Monday, October 26, 2009

finisher of 50km! ^^ North Face 100 was my most punishing race ever definitely. took over cher coz he had exams, ran with kelvin er. we met really really early (the 100km ppl started even earlier!). was initially worried about not having race id tag but they werent that strict about it thankfully. shouldnt have brought my race map along for the race. they din check that stringently and i didnt use it at all. now its a soggy piece of paper in my rubbish bin. (initially brought it along coz they said it was compulsory and i was sincerely worried about getting lost haha)
was hoping to keep it as a remembrance but wasted!~

race was really an eyeopener. have never seen so many runners with hydration packs before! and an amazing range of running attire/caps/sunglasses/pouches/shoes. super colourful! ^^ weight myself and my hydration pack (they werent that strict about this. i swear some ppl carry less than 1.5L of fluids). some easy stretching and then off we went.
race started at 7am for us. total of 176 teams signed up for the 100km duo open. 21 teams signed up for 100km duo women. less than 30 tried the 100km. total number of runners this year (including 50km duo) should be slightly less than 1200.

weather was good to us. abit of sun but not too hot or humid... yet. started the run at a good pace i felt. feeling really good all the way till 10~15km. din stop at the first water point. rifle range road was easy too... until we reached bukit timah. that hill was when i started walking. lost sight of alot of runners at the nature reserve coz the trail was something i've never trained for >< but nonetheless din experience any major problems, reached zhenghua park still feeling okay. by then sun was up so it was really really hot and humid in the forest trail.

after that cant rmb much. i know certain parts looked familiar coz i'd been there during sispec. chestnut trail was really narrow and had lots of bikers. made it to the waterpoint at mandai near the zoo. there's a name for it cant rmb. stop briefly at the waterpoint (~21km) before going into that area for the turn about and return route.
made a huge mistake there! did not fill my camelbak sufficiently. put that together with the heat and humidity plus myself being unconditioned to the difficult trail (why is it mostly uphill ><), was really suffering at around 25km when we climbed hill 265 (crappy name. i know). literally had to climb there were no foot paths up! i had to stop twice to catch my breath during the climb omg ><

first thing i asked the guy at the top of hill scanning our bibs was the distance to the next water point and he said 5km. !!! wanted to lie down and give up there and then. so freaking tired! and an overwhelming urge to just lie down and fall sleep for a while >< strange huh.
by another 500m i finished all my 100plus. no shade at all coz we've left the forest so the heat really sucked. could feel myself dehydrating, legs going weak, stomach super uncomfortable, heart rate remained high even though i was walking all the way. all the usual problems but worse! ><

then i met these brunei troops. i think they were there on exercise. i rmb one of them (think its a 1SG) looked at me and without me saying anything he offered me a drink from his water bottle. omg so freaking THANKFUL at that point i just kept saying thanks all over again. and while i was drinking the other soldiers helped fill my camelbak up with water from their own jerry can! that water really saved my life there i think. really unexpected help.

i mean, seriously anyone would have done the same thing (i hope!) if they see others in need. but having experienced it personally i felt so so so grateful. unbelievable. after that point i kept telling myself if i gave up i wouldnt be able to answer to that camelbak of water.

but really easy to say that now in the comfort of my home. i dunno how i made it to the next water point. almost on the verge of collapse when i reached. met kelvin there he was already enjoying a banana. i rmb my watch said 11:00am precisely and i told myself im not going to move another metre until 11:20. lol :) grabbed 100plus and a banana and just sat down at the curb for a good 20 minutes! it really helped and i felt much better afterward. managed to walk/jog the remaining distance back. and there was this girl also running at the same pace. we were pacing/overtaking each other all thru the last 20km it really helped i think :) thx whoever you are!

last difficult stretch was at singapore island country club. HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT. amazingly hot sun and ironically water all around us coz of the golf course's water bodies. there was a plus point though - its normal tarmac road so its back to familiar territory for me :) managed to overtake quite a few ppl there. then followed by the very last stretch of macritchie forest trail. the last bend was awesome when we saw macritchie reservoir in front of us. utter bliss! could tell from every runners' body language. from walking with heads sagging (actually more like limping/staggering) to a slow jog with heads up. awesome! had some energy left and my cramps din bother me much by then so i managed to finish at a good pace. i always love the finish of any race! that feeling of pure joy and achievement :)

the medal wasnt the best looking but whatever man it was hard earned.

got my medal (there were some NF ppl to put medals around our necks at the finish line lol), weighed myself again, met up wth kelvin, grabbed subway, bathed, bitched about the race, and we both agreed the 100km runners deserve utmost respect. we (the 50km runners) met a few of them on their return lap. all of us applauded each one we saw haha. and most of them replied with smiles or thumbs up or even encouraging words of their own. really superhuman mental willpower.

lost 1kg during the race even though i was drinking non stop. called a cab home and went to sleep :)

race results - 7 hours 40 minutes, 127th place :) our team came in 53rd! which was pretty decent i felt. would definitely have been better if i had done some training on trail routes.
total of 126 open teams and 14 women teams completed the 100km duo.

legs seemed to have recovered pretty well. i dont feel so tired anymore. next up is new balance real run! after that will be standard chartered marathon. also rather tempted to try the year end MR25 ultra-marathon! :) will see how things shape up :)

races so far this year
Adidas sundown (42km)(5hr10m)
Timor barat (16km)(1hr22m)
AHM (21km)(1hr58m)
Inter-cluster X-country (5km)(23m) (haha ok maybe this doesnt really count. but i'll add it coz it was my first taste of off road running - 23min was really disappointing)
NF100 (50km)(7hr40m)

races to come
new balance real run (15km)
standard chartered marathon (42)
MR25 ultra-marathon (??)

never expected myself to come so far when i first signed up for adidas sundown. was just fulfilling a personal goal of completing a marathon.
i shall add a new goal now: vertical marathon next year :) must plan my running schedule soon for next year. i'll like trying a few more races which i missed this year.

4:32 PM

Saturday, October 17, 2009

signed up for new balance real run. had to go to novena because online registration closed already >< but a good trip though! persuaded jasonpoh to run too. easy trouble-free sign up, spend about 10 minutes wondering about race route and how to get there so early in the morning. then breakfast at long john! took it as lunch since it was rather late.

went shopping. bought GU energy gel. and signed up for GnC member. its super hua suan for me i cant believe i didnt sign up earlier >< 15bucks for 2 years! and each time i buy a GU i get one free which means saving 4 bucks. just today alone me plus jason saved 12bucks total already lol :)

then more shopping! novena square is really sports haven huh. sports shop of every kind! and lots of them had a sale too :) Gola had like 50% off shoes wow. too bad designs not to my liking. and new balance had 30% for runners. i know being in army spoilt the new balance image coz we get their lower end product :p but the higher end new balance running shoes are really wow. pretty good design and pro looking. and really really expensive too ><

fila had really cheap shoes jason wanted but too bad the pair he wanted didnt have his size lmao.

after that straight to bishan was thinking of checking out the library first but then it was CLOSED. yup i totally forgot today's a public holiday. happy deepavali!
nua-ed in school before prac started. RI is infested with mosquitoes btw >< watched confessions of a shopaholic! finished it on the way home after rwinds. its a really good movie :) i cant believe one scene at the end almost made me tear.
oh yeah and RT didnt like that movie. typical. RT never likes such movies. and this is what they commented "This middling romantic comedy underutilizes a talented cast and delivers muddled messages on materialism and conspicuous consumption."

bloody self-righteous ppl. not all movies have messages hellooo. do these critics sincerely lead perfect lives, never indulge in spending (or any other so-called character flaws), donate half their salary to charity (really. so many comments online on how charity should have been included as a theme because the movie lead was too self-centered and shopped only for herself. you would think these critics never bought anything for themselves)

maybe im just being cynical. maybe they're truly angels and really never have a single selfish thought. maybe they actually really think of themselves as saints and perfect role models for the rest of humanity to follow.

maybe they expect every movie to end with a beautiful message about human perfectness and world peace.
-.-

!
human characters are flawed, thats what make each individual an individual human being. flaws defines who a person really is to a large extent. i thought becky did extremely well in the end given her circumstance. we strive for change and improvement, and sometimes we succeed sometimes we dont. thats life isn't it. important fact is we tried, and more often than not probably achieved something in between complete success and total failure.
"learning a lesson and turning over a new leaf" is like years outdated seriously why do ppl still expect it in every movie ><

anyway the beautiful scene. (clarinet playing softly in the background btw :p)
becky telling her father she would never allow him to sell his caravan to help pay her debts cause it just completely completely defines him. i was like ya! both dad and vehicle are out of the world totally unorthodox (crazy. check out his last dance scene). whatever becky's flaws she's definitely very observant and spot on usually (especially on fashion :p)

and then her dad went "nothing defines me. except you and your mother."

! the way he said it. so matter of fact. so simply. as though he believed it like nothing else in the world.
sobs

and this was the average family dad. retired, out-dated, old-fashioned, fat, couch potato. if everyone in the world had some of this guy in him, we would be living in happier times :)

oh yeah another scene i loved. when all the mannequins started moving and applauding becky. super amusing :) and it ended with him explaining why he bid so much. "its a desperately important scarf" :)
in fact each time the mannequin moved and talk its really funny. but would have been creepy in real life though :p

9:49 PM

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

example of how arrows fly in the army - from an ord-ing soldier.

monday morning. in the standby rest bunk discussing with ****** about taking off on tuesday to rest. was feeling tired and wanted to sleep late :) having made up my mind i walked out of the room and ***** saw me and went "ok mervin you ah"

*eyebrows start twitching, anticipating something*

"huh??"

"tmr CFT need support. you're going as chamber spec."

*imagines stunned look on my face*

and to think i avoided CFT! just couple of days ago we ord soldiers were busking in glory of no-more-cft-for-us. haha the irony of it. in the end turned out they didn't need us. what a joke another classic example of inefficiency. called us down there and then they realise din need so many ppl! so the other 2 guys just wasted their trips there coz i proly volunteered myself hehe. awesome initiative-taking soldier!

and in the end didnt go in either was handing out chips >< but wanted to experience it one more time before ORD (and seeing how we woke up so early and made the trip there already!) borrowed a mask and went in :) and took off mask inside brings back memories from sispec when you had to say a load of stuff just to get out of the room :)

9:29 PM

the message was good! movie came highly recommended from poh, and especially seeing its a chinese movie it really must have been so i jioed keith zhenrong and leo along. the twist was really nice none of us saw it coming :)

8:27 PM

Sunday, October 11, 2009

wow. basic instinct 2.

i resisted going to review sites before i watched it. now i've watched it and then i've read the reviews and im glad i watched it first. critics didn't like it one bit lol. maybe just maybe it was too similar to the first and there was less thrill/suspense? some ppl even suggested renaming it something else rather than call it BS2. hmmm

actually i thought this movie being named BS2 gives it a different.. flavour to it? no doubt it contained less suspense because we know who the killer is. but that makes it even cleverer i thought. we KNOW the identity of the killer, but the movie plays around with the evidence and characters' perception and doubt, and shows how clever manipulation of of human minds can be achieved. honestly if we were the ones in the movie rather than viewing it from outside (like a higher dimension lol) we'd probably be thinking believing suspecting as well. ppl who are overly sure of themselves or ppl who let emotions and passions rule their actions often get manipulated easily.

the character of catherine tramell was absolutely brilliant. so cool headed so rational, so intelligent and such a good reader and manipulator of other people. its makes her so omnipotent, its very spooky. and her favourite tactic seemed to be to allow herself to be of some suspicion and then clear her name with some clever cover up or perfectly logical deduction- and putting the blame on others at the same time. that actually causes the initial ppl who suspected her to clear whatever doubts they might originally (and correctly) have. maybe becoz they feel guilty about accusing the wrong person? their ego would not have them risk being wrong about the same person TWICE. human manipulation at its best. "mind-****ing" was the phrase the movie used.
an amazingly liar, but only on rare occasion does the explicitly tell a lie. mostly she allows others to form their own conclusions. so ppl who're too sure of themselves often come to the conclusions that she intended for them - the wrong one.

yes and of course the uses her powers of seduction, but imo thats her secondary weapon no matter how powerful it is. her best skill is still reading of others' character and personality and bending them to her will.

but everyone thinks its a porno show. oops ><

kinda remind me of palpatine. i feel most ppl (even some star wars fans sigh) have wrong perceptions of various aspects of star wars >< on the part about the rise of the empire, yes, palpatine was a crazy old power hungry insane corrupted sith lord, but the truth is, his rise from common senator to supreme chancellor had little to do with his dark Force powers. in fact he rarely used them i think. he climbed all the way up through clever reading of others around him - their strengths and weaknesses, their beliefs and ego and their greed, and manipulating them carefully to bend to his will. mostly by playing around with their egos he managed to get the right favours done at the right time. and tada slowly he was emperor.

i have a suspicion on how human ego is and will always be the ultimate downfall of mankind. have been expanding it in my thoughts for a few months now. will put it down into a full thesis (haha :p) when i have the time :)

8:48 PM

random convo.

S to M: im going up to grab my lunch
M: okay
A interrupts: but why do you have to grab it? it's not gonna run away..

S and M -.-||

later...

A: this is soo boring can somebody just find an ********.
M: -.-
A: or a ****** also can?
M: -.-||

6:39 PM

street fighter: the legend of chun-li. that movie is one big waste of time. it sux. epic fail. nothing worth watching. yups kinda wasted 90 minutes of my life luckily i watched it while on duty anyway.

plot was rubbish and the characters were so lacking in depth. and since when is chun li white? lol. and chris klein sucked in his character big time. that bad-ass-good-cop role just ISN'T him.
and for a fighting show its unbelievably dull too.
if michael bay got death threats from fans for making his transformers movies, then where are the street fighter fans! i dont even know much about street fighter and i already feel for them >< maybe the movie was just so lousy the fans couldnt even be bothered.

and i hate movies by hollywood which smoke thru asian languages. making funny monosyllabic sounds which nobody understands really sounds damn stupid. just freaking GET an asian who can speak the language to act that character! or make the actor/actress take language classes!
dont ppl do any research before they actually make a movie

k enough whining. a article from straits times say running and most aerobic exercises dont definitely make you healthier. sure it makes your bmi looks good but thats it. Bmi *isn't* a very good health indicator cause it says nothing about lean body mass or body fat mass. in english it probably means something like you can be really unhealthy even though your bmi is acceptable. ouch ><

gotta start doing weights training!

learnt a cheem term today. bête noire
wiki says "The term bête noire is used to refer to an object or abstract idea that is particularly disliked or avoided."
cool (=

1:11 PM

Saturday, October 10, 2009

a few movies i've watched the past few days when im on leave :) blonde and blonder, paul blart mall cops, code name the cleaner :)

heh its all the same type of movies in my opinion. harmless fun, enjoyable way to spend 90minutes. blonde and blonder is a dumb blonde movie, and its not ashamed about it (could tell from the fact its a movie with 2 blondes as mains. the more the merrier huh) movie critics probably wont like it (they never like blonde movies :p) but its quite hilarious some scenes. confusing plot and a james bond style boat chase towards the end.

both paul and the cleaner have the same plot. fat guy saves the world. i liked both :) both were funny movies like laugh out loud funny :)
for the record i think RT hated both. esp code name i rmb it got less than 5% :p and i actually liked that movie more. colonel bowman hahaha :) come on ppl dont be so serious when watching such movies
the use of segway scooters in paul blart was really an inspiration. rather original i dont rmb other movies using it so prominently :)

hm other movies.. basic instinct. very very good plot and sharon stone acted brilliantly. i love the way the director keeps playing with the audiences' minds, feeding little titbits of information here and there to mislead and misguide. got a little obvious towards the end i think. but they put the twist at the last 10 seconds of the movie. nice! :) the intense anticipation of what the characters would do next makes it quite an awesome thriller (= looking forward to BS2 maybe tmr

duty tmr! probably last or second last duty before ORD

9:49 PM

Thursday, October 08, 2009

watched cloudy with a chance of meatballs with yh jas and yj :) after prac which the girls didnt turn up >< its very very enjoyable :) but makes me feel quite...wasteful? see all the food falling around lol.

macs afterwards was super funny though. childish ppl (= bought sundaes and fries but jasmine refused to eat and then we played with food and i ate a lot of chilli sauce! sigh i dont wanna grow up man.

8:41 PM

finished reading hyperspace by michio kaku and Einstein 1905: the standard of greatness by John S. Rigden (=

hyperspace is awesome. its rather old - first published in 1994 which by modern science time-line its like super outdated already :p 15 years old grandfather. but it explains hyperspace and higher dimensional concepts very well and its extremely enjoyable to read :) no wonder was a best seller when published. super creative and super imaginative when leading the reader on a crazy journey into higher dimensions :)

standard of greatness pays tribute to einstein's year of 1905 and his 5 miracle papers. a bit of background on each paper and their implications. a more difficult read but very informative and rather fact-based. not too boring though :) will come back to this book in the future. i dont think i fully digested it properly yet.

anyway paid fines for both books haha couldn't return them in time oops. wanted a few extra days to read. tried looking for them in borders but couldn't find >< must borrow from library again soon :)

currently reading miss leavitt's stars by George Johnson. totally have never heard of her and i doubt anyone EVER has heard of her >< she left few records, few notes, few letters, few signs that she even existed except that she discovered a relationship that helped measure the distance of the stars o.O even wiki has barely anything on her. this book doesn't have much either she left too little for a proper biography to be even written but its a good introduction to the developments in the field of astronomy at that time :) the book's rather thin should finish it soon

borrowed another one this is very ambitious looking though. the great beyond by Paul Halpern. only browsed thru the first few pages but it looks promising. its that kind of writing style i like - as though telling a story. not too much technical detail just enough basics for an average science person to understand. higher dimensions and in fact most theoretical physics is actual super interesting its almost like science fiction in real life. thats probably why its one of the few non fiction topics i actually read. definitely doesn't look too dry though thats the most important part seeing how thick it is :p probably gonna get fined for late return again though heh

bought time traveler's wife from borders! 25% discount plus 10% discount from jason's borders card so its quite worth it :) haven started on that either too many things to read recently. yeah and i ordered the syonan years from keith also. about time i brushed up my knowledge on history of singapore. most singaporeans know too little ><

8:08 PM

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