This week....

Festive mood is in the air...
Practically got no mood to work in office since last week.
Have been going out for slightly longer lunches
With many lunch treats this week too!
More time to work through my outstanding stuff
Coupled with the luxury to learn some stuff at my own pace
If every week is as good as these 2 weeks
How perfect that will be... *dream*

Heading off to Similans in less than 3 days' time
Got myself a new Olympus camera with underwater casing
The old one is going to be buried as it is close to its deathbed now
Luckily I realised it last Sat
Giving me enough time to quickly search for a replacement on Sun
Otherwise I would scream my heart out during my diving trip
For I wouldn't be able to imagine diving with taking photos already
$$ gone up in the air...
But what to do, diving is such an expensive leisure activity
Almost done with packing my barang
Time to dive, eat and sleep soon
And to get fatter again...
:O :)

"Believe"

Take a moment to enjoy and "feel" this soundtrack during this festive season.

Merry X'mas, folks.




Children sleeping
Snow is softly falling.
Dreams are calling
Like bells in the distance.

We were dreamers
Not so long ago.
But, one by one
We all had to grow up.

When it seems the magic slipped away,
We find it all again on Christmas Day.

Believe in what your heart is saying,
Hear the melody that's playing.
There's no time to waste,
There's so much to celebrate.

Believe in what you feel inside,
And give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need
If you just believe.

Trains move quickly
To their journey's end.
Destinations
Are where we begin again.

Ships go sailing
Far across the sea.
Trusting starlight
To get where they need to be.

When it seems that we have lost our way,
We find ourselves again on Christmas Day.

Believe in what your heart is saying,
Hear the melody that's playing.
There's no time to waste,
There's so much to celebrate.

Believe in what you feel inside,
And give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need
If you just believe.

If you just believe
If you just believe
If you just believe
Just believe
Just believe

:)

Have another trip planned… to clear my outstanding leave…
It will happen early next year,
In fact, first  week  day in Jan.
Cheap budget airtickets promo makes it too appealing to be missed.

Going to spend 8N in Phuket…
Spending the first half of the trip doing liveaboard in Similans…
Yes, finally it's time for eat, sleep, dive again after 7 long dry months.
It'll be another unforgettable interaction with the astounding underwater world.

2nd half is R&R time at Patong beach...
Sipping orange juice and savouring honey chicken while lazing on the beach chair,
Dipping in the cooling seawater when feeling hot and watching the day goes by…
Not forgetting the shopping and massages of course!

This is called Life.
Brand new year with a superb start too.

Singapore Marathon 2009

I did my Standard Chartered Marathon Run this morning. We were blessed with great weather – cloudy and cooling. Team Fat Bird was the official pacer this year, and they were easily identifiable with the balloon they tied on their back and the timing they displayed in front and behind their runner tee. I saw them training at east coast park before and I remembered vividly the tagline I saw on their poster. It was something along the line of “Birds fly. Fat birds just run”. Hah!

I completed my marathon this year with a sub-5 timing of about 4h52min. It was a pleasant shock actually for I never dreamt that I could complete a marathon in less than 5h. Dan and I were thinking that it would already be an achievement if we completed it in 5h15min, judging from the way we attempted to train for it. :P

There were a lot of factors today that contributed to our much faster than expected run. First was the cooling weather. Second were the pacers, who had played a great deal in keeping ourselves focused. Our eyes were always searching for the balloons to see how near or far we were away from the 5h pacers, and were running to catch up when we lagged behind. The power gels were powerful of course, delivering burst of energy when we run out of it. However, my stomach was intolerant to the power gel, and I ended up having 3x diarrhoeas at every 10+km, with the worst at 38km. And it was at 38km that my body gave in… The final diarrhoea drained out all the energy that I had left and I struggled very badly at the last 3+km… My speed was like a snail, yet I was breathing so quickly so much so that Dan got worried that I might hyperventilate.

The aftermath of a marathon is always a nightmare of course. I got serious abrasion, and guess where? The area around my anus! SO painful that I could hardly walk properly!!  Not to mention the overstretched leg muscles and aching shoulders… Luckily I was not alone – Dan got all the symptoms too. Wahaha…

Ok, one chapter closed for now. Finally I don’t need to do last min training anymore, and I can take a short break from running. More marathons? Let’s wait and see…Till I recover from all these pains. ;)