They are everywhere!

Everywhere you look, there's a possibility that a runner to-be might be eager to come out from its shell.

Last weekend during a wedding, a friend suddenly ask me about running. Was a bit surprised by it but glad as well. So I told him about the joy of running and what not. The thing is, people seem to know about it. But they can hardly start. Maybe by joining groups you are much better off rather than starting alone. I didnt start alone myself. I had Grunge at that time. We used to jogged and participated races together at the beginning. Sole purpose of joining races? FUN. No doubt about it. You can never beat the fastest person, but you can always beat yourself. At least thats what I believe.

********

Azwar came out in NST yesterday. Waaaa! Detailed interview pulak tuh! I didnt buy that issue coz I was travelling that day. I think I can source the paper from my NST friend lah. Hopefully can read more.

Baca lagi!

Kenduri kawin

Currently I'm in Jitra attending a wedding. A friend, should I say a close friend of mine got married yesterday. Whoa! macam tak percaya woo! Fahi sudah kawin dengan Fizah! Well the bride and the groom was an item back in the uni days. They were together for I think 6 years or so kut. Kelakar derang nih. Kadang-kadang gaduh macam budak-budak pun ada. Biasa la kan. Young blood.

More stories coming up. Cannot write lah at this moment coz this blardy CC is filled with kids playing games. Aku dulu camtu jugak..hehe

*******

He kept saying, "Macam tak percaya sial", over and over again after nikah. Hehe..couldnt believe it yourself eh there? Hang in there buddy, more rough patches up ahead. Im not contmplating or hoping for you to have rough patches, but you know, thing happens rite? So BE prepared my fren.

One particular moment yang tak boleh lupa is when the pro photographer try to tell him how to pose for shoots. Dia tolak kepala Fahi camtu-camni, mamat tu dah uncomfortable dah. Macam patung barbie kena main plak. Hahah..tension jer muka. Me at that time was his family pixman la. Uncle (Fahi's dad) trusts me with his cam coz Fahi must has said something to him bout me taking pictures. Haih..Fahi..Fahi.

BTW, Fahi did tell a lot about us (me n Grunge) to his parents. Dia story kat mak dia yang aku bawak belacan masa rumah bujang dulu la (coz i cook), memacam la.

Fahi..Fahi. His firendship is very loyal. Sampai habis wedding semua dah, dia tak habis-habis terima kasih kat aku n grunge for coming. I think I should thank you as well for being such a good friend. Friends for life, I hope.

Baca lagi!

Wiggle wobble..

Brick training equals pain! Gatal nak try bike n run hari ni, turns out kaki dah lembik macam jelly. I know la its my first time, just wanted to get a feel of the thing.

Imagine hauling your ass up a hill wit a 20 odd kg bike underneath you (basikal 'kicap' la), times that by two and then run up the same hill once. For a newbie like me, panjat bukit (Tmn TAR) tu was a big mistake coz at this stage I should focus on spinning. Tapi biasa la, you never know till u try kan? As soon as I parked my bike under the porch, my legs feel like jello. Huh? Biar betoi? Ini baru sikit dah tak larat? Yeah memang aku tak larat. Kaki serius jello. Just made the run till kaki bukit jer. I cant feel my legs!!

Whoa...after this have to focus on spinning onli. No bricks yet, no hills if can.

Singgah site Triathlon Malaysia tadi. Ada sprint event. So next event kat Pee Dee this July. Macam menarik.... aspiration and perspiration. Baca lagi!

Hepi

Hepi hepi hepi! Hahaha! Liverpool menang! Who said they dont have the pedigree? What a miraculous 3 goal comeback on the second half!! Enuf said,

LIVERPOOL CHAMPS!

suddenly ada entry bola yek? Well, this year has been a happy footballing year for me coz my favourite teams, which is Barcelona and Liverpool both won a silverware. Barca won the league title and Reds won the Champion League *champions league song at the background*.

Why suddenly Barca and Liverpool? Not suddenly laa. I am a long time Barca fan, since Luis Filepe Madeira (Figo) was there(eventho that was not long enuf). Yes, he played for Barcelona before dia mereput di Real Madrid. Transfer in excess of 30 million pounds tu! Now duduk bench jer. Padan muka. But I dont fancy him much la. That time Spanish football tak banyak exposure kat sini. Soccernet pun tak kenal lagi. As for Liverpool, lagi lama. Since John Barnes and Ian Rush lagik. Remember their jersey with Candy at front? Haa..zaman tu la. Both teams have a good history in Europe. Just unlucky Barca tak lepas ke final this year. Kalau tak, I dunno la.

So lepas ni, kena beli jersi Barca. Lepas tu bubuh nombor 6 kat belakang. Xavi. Fuyoh. As for jersi Liverpool, mesti Studio R tak jual murah dah lepas ni. Adoih, ngantuk...

Baca lagi!

Fork in the road

Just when you thought everything is going well for you, a bad news suddenly stops you on your track. Maybe it wasnt meant to be. Maybe its me. Maybe, well, it could be a lot of things.

Now I'm starting to think that life is unfair. No, its not that I want to, but the thought suddenly creeps in.

I got a medal in Lumut, I got a new bike, but i didnt get THAT. You cant have everthing, can you? Somethings gotta give. I gave. Just not given up yet.

Twist of fate.

Now back to square one. Sifting past numerous 'boxes with fancy words in it' just to look where there might be a lifeline. Maybe I should let this 'athlete' in me sleep for a while, and get myself on track with what I want. Hard decision, but, worth thinking over.

*hoi, you're never gonna be an athlete la!*

Say hello to him That's my doppleganger. He always has negative thoughts.

You folks dont understand the f*&k I'm talking, arent you? Good then. Baca lagi!

Spotlight

I got this picture from the Powerman website. Haha! Masuk jugak muka aku. I just love the spotlight lah..who doesnt?

for more pictures of the race, visit here

Baca lagi!

Today I got myself a new saddle, helmet and a pair of cycling shorts. The shorts ada chamois to cushion the delicate male anotomy. Tapi my goodness, tebal giler span dia. Surely tak boleh buat lari punya. Nampak macam punggung keras dari belakang. Haha... as for the helmet, just like my bike la, 'kicap' brand one. Saddle pun sama, cuma ada stamp K2 kat tepi. I know its not original one. Its just a bit more comfy than the standard issue. What do you expect from a 'kicap' brand bike kan? Another thing, stem dia panjang sangat. Fuh..so my body position when riding is always aero punya. Letih pakcik! Dah la stem 'ol skool' (yg mcm no 7 tu). Takpe. Next time tukau. A tougher ride makes you a better rider. Ntah mana aku kutip words tu pun ntah.

########

Esok nak test ride kat Putrajaya. Mana lagi safe place for a beginner like me to ride kan? At least kat sana tak banyak trafik. Summore tomorrow cuti. Hah! Aku nak buat 12 round kat roundabout besar tuh! Muahahaha!

Then petang nak lepak ngan Mazha jap, lari sikit (7-8k ke) and malam gi tengok FA cup (Man-U vs Arsenal) beramai-ramai kat NZ. Pergh..banyak agenda esok nih. Then Ahad either ikut PACM 15k or lari sorang-sorang kat Putrajaya (again!). hmm...sudah kembali rajin training sekarang yea.. I'M BACK WITH A BANG!

Baca lagi!

More photos from MMDS2

curik from Haris's site actually! Hehe... dia punya cam digital. Gambar cun!

Last u-turn before finish line..

mata dok tengok kat MC tu..'woi! annouce aku!'

This is Cream Crackers. yg pakai cap tu tak termasuk ye.

bergelak ketawa bersama Azwar

from left: Wendy, Haris, Azwar n me.

Baca lagi!

Some lightsaber and...

Yesterday I went for the premier of Star Wars : Revenge of The Sith atau dalam bahasa Melayunye 'Dendam kumpulam Sith' (yes, that was the translation on the screen).

The final installation of the movie, it was great. Eventho you already knew what heppened, (who became Darth Vader, who was Darth Sidious) but G. Lucas managed to twist the plot to make it not too....expectable.

When I was queueing for tickets, 'Darth Vader' came up besides me. Ceh! Complete with topeng and cloak. He even emit the voice of Vader when he talks! Gila fanatik betul. Tapi I were a fanatic fan, I think I'll be doing that as well.

And yeah, I've got my two wheeler. Nothing fancy, just a Cannondale Ironman. Kah kahkah...

Baca lagi!

MMDS report (pt 2)

17 May, 5:30 am.

Alarm clock aku dah bunyi. Tapi team mate aku (Haris) dok tido lagi. Aku pun rasa cam nak sambung sikit lagi. Kih kih... Tapi pukul 5:50 tu aku dah jaga balik. Cuci muka lebih kurang, gosok gigi and had 4 pieces of bread with sekaya for breakfast. If I were to straight away run after this, it wont be a problem. The thing is, I will be running at about 10-ish. So, nanti mesti lapar punya.

Lepas siap my gear and all, we head down to ground zero. Almost everybody was there la I think. Wendy had already checked her bike in, Haris is getting prepared to run the first leg. At 7:30, the individual category was let off. Then Haris came to the starting line for the relay cat.



Kepom! Pistol bunyik! Off he goes carrying the hopes of then nation on his shoulder. Eh, apa la aku merapu nih. Then me and Grunge went to a stall for some breakfast. Hehe..ada ke. Orang tgh sibuk hype nak race kita selamba pi makan.

About 40 minutes later, we found ourselves waiting near the transition area. Knowing that Haris sure will break his PR one, we anticipated when the my watch showed "45:00" minutes. Tetiba je, dah nampak dia coming back to the transition area. Fuyoh! Lajunyer! The the chip was passed to Wendy, and I took over the bib from Haris. Now Wendy has a 2+ hours of battle to fight. Me? Me n Grunge hung around the area, baca paper.

About one hour after Wendy left, I decided to munch sikit. Nasib baik beli Powerbar. Otherwise Im gonna be hungry later. Not good for me.



45 mins later, I decided to warm my muscles a bit. Mana tau Wendy terlaju pulak ke, tetiba aku tak ready lagi. So warm up lebih kurang sikit pastu tunggu kat transition area. Masa tu dah pukul 10 dah lebih kurang.

Psyching up before race...

Masa tunggu kat transition area tu, one-by-one team relay pegi. 'Aik, takkan tinggal berapa kerat jek?' Ada la 2-3 orang lagi tinggal. Not long after that, saw Wendy zooming in to the transition area. Hah? My turn ka? Aku kena lari ke? Grunge said, "Ala 8k je beb. 30 mint je la." Ceh. 30 minit hapa. Training pun dah lama tak buat. So Wendy sampai, amik chip, strap it to my ankle and off I went into the unknown! Masa exit transition tu, ada sikit refreshments. Volunteers tu offer kat aku and aku cakap "Takpe balik nanti saya amik". Pastu dengar diorang gelak as I ran leaving them.

Tu dia Wendy dah sampai!

Tunggu...

Sudah sampai..

Pasang chip...

Off I go!

Wendy parking her bike.

Rasanya, first 2km tu ok lagi. Legs are doing good. Weather pun tak panas sangat. Upon reaching the 4km mark near the u-turn, alamak. 'Why am I running today?' Adoih kaki rasa berat pulok! At one point, theres this makcik potong me. She starts creeping slowly behind me. I could hear the footfall. Bit by bit, dia potong aku. Aiyark! Nasib baik category lain. Tapi I managed to tail her la. Tu pun just because shes in diff cat. As far as I can remember, nobody from my category potong sayur me and I didnt potong sayur anyone.

The last km, I think, near the junction going back to the starting point. I said to myself, "Have to tekan gila babi punya!" So I imagine myself pushing some special button that would enable me to push all the way to the finish line. Tiu tiu tiu...(bunyi game)

I can see the finish line! A few metres ahead, saw Haris waving at me. He took some pictures and then dashed to the finish chute. But the closer I am to the finish line, the MC didnt annouce my name/team pun. 'Oi aku dah sampai oi!' I shouted at her. I think she noticed la. Then I showed my bib number to her and she finally annouced me. Heheh...publisiti sikit kan.

Suprisingly, all the penat-ness seem to have diminish as I run to the finishing chute. Wow, I tell you there's no words that I can describe the feeling of of somebody welcoming you 'home' at the finish line. Simply superb. I even hopped my way to the finish line. Haha! Kalau masuk tv best nih!

Sikit lagi...

I'm home!

I made with the time of 43:20 mins. Our team, Cream Cracker made it in 3:50:43. We managed to place 10th out of 13 teams. Full results here.

At the finishing chute, we took some pictures and medals were given out here. Yahooo! My second medallion! Best! Met Azwar n his wife, crack up some jokes and all of us parted our own way.

The event itself was a blast. If one were to be there and be a spectator, you're missing out big time. Just look at Grunge's gloomy face:

Dont worry macha, Putrajaya ada lagi! Tunggu aku beli basikal!!

Baca lagi!

MMDS report (pt 1)

This is my first time participating in such events. What to expect? Not much la coz I havent been really training for almost 3 weeks. Maybe below 45 mins. Kena sindrom malas la. What to do. Ada ubat ka?

So, off we (the usual suspects la, me n Grunge) went to Lumut with bus at 11am. Senang and jimat duit.

Sampai Lumut close to 3:30pm. Called Haris about lodging. Rasanya macam takde jek. Takpe la. Finally we met at the lobby of Orient Star hotel, bout 5 mins walk from the bus station. Hari pulak gelap macam nak hujan. erk. So after collecting goodie bag and stuff, three of us decided to carik hotel la. At first, Haris tried to stay at his friends company house, but then the wife is expecting childbirth pretty soon. So takpe lah. We manage on our own la. Takmo susahkan orang.

So kitaorang stay at Harbour View hotel. Cheap. RM80 per night. Tapi masuk bilik je bau minyak angin. Perghh!

Then me n grunge decided to makan first. We carbo-load with some 'unauthentic' nasi kandar (kedai penipu!). Tapi takpe la. Janji makan.

After that went back to Orient Star for hi-tea and briefing (berapa banyak makan la?). Masa hi-tea, met up with my cyclist, Wendy. Then lepak-ed, tengok orang dengan gaya masing masing. Like Azwar said la, there is a tendency of people to come clad in previous MMDS t shirt, bermudas and oakleys on their head. Biasa la, gaya kena sepuluh. Me? Aku dengan jeans, t shirt, selipar and a pair of Petaling Street sunnies on my head.

Pastu sumer peserta are invited for race briefing. Fuyoh this is my first time attending a race briefing. Ingatkan crucial la sangat. From what i got from the briefing, it was almost the same with the rules n regulations yg ada kat internet. Cant you be more specific ka? At least show some slides, maps ka, apa ka. Can improve on that la I think.

Malam pulak, me n Grunge lepak kedai mamak boraks about almost anything that we can come out with. Hehe..kitaorang holiday je kat sini! Sambil tu nampak la few ppl riding on their bike. Survey jalan kut. Trek, Cannondale, Pinarello pun ada. Ala, its not about the bike la! Hihi..
Sekali ternampak Maya Karin tengah makan at one gerai nih. Fuyoh! Cun abis! Kitaorang yg dah kembung minum air ni pun rasa nak duduk minum lagi!



We retired around 12pm kut. Borak borak sikit ngan Haris, and found out he's a very enthusiastic runner. Suddenly sumer orang dozed off. Aku je belum. Biasa la, race jitters. Everytime ada race mesti kena. At around 2 am kut, hujan pulak kat luar. Dah la air con sejuk. Enuf said. Terkelip-kelip la aku dalam gelap tu. Dalam hati, "apa la jadi kat aku esok?".



bersambung.... Baca lagi!

Thank You

I would like to take this opportunity to send my heartiest thank you to Abdul Haris and Wendy for participating MMDS Lumut with me as a team.

A good team we had, and a good race it was.

Without them, there would be no Team Cream Crackers and there's no Lumut experience for me.

Thanks guys!

Lumut repot coming up soon after i developed the pics! Baca lagi!

Racing in mid-morning

In two days time, i'll be in Lumut for MMDS. Man, this is freaky shit. I've been like bumming around without proper training (thanks to my car, you stupid mechanical thingy!) and suddenly i'm going for a race.
Glad it's only a 8k run.
So i'll be running the second leg of MMDS wit Haris as the first runner and Wendy as the biker. For those who are bewildering what race i'm in, it's a duathlon. It's a run-bike-run race.

You see, the distances are quite tame. 10k run-60k bike-8k run. While the real deal long distance duathlon is 10k run-150k bike-30k run, the race in Lumut will be pretty much lactic acid. I dont think it favours me at all coz I havent been training for speed yet.
But the best thing is, I'm in the run to get another medal for this one. If I manage to finish within the cut-off time lah. Which is 12:30pm.

The race will start at 7:30. So after doing some guess-timation, i'll start my run at around 10 lah. Haha! Better not forget my Petaling Street sunnies. Petaling Street onli la...no money to buy Oakley or Rudy Project lah. But the Oakley is damn cun la.

So, hmm that's it lah. I'll be racing again and hopefully it will cure my malaise for the past few weeks. I have to get my mojo back!

Baca lagi!

why white?  Baca lagi!

fastlane

Life is moving fast.
Friends are getting married. People are changing jobs. Friends being matchmaker. Friends getting cancer. Or what it seems to be.

This is a blow. To know a friend of yours probably diagnosed with cancer is a massive blow.
Hell everything cancer does to you is painful. Even the treatment.

She'll having an operation to remove it soon. Eventually its not malignant.
Just be strong my dear. You'll get thru it. We'll be right behind you. I'll be.

wow, everything is so fast to me. Baca lagi!

10 things that I did not do in school that I regret

Not school as in sekolah, but Uni lah.

So here goes..

1. Take up running. If only I did that, I might have become a better athlete today.
2. Heed to my mom's advice to buy a bicycle. I needed trasportation back then, but a motorbike is more convenient. If I rode a bicycle, again, I might have become a better athlete.
3. Complete my swimming class. I might have become a triathlete!
4. Stay away from bad substances. I dont think I have to elaborate more. Hey, I was a kid back then!
5. Get more girlfriends. I was a shy kid! Still am btw. Haha!
6. Become a facilitator for induction week. You got to bully kids a bit la!
7. Party 7-days nights a week.
8. Party 7-days nights a week. Well, most of the time Im awake is at night!
9. Went up the girls hostel. Huh? Did I regret this?
10. Study a bit harder. Err...

All in all, those things are the past. Maybe I'll do all the above in the future. Pukka!

Baca lagi!

Just enjoy and nothing else...

Yesterday was it. I did exactly that. Just enjoy and nothing else.

First, went to bowling at a country club (oohh!) with me jolly-good friends. Then had the delight of watching them devour my cheesecake till the last crumbs. Then went to a sushi lunch where you know la sushi plates yg kecik2 tu, almost filled our table.

So the next time we will gather, it ought to be a bit different. Coz Nana is going to get married this month and that leaves 1, 2..let me see. 5 of us yg single mingle. So that means any future 'project' might have the absence of the 'perpetual twins', Ayang n Nana. So after this 'geng projek' have to organize bigger events like going to Madrid ka, China ka...that sort of thing just to get them jelous. Hahaha!

On another note, I dunno why I feel so malas lately. Feel so slow n sluggish. Even malas to run. This is bad. Maybe I'll take a walk around the neighbourhood this evening. Hope this could cheer me up. Why do I need cheering up again? I dunno...

If you hear any musiq, just enjoy. Baca lagi!