TGIF

Powder power

When I finished the tub of mineral loose powder from the Face Shop, I went online to research about the best selling loose powder in the market. Several people recommended Chanel and there were good reviews about it, I thought that Chanel makeup products will be really pricey, but decided to check out the price at the airport during my trip last month. 

I vaguely remembered that someone blogged about this loose powder and it cost >$70 at local shops (I went to Robinsons last week and it was priced at $77 there), therefore I was delighted when it was just $57.50 at the airport, that's a whooping $20 off the regular price. 

The loose powder is really fine, easily to apply after I put my concealer and BB cream, it smells really nice too. The packaging looks really good and classy with the Chanel logo on it, even though this is the first time I splurge on makeup, its really value for money as I managed to save quite bit. 

New iPhone

After two years of using iPhone 5, I finally upgraded to my new 5.5 inch iPhone 6 Plus, I'm so happy with my new phone and the biggie screen. :)

The weekend

I ended the work week on a high note and was elated the whole of Friday evening, I even slept quite early as I didnt feel like doing anything after work. I woke up before 5am for my long run as I had to reach ECP by 6am. With the earliest train at 5.30am, I reckoned I'll be there a little late since my usual route to ECP is to take the train to Bishan and hop onto a cab from there, it'll just take 15-20min to reach ECP from Bishan and cost $10. The conversation between me and the cab uncle went like this..

Uncle: You going to work?
Me: Nope, I'm going ECP for a run.
Uncle: Huh? You're going so far just to run? Here no park meh?
Me:...

(Uncle even gave me a look which when he thought I was nuts, but it actually felt quite good to be considered a nutcase. Heh. )

When I reached the usual hut where the Running Department group leave their bags, they had already started running for 20 min, and I had to wait for them to finish the first loop before I joined them from thereon. This is my third time there but its just my second run with them as it was raining heavily when I reached the place three weeks back. It was really a bummer to travel so far to ECP and ended up not getting to run, even though the experienced runners still braved the rain, I was not used to that and did not want to do it with my new shoes on. I ended up going to the gym instead, thinking that it will be a double disappointment if I went home without any doing any run.

Anyway, back to my run at ECP yesterday, I was following the 5h 30min pacers again and somehow this time round I found it easier to keep to the pace (maybe the straight flat route at ECP made a difference) and I must say the pacers I was following are really nice and encouraging. I felt disappointed last week when I could only finish 15km at MBS but I managed to meet my target of 18km this week. I'm quite happy about it as the previous time I ran in ECP, I only did 9km. Its quite a milestone for me since 18km is also the longest distance I've ever ran without stopping, except for the short drinking breaks after every 3km.

Again, I found 100 plus so heavenly after a good run and I downed almost two bottles after the run. After failing to book a cab to get out from the place after the run, I tried my luck and found a way to get home using public transport. I walked to the nearest underpass and cross the highway to Amber Road, walked along the path and found a bus stop with buses that brought me to town (or other MRT stations).

Hope I can do more good runs after this. Good week ahead.

Yeah!

Happiness is...

Happiness is...

• Going back to work after an extended long weekend without feeling the blues
• Seeing the P6 pupils feeling so carefree and happy after PSLE
• Being able to sit at my desk after 1pm to clear my markings
• Going home on time and feeling accomplished
• Getting two tubs of Dreyers ( Rocky road/ Cookies & Cream) to indulge with some chips (sinful!)
• Going for a run with a nice cool breeze on my face 
• Having a good run and being able to push myself to go further
• Priceless

(photo courtesy of Great Eastern Women's Run Singapore)

Haze is coming back :(

Oh no, it's public hols and gym closes early. I want to do a evening run but its rather hazy right now. (photo courtesy of SCMS)

Straits Times Run At The Hub

Its the first time I'm doing this run despite bad reviews from their inaugural run last year. I was mainly attracted to it as I want to clock mileage for the upcoming SCMS, and they had a new category this year, the 21km HM. On top of that, this is the first run to end at the new Sports Hub, its not a major selling point for me but some other runners were pretty much attracted by it.

Anyway, I woke up at 3.30am that morning, just in time to see the shuttle bus leaving below my block (staying just opposite the MRT station). I did not opt for the shuttle bus service, as I thought I will want to sleep at least 15min more and just spend on taking a cab to the race site. I went downstairs half an hour later and got a cab almost immediately. The friendly cab driver dropped me off at the nearest possible point and I already see many other runners walking towards the sports hub. I was happy to note that it was only 4.30am, an hour before the start of the race and one of the rare occasions I made it to the event site so early. A short brisk walk brought me near to the bag deposit area and I stopped to pin my bib and down a packet of gel. After which, it was just 4.45am and I was undecided on what to do next, I decided to explore and find out the route to the start point as it seemed to be some distance away. I walked towards the start point (about 100m away) and realised that the start pen was not opened yet as other runners are standing and sitting around waiting. I decided that it was still early and therefore I should take a toilet break, so I walked back the way I came. I was dismayed to see the long queue at the mobile toilets (there were 5 or 6 people ahead of me), after waiting for awhile, judging that the start pen should be opened, I changed my mind again and went back towards the start pen. Actually, I was so nervous that I could not even tell if I really need to pee or not, but the kiasu- mentality in me talked myself into heading to the start pen so that I can be as near to the front of the pack as I can. 

Even though there were signs directing the slower runners to the second and third wave, I was feeling guilty as I just followed the faster runners to the front. Initially I did not know what they intended to do when they called out for the >3h people to keep to the right, so I just kept going left. Eventually, I saw them being left behind and wondered if those peeps regretted being too honest? I guess I should be directed to the second wave if I follow my previous timing but ended up standing right in front of the small stage and was within the first 50m from the start line. Listening to the few guys standing near me, they were kind of glad that they 'cheated', thus did not get stuck in the later waves. I felt comforted that there are others doing the same as me hehe. 

On hindsight, I made a mental note to myself to just visit the toilet as soon as I deposit my bag for any HM/FM next time, I remembered I did visit the toilets before starting my HM/FM last year and kind of regretted I did not do it earlier. It was not a good idea to skip the toilet as we waited for another 30 min at the start pen. :( As soon as I started running, my bladder was calling out to me to make a stop at the next toilet, it was a lingering feeling that I could not shake off and I had to make a stop at the 7km mark after we passed the F1 gallery. I envy the guys as I saw many rushing off towards the bush along nicoll highway shortly after we started. There were mobile toilets at the earlier hydration stations but I did not want to stop there as there were others queueing, the toilets near the float were clean and bright, so I was glad I stopped there instead. 

However, my pace was disrupted after that. I was some distance before the 2h 30min pacers before the toilet break but they were hot on my heels after I came out from the toilet. I got quite irritated and distracted by their loud chatting when they were just behind me and I had not pick up the momentum to continue on. Another unfortunate thing which happened was my ipod nano died shortly after the race started, barely making it after the first 2km, therefore I could not drown out the noise behind me with music, neither can I keep track of my timing and pace. I slowed a lot to let them pass, and there was a huge entourage following the group of pacers, so I had to slow even more to a walk when I realised there was no way for me to overtake the group and leave them far behind me. 

My continuous running became a jog and walk after that and I was barely at the 8km point. The 10km runners joined us shortly after the MBS stretch, making it even more crowded. Luckily, the roads were wide enough so there were no bottlenecks, but runners were jostling for drinks at the marina barrage hydration point. I was gaining back momentum by counting my steps in my head and having a rough gauge of distance by doing that in accordance to the distance markers. Just when i was getting more motivated, I encountered a major bottleneck shortly after the 14km point. It was the worst I've ever seen in a race as the road was so narrow, it took us a good ten minute before we could continue running again. I was thinking there was no way I could achieve a good timing with all these disruptions, my motivation was not completely ruined after this point but I realised there was a good number of walkers among the HM runners after that. Seeing people walking around weakened my resolve further and I was slowing down to walking most of the time after the 18km mark. The last 3km seemed to go on and on...

Without my watch to tell the time, I completely had no idea how long I took till I got the results. I was quite disappointed when I saw that my timing was a full 3h but I guess without the bottleneck and stop for toilet break, it should be quite close to my previous HM timing of 2h 45min. 

Nice extended long weekend

Keep on running

Its a super long weeekend for me as last Friday was Children's Day (special privilege for all primary school teachers) and tomorrow its off-in-lieu for Hari Raya Haji. Waking up at 5.30am, I joined the Running Dept peeps for their first SCMS run-with-pacers training on Saturday, I was excited as training runs at MBS-GBTB is something new for me and I was looking forward to train on a new route. 

I joined the slowest group of pacers with the 5.30h marathon timing and it was comfortable for me at first, we ran along MBS for the first 2-3km then went towards GBTB and ran a big loop around it. The MBS part was familiar as many race routes had us passing this part, but running along the outer perimeter of GBTB was something new for me. For the first loop of 8km, I was able to keep pace with the group but notably my first and only marathon timing last year was almost 7h, I felt strained to keep pace with the group after the 10km point. I stopped for a toilet break at MBS when we were heading towards GBTB and totally lost the group after that. I did not want my lsd to just end at 10km that day as I'm only 3 weeks away from newton challenge and I have a lot of mileage to catch up with. From the previous week's Straits Times Run in the Hub experience, I know that I'm still not mentally/physically prepared for the coming newton challenge or SCMS. Therefore, I pushed myself to finish that loop on my own. I was so glad that hydration station and helpers were around to give out drinks shortly after the MBS stretch, the 100 plus really tasted so heavenly down my throat. I did not take the outer loop of GBTB as I was not familiar with the route, but just ran along the normal pathway towards the barrage, I met the other guys after I finished the gigantic hilly slope on my own, rested a bit while waiting for them and then headed back. According to my Ipod nano, I did 14.5km that day as I took a shortcut during the second loop. Before taking the train back, I went to 7-11 at Bayfront Station to get myself a bottle of 100plus and almost downed everything in one long gulp. Woohoo.. 

I was not satisfied with my performance that day but I was glad that I pushed myself further than the previous training run of 12km. I hope that next weekend I can do at least 18km/21km so that I'm one step closer to my target. 

(Photo courtesy of Running Department)