30Km Race in Singapore

Well, this is it, folks, this afternoon I'm flying off to Singapore for a 30km race—the Newton 30Km—on Sunday morning. This will be the second time I'm running a 30km race.

The last time I did a 30km race was at Padang Merbok earlier this year, of which I managed a finishing time of about 3:10. I thought that was a decent time, but nothing to shout about. A Singaporean friend of mine told me that the Newton 30km's route is generally flat, so I'm confident of improving on that 3:10. The question is improving by what margin? Well, initially I wanted to make this run a training long run, which means to run it slowly—at any rate, slower than my targeted marathon pace. But then again, you know, I doubt that I can resist the temptation to attempt for a personal best. So I might as well set my mind to try my best to improve by at least 5 minutes!

Although I have done a couple of full marathons and numerous other shorter races, this Sunday will be a historic run for me. For the first time ever, I'll be running in my compression tights! I have tried the tights during a recent 30km long run here in KK, and I felt good in them. I don't really believe that the tights can help in improving one's performance in a race, but maybe it can help to delay the onset of fatigue, I don't know. I'm thinking maybe the only way to find out is to run something longer than 30km, say 35km to really know. Perhaps that experiment running the 30km in KK is not really comparable to the Newton 30km as I did it at a training pace. I did that training run in 3:18, but actually I would have been happier if it was a little slower, say 3:30. I guess I did not have the patience to run slower, and that's something I must improve too. Let's see what happens when I run the marathon pace in Singapore.

Joining me on this run are Khadeeja Shariff and Alvin Wong. Khadeeja is using this race as one of her training long runs in her build up to the Singapore Marathon in December later this year. Whereas Alvin is trying the 30km to experiment whether he's up for a full marathon in the coming Borneo International Marathon 4, scheduled for 01 May 2011.

So it seems that the Newton 30km will be quite an important race for all 3 of us, albeit for different reasons. Wait till I come home on Sunday evening—let's see if I have any good news to report.

Earth-Like Planet

The recent news about the earth-like planet found by astronomers caused a bit of excitement. I dare say it’s scientifically too complicated for my mind to understand, but apparently there are reasons to believe that this newly-found planet is capable of harbouring life.

As we all know, humans have been obsessed with exploring other worlds for possible life forms, even if it’s just a matter of single-cell organisms. Personally, I think with the improvement in technology to probe farther and farther into the universe, it’s just a matter of time before we find life on other planets.

I find it quite amazing that although the newly-found planet above is more than 20 light years away from earth, scientists are able to tell that the planet does not turn—it merely orbits around a dwarf sun. Although conducive to support life, it may be just another barren planet.

But if there’s life thereon, we’re looking at 3 main possibilities:

1) Primitive

I’m not sure what’s the correct scientific term, but I’m using “primitive” to mean creatures in the likes of bacteria and worms. In such a case, humans would probably be happy to prove that we are not alone in this universe. And perhaps that will encourage us to look even harder!

2) Sophisticated

Maybe we can also find a more sophisticated life form including mammals—intelligent ones like us humans. And a wide variety of them too! Maybe they can also think and plan ahead; they can build and invent things. These would be a more interesting find, because who knows, we might be able to exchange ideas or share knowledge to achieve greater things together.

3) Advanced

We may find that the creatures on that other planet are much more advanced than us. Maybe they’re travelling from one galaxy to another like riding in a train on a daily basis. They have much more sophisticated weaponry and defense systems. They are also physically stronger and faster; they can live much longer than us. They have the cures to all the diseases on planet earth.

When and if we find (1) above, that would of course be a major breakthrough for the human race. There is no question that we would want to study the creatures and find ways on how we could use any aspects of that study for our benefits.

But it would be interesting to know what would happen in cases (2) and (3) above. Knowing our nature, I think I can safely say that we would want to learn whatever we can from these aliens. And then where applicable, we may use whatever we’ve learned for our own benefits here on earth. Maybe we’re also willing to trade ideas—we show you ours, you show us yours.

Yes, that would be ideal. Both parties can learn and share from each other, and both can benefit from the knowledge!

But unfortunately, I also know that it’s not in our nature to do that. Empirical evidence had shown us that we are, for the most part, selfish and greedy animals. We can’t resist the temptation to colonize the weaker party. We can’t get along with our own kind; we want to impose our ideologies and beliefs upon others. Throughout the history of mankind, we have always failed to contain our lust for power and wealth. It’s never enough, you see. We go to war; we fight to invade other countries; we want to be the king. We’re willing to go to all ends to satisfy our greed.

That’s why this whole thing about finding alien life form may not be such a good idea after all. I know in the long run we will fail to resist the temptation to colonize the aliens. Except that there is the possibility that the opposite may also be true—that the aliens are like us too; selfish and greedy animals which are unable to control their lust for power.

Model Tenants

About 15 years ago, during the launching of the Grace Court development, I decided to buy a small apartment on the first floor in Block C. Mia did not like the idea, because she said she's not very keen to live in an apartment. I explained to her that I, too, had no intention to live in an apartment. Rather, I foresaw that the Grace Court would become quite sought-after several years down the road, having considered its location within the Sembulan neighbourhood. Reluctantly, Mia went along with my plan. And so we eventually bought a unit there.

All along my main plan was to let out the unit, and it so happened that in the nearby commercial portion of the development, there was a college. And college meant students, i.e. a good source of potential tenants.

I have had several tenants over the years, but I eventually settled on a group of female students from the college. I spent a bit of money to furnish the apartment, e.g. double-decker beds with mattresses, a cheap 21-inch TV, a sofa and dining sets, several desks and cupboards. I also provided a fridge and a cooking stove. On top of that, I was also responsible for water and electricity consumptions, as well as minor repairs. I must say that the rental income has been quite good.

Before I let out the unit, I spoke to some friends who had invested in similar properties. And almost all of them were unanimous in their advice. They advised me to try my best to look for female students. Male students are OK too, but they're likely gonna damage my apartment. According to them, boys are messy creatures; they smoke and create lots of troubles for the neighbours, resulting in many, many complaints. All too scary, you see.

Well, I thought I should heed my friends' advice and took so much pain to look for a group of girls. But to be quite honest, I was never really overly concerned about my apartment. I had planned to improve the condition every now and then, and I had expected that there would be periodic repairs to be carried out. After all, it's not like I had any plans to live there one of these days.

And so, to make the long story short, I managed to find a group of girls. And once the apartment was let, I hardly ever set foot in the unit. Each time I collected the rent, I went as far as the front door, and was only able to get a glimpse of the inside. I had no idea what the rooms looked like. As long as they paid the rents, I was quite happy.

However, those girls eventually finished their studies, and after getting themselves established, they're moving on to buy their own apartments in other areas. So they have given me notice to terminate the tenancy. I of course foresaw this coming, but I was glad that it's been about 5 years since they started occupying my apartment. Last Sunday was the day they were supposed to move out, and I made the appointment to come around to refund their deposits as well as inspect the apartment.

When I arrived at the apartment at around 4pm, they were just about to start packing. Apparently they had an arrangement with a friend who would help them move their stuff with his truck. For the first time in ages, I was able to enter my own apartment to inspect its condition.

Well, maybe it's just me, I don't know, but let me tell you that not all girls are neat and clean. At least not this group of girls! There were scattered private garments all over the place; the messy bedrooms; the horrifying kitchen and bathroom. But of course these girls were moving out anyway, so I guess one would expect the place to be somewhat messy.

Then it occurred to me to check out the fridge. It was still filled with a whole bunch of stuff ranging from unfinished food, drinks and tidbits of probably several months old. At the top most compartment, the thickness of the ice indicated that it's been left that way for ages. And in it was a can of soft drink, opened but unfinished. Although I can't confirm it, I suspect that it's been there in that same position for months. I looked back to the girls who were still sitting on the sofa, totally absorbed in watching their favourite programme on TV, and asked if they would mind if I snapped a photo. They merely burst out laughing.

While I was clicking away with my phone camera, they were kind enough to inform me that they had started to defrost the fridge since morning. So I can't imagine what it was like before they started defrosting the fridge.

And with a bit of effort, I managed to dislodge the famous soft drink to take this photo.

So, folks, if you ever plan to invest in a property and are looking for tenants, don't bother too much with insisting for female, as opposed to, male tenants. It's not really worth the trouble, I tell you!

Jantung Pisang

If only I could charge some sort of entertainment fee every time I make my wife laugh, she'd owe me quite a hell lot of money by now. We've been married for a little over 18 years. If I were to include those courting years, it'd be more than 20 years. Oh yes, she'd owe me a hell lot of money, I tell you!

I must admit that I sometimes can't control my sense of humour; and I can't resist the temptation to make people laugh, you see. But sometimes I don't even mean to be funny, yet people would find what I say or do very funny all the same; I don't know why, maybe it's some sort of blessing—or curse. Such was the case when I once tried to explain to Mia about jantung pisang.

Jantung pisang are of course Malay words which can be translated literally to banana's heart. Now Mia's general knowledge, as far as things like plants and machineries are concerned, is not so good. And it happened that she did not know what a jantung pisang was.

She was like, "What, bananas have hearts too?" and started smiling.

I told her quite seriously that there's indeed such a thing as jantung pisang. But Mia was not convinced, she thought I was just kidding. At that particular moment, I could not locate a banana tree, but I was determined to describe to Mia what a jantung pisang look like.

So I started describing that there is usually a long rugged stump sticking out of the banana tree. In fact, that stump is a part of the fruits. And at the base of that stump, usually one is able to see a bunch of hairy stuff, you see.

As I was describing to Mia, she started laughing. And as I went on describing, her laughter became louder.

Just as I reached that part about the hairy stuff, she interrupted me and said, "Yeah, I know, at the end of that stump, there is something of a bulge which is reddish or pinkish in colour—sometimes even purplish in colour, right?"—all the time laughing uncontrollably.

I said, "Hey, how did you know!?"

And then Mia laughed hysterically!

Yeah, I think Mia would owe me a lot of money for all those years of laughter, including those times when I did not even mean to make her laugh!

Ethics

If I were a tycoon and could afford the best medical expertise to cure an illness, would it be wrong for me to use my money to buy my way through a long queue of patients so that I get treated first instead of those who’ve been waiting much longer in line before me?

I suspect many would find such an attitude disgusting! But the reality about the survival instinct is that we’re willing to do unimaginable things in order to remain alive. When in desperation, we might pay a lot of money to preserve life, quite often even when we can’t really afford it!

For example, say that I’m dying of a failing kidney, and desperately need a quick kidney transplant. There are many others in the same situation, but unfortunately we don’t have very many kidney donors. There may be some people out there who’re keen to donate, but do not see the urgency of the matter. Some people procrastinate, you see. If they are willing to donate, would it be unethical to use money to bid for their organs? It seems so wrong, somehow.

That’s why Datuk Dr Harjit Singh is condemning the act of buying or selling organs [The Star]. And then Datin Dr Lela opined that the act is unethical. However, it would be very interesting to see what would happen if Harjit and Lela themselves are dying of kidney failure, or perhaps their loved ones are suffering the illness; and the only available option to remain alive is from a donor who demands RM50,000 for one of his kidneys. I wonder if they would rather die, or let their loved ones die, than spending that RM50,000, especially if they can easily afford that amount.

People are always fast to condemn what others do on “ethical” grounds. But survival is a very strong motivation—it is a built-in instinct that is not easy to go against. We would all love to live another day—to see another sunrise; to see the smiles and hear the laughter of our loved ones just one more time. One should be dying of kidney failure himself in order to really know what people in that situation are going through. And only then is he truly qualified to say whether the act is ethical or not. This world is after all not perfect, and it will never be! All we can do is to try to make the best of it. And sometimes, the best means we may need to use money to get things done. I’m afraid that’s reality.

Compression

I’ve been meaning to find out for myself about the so-called “compression” running tights. I’ve heard of mainly positive comments from fellow runners, and although I am not such a big fan of running tights, I reckoned that it’s probably time to invest in a pair.

Apparently, compression tights can help in delaying the onset of fatigue; speeding up muscle recovery; improving blood circulation etc. In fact, it sounded like an amazing invention for runners!

During a recent trip to Singapore, a friend brought me to this mall known as Velocity, which accommodated a wide range of sports merchandises. We checked out a couple of brands, but I eventually settled for the 2XU Compression tights. It wasn’t cheap, I’ll tell you that—I bought a pair for S$219.00 (RM500).

Before that, I had never seen the tights except those worn by runners. So I was fairly alarmed to find an extremely small piece of fabric in the box. In fact, it looked very much like a black-coloured pantyhose, save for the fact that it’s made of a thicker fabric. According to the shop assistant, it’s not necessary to put on any undies—the tights alone would be good enough. Hmm, the thought of my weenee running all over the place while I’m running races—it’s not amusing, that!

Well, I went back to my hotel room, and after a pleasant bath, decided to attempt the Herculean task of getting into that tiny thing. I think a part of the difficulty was because I was worried that I would tear the fabric, but actually it’s not so easily torn. After a few minutes, I finally managed to get both my feet through. Then the slow process of gradually pulling ‘em up my calves up to the knees. That, too, took a bit of time. The damn thing’s really tight. I repeated the same process beyond my thighs, and finally successfully got the final portion up to my waistline—phew!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that in spite of that word “compression”, my testicles were not crushed. So I’m now in the position to confirm that that word “compression” has nothing to do with the groin area!

In my excitement, I texted Dr Peter to report that I am now the proud owner of a pair of compression tights; and that my testicles are not crushed! Dr Peter replied kindly, giving his diagnosis that perhaps my testicles must have shrunken from all the running. He went on to say that that’s good news as I would have lesser weight to run with. He added, however, that it’s quite an irony that a man with small testicles is pursuing a big record! You can probably tell why Dr Peter is my very good friend—he gives very good encouragements to me, although he’s perhaps not quite right up there. But that’s a different story.

Although it was very tempting, I decided not to run in my new tights for the Singapore Bay Run the next morning. I wanted to try running in them during one of my long runs first. I didn’t think that I would feel any significant effect trying it during my short runs.

Well, my chance to try out my tights came last Sunday when I ran a moderate 27km between Likas sports complex-Indah Permai shops-Likas sports complex along the Sulaman highway. Unfortunately, Dr Peter, my usual running buddy, was not around as he’s away to the UK. So I had to run alone for the most part of the workout. The rest of the adiNation folks ran shorter distances that day.

When I reached Likas sports complex to finish my run, most of the adiNation friends have gone home, except for Mia, Judy, and then later joined by Dr Liaw who did a few extra laps at the running track. Although Judy did not comment anything about shrunken testicles, she did say that my legs looked like they’re smaller in the tights.

My verdict so far is that I still can’t feel any significant benefits running in the compression tights. No cramps, of course, but after all it was just a 27km run. As a general rule, the “wall” is around Km 30. So I suppose I will only know if the tights can really help when I run a 30km or more. But I’m afraid that’s not coming so soon—not till 10 October in the Newton 30km in Singapore. Beyond that, I will have a few more opportunities to experiment with the tights, as I will be doing at least 2 more long runs of 32km-35km prior to the Penang Bridge International Marathon on 21 November.

At any rate, I hope that the tights can help—at least a bit. Otherwise, I’m really gonna hate myself for spending RM500 to make my legs look smaller! Perhaps I should ask Judy again; did she mean small as in small small, or did she mean small as in sexy or attractive kind of small (smile)…

Singapore Bay Run 2010

I am a man of many hobbies, so I'm unable to do too many of any one of them. This year, I've planned to run 6 races, i.e. 2 full marathons, 2 half marathons and 2 30km races. Last week, I was in Singapore for the Safra's Singapore Bay Run, a half marathon (21.1km) event.

The last time I ran a half marathon was in the Energizer Night Race in March, of which I failed to achieve my target of running a sub-2hr. I finished that race 5 minutes adrift of my target. When I signed up for the Singapore Bay Run a few months ago, I thought that perhaps this was the race to finally achieve my sub-2hrs record. My personal best (PB) so far then was slightly over 2:03:08 in Singapore in December 2008.

However, later I found out that there's a slope of some 1km long in the Singapore Bay Run. So I was prepared for the worst, because I just suck on the slopes.

The race started at 5:15am, and I made it to the start line with a few minutes to spare. I started the race with an easy pace, and throughout the first 5km, I thought it was quite a pleasant run. Checking my stopwatch, I was running on an average of 5:30-5:45 minutes per km. But immediately after the 6th Km point, there was a long climb. I kept running anyway, but I could feel my thighs burning up. That climb took me something like 6-7 minutes, and although there was a down-going slope after that, the strenuous workout took quite a lot from my legs.

By the 10th Km point, I was already feeling a bit of exhaustion. Looking at my stopwatch, I was pleasantly surprised to see 58 minutes, but that meant I had to run a negative split for the second half of the race. At that point, although I was fast becoming tired, I thought the sub-2hrs was still doable.

I think it must have been around the 15th Km mark when I started to have doubts on achieving my goal. Doing a bit of mental calculation, I realised that I was in a 2-minute deficit. So I needed to work a little harder to keep my ambition alive. Unfortunately, my legs were already tired—I don't know why. I tried to focus my mind on other things; away from my fatigue.

I was like:

Wow, that girl in front is very sexy; she must have been running for a while now. And her running outfit is also so attractive. Hmmm... I bet she'd look great if she let her long hair loose. Yeah, I think I will try to keep up with her. Or better still, why not try to overtake her?...

OK... I'm gaining on her now. Yes, I'm running abreast... Oh my lord!... in spite of the beautiful figure, attractive outfit and long hair, the good God did not bestow upon her a beautiful face!

Better focus on that guy further up in front... Oh my God! is that a G-string he's wearing?...

Well anyway, my attempt not to think of my exhaustion did not work too well. I was still feeling tired—perhaps even more so after seeing the girl's face. At the 19th Km mark, I saw a 1:50 on my stop watch. The feeling of hopelessness—it didn't seem likely that I would be able to make it to the finish line in good time for a sub-2hrs. But I tried to push myself anyway.

Turning into Esplanade Drive, I saw only 30 seconds left on my watch. It was obvious then that I was gonna fail yet again. But there was still hope to improve on my PB. I ran as fast as I could, and then finally crossed the finish line in 2:01:55. But later on, the official result showed that I only managed a 2:02:01. So I have achieved a PB, but failed to achieve my goal of sub-2hrs. Back to the drawing board. I know I can make that sub-2hrs somehow. Who knows, maybe next year.

And this should give you an idea of how hard I tried to achieve my goal. But I'm gonna keep on trying even if it's gonna cost me all my toe nails!