BECOMING A TRI-GUY

24 May 2008
Bintan Island, Indonesia

Swim: 1.5km Bike: 40km Run: 10km


Gin and I went to Bintan Island to escape the hustle and bustle of Singaporean life and left little Chloe in the good care of Grandma Oon who was more than happy to spend quality time with her.


Actually, the real point of us going to Bintan was my participation in this year's 4th Bintan International Triathlon. This year saw about 1000 entries participating in both the Sprint (short distance) and Olympic Distance (OD) events. I already completed my first Sprint Distance last year in the OSIM Corporate Triathlon and did alright in it. This would be my first OD event. Most people would have completed a few sprints before embarking on an OD but I thought I'd just skip that and go straight to doing the OD instead.

The swim went relatively well, all 1500m (1.5km) of it. The only thing that gives most triathletes the jitters is probably the swim because of various reasons:

1) Fear of swimming in the open sea.
2) Fear of many other competitors swimming and ramming into each other.
3) Fear of inhaling seawater, or worse drowning.


Swimming has never been a big problem for me considering my school national competition days but still one must respect the power of nature always. Masses of people charged the ocean once the horn signaled the start and it was go go go ! The guy next to me smashed into me, I smashed into another person, people swimming over people. From my first experience in the sprint event, I gave way, got knocked about but now I knew better. I rammed, I shoved and I pushed myself forward. After 33 mins, I made my beach landing and headed for the transition into the bike phase.

A quick sip of electrolytes and munch of my peanut butter power bar and I was off again. The bike leg took us through undulating hills of the Bintan countryside that I have never seen despite my numerous visits there. Some of the hills were a little tricky but the downhill fast ride was really fun ! Along the way, I actually wished I had a camera on me to take some photos but that would totally defeat the purpose of joining the race in the first place ! The sun was relentless and beat down on everyone. At least, it was an incentive to keep moving so the cool air could take off some of the heat. An hour and half later and I was back in transition ready for the 10 km run.

Waved hi to friends and Gin who were there as support team on my way out of transition. About 2 km later, the quadriceps above my left knee cramped up real tight and hurt like crazy. I started hopping on my right leg and then my right leg cramped as well. I was in absolute pain and in a desperate situation. If it was a 5 km run, it would have been alright as I would probably have to walk off 1km and run-walk the rest to the line. But at the 2 km mark struggling with cramps left me with about 8 km to contemplate about the finishing line. The cramp just didn't seem to give up and kept tensing and crushing my legs. I limped for about 3 km before I could start to run-walk and then cramped again. After embarking on my 2nd lap, the skies turned dark. There were less competitors on the road now (which meant they were well ahead or finished) and it nothing for morale when the heavy down pour came.

It was a pitiful sight. A crippled guy inching along the roadside in the heavy downpour. Shoes were all soggy and squiggy. Total discomfort. There were moments that the thought of giving up crept into my mind and the big horrible words DNF (Did Not Finish) on the score sheet at the end of the day just made things worse. The rain was very refreshing and brought down my core body temperature. I looked to the dark skies and asked God for renewed wind in my legs to finish this race. A while later, I realised I was walking pretty normal although the pain left from the cramps was still ever present. But I could run. I saw the beach stretch ahead, and a 3 km sign indicating the end was near. I started to run and quickly too. I passed people who cheered me on, little kids, strangers, security guards, road sweepers all waving. It felt like taking heroin on the fly.


In the distance, the noise of the leftover cheering crowd got louder as I approached the blue mat. And then moments later, it was all over. I looked above me and the clocked showed 3hrs 52 mins. Nothing impressive but in such a race as this, all that mattered at the end of the day was that I completed it. My first Olympic Distance.

I have only my wife Gin who stood there in the rain and sun for 3 hrs waiting for me to cross the line, taking photos of me whenever I came into transition for the next phase. And also to all my friends who competed alongside me (and who disappeared way ahead after a while) and  cheering me at the finish. I could have looked absolutely ridiculous hopping to the finish line with a cramp but God heard me in the dark, wet and lonely painful moments and gave me strength for one last burst to finish strong.

Well, I bought these runners about a year ago, a week before Milk Run in July '07. Since then, it's chalked up a fair amount of mileage and looking like grumpy old men unlike their former zesty selves ! Put it this way, it probably sounds gross, but these boys have never been in the shower once ever since they came out of the Adidas store. I can't even tighten the laces anymore as somehow, the eyelets have fused with the shoelace, how I have absolutely no idea. I tried forcing the laces through on my both sides only to rip the eyelets completely out of their sockets and still, they are stuck to the laces. At least I can tighten my shoes now. Only thing I suspect is that I am getting some sort of recurring shin pain every time I run in them. They don't seem as cushy as they used to be. I will take them for one more tour of duty this weekend and if they end up being instruments of torture rather than comfort, than I think they might just have seen their last days.

Well, I have finally registered for the Bintan Triathlon. Having gone through the tedious hassle of registering, I realised that the Bintan weekend is nothing more than a big money making scam. I mean who the hell charges for bikes on the boat !? Not to mention booking yourself on a ferry and booking a bike slot for your bike also for $20 each way !? Originally we planned to catch the 1105 ferry and everything was booked sui sui, then I realised after confirming the ferry booking there was no more bike slots on that ferry schedule to accomodate my bike so we had to re-book ourselves on an earlier ferry at 0905 ! Anyway, it's all done and I am actually looking forward to it.

The other day I popped down to Bike Boutique and picked up an ADAMO ISM Gel Seat as I discovered that after 30 clicks on the bike, I couldn't feel my ass anymore and after 50 clicks, I was wondering where my nuts were. This seat is a lot more comfortable and I took it for a test spin the other day.

Here are my goals for 2008.

Hopefully, barring no sudden incidences or work commitments, I'm hoping to complete 3 ODs (Olympic Distances), 2 overseas and 1 local.

I just discovered that Tri-Bob were organising a triathlon in Vietnam and that is definitely going down on my calendar !!

1) Bintan Triathlon 24-25 May 2008

2) Osim International Triathlon July 2008

3) Hoi An Vietnam International Triathlon 23-24 August 2008.

Wish me luck !

Well, the last time I blogged was the end of January.

Nothing much has happened besides eating and trying to find time to keep fit. Well now, tri season is open for 2008 and it's time to get back into the regime of training.

Ever since Chloe suffered from a chest infection, most of my time has been spent coming home and nursing the poor little one who was crying out all her discomforts. Many nights spent keeping her temperature down which was soaring above 39 deg C. And than, I got stuck in reservist for an entire month so training was out of the question. Towards the end of February, my slave-driving boss overloaded me with tons of work, most of which were really the work of the first 2 chicks who resigned before I arrived. They didn't do their due diligence so suddenly, it became my problem. Coming home at 10-1030 pm for 2 weeks was really getting to me and I swore I will never do someone's crap again.

Anyway, having been out of running for a whole month, I decided to start slow on my usual route. It felt great getting back on the road, a surefire way of sweating all that office stress out. So far I have run the 5 km route about 3 times. At the same time, I am back in the pool, completing 1.5 km distances comfortably, and sprinting the last few hundred meters.

Yesterday, I decided to push my endurance up a notch and went for a 10 km jog. It felt ok. Rather than running slowly for all 10 km, I am making myself go into 1 min bursts of fast paced running and then back to 1 min of slow jog. Today, having not cycled more than 5 times and 10 km after my bike accident in November, I woke up at 730 am and enjoyed a quiet Sunday morning by myself at the West Coast MacDonald's car park, eating a sausage mcmuffin and downing an orange juice before heading towards Tuas and back.

The morning air was cool and welcoming but on the return leg, the sun was relentless and poured it's solar power straight down on me. But I made it back in one piece. It was more of a trip to rebuild my confidence but having rode 40 km worth of tarmac after so many months, my baby P2C and I are alright again.

I can't decide, Bintan or Bali Triathlon ? Hmm...

Well hello people ! It's been a long time since I posted anything.  Anyway, this might be on some interest to some of you. Later amigoes !

No I didn't buy this Cervelo P2C all carbon fibre race bike for Chloe. But I do dream that perhaps one day, she will be as sporty as I am but still possess all the lady-like characteristics at the same time ! So here's a starter photo. She looks like she is driving one of those industrial sized JCB tractors. I don't think she liked the seat very much. Totally understandably, if it rides up my butt, I'm sure she can feel it right through her pampers too. Hehe !!

After one week sitting at home getting my body repaired from last week's crash, I finally ventured out on to the roads again. Took my bike out at 830 this morning and felt a little phobia of riding fast. Some of my wounds are still scabbed over and I just can't imagine taking another tumble and ripping those old wounds open again ! Moreover, I had removed one rung from my headset so that I'm in a more aero position but it was kinda scary being so low profiled going fast with all that fast moving vehicular traffic. At least last week, the roads were devoid of cars when I crashed. If I fell now, it would be a whole different story.

Anyway, it was good to be back on the bike, feeling the smoothness of the ride, listening to the pure sound of carbon on road. Awesome. It was a beautiful morning, no wind and clear open skies. 20 km and back at the apartment, racked the bike, put on my running shoes and went off for my 5 km run. Jelly legs wobbling all over. Taking small sharp steps, I made way down Holland Road. It's amazing what one week of inactivity can do against your endurance levels. Lungs haven't been getting their expansion practices all week and it felt all compressed. But 1 km into the run, my wobbly legs were gone and my lungs opened up. But stamina had dropped a little but I didn't bash myself up over it.

Hooyah to Training Day !

It is now 7 days later, almost exactly 168 hrs since I crashed boom bang somewhere along the West Coast/ Jurong area. Many painful days later, the wound has finally scabbed over, by a few layers that is. My palms look normal now unlike it's mummified form a few days ago. But my left arm is still a little sore. It's much more manageable now and I have been resting out a lot. But I'm getting itchy to get back on form, and I can't wait to this Saturday to give my myself a good work out.

My bike has been sitting pretty waiting for me to get my act together. Perhaps I shall her out on this weekend for a slow spin to get things slowly back up to speed. Legs have been itching and my body has been thirsting for the pool. I want to feel the euphoria of being totally worked out and blown out again !!

Come on ! Come on ! Come on !

Here's the post-doc TRI:RAMBO pic of me, all nicely patched up but still very much in a lot of pain !

 Well, well, well........

The weather was great for riding and everyone met at 8-810 at the West Coast Car Park. Carl brought his new ride. I brought mine.

This was my new baby and we were trying to get acquainted with each other. No familiarity with each other at all. It was such a quiet and smooth ride, light in feel and smooth in movement. Tried to get used to the aero bars, no problems, very comfortable overall. Noticed the difference in speed in contrast to riding my other bike. Almost a slight 5-7 kmh diff with the same effort. 

The faster pack split off. I rode with Carl at a comfortable speed. Hit Tuas Checkpoint and turned around and headed back. It was all good, we were chatting on and on about tris and who's doing what for 2008. We were nearing back already, Carl broke away on the downslope, me too. I was in the aero position going really fast, looked at my speedo and it was clocking 43...44....45 kmh and suddenly I hit what felt like a rock on the road and the handles twisted to the right and KABOOM !!! Slam Time.

Nothing was important than my bike. The sick sick sick old sound of carbon slamming into the tarmac and grinding along with me. Im not a light guy so there's not much of distance traversed on a horizontal plane. It was more of a load being ground a shorter distance but with more vertical downward force on the tarmac. For some strange reason at such pace, I didn't manage to slam my head into the ground. Probably because I was so gan cheong about my bike that my head looked up all the while I was grinding tarmac so it never reached the ground. 

When I came to a stop, I was pissed man. If I could I would have taken a pneumatic drill to that damned hump. Suddenly I was distracted by the pain. Carl came back for me. Luckily D, Collin and Jem came by shortly. My left side was skinless. My hands were a bloody mess. Got some H2O from Jem and splashed it on the wounds and I swear I almost died. The pain is similar to being flayed alive. Tried to ride but cannot make it. The rear wheel wasn't moving. Discovered that the skewered had been smashed in such a way, it bent and was jammed tight so the quick release could not be opened properly. 

Anyway, finally rode back to the car park, stopped en route at Carltex. Kind souls like KL bought Pocari and bandages for me. D and Jem kept me company in the loo and squinted and wriggled watching the pain of me washing the wounds. The ride back was ok. But every hump or bump in the road hurt like hell.

Once I got home, I dreaded the showers. Gin and I drove out to get medical supplies from Guardian HV. For your info, they are open everyday til 130 am in case any of you need to go ! Came back, i couldn't shower myself. Felt like an invalid as I sat in the showers and Gin bathed me. We worked on the wounds very slowly, I dont think I could ever be a prisoner of war. Just take me hostage, make a few threats and then shoot me in the head. Just dont pick me apart slowly ! I screamed everytime we got water or soap into the wounds. Finally, after drying off, Gin applied iodine and that's when I wanted to be given a triple dose of potassium hydrochloride and barbiturates to stop my heart and lungs. When everything was wrapped in gauze and plaster, I popped 2 Neurofens and knocked out. Woke up in the morning and the white sheets and covers were stained with blood. Still bleeding.

At work now and 90% feeling like calling it quits for the day. I'm wrapped like a mummy at the moment and the blood is still coming through. If it doesn't get better Im off to the docs man. Training's out for me. That sucks big time. Maybe it's God's way of telling me to spend more time with baby Chloe. But first things first, tonight I'm going to Mimolette to get smashed. FYI, every Friday, the place is converted into a supper club pumping R & B grooves, MTV Mashups and serving up all sorts of alcoholic delights. It's nicely lit to give that chill out ambience and as usual, the 6 car loads of Brazilian models will come to provide eye candy. 

AAA ! Guys thanks for the care-giving, pocari, bandages, advise, morale boosting and convoy escort back to WC CP. Thanks to Yoda for the call this morning and words of encouragement. You wanted a story and pictures, here's one for the record. The pictures dont reflect the agony of the situation unfortunately.

  

  This is probably the first time a AAA top has been ripped in a bike crash !

Finally, after nearly 3 weeks sitting in the corner of the room, guarded over by me every night is my beloved bike, fully assembled. I can't wait to get this beast on the road and feel the smoothness of the ride ! 

OSIM CORPORATE TRIATHLON, SPRINT DISTANCE
3 NOVEMBER 2007

NIGHT BEFORE

I spent most of the day hydrating myself with the right fluids. Electrolytes, water, glucose solutions and as much isotonic 100 Plus I could flood my bladders with. Thursday night was spent carbo-loading over a huge plate of Spag Bog enough for 3 persons ! But most of Friday was spent prepping my mind, body and bike. Being my first race, I expected to be filled with anxiety and not be able to sleep, but I was surprisingly calm and collected.

D-DAY: SATURDAY A.M.

The alarm goes off and I'm out of bed like a soldier. My bags and bike await me at the front door, they are equally as ready as their boss is. After loading up my El Trucko, I made a quick detour to MacDonalds for my morning power intake of Sausage and Egg McMuffin. After 25 mins cruising on the roads, I reach East Coast Car Park E2 and it was nice to see so many families participating in this event. I gave Gin a hug and kiss for luck and made my way into the transition area to organise my stuff. It was 930 am and it was starting to get warm.


SWIMMING: 750 M

10 am: I am at the beach awaiting my wave at 1010am. I look around and noticed Carl in the same wave and felt a little more comforted in a crowd of competing strangers. The sun was beating down and sweat started to form on my brow as my head baked in the swim cap. I spent a moment to analyse the strategy for this swim. How big are these swimmers, how tall, how mean, how hungry and how did they congregate ? In clusters closer to the swim lanes ? 3..2...1...and the horn blew. A 100 ought men made the beach insertion. I made sure I started way out from the swim lanes. My strategy was to swim away from the main crowd, overtake closer to the first buoy and cut in. It worked. A whole lot of bashing, kicking and smashing into each other, I found myself past the first buoy with the leading pack. I tagged myself next to a Caucasian on my left as a guide as I figured it would save me looking up for the lane and buoys, use him as my 'eyes' while I do the swimming ! I The next time I looked up, I was beach bound. A minute later, I was on the sand. My lungs were about to explode and I could not breathe in sync with my heartbeat and decided to slow down and walk it to the transition. Timing: 13:45 mins


CYCLE: 20 KM

I lost a lot of time in the transition area idling whilst trying to restore my legs and lungs. Whacked on a gel, my helmet and ran to the bike start line. My legs felt weak initially and I tried to ride it out by spinning loosely. Riding would be the best time to recover before the run so I tried to suck down on another gel and oral salt replacement fluids. The ride was pleasant although I couldn't seem to push up to the 34 kmh that I am used to riding at. Lots of pro looking cyclists passed me and I wasn't too bothered about that. On the second loop, I tried to pick it up a little and my speed went up to 32-34 kmh. It was good to see the transition area in the distance again. Beep beep and I knew the bike leg was over. I made my way to the  transition zone, changed into my running shoes and headed for the run start.  Timing:  43 mins Transition 5 mins


RUN: 5 KM

I started the run feeling good albeit knackered. At 11:06 am, the sun was starting to blaze and it was crazy hot. Barely 200m into the start, the mist curtain was a real welcome ! It cooled my temperature at least down a notch or two. All along I saw varieties of people pass me, fit guys and fat guys alike. I was happy, my feet were moving though slowly as they did. Every water point was like a blessing as my lungs started to scream and my body started to blaze. Suddenly, my greatest nightmare started. The muscles above my knee started to twitch and contract and I knew from experience that this was leading to a massive cramp session. I stopped and stretched off at a tree. It was about 1 km to go and I had to finish it ! The thought of finishing my first tri- fueled my legs and before long, I saw the blue finishing carpet and the cheering crowd. People I knew, Gin, Shem, Mel, Collin, Lin were all shouting "Go Go Go!". Beep beep ! Finally, I crossed the finishing line and felt like a champion. Couple of girls came to strip of my running tag and chip and replaced it with a finisher's medal round my neck. What a feeling ! I made my way to the water tent and hydrated myself full of electrolytes and spent a moment on the bench thanking God for a great race and watching out for me all along the way. Timing: 35:38 mins


HOMEWORK:

1) Bring swim time down to Sub-12 mins.
2) Stop faffing around in transition.
3) Bring down bike timing.
4) Bring down run times without cramping.

Halloween is here again !! Kids will be walking round their 'hoods and estates with pumpkins aglow trick or treating ! Wasn't so long ago I was trick or treating myself and now Gin and I are introducing our own little pumpkin who will be celebrating her first Halloween !

My mum's friend in LA bought this halloween suit for Chloe and what better time to get her dressed up for the occasion !!

Here's introducing our own little pumpkin wishing you all a Happy Halloween !

One of my single most pocket burning expenses for 2007 but it was a wait well worth waiting for. Bike Boutique had a new store opening and bikes went at 25% so I picked up this new baby and it's going to be my pet project. Planning to unveil it by Chinese New Year 2008. Sssssspanking !! Yeah !

Hello Cervelo !

Bloody hell it was fackin' hot this morning.

Lately, I haven't been able to hear ANYTHING, my clock went off at 7 am on Thursday morning and it wasn't til 8 am that my maid walked in and shut it off because it was driving the entire house and dog insane, that I realised it was still another shit day at work for me. I think it's all the combo of looking after baby after work, caring for dear Ginny and my own sanity that's taking it's toll. But no complains, I love this life, it's great !

Anyway, I scooted down during my 1 hr lunch break to Paragon and picked up some swim goggles. Those swedish sprint Socket Rockets work great but there's a reason they're called Socket Rockets too. The faster and longer you go, the more likely you are to find them eyeballs rolling in the goggles when you remove them. Either that or you will end up looking like someone with hyper-thyroid.

My new goggles look like scuba masks. They are the Zogg Predator Wiro Frames which set me back about $60. But I love it. Reminds me of my diving days in the Great Barrier Reef, only thing I see now when I lap in the pool are hairy ang mor legs and fat old women. But occasionally, you get some hotties in small 2 piece gears and that's when the 180-degree full peripheral vision kicks in. But such distractions are good as you learn to orientate while disorientated as one would be in a sea swim. However, the masks are more likely to be geared towards ang mor faces as their neandethalic structures support the wider seal of the masks. We descendants of the Hans or Manchu just don't have such a big face proportions so the problem is, water tends to leak in a little bit when we contort our faces in times of pain during the swim. Or when you strain your face to check out chicks underwater you can kena the same problem. So this mask teaches you many things, don't strain in pain and don't look at chicks underwater.


I am still after the Aqua Sphere Seal XP as it's built to suit smaller faces. My old dive kaki, TK supplies Commandos and the Spec Ops and his range of dive gear is just so killuhhh. There is an order placed for the Seal XPs but the ETA of shipment is unconfirmed but all you goggle junkies who want a pair to check out "pairs", you can let me know.

This morning I did my standard 750m swim, skipped the bike ride as time was short and went for the 5 km run which went awful. The sun was blazing, my calves were tightening. Not enough water and no breakfast hence no energy. But nevertheless, I managed to sweat it out, my shoes were wet from sweat and now having come out from sitting in a cold shower for half an hour, i'm downing my 7th can of 100 PLUS. But the one single most important event of the day is that I am now going to Mimolette to whack on their brunch. I think I deserve it.

Check y'all later !

I have to say I am starting to look forward to Saturdays !

It might like the most obviously dumb comment considering half the world looks forward to Saturdays !

Anyway, Saturdays have become Training Days for me now. I am training for the OSIM Corporate Triathlon in November this year. Doing the sprint category since I'm a real newbie to this triathlon thing.

The triathlon sprint category will cover 750m swimming, 20 km cycling and 5 km running. My real problem is the running part, not to mention that the running part is also the last part, when I'm totally sapped of sodium and body sugars !

Couple of weeks ago, I decided I'm going to be serious and got down to business. So I started with 20 km bike ride, dumped the bike (used Mum's house as a transition point to begin my 2.4 km run (had to ease into it). Barely 500 m, I had serious issues. My legs stiffened and chest locked up. My breathing was shallow. Cramps kicked in and that started my walking home. Bad bad start.

One week later, I started swimming everyday about 500m a day. Work load was insane at work, blood pressure went up and along the way, picked up a nice ear infection that laid me off for 5 weeks. Sucks.

August, I came to action. Started with a 20 km cycle and 5 km run at East Coast with Peng and Paul. No problem with the cycle but the moment I started running, my chest stuck and breathing became shallow. But I survived.

2 weeks later, I made plans to run with the Chews again. I biked 10 km up from Binjai to the top of Rifle Range Road, and then was made by Peng and Paul at Binjai for the run up RRR again. They had swum about 1 km before running 4 km to my place ! All in all, 10 km bike, 7 km run for me.

September 16th: Terry Fox Run - grizzly start to the morning. It was cold and raining incredibly heavily. But at 715 am after much deciding with Paul, we decided we'd bomb it anyway. Arrived at Sentosa just in time to see them start the masses for the 8 km run. We joined them without much warm up. It was a nice morning run although the  tracks were a bit narrow given the swarms of people participating. Finally, I came in at 48 mins. Peng and Paul came in at 42 mins and 45 mins respectively.

September 22nd: Paul and I decided to go on a simulated tri work out. Started at SICC pool at 815 am, completed 15 x 50 laps in about 16 mins. Dumped our things in the car, got the bikes out and started our 20 km ride to Mandai and back in about 45 mins. Finally the run, my greatest fear, took us through 5 km of winding beaten tracks of Macritichie which i finished in 32 mins. It was great workout, and for the rest of the day I was shackadamus and pliers. It was a great sensation pushing myself and I am looking to improve on these times. Hopefully come November, I will be leaving majority of people behind in the dust ! Hahaha !

Needless to say, followed by a day of moving house, I slept like a log.

Signing out.

3 categories of run: 4 km community run, 5.3 km and 8.4 km run. I chose to run 5.3 km because that's as much as I thought my knees could hold out. It had a been a long anticipated run and I was proud of the fact that a crippled old man like me with a disastrous knee injury, had kept in training til the big day itself. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, heart rate was going up, my body was firing up and I was anxious, 4, 3, 2, 1, barrrrrrrrrrrppppp went the horn ! Off I went, my legs started to fire like pistons fueled by a a mixture of low octane lethargy and clean hydrogen fuel. The route took us along side all of the Singapore River which was great but the paths were narrow. School kids ran with us and obviously with their youth and inexperience, they had no idea how far 5.3 km was and basically sprinted from the start. I had to get to the front of the pack so I paced myself and opened up my steps. Passed one colleague and another and another and good, I felt I was ahead of my own pack.

The route was scenic, passing old godowns and newly developed/ converted warehouses which now housed a variety of pubs and restaurants. We ran through the tunnels and underpasses and out again, over a variety of bridges. I was cruising, and was trying to get my breathing in synch with this body that was not aerdynamically built for running. It's like comparing a drag car against a Hummer. Im a HUMMER running on 14 litre/ km. Fuel Inefficient but full of power. I glanced at my Polar and 20 mins had gone. I knew from training that I had about another 10 mins to go. The legs were getting heavy and the breathing getting more rapid and lung squeeze was setting in. I checked my heart and it was pretty quick. Could still go, no risk of heart failure yet, slow it down boy slow down. Then my worst nightmare came true. A sharp pain hit me in the right knee and the initial shock of it almost sent me crashing like a Californian Oak Tree.

I started to distract myself from the growing forms of physiological discomforts and pains by looking around me as I ran. I saw tourists clicking away with their digital SLRs, there were people relaxing and sipping cool Ice Lemon Tea while my body incinerated from inside out. There were shops opening in the late afternoon in preparation for the evening crowds and the smell of food as we ran through boat quay was almost medieval torture. Crowd controllers were screaming "C'mon, not far now, keep those legs pumping !" I saw a bridge coming up and people running across it and knew I was home, the last bridge to cross and I will be back at Zouk. But damn it, when I got to it, I realised it was the wrong bridge and there was a fair distance to go before the REAL bridge. Demoralised and running on empty, I slowed my pace to a fast walk.

It was only til someone in particular I really didnt like from the same office passed me that I decided I wasn't going to let this guy beat me but I paced behind him enough to give myself that burst at the end to overtake him. "Beep, Beep" went the electronic tags as we passed the finishing line. 30:42 mins. The ordeal was over. I made a beeline for the 100 Plus tent where there was free flow of cold eletrolyte juices and mineral water, as well as enough bananas to feed a population of baboons. What an achievement, I was proud I did this for the kids and especially for myself. Ever since dislocating my left knee and going for reconstructive surgery, I lost confidence in running and doing such strenous activity. But I did it. I MILKED myself dry for a good cause.

Needless to say, I took the day off work today.

Hey guys,

There's the Bike & Blade Charity Ride coming up in September. 2 legs - Malaysia, and Singapore. The Malaysian leg will mean riding from Singapore to Desaru to Mersing and back and then they will be joined by the Singapore riders (Singapore leg) riding 40km from Changi Ferry Terminal to Sentosa. There will be a one night stop at Mersing and the next night's in Desaru. That's all in a nut shell but you can find alot more detailed info at:

http://www.charitybnb.com/event.htm

You can get a team of 4 and then raise $1200 to participate in the race. I'm totally up for it so let me know if anyone else is !! It sounds like a helluva lot of fun, a weekend away but Im sure come Monday, we'll all be limping ! There's not many spaces for the Malaysia ride, about 60, so if you're game, just put your name down first to chope, if not there's 150 spaces for the Singapore ride.

Citi's new slogan - LET'S GET IT DONE.

Indeed.