Hongkie Konks

My trip to Hong Kong went pretty well. The conference was rather interesting and I learnt a bit more about the regulations relating to capital markets (yawn....yes I know). I also rediscovered the Shangri-La. Hah!

I managed to squeeze a run in with Jimbo and Steph on Wednesday evening and it was fun to catch up over exercise. We weren't speedy (considering some old dood lapped us 3 times!) and we didn't run that far, but I enjoyed the run immensely...well, except for our 'warm-up' which consisted of climbing up a gazillion flights of stairs! The weather in Hong Kong's been pretty chilly, which made running oh so comfortable. I think I've been pretty spoilt by good running weather in that I just feel sad and miserable when it's warm out...which is pretty much every other day in Singapore!

Because of the nice cool weather in Hong Kong, I managed to convince the family to go trekking on Dragon's Back. We took so darn long getting to the top that we ended up doing only the short route. But the view was as good as it always has been and I'm so proud of my folks for doing the trek up!

What I've done:
Wednesday: Ran 5.77K in 48:08 minutes
Friday: Trekked 4.94K in 2 hr 08 minutes

Off to Hong Kong

And I'm hoping to fit in a run with Jimbo and Steph whilst I'm there!

Half Mary Training Weary

I know I'm planning to run more than I'm actually running, but I really am sick of having a half marathon looming up and having to think about when to run and having to feel bad when I don't run! Bah!

My New Shoes, a 4k Run and a 1k Walk

This is a bit late, but I got new shoes two weeks ago. My trusty Asics Landreths have carried me through numerous races and got me through a 10 miler as well...but the cushioning was starting to wear out and my legs were giving me grief each time I ran. So I now I have a pair of shiny silver Asics. Nimbus this time and I bought Sole insoles because I was just tired of not having any arch support.

I trudged down to Feder Sports again to get Jeremy's take on what sort of shoe I needed this time and was kind of put off when he brought out my very 'bling' pair of Asics. I mean, I'm not a super speedy runner as it is, BUT going out running with these shiny, shiny shoes was just yelling at people to look at how slow I was was! I have to put pictures of my shoes up soon. They're super white - I look like a total non-runner, and shiny silver - space cadet, BUT the cushioning...oh the cushioning. It's like running on air. If I could just get Asics to design a more aesthetically pleasing shoe and make the shoe just a wee bit lighter, this shoe'd be heaven. As it is, running in it has been rather enjoyable....till last night.

My plans to do a 7k run got shot down about 100m into my run last night. Firstly, the weather wasn't great. I know I go on and on about running weather and I sound like a spoilt little child throwing a tantrum, but it really is depressing running when everything around is so darn hot! Secondly, my legs started aching pretty early into the run. I probably should have given them another day's rest (cross train!) instead of running again. Ah well, I guess I'll try to fit a swim in sometime soon and get a run in before the week's done. Anyhow, I did 4 miserable km yesterday and to make myself feel better, rounded that off with a 1k brisk-ish walk.

What I did last night:
"Ran" 4k in 33 mins
Walked 1k in 11 mins

An Easy 13k

Ever since I've bought my compression pants I haven't really used them a great deal. I wore them in Manchester when I did a run there and (if I remember) to sleep after a hard run. The truth is I look like I'm trying too hard when I wear them. And that's a big deal for a gear head like me to admit. However, now that I'm trying to cut down muscle recovery time in between longer runs (and for me that's anything over 10k) I figured I'd wear them under my shorts when I do my longer runs. The problem with that is the laughing. I had a bunch of colleagues laugh and make stupid jokes about my "leg warmers" yesterday. The same colleagues who don't run at all, much less complete a 10k. Well, that's my consolation, but it still sucks being laughed at.

Anyhoo, I'm finally back on the saddle and I got a 13k under my belt yesterday. It's moments like yesterday that I'm so so sure my God exists! R says that God has better things to do than listen to prayers that are lame, but I've always felt that God is a God of big AND little things and that He's capable and wants to hear everything. Long story short, I prayed for good running weather last night (on top of world peace etc etc) and it was the best running weather I've had in a long long time - I think probably since the Yellow Ribbon Run! Nice little drizzle so it wasn't too hot and no thunder or lightning!

I took a different route home this time because I wanted to go a bit longer and the change was good. It was a bit more challenging because of that short little stretch up Fort Canning hill, but overall I had fun. I'm saying that probably because, again, the weather was just great.

The compression pants worked too because today my legs aren't aching too crazily. They're tired, but I guess that's to be expected. My hip, however, is hurting a lot, which means it's time to google how to sort that. I think they should make a special search engine just for hypochondriacs.

What I did last night
Ran 13k in 1 hr 48 minutes

Wasted Weekend

And a very colossal waste it was. I had friends from out of town down in Singapore so I spent Friday to Sunday entertaining. I ate way too much rich food, drank way too much beers and did absolutely zero running. I did, however, plan numerous times to go running only to lame out. The body no longer recovers as quickly after a mad night out. Ah...a clear sign the big 3-0 is on its way!

Interrupted by Lightning

Since my 'race' on Sunday I've been taking things a bit too easy, so last night my aim was to do a steady 12. I ended up doing 7.99k (which is irritating because it isn't a round number) thanks to the sheet lightning. I can do rain, but I ain't gonna mess with Madam Lightning out there. Ducked into a cab and got home before it started pouring. Welcome back, Monsoon Season!

What I did:
Ran 7.99k in 1 hr 1 min

Great Eastern Women 10k Race Report

It's been a whole year since I've done this race! And this year G and I didn't do so well. G has been studying really hard for her bar exam and hasn't had time to train while I still can't get rid of that persistent lingering cough and well I've also been really lazy. Nonetheless I decided at the beginning of the race that it was unlikely I was going to break my PR (much less finish the race in under 1 hour) so I'd take it easy and treat it as another 10k. G's aim was to just complete the run without walking (actually her aim was to run 5k, walk the other and finish in 2 hours...which frankly I was not going to let her do!) so we both ran together at an easy pace. Well, a far too easy pace, I reckon, because we managed to chat the entire 10k and I had energy to run around a lot asking people if they had extra tissue paper for me to blow my dripping nose. Yeah, my nose was acting up yesterday.

All in, I rather enjoyed the GE race. Not because it was a particularly fantastic race per se (although I don't have anything to complain about for a change! big wow!) but because it actually was rather fun catching up with Gina while running (exercise!) at the same time. I'm not saying that I'll give up the joy of catching up with a good mate over a beer, but catching up while running comes pretty close.

Race time: 1:24:45 (a far far cry from my 1:09:47 last year)

R and I went off to the Singapore Open because Rinaldo scored us some course tickets. It actually turned out to be a pretty fun day, despite me getting a bit too much sun. I thought it'd be boring as hell, but it wasn't as slow as I thought it'd be and, minus my tired legs and crazy heat, the combination of beers and golf go very very well. Next year I'm going dressed properly though - definitely wearing clothes with wicking material so I wouldn't be a big sopping mess like I was this year (pretty picture, isn't it?)

What I've done since the last entry but been too lazy to write down:
Monday last week: 6.85k
Wednesday last week: Intervals 4 X 400m