And here is it, the 29th and it’s track mate Darius birthday party. Held similarly at his “second home” The Caribbean at the habourfront as that of last year. For those who have no clue of the The Caribbean, it’s a joint built on the Keppel bay which, by Singapore standards, offer venice styled canals with constuction sand barges and dark foul smelling seawater in front of your homes? Well if that’s your definition of luxury hehe.

Met up with the track gang in the late afternoon who was already at Vivo shopping for presents. They’ve got a Bon Jovi CD for him actually intended to get full running attire set (dry pants and running top) at the Nike by BIRD shop, but in the end we we decided to get only the running shorts so we can use our $50 voucher (the pants aint cheap either) and settled for a freshbox skull-top Shirt- something very much more of the birthday boy’s taste than the running simple running top design. Got all the presents wrapped and packed together at the precious tots gift shop, topped by Kat’s hand made DOMO card, haha cute! In total theres about 10 of us sharing the total cost of $100++ for all the presents.

I can’t go down!

1/2 court Basketball

FOOD!

The party this year is definately much better than the last, though being smaller as well- all to avoid the crowd segregation in last year’s party. The gang played 1/2 court basketball (the biggest court there duh) till dark while the rest of us rush up “hidden” from the birthday boy to finish decorating and signing the DOMO card. The smaller group is easier to manage this year and food was aplenty too! Besides the Lamb chops, cheese dogs and BBQ Squid, love especially the steaks and curry chicken! There was no late night Tennis like last year but we had a night walk round the area thereafter, before heading back before 11.30pm where everybody can get back before the last bus/train leaves.

DOMO!

Inside DOMO!

Cake!

Happy Birthday Darius… haah enjoy the last of teen years, cus you won’t be 19 next year!

PS: sorry for the horrible photos in this post, my camera phone is just simply blind at night.

Did quite alot of registrations today. Registered for my Standard Charted Marathon considering that closing date for the direct mailer would be ending in about 2 days time. Would be registering for the New Balance RealRun the coming weekday.

Prices for the realrun are the same for both 15km and 10km, while most kiasu runners will go for the 15km, the only difference being to run an additional stretch of tarmac and nothing else, furthermore all the runner entitlements are still the same. I will still run the 10km as of every year. Pity the Juniors 5km event is no longer available this year, so my juniors will have to run 10km minimum.

With that in hand, also registered for my NAPFA test through the SAS, didn’t know I have to clear it by early August, it slipped my mind and I actually wanted to do it after my exams.

Target for NAPFA (Gold standard)

My weakest station is standing board jump, but have been doing practice jumps doing my long runs lately and able to pull at least 225cm each time. *grins* from there yes, SBJ is 70%-80% technique- you don’t need overly muscled calves or quads to jump far, it’s just a matter of perfecting the launch, stretch, tuck and land technique.

I will be revisiting Sit & Reach after like 5years? had been sometime since I did that, did some practice stretches and found out I can still go about 50cm. With that settled, things are looking good for a Gold (& a free crumpler pouch) this thursday’s NAPFA (which is also my QFPR module final exam date), furthermore, all I need is 11:39 max to get C grade for 2.4km which still means a GOLD, hehehe. Dang just hope it does not rain on the coming Thursday.

Did an evening run today at my usual tanglin route, only to be greeted not only by noisy chinooks and apaches in the evening, 3 groups of them each with their own big Singapore flag but also a nice ~15mins long fireworks showering the night sky during the ending of my run, nice.

My primary workstation is down again, actually since early last week due to some operating system corruption, but didn’t have the time to dismount the backup drives and put in another install of Windows XP yet, being neck deep in projects and papers. But at least I would be away from my current game – Need for Speed Most Wanted till the end of my exams *twitch* *twitch* which I had been playing almost everyday with one blacklist member cleared daily.

I am currently 3 on the list now against Razor’s Ronnie. I still have alot of old games to complete, I had not installed and played NFS Carbon yet and before you know it, Prostreet will be out just around the corner in November. Still miss those old NFS yesteryears which started all these hype.

Things are starting to heat up now, which everybody geared on exams. I won’t really be out track training till then, but mostly training by myself now (which timings are more flexible). And concentrate on more marathon training which is completely relevant to track training now.

Nevertheless, I will be back after the exams… But then there’s FYP too.

Collected my a certificate of commendation from the MM office today, it’s one for being in the Director’s honour roll last semester and signed by Director MM himself. Funny that I didn’t receive any last year.

Well usually I don’t blog about small little lunch events, but considering that this is the first time my class of DME FT/3A/10 is getting together for an official class outing, why not?

With the semester class outing subsidy per student set at $7.50 per person now, what more to chow but at Taka Seoul garden at an additional price of $5 per pax after student discount. The food is expectedly the same since I last visited and ate there, except with cheers going out to the black pepper beef. Otherwise, there’s nothing much new to report of the table barbecue joint. Our table tried a new style of cooking by mixing fried eggs together with our BBQ meats for an additional zesty taste and umm as we athletes will call it- a protein boast!

Dropped by Paradiz for the rest of the afternoon for class LAN gaming. Not so good in Counter-Strike as what I was in the competitive days back then, it is easy to get top frags for consecutive maps only to hover around 2nd/3rd on the leaderboard midway into games. Guess I’ve outgrown games now or maybe just retired for leisure and non-competitive gaming now. Or maybe CS is just too friendly for most players now, it’s hard to put in the tricks and tactics you’ve learnt since CS Beta 2 and clan gaming into mindless free-for-all LAN shop gaming now.

Had a chat today with SAA student development officer, Mr Lee Ee Tat with regards to an invitation the SAA sent to selected students for a PSC bonded scholarship. I’ve recieved a invitation card from them last month or so, but disregarded the public reception and seminar (held at some hotel ballroom) due to the lack of time and personally I don’t like idea of bonded scholarships and would like to continue studying after I get my diploma (scholarship=work after grad).

This new call which came today is with regards to another private seminar also on PSC scholarships, which is completely paid for on a case-by-case basis by the school to attend, which is rather prestigious in nature. I hope I didn’t sound too disapproving but I felt that the item coming on this Saturday came at such short notice and personally I have my current exam studies planned ahead of me for the weekend. Furthermore the seminar is something I can follow up again when the time is right and I believe someone else can take in place of me which can be more beneficial to him/her.

Yea, you can say I live my days by the days of week in this context, but currently, this is important but not urgent, semester exams now are both urgent and important.

With a little time I have here after dinner and back from a Statistics Module test a moment ago, let me just share about the buzz going up with our new coach Coach S Pandian.

I believe this is something only the year 2 and seniors of track and field can relate to, but not very much the juniors. We all love training under our previous coach Robin, he is not only a very fatherly figure but one which does for in passion and commitment to the best of his abilities. But as all people who desire the best, there are also limitations on his part, whether financially or even ambitions, that is why he left us an official coach- not that he’s not doing his job, but rather a man of results and one who wishes to do his job well- something which is rather difficult to accomplish with the current large number of unique individuals to coach and manage. A wise choice.

Our new coach was around last Friday and being, he upped for a 100m and 400m trail strictly for the IVP relays which he is largely concentrating on being a record 400 and 800m runner himself. Personally I do not like the attitude of our new coach and how he portrays himself, he seems rather distant and unfriendly as a coach. Though it commendable that the does treat us like adults and not army recruits or dogs, he actually does not communicate much to us at all. During my first training with him last Friday, I just find that there’s just something missing in him.

Maybe his authoritive outlook and way of doing thing is his cup of tea. And though everybody ran their hearts out then, that didn’t motivate me to run the 100m and 400m time trials on that day, which I didn’t quite actually put in my best so as not to make the relay team under the new coach (which gave rather slow birazze timings as well).

Oh well, I hope I didn’t paint a bad impression in front of the juniors, but life is not all about winning, it’s how you win it and I don’t want it all the end with just an IVP, especially for us seniors. Having represented the school in previously in the 05/06 session, there is more to just an IVP. There something else which our previous coach offers for our passion of running even after leaving SP, particularly in my case training for Full Marathons and completing my 1st Ironman.

Similarly, it seems that our track captain is getting under the heat as well, having to choose sides to train on can make things rather difficult especially compromising the extent of our official membership in the track and field team and appointments. But not matter what decisions we choose and train with as he said: “we are all still SP track n field! we are a team!”

Nevertheless, coach Robin left us a letter in the light of the darkness:

Got an unexpected letter from Ngee Ann Kongsi last Saturday, I never knew that they would contact me again after I personally felt that I didn’t do very well in the interview with them last week. Never do I know, upon opening up the letter, it reads:

Woot!

The scholarship values at $3000 for one year (2 semesters), so that very much covers the rest of my last 2 semester school fees. The catch is that this semester, including my next are the only 2 semesters left for me and my school had already charged my parents Giro last week for this semester’s fees. Think it’s a trip down to the Campus finance department to clear things up.

Nevertheless, the award will be an awarded at the presentation ceremony held on the 4th next month, in the afternoon at the Ngee Ann Auditorium at the Teochew Building.

Hey I am back from the mud walk ummmm 2007 Mizuno wave run. If you’ve ran the event this year, I believe you will have quite a little too many comments on the organisation of the event. The morning started with a heavy downpour in the morning, which slowed gradually over time and eventually turned into a light drizzle at the start of the event.

Race Conduct
People who arrived right on the dot do not even know where are critical event points such as baggage points. My start was late with the horn already blown when I rushing to the last available truck to desposit my bag (the other truck started turning down deposits). Then to the start point and started my race before the fun run started. Furthermore, there was not clear demarkation of the Finish/Ending point. Though there was a giant Mizuno inflatable there, anyone could have mistaken it for an interval checkpoint as encountered mid race. Many countinued running after crossing the “end line” only to come across the gun timer 20m behind and strangely greeted by a GRC event finish line on the right and a dragon boat event thereafter on the left.

Run Congestion
Noticable bottlenecks in the race would have to be the bridge at the starting point, which is already expected. Otherwise, it’s difficult to overtake at the reservoir with the path made narrower with the addition obstacles and puddles. The organisers should make a point to close 1 lane of the the road on the tarmac stretches instead of forcing all to run on the 2m wide pavement. Most runners naturally found their way taking 1 whole lane anyway (on top of running on the grass as well), so either way, most of us made our path if not overtaking would be a very tough feat.

Route & Excellent Medical Coverage
The organisers did not establish the 5km route on the map, publishing only the 10km route which strangely, was changed at the last minute without notice. I believe many runners were shocked to hear that the race had ended at the park and some even carried on running towards TP stadium where the race “was” supposed to end. Marshalling was pretty bad with many of my 5km runners friends (not one, 2, but even 4-5) suddenly finding themselves running the 10km route. I don’t think it’s their sense of direction which is questionable as I personally do not come across a filter or clear signs for the 5km route myself on my 10km route.

Commendable are the very well spaced medic points and staff there. Medical coverage is very good indeed.

Terrain
Largely due to weather factors, most of the Reservoir trail are covered with obstacles, puddles and mud patches. Making running rather hazardous with the added need for runners to dodge them and making themselves a hazard as well. Luckily on my course, no one fell, tripped on the trail, if not it would be disastrous. You won’t have ran the race without bringing a part of Bedok Reservoir home with you- either on your clothes, legs and of course lots on your shoes!

Horrible VGO Customer Support
Adding to the confusion at the race was the lack of customer support from VGO corp themselves prior to the race day. I’ve made several calls over the past week about the 5km fun run route and confirming the availability of baggage collection, but never even got the chance to reach them at all- either being directed to an unknown extension, put on hold by the reception for ages or simply not bothered to pick up the phone.

Baggage Collection
If you have desposited your bag with friends, or used the TP stadium lockers, you are in luck. Many thought the end point was at the stadium and ran there only to find the place empty (including me). It was only through word of mouth and on stage anoucements where most found out that their bags are actually parked in the corner carpark of the park “end point”.

Baggage Collection Woos

Queues at the event

Goodie Bag Queues

Bag distribution has to be one of the worst I’ve ever encountered- a typical case of dumping everything into 2 trucks without giving a thought how are they to be returned- which turned out to be rather birazze too. To stop crowds from raiding the trucks, one was kept shut for 30mins (effectively shutting out and putting everybody on wait and crowding at the carpark). While the other truck had all it’s contents unloaded – onto the wet grass, puddles and mud-soaked grass.

There were only 4 staff there faced with a horde of angry people waiting for their bags. Despite their attempts to check tags before issusing bags, there are limits to what they handle- Bags which were uncollected upon calling their number (one by one) are placed on the ground pile (which many were also left lying around unattended). Everybody was searching and rampaging through the pile like searchng for lost treasure in the ground, anybody could have taken any bag they wanted.

Goodie Bag Collection
This has to be the highlight of the event and just re-literate the point that if queuing is up as an olympic sport, Singapore would not only be champions, but so for consecutive years to come. Unlike last year’s race with dedicated individal queues for all shirt sizes, the queue this year is all lumped into one – both for competive and fun runners. Also as known, there is a shortage of goodie bags for the ladies due to the inablity to meet last minute surge in registrations.

Moreover, due to the organiser’s inablity to meet up with last minute surge in registrations, non-competitive runners are given a very varied mix of Mizuno attires, ranging from older dry-fit singlets to cotton T-shirts. Unlike that stated in the event brochure.

I believe this year’s race is a let down for many especially for those running the event every year. You can see (and occasionally hear) the unhappyness painted on everyone’s faces), especially with the large attendance this year going disappointed. I personally feel this year’s race is one of the worst Mizuno races ever.

Overall: 2/5
Verdict: Worst Wave Run I’ve ran in ages. Ok if it’s already muddy and wet, just don’t give us the need to run with compasses and let us have our bags – Both of them!