Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Faces & Places...

Billboards... covers... adverts... familiar faces in foreign places...


Madonna's Confessions Tour in Rome...


Bridal shoot in Vogue...


Beckham - Armani in UK...


Tiffany's ad in New York...


Raoul Shirts in Johannesburg...


Hairspray Movie in Ottawa...


Black Label in Tokyo...


Haute Couture in Philippines....


Ok... ok... I'm kidding. :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Last 3 Races of 2008...

Running races I mean... after all, I did sign up for the Putrajaya International 12-Hour Walk in mid December... But that's not to say that I won't be running anymore this year, just not taking part in events.

I probably should have updated on the Pheddipidations Challenge and the NB Klang Pacers 12km run last week but I was just plain lazy.... The pain in my hamstrings prolly got to my head as well...

Well, there's actually nothing much to write about the runs that I take part in, so here's a brief summary of what happened over the 2 weekends..

Saturday before last, I did a personal solo run for the Pheddipidations World Wide Challenge (as you would probably have read in my earlier post) and I started my run at 6:00am. It was a long slow distance run and I finished the 21.1km in 2hrs 15 mins. Definitely not my best time ever but I had to save my legs for the following day when I'm due to run the NB Klang Pacers 12km. I actually took this opportunity to 'train' my body to burn fat as fuel instead of relying solely on glycogen (running and nutrition jargon that is another subject altogether).. So i'm proud to say this... "I ran 21.1km without any refuel" :)

Sunday morning, I ran the New Balance Klang Pacers 12km with my younger bro... My plan was to go slow as my hamstring was still feeling strained and I decided to pace my bro for the 1st half of the race, and to push myself a bit harder if my legs feel up to it... And so it was that... 1st half of the run, I was averaging 6+ mins/km and 2nd half of the race I was averaging 5+ mins/km... Total time taken to kau-tim the race: 1:14... No pics tho from the race...

Yesterday, was the Mizuno Wave Run. A 10km event that had really wide coverage, as lots and lots of people signed up for the event... Many casual runners and beginners and 1st timers took part and it was really good to see running as a sport picking up in terms of popularity... An estimated 3100 runners took part and as every category was flagged off at the same time (due to the usage of timing chips, I presume), the start line was like "the great wall of runners".... If you started at the back, you would probably be shuffling or walking along for the 1st 2km before the runners start dispersing with the pace.... Talk about hitting the wall in the 1st 500m!!!


The timing chip... different from 'normal' chips


My #... means more than 1200 runners in the Men's Open Cat

The run started at 7:30am... and I think the organizers should have started at 7:00am... It started to get pretty warm and hot early on in the race... and by mid-race, I was sweating buckets.... Another grouse was the miniscule paper cups they used to hand out water at the drinking station and at the finish... It was so small, I think each cup prolly held like 30ml of water...

Neways, the overall organization was spot on and I would say it was an excellent experience for the newbie runners... I finished the 10.2km distance in 0:55:35, also not exactly my best 10km time, but quite happy with it as I achieved negative splits (2nd half of run faster than 1st half) and I haven't been running tempo runs lately...


Bro, Plum and Me at the end...

Next up, Powerman simulation next weekend.... 11km run - 64km bike - 10km run... another solo effort worth about 5 hours... It is going to be mental, it is going to be physical, it is going to be hard. Updates again then.... over n out.

Friday, October 17, 2008

2008 Kona Ironman Champions!!!

A big salute to Aussie Craig Alexander and Britain's Chrissie Wellington!!!



Runner-up in Kona in his maiden attempt last year, Craig wins the biggie this year, blitzing an elite field comprising defending champion Chris McCormack, former world champions Normann Stadler and Faris-Al Sultan, and a host of other strong contenders for the throne... Craig's winning time of 8:17:45 was achieved by running a 2:45 marathon off the 180km bike ride...




Chrissie Wellington defended her world championship title with a hard-earned 9:06:23, also with a blistering marathon time of 2:57:44, shattering the course record. This came after a 10 minute delay on the bike leg with a flat tire... and she still came in ahead of the runner-up with >10 mins to spare...


#Photos courtesy of Chris Stewart/AP Photos

Friday, October 10, 2008

Home Cookin'

I'll let the pictures do the drooling... i mean cooking... i mean talking..


Quesadillas, lettuce, stir-fried honey chicken, tomatoes, onions, hard-boiled eggs and cheese


Topped with home-made salsa sauce / dip


Keeping the quesadillas in place


Oven baked to crispy perfection


Enticing...


Chicken quesadillas.... el mexicano!!


Side dish: Chaco chips and home-made salsa dip

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Phedippidations Worldwide Half Marathon

You can hit this link to find out more.

I will be doing a solo half marathon of 21.1km on Saturday, 11/10/2008 in Kota Kemuning in conjunction with this Phedippidations Worldwide Half Marathon challenge.

Runners from all over the world will be running collectively on this weekend and you can do the same by just registering yourself on the link above.

Since there will not be anymore half-marathon events for me to take part in this year (none that I can participate in anyway, considering my situation), I will take this as my 6th and final 21km 'race' to finish my target of 6 half marathon races for 2008.


My 'Official' Race Bib Number



More than 1000 runners signed up worldwide



I'm the #0125 person on earth to sign up for this run

On top of that, I need to run this 21.1km on Saturday morning, cos I have another event, The New Balance Klang Pacers 12km Run on Sunday, 12/10/2008. So it is going to be a back-to-back running weekend with 21km on Saturday and 12km on Sunday.

Will be updating my report and result at the end of the week.... Till then, keep running, keep living healthy and get off that couch!!!

Friday, October 03, 2008

2008 Goals Update (September)

Increased running mileage month...

2008 Goals:
Distance To Run: 1168km
Races To Run: 6 Half Marathons
Weight To Lose: 6 kgs

What I've Done:
Distance Run: 1089km
Races Done: 10
- KL Int Towerthon
- KLIM Half Marathon
- BHP Orange Run
- Shoe String Run
- NB Klang Pacers Half Marathon
- NB Pacesetters 15km Run
- Port Dickson Internation Half Marathon
- Adidas King Of The Road
- Merdeka Unity Run
- Seremban Half Marathon
Weight Lost: 4 kg

What's Left To Do:
Distance To Go: 79km
What's Left To Race: 1 Half Marathon
What's Left To Lose: 2 kgs (Increased mileage has helped drop another kg!!!)

Am I On Track?
Looks like I'll be surpassing the 1168km mark this month, and hopefully to drop another kg...