KL Standard Chartered Marathon 2011

Update: The results are out on the KL-Marathon webpage and I did the 10km in 1 hour 35 min and 23 seconds. Official timing is 1 hour 44 min and 34 seconds. It took me 9 min to get from the back to pass the starting line. I am ranked 2948 in my category. Wah super far down. :)

Sunday 26th of June 2011 came and went really fast. About 4 or 5 months back, I decided that I would sign up for the 10km run for the Standard Chartered Marathon as a motivation for me to keep running and lose weight. In that 5 months I did managed to increase my daily run from a pitiful 1.6km to about 3km until about 3 or 4 weeks back when I sprained my ankle bad. Actually in the space of about 2 months I sprained my ankle twice.

It wasn't looking so good for me for the 10km run. However since I chickened out of the run last year, this year I was determined to go for it. It wasn't so much of a run for me but more of a 10km fast walk. I was determined to finish by walking the entire 10km.

The day started out at 4.15am when we woke up to get ready for the run. Around 4.50am Ee Von reached my house and we set off to get Steph and breakfast. Steph prepared us a very hearty breakfast, snack and refreshments consisting of PB and J sandwich (3 triangles each), nicely packed into double locking IKEA ziplock bags, tins of Milo and bananas. She even prepared snack for after the race which were Special K muesli bars and frozen 100 plus. Big thanks to Steph for preparing food for us, the PB and J sandwich, banana and Milo kept me going throughout the race. The 100 plus really helped after the race and even after 3 or 4 hours out of the freezer, it was still nice and cold when we went to get it after the race.

Unfortunately we had some issues looking for parking as the place we intended to park was already blocked off and while looking for parking we actually went as far as Segambut because we took a wrong turn. We finally managed to park near Petaling Street and there were quite a few people who found the same parking around the same time as us. It was maybe about 2km walk to the starting point for the 10km run and we actually saw the 21km race being flagged off. There were a heck alot of people running the 21km. It was pretty crazy.

After the 21km runners all left, we decided to head to the toi toi to express ourselves one last time before the crowd came back and massacre the toi toi. After toi toi break, we did some cam whoring while we were still fresh...

We really had the "You can do it" attitude before the race. We will have to see what happens after the race. We finally reached the starting point of the 10km race and it started shortly after. Just before we started, the heavens started to sprinkle some rain. It was a gloomy overcast sky and it really looked like it was going to rain on our parade. As we were flagged off, it start to drizzle and all I could think was that is it man, we will be drenched.

Lucky for us that the skies actually cleared up and because of the gloomy overcast skies, it protected us from the burning rays of the sun till close to 9pm. This is what is looks like half way through the race. This picture is courtesy of Steph.

Everyone still super semangat to run and this picture is very cool. Lots of green people running, with a big arrow on the road pointing to the twin building of Le Meridien and KL Hilton.

I walked pretty much 98% of the way and only ran a little towards the end of the race. My ankle guard actually came off about 3-4km and I had to remove it because it was restricting blood flow to my right feet. All throughout my walk, all I was thinking about was, I want to get back in time to get my finisher medal. I do not care what happens as long as I get my medal, it would make this "walk" a success. When I saw the 5km mark, it actually motivated me to go even faster. I came in I think in about 1 hour 35 min. The timing for the 10km was kinda not working but the timing on the 21km was 2 hours 35 min when I came in and they were flagged off 1 hour before us. Each of us were giving timing devices which we loop on our shoes.

We should be getting our official timing from the organisers within 24 hours of the race. Unfortunately the results aren't in yet. All of us were glad we finished our race and we were all on a high after the race.

Luckily, I also managed to get the medal.

Other then the little hiccup with finding parking in the morning, the entire run was very well organised. I applaud the organiser for really making sure everything was catered for. Each of the drink stations were well stocked with water and they had maybe 10 tables for runners to get their water. They had enough toi toi at the start finish line and even throughout the route. The best thing was on my final KM back, we actually passed the starting line for the 10km and I popped into one of the toi toi to relieve myself. To my surprise it didn't stink at all. It has a pleasant grape smell in the toi toi that I went.



I have to say well done to the girls (Amy, Steph and Ee Von) as well, all of them made it back in good time and it looks like they enjoyed themselves very much.

Project KU Ku Week4

Another update to project KU Ku which is going into week 4 now. Today during lunch I curi tulang a bit and drove down to check out the house. Yesterday they connected all my upstairs bathrooms to the mains water to get a little bit more water pressure in all the toilets. After consulting with the experts, this is the best way to go about it because a water pump might be too strong for the current piping to handle.

Unfortunately after the mains was connected and the water was turned on, the house sprang a leak.

It looks like there is a leak in the piping in the bathroom right at the back and the water is flowing through the black pipe in the picture. Unfortunately, we also do not know where the leak is other then it is in the bathroom. This means they have to hack the tiles in the bathroom and we didn't plan to renovate that bathroom. So I have to go and check if we can buy the same exact tile for the piece they hack. Lucky we didn't put a water pump or they might be a fountain in the house. 

Most of the tiles are in and we are very happy with the tile selection. The only thing left to be tiled is the outside apron. Looks like it is going to match the house nicely. Now it all depends on the paint selection and if it goes with the tiles.

Next week all the tiling should be done, they will fix the leak we have and once that is sorted then it is plaster ceiling time.

The world is just Awesome

Oh yea if you think I have been watching too much Discovery Channel, then you are correct. Actually in recent times, I have not been watching enough Discovery Channel. Now they are concentrating on human aspect documentary like "I shouldn't be Alive" and all that. However I am more into technology and building stuff.

Anyway that is besides the point, on Sunday after sending Amy home I came back around 10.30pm. I got out of the car and caught a sight of the moon and it was just peaking out from behind back of the houses. It was huge and it was very yellow as well. I quickly locked my car up and ran upstairs to gather my camera gears. By the time I got back down and remembered how to turn on my camera, the moon was significantly higher then before. The money shot that I had in mind has passed. So no choice but to just shoot what I got. 

I have pointed my camera at the moon many a times before, but all the shots usually come out the same. Just the moon and nothing else. There is no context to the shot. They all basically look like...

You can see the craters on the moon and stuff, but without a longer zoom lens the picture looks like any other picture that I have shot.

This time however, the moon was relatively low in the sky while still remaining huge. I only got one good shot that had some "foreground" while still able to see the moon.

It is still not really what I wanted. I would have liked if the moon was close down to the houses and then it would be a money shot.

Need to go pinjam a longer lens so that I can really take a close up of the moon. I was told some people actually strap their camera onto a telescope to get good moon pictures.

The Run is coming

It is less then a week to the Standard Charted KL Marathon 2011. Last year I signed up as well, but then right at the end I piked out. This year once again I have decided to sign up as motivation for me to run and lose weight for our wedding. About a month or 2 back I was really into serious running and every week I would increase the distance I was running. I was on schedule to try to hit at least 5-7km without stopping until 2 weeks back when I sprained my ankle bad while playing badminton.

Till today, more then 2 weeks later, my ankle still hurts when I start jogging. It is still healing unfortunately. I am determined to make the KL Marathon 2011 but instead of running, I plan to fast walk the entire 10km. Hopefully I can still come in within the 2 hour mark. 

Last week I got my race pack sent to me....

It came while I was at work and suddenly I got a call from someone from Skynet. He said that my maid didn't have her passport and he needed my IC number. I gave it to him and after that I got worried that it was a con. Lucky it was real and I got my race pack. I opened it up and...

This year the race pack seems to have shrunk alot. Inside was my runners shirt, my bib number, my timing device, race guide, some adverts, some muscle relieving cream and a voucher for Timex watches. I threw most of the adverts away because they were super useless.

My bib number is K-18929, do not need to be looking out for this number as well I am not going to be blazing the course for sure. The timing device is an RF device which you have to tie on your shoe. The race guide was pretty interesting and I had a read through. 

It had alot of tips of what to do before the race and what to do after the race. It also tells us where to park and what time to be there.

I tried this muscle ache reliever cream on my ankle last night. Didn't feel much when I put it on. However I think my ankle feels a lil better today. Maybe it is in my mind. Whatever it is as long as my ankle heals. Hopefully it doesn't die mid way through the 10km. :)

Monster Avocado

Recently while I was back in Sitiawan, I went to my maternal grandma's place and I saw this huge green fruit on the table. I picked it up and the first thing I thought when I felt the fruit was it was an avocado. I love avocado but in Malaysia they are selling it for a little too expensive. I then thought to myself, I have never seen such a huge avocado and not even in Australia where the fruits grow really huge.

The next thing that hit my mind is that maybe it is mango. So I asked my uncle and got confirmation that it was indeed an Avocado that I was holding.

Now in the picture the avocado do not look that big. Here it is beside a pretty large kiwi.

The avocado is like 3 times the length of the kiwi and maybe twice as wide. Now you might say heck that is a really huge kiwi. Well now compare it with my hand.

My fingers are just slightly longer then the avocado. Ok I do admit that I have unusually short fingers for a guy. So to put things to rest as how big this monster of an avocado is.

This monster of an avocado is 6.5 inches long. Now that must be some kinda of record. Freaky

Project KU ku Week 3

Project KU Ku has gone into the 3rd week running now. Things are moving thick and fast. We have gotten most of the stuff that we need to get to complete renovation for now. Today itself we finally got the last piece of the puzzle which is the tap fittings for our bathrooms. We are going so fast that on Friday, our contractors didn't have anything to do and they took half day off on Friday and full day on Saturday.

Week 3 is basically patching up all the walls and getting the walls and also the floors ready to receive the tiles. We got our deliver of tiles on Wednesday but then there were some hiccups. One batch of the tiles didn't come and they were the important wall tiles for the wet kitchen and downstairs bathroom and that was the reason why there wasn't anything to do be done on Friday and Saturday.

The wall between the wet and drink kitchen has been plastered back nicely as well. All it needs now is a coat of paint and done.

The both toilets being renovated are also ready to receive the tiles. However before we could do that, a layer of water proofing is needed. The 4 walls as well as the toilet has been treated with waterproofing material.

The other new thing for today is our 2 feet kitchen bench has also been built. It took us a while to settle the position of the gas cooker hob but we finally got it and the bench was built.

This is how the outside of our wet kitchen is going to look like.

Ah Keong which is the main contractor for our us didn't have much to do so he decided to fit in all the windows as well.

Our feature window got its window sill which is going to look AWESOME. I really can't wait for the windows to go in and the cabinets to go in before we can see how good it will look.

When I say my ID (Zenith Enterprise) moves fast, they really move fast. I confirmed with them on Monday we will engage them to do the alarm and stuff and on Friday, the wiring are all in and just waiting for the walls to be painted and the control box to be installed.

This week which is week 4, it will be tiling and also most likely plaster ceiling time. I really can't wait to see the house when it is finally completed. We have also chosen the colors for all the walls in the house. I hope it is not too colorful.

Right through the eyes

About a month back my bro introduced me to a very delicious biscuit called the Hello Panda. Basically it is a chocolate filled biscuit.

If you noticed some of the biscuit has a little hole on them, I think this is where they inject the choc filled center from. I was about to pop one into my mouth and I saw this.

Poor guys has a whole right through his eyes. However it didn't matter much, 2 seconds after I took this picture I tried to eat it but was denied by Amy and 2 seconds after that it set firmly in Amy's tummy being digested by her digestive juices. :)

My very first custom made clothing

The time is approaching near, after this week I will not be legally single anymore. I am no more a mustang in the wild forrest looking for a " good time". 5 months time, I will also not be single anymore in terms of tradition. So in preparation for that, Amy had me make a suit so that I look good on the second occasion. Yea ROM do not need to wear suit lar. You think what? This is Malaysia man, super freaking hot wei.

Anyway last weekend, we finally got a little time to head back to the tailor @ Fit & Match @ The Curve to do my first fitting for my suit. We walked in and guess who we saw sitting there just after his 2nd fitting? None other then....

The Best Ma Lau

Miss bejewelled*

They were finish off their appointment with Ron and then it was my turn to get into my soon to be mine suit. I was apprehensive at the start because I know I have not been a good boy in terms of exercising and eating. I promised Ron that I would lose weight before my first fitting.

He gave me my pants, my shirt and my suit and asked me to strip down to my undies and put on the new suit. Surprisingly, every thing fits just about right. I walked out and I felt good and everything pretty much fits like a glove.

That is Ron Ng trying to molest me during my suit fitting. He wasn't impressed by the suit just yet and did some adjustments here and there to make it look better. He asked me the most silly thing I have heard in my own life. He asked me do I want him to adjust the suit to make me look thinner? OF COURSE LA! However he also gave me a warning to not put on any weight anymore. Even a slight bit of weight will make the suit not fit properly.

Next weekend is the second fitting for me and Best Ma Lau's final fitting I think. I am quite happy with this suit. I actually look good. First time I am wearing something that fits me like a glove.

Project KU ku Week 2

It has been a tiring week in project KU Ku, our ID has kept us on our toes and have been asking us to get all the stuff he needs to complete the house. We have been going from sanitary shopping to kitchen shopping to fan and bed shopping. Each stop our savings gets a hitting with a min of 700 bucks to a maximum of 3k-4k. Most of the stuff has been bought and hopefully the spending will slowly start to slow down.

Second week at Project KU Ku is basically patching up the stuff that was pretty much demolished on the first week. Seems a little weird to demolish something and build it up again but it is all to make our dry kitchen a little bigger.

First is the wall seperating the dry and wet kitchen has been rebuilt but 2 feet further back. Now the dry kitchen is really taking shape. However it has a weird corner on the right which shall be filled with cabinets and a fridge soon to mask out that corner.

Next is our 2 feet "feature" window, oh yea nowadays when it comes to house renovation, "feature" is the in word. We need feature wall and feature toilet and now I have named our new window our feature window.

The window is shaping up to be a very nice part of the house and hopefully when it is done and the cabinets are in, it would really look good.

The new toilet also is shaping up nicely, all the piping are in and are awaiting a coat of water proofing and then the tiling begins. Unfortunately, it is a little delayed because some of our bathroom fittings are coming in from the supplier and a few things are yet to be decided yet. However at least the wall to the toilet has been built.

We had to do some re-designing on the kitchen and toilet a bit, initially my plan to be a rebel and to save some cost didn't work. Our ID said that it doesn't looks nice and what we initially had in mind won't be very efficient. So we had to change and well it costed us some extra money there. I think Amy is also a little relieved my idea didn't work. :)

The windows at existing window at the guest room has also been sealed up...

The tiles outside also have been removed and been prepped to await the tiles to go on them.

The drain has also been sealed but I forgot to take a picture of it. The pictures above were from last week.

This week (week3) tiling works will begin and our wet kitchen top will start to be built but waiting on our kitchen sink.

Project KU ku

First week has come and gone and now going already 3/4 pass the second week. On the first week, things went faster then we could imagine. 2 days into project KU ku, our ID already started to tell us what he needs for this week and next week to ensure that we stay on schedule. For the past week and a half Amy and I have been going around on weekends and week days to get household stuff and spending a heck alot of money.

First week of Project KU Ku is basically all about hecking and destroying walls...

Check out our once not too battered looking house. Basically the wall at the back that you see is the back of our house which is shared with our back neighbour. The wall separating the dry and wet kitchen has been demolished and moved back by 2 feet to make the dry kitchen a little bigger.

However there are consequences of moving walls and all that. One of them is that the moved wall will sit exactly at where the window to the guest room is. So no choice had to move the window forward and now the windows a uh slightly smaller as well.

Big hole on the right is original window and middle hole is the new window. Hope the room gets enough ventilation. In any case, we doubt people will be sleeping in there. It would basically be converted into our study room.

We wanted to do some hanging cabinets for our dry kitchen but a window was in the way and initially we just wanted to close the entire thing up. However Uncle Tho told us that if we did then the dry kitchen will be very dark most of the time and that is not good. So he designed for us a nice horizontal window. We are very excited about this new addition. We are hoping it will turn out nice.

We also moved the downstairs toilet from it existing position to a smaller room on the side to make way for the wet kitchen. The original design of the house had the toilet right in the middle of the wet kitchen.

Yea the wall got one heck of a acne problem here and it is to make way for the water proofing as well as the tiles since this will be changed to a toilet where it was once not a toilet and didn't have any tiles on it.

The other thing that was done this week were also wiring for the downlights. All this happened within a week and it was crazy fast.

Next week the walls will go in and more wiring will be done and then the tiling starts. Stay tuned. :)