shuxian: enjoys cold minty shower in the morning, reading in the train, getting lost in daydreams, running in the open, browsing in a bookstore, having a slice of cake in the afternoon


winter solace, hence my favourite tang yuan
our attempt trying take photos via mirror
dinner!
shouie, huiwen and me?
boon, jessie, me and ben!


this is mad... i so totally hate it...
some people are just too much.
in the first place, i made myself free in the morning and early afternoon for you... i specifically told you so. then you had the cheek to complain that that is not enough... you cited that i didnt care for you, slot you into my timetable as i see fit... fine, i asked you, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO if i cancel my evening outing. you, happily said you dont know what to do, just hang around lor.
HELLO? first of all, i have a lot of things to do... and i am nice enough to put in effort to go out with you. secondly, if you dont have a plan, I DO... i have stuff to do! rather than just aimlessly walking around, yes, i have stuff to do, people to meet! i cant just spend a day WAITING for you to decide what to do.
damn! whatever, i cared enough to try but you are asking too much.. sorry but i cant entertain your crap..
time is precious and it applies especially to me..
if i ask 'are you free on (day) for (activities be it lunch or dinner or movie)?' dont fucking give me an answer saying 'i dont know' or 'see how'.
reason being

1. it is somewhere in the future, it is either you are free or you are not
2. it is rude... cos it shows, 'oh i might have something interesting going on, more interesting than this... but if i dont, i will let you know, yours is a backup plan'
3. fuck, i have my own stuff too, i am asking you because i value you, and i actually thought that you are worth spending time with

irritating.... i actually have an incident where someone actually replied me 'see how' when i was double confirming with her about the next day plans... what's worst, i have to get back to another party too... it just gets me fuming. still fuming when i think about it.

mandy's pepper lunch!


by the way, i wish i could show more appreciation to you but i didnt... thx for being there for me and making me happy. i probably am asking too much out of you... i am sorry... i usually dont blog about you cos you are considered private, treasure box kinda private.... but, hey... THANX... for the run, the company, the laughters and being so understanding... i know, and i am acknowledging it publicly.
THANX

oooooh, i have been watching Gilmore Girls recently...
i know i am kinda slow... but still, this is one of the best things ever showed on tv! i enjoyed it very much because everytime i watched it, it taught me something deep... something interesting... came across this scene today where lorelai gilmore (the mum) was being rejected by her father (and mum too) all because she got pregnant at 16. it was pretty saddening... i mean, to be rejected by your parents, OUCH, that must really hurts...
anyway, i concluded... that if someone gets pregnant, her life is completely gone...really. well, you may say that oh, we are more 'modern' now... i can provide for the child and we need no one's help or sympathy and blah blah blah... but somehow, it is not true... in a way, you kinda changed everyone's opinion and impression of you overnight... your parents may accept you and what you have done but deep down, they wished you hadnt landed into such a situation... marriage is like... well, tough, you come in a package now... see, sometimes, when people go to supermarket, they see things in package... well, though they are cheap, they usually think twice before buying cos often enough, somethings in the package is redundant. it is tough and nice guys are few, hard to come by... true love, worse. that being said, i really admire lorelai gilmore (mum) or any unmarried pregnant woman who decides to keep the baby. respect. it is not an easy option...
and so... well, i have been busy... more busy than i can even imagine... i dont have me time!!! me time! which is so totally important to me... i havent done anything on my to-do list yet!!! mandy, you should be really happy huh.... oh well, christmas is just round the corner and i am dying of stress... loads of shoppings to be done... AHHHHHHHH!

eight days ago,
i was up at 430am... i gulped down 500ml of water before washing up and ate 1 packet of energy bar. then i put on my running attire, wondering if it really was a sound decision to wear my new FBT running singlet... it is never a good thing to try on new stuff during any race... but i have to take my chances... FBT stuff shouldnt be THAT bad... i braced myself mentally for any skin abrasions... well, i went to pee for the last time in the morning before going to the bus stop to wait for ben... it was 5:10am, an unholy hour to be up and awake.
*on a note totally unrelated to what i am going to say, there was this man at the bus stop, apparently waiting for the first bus of the day... and suddenly he turned to me and asked if i was from china... i was shocked... aint the first time someone asked me that question... what the hell! china?*
we reached the starting point at 5:35am... and we started doing our stretches... the music was blasting... Flying Dutchman and his co host were ranting alway... well, it was kinda weird but i didnt feel nauseous at all... i felt good... ready for a long run... and so was ben... before long, the gun went off and we started running... it felt good, the cool morning breeze, the long and empty stretch of roads with the traffic lights to working as per normal... everyone around us was chit chatting... me and ben fell into a comfortable silence... occasionally glancing at each other to check if the pace was good... other than that we didnt talk much... i was in my own dream world and he in his. we turned into marina south district, we had trained that for like say 6 times in total? everytime we ran, we bumped into some really friendly people... they would smile at us and greet us good morning, as if we were some close friends of theirs... we even had a guy who shouted across the street, wishing us a nice run... real friendly people...
when we turned out from marina south, our momentum was there, the sky had brightened up significantly but the sun was nowhere to be seen, my heart leaped with joy... no sun means easier control of hydration... at the 14 km mark, BANANAS!!! i saw BANANAS.... great, i took one but i didnt feel the need to eat YET, so i held on to mine while ben ate his... it is not a pretty sight, running with a banana in hand but, i dont really care... we still held our silence, occasionally asking each other if we need water or banana =) but other than that, we didnt talk much...
we finally hit east cost, i braced myself mentally, this is going to be hard... indeed it was, i ate my banana earlier on and grab a packet of power gel at 23km mark... we ran on, when we passed by the macdonald area, there was a crowd there... families gathered there offering food to us! to us!!! freshly cut watermelons, their versions of chocolate power bars which ben took one... i missed the watermelon and thus had to run on with loads of regrets... watermelons!!! sigh.... it was the toughest, when we made a u turn at the lagoon... the sky was still cloudy but the air was much hotter compared to 2 hours ago's. i sipped my power gel at 30km and grabbed another for 'just in case', when ben asked if we could stop for toilet break... we stopped for say 5minutes, cos ben's muscles were really tight and had to stretch...
when we hit the road again... i knew i made a mistake... i had stopped too long... my momentum was gone, my muscles felt more tired than they were before i stopped... the run back was hell... at 35km, i started to feel a light cramp on my left thigh... shit, i had to stop to walk... each drink station was my walking station... i ate another power gel i took for 'just in case' and my word, it was a mistake.... it was so filling that i felt as if i was running on a full stomach after that!
at 4o.5km, my left thigh cramped so badly that i had to stop to stretch at the side of the road... the last 1.5km plus was a killer... when we emerged from the underpass after esplanade, i saw my mum at the bus stop, waiting for us... we waved and you have no idea, the sight of my mum, the thought of ice cold gaderade and water, cold apples and warm towels... even ben was feeling more energise... with 200m more to go, ben said, let's go. we lengthened our strides (and to actually thought that my legs were a goner?!) and we managed to dash through the ending point...
time we clocked 5hours and 2 mins... happy? very happy. tired? you have no idea what exhaustion means!
i dont know if we or rather i am crazy anot... but i think to a certain extent, i am. at some point of time during training... i actually asked myself, what the hell was i thinking, running 42. sth km just to amuse myself dont i have better things to do?
but i love to run... weekend runs were all that i looked forward to... to breathe in the morning air, believe me, they are fresher than 8am's, to run beside someone giggling and retelling of what had happened throughout the week, to try and kill your running partner but accidently pushing he/she off the pavement onto the road more than once, to try out new routes and explore the east area via foot, and to stretch at the crowded yet peaceful east coast park, occasionally oggling at some skimpy clad women rollerblading... it was wonderful...
so great was our run that someone is planning for our next marathon... and it will be our dream to complete a NY marathon, CHICAGO marathon, BOSTON marathon which only elites under 3 and a half hours can compete, NIGARA WATERFALL marathon, DUBAI marathon... and so on.... for now, i am still trying to figure if i can do the singapore biathlon... swimming at east coast will be tough for me... i dont know, try harder to convince me if you want me to go with you.

lastly, many thx to those who msged me before i ran... it was nice to wake up in the morning and read all those encouraging msges, especially yi's... she even called from perth later that night to find out how was my run... many many many thx... i saved one packet of power gel for you dear.... =)


why is that guy in our pic?


sprinting the last lap


5hours and 2 minutes