Running Sucks

10.05 am Set off from hotel in happy mood to go airport. Flight is at 12.05 Stopped to put petrol. The machine refuses to take my credit card. The attendant didn't seem to know what to do. Told him I reverse to another pump. He insisted I try again. Finally, made him pump the petrol and I will pay cash. Shit.. he didn't pump it all the way to full. Now I have to stop again to put in that little bit more before returning. Drove on... holy cow.. we end up on Penang Bridge and its jalan sehaleh all the way. Started to panic. Barely 45 minutes to reach airport to check in. Have been trying to find a way up the bridge for the past 2 days and failed and here we here up there when we don't want to! Can't seem to find a way to u-turn until the end. Have to stop to ask for directions and than kena pay toll. Which was fine but we still have to drive the 8km back to Georgetown and find the airport. Less than 45 minutes to go before the plane takes off and we are nowhere near the a...

2.55 am. Went to the hotel lobby. Taxi not here yet. 3.00 am. No sight of taxi 3.05 am. Ask the hotel to call and check what happened. Taxi driver says he come at 3.30am. What the ^&%#! He's supposed to come at 3 am and bring us there by 3.30! 3.15 am. Taxi turned up. 3.40 am. Reached the USM. Road closed. Had to get down and walk. Taxi driver say only 1km. 1km my foot! Took us 15 mins to walk there! Sweating like hell. Registration close at 4.15am. Will we be on time! 4.00 am. Finally located the place where they are distributing the wrist band. Why can't they issue it at the number tag collection? M is asked to go to another site to collect hers so we split from there. Followed the crowd and walked across the Padang through a housing estate and back onto the main road. Sigh, why can't they site the start point nearer? Took me almost 10 mins to walk there. Maybe this is the organiser's way of getting the runners to warm up? We are doing the half marathon. This is m...

Day 1 Penang - First stop, to collect the number tag and t-shirt. There isn't a big crowd but it was not very well organised. First, had to queue at a counter to make payment. Than had to join another queue to collect the number tag and vouchers. Finally had to queue again at another counter to collect the t-shirt! The faces say it all! M's name was on the list but no race number was given so she had to join another queue to get a number. Luckily, the uncle there must have like there - he went and collect the t-shirt for her and even gave her a plastic bag>) That's why she smiling while the rest face black black! Next stop was lunch, before we went to check in and than tea and than dinner. More on our food here Day 2 - We continued our drive around Penang with a recce to the race site. Of course like the previous day, we went for many impromtu sightseeing around Georgetown as we bravely tackle the roads. Those of you can imagine driving with 1 female woman vehicle comman...

We wanted to go for a short holiday. Nothing too expensive or far. Decided on Penang since we last when there more than 10 years ago. Decided also to do the Penang Bridge marathon at the same time. Together, with the 4-ex VRP gals, we set off from Kranji MRT on the Than we took the to Senai Airport has a beautiful feature wall - inside the men's toilet! It is actually the urinal! Our transport to Penang Island: Haven't been down on the tarmac for so many years. Nowaday it is all aerobrige.

5k - 25:43 mins 5:04 pace. Almost there. Now to maintain for up to 10k.

1 black nail and 1 painful arch:(All on the left leg. The painful arch is worrying. Classic symptom of plantar fasciitis. Have removed the insole for the time being and it helps. Hopefully, it does not blown into something bad. The black toe - never had this problem for the past few years until started wearing the PI. Should I just give up wearing it for run? Is it due to 1) new shoe? - Black toe appears only after started wearing the PI. Too loose, too wide, too tight? 2) left leg taking on a heavier workload - more impact on the left leg as I unconsciously shift impact on to left leg to reduce impact on right leg? 3) increased time spend on trying to bring up running speed? Have been putting in a little bit more time on shorter but faster runs. Still can't go below 5.30 pace though:( 4) increased mileage. Not a lot more by other's standard but have been doing more than 2 hours run on past few weekends to prepare for the upcoming half.

My fave Run Route 3 Thanks to Taz , found this cool new distance plotting map at MapMyRun . Much better than Singapore Street Directory and Can.com. Changi Business Park is my usual training ground when I want to do a simple 10km run. The route is generally flat and once pass New Upp Changi Road East, there is relatively little traffic especially if running in the early morning or evening. The route can be varied by running through the various side roads or by running in the picturesque park. The Route: 1 round starting from Eastpoint and back is app. 9.8km. Extra 1 : Instead of turning into Changi Business Park, by crossing the road to Laguna Country Club, can continue to run all the way to East Coast Park or Bedok Reservoir. Best time to run: Early morning or evening after 7pm to avoid traffic Facilities: Toilets available at the Expo MRT station and Expo. There is a 7-Eleven at the Singapore Expo Fun element: There used to be a beautiful and mysterious Pulai tree which supposing...

Boon Chye bought tickets for us for this Sunday and told us it was a walk-and-jog event organised by Simei CSC. So we dragged ourselves there and found out it was actually the official opening of the Blk 106 covered basketball court cum block party. But the organiser had included a short run as a prelude. First thing first, there was a lady from Club Fitness One who led everybody (which comprises a lot of aunties and children) in a warm up aerobics session. Than came the run which was flagged off by MP for East Coast GRC, Jessica Tan. It was a short run - approximately about 3.6km along Simei St 3, Simei Road, Upp Changi Rd, Simei Ave and back to the start. Boon Chye led the pace since there wasn't much runners. Didn't expect the aunties and the overweight RC members to really run right? For most part of the route, I was second about 100metres behind him. There was this little boy about 12 who was running alongside me. He is really good. The MP Jessica Tan is also rather fast -...