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Arrived before 7 a.m. and managed to find a good parking spot for my car. I considered 3 parking spots before settling on the last one.  Wanted to make sure the parking spot was good and there was no chance of being blocked in by a late-comer (indiscriminate parking) later on.  Then jogged slowly to the WC.  Part warm up and also to go to the loo early to avoid long lines later.  Sensible and practical combined!

Went to seek out the rest of my PIPC team mates to register and collect our t-shirt.  The PIPC guys as usual slowly trickled in one by one. Whereas all the ladies were all ready and sharp to go.  Hanging around the registration area, saw quite a number of familiar faces (non PIPC) as well.  So had a few words and chit chat whilst waiting for flag off. What a small world indeed!

By 7.30 a.m. we were ready at the starting line waiting for the flag off.  Our running specialists C and CH especially were impatient to be off.  When the race started, it was quite chaotic for the first few meters, everyone seemed to be in a great hurry to set off and took off at top speed.  Quite disconcerting! Surely they will kill themselves at such a pace? Luckily saw ML nearby and immediately followed her steady pace. 

The initial race pace went much faster than I liked.  But kept at it pretty well, but when we looped back to the entrance of Youth Park, I was getting quite winded and had to stop to walk to catch my breath.  ML who was breathing much heavier then me (could hear her because we were running side by side) by then shot ahead at a steady pace. RESPECT!!  But I knew I could never match that pace with her, so better walk for a bit!  By then a few PIPC guys zoomed past me.  Those guys aren’t runners, but they sure can hustle if they set their minds to it! 

When we looped into Jesselton area, I was jogging and walking alternately.  Phew… tired, out of breath and trying to avoid my stitch becoming worst.  The road winded through the housing area and seemed endless as I was not familiar with this section of the route.  By that time, there was just a handful of other runners on the road around me.  Most of them were just moving at a slow jog, and few others (like me) were running and walking alternately.  I guess the fast ones had already finished or shot ahead?

Finally we left Jesselton area, and came into the one way lane leading into Youth Park. I finally recognize this section of the route, and my second wind kicked in. My legs took off at a fast clip and started over taking the runners/joggers/walkers in front of me slowly.  Tackled the bend and the small incline going up, after reaching the top, gave a very loud and unlady like grunt.  HURGH!!   Yup, some of the early finishers were already going back with their medals and certificates, huh.

The finishing line was in the field.  There was this guy running slowly in front of me, wearing runner shorts with long legs.  Out of my way! I burst past him, ahh… sweet satisfaction of finishing in front of him. Hahahaa.  I think the race official standing nearby was a bit surprised at my burst of speed because he said “slow down slow down, the finishing line is just in front” 

Haiz, there was no indicator where the finishing line was, just ended somewhere in the middle of the field, with some cone markers.  Sigh, I was ready to sprint right down to the end of the football field too. Anyway just a few steps later, joined the queue to collect the medal+certificate+mineral water+bun handed out.  Huh.. out of the 10 persons or so in the queue, I am the only LADY and also the SHORTEST (they at least 1 – 1.5 head taller than me).

Huh, anyway I completed within my target of 45 minutes which I set for myself.  My time for the race was 42 minutes.  I am not satisfied with my result because I felt I could have dipped below 40 minutes.  My stamina / wind was really crap, totally couldn’t stand the burn.  Also even for such a short route, my mental was not prepared for it.  Can now understand why it is so important to familiarize yourself with the race route before actual race day!

A topic that came up during one of the Alpha follow up small group sessions was, How to overcome “challenges”.. Do you feel Christians suffer more?  Normal group responses were to Pray More, God doesn’t give you a burden bigger/heavier than you can bear, blah blah and a few other “typical” Christian responses in a similar vein and theme.  A lot of halo polishing indeed!
 
On the other hand, I believe that challenges are part and parcel of life.  (Hello, that’s why we are living on planet Earth. If you don’t want problems, then you need to move to another planet?)  And that’s why drug abuse and alcoholism is such a big problem (regardless of race or religion), especially amongst those who are not able to cope well with life and pressure, blah blah blah..my mind went on and on.. But I kept quiet and held my cycnical tongue and thoughts to myself.

The next morning, I received an e-mail forwarded by my friend J (below is a copy of it).  The e-mail gave a short summary of each of the apostles and how they had died.  Wow… all EXCEPT one had died a painful and terrible death -beheading, crucifiction, soaked in boiling oil, and the list goes on. All of them suffered and were persecuted greatly for their faith.

Yikes! Yes, indeed our “challenges” are minor compared to what was experienced by the apostles.  So to conclude, maybe having faith and prayer is not such a ’crazy’ thing after all?  Something to think about perhaps?

Below the forward e-mail I received from Johanna;

How the Apostles Died.

1 Matthew - Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia , killed by a sword wound

2 Mark - Died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead. 
  
3 Luke - Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
 
4 John - Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome . However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos . He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
 
5 Peter - He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.  
 
6 James - Just The leader of the church in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller’s club. * This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
 
7 James the Great - Son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem . The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian 

 8  Bartholomew - Also known as Nathaniel Was a missionary to Asia . He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey . Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
 
9 Andrew - Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras , Greece . After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: ‘I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.’ He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
 
10 Thomas - Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent 
  
11 Jude - Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.  

12 Matthias - The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded. 
 
13 Paul - Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire . These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament. 
  
Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor compared to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles disciples during their times for the sake of the Faith. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10:22

After each run completion, “drenched in sweat” would be an understatement. In fact I look like I just had a shower fully clothed.  Didn’t really realize the full extend, till one day after physical. Got back home, and hung up my shirt to dry (before wash the next day).

When I went to sleep, I saw the floor was wet. Upon closer examination, saw there was a small but growing puddle on the floor. Whats up? Is the roof leaking? Looked up and around, no…no…Strange, and it wasn’t even raining that day… So where did the water come from? Huh? Look here.. look there…How come wet?

Then I noticed my shirt hanging on the railing directly above the puddle. Drops of water (my sweat la) was still dripping from my soaked shirt to the floor. Urgh..  So hygienic huh?

Ps. My car is starting to smell like the gym too (stale stinky smell of sweat). Is it time I get an air freshener?

I had stopped running for more than 3 years due to knee problems and had no intention of rushing it. But decided to pick it up again because of two reasons;
1. impressed by how fit and lean (fuyoh, loved her leg muscles!!) CH had become after 3-4 months since she started running seriously
2. looking for something more challenging / goals to improve my fitness

After pondering about it, I decided to fix my goal which was to achieve 10km in 60 minutes within 3 months (one quarter).  The 6km Kebun Bunga run in end September would also be used as an indicator/benchmark on my progress.

With this goal set, I trotted off to equip myself with a pair of New Balance running shoes (don’t want to aggravate that knee again with wrong shoes, ya know). Then hopped on the nearest treadmill at the earliest opportunity I got to break those shoes in. I accomplished a very tiring and sweaty first attempt of 5km in 44 minutes. 

Gleefully updated my accomplishment to a friend (who I knew ran) for comments. I also shared my goal at the end of 3 months. His response was to give some feedback about how much km’s I needed to log on a weekly basis.

Oppss……Good input!   Food for thought!  I hadn’t really thought through all the nitty gritty details! In typical Aries fashion, I just jumped right into my plan without really thinking it through all the details. I just knew I would somehow reach my objectives.  After all how difficult can running be? Just run and run and then run some more to achieve your objective(s) right?  Then as your fitness improves, naturally you will be able to run faster
and able to go further right?

So then, maybe its not as straight forward then?  Hmmm… so back to the drawing board. After doing some thinking and scribbling on a piece of paper on about how many days I could allocate / free up for running to achieve the required goals. I had a rough plan. Hurray!

But my confidence was a bit shaken, so I did some researching online through running websites. Read up on training suggestions, what to do , what not to do,  tips and advise, injury prevention, warming up tips, how to choose the best running shoe….. interesting, interesting…Learnt about interval training, circuit training, long distance runs, maintenance runs, hill runs, speed runs, fartlek…heart rate monitoring…Interesting… so many good advice you can find online for free. 

Really admire and respect all those knowledgeable people who spent their time and effort to put it up online, and willing to share their experiences and tips to everyone.  I love the internet!

6 weeks down the road, I am still learning.  I am now able to run 10km in 70 minutes.  But still experiencing quite a lot of soreness after that. So back to internet for advise.  I have some good ideas on why and how to reduce it. Hope that works!

The Kebun Bunga run is in 2 ½ weeks, hope everything goes well and it will be an enjoyable run.  My target for myself is just to finish at an easy pace (6km in 45 minutes).  Till then!

Happiness is ;

Being blessed in the presence of our Lord

Arriving safely home when you’re exhausted after a long day

Feeling the soft breeze caressing your cheek

Seeing the sunrise streaking across the skies when you’re leaving for work

When someone you have been thinking off, suddenly gets in touch

Teamwork and camaraderie on the boat

Motivating and encouraging each other to go the distance

Being there for a friend who needs a shoulder to lean on

Happiness that doesn’t last is

When you take your credit card for a walk

After a hard workout and you wake up to very sore muscles the next morning

Crashing after a late night out

You get your own way but only after a heated argument

Achieving something at any cost

Why can’t we open our hearts to love others the way we love God?

Ms. J says we always need to keep a portion of ourselves from others to “protect ourselves”.  The MBA inside my head replied… logically there should a distinction between spiritual love and human love, and it is not possible to compare these two types of love…  

Ok, the responses were intellectually acceptable enough, but really… why can’t we love others the way we love and accept God in our lives?

Later that night, I was thinking who was the best person in this world who equates love. A image of Mother Teresa popped into my mind.  She lived her life to serve others, caring for the poor, the sick, the lonely and the dying.   Who would know better then she?  I tried to imagine what Mother Teresa would reply, if I asked her this question.

How could you dedicate your life to all these people if it wasn’t because the love you felt for them? The love you felt for God?  I then tried to imagine how vast and strong your love must be…Also how much pain was there in your life……For I don’t think it is possible to have so much love in your heart without pain and suffering to exist as well (?) What reservoirs of strength you had to draw on to continue to answer your calling from God.

Oh dear, things were getting so complicated.  More and more questions instead of a simple answer I was hoping for. Astonishingly after all this mental aerobics, I did receive a simple answer, before falling asleep.

“”Don’t think so much. Just do it.”"
Its the answer really so simple?

I was nurtured
I was sheltered
I was curious and young
I was searchin for that something
Tryin to find it on the run
Oh and just when I stopped lookin’
I saw just how far I’d come
In this life

I have faltered
I have stumbled
I have found my feet again
I’ve been angry
And I’ve been shaken
Found a new place to begin
And my persistance to make a difference
Has led me safe into your hands
In this life

You give me love
You give me light
Show me everythings been happenin’
I’ve opened up my eyes
I’m followin’
3 steps fight an honest fight
2 hearts, they can start a fire
1 love is all I need in this life

I was put here for a reason
I was born into this world
And I’m living, and I’m believing
That I was meant to be your girl In this life

–Delta Goodrem

Waiting for skool to be out
Tick tock tick tock
Can’t wait to get away
Outside, in the sun,
By myself,
Without anybody else

Need to unwind
Hit the gym
Sweat it out
Body moving to the music
Feel the burn
Don’t need anything else…

Argh,,, almost bouncing off the walls today!
Do you have a blender that I can borrow?
It has to be quite large
Large enough to fit my head?

Didn’t you know curiosity killed the cat my nosey friends?
I was about to utter a vague careless reply
When I saw you, and the rest waiting so intently  
For the words to fall out from my smiling lips
One with mouth half open with an unfinished sentence hanging in the air
Head half turned momentarily in our direction, waiting
The other with eyes brimming with curiosity at us
All attention diverted towards us waiting with baited breath
A moment frozen in time
Time had momentarily come to a stand still

And I was smiling inside
I hadn’t realize my life was so interesting
Worthy enough to arouse such curiosity amongst all of you?
What can I say that would satisfy?
And then the wisest of them all smiled back
The wisest who had been watching throughout
Replied calmly on my behalf, when I did not
Don’t worry my friends
She will share when the time is right..
When the time is right….

When I was young
It seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle
Oh it was beautiful
Magical

And all the birds in the trees
They could sing so happily
So joyfully
Oh playfully watching me

Yeaaaaah!
Come on!

SCOOTER WHEN I WAS YOUNG "RAMP! (THE LOGICAL SONG)"