What's Next?

I just had a look at my previous half marathon races and I realised Bali is my slowest. I had thought Angkor Wat was the slowest since I took more pictures but surprisingly it was Bali. So the trend is very clear. I am getting slower and slower as the years goes by. Maybe I should do something to arrest the trend? Or what the heck just leave it and enjoy the experience?

Anyway, while looking at the half marathon races, I realised I had done a few of these in "tourist capital" of South East Asia namely, Bangkok, Penang, Seam Riep and Bali. Maybe I should aim to do a race in each of the tourist capital of South East Asia so that means Phuket and maybe one each in Philipines and Vietnam. Any idea what is the equivalent of Phuket & Bali in Philipines and Vietnam? And any races there?

The other thing is I haven't done a 10km race for a long time. The last race was in April 2010! Maybe I should do one this year. There are so many races this year. But which one? I like Republic Run - because it is one I haven't done before and also because it is in the afternoon and I don't have to wake up so early! Then there is the Jurong Lake Run. Another event I have not done and haven't heard much adverse news about. I quite like the Pocari Sweat Run but that one is so expensive.

And I am still mulling over doing a 50km race to celebrate my half a century coming of age this year.

Hmmmm what should I do/

Bali Marathon 2012

My very first race of the year and it almost didn't got off the ground. 1 week before, I caught a bug. Okay it wasn't a big bad bug but a teeny weeny little cold. But I was scare it was going to become full blown. Added to that, I had 4 ulcers in my mouth. And the medical report last week... M was adamant that either I don't run or if I do, not to push. Sighed.... Anyway, when we reached Bali, the cold had disappeared. Thank goodness. The ulcers were still there but getting better but to my horror, I discovered I had a pain in my jaw and couldn't open my mouth fully! What a bad bad way to start the holiday!

But life still has to go on. And so we collected our race pack at the beautiful Sanur Beach Hotel. Nothing much inside except an event tee which was too big for M, a cap, a box of corn flakes and plenty of vouchers. 

We had dinner that night at a local warung near the hotel and bummed into a group of Kenyans. The Kenyans seems to be everywhere probably because the prize money for this is pretty generous!

M with the Kenyan ladies. Who are they?

We woke up bright and early at 2pm and took a taxi to the bus pick up point where there were lots of Singaporean waiting for the bus as well. The bus took us to the race site outside the Bali Safari Park.

We were doing the half marathon so we waited while the full marathon people got flagged off first. Then our turn came.

The first part of the race was done in darkness. At 5.30 am, it was still dark and some part of the streets had no street lamps and were lit up by people with live torches. The first water point was at about 2km and I skipped that. The next water point was around the 4km mark and I took a sip. Luckily I did that. 

Dawn

We u-turned somewhere after the 5km and ran past the waterpoint which I skipped to my big regret. From there, we turned into the villages instead of running on the highway.

Just like in Angkor Wat, the scenery was beautiful and crowd support were fantastic. The route wind through the villages with many up and down. I wouldn't call them slopes since most were only about 10 - 20 metres long but I can imagine for those used to our flat ground at ECP, it should be a nightmare.

Project Tummy 3rd Month

Time is almost up with 1 more week to go before I conclude my Project Tummy and so far all the signs are pointing to a new fat failure!

The weight has been fluctuating between 76 - 77 kg. It did went down to 75.5kg a few times but 2 weeks of slacking and not following the routine plus some nice food means it crept back up to 76kg this week. The waistline? I don't even want to measure it. 

Any with an upcoming trip to Bali this week, I think it is a foregone conclusion that 75kg is not achievable. At least not within the target 3 months.

I also went to do a health check. Cholesterol level is good. Can continue to eat my pig trotters. Glucose level is a little bit over the threshold. Need to cut back on desserts. Does chocolate affect glucose level? The   thyroid function test indicate sign of hypothyroidism. Need a further test to confirm this. But more worrying, the ECG test indicates some abnormality. For someone who runs, this is bad. Have fixed up an appointment with a cardiologist to do another test. Hopefully, it is nothing.

Bishan Park

Did a short run at Bishan Park over the weekend. Have not been there for a long time and then it was closed for renovation. A lot has changed after the renovation or should I say facelift.

The Nparks seems to want to keep the park on the wild side. Even the plants behind the bus stop looks unplanned.

The concrete canal is now a stream.

More 'wild' area. Too bad there are no trails.

But something never change. There is still a need to cross this traffic junction to get to the other part of the park.

A round around the circumference of the park is app 7km. Good place to wind down in the evening when it is not so hot and do a quick run. Just need to avoid the thousand and one screaming kids running all over the place. And the cyclists. And the aunties and uncles doing their daily power walk.