila- found something of that description- snapper & salsa. It's a simple dish, really, and the hardest part was making the salsa sauce, which wasn't really difficult anyway. For those of you interested, the instructions will be placed below.

Anyway the 3 course meal consisted of onion soup, followed by snapper&salsa, and then dessert- (now that was the slightly sinful part, but just abit!). And some Chardonnay to go with the white meat.

Oh yeah to add to the ambience, I darkened the living room/dining area and placed some candlelights. Romantic, mah! A good night indeed.

Fetched the wife to KL Sentral this morn. She's headed to Singapore for the night.

My planned 5pm run at KLCC won't materialise, unfortunately. The meeting scheduled at 4pm today has been cancelled. But, I've just found that I have a meeting soon, at 1130am. If it ends early, then maybe I can run at the gym for 30 minutes, before heading back to the office after lunch.

I'm so glad it's already Thursday.

*********************************************
Snapper & Salsa

You'll need
300g snapper fillet, cut in 2
2 medium sized brinjals
1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz

1/2 cup coriander, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup spring onions, chopped
1/2 medium sized onion, chopped
1 small red chilli, chopped
1 lemon, squeezed
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper

You Do:
1. For salsa, mix thoroughly: canned tomatoes, chopped coriander, parsley, spring onion, onion, red chilli, lemon juice and olive oil.

2. On a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, drizzle a little olive oil and fry snapper fillet for 2 mins on each side. Season lightly with salt and black pepper.

3. Cut along brinjal and cook on the hot frying pan until brown on the flat side, approx 1 min. Turn and cook opposite side for another minute.

4. Arrange snapper fillet and brinjal on plate and top with salsa.

Per Serving (apparently)
51g carbs, 17g fat, 39 g protein, 24g fibre.

Insane in the membrane

Ran with Ron, Kenny and Lai at Lake Gardens in oven-like conditions, despite starting at 6:10pm. It seems to be the wont of these fellas to run at a very hard pace (hard enough for me, at least). The watch doesn't lie; we completed the usual loop in 27:22. I laboured along the Carcosa route when I was hit by sudden stomach cramps. The urge to relieve myself became too overwhelming so I stopped at the public toilet by the lake. I lost some 2-3 minutes in the toilet. By then, I was so far behind the fellas, who were really pushing the pace, so I decided to complete the route as quickly as I could. I had stopped my watch and accidentally reset the time when I was in the toilet, so I don't know my timing for the 2nd lap, but I would think that it was in the 29 minutes range (including toilet time). We then jogged a recover lap round the lake- now that one took 15 minutes approx. I found out later that the crazy fellas- led by Kenny Tan- completed the 2nd loop in a mind-numbing 25:47, and he sprinted like mad in the last 100meters!

Won't be running today- it's Valentine's so I have some things planned for Mrs Rabbit, who will be off to Singapore tomorrow for a night's trip. Thursday will be difficult for me to run as well because I'll be meeting a mate of mine (who is based in the UK is back in KL for holidays) in KL for happy hours and beyond. But I just found out that I have a meeting to attend near KLCC at 4pm tomorrow; I'm hoping it'll last 30 minutes or so. That way, I can start my run at 5pm, run for some 45 minutes or so, shower (at Fitness First Maxis), run a little late and meet him just after 6pm. Now that sounds like a plan!

Happy V ppl.

Kaki Kangkang

That is how I'm walking after yesterday evening's run, and I will explain why. I left the office by 540pm only to be greeted by heavy torrential rain. And this is after experiencing days of stifling, energy-sapping heat. My car was parked some 200 meters away from my office, so I merely walked in the rain to get to the car park. Headed to Lake Gardens, parked at Lake Club, got into my running gear, wore my cap and proceeded to Bukit Aman to wait for Kenny and Lai. At Bukit Aman, I saw that Lai was already there. As it was really pissing down and Kenny had not arrived, we took shelter at the stalls. Our wait for Kenny didn't last too long- some 5 minutes later, he arrived, and he was dressed to run in the rain, clad in his turquoise-coloured Adidas rain coat. Once he placed the hood over his head, he was ready. Lai, on the other hand was dressed as he normally was for any other run. As for me, apart from my usual running attire (vest and shorts) I had a cap on just to keep the rain from my face, which can get a tad irritating. The plan was to run 3 Carcosa loops.

Off we went and the 1st loop passed by- 34:30. It was really pouring but we soldiered on. 2nd loop we increased the pace and completed it in 31:50 (approx). I still felt very fresh, possibly due to the cooling effects of the rain. Kenny decided to stop because, in his own words, his right thigh was being "schizophrenic" on him and he was feeling asthmatic. Lai and me continued the 3rd loop and still feeling fresh, I decided to run faster. As we headed up Carcosa, we heard a car approaching us from behind, honking. It was Kenny shouting words of encouragement. His words of encouragement were quite funny as I tried hard not to laugh- I was running pretty hard at that point and needed all the oxygen I could get to my lungs and not utilise the same for laughing instead. Up the Deer Park, I felt really fresh as I ran harder. Past the Deer Park, I ran even harder and finally completed the loop in approximately 26:00. Lai finished about 1 minute behind me. It was a very satisfying workout.

As I ran the 3rd loop, I felt my inner left beginning to burn; true enough, when I showered and inspected it, I saw a nice chafe mark about 6 inches in length below my groin area. Note to self- applying soap on the chafed area is NOT a good idea. It stung like hell as I tried hard not to scream in a falsetto, girl-like pitch ala Michael Jackson ("WOOOO HOOO!") or the Bee Gees ("HAH HAH HAH HAH, STAYIN' ALIIIIVE!!!"). The chafing is pretty bad. Since then, I've been walking around trying prevent my inner thigh from brushing with the shorts/trousers I'm wearing, thus creating a very unflattering "kaki kangkang" look. Will be using Body Glide and wearing tights this evening when I run. As Gollum would say in Lord of the Rings, "It burnsssss ussssss!"

Went home, had oats (again) before having dinner at the in-laws. Watch what was left of the Grammys, before sleeping at 12am.

Plan today- Lake Gardens.

I love spicy food

Ok, enough of the saliva-inducing photos, for now. Back to me logging in my workout.

Monday blues didn't hit me too badly today. Good!

Friday evening was a non-running day- Mrs Rabbit had just returned from her week-long business trip to Vietnam; she touched down in KL by 2pm and planned to head to the office by 5pm. But I had stupidly taken her car keys and so, come 5pm, when it was time for her to go, she couldn't find the car keys and thus, couldn't drive her car to the office. I rushed back to give her the keys but it was pretty late by then and she decided not to go. Hung out for an hour (more oats!), then headed to the gym for some strength work, comprising of some upper body workouts, and some leg strengthening exercises. Then, dinner at the in-laws.

Saturday we headed to Paddington's Pancake House for brunch. This was the first time in a week that I indulged in something less healthy. More oats after that! Ran a 12k at Lake Gardens. The weather was extremely stifling and with no one to run with, I strapped an MP3 player on my left arm for company. It has become extremely difficult for me to run alone. Looks like the MP3 player will be accompanying me on my solo runs. Saturday night was dinner at my parents, followed by drinks with an old mate who's back from the UK. My night (or rather early morning) ended at 2am plus. Went to bed at 3am.

Sunday- more oats! The weather was really stifling again. Ran an easy 6k before heading to the gym for other workouts.

The plan this evening would be to run with Kenny and Lai. Not sure if Ron can make it.

Have a good weekend!

Ran with Ron and Kenny yesterday, Carcosa route. 1st loop took approximately 31:31, 2nd loop was approximately 29 minutes. Was dead tired last night. After dinner, crashed at 930pm, only to be awoken by a stomach ache sometime in the morning (i suppose it was around 3am). I think its the oats which I've been eating. after relieving myself I managed to fall asleep until 7am.

Neither Ron nor Kenny will be running today, so it will be an easy run. In the meantime enjoy the photos. Have a good weekend.

Not related to running

Got this off perezhilton.com. He's an (in)famous blogger/writer/whatever on Hollywood. Apparently these pics were taken for the upcoming GQ edition. Eva, you are so H-O-T!

The following women are my favs (in order of appearance)
1. Jessica Alba
2. Charlize Theron
3. Eva Mendes

And it has nothing to do with their acting capabilities!

Hold on...! Pending Employment Pass

Thanks for your well wishes in recent days. I really appreciate it.

Spoke to my soon-to-be-employer-located-down-south yesterday and was informed that the application process for an Employment Pass will take between 4-6 weeks. In the meantime, nothing hasty. Don't want to shoot myself in the foot by prematurely doing "it" only to find out later that for some reason or another, the application for an Employment Pass is rejected. I should think that the application is a formality, but you can never know with these things. So, the realistic time frame (assuming the Employment Pass is obtained) is (and let's be prudent here) 6 weeks, + my notice period (1 month), which will add up to about 10 weeks, or a little over 2 months. Everything now depends on the successful outcome (or otherwise) of the application. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, life goes on while I wait. I've been having oats twice a day, once for breakfast and once for dinner. For breakfast, along with the oats, I have 2 slices of wheat bread. Dinner, oats are supplementary to the main course. So, its not too bad, considering. I'm trying to enjoy the bland taste of oats. Lunch I've been having turkey breast sandwich with cucumber and wheat bread- no sauce, etc.

Running-wise, it's been good- Tuesday was at KLCC with Ron, Kenny and Lai, 6 lapper; chatted with Jamie before heading home; yesterday was at Lake Gardens, 10 k plus with Ron, Kenny and Lai. Post run, saw KNN. Sat on the bench by the children's playground and chatted with Adam.

Plan today- Lake Gardens.

High Cholesterol

Runners are not immune! Last Saturday I took a blood test to determine my cholesterol level and the results came out yesterday- I have high cholesterol!

If I really think about it, I suppose it can't come as a surprise. I've not been very selective with my food. I just eat anything. I do enjoy the fry-ups. I like greasy, deep-fried food. I don't really watch what I eat. I love fried rice, nasi lemak, roti canai, nasi beriyani, char kuey teow, chee yoke fan, burgers, hotdogs, steak, lamb, etc. One advantage with running is you get to keep your weight down despite eating anything. But I fooled myself into believing that with my daily workouts, I am immune from high cholesterol.

This is a situation that requires immediate action- I will be making a conscious change to my diet. My mother had her cholesterol level reduced the natural way, although this requires self-discipline and consuming the same food at least twice a day for 3 months- oats. Yes, the simple oats. I've done a quick research and this is what I found, in brief:-

"Oats contain tons of beta-glucan. This sticky soluble fiber works by slowing down your food as it passes through your stomach and small intestine. This gives high-density lipoprotein (HDL) more time to pick up cholesterol and whisk it to the liver and out of the body. It also gives low-density lipoprotein (LDL) less chance to move cholesterol to your artery walls, where it can build up and cause problems."

I told my mom about it last night and immediately she prescribed a twice-a-day oats diet. Looks like I will have to bear with it, for now. To be served with no sugar, mind you, just oats and milk.

I had Subways sandwich for lunch earlier. No mayo, no sauce. Just lean meat with vegetables and harvest wheat bread, and some pepper. So, no unhealthy food for some time. I can't do anything about it as I have brought this on my self.

The fools!

Not really, it was just a term of endearment towards my fellow runners who ran with me yesterday evening. I was a tad late when I arrived at Lake Garden around 6:06pm, and Kenny THAM, Captain Ron, and Lai were already there, raring to go, from the looks of it. Kenny THAM (a new nickname given by Captain Ron due to his ability to talk non-stop despite running fast in his asthmatic condition with all the phlegm that comes along with it) told us that he had to pick up his wife at KL Sentral station by 7pm and this had to be a fast workout. I thought this was supposed to be an easy day? Kenny THAM in fact was the one who mentioned to me that it will be an easy 4 loops round the lake. I wasn't quite prepared (mentally at least) to run at that pace, but I thought what the heck.

Off we go at the starting line of the children's playground, and within seconds, Lai and Kenny are already 50 meters ahead. I ran with Ronnie, and within 400 meters, he remarked that he was already breathing very heavily. I knew that it was a fast pace, and the timing on our watches confirmed it- 4:30 in the 1st km. We toured the first loop in 10:26. 2nd loop, Ron started to increase his pace in an effort to catch Kenny and Lai. I went along with him. Not realising how fast we were going, I looked at my watch at the end of the 2nd loop- 10:05!!! By then we were breathing down on Lai and Kenny. Kenny slowed down and I managed to run side by side with him, while Ronnie pushed ahead to catch Lai. He overtook Lai shortly after. I was breathing quite hard by then, and Kenny told me that it was his Max V02 workout, to which I remarked "Foolish!". As usual, he then tried chatting with me, but I had no breath to chat with him. We then overtook Lai. 3rd loop- 10:22. Final loop I decided to maintain the same pace as Kenny pushed ahead. Time for final loop- 10:22. Total time: 41:17 for 4 loops, as I finished 3 seconds behind Kenny.

I was pretty satisfied with the run- I didn't think I had it in me to run at that pace because my mileage has been somewhat low, training has been rather unstructured since Singapore. So I have to thank the crazy fellas for making me run at that pace even though it wasn't necessarily comfortable. I've been running aerobically since Singapore so a 21k race pace workout was just the thing to add some zip to the legs and get myself accustomed to running that pace again.

Kenny then left to pick his wife up; and we ran another warm-down loop. Our legs were already like jelly at that point because we waited too long after the run to start running again. That warm-down loop took 15 minutes.

Next up- it is supposed to be an easy run at Lake Gardens today. We will see.

Bye bye, KL

Interesting development in the last 2 weeks or so- I am close to accepting an offer with a Singapore law firm. After attending an interview last week, I was offered a position, and I will courier the letter of offer, together with the Employment Pass form (which I'm filling in at present) and relevant degree/academic credentials/certificates etc by tomorrow. I will be based in Singapore and if everything proceeds as planned, I expect to start work by early to mid-March, pending the successful application for an Employment Pass. I have only served 3 months in my present place of work, but I'm yet to be confirmed and this gives me the opportunity to give a shorter period of notice. I see it as an opportunity to further enhance my career and earning power. Career-wise, I have been in a rut for quite some time now and with the impending creep towards the mid-thirties (I'm going to be 33) by June, I felt the compelled to take stock of my life as a whole. I have no complaints about my life outside of work- I'm healthy, I have a loving family, etc. But I've always fell short in my career. It seems that the damage has already been done here in KL, with no apparent solution to my predicament. I am hoping that taking up this job offer will mean that the slate is wiped clean, and that I can start afresh. .

I'm ambivalent about my impending move- there are pros and cons for staying here in KL, as there are pros and cons for working down south. But, despite my fears, I feel that this is a step I must take and at least give a shot. I don't want to contemplate any "what-ifs". It certainly won't get any easier- everything moves at a much faster pace; work will probably be endless; I won't have a car; I'll probably be living in a smaller apartment; I have to make a lot of arrangements of my move- transportation of my belongings, etc; the whole settling in process; everything has to be done yesterday. But at this stage of my life the most important thing for me will be my career. I will take it as a challenge, and the experience will only serve to enhance my professional development.

Obviously, Mrs Hopper has agreed to the move and she has already had her personal request for transfer approved, although it appears that I will have to spend around a month or two in Singapore without her while she finalises details of her move.

As much as I love running, that will certainly have to take a back seat for now. I don't know how the working hours will be, although I will try to set aside at least one hour a day to run. The office will be in the CBD area, so there are also other considerations since I won't have a car, for instance, the nearest spot I can go to for my run; where I can keep my running gear; where I can keep my office clothes when I run; where is the nearest MRT station; how long will it take to get back to my apartment after I run, etc.

Anyway, I'm sad to be leaving my running friends in KL- you are, without exception, the best friends anyone could have. Despite my limitations, you never judged me. You took me as I am, and we all had a common interest that surpassed everything else- running! I want to thank you all for opening my eyes and heart. I have made so many new friends since I took up running. Your friendship has been invaluable. That, money cannot buy.

I hope to see you all sometime before I leave. Either for drinks, or just an easy run-out on the roads or in the parks. Take good care of yourselves and run safe. If you're ever in Singapore, look me up!