I’ve decided do my blogging on livejournal from now on. Here’s the link
http://azuresque.livejournal.com
This subtlethought blog will be kept for archival purposes… or until i feel like coming back… don’t worry guys i’ll still pay my share of the domain.
posted by azuresque @ 8:30 am | 0 waitedSun, 28 Oct 07
This morning I did the New Balance Real Run. A lot of the reviews had said that the route would be hot. What makes this run different from the rest is that it covers not only the road, but also trail, sand and runway. Yesterday when we recced the route, we got there at 12.30 p.m. and saw the sun blazing down on the barren, never-ending tarmac. There was even that heatwave mirage thing going on. This year it was held at the Changi Exhibition center area, near Changi beach and Tanah Merah, which is real far and very ulu. I was doing the 15km race, which is a distance I haven’t really been doing this whole year. I treated last week’s GE10k as a training run and did another 14+km run on Tuesday after work. I was apprehensive also because I was recovering from a bad calf cramp from a learn-to-swim session on Friday. Because of the distance and the unforgiving terrain, I decided not to push it. I was careful to carbo-load and hydrate properly the day before. In the morning everyone arrived early because they closed the roads at 7. I was a whole bundle of nerves, and that’s why you see I don’t have many photos. I was more worried about eating, applying sunscreen, sorting out my stuff and taking care of the calf muscles.
This year the let the 10k start off first, which I find quite weird. President Nathan was there to officiate and flag off the runners. I was so nervy I almost forgot to put my reciever into my iPod for my Nike+. Decided to bring it along because it was going to be a long run in unforgiving terrain. I was more worried about this than the half-marathon last year. Bumped into Ray at the start line. Now Weir’s gonna come back to Singapore and beat me to a PULP. The sign at the Start Line read “Get ready for take-off!”. Usually most races are congested just after the start, but this time it wasn’t because it was along a long runway and there was plenty of space to spread out. The bottle neck happened later when we were running along the narrow pavement beside the foresty area, across from Changi Airport. From 3 to 9km we were running along the Changi Airport runway, so we had planes taking off right next to us as we ran and it’s a real rush, goosebumps and all. It’s been a long time since I’ve competed in a mixed event (been taking part in to many ladies events of late), so I was quite pleased to see that most of the time I was surrounded by more men than women. I took it as a good sign. The trail part was more like running through a park, so that was a’ight. The road was even paved and all. I was drinking at every station, save the very first and last.
The transition to sand was tough. Spent most of the time trying not to trip. Running along the sand really saps your energy. I was trying to keep to the more solid parts and the heat was oppressive. I felt about as stable and as light as your average newborn baby elephant. This was the part that I expected to slow me down the most. Coming back along the long open runway was quite an experience too. It just felt like running in a barran desert. There was a bit of a slight uphill slope too. Seeing the crowd ahead going strong was encouraging, but it really looked neverending. Even managed to cut Jon Choy in the last 1.5km. Later found out he had a cramp. The road was such that we only got to see the finish line at the last 100m or so. Finished at 1:39:26 or so. Slower than my race pace, but I was being conservative on unfamiliar terrain. There was a lot less sufferage on this run than the GE10k. Finished feeling good and solid!
You’re the reason I’m strong.
posted by azuresque @ 11:36 pm | 3 waitedTue, 23 Oct 07
This Sunday’s Great Eastern Women 10K has been the race of my life. I was having an exam on Friday and was incredibly bummed that I couldn’t train this week. I actually cheated and snuck out for quickie 6km last Sunday when I really should have been home studying. You know you’re an addict when you cheat by running when you’re not supposed to!
I went in to the race with the goal of doing a sub hour. I was pretty confident as I had achieved the pace at Triladies for the 5km run, just that it wasn’t official cos of the washout. I’d also done a few good training runs the weeks before. At around 5am on race day, it started pouring and my initial reaction was “No. Not another washout! Please.” Decided to have faith, cos I figured God couldn’t be this cruel to me three times in a row. Praise God the rain stopped just as it was time for competitors to report to the Padang, round about 7am. Had just enough time to get my stuff sorted out and wolf down my breakfast bar. Couldn’t decide whether to take my cap or Oakleys or both. Finally went with the Oakleys. Glad I did cos by the 2km mark passing the Concourse, the sun was out at full blast. At the starting line, saw Jac, but lost her in the crowd later. Accidentally ending up right next to Norul at the start, who totally whooped my ass. They introduced all the elite runners and big names that were there before we finally got started. I was somewhere in the middle of the crowd and it was frustrating breaking through as usual. It thinned at about 1.5km-2km. The usual suspect gigantic turnout of SCGS girls were there, and they were accidentally dropping their yellow and green hair ribbons all along the race course, tee hee. At the 2km mark I heard one of them telling her friend “It’s only 2km?! Oh my GAAWD!”
At about 2.5 to 3km, the elite runners started passing me. They’d already u-turned and were probably at about 6km. After the Kenyans passed by to cheers from our side, the local elites followed and I started celebrity spotting, which is part of the fun in all these events! I was watching the clock very very closely and hit the u-turn at 25 minutes and passed the 5km mark by 30min. I started feeling the strain from the 7km to 9km, but watching the clock and keeping my goal in mind really kept me going. At the second u-turn just before 9km, I was shocked to see I was actually ahead of Jac! Blew my mind and gave me an added push. Was revving and upping the gears as I saw the finish, but at the last 300m, I had to keep myself from hurling. Quickly recovered (all the while still moving) and made my mad dash to the sweetest finish.
As I was removing my Championchip, Melody Chen came right up next to me to do the same. Then along came Randall Tan, who was there to support her. More celebrity spotting (of the running kind) as I was walking around the Padang to recover. I’d achieved all I’d set out to achieve, and it’s all official! Results are out and my final gun time is 01:00:42.42 and chip time is 00:59:33.33. Ranked 503 out of 2923. My PB! Now just hope the official photos don’t turn out hideous. Tune in next week for the New Balance Real Run! I’ll be doing the 15k.
Wed, 26 Sep 07
So there’s probably only like four people in the world who genuinely wanna hear my account of the Triladies Triathlon AND actually read my blog, but anyway… The weather looked great on Sunday morning. Got there the earliest and Merianne showed up a few minutes later. Some lady at the sponsor booths noticed our team name “Niners” and asked what a niner was. Explained to her and my teammates and I know each other because we were classmates way back and our class was Sec 1/9 and 2/9. Mel had borrowed Nick’s bike. Fortunately he stays in the Marine Parade area, somewhere between Alvin and Jack’s. Our immediate reaction when we saw her coming with the bike was…
“OMG IT HAS A BASKET IN FRONT!!”
Thankfully it was removable. Had plenty of time to set up our transition area. Merianne secured the ChampionChip to her ankle and said it’d stay on unless a shark comes along and rips it off. Famous last words. Eunice Olsen was there to flag off our wave. Also saw Jeanette Wang warming up.
Merianne came back sputtering from the swim. Tough one. I’d already warned her (see my 16 July 07 entry), and it did turn out as I predicted. Mel biked out and the weather was still looking alright, but about ten minutes later it poured like crazy. Memories of the Osim Tri came flooding back. Met Jaclyn as she was setting up her transition area for her Olympic Distance wave. Saw Janice Lee, Andrew Fang and Rosco walking around and chatting. Wanted to go up to Janice and say hi, but I was too shy. While waiting for the announcement from the organisers, the DJ started playing Rihanna’s Umbrella. Which was alright cos I do love that song… Next he played It’s Raining Men… THEN he played Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. That was when we decided that somebody needed to SHOOT HIM. Then later he played Belinda Carlisle’s Summer Rain. Good thing he didn’t go on to play Madonna’s Rain, Indecent Obsessions’s Lady Rain or Prince’s Purple Rain or Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain or Billie Meyer’s Kiss The Rain… quick how many other rain related songs can you think of??
So finally after hearing the whole Best Of Wet Weather playlist, the organisers finally announced that the weather forcast was showers with lighting and thunder the whole afternoon, therefore the race was cancelled. By right, they should have just paused the race and pushed back the flag offs, but they decided to cancel because the road closures were only till 1pm. The Super Sprint distance was finished, but our Sprint distance was still on the bike leg. We were so bummed and I was miserable cos I thought I wouldn’t get to run at all. We waited for Mel to get back. At least she managed to finish the whole 20km route. Later the weather cleared, and the organisers announced a 5km non-competitve fun run. I did it and did it in 28min 07sec, which is a personal best =) Too bad it wasn’t officially recorded. Overall we were just glad we all got to finish the full distance that we’d set out to cover, and accomplished all our personal firsts and personal bests. Niners rule! We’re part of history - Asia’s first womens’ triathlon!
Thu, 13 Sep 07
Ok TNG’ers of PLMC! Our dear Glenn has set up a forum for us, so quick go register and get talking!
posted by azuresque @ 5:25 pm | 0 waitedThu, 06 Sep 07
Top signs you’re a run-a-holic:
1) You categorise your friends as runners, potential runners and non-runners
2) You start to only see the runners
3) The only time you have to catch up with friends is when you run together or meet at events
4) You only meet new friends through running
5) Your injuries feel better when you’re running than when you’re walking around
6) You and your running partner develop matching injuries
7) You decide how much you like a place based on how runable it is
You always keep a set of running gear at your workstation
9) Your calandar is defined by running events
10) Powergels are real food, right?
posted by azuresque @ 10:33 pm | 4 waitedSun, 12 Aug 07
Here apparently… Ok here are some really long overdue photos from Anasua’s wedding and the Australia trip. I’m the most tardy blogger ever. Incidentally both events involved my best pals since Sec 1. All photos up on my flickr account, which has now gone pro.
Brisbane/ Gold Coast June 07
At WB Movieworld. This is the Harry Potter shop. Very little actual Harry merchandise though. Lots of random magic stuff. There’s the four house crests above the shop. The Matrix ride was closed, unfortunately. Will blog more soon…
posted by azuresque @ 12:59 pm | 0 waited