Running
I was never a sports person during my school days. Other than getting gold for my NAPFA test, I would not participate in any sports or running event. If you ask me if I would ever run a full marathon (42km) 10 years ago, I would definitely say a Big No No as it seems so impossible.
My first race was a 5km JP Morgan Chase run in 2006 in which I had participated with Raymond and Celene. I was struggling to complete the 5km run as I had not been running since I graduated from NTU in 2005. Come to think of it, it's amazing that I had participated a couple of 10km, 15km and 21km races and even completed 3 full marathon from 2006 till now. This would not have been possible if not for Jianhui who ran my first 10km (Mizuno Wave Run) with me and then I got hooked and started taking part in many races.
Jianhui has always encouraged me to challenge myself. He is the one who had motivated me to sign up for my first full marathon. Though it was a horrible experience at Sundown Marathon as I was struggling to keep myself awake and it didn't help that it started to rain heavily when I was at about 30km+. I was happy to complete my first full marathon. Not a fantastic timing but it was very motivating race as it showed that Impossible is Nothing. I can do it, if I want to do it.
From the time I know Jianhui in university, I admire his passion for sports, in particular running. He started taking part his first AHM in 2001 and he had continued running until now. I have known many friends who had given up running after a few years but he's one of the rare runner who had continued to run now.
He did not take any swimming lessons when he was young. Though he took some swimming lessons in secondary school, he wasn't interested in swimming back then. It's only when he wanted to participate in Biathlon, then he started to learn breast stroke from a 5 years old boy in the pool. And so he started to participate in Biathlon.
None of his friends is into Triathlon, but he decided that he wanted to try triathlon and so he bought Che Che - a road bike. Despite a bad accident on his 2nd cycling trip, many would have given up cycling, but he didn't. And the most amazing thing was, he could still got for his reservist with his "fresh" injuries from the accident. Some may say that he's crazy, but his fighting spirit is amazing.
When he saw the New Zealand Ironman's video on TV, he told himself that he wanted to challenge himself to a full Ironman. It's also the time in which he knows that he must learn to master free
style if not he will not be able to survive the 3.8km swim. He may not be a good swimmer, but he learnt free style by watching videos so that he can master the stroke. And true enough, after months and months of intensive training, he completed his full Ironman in New Zealand in 2011. His determination and perseverance to train weekly for Ironman is very inspiring. How many of us will go swimming twice a week (more than 60 laps each time), go cycling 100km and go running in his free time every week? Even for me, I find it challenging to run 10km 2 times a week.
If you are still giving yourself excuses that you don't know how to swim or cycle or cannot run, it's time to stop giving yourself any excuses. Tell yourself that you can do it, and just get it done. If you don't do it now, when do you want to do it? When you're 40s or 50s or 60s?
He is my Ironman - an inspiration to me always.
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Angeline winks
at |12:45 PM|
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Happy Birthday to my dearest sister!
It's my sis' birthday! For her birthday this year, we booked a 2D1N stay at Montigo Resort, one of the most beautiful resort in Batam!
It was a short 30 minutes ferry ride from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Nonga Ferry Terminal. Before we knew it, we had already reached Nongsa Ferry Terminal. Then, we took the shuttle bus to the Montigo Resort.
True enough, it was a beautiful 3 storey villa! When I stepped in, I was surprised that this villa is really BIG and spacious! It has an unblocked sea view and we have our own private pool! It's so cool! I'm so in love with this villa! I shall let the pictures do the talking...
The master bedroom with King size bed
The main bathroom with bathtub and shower rooms - In fact, there are a total of 3 bathrooms
My room!
Our private pool!
Nice to have our meals here...
The kitchen with complimentary drinks and tidbits
Once we have settled down, we went to Tadd for lunch!The food was surprisingly good! It was a satisfying lunch.
Imitating the emoji icon! Haha
Yummy food!
Group photo of us!
After lunch, we went back to our villa to swim! It was totally so shiok to have a private pool. Knowing that I catch a cold easily (and I would always feel cold after swimming), my sis brewed tea for us! It's so nice to drink hot tea in the pool. This is life.
Gwyneth can swim freely now!
Diving! Haha
And after swimming, my sis and I went for 3 hours spa! We did body scrub, body wrap, massage and facial. The spa faces the sea and I feel weird that I feel so naked whenever I stand up as I can see through the glass doors. Everything was good except for the facial in which I encountered discomfort (itchiness) when the beautician applied mask on my face. It was so bad that I had requested her to remove it immediately for me. It was also quite funny that I kept on sneezing the whole session. Haha.
After a long and relaxing spa session, it's time for dinner! We had ordered in house BBQ dinner for two! It was so GOOD and Yummy! I simply love the food and the ambience. The shiokness of having BBQ dinner with Moscato right at the balcony and just beside the pool. We had a great dinner before we went to our rooftop terrace to play sparkles! It's simple a nice place for gathering for a big group of friends. There are seats and cushions at the rooftop terrace. However, the whole place is quite wet due to the heavy rain in the day.
Our BBQ dinner!
In view that mid-autumn festival is just around the corner, Alan brought some mooncakes too! I simply love my favourite Raffles Hotel and Fairmont's mooncakes. I was feeling so full! haha.
And when it's almost midnight, it's time to sing Happy Birthday song to my dearest sister! The mango cake that Alan had "smuggled" to Batam was very nice! =p We ate the cake and it's time to sleep. I would be sleeping alone at the guest room. It's kinda scary but I must say the bed is so shiok and nice! All in all, I had quite a good sleep.
The next morning, we woke up and went to Tadd for complimentary breakfast. There isn't much things for me to eat so I ate a little for breakfast. And today, the weather is much better with the sun high up in the sky.
After our breakfast, we went back to our villa for a swim again! =p It's really nice to have private pool. And the best part is, we saw rainbow when we were swimming too! Haha.
This pretty sums up our wonderful stay at Montigo Resort. It's such a nice resort that I would recommend all to go there for 2D1N staycation. And if you want to go, do go it soon as it may be new but the maintenance doesn't seem to be that good so I won't know what will be the condition of the resort if you go 3 years later.
We took the ferry at 3.20pm (Singapore time) and by 4pm, we were already back in Singapore. My dad is really nice to come and fetch us home too.
It was a wonderful stay but I'm happy to be back in Singapore. Oh ya, we got a shock when Alan realized that he had left a haversack bag at the ferry terminal! Our precious soft friends are inside the bag! Thank goodness he is able to collect the bag from the Lost and Found counter. =p
As for my sis' birthday dinner, we went to M Hotel for steamboat! My favourite place for buffet and steamboat. However, I can't eat too much seafood as I am having a body check up the next day. What a spoiler. Nevertheless, it was a good family dinner with my ah nei and parents too!
Just wanna say Happy Birthday to my sister again!
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Angeline winks
at |1:14 PM|
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013
16 September 2013
16 September is definitely a good day.
It's the birthday of our founder, MM Lee and the birthday of my dearest sister. Also, it's the birthday of 2 lovely ladies, Lavena and Ivy from BBCSC.
And now, it's also the birthday of my secondary school buddy, Jordon's baby princess! Congratulations to the "newly promoted parents", Jordon and Huling. I'm sure she will grow up to a pretty and wonderful lady!
Today is definitely a happy day!
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Angeline winks
at |10:42 PM|
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Saturday, September 07, 2013
ABS Tree Planting
A few of us (Ivy, Ailing, Chay Yoon, Cassie and me) came to office a 7am on a Saturday morning today. And you know why? That's because we're going to do tree planting at the field near Marina Bay Cruise Centre!
We took the bus to the destination. Weather was good, but because of the heavy rain for the past few days, the ground was soiled and really wet. By the time we made it to our trees, our shoes were dirty.
After watching the demonstration by the "professional", we started to dig. Seriously, it wasn't easy at all! It's hard work and requires techniques. I had a hard time digging. Lucky, I have good team mates, Firmin and Tina! They were really good!
I realize it's isn't to dig a hole at all! Salute to those workers who have been digging day and night to plant the trees to beautify our country.
After digging a hole big enough for our tree, it's time to do the planting!! Spreading the fertilizer around our tree, and it's DONE!
Introducing our tree!
Result of our hard work!
I also met my friend, Andrew who joined National Park 2 years ago! From PFC to a staff at National Park. What a change, isn't it?
We are done with the tree planting and it's time for breakfast. There's quite a good spread of snacks. There are Satay (early in the morning?!!), Kacang Puteh, Ice cream, 100 plus and even Yakun's coffee/tea!
After eating breakfast, it's time to board the bus to go back office.
It was a fun Saturday morning!
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Angeline winks
at |2:00 PM|
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Meeting Kai Kai & Jia Jia at River Safari
Thanks to Ailing, I managed to go River Safari finally!
Though I was really tired after my half marathon last Sunday, I went to River Safari with my sis they all at around 3 plus! They were really nice to fetch me from Teck Whye and we went to River Safari together. As it's kinda late, there weren't many people. No crowd = relaxing time at River Safari.
When we were there, we finally got to see Kai Kai! He was happily lying there and eating bamboo. He's having such a good life totally. Haha. Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Jia Jia as she was taking afternoon nap. =( Anyway, I was told that Jia Jia would hide inside her room most of the time.
The souvenir shop has a lot of cute things to buy. As a result, we spent a lot of time (and money) at the shop. Oops.
After shopping, we went to the Mama's Restaurant for snacks! Trying the famous cute Panda bao and Coffee! Yeah!!!
After that, then we started to tour around. There are many fishes and alligators, quite a nice sight. Think River Safari would be more fun once the whole place is ready.
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Angeline winks
at |12:46 PM|
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Sunday, September 01, 2013
My 6th Army Half Marathon
It's Sunday and you know what? I woke up at 3.30am for Half Marathon. To be frank, I was very nervous of this race. Despite that this is not my first AHM, I was nervous and worried that I will not be able to finish it.
Thanks to the motivating and inspiring movie, Unbeatable by Nick Cheung & Eddie Peng (By the way, their bodies are freaking good in the movie! They trained for 9 months to get the bodies. Nothing but hard work.), I was motivated and determined to finish the race at my own pace since Jianhui will not be running with me.
The whole route was okay except for the bottle neck at Gardens by the Bay. I was stuck there for 15 minutes. It was really bad as it was crowded and all I can smell is BODY ODOUR of the guys. Did I mention that AHM is a race for GUYS. You hardly get to see any girls. So, if you are looking for a race to look at girls, AHM is definitely not a race for you. Haha.
One thing that I really like about AHM is, there is ample water points. You get to drink plain water and cold 100 plus throughout the race. It's simple so shiok. I usually don't drink so much 100 plus as I may get stitches but it's so nice that I can't help it but to drink quite a bit more today.
In the end, I completed the rate in 2hr 55mins. If I can minus off the 15mins for the jam, this could be my personal best for half marathon. Haha.
By 10 plus, we were happily back home! Yeah! I can finally relax!
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Angeline winks
at |11:40 AM|
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