Trimum and Sons Sdn Bhd

SALAM

2011-12-12T12:42:00.002+08:00

A few more days and 2011 will be over. 2012 is coming! What??? Oh no! Its just a movie. Hmmm talking about movie, I am part of a new production to be announced soon! Stay tuned...

Let's not keep quiet anymore

2011-12-10T12:00:00.005+08:00

I can't remember exactly how our friendship started, can't even remember what year it was. But Ippy (her nickname, not her real name)and I were in the same class for a short while and somehow we 'clicked'. Not sure why, Ippy a beautiful lively girl with an infectious laugh, highly intelligent and me the quiet book worm. But neither of us were very girlish and we both loved the outdoors. So we spend many hours or even days hiking and cycling around the country side.
She lived in a neighboring village and we would visit each others homes. I'm not sure how and when I started realizing Ippy faced problems at home. She was the youngest - a latecomer in a large family. Her father had a good paying job and her mother earned extra money as a seamstress.
Her eldest brother ran away from home many years before and became a heroine addict. After sinking very low he managed to turn his life around and become a social worker -rehabilitating other drug users. Another sister ran away from home as well and broke all contact with the family afterwards. Gradually Ippy dropped hints of what was happening at home. She told me we couldn't meet on Sundays as that was the day she had to wash her clothes. As she possessed only one pair of pants she would have to wait till it was dry before she could go out. Yet her father was driving a luxury car and her mother made clothes! She was often hungry as her mother never cooked: each child had to cook for him/herself. At times the food cabinet would be locked for days if they had been 'bad'. I suspect there was more abuse going on, Ippy didn't tell me all. I don't think this was because she didn't trust me. More likely she couldn't bring herself to burden me with her pain and shame. For me I had no experience with child abuse. I didn't know what constitutes abuse (apart from rape). This was in the days before the internet, the library didn't stock books on child abuse. The newspapers wrote stories on local events not on abuse. We were both young teenagers and me a very green one! So all I did was listen. We changed to different high schools but stayed in touch. Ippy enrolled in a technical school as one of the very few girls, I was so proud of her.
At times she would come to my school and asked to talk to me, we would go for long walks and she would settle down. One day she came in the middle of the day.
It was clear that she was in a very bad state. I cut classes and we talked. She told me about her suicide plans and that she didn't see any other way out. There was no doubt in my mind that she was very serious about this. Just lending an ear wasn't enough anymore. We agreed to go together to a local youth care institution for counseling. We also informed my parents as I needed help to hide her in the meantime. She couldn't return home. She couldn't stay at my parents house as relatives of hers were living nearby. We arranged for her to temporarily stay at my sister's house in town. Her parents came to my house but mine stood firm -bless them- and refused to let them know where Ippy was hiding, this despite threats of legal action. The youth-care institution made arrangements for Ippy to live in a home for teenagers in a town a few hours drive away. A social worker accompanied her to her house to collect some of her belongings. We still kept in touch but the distance made it difficult. Remind: this was before we had mobile phones! A few times I took a train ride to go and see her. Living in the home was better than her home but not without struggles. A whole group of troubled teenagers living together under supervision does evidently create a lot of scenes and emotional difficulties.

Both of us finished high school and I joined nursing training in the town nearby. Ippy was very intelligent and scored well despite all her troubles. But when she wanted to enroll for further studies she hit a brick wall. The government refused to pay for her studies as her parents were well off. Her father agreed to pay for her studies but on the condition that she would visit them monthly. Ippy couldn't do it. She told me she didn't hate her parents but just wanted no further contact with them ever in her life.
For awhile she held out bravely. She got a part time job, rented a small room and enrolled in part time studies. It was difficult to stay in touch, she only had a shared phone, I was working shifts in the hospital and the nurses' flat only had a shared phone which wasn't always answered. She got into an abusive relationship for a while and started drifting afterwards. At times she would land at my doorstep; hungry and penniless. I would pick her up from the bus station and we would take the long walk back to the nurses' flat. I would smuggle her into my room (overnight visitors were not allowed). I asked her to to stay in town and we could rent a room together. My allowance wasn't much but we could have survived. But as the town was near to her village she was too scared she'd might run into relatives. So I would feed her for a few days, borrow her money and she'd set off again. I had no idea what else I could do for her, didn't have means to contact her. The welfare system had failed her, she was now officially an adult, how to help.
I didn't hear from her for months until I got a call from her brother Harry. He told me Ippy had committed suicide and as he was aware of our long friendship he invited me to the funeral. Her funeral was only attended by a few people, mainly her family and relatives. Her parents cried their heart out but I couldn't bring myself to offer condolences. Somehow I still feel guilty I wasn't able to save her -my best friend. Ippy was 19 years old when she died.

Her father committed suicide a few years later. His sister (Ippy's aunt) visited my parents some time after and told "It's terrible what this Ippy did to her father. He was never the same after that incident". Fortunately i wasn't at home during this visit as I'm not sure what I would have done to the aunt. Although I'm sure my mother did set her right!

The little picture is the only one I have of Ippy; she hated being photographed.

It's now 30 years later and I'm crying while writing this story down as I've shared it with only few people in my life. But it is time to stop the silence.
Please speak up when you witness or suspect child abuse. We condone abuse when we keep silent and deny the victims the right for help...............

BEEN BEEZEE

2009-07-11T00:29:00.006+08:00

October 2008, my last post was on Lebanon's trip! Been to Lebanon again for 2nd time in April 2009. Still not much time to write in this blog... sigh. Most time was on Facebook! Wish they pay us money for sticking on for hours and hours.

Today, 11 July 09. Have a bit of time for blogging while waiting for HUNNY to arrive from Nederlands for a 3 weeks holiday. Got 5 hours to sleep, her flight is somewhere above India maybe.

Browse thru the computer and found this drawing of Darimi for his grandma & grandpa.
Still innocent... animals and plants.

And this is Dayan's drawing.... Japanese cartoons!

Papa's own. Erm... race numbers after 5 years of racing.... still many more!

End transmission at 0115H.

That's life

2009-06-12T12:01:00.002+08:00

Aplogies apologies for the long looong silence.
It was not intentional, just having been able to access our blog for quite some time. Our PC's are broken and we have let our streamyx expire. Now were thinking hard whether we want to give our sons another change to blow up some more modems and computers or just to get a notebook for our own use.
But lucky strike today - normally I cannot access blogs from work, but navigating through other pages I accidently managed to bypass the controls hehehe, pls dont tell boss okay? Now how to get to facebook...........
Life is extemely busy; I'm going to attend my parents 50 year wedding end of this month. I'm in the middle of translating a 210 page book. At work were are still expected to perform the work of two (GR@@//##). Training in bits and pieces only and I'll have to shelf my dream to do IM Putrajaya and of course family life with four kids AARRRGGHHHH
So this is all for now till I have more time.......

Big fish

2009-02-23T08:02:00.008+08:00

Hello everyone.its me dayan.Its has been a long time since i post a blog.Now i hav a new story which happened after japanese school biothlon at night.We went out to check the nets in the lake.So,when we were checking the first fishing net.we were shock to see a fish this big in the net

If you want to now how big it is look at yhe next picture.

But we can`t keep it so we ate it.here are picture of papa cutting it up.

And the result is this.
See Its as big as darimi and ati.

Danial can even d a rambo style pose with it ``eat this ``danial said.
Well that the story paece out.

Split5 weekend

2009-01-18T21:21:00.006+08:00

Kalam joined Dr Hisham for the Ironbound adventure-race today. They are on their way back as I type. For a hilarious report on the adventures of these two; http://opdochisyam.blogspot.com/2009/01/perak-ironbound-wrong-way-to-train-for.html
Danial joined Amir and Norizan in a Tri-simulation
Dayan isnt feeling well and refrained from physical activities
Ati and Darimi ran around the neighbourhood playing with their friends from early morning till sunset
Mum took part in GE-run 20km:

Just a few highlights and low-lights;

Improved my time from last year, but Mac improved his more and stayed ahead of me...

Waterstations were few and far between

Route was changed but just as hilly

While i was passing by I overheard two policeman commenting "Wah, kakak yang baju merah ni laju juga (I started to float straight into seventh heaven)....kalau lari 30km (smack back to ground level)

No parking space, got a ticket for parking illegally at the roadside

The pre-IM group looked very fit and strong

First time I got a square medal, quite cute

Finishing like celebriti; Mr Tey, Shazly, Rais and TSB all lining up to take pictures.....Thanks guys

Race-Tee's

2009-01-18T20:15:00.002+08:00

Over the year we have collected many race T-shirts. At times four of us take part in a race, some in two events. I rarely buy T's for the boys becos they have enough from the races. The clothes locker gets choked and on and off I will give some to family, friends or charity.

The T-shirts come in many styles, colors and materials. My big favorite of all times is the brookes-T given at PD-traithlon 2007. The quality is nice, it's loose and comfy and because it's long it partly covers my big butt , haha.

However has anyone else noted the sizes -weird indeed.

Have a look below

Great Eastern run 2008 Size XXL

Below the previous T; Great Eastern run 2008 size XL -do you see any difference in size?

KL Int Marathon (2007?), size S

Again do you see any significant difference in the size?

Mizuno-run 2007 size M

Now the difference in size is clear to see.

So what should be our conclusion???

A. Malaysians generally come in free size only

B. Malaysians of medium size are in denial about their true size

C. Local T-shirt producers are a sadistical lot and put size-tags randomly

D. All of the above

Sigh, at least Danial was happy with my T from Malakoff run and my maid loves the GE-run T-shirt, she says its really cooling to wear on a hot afternoon.

Think I'll wear my PD-shirt for the next race......................

Perez

2009-01-12T21:54:00.001+08:00

The past year I mostly cycled with my 'steady' group in Putrajaya - great fun - great friends. Almost invariable I'm the last one but usually I dont mind. We wait for each other at important junctions and afterwards go makan2 togedder. Usually either Danial or Kalam accompagnies me at the back. Or Dino , Akhi or Xman function as sweepers.
Sometimes it can get scary if youre alone for long stretches, especially nightrides.
Last sunday however Kalam, Danial and Dayan formed a team for the KLAVA-relay-run somewhere in Gombak. Dino and gang are in full training for IM09 and needless to say I'm no match for them.
So I accepted an invitation by Aini to join her, Kash and a group of cyclist up to Perez.
It turned out to be a really big group, some 20 riders. The only ppl I knew were Aini, Kash and hubbie Rais. A few of the other faces looked vaguely familiar. Anyway I had great fun. For a change I wasn't the last one. Their pace is much slower than my usual group and I can actually keep up. Going up Perez wasn't as tough as I thought. It not as steep as I expected apart from the last little bit. The last 200m my mind said "GO, you can do this" but the message didn't get relayed to my legs and I pushed the bike the last bit. Ah well, just another reason to retry this route another time. Going down was actually worse. I had pinjammed Kalam's bike and this guy seriously knows how to neglect a bike!!! The brakes were hardly functioning, couldn't tighten them -all rusted. When I sms-ed him after wards he replied " my bike for IM not for Perez", kasihan the bike.
Rais had planned to cycle to the junction only but with enough people pujuk him he managed to cycle up all the way -another great cyclist in the making-.
Anyway I went down Perez at a speed of 20km/hr. Where is the gila-mum who loves to go down Alamanda-hill at at 50+km/hr, this is one old nenek at a snailspace.
Regroup at the junction and the next 11km back to bt18 took turns with Aini to draft, managed to maintain at average 30km/hr (okay- for me that's fast you know).
One punctured tire too many forced us to shortcut the last part of the planned route and we made for breakfast at Sg Chongkak.
All in all a great ride with a real nice group of cyclists, nice to make new friends.
Arrived home early afternoon to find all the other athletes fast asleep -so of course I joined them...
may there be many more sundays like these....
For pictures and proof, refer to Kash' fesbook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nurina-Van-Oostrum-Abdullah/655978392#/profile.php?id=682578046

New year's shoes

2009-01-07T22:09:00.003+08:00

For those who missed out on this offer last year;
(Wonder if those shoes would make me go any faster.... )

Hello Guys,
Good news for runners who blog or having their own webpage.adidas had once again brought in more highly innovative running shoes tobe given away FREE to runners to wear-test them & to post in their blog a very frank & unprejudiced opinion about the shoes after 30 days of usage.One of the shoe that is included in this program is adiZero Adois that Haile Gebrselassie used at the 2008 Berlin Marathon setting a worldrecord in the Marathon at 2hr 03 mins 58 sec.The sizes are limited and I have them in size UK 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, 8.5 &10.5.

Those wishing to possess these shoes will have to comply with the following terms & condition :1 ) Come to the adidas office to fit the shoes.2 ) Undertake to post a comment in their blog a ) about the Technical features of the Shoes upon receiving them b ) about the performance of the shoes after 30 days of usage.3 ) Must be a blogger or has his/her own website.This offer expires on 15th January 2009 & the shoes will be given out ona first-come-first-serve basis. The program this year is only open tothose who had NOT participated or missed out in this program previously.If you are interested pls call to make an appointment as appended below
Office address:adidas Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Block B , Level 4, Plaza Damansara
45 Media Setia 1
Bukit Damanasara
Kuala Lumpur
Tel Office : 03 - 20804843
Mobile No : 012 - 3503668

E-Mail : krishnan.karuppan @adidas.com
Best Regards

Krishnan Karuppan
Head of Running

Adidas Malaysia

A year in pictures

2009-01-06T22:36:00.003+08:00

In random order:

Dayan

Mum

Darimi

Ati

Danial

Note; the headman of the tribe keeps his booty in the office, therefore no picture available....

Broga in the mist

2008-12-30T22:18:00.002+08:00

Some people think triathlon is just like any other sport; well let them think that; triahtletes know better. Being a triathlete requires a lot of discipline, hard work, mind over matter, force your body on to new limits etc. No morning sleep-ins, with coffee and the Sunday newspaper for this brand of people.

No, instead they wake up at 5am, have a quick breakfast (usually some energy-bar). load bikes & other gear and leave the house before the crack of dawn.
Before a long ride many are tense, especially the new-comers. But we show it by chitchatting while getting the bikes ready, bottles filled, helmets in place…

And so it went yesterday (29dec; Awal Muharram). A group of us met at Hulu Langat; ride for the day; Broga (apparently the word means ‘terror’ and I’ve heard many terror stories about his ride. A fair group of people showed: CK, AJ, Jaja, Kooky and Hubby, Amir and Norizan, Upiq, Chan JS and several ppl I hadn’t met before.

The weather around us was cloudy with a slight drizzle coming down. The mountains were shrouded in the mist. AJ checked the weather from the satellite pics on his phone and it didn’t look good. All of Pahang was covered by thick clouds and it looked there was heavy rain in store for us. Not a good day to ride a mountain-road with steep slopes. AJ decided to head home instead.
The rest decided to give it a try. Shoes clicked into place and we set off unto the road. Upiq made a headcount to ensure no-one would be left behind during the long day ahead.
The drizzle continued on the first 10km. Darren had a flat tire. We regrouped at simpang tiga to wait for him. Muscles just warming up, mind set on a hard task ahead, ready to face the first hills….
CK contacted Rashid who had ridden ahead earlier; the news was not good – heavy rain in Sg Tekala forced Rashid and Fong to retrace their tracks and head back. We absorbed the news for a moment; two of the toughest athletes among us, would we be able to conquer where they had failed…….

So, we turned back…….
Only a few followed Mr. Chan’s group up to Perez instead.

However CK had made arrangements for us to have breakfast at his friend’s house in Semenyih. So we loaded the bikes back in the car and rode in comfort to Semenyih; TOTAL CYCLING DISTANCE COVERED 23km @#**??!/{GRR

So the group of hardened athletes spend the morning having some of the best nasi lemak I’ve ever tasted at OP Khalili Khalid house. Anyone gets invited to taste Puan Salha’s cooking would be a fool to say no. After the food was greatly diminished the songbook came out and undiscovered talents among the cyclists. Still dressed in full cycling gear we had a jamming session: our host on the piano, Darren as guitarist, leadsingers CK and Rais (Kooky’s husband), back-up singers Bahri, Jaja and Kalam….
We had a lovely morning, lots of laughs, good food, good music and good friends….
(hih At least we did a 40km ride with run the previous day with Dino, Xman, AJ, Juli and Amir)
On the way back CK showed us the route we had missed (big gulp, I don’t think I’m ready for this ride yet).
During our recce we got phone-calls from home; Darimi who had been complaining about a headache a few times in the past days was crying non-stop at home.. We were caught in the middle of the route. Suddenly the beautiful scenery didn’t matter anymore. Blaming ourselves for being bad parents and not spending the day at home with them we drove back as fast as we could. We received several more distress calls; Darimi was crying so hard and Danial was convinced his head was gonna explode. In the end we called our neighbours and asked them to help by sending Darimi to HUKM. Shortly after we arrived at the A&E department in HUKM. We found our wonderful neighbors with Darimi and our maid. He wasn’t crying however. After an 1 ½ hr wait we got to see the doctor who had a good look at hi;; turns out his tonsils are badly swollen and some fluid behind one ear. So we went home with antibiotics, and no swimming for him for awhile.
Today he complained again of a headache in the afternoon but with Mama at home his acting skills are not fully appreciated; of course he got cuddles and medication –but no allowance for more drama…
It is difficult to find the right balance between some time for our own interests and giving ample attention to the kids. So, no long rides for me, but I can’t survive by just being a working mom. I need this sport to be able to breathe….

Shouldn’t be updating our blog; I got a 45page translation to complete this week. A horrible document about ship stability. Horrible because it is an area I know zilch about, so every term I have to research…..
Okay, tomorrow back to work in the hospital. Try and finish another page of the translation before I shut the PC down.

Pics to add later

Many many stories to tell

2008-12-21T17:46:00.020+08:00

After failing to update our blog for quite a while I have a big job ahead. Big job because the silence didn’t mean nothing happened. More like too many things happening and too little time (what else is new)….
Having four kids( plus a husband hihi), holding a fulltime job, training etc. eat up a lot of time. But another big problem is our computer. Danial and Dayan use it for their games (their Playstation hasn’t been repaired yet). So now every time I want to use the computer it goes like; “How long are you gonna use it?” “Can I use it after you’ve done?” “You said youre only gonna use the computer for half an hour but is 45minutes already!” etc etc. Today I told them the computer is strictly mine and no requests are allowed!!!! Have to get tough sometimes.

I will try to go tru the events of the past month or so. Starting form the most recent one down to Powerman 2008. Expect the entries to get shorter as I go along cos my memory is slowly fading, hihi getting old you know.

Malakoff run
This morning Danial, Dayan and me took part in the Malakoff run. The run almost didn’t materialize, I had such a tough time finding the place yesterday I almost gave up. Not very familiar in Damansara area I circled around several times. Turned out their map was also a bit off (wrong streetname ).
Anyway the run was fun. The usual suspects showed up; Aini, Emma, Siok Bee, Mich, Audrey (from Singapore), Keat Seong, Eugene, Jason, Bobby, Ngae, Simon, Mac, CK, Richard, Xman, Chew, Lee, Ihsal, Abu, Saiful, Iwata, Inoue and so forth. Mr Tey was around to take pics (I seldom bring a camera so it’s always a joy to see him). From Gleneagles hosp. Dr. Chin showed and also three OT nurses.
Danial and Dayan did the 6km, I did the 12km. Just had fun running, didn’t manage to run all the way because of the hills. Really enjoyed being outside, the route was nice.
There was even a Santa running along (red shorts, red T and santa-hat) handing out sweets!!!
Kalam came along to support (and to ensure I didn’t get lost in the morning). He just came back from Gunung Jerai challenge and was satisfied just watching. Afterwards I signed up for the 20km GE run, next event to look forward too.

Dayan walking to the finish

Danial finishing strong

Three ladies in green (see two pics below and pic above) are Gleneagles staff - OT nurses

First International Putrajaya 12 hour walk
Last weekend I took part in ‘First Putrajaya International 12 hour walk”. I used to do long distance walks many many years ago in my home country. So I wanted to give it a try once more. The walk started at 8pm. I was surprised to see quite a few familiar faces, hadn’t expected many triahtletes.
Walking was tougher than I expected. I realize now you should train for specific events, being overall in a reasonable shape doesn’t cut it. Obviously I didn’t train for this event. Walking was also quite boring, one km round and round. Quite different from other events; they served freshly cooked foof every two hours -but I'm not used to eating while in race-mode, so I took very little, mainly coffee to keep going. I prefer to walk to some where; walk to next corner, next village, next hill, much easier to set goals. The first two hours were hampered by pain radiating from the ischiatic nerve to my leg (nothing new, this has been bothering me on and off). After some five hours cramps and tiredness set in and I started resting on and off. But worse were the blisters that started to develop. After some 9 hours I dropped by the medic tent. Would you believe it –they were completely out of plasters!!! One of the medic draped some bandage around my feet, but now I couldn’t wear my shoes at all. So I took them off and walked a few more km slowly. I wanted to at least finish 42km, marathon distance. The last two hours I spend watching the others. However since I had to pick up my bag and return the race-chip I decided I might as well walk one last loop. Lucky I did because I just made it to the 58th place (Prices till number 60). Got a medal and a RM100 Genting card.

Early stage can still smile!
But the best part was my support team: Kalam and the boys were camping at the side. Love you guys for this!!!!!!
Danial walked several rounds in the middle of the night with me to keep my spirit up. Kalam went for a run with Dr. Hisham early morning.
My results:
first two hours;11 km
second two hours; 11km
third two hours; 9 km
fourth two hours; 7 km
fifth two hours; 4 km
sixth two hours; 1 km
After the race my feet had giant blisters! For several days I couldn’t walk straight, hobbling on the sides of my feet instead. Had to use diving shoes to work as no other shoes would fit! My college’s think I’m crazy, especially when I told them on Friday gonna do a 12km run this weekend haha. Lucky to see I share my madness with a few thousand others this morning

I'm not the only participant from Gleneagles: Dr. Chin is a familiar face during run events

Still going strong

Hari Raya Haji
We didn’t go back to the kampong for Hari Raya Puasa so Hari Raya Haji is considered a must. We only left on Sunday, Saturday bizy with post-mortem Trikidz meeting.
Hari Raya Haji was a rainy affair; the rain poured down non-stop till late afternoon. We only visited Kalam’s bothers and sisters but had a nice time catching up. Several new cute babies in the family.Ati and Darimi
Ati decided to stay back in the kampong with her relatives for a few weeks. She was hesitating till the last moment whether to stay or return to KL with us. Guess it’s a good sign she likes being part of our family. Hope she’ll be fine when we pick her up end of this month. Sometimes the switch is difficult for her.
My kids and me - I love the four of you

Catz
When we returned from the kampong on Monday evening we made a sad discovery. Wild dogs had killed several of our cats. A group of wild dogs has been roaming in the camp. They killed one of the kittens last month but during our absence a worse massacre took place. Even after our return on Monday night they killed another cat before we could chase them off. Now we keep the backdoor at peep at night so the remaining cats can hide inside. Danial and Dayan have kept watch several nights trying to pepperspray the dogs when they came sniffing around, a few near misses but no success sofar. The dogs even chased Darimi while he was waiting for the school truck early one morning. We’ve reported the dogs presence several times but the current camp management doesn’t seem to care...

Our beloved Janey, the matriarch of all our cats. I feel guilty as hell; when we left on Sunday I put her out of the house. She kept on trying to sneek back in but I didn’t let her. As Rahma was also on leave I couldn’t leave the door open and unlocked. She was due to give birth to new batch of kittens any time. She was a wonderful mothercat, took excellent care of her kittens and even chased wild boars off if they got too close to her young ones… I hate those dogs

Xeli and her two fluffy kittens. All lot of our cats have Siamese looks but this was the first time we suddenly had two long-haired kittens. These two balls of fluff were soo adorable

TriKidz, 3rd clinic and race 2008
The earlier two events were small and easy to handle but after we got publicity in the Star newspaper registrations started raining in. We had originally put a limit of 100 participants but many parents begged for places for their kids. So in all 128 kids took part.
This time around I know how Samantha feels: lack of sleep, lots of worries, not enough hands to help everywhere were help was needed etc etc.
But in the end it was worth all of it. The kids had a great time. Receiving a medal made each one of them grow 5 inches. They were telling stories of how hard the run was, how they managed to push their bodies to go faster, how many medals they’ve already collected. Marianna’s son took part and his mother may have cupboards full of medals but this one was HIS!!! After the race he just couldn’t stop talking. The little ones were of course the cutes; some were soo excited they couldn’t recognize their own bikes. Some reached the finish-line wearing bike-helmets, swimcaps and goggles!!! Quite a number were so intent on catching up with the front runners they forgot all about their shirts –giving the timing-crew a big headache.
Thanks to the help and sponsorship of many the event was a success –of course there’s room for further improvement so we’ll ‘tri’ again in Mrach 2009.
Thanks too: UM, Powerbar en Nestle, Fit, Tengku Zafrul, Dr Fiona etc
Beneath are some pics of the clinic on Saturday – (no time to take pics on Sunday)

Coach Azhar in action

Practising mass-starts

This one doesn't know how to use the pedals yet

Determined athletes

Kayuh jauh

Learning to use a helmet

Aren't they adorable?

This cheeky fellow looks familiar

Three stooges

Running class

Cycling practice

Girls secrets

Waterboys

Twin-pink

Tough guy

Bicyle sale

Getting organised

Lucky rainbow to start our event

Danial's 15th birtday, how time flies

Powerman 2008

My aims for Powerman 2008 were simple; improve my time for the sprint (shouldn’t be too hard provided no bicycle trouble this time around) and run the first 5km without stopping (strictly no walking):

Nearly had a heart-attack while waiting for the students to show up with our bikes. Adele was already shooing everyone out of the bicycle-area when they arrived. No time to check the bike, just hope the bike would be okay.

Kalam took off with the big guys doing the long distance. It really amazes me how he does this. He can finish all these events without so much as a scrap of training.
Started the run slowly and found myself running along with a lady I hadn’t met before. Senay is Turkish (living Malaysia obviously) and was doing her first duathlon, her hubby Denis was also doing the long distance. We chatted the whole 5km and running felt nice. A whole string of runners from the long distance overtook us and and many shouted a friendly hello. Which led to two obvious conclusions:
I got a lot of friends in this community
2 I run very slow
After a quick transition took off on the bike. I felt good had my race bunnies marked. I know I’m a race bunnie for many people. Some guys seem to take it as an personal insult if I overtake them. They will do everything they can to overtake me back. There wer a few guys from Malakoff who desperatedly tried to stay ahead. However with another 30km or so to cycle I knew I could potong them. But duty called; on the second bridge a marshaller just stopped by a guy lying unconscious on the side of the bridge. I stopped by to check. After cooling him down he recovered enough o sit up and talk and I left him in the care of the marshaller. All in all I lost at least 15 minutes and was now surely in last position. So I pushed to catch up and slowly made my way up from the back. On the way back saw the ‘pengsan’ guy sitting at the roadside nearer to town smoking a cigarette; s##&%!!/?**#!!!
Also met Dayan at the roadside, once again his bike broke down during powerman (Hun, I promise we will take ure bike for a full check before next years powerman!!!). A few more cyclist suffered falls and quite a number of flat tires – Dayan wasn’t the only one….

Back in transition on to the second run. Teamed up with Bandit for a short while but left him behind. I didn’t manage to run all the way cos my legs started to cramp but not too bad. Spotted my race bunnies and managed to overtake them after all. Whoahaha, me overtaking anyone on the run, you gotta be kiddin…
So all in all, aim achieved, next year can improve further provided no-one pengsan at the roadside.

Sorry, the pics are jumbled up:

I love the pre-race athmosphere. Bikes ready, chatting with frens stretching muscles, jittery with anxiety

Dayan is tougher than he looks

We'v finished loooong time ago, where's daddy

Finishing the bike course

Dayan getting ready

Aki, one of my cycling group.

I owe a lot to these guys. They keep us safe on rides, wait for us, function as sweepers, make sure evryone stays on the route. Aki, Esmen, Jason, Dino, Kalam etc without you guys we girls would have a tough time cycling
Xman (@Esmen)

Sue Ee; The hard training is paying off, cant even catch sight of her during cycling

Dayan with Audrey following behind

Love the look of the long hill behind me . Cool I managed to climb up and still smile

Danial

Finishing

Like mother like son; Danial also prefers swimming over running

Senay and me running with Dayan following close behind

Waiting for papa, Time's running out, 5 hour cut-off

Yeah, papa finished!!! Just beyond cut-off

UPNM, 2nd place mixed relay

UPNM, 2nd place men's relay

The triathlon-club from UPNM is on a winning streak. They won prizes in all the events they took part in lately; Perhentian Challenge, Powerman, Pedu duathlon.
They have some real talent among them. Chan JS beat Eugene Chan and Jin Rong in Pedu!! Pity UPNM’s support is lacking. No officer to encourage them, instead they find a lot of barriers –not allowed out to train cycling, no permission to take part in events etc. Luckily the teamspirit among them is strong and they continue as best as they can.
The change in management of the university has been obvious. They spend countless hours doing rollcalls every morning and night. But their study-results have been affected. Still find it hard to believe the ministry of Higher Education has approved of a VC without any qualifications (from the army side I’m not surprised; intelligence has never been their strong point).

AIR PIRATE ADVENTURE ON SHIP

2008-11-18T21:25:00.023+08:00

It has been a while since I jot down my last entry here. Many changes happen in our life lately but it is great to have a tri family who kept each other company during good and hard times! I was posted out of UPNM in September, during fasting month and actually I asked for it. Experience from the past 17 years in the Air Force taught me well about PRE-EMPTIVE measures to be taken before a 'war'. But this is not a physical battle of military hardware but merely a battle of wits and wisdom (wont talk about it, just wait! COMING SOON TO THEATRE NEAR YOU).
Well, after all these hard years of racing and training, I felt so good about CHANGE. Just send me anywhere, I'll survive!InsyaAllah!
First task... DUTY on Hari Raya! Nothing to complaint about, my new post is about planning and coordinating of all the Malaysian Armed Forces mission with the United Nations - Nation Unies. At least I can feel how my fellow servicemen felt when they are away in Dem Rep of Congo, Sudan etc etc.... But the best has yet to come!
See photo... room with a view! This is the view from my cabin, for 12 days I woke up in the morning looking out of this window and saw a lot of water. Surprise? This is in Port Klang while loading the shipments.

From Port Klang to south of Nicobar Islands/ North of Sumatera took 1 day and a half! The ship sails at 16-19 knots, among the fastest compared to most cargo ships.

Another assignment 10 days after raya, accompanying military cargo in a civilian ships from Port Klang to Beirut! No weapon, 15 crews, 3 military personnel and only God knows how many Somalians pirates are there in the Gulf of Aden. What the heck is an Air Force officer doing in a civilian ship for 12 days? Nothing much to do hahaha... sleep, eat, sh*t, throw up, watch cd, talk to the Turkish crew in English! Learn some Turkish word, now forgotten. What else can you do in a 150m long ship. Running? The captain did but I cant, scared that the wind will blow me off the ship and I have to swim back to nowhere! The world seems so round when you cant see anything around you except blue water. Watch WATER WORLD!

Strange phenomena in the sea, the meeting point of Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, 1km deep but the waves break as if its hitting a shore!

The ship is called MV Vivien A, registered in Izmir, Turkey. We sailed pass south of Great Nicobar on 14 Oct. Nicobar and Andaman group of island was hit by tsunami in 2004.

The sea sometimes looks so calm like a swimming pool but the ship sway left and right until you feel like throw up. No choice! After 5 days, on 17 Oct everything was pushed out of my belly! Then... I felt normal, its like walking on land. Sunset in the north of Indian Ocean/south Bay of Bengal, end of the world...

Crossing from south of Nicobar Island to south of Sri Lanka took 2 days and a half. We reached Sri Lanka in the early morning of 16 Oct. Then turn up to Laccadive Sea, which is between India and Maldives.

Are we seeing the same moon? Moonlight in the Indian Ocean... same same but different! Photo from the bridge which is always dark at night. NO LIGHTS! Map of India showing Maldives Islands. Have a military friend there but no phone line!

Already passed Maldives, into Arabian Sea heading towards Socotra Island where the notorious pirates live! Pray... pray... pray... It was 17 Oct, ETA at sea lanes set by coalition navy ships near Socotra Island around 19 Oct.

The ship leaved a long white trail of water behind, powerful thrust from the engine that propel the ship to a max speed of 20 knots. We are now in the Arabian Sea, see? No land in sight! I caught a brown bird in the morning when it tried to escape from under the ship's deck. Probably too tired to fly and found the ship to take 5, the distance is more than 1000 miles across! On the 18 Oct, sometimes in the afternoon I woke up after a short nap just to find out that the ship had stopped! In the middle of the Arabian Sea, it drifted about 1 nm before the engine can be started again. That nite I told the captain dont do this in the middle of Gulf of Aden! I am not looking forward to high 5 the Somalian pirates. Our 'weapon' is the fast speed of the ship which would make it very difficult to be boarded. That will save RM5 millions of Gov of Malaysia's money in that ship. I cant be responsible if it's taken away by the pirates.

Oct 18, Saturday evening. We had a BBQ on the ship's deck. From left to right, Yahya Selchuk (deck officer), the cook (difficult Turkish name haha), Zaidi ( Malaysian Air Force staff) and Durga (in stripes, ship most junior engineer). It was Turkish dish from day 1 until the end of journey! But after 'emptying' my belly on 17 Oct, it can take anything! Even those saltless/sugarless/tasteless Turkish delight! The food is healthy type actually, sour yoghurt, vegies and more. All 15 crew are Turkish and the food is halal except for the taste... hehehe. That night we were moving in to Gulf of Aden, with the crew who were happily enjoying their Saturday nite talking and watching movies. I was on the bridge keeping an eye on the radar! Any 'yellow' beep had to be investigated carefully. The sounds of coalition warship communicating with cargo ships in the gulf was imminent. Every few minutes a cargo ship will be reporting movements of suspicious boats in the dark without any ID on the radar. I couldnt sleep until 4 am. Next morning, woke up at around 7 am, the Gulf of Aden looked foggy. We move on at 20 knots, which is above the max speed. Thanks God for the tailwind!

In the afternoon, Gulf of Aden looks stunningly blue. No one would suspects there are notorious gangs moving around hijacking ships! A view from the bridge...

A view from the bow... 120m away! The bridge is 8 floor above the ship. That high? Believe it....

At 6 am 20 Oct, the pirates spend around 20 minutes 'accompanying' us! They were checking our speed, then they will decide whether it can be boarded or not. Smart pirates! Using fast boat, the 4 pirates then left us alone knowing that their speed cant match out ship. The speed cant drop below 14knots. Well, we are 6 knots above it. Hopefully the engine wont stopped!
Last sunset in the Gulf of Aden! 20 Oct. 12 hours to reach Djibouti. The danger was not over yet.

Sad truth

2008-11-02T18:00:00.003+08:00

"Army intelligence is a contradiction in terms"
This is not a joke but a sad truth

Preparing for Powerman:

Dino, Xman and Chew

Sue Ee

Look Aini, we've started wearing the new Powerman T immediately

Such a funny banana!!!

Danial at the JSKL biathlon

Not Fair

2008-10-30T22:25:00.002+08:00

Past week:
Monday; am run half hr
pm 3.6km swim
Tuesday: am run half hr
pm hujan
Wednesday: am run half hr
pm swim 3km
Thursday: pm swim 3km
Friday: am run half hr
Saturday: am run half hr
pm swim 2.5km
Sunday: am cycle 45km
pm funswim with kids
Monday: am cycle 40km
____________
results gain weight 1kg
Who says life is fair???.....

Squeekin and creekin

2008-10-19T20:21:00.005+08:00

Lots of things happening in a few weeks, Danial sat for his PMR-exams - now its waiting for the results, excepts for maths he probably did quite well.

After fasting month it was high time to swing into action again. So started my slow morning jogs, went to swim training, cycled with Sue Ee and the fridaynite geng. But my body said "Hoo, what do u think u are doing l - think youre still in youre twenties ah? After one week I was dead tired, could hardly lift my left arm and had no choice but to slow down.

Slowly thing are improving, Alvin helped to correct my stroke in order to spare the shoulder. Yesterday's session felt good, swim felt easy and my speed (if you can call it that) is coming back.

The extra weight is still stuck, expect it will take till next ramadhan to get it off!

Hubby dearest suddenly got an assignment to accompagny a shipment for the UN to Lebanon and at the moment he is somewhere in the Arabian sea, later tonight they should be approaching the gulf of Aden -pirates beware. Pics are taken last week when I send him off in port Klang.

UN Vehicles waiting to be loaded unto the ship

Great news yesterday - UPNM won Perhentian challenge!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kalam called from the ship (satelite phone) just when I got the news and of course he was very happy. No details available yet, just follow the links, I'm sure Chan will update their blog soon. CONGRATS

Took the kids to the National Science Centre today and we had a nice time, see pictures

Sound waves can travel from here to ...

there ...the other orange disk

(sorry -my handphone camera not very good, I dont own posh phone. Kalam took the camera with him)

Nice fishies

Above and below -digging for dinosaur bones

Dayan taking part in the science-show -somehow I think this could be the career for him - did you see him on "Lu fikir lah sendiri Nabil"??

Colorful spiders

Long month

2008-09-28T21:34:00.005+08:00

I haven't updated this blog for ages. With horror I realise the last entry is PD-triathlon. After that came UPNM-MUDS duathlon, Ekiden-run and Desaru-triathlon.

Lots of things happened since then. Kalam changed job and is no longer working in UPNM (he's posted to Mindef now). Lots of changes in UPNM, they have a new vice-chancellor who is undoubtedly the least educated VC ever (the new VC has no university-degree whatsoever, doubt any other university can top that). Good thing, since Mindef has a lack of quarters we stay in our house - just the thought of having to move makes me panic.

Lotta changes in organisation structure in Gleneagles as well and it didn't all go smoothly - luckily now things are settling down a bit but with another collegea who has resigned, currently two of us are doing work designed for 5 educators.

I'm struggling through fasting month. Fasting itself doesn't pose a problem, but lack of sleep and no training doesn't feel good. I've gained weight and keep fallling sick, just don't feel myself. Work has been extremely busy and my 'To do list' is still long.

Looking forward to start swimming, cycling and running again in one weeks time. It's gonna be a struggle to get back in shape but I'm looking forward to it. At least had a change to meet up with a few friends during a 'buka puasa' organised by Powerbar and another buka puasa organised by UPNM's tri-club. Life is dull without triathlon and the group of friends

Haha, very late race-reports:

UPNM-MUDS. Starting with a 4km run, Ngae who was doing relay with a new runner kept pace with us and to my surprise I realised that at a slow speed I can actually keep running. Even after cycling the 18km I ran most of the second 4km run. Left several female UPNM-cadets behind me!

Duathlon MUDS-UPNM

Ekiden-run. one week later. Tried to keep the same run-speed and ran 3.5km and still had energy left at the transition-point.

Desaru. Untill last moment I was hesitating whether I should do the long-distance or relay-event. The questions was solved when Wendy called me and asked me to be their swimmer for a relay-team with her and Bo.

The swim was fun- nice big waves to dive into. It took me awhile to get into my stride but felt good. Danial swam relay with an UPNM -team.

Handed over to Bo and settled down to watch the race, Bo and Wendy did a great job. (I'll try and find some pics to add afterwards)

Kalam didn't train at all for one month but still managed to finish.

Next day sprint four family-members took part:Kalam, Danial, Dayan and me.

Quite a number of the youngsters from our Trikidz-programme were taking part;

Trikidz with coach Azhar

In truth I had a score to settle with this race. Last year I wanted so badly to do good in this sprint-event but was deeply dissapointed with myself.

The waves were fun again, 500meter swim seemed very short. When I came out of the water Mr Chan shouted 'Woh Nurina, you have any idea how many swimmers you've left behind you?' I looked around and saw many arms still ploughing through the water. Off to the bike and Desaru's rolling hills, a few people overtook me but I overtook several others as well. Played tag with a Singaporean fellow, thanks to Dino I know now how to draft behind some-one uphill (and overtake on the downhill part). The distance seemed shorter than last year and soon found myself back at the transition-area. My legs cramped a bit during the bike but I managed to run the 3km. I assumed the Singaporean fellow was ahead of me but I must have overtaken him in the transition, he overtook me again in the last 50 meter. But I really had a fun-race and the ghosts from last year have been laid to rest. It was nice for a chance to finish somewhere among the pack and not one of the last.

Many people have asked me when am I going to do Ironman. Well, my answer is; not for now. My committent to my family comes first and I'm not able to train the hours needed for Ironman without sacrificing a lot of family-time. Working full-time leaves me with very limited time- my day-planner is often divided into minutes. So I've decided for now to concentrate on sprint and Olympic distance, and there is a lot of room for improvement there. Ironman, I still dream about it and who knows maybe in a few years time....

Dayan finishing the sprint

And of course last but not least:

Wishing you all

SELAMAT HARI RAYA

PD Triathlon

2008-07-26T19:41:00.008+08:00

The first time I saw PD triahtlon was 4yrs ago. From just watching our family has graduated, with this year three of us taking part in the Olympic Distance. We missed out on the sprint as we choose to do MUDS duathlon instead -not enuf time to do all the races in one weekend.

Lazy to write another race-report.

Just a few highlights:
At the last part of the returning leg (about 150-200 m from the beach) one of the swimmers suffered severe cramps in his legs and couldn't swim anymore. He held unto a buoy and waved to the kayak and waterscooter for help. The kayak and scooter saw him but as they were on the other side (the open sea side) they were unable to reach him. In order to reach him, they would have had to cross the ropes and across the lane of uncoming swimmers. There were no lifeguards placed on the inner side. When it became clear that no help was going to arrive, Jeremy (one of the relay swimmers and a certified lifesaver) took hold of the guy and started pulling him to the beach.(hihi Jeremy was my student for CPR course last year) I swam alongside to calm the swimmer and in case Jeremy would become fatigued. (happy I took the trouble last year to get my own certification as a lifesaver)

Even though we continued to wave and shout, no attempt to help us was made. In the end Jeremy had to pull the swimmer all the way to the beach. When we reached the beach a stretcher was waiting but the swimmer was fine once he reached dry land.
My point what is the use of having a stretcher ready at the beach if there are no means of getting the swimmer out of the water?

In the morning my legs were stiff from the duathlon the day before. I cycled most of the 40km together with Emma (Emma fromUPNM, I can only match Emma Bishop's cycling speeds in my dreams).
Suffered badly on the run, couldn't handle the heat. Everytime I tried to run my calfs would cramp gues I shouldn't have done the duathlon the day before. Anyway finished the event, got another medal for my collection.

Triathlons are for people of all sizes

Nice calm sea

Three wonderfull vibrant ladies: Sue Ee. JuliJewel & Jaja

Danial's swim times are improving

Hubby was flagged off in an earlier wave

Life-saver Jeremy

Victim (UPNM cadet -newbie)

Big fat mama

My handsome son (hehe, i know all mothers say like that)

I still dont look good in thights SIGH

Emma, the only female UPNM TRI-athlete

Lotta ladies watching Mej K......

Danial has learned how to potong sayur, watch and see

Local VIP acknowledges the applause from the crowd

Juli, a really strong runner

Nurina, a really lousy runner

Aini, certified TRIATHLETE

Certified friends

Sanjeev, the heat and cramps got the better of him. Luckily he was back on his feet 10 minutes later

Pictures by Mr Tey, Norizan and Aini

MUDS UKM

2008-07-26T19:37:00.005+08:00

The first of 3 University series duathlons took place in UKM.
it was a overcast morning with a slight drizzle of rain. My aboslutely favorite wheather for races!
A record of 52 UPNM cadets took part. Quite a few new faces, the club is growing. Of course also quite a number of other friends took part and some new faces as well.
From our family Kalam, Dayan and me took part. Danial's bike is still under repair and with so many cadets participating there was no spare bike to borrow.

With Shaiful (Belacak) and Dayan

Dayan is a happy finisher
All pictures thank to Aini!!!!

Had fun cycling and running, nice to do a shorter distance for a change. I ran most of the 2 x 3km.I dont know my time, forgot to check and Malakoff only publishes the winners times on their website.

Unfortunately during the race a lot of the marshalls were poorly briefed about their role. Some apparently thought it was their job to make sure none of the traffic would be disturbed by the racers. They stopped cyclists to let busses and other traffic go first. Orthers let cars come out of side-roads into the path of uncoming cyclists. At one point in the route is a steep curved downhill slope, still traffic was passing by from both sides -a recipe for disaster.
Fortunately nothing untowards happened but that was mainly due to luck and not to planning.
Safety during races is still neglected (see next blog entry)

Another RM150 richer

2008-07-07T19:47:00.007+08:00

Before the race

UPNM's triathletes, after the race

We arrived back from Kenyir late last night. The travelling can be as tiring as the triathlon itself.

Our race-report.

We left on fridaynight. Came home from work packed our bags and got in the car. We drove untill 2.30am. I had enormous difficulty keeping my eyes open but scared Kalam might fall asleep at wheel I forced myself to keep chatting. (Having worked nightshifts for many many years helps). We stopped at a guesthouse in Marang and slept till the next morning.

After breakfast we continued our journey.

Last year was the first time I visited Kenyir and to me it is one of the most beautifull spots in Malaysia. The views are breathtaking...

Rest of the day was spend registering for the race, sorting out racegear. Went for a boatride (triathletes turned pirates). And taking the kids for a swim. Steph, Dino and Sue Ee joined the waterfun. Steph showed me how she navigates while freestyling, a skill I still haven't mastered (but after Steph's instructions -with some practice- i think I can get the hang of it).

Evening the usual carbo-loading dinner. The food was nice but having only one buffet resulted in loooong queues. And the resort was apparently not informed that triathletes eat double the amount of 'normal' people. (They probably thought all these athletes must be super weight conscious). At least all got some food, some only side-dishes, others only main meal.....

Triathlons are addictive not only because of the sport but also because of the many nice people you get to meet. All of them with an 'can do' attitude and no-one belittles the accomplishments of others -instead we cheer loudly for each other....

Slept soundly on our rented houseboat.

My dear friends (and training-partners) Sue Ee and Xman

RACE-DAY. I have been really nervous about doing Kenyir tri. Having done the relay cycle-leg last year I knew only too well the hills ahead (and the previous year they nearly got the better of me).

But chatting away at the start-line Siok Bee gave me the clue for the event. She was chanting to herself 'I gotta learn to love this/ I gotta learn to love this' etc before the swim start. I started wondering why i was nervous, there is nobody to impress, my times are not gonna knock anyone over. So what if I'm the last finisher. I'm doing this because I enjoy it! All the years being cooped up at home with little kids, now I can finally enjoy being active again outdoors -and that is my passion, never mind times / placing and such.

Swim went okay, switched between breast stroke and freestyle, practising navigating skills (needs more practice - ended up in the rope a few times). Kept abreast with Sue Ee all the way.

Got on the bike but that first hill is daunting, phew so just push the bike. The rest of the cycling went quite well. I didn't push myself, just enjoyed the breeze and the beautifull scenery. Waving to all the friends overtaking or allready on the way back. saw Kimberly fly by with some relay-cyclists. This year I didn't struggle, just had fun (my only aim is the finish the race). Met up with another orang putih (we overtook each other a few times) -Chris. Hehe after chatting for 10 minutes we found out were both Dutch and switched to our mother tongue.

I think only 5 cars passed us during the race

Arrived at T2 with a few cyclists still behind me. Emma (the only female UPNM cadet active in this sport) accompagnied me the whole run. It was fun having someone along. My planned stategy was 'walk uphill /run downhill' which we maintained during the race. Gradually we counted down the km's. The last hill is really really nasty (even walking!).

I finished in 3.58hr, happy to finish below 4hrs. Hubby was waiting at the finish-line.

Prize giving was also fun. Emma's team won third prize (she swam the relay-leg earlier). My category had only 8 participants so I got the 8th place (and I'm RM150 richer hihi).

Danial had a good swim time (below 34min I think, those swimclasses are paying off)

After lunch went for another swim with the kids, before reluctantly climbing in the car for the long journey back.

Next year's Kenyir tri will be in March, I hope our family can stay a bit longer that time.

Enchanting beauty of Kenyir

Dayan, our family photographer forgot to take his camera. Pictures by Amir

See you next year in March

A Typical Malaysian Sunday

2008-06-29T17:02:00.002+08:00

We’re having a Malaysian Sunday.
What I mean is were spending our Sunday the way most Malaysian’s do – slept in, watched a bit of TV, went to mamak stall for breakfast cum lunch, read the newspaper, afternoon nap etc.
Now for most Malaysian’s that nothing to write about, for our family it’s rather special. Our usual Sunday’s are getting up at 6am, loading bikes in the car or preparing run-gear and we’re out of the house before dawn. Only to return at lunch-time; half-starved / sunburned & windblown and smelling like a bunch of sweaty otters (if I’m offending any otters here my sincere apologies). That is those Sunday’s were not out of town and attending a race some where (which still involves getting up at 6am, preparing bikes, run-gear etc –you get the pic). Reason for our abnormal Sunday – Kalam returned from Indonesia late last nite. Our maid is enjoying a weekend off so I can’t leave the little ones behind. However something doesn’t feel right, life is too static; Need to take the whole bunch out for a swim or cycle a few rounds.
Prize money
Last weekend we took part in Miri-triathlon (Kalam, Danial and me). It was a nice time meeting up with friends at the race. Nice to meet Scalo and wife Katherine, Michael Chong for the first time. Triathlon Malaysia is definitively growing, this year more than 300 participants. A few new faces in the womens’s category –mostly other orang putih’s who are living in Sarawak.
It was a very hectic weekend, got on the flight to Miri early Saturday morning – met Neeza, Steph, Wong/Hafiz (brand-new papa), Steve and Karoline at the airport. Kalam with Adam picked Danial and me up at the airport. Went to register and met a lot more familiar faces at the registration site. Quickly to the hotel (this year we were staying in town –not at the race-hotel), pasang the bicycles and get our gear ready.
A few hours later of to the start of the sprint-distance; Race went okay – still don’t like the one hill – ended somewhere at the end to finds hubby and son waiting for me (slow mama!!).
Seafood-dinner with paku-midin goreng belacan (I really miss this dish in West-Malaysia). Coffee after with Scalo and Katherine. Miri is a funny town – life seems to end at 7pm on Saturday-night. We had difficulties finding anyplace that was open after 7pm. What do people do in this town on Saturday-nites I wonder – all go to sleep early (high birthrate I wonder enuf –stop this train of thoughts)…..

Next morning race-day; Danial’s first Olympic distance, he was quite nervous but determined to finish the race.
Flag-off; I couldn’t find my pace in the swim. Having focused solely on free-style the last 3 months I was disappointed finding myself unable to navigate and turning to breast-stroke instead. Swim was definitely more than 1500 meter and I came out of the water with just a few participants behind me (Miri is also a very easy swim course for cheating and I’m sure several participants did).
Those few participants overtook me in the first 3km on the bike and I was left at the end with a police-car following me all the way. I really have a phobia about being last. Negative thoughts ‘why be so passionate about this sport while you have no talent’ kept playin through my mind. I wanted to just quit but: so far I have never quit any race, and I started thinking about Patsy (she wouldn’t give up). So I ambled on, cheered on by friendly waves from the other side of the road, cyclists on their way back.
There is a funny little bird in Miri that doesn’t like cyclists. The bird will come and peck on the cyclist’ helmets trying to chase them away –cute to see same bird was still around and still didn’t like cyclists.
With a police-car on my heels I had to face Miri’s dreaded hill –how to push the bike up the hill like that. And as usual if the mindset is right you can conquer –so I cycled over the hill and after which the police commented through their loud-speaker on how tough I am !!!(yeah right)
During the transition I took of my socks which were wet and irritating me. A very stupid thing to do. A few km later my feet had open blisters. Running is never my forte and the blisters made things worse –once again I walked most of the 10km. One of the marshallers accompagnied me and the last bit I ran together with Kalam and Danial. I arrived at a nearly deserted finish-line (I should be used to that). However looking at my watch I realized I finished in 3.35hrs. A whole 25 min faster than my maiden triathlon one year earlier.
Danial was estatic, having finished his first OD in 3.15hrs.

Lunch and prize-giving was fun. I got third prize for the sprint-distance (apparently two other women in my category didn’t finish). Nice to share the podium with Lea – one of my idols.
And being the last finisher I still earned RM100 for finishing 8th in the OD womens veteran category. For a moment Kalam and Danial wished they were middle-aged women hihi….

Back to hotel, short nap, pack bikes and gear, to airport, etc etc. Arrived home at 2am Back to work and normal life after a few hours and a short sleep…

During the cycling-leg in Miri one thing became evident – I need to get another bike. My Scotty is a size 52 which is actually too big for me. Last Friday on our weekly Putrajaya nite-ride I used Kalam’s bike and the difference was huge. Normally I start to squirm after 20km and my body starts to hurt in various places but with Kalam’s bike I was fresh after 45km. Hills normally dreaded, I now had the power to push. So I have to start looking for a smaller bike- however need to locate a budget first (Who wants to sponsor an overweight middle-aged orang putih??? Anyone???)

Danial is already happily eyeing my bike….

Clouds have rolled in and it looks that my bike/swim plans for this afternoon have to be cancelled. Of course I could go to the gym instead, however I don’t like gyms – makes me feel like a hamster on a treadmill………..

Trikidz are here to stay

2008-06-18T20:10:00.002+08:00

A very succesful second edition of TriKidz Malaysia took place last weekend in UPNM. Have a look at all the superduper cute kids at their own website:
www.trikidzmalaysia.blogspot.com
more pictures at:
www.pmtey.multiply.com

I have another 250 pictures of the event but my PC is giving problems (virus overload) therfore I'm not able to upload.

Racereport for second JSKL biathlon also still outstanding

JSKL Biathlon

2008-06-12T20:02:00.007+08:00

Watch the hairstyle of the winners in the 1st pic - maybe its d aerodynamics that makes them winners

Steve is a big winner!!!

A few pics from the second biathlon held at JSKL. Apologies for the poor quality of the pics -my henfon is a cheap one!
It was a nice event. Well organised - Iwata was running around like a hare trying to be in 10 places at the same time. Got a few good idea's on how to improve TriKidz....

More winners -nice to see several faces from our TriKidz programme

Darimi loves these events - with friend and rival Ikhlas

For the first time: Five members of our Tri-fam taking part in the same event!!!

Trifam action (and non-action) pictures

Questionable Zoo

2008-06-03T22:10:00.007+08:00

Darimi and myself visited zoo negara on monday. I'm sure i've answered in excess of 2000 questions that day. After the zoo visit he accompagnied me to swim training (mr Peh's class). He swam for the whole two hours, busy diving up his toys.
It is not fair that kids have more energy than the parents, it should be the other way around!!!

Darimi wants to read each and every infoboard, I have to tell him the name in Malay and English for each and every animal
Pictures of the big cats as ordered by Mr Darimi

Having a look at monkey (gibbon) island, different type of monkey at the other side
Enjoying a real nice day, the smile says it all

Big guys

Feeding the flamingo'

Darimi keeps on asking where are the gorilla's. I told him there are no gorilla's in this zoo, only chimps and orang oetans. Next question 'Then why do they put picture of gorilla on all the signboards?" Maybe Zoo Negara would like to explain.....

Big fish
How to feed an elephant

happy elephant

What?

2008-06-03T01:34:00.004+08:00

Hmm... 1.30 in the morning, 3 June 2008. Air Force turned 50! Happy birthday to you. I have been reading Tengku Zafrul's blog for the past 1 hour. So much to think about and to act! What can I do about it?

Slow is my middle name

2008-06-01T22:07:00.006+08:00

I'm enjoying a few much needed days off. Actually I tooksoem work home with me but I haven't touched any of it sofar. It's school holiday and yet the house is quiet. Ati went back to kampung for two weeks to spend time with her auntie. Hehe, we send Danial and Dayan out to work (child labour). The two of them are on Perhentian island with friends of us who run chalets there. They are helping out by doing small jobs and enjoying a break as well. Life has come full circle: Perhentian island is the place me and Kalam met many years ago. We were both helping out at D'Lagon as well, now it's our kids working there....
So Darimi is getting mum's full attention. Actually I enjoy taking the kids out separately so I can focus on just one rather than bustling to get the whole bunch organised and moving.
Tomorrow I'm taking Darimi to the zoo, we are both looking forward to it. In fact he's allready telling me where we should go the next school holiday (movies and Perhentian island)!

Training wise things are ambling along. In March I started swim training with Mr. Peh together with Danial (Kalam doesn't want to join). It has helped me alot. Before my free style was horrendous, I could only finish a short distance before I got out of breath and my speed was slower than my breast stroke! Now I can free style without problem (it feels as comfy as breaststroke) and my speed is faster than breast stroke. But not only that, my overall stamina has improved. There are four two-hour sessions a week but I usually attend three of them. The six hour of solid swimming a week has definitely improved my fitness level. Before training during weekdays was limited to short half hour runs/ cycle or swim sessions as I have only that amount of daylight hours left when i reach home from work. Run after dark is scary here, not because of crime but because there are a lot of wild boars and dogs around!!!
Danial's swim has improved too, he;'s quite fast but tends to burn out because he cant control his speed. And in typical teenager fashion some days he loves the training, other days he gripes about it.
Yesterday Alvin tried to teach me bilateral breathing but I'm afraid I dont quite get the hang of it yet. Apparently i have to rotate more to the left, should be easy enuf, being well-rounded rolling over should be a piece of cake but it wasn't. In the end it looked more like a lesson in drowning techniques!!!
Quite a number of people have commented that I have lost weight but strangely enough I haven't. Would be delighted if i did lose weight (I'm still aiming to reach a normal BMI some day). Yet I have to admit that clothes fit more loosely, so probably changed some blubber into muscle.

In the weekends I have been cycling Sunday mornings, 40 - 55km rides around Putrajaya. Permanent members of the group are Sue Ee, X-man and Ike, nice group for me to fit in -not too superfast and fanatic (Broga is not yet for me, need to build up first). Other people who join us are Juli, Sandy and ken, Jason, Aini, Lin (hope she still wants to join us as she was accidently left behind when her bike broke down) , Norizan and sometimes Damian joins us halfway. Last friday was the first time I joined them on their friday-nite ride as well.
I have hardly done any running, (some pain in my hip after A'famosa triathlon) so I just take it easy for awhile.

I've doen some free-lance translation work last month and with the extra money I paid for swimclasses AND flight tickets to Miri for Danial and myself (Kalam will book under UPNM), so I will be taking part in the Sarawak triathlon for the 3rd time!!! Look forward to improve my time (hihi, can hardly do worse).

My watch broke so I had a good excuse to buy a heart rate monitor (nowadays they are so cheap, same price as a watch). I have only used the monitor once sofar (walking up Iron Hill) as in general I dont like being strapped in. So mainly it's just a cool looking watch. However I did monitor my resting heart rate (ialah, tak pandai baca manual, use for the wrong thing). My heart rate is in the lower fifities while reading or watching TV (depends on the show haha). Still an indication my overall fitness level is not too bad.

All in all; nowadays a 40km nite ride is just nice for relaxing, a 3km swim a good workout, sure slow is still my middle name but who cares....

You gotta read this

2008-06-01T22:04:00.002+08:00

Today in New Straits Times:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Columns/2255113/Article/index_html

Murphy's law and triathlon

2008-05-13T20:30:00.012+08:00

Apologies for the late race-report. Life seems to get busier every month.

No pictures of the sprint-triathlon on saturday, photographer not available (taking part in the race).

Saturday was ruled by "Murphy's law", everything seemed to go wrong. Starting with a massive trafficjam, kids vomiting in the car, tempers rising we were happy to finally arive in Afamosa. After registering for the race and buying bike-helmets ofr Danial, Dayan and me we went to check into the villa we'd hired. I dont have much respect for the management of this resort....really stupid. I sincerely hope Mr Chan will consider looking for another venue for this event next year.

After those problems were ironed out (with help from Mr. Chan) there was only half an hour left before the race. Forget about lunch, a quick powerbar and a sip of water, quickly look for our racestuff and go. Discovered my new helmet had a crack so had to use my old helmet (which is not in a good condition either).

We arrived at the race-site at the same time they were asking everyone to go down to the water as the race would be flagged off in 5 minutes time. Bikes were nowhere to be seen (still with the cadets). Dump everything in a basket and go to the water.

Of course nice to see so many new and old frens but no time for chitchat.

Kids (12 and below =Dayan) were flagged off first and 5 minutes later it was our turn.

Sifu was watching the swim so tried to keep the stroke as neat as possible. Hehe, behind the island turned to breaststroke, Sifu can't see. Everyone complains about the water in this murky lake but the advantage of bad sinuses is thatl it doesn't bother me much.Swim went fairly well, starting to get the hang of free-style and navigating a bit. Was surprised to see Siok Bee and Emma not far from me while in the pool they usually leave me far behind.

Luckily my bike was there when I arrived at the transition but my waterbottles were still in the car. After 2 km caught up with Danial but his bike broke down shortly afterwards and he had to drop out of the race. This year no need to walk up the hill near the villa's, realised it's actually quite an easy hill to cycle (last year I had a very different impresssion ).

Vicky was watching the race with her arm in a collar, hope she'll recover soon. Run-distance was longer than last year, at least I walked and ran intermittent....

Finishing time not sure (my watch also broken). Also not sure how many people in my category, but knew Tye and Norizan were behind me.

Dayan did well, no need to coach him along any more, he did the race confidently on his own. If anyone has pics of him, we would like to have a copy.

Kalam considers sprint-triathlons kidsplay so I wont bother to mention him.

Back to villa for a shower and get ready to got to the dinner.

But Murphy's day wasn't over yet. We were not allowed to go into the dinner hall as we'd forgotten to take the dinner coupons along (only brought the wristbands). My allready dented opinion of Afamosa hit rockbottom. We turned around and went to eat at a roadside stall outside the resort (and surely enjoyed better tasting food). X-man. Sue-Ee and fren also had problems and joined us. During our dinner I got news I'd won the 3rd place womens veteran again!

Shared the villa with Abu, Adzim and Lin, Jaja and CK's daughter, Alwi, Fairuz and Md Noh. Chit chat a bit but most hit the sack early after getting everything ready for the race next morning.

To sleep in on sunday-morning is unheard off in triathlete-land. Shortly after 6.30am we were on our way to the race-site once again. A bit more organised this morning, bikes ready, gear, waterbottles....

Triathlons are like big reunions, never enough time to talk and catch up!!! Part of the addiction

As for the rest of the story, let the pics speak for themselves (thank you x1000times Mr Tey)

UPNM-team; this year 28 cadets took part. Some of the Ironman (and ladies?)wannabees for 2009

Compulsory group-pics for the race: Abu, Ariff, Edwin, ?, Randy, ?forgot sori, Mr Ngae, Steve, KarolineJuli, Siok bee, Emma and RaymondA lot more participants this year and the swim was very crowded, couldn't really move till the second loop.
Salman, UPNM's fastestsAt the back is one of UPNM's cadets. Middle guy unknown. In front Aussie guy named Damian. We met him cycling in Putrajaya last month. He's been living here for 2 yrs but only recently took his bike from down under.
PSSSST Ladies; drafting behind him you can easily cycle at 30+km /hr and still relax your legs!

Danial teamed up with the cadets again, he had a good swim, but got upset cos the cyclist was slow.... Now he wants to do OD in MiriDanial together with Zulhassan (Cant call him newkidontheblock anymore, proven his worth)

Sue-Ee doing her first triathlon. Before the race she was sooo nervous but once in the water she behaved like a seasoned pro and left me chasing after her....

Even during the short run in transition people will overtake me..... SIGH

Finally UPNM's tri-club has some ladies as well!!! My dear fren Juli on her first OD-triathlon, Go babe
X-man doing his 'drowned cat' impersonation
Upiq. he told me I inspire him and of that I'm more proud than my sprint-trophy! Read about him on stupe's blog
Mr Ironman/Powerbar teamElite: "my races are my only training"
See i can run without hands?

10km long chitchat"See my washing powder washes whiter than yours?"

Kam overtook me a few times, lastly just before the transition. While watching IM in Februari we said were gonna do IM2009. Kam has allready seriously started training. I'm not sure yet, time constraints make it difficult to train for long distances. On the other hand I remember so clearly standing on the jetty with Becca, both of us so much wanted to be in the water among the other athletes..... undecidedOmitted any photo's that show me walking (improve my image)
Darling thinks I need a hand during the last 50 meter

Yours truly at the finish-line

STRICT DRESSCODE

2008-05-02T22:21:00.004+08:00

With A'Famosa triathlon just around the corner we need to re-emphasize the dresscode

Cycling shorts: Strictly only BLACK, BLACK OR BLACK

or risk DISQUALIFICATION!!!! dont say i didn't warn you.....

Superduper tri-kidz and race-fixing

2008-04-06T23:55:00.015+08:00

The very first 'Trikidz Malaysia' took place on the 5th and 6th of April in UPNM. Organised by Kalam, Amir and Ungku Azhar. Cadets (members of UPNM's triathlon club) assisted in all kind of matters. Certified coaches Azhar and Stephanie made sure the whole event was a success
Some of the pictures, more to follow.....

Will start a blog for kidz-tri soon

Registration Tri-clinic 5th of April

Coaches Azhar and Stephanie

Norizan (national cyclist) Stephanie, Azhar and Hannan

Modes of transport for the athletes

Learning how to change a tire, coach Salman and Chan Jun Shen

Darimi and Hannan Warm-up the proper way

Wished they listened to us like this!!!!

My little seal

Cute butts

Transition class

Friendly young triathletes

Coach Steph with the older group

Danial, Chan Jun Shen, Salman, Azhar

Huh, where did this picture come from ??

Lunchtime: Not only the kids were starving....

Post briefing

Race day!!! 6th April

Darimi was real proud of the numbers on his arm.
Talk about race-fixing; He's convinced he's got number 3 becos that's the number on his arm, no wonder he took his own sweet time to finish.....

Darimi has all the time in the world, he's number 3 after all

Most of the little ones forgot to take of their helmets at T2

Ati did well and finished ahead of Darimi (she wasn't informed about the race-fixing)

FINISHERRRR.............

Race time for the 11-16 group

Brothers in action

The proud athletes receive their prices

There is real promise in these kids, doesn't this one remind of Barry Boy?

Still alive (and kicking....)

2008-03-30T19:34:00.002+08:00

Phew, this has been the longest silence since we started this blog. Yeah yeah, were all still alive just very very bizy....

I worked three weeks straight after IM. Last weekend we did a short triathlon in the camp. Phoowee, swim okay, but havent cycled for ages so the 45km ride was torture.... (skipped the run, too hot allready). Actually we spend alot of time talking, before the swim with Chan and Mr Ngae, before cycling with Salman, during cycling met Peter Lau in Putrajaya so talk some more.... Really need to start cycling more again, few months ago started to feel confident (many thanks to Dino for his coaching), but now I'm back at 22km per hr!!!

Been busy the last two weeks with swim training. Together with Danial we're brushing up our skills on free style and improving our stamina. Coached by Mr Peh and Alvin. I'm enjoying it even though it's not easy to manage work, kids, trafficjams and training. Time time time ......

Usually swimming above 3km per session, for the two of us who are not used to swimming free style it's quite exhausting but we're starting to feel the improvement. Especially Danial's stroke has really improved... (I'm a Slowbro as usual) Still feel more comfortable with breast stroke but slowly gettin better in free style...

This morning four of us took part in KLIM (=Kuala Lumpur International Marathon).
Danial and Dayan ran 7km. (I think Dayan suffered a bit but need to get tough with this kid as his waistline is still way to big).
Kalam ran the full marathon, a bit too early -just a month after IronMan. The first part was smooth but in the second half an old knee injury started to bug him. He finished just under 5 hours. Anyway he's irritating, can finish all these super events without much training while the rest of the human race has to suffer, train hard and then only might be able to finish -welcome to humanity honey!!!
As for me, I applied my tested and tried 'walk uphill, run downhill mode'. Except this route has not many hills mainly flat so.... ....powerwalk. Shortly after the first waterstation at 5km I realised I lost my timing chip! Losing the RM20 deposit is one thing but doing this whole bloody thing for nothing that's frustrating!!! Anyway someone told me I'd still get a medal and as I love my hardware collection, my mind was at peace and continued my sunday stroll. I met Patsy who I haven't seen since Womens Games Triathlon last year, we kept close to each other for most of the race. Lots of other friends before, during and after the race. Sometimes I wonder 'Am I doing these races for the sake of the races or because I love meeting this group of people'. Definitely both elements play a big part....
OP Bandit caught up with me after the first waterstation and we happily chitchatted all the way till Bkt Bintang. There he decided to wait for a friend while I wanted to complete the race within the cut-off time. I finished the race in 3.19hrs... yeah my first half marathon and I was still able to run the last bit (show-off , only run in front of the crowd). So another medal added to the collection....

Other happenings;
As for my work, the 3-sided coins has rolled and flipped over several times and finally come to rest- I'm stayin put in GIMC.

Janie gave birth to another 5 kittens. Kittens were under attack this afternoon by a male cat who crept into the house. Luckily Janie was there to defend her little ones.... Bad papa puzzy

IRONMAN 08 RACE REPORT

2008-03-05T20:19:00.019+08:00

MAJOR 'K' STORY - 23 FEB 2008

PHOTOS BY MR TEY (TQ TQ TQ)

POWERED BY POWERBAR

THE JOURNEY

5 March 2008 - finally I have the time to sit infront of the PC to write this report. After almost 11 days, 1 course of antibiotic, 1 trip to Penang the weekend after IM08, voting (post ballot) this morning! Well, again its a mission accomplished! Two things which I hate to do - training and writing race report! All this while I took part in the race as training, just having fun but IM is totally different race. I can feel my nervous system activated, which I never felt before in any race. It was actually the swim that make me worry, thanks to Paul hahahaha!

Oh man.... even the race number doesnt look good according to my Chinese frens! Sap sap suey lor... Hehehe get second opinion. 4 plus 4 is 8! Yessss..... ada ong what! Turn -ve into +ve.

Well, if I look at my training and compare it to the rest of the mutants, I wouldnt dare to show up on 23 March 2008. But NEVER TURN BACK UNLESS THE BATTLE IS FOUGHT attitude, I just go for it and see what happen. No turning back, they already had my photo printed in the book, on top some more! Even sifu Ah Wong and Dr Fiona photos are below mine. Oh no...

21 Feb 08 - After a few hiccups with the management, the boys missed their flight etc etc we finally at the IM 08 venue. Jasme and family already checking in to our Istana Kondo. Then Salman, Chan and me arrived. Friday morning, the other 3 arrived by bus and 1st ferry. Missus arrived later in the afternoon. Fast forward...... Damn... did I miss anything?? Looks like all are here.....

THE SWIM - 3.8KM no kidding (target 2 hours)
23 Feb 08 - Cant sleep much that nite, but wake up fresh at 6 am! Take turn on the motorbike to go to Dataran Helang. Smile for Mr Tey and thanks a million! You are the BESTEST!

BEFORE 3.8km SWIM - smile and smile and smile

Ah May : My butt is softer than yours, you know! I use this cream tau tak...

Major K : Oooo I used wrong cream maaa... Thats y mine is hard! Aiyooo...

Saiful : Apa ni mejar?

Mejar K: Kalau kat kampung, orang tua2 buat makan sirih.... gambir namanya Pol. Makan lah....

Rahimi : (Mejar ni langsung tak nampak logo Powerbar kat badan, nak kena tarik sponsorship lah ni, tak macam si bulu lebat ni)

Ntah hapa-hapa.... woi Edwin tutup pulak!

Hey Edwin, my arm is bigger than yours hahaha!

AFTER 3.8km SWIM...hey smile, smile, smile (actual time 1:48:47)

Hehehe looks familiar? Hahahaha sakit ke bang..... pundeekkk....

Hey mister in red T shirt, apa gelak-gelak? Hehehe sorry bro OP rupanya.... takkan tengok je Erm... honey are you laughing too?? Next year your turn hehehehe....

Maintain macho tau....

THE CYCLING 180.2KM... peanut (PENAT)!!!!!! Target 8 hours.

Just came out of T1, show some machoness... even though almost last hahaha

This part wont be easy either but manageable, according to my standard. I took Elmar's (found out he is no 3 and Pro some more) advice by taking a lot of Powerbar Endurance during the bike, some bananas and Powerbar Performance. Feel good though....

Wave and smile boys... we are in Madagascar!

And here we are, Mej K is overtaking the Pro Belinda Granger! See the photo sequences...

Yeah... Mej K finally overtook the champ, she surrendered! She still got No 1... Cycling is well below target.... (actual time cycling 7:15:09)

THE RUN 42.2KM... more peanuts (target 6 hours)

Running doesnt feel much comfortable, back pain and neck pain due to long hours on the bike. Anyway I have so much time to spent, so take it easy. Confident to finish in 16 hrs.

Got one Belacak trying to run together hehehehe go ahead young man. I am veteran already.
Actual time - 6:17:24 ahahaha late

THE FINISHER - MAJOR K (target 16 hrs)

Time already altered to actual finishing time!

More 'present' after this from No 1 fan! Hehehehe still got energy, thats Ironman...

The boys who finished after Mej K! Tahun depan jangan ketinggalan lagi, paham!

After 15:34:35 of craziness.... only a piece of A4 paper and a pewter medal! Worth it? Next year..

Ironmen and women, recidivist and new

2008-02-25T20:35:00.006+08:00

Ironman Langkawi 2008 finishers;
in random order
Mejar Kalam, Salman, Chan Jun Shen, Azwar, Shazly, May Senn, Ariff, Ihsal, Karoline, Steve, Jasmi, Stupe, OP Sofian, Bacin, Ridzwan, Amru, Saiful, Abu, Wong/Hafiz, Carmen, Iwata-san, Simon, Raymond Hee, Fiona Lim, Mr Ngae, Azwar/Pipot/Zebets, Azmar, Sanggup, Yuseri, Kohing, Jeffery Mujah, Saravana, Zabil, Randy Botak, Cecil, Frankie Ambrose, Puzi, Don Khor, Dicky and many many more
Oops, so many, nearly forgot, Paul and Edwin

Full report and pictures to follow later, just some highlights for now:

Tickets to Kona for SWAT and Carmen Leong
Dr. Fiona was struggling with injury on the run
Stupe managed to gain 3kg!!!
Mr. Ngae took a unplanned side-excursion during the swim (distracted by Langkawi mermaid, hehe) which earned him a 2hr+ swim time
May Senn has to change the name of her blog
Bacin is gonna spend saturdays and sundays watching tv from now on (any bets on how long till he's back on the bike?)
Recovery-ride to Broga coming saturday likely to be cancelled due to lack of participants
Azwar settled his score in Langkawi
Chan Jun Shen is the youngest Malaysian to finish IM Langkawi at the age of 18yrs 1 mth and 26 days
The weighing scale was not yet packed when May Senn arrived
Shaving does not make you faster as proven by Al-Faris. New thesis -more hair means better aerodynamics
Pls help, Sanggup wants the number of the pretty girl at the roadside halfway the run-track
No matter how many times Iwata faints he'll continue at full speed shortly after
Mr. Ngae and Chan Jun Shen finished the race together and crossed the finish line holding hands
OP Hisham has a big heart for 'poor' triathletes, the cheaper the bike the harder he will cheer!!!
Due to excessive amounts of suffering a few bikes can be expected to be for sale soon (no names)
SWAT Junior expected in June/July
Wearing those pressure-stockings make you look kinda gay

UPNM highlights

All seven team members completed IM-Langkawi
Jasmi finished second Malaysian behind Wong Ah Tiam
Youngest IM-finisher Chan Jun Shen with a time of 13hr50min
UPNM-record has been broken for the fourth consecutive year, Salman Alias finished in 12hr 09min
UPNM-team:

Jasmi Sarael 10.57
Salman Alias 12.09
Chan Jun Shen 13.50
Ridzwan 14.29
Kalam bin Pie 15.35
Amru Muhammad 15.51
Mohd Saiful 15.51

A great atmosphere at the finish-line while waiting till the last of our friends safely finished with an IM-medal around their necks.

Lastly, a big thanks to the four OP's, doc Hisham, Kam, Bandit and Budin for letting me tag along with you guys, you're true gentlemen and friends!!! Thanks also to The Navy seals Shaiful and Robika, fellow cheerleaders....

The stones are cast

2008-02-17T15:52:00.009+08:00

Not many UPNM kadets can swim at this level

Watch and learn

Outdoor bike sale

Getting ready for the ride to Putrajaya

Water boys during the run

Waterfamily with Mr. Ngae and Chan

Suka sangat buat gambar, same fam. with Johan

Marathon des Sables finisher Mr. Ngae

Chan JS, aiming to become UPNM's youngest Ironman on the 23rd

Redzuan, another Sabahan

Johan 'Are we finished allready?'

Last training before Ironman. We used UPNM's facilities to have a OD triathlon training session.
A bigger crowd then we expected turned up, all familiar tri-bandits. Azwar, Stupe, Adzim, Abu, Saiful, Erwin, OP Sofian, Bacin, Dicky, Adrian, Ariff, Mr. Ngae, etc...

Swim in UPNM's pool, some 20 of us were swimming, looked nice all these swimmers smoothly pulling lanes. One of the UPNM's coaches was on duty as a life-guard. Think he was quite surprised to see this whole group swimming, only a few kadets can match these levels...hehehe

We were busy gettin water from the canteen so started a bit late. I did only half OD distance.

Continued cycling, out of SG Besi town unto Besraya towards Putrajaya. Promised to cycle REALLY SLOW. Yeah yeah, their interpretation of slow!!!

Never mind, I know very well that I'm not up to that level (not yet, one day I'll show them - anybody scared yet??). Cycled with Johan and Kalam, another group got slightly lost but Chan managed to get them back before they ended up in JB.

A few people left after cycling, other continued unto the run. Only the bravest of the brave got to the top of Ironhill (Mr Ngae, Chan and Redzuan). The majority turned back at the bottom of the hill.

As it was a very hot day, we put the water in the car and I roped In Danial and Dayan to form a mobile waterstation.
Nice training, worth repeating.....

Only a few days left before Ironman Langkawi. Kalam is leaving on thursday.

The stones are cast now: not enough training, too much training, wrong training, just hope it all works out on the 23rd.

WHY THE HELL AM I GETTIN NERVOUS
I'm not even taking part, guess because I know how much hard training has been put in, how much hope, how many doubts.....

Good luck to all, you are all winners for daring to dream big................

Crossroads

2008-02-08T12:16:00.000+08:00

Joined the ride in Putrajaya this morning. Normally I'm scared to join the mutant club but got bored sittin' at home and so did Danial. With a lot of people out of town and Kalam still in Sabah difficult to organise a ride with our 'own level'. Announced was a 50km ride around Putrajaya and 10-20km run afterwards. I can survive 50km, told Danial we should just follow our own speed. However this morning only Shazly showed up, all the other mutants were apparently knocked out from the ride on thursday. We were joined by three pro-footballers (dunno their names and faces, I'm a total Ignoramus when it comes to football). Well these guys are new to cycling but their legs are nearly my size but not filled with blubber like mine..... So they cycled better than Danial and me. I suspect Danial was online till the early hours of the morning, which explains why he had difficulty keepin up.
I estimate we cycled around 50km, (my speedmeter rosak). Shazly was running when we came back but Danial didn't have 'umpphh' for a run, neither did the footballers. So I just ran around the circle at the mosque once. Bit malu, runnin and cyclin around in thights in front of mosque....
Feel better after the ride, need my regular dose of endomorphins (Addict!!!)....

Tryin to get some work done on the computer, prepare some powerpoints, but my heart is not in it. Workwise I'm at a crossroads, got a few offers but haven't decided what to do yet:
First - Offer from one of the big nursing colleges to work as an lecturer.
Pro's; salary increase, sponsorship for bachelor and masters degree (something I've been wanting to do for a long time but lacked the finances). 5day work week
Con's; Work not very attractive. Turning out nurses like factory, quality of nurses from these colleges also not great. Would loose touch with my specialism (intensive care nursing)

Second - New hospital opening in the middle of 2008
Pro's; Able to work as pioneers and have a big say in the set-up of the education department. Working with good and professional management, would look forward to work with these people again. Able to stay in my specialism.
Con's: Salary probably no significant increase (waiting for offer letter). Far to travel, would be very difficult to fit in any training during week days. Workhours 9-6, alternate saturday off.

Last - Stay put
Pro's; Familiar, no hassle to rearrange work permit. Acceptable travel distance. Involved in JCI-accredidation preparation. Able to stay in my specialism. Also the person that used to make my work difficult has resigned and left.
Con's:Too often still regarded as 'just one of the ICU-nurses'. (But starting to get my voice across). 5 1/2 day workweek.

Anyone got a 3-sided coin?

Is there any hope left????????????

2008-02-05T20:41:00.000+08:00

Since the beginning of December nearly every week has a public holiday in it. Of course I'm not complaining about his, on the contrary -wished it would continue all year round!!!
On sunday Kalam, Danial and me joined 'Kayuhan LTdL" (LTdL=Le Tour de Langkawi). The event took place in Putrajaya, free t-shirts for the first 100 participants to register. There were two distances: 40km and 1km.
UPM turned out in full force with some 20 cyclists - mostly female.Several other groups, including scouts.
We thought we were quite late as Kalam send the UPNM team to towerthon before driving down to Putrajaya. Only Danial got a t-shirt but there was still plenty of time. As usual speech upon speech followed for about an hour. At the end our ears were sore and finally we were flaggedc off, VIP's in front (Dato' Azalina). After 1km the first group reached their finishline. I couldn't believe my ears when the anouncer said it was now time for refreshments!!!
THAT IS THE STATE OF SPORTS IN MALAYSIA;
TALK FOR AN HOUR
CYCLE 1KM
GO MAKAN!!!
Is there any hope left????
I guess there is. Some 2000 cyclists showed up....
Only a few familiar faces (Azmar, others dunno names). After the 1km cyclists were out of the way, we happily cycled. Felt good on the bike, Dino's lessons have helped me a lot. After 20km we came back to the starting point in front of Kementerian Belia dan Sukan. I took my time, have a drink, relax my legs for the 2nd loop, had my racebunny marked. BUT the organisers tought one round enough (takut orang penat ke?).
So we packed our bikes and went home. Quite happy with my time, just over half an hour for 20km. Kalam managed to follow behind the lead cyclists, Danial also left me behind, happy with his new bike.

On the way back we got some great news; UPNM's team won the university category in the towerthon!!!
Congrats to UPNM (all five winning guys are members of the triathlon-club)
Big Booh to UPM (only cycled 1km, these ladies better join kelab masak masak)

Now having another long weekend ahead, not sure yet what to do Swim? Cycle? Run? Kalam is in Sabah till friday. He's climbing Mount Kinabalu together with the UPNM's cadets. This is a yearly event and it is the third time Kalam joins the climb. However since he's an Powerbar Elite athlete now in case anyone asks, my answer is:
"Kalam is undergoing High Altitude training before IM Langkawi"

Japanese looks

2008-02-02T21:31:00.000+08:00

Laluan berbasikal sangat mencabar
Oleh Harris RajahdinCABARAN lebih sukar menanti peserta Ironman Langkawi 2008, 23 Februari ini berikutan perubahan laluan basikal sejauh 180 kilometer yang menjadi sebahagian daripada acara lasak yang menggabungkan disiplin renang, berbasikal dan larian. Perubahan itu diumumkan Pengarah kejohanan, A Chandrakumanan dengan laluan berbasikal baru yang dipilih tahun ini adalah lebuh raya baru LISRAM menuju lapangan terbang di Padang Matsirat. “Saya ingin memberikan amaran kepada atlit tempatan. Tahun ini laluan berbasikal sangat mencabar dengan ia akan melalui lebuh raya LISRAM menuju ke lapangan terbang.
“Kami sudah membuat tinjauan bersama polis dan mereka bersetuju dengan laluan berkenaan. Atlit hanya akan dibenarkan menggunakan sebahagian jalan dengan sebahagian lagi ditutup,” katanya pada sidang media penyampaian penajaan Powerbar di Nestle House, Petaling Jaya, semalam. Turut hadir Pengurus Pembangunan Perniagaan Bahagian Nutrisi Nestle, Mohammad Rahimi Abdullah dan beberapa triatlit tempatan tajaan Powerbar iaitu Don Khor Ngee Leong, Hairul Azwar Hashim, Ngae Koh Hieng dan Mejar Kalam Pie .
Menurut Chandrakumanan, penyertaan pada kali menyaksikan peningkatan dengan lebih daripada 800 atlit daripada 38 negara akan memeriahkan saingan, berbanding tahun lalu yang menyaksikan 680 atlit bersaing dengan 580 daripadanya menamatkan acara renang 3.8km, berbasikal 180km dan larian 42km. Hanya peserta yang menamatkan ketiga-tiga disiplin dalam jangka masa 17 jam layak dinobatkan gelaran Ironman. Triatlit negara, Muhammad Hafiz Wong Abdullah (Wong Ah Thiam) yang muncul peserta terbaik Malaysia di Kejohanan Dunia di Kona, Hawaii apabila menamatkan acara itu dengan masa 9 jam 57 minit akan berusaha melakukan 9 jam 45 saat di Langkawi. Ironman Langkawi yang dianjurkan sejak 1999 menjadi siri kejohanan kelayakan ke Kejohanan Dunia di Kona, pada Oktober. Dua slot khas ditawarkan kepada dua atlit terpantas tempatan dalam kategori lelaki dan wanita bagi mewakili negara di Kona.
BERITA HARIAN 02 FEB 08

Triathlon / Langkawi Ironman: Le Floch, Nicole won't defend titles
By : Devinder Singh
Ironman Malaysia race director A. Chandrankumanan (2nd from right) posing with Nestle (Malaysia and Singapore) country manager Emily Loo (left), Powerbar business development manager Mohammad Rahimi (2nd from left) and Ironman Malaysia sponsorship manager Aaron Sharma after the presentation yesterday.

THE ninth edition of the Ironman Malaysia Triathlon in Langkawi on Feb 23 has attracted a record 800 triathletes from 38 countries but the men's and women's defending champions are not among them.
Xavier Le Floch, who won his maiden Ironman title and also became the first Frenchman to triumph in Langkawi last year, and women's champion Nicole Leder of Germany will not be defending their titles.
Race director A. Chandrankumanan said Le Floch and Nicole cited family commitments for giving Langkawi a miss this year."The defending men's and women's champions will not be in Langkawi as they both have had a birth of a child in their respective families recently," said Chandrankumanan after a sponsorship presentation ceremony with Powerbar in Petaling Jaya yesterday.However, the 2008 race, involving a 3.8km swim, 180.2km of cycling and a marathon run, has received the most number of entries in its nine-year history.
Last year, 550 triathletes started the race, which fell short of the organiser's target of 700. Completing the course within 17 hours were 463 triathletes who received the Ironman certification.This year's local challenge will again be spearheaded by Malaysia's top triathletes Wong Ah Thiam (who finished 89th in 11 hours and 20 minutes after a tyre puncture last year) and Dr Fiona Lim, who won the women's 35-39 age group and ended 149th overall in 12:23:18s.The competition offers US$50,000 (RM170,000) in prize money with 35 qualifying places to the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, in October. Two tickets to Kona are reserved for the best placed Malaysian man and woman.
NEW STRAITS TIMES, 02 FEB 08

Ironman Langkawi 2008 -- UPNM persiap jagoan
Oleh RAJA SYAHRIR ABU BAKAR
ACARA berbasikal pada Pertandingan Ironman Langkawi menguji tahap kesabaran dan ketahanan para peserta kerana melibatkan laluan sejauh 180.2km.

’MELENTUR buluh biarlah dari rebungnya' mungkin sesuatu yang klise terutama dalam masyarakat negara ini yang berbangsa Melayu.
Sungguhpun demikian, peribahasa yang diwarisi sejak turun-temurun itu telah banyak kali terbukti kebenarannya.
Menyedari ‘kebenaran’ peribahasa tersebut, Pegawai Perhubungan Korporat Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM), Mejar Kalam Pie berusaha mendidik sebilangan pelajar pusat pengajian itu dengan ketahanan fizikal dan mental.
Persiapan tersebut adalah bagi menyertai pertandingan triatlon ‘Ironman Langkawi 2008’ yang bakal berlangsung pada 23 Februari depan.
“Biar badan mereka tegap dan tahan segala bentuk cabaran fizikal. Bila badan sudah ‘keras’ dan mental pun kuat, barulah layak dipanggil askar,'' katanya ketika ditemui Utusan Malaysia pada sesi latihan pasukan tersebut baru-baru ini.
Kalam yang turut bertindak sebagai pengurus dan penasihat Kelab Triatlon universiti tersebut sebenarnya telah memegang jawatan itu sejak UPNM dikenali sebagai Akademi Tentera Malaysia (ATMA) bermula pada 2005.
Pada tahun tersebut, beliau berjaya menghantar seorang pelajar UPNM yang dilatihnya bagi menyertai kejohanan triatlon paling elit di dunia itu.
Tahun berikutnya UPNM menghantar dua orang peserta ke Langkawi dan pada tahun lepas, seramai empat pelajar universiti tersebut bertanding di sana.
Tahun ini pula, Kalam bercadang membawa tujuh peserta dari UPNM termasuk dirinya bagi memperkuatkan pasukan.
Menurutnya, antara kepentingan sukan triatlon ialah ia dapat membina ketahanan fizikal serta mental para peserta.
Bagi sesuatu pertandingan triatlon yang menggunakan nama ‘Ironman’ di seluruh dunia, ia meliputi cabaran berenang sejauh 3.8 kilometer (km), berlari pada jarak 42.2 km dan berbasikal sepanjang laluan 180.2 km.
Kesemua jarak di atas merupakan ketetapan antarabangsa bagi pertandingan ‘Ironman’ yang berlesen.
Sementara itu, hak eksklusif dan harga lesen jenama pertandingan yang mahal dari Amerika Syarikat tersebut membuatkan pertandingan Ironman sekitar Asia hanya diadakan di Malaysia, China, Korea Selatan dan Jepun.
Kerana itu juga, ramai peserta dari seluruh dunia yang ‘obses' mahu memperkuatkan mental dan fizikal masing-masing akan berebut-rebut turun berentap di pertandingan berkenaan.
Bagi Kalam, pertandingan seumpama ini penting disertai oleh bakal-bakal pegawai tentera kendaliannya kerana ia akan mengajar mereka untuk tidak mudah berputus asa.
Katanya ini kerana jika negara berhadapan dengan sebarang ancaman atau perang, para pegawai dan anggota Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) harus terus-menerus mempertahankan negara.
“Mana boleh perang sekerat jalan. Biar putih mata, perjuangan harus diselesaikan,” jelasnya.
Tiga aktiviti pergerakan fizikal pada jarak yang jauh itu jelas menguji kesabaran dan ketahanan para pesertanya.
Bagi peserta yang tidak tahan atau tidak cukup latihan, mereka mungkin boleh muntah, pitam atau pengsan.
Menurut Kalam, seseorang peserta triatlon yang profesional biasanya mengulangi ketiga-ketiga rutin itu pada jadual latihan masing-masing dalam tempoh sekurang-kurangnya 36 minggu.
Namun kerana kesibukan latihan ketenteraan serta kelas yang perlu dihadiri, para pelajar UPNM ini hanya memulakan sesi latihan bersama sejak tiga bulan lalu.
Bagi latihan berbasikal, para anggota pasukan triathlon UPNM ini biasanya berkayuh dari Kuala Lumpur ke empangan Hulu Langat di Selangor yang mengambil jarak kira-kira 100km sehala.
Sementara itu, Kalam sengaja memilih Bukit Besi yang terletak di dalam premis UPNM bagi latihan larian mereka agar kepayahan `mendaki’ bukit itu dapat menguatkan kaki ahli pasukan.
Latihan berenang pasukan ini pula hanya dilakukan di kolam renang UPNM tetapi pada pertandingan nanti, para peserta sebenarnya akan mengharungi laut.
Sementara itu Kalam yakin sungguhpun sukan ini masih kurang popular di kalangan masyarakat di sini, ia semakin hari kian mendapat sambutan.
Mungkin kerana populariti yang kurang juga menyebabkan sukan ini dipandang sepi serta tidak mendapat ‘kepercayaan’ para penganjur dan peserta.
Namun Kalam yakin dengan dedikasi dan sokongan Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, sukan ini semakin mendapat perhatian.
Di peringkat UPNM pula katanya, Naib Canselor, Leftenan Jeneral Datuk Wira Ir. Ismail Samion sering memberi galakan serta kerjasama daripada segi sokongan moral dan kewangan.
Beberapa anggota pasukan UPNM yang ditemui ketika sesi latihan berasa yakin dan teruja untuk ke Langkawi bagi menyertai Ironman.
“UPNM bernasib baik kerana mempunyai Naib Canselor yang sungguh ‘sporting’ dan yakin dengan kebolehan anak-anak buahnya,’’ jelas Kalam.
Bagi Pegawai Kadet Kanan, Mohd. Salman Alias, 21, tahun ini beliau berazam untuk memperbaiki catatan masanya di Ironman Langkawi tahun lepas iaitu 13 jam 28 minit.
“Mungkin tahun ini saya mampu mencatatkan masa di bawah 12 jam,’’ ujarnya yakin.
Beliau yang merupakan ahli pasukan paling senior kini berada dalam tahun akhir jurusan kejuruteraan mekanikal.
Dalam pada itu, ahli pasukan paling muda, Pegawai Kadet Chan Jun Shen, 18 pula, menganggap penyertaan sulungnya tahun ini di Ironman Langkawi bakal mengajarnya banyak perkara.
“Saya mahu bersaing dengan orang yang lebih berpengalaman agar mampu mencatatkan masa lebih baik pada masa akan datang,’’ jelasnya.
Acara kegemaran Jun Shen adalah berbasikal kerana dalam pertandingan tersebut, disiplin itu mengambil jarak yang paling jauh berbanding dua yang lain.
Daripada keseluruhan 20 ahli Kelab Triatlon UPNM, hanya enam orang yang turun berlatih tempoh hari termasuk Mohd. Salman dan Jun Shen kerana yang lain terpaksa menghadiri kelas dan melakukan aktiviti ketenteraan.
Empat yang lain ialah Pegawai Kadet Mohd. Adi Fakhari, 20, Pegawai Kadet Mohd. Saiful Ahmad, 20, Pegawai Kadet Mohd. Hamdi Hamdan, 18 dan Pegawai Kadet Ahmad Syazwan Rusli, 18.
Kesemua mereka bercita-cita mahu mengharumkan nama UPNM di arena antarabangsa tersebut menerusi kategori umur 18-25 tahun namun tidak semua akan terpilih.
Bagi Kalam, sungguhpun pasukannya mempunyai ramai atlet berpotensi dalam acara itu, pihaknya tidak mampu membawa bilangan peserta yang terlalu ramai kerana kesulitan kewangan.
“Insya Allah jika kami mempunyai kewangan mencukupi pada masa hadapan, anda akan lihat tim Ironman Langkawi UPNM 2009 akan menjadi semakin besar,’’ katanya.
UTUSAN MALAYSIA 30 JAN 08

Off day for KL on friday. Joined Kalam for press conference with Powerbar and Ironman organiser. Of course several familiar faces. Some yrs ago I would never have expected our family to become a recognisable part of the local triathlon scene. We heard about the kids-biathlon at the Japanese school awhile ago and all three boys were enthusiastic about joining. So I emailed their details to the school and took half a day leave (I normally work on saturday). But last night got an sms from a friend sayin he contacted the school and was told the biathlon was only for Japanese kiddies. Danial, Dayan and Darimi were quite dissapointed, but what to do. I found an email from Iwata in my mailbox but some virus got in and rendering the message unreadable, didn't bother to check back with Iwata. Hehehe, we toyed for a short while with the idea of passing Dayan of as Japanese by glueing his eyes more slit-shaped......
So instead decide on a ride in Putrajaya. We got up quite late, Chan, Salman and Redzuan came along. We met up with Johan in Putrajaya and were off. Danial on his new polygon bike. As a group we sucked, no clear race leader, no clear route. We managed to break a group of 7 cyclist into 6 groups!!! Manged to regroup, thanks heaven for hand phones or else some of us might still be out here.Still just had a nice time, just a short ride....
Went for customary b'fast and met up with Azmar, Dicky and Bacin. Of course they asked about our training session, we just smiled 'mysteriously'......
Azmar got an sms from Steve sayin he'd gotten 4th place in the biathlon. AHUM, never noticed Japanese features in Steve, deeply hidden I guess...................

What addicts do....

2008-01-27T13:23:00.000+08:00

Our cats. See bottom pic on the right: INTRUDER ALERT

Unexpected holiday on wednesday for Thaipusam, so what do addicts do.... On tuesday nite a group of ten of us went for a nite ride in Putrajaya. Nice ride for 40km, legs still a bit stiff so me and Juli took it easy. Kalam as sweeper car with the kids at the back. And afterwards of course big supper at one of the mamak-restaurants.

The rest of the week didn't do much, bogged down by a sore throat and flu. Watch the flowers grow

Our garden, pics by Dayan

Kalam is in full swing however, training for IM. Jasme will be staying with us till IM -the camp in Gemas doesn't have a swimming pool so how can he train there. He will take part in IM under UPNM's banner, nice for the university but I think the commando-team not too happy to loose him.

Danial got his 'new" =2nd hand bike, hope he'll really use it.

Feels strange didn't do anything today.... go for a swim later or walk up Ironhill probably. Feels like an addict missing her fix.... (at least I suspect that's what addicts feel like). The other day a newcomer on the forum asked if triathlon is addictive (what do you mean similar effects to morphine .....)

Pics of last weeks GErun, pictures thanks to the man on the right ;Mr Tey

POWERBAR ELITE 2008/2009

2008-01-23T17:06:00.000+08:00

First of all thanks to Powerbar boss, Mr Rahimi, Mr Shahrul and Cik Nora for taking me into the elite 'flight'. For some, being in the team elite is free Powerbar for a year or two but its not about that. Its about passion for sports which brings health to the country! Got the big picture? That's what my boss always said to me. Only small people look at small picture hehehe! I am not small, I am compact! Its new technology which produce CD, DVD and what not... so the bottom line is, be healthy and influence others to be the same. Healthy people will increase productivities (in every areas, trust me!) Ok its not a right time for me to write anything... 5pm is training time or gardening at least. Ciao adios tata....

Hehehe siapa lagi kalau tak otai powerbar!!! Dah habis blom duit bonus???

Fuyooo all power athletes!!!!! Shy lor.....

GE 20km and 30km

2008-01-21T21:48:00.000+08:00

I have convinced myself that I'm a lousy runner. Run-walk-run-walk, just a few hundred meter pain here, pain there, struggle....run 50m... struggle.... I'm a good long-distance WALKER - no problem walking a marathon BUT RUNNING, in May Senn's word's I'm not made out to be a gazelle....
Great Eastern Run, Kalam registered months ago, me ---- nah, way too far such distances...
Yet little else to do that weekend, few races till april.
Got a message from Adrian on facebook inviting to join the run. Had a peep at the GE website ohyoh registration closed. But Aini told me registration was extended for one week. So I got myself registered for the 20km. Had nightmares about being the last runner, have the motorcycle with the flag follow me for 20km.
Anyway decided i should be able to run all the DOWNHILL parts and maintain a brisk walk UPHILL. Lots of runners at the startline, Kalam took off for the 30km at 6am.
Start at 6.30am, just take it easy. I'm used to being one of the last stragglers in triathlon races but in this run there were so many runners that ekceli I'm not that bad. Others started walking way before I did. I kept to my plan and the whole event went quite smooth. Lots of familiar faces during the run, almost like a reunion. Bit of cramps the last 5km but nothing serious. Finished the run in just under 3hrs (I think, forgot to check), got a medal and to my astonishment saw lots of people finishing behind me......
Actually started thinking of doing KLIM half marathon.
And of course had a nice time meeting up with friends afterwards: Juli, Aini, Neeza, Jaja, Karoline, Sandy, May Senn, Karen, Shazly, Ihsal, Zul, Steve, Meta, Mac, Abu, Saiful, Ariff, Richard, Azwar, Eugene L, Azhar, Adrian, Simon Cross, Sharom, Wong, Adzim, Doc Hisham, Jamil....sorry if i missed someone...

Kalam had some big news on friday but I leave it to him to write his own story....
HONEY HAPPY BIRTHDAY (hihihi now you belong to the veteran category)
He's an ELITE VETERAN NOW

Genting at last

2008-01-13T17:09:00.000+08:00

Sunday, we started the day with a short ride.... up to Genting. I've been avoiding this ride for a long time as I was convinced I couldn't do it. But we reached the top!!!!
Going back down .....'Wow, I really cycled up here??!!'
Other members of today's gang; Tourguide and coach - Dino
ordinary members - Mej K
- Xman
- D1
reserves - Sandy
- Yours truly

No pictures of today's ride but here are pics from last week (pics thanks to Chan JS)
D1 has a flat tire, Dino helping to repair
We are good in watching people work
We are really good in watching people work
Tak malu ke, eat so much,
You all can really eat, huh

Mental prep before the ride
My beloved Scottie and me
Mej K and Xman
Mej K and Chan JS (same size)

10 points for guessing which one is the cadet....

Peculiar jackets

2008-01-02T21:57:00.000+08:00

After living in Malaysia for many years I've become used to the local lifestyle. Yet some things remain peculiar. One of those is the way jackets are used in Malaysia. Although originally a western design, jackets are used widely, but with some differences................

1. One of the first views that greets visitors to this country are the many many motorcyclists on the roads. But they look rather strange: Many of them are wearing sports jackets BACKWARDS. It looks pretty much like as if they're wearing straight jackets, creating the impression that a whole lunatic asylum has just managed to escape on motorbikes. Unfortunately the way they drive will only confirm that opinion....

2. One of Malaysia's traditional and favorite dress for women is the 'baju kurung' or 'baju kebaya'. A light and loose cheerfull colourfull dress worn by ladies. Usually made a of a flowery fabric they are a suitable dress for ladies in this hot humid climate while it still covers all body parts as required by the Islamic religion.

Yet for some unimaginable reason Malaysian women combine this dress with a tailored dark men's jacket. Mostly you'll be able to see this phenomenon in offices or during official functions (somehow it's perceived to be the correct way of dressing for official functions).

What to say:
A + B creates the zenith of fashion disasters

3. Jackets during sports
As mentioned earlier Malysia has a warm and humid climate year round. Mostly the locals will dress lightly in shorts or slacks with t-shirts during their leisure time. Yet once again the jacket-craze strikes when they go for exercise. Malaysians will bundle themselves in sports jackets and long track pants before going for a run in the hot sun. Aren't they aware of the bodies need to loose heat during sports you'll wonder. Sofar nobody has been able the give me a reason for this peculiar behaviour. Yet one thing is certain; no seasoned athlete will make this mistake. Showing up for a triathlon or long run while wearing a jacket is akin to tattoeing 'beginner' across u're forehead.
For the correct t-shirt to wear during these events I refer to 'viciouslifecycle.blogspot.com'. The -unspoken but strictly adhered to- rules for wearing T's during races are clearly defined here, I have nothing further to add.

What else...............

Kids started the new school year on the 3rd of January. FUHYO, free education ???? mana ada.... Dont want to say much here becos the schools lacsidaisical attitude makes me furious.
Darimi started primary one, Ati primary two, Dayan secondary one, Danial secondary three. Phew, took me one whole day to get everyone sorted out in their respective schools. Probably the teachers were not too happy to see me as I refused to pay for nonsense charges and refused to give copies of our pay slips (were not applying for any assistance so why do they need to be bizybodies...GRRR) Cool down / cool down / cool down.......

Short cycle on sunday in Putrajaya with Dino & gang. Route was cut short becos Danial had a puncture (same place as Salman the previous week -ahum suspicious - at the fly over nearby we found lots of numbers of people willing to repair punctured tubes YEAH RIGHT). Anyway had fun, especially the brunch afterwards. Other patrons of the foodcourt looked rather suspiciously at this strangely dressed group eating as if they hadn't been fed for two months.....

Wanted to register for Great Eastern 20km run but discovered I was too late. However Aini told me registration was extended for a week so I made my way to BB Plaza in the afternoon. Imagine, they told me I was the last person to register, registration CLOSED. So I've managed to get the last place even before the race.....
Why register for an event if I can only run for 300 meter or so? Well; nothing better to do that weekend. I'm confident I will be able to finish the event .....hehehe walking (cut-off 3hrs15min). So what if I miss the cut-off, just have fun walking ......

EPI NU YE

2008-01-02T20:46:00.000+08:00

And also 'happy wedding anniversary'. Yeah we made it to the 15yr mark (how many yrs still to go honey??? hehe just kiddin)

New year is all about good intentions however .......

Kalam with 10 UPNM cadets planned to join Azwar's gang at 6.30 am in Putrajaya for a long ride however;

only 4 cadets showed up (Jun Shen, Salman, Adi and Alex)
they left SG Besi too late and didn't manage to join Azwar's gang

I was supposed to cycle a shorter ride with Juli and Susi, start at 7am from Putrajaya, however;

Juli overslept
Susi choose sleeping, but Esman (hubbie) did join us

But good intentions aside, we all had a blast. Dino and Peter joined us so we had a group of 10 cyclists.

Best of all, Dino and Peter gave lots of training advice. I've been cycling since I was a small child but apart from showing where to change the gears nobody has ever taught me HOW to cycle. With Dino as a personal coach there is a big difference... He taught me how to cycle uphill (not crawling up like I usually do), how to draft (with Esman as a willing victim), how to maintain speed etc. And guess what, I can cycle at 30 km/hr and even reached 38km/hr !!!! Peter as well gave good advice on how to prepare for events and how to increase strength

After the U-turn Peter and me took the shorter course while the mutants went for an extra loop. Except Salman who had a flat tire and ended up following the two of us -still has his usual portion of good luck-. Azwar,Bacin, Stupe & other supermonyets caught up with us near the mosque.

We intended to run a few km but decided to wait for the others to arrive, others were not interested in running so we didn't run either, went for brunch instead at the mama shop.

Nice start of the year........................ no need for good intentions

SPRINT IS FOR KIDS LOL

2007-12-27T21:42:00.000+08:00

How it started.. sprint is for kids only! Hahaha...

Then when I look at Ringo, my ex-schoolmate 'elephant pregnancy' I think I better not stop doing this. (Ringo in light yellow shirt, earning five figure salary in Malakoff make him 'pregnant' LOL)

Then I met the superstar, make mama jealous! Kim b4 winning Manila's gold.

The family started to watch... A Famosa 2006 hehehe sprint tri for kids oso!

Well... then we took part in relay, Desaru LD Tri wooohoo. Errmm, digital photo has got digital fungus too?

Muahh... I love my red bike! Heavy metal make my leg strong. No more sprint eh! Remember? Sprint is for kids only.... LOL

Another relay in Miri.... I love seafood yeah yummy! Good carbo loading in Miri...

Fuyoo... got trisuit oledi! But still red bike heavy metal jengg jengg... notice the aero bar? P Ramlee's dark glasses? Tri in the 60's! Hey Vicky is catching up on me!

Ripley's believe it or not! Mama is oso (among the) superstar!!!

Dont be scared! He is just an Ultraman, the monsters' destroyer!
Next time you're in Kenyir, stay in the boat house. It floats on a big blue recycling bin! You catch the fish, eat the fish, shit it out, fish eat it, you catch the fish again, eat the fish again...the cycle goes on for as long as the world lives. Long live Kenyir!

After all, we can do a lot of tough and difficult things together! But this one definitely not for the boys.......SHOPPING!!!!! This story gave us ideas on how to sabotage mama's shopping! Nyet nyet nyet.....

OK friends have fun for new year! I'll be in Pekan cleaning up the flood..... Happy 15th Anniversary Honey (01/01/1993).

Homesick

2007-12-25T08:40:00.000+08:00

Mostly I call Malaysia home after having lived here for the past 15 years.

But on the 25th of December I will always be homesick. I miss my family, not being there to give each other a hug, to wish my mom happy birthday, miss my friends, even miss the cold weather -maybe even snow-, the christmas decorations etc.....

I wish you all Merry Christmas & peace and health for 2008

Prettige Kerst en vrede en gezondheid in het nieuwe jaar

ALMOST NEW YEAR - 'WEAPON' READY

2007-12-24T18:48:00.000+08:00

Havent written anything since fasting month, so much thing to talk about but dont know which one to put down here! Well, next year I am going to be 40. My life is about friendship and meeting more and more people. And I'd like to introduce my friends to another friends so that we are all become friends. Dont waste your time with BERSIH or HINDRAF since you will be bashed out by the cop hahaha! So lets celebrate life with friendship... this one will introduce all the armed forces 'weapon' in the triathlon in 2008. Watch out!!! Hehehe... 20% for advertising fees!!!!!

Sangup Richard, army commando, single (ehem), Ironman Finisher... Iban warrior from Sarawak!

This is Kohing Antak, army commando, single?, Ironman Finisher, also Iban warrior from Sarawak.

Badrul Hisyam Abu Bakar, navy commando, single also, erm... forgot to ask where his kampung is (sorry Bad hehehe tapi tak kisah la awek dah ramai kenal ni).

Jasme Sarael, armour regiment, from Sabah, kampung Dino, Kona qualifier... most powerful in long distance (army tank operator maa). Hafiz Wong closest rival!

Jeffrey Mujah, navy logistics, another Iban warrior, husband of Robika Gasing, also navy logistics. Jasme Sarael in hot pursuit!

Jusery Gani, army commando, Ironman finisher... another Iban warrior! Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban!

Ahmad Joyo Hj Shaari, Royal Malay Regiment from Sarawak also. Ironman finisher...

Omar Abdullah (left) together-gether with Kohing Antak, army commando, Sg Udang. Ironman finisher...
Othman Abdul Ghani (left) with the (only) Don hehehe, also army commando (Othman not Don). Ironman also...
Robika Gasing, navy logistics, wife of Jeffrey Mujah. Power Mum! Sarawak Boleh!
Zam Azri Zaini (yellow shirt), navy commando...

Laurence Gerang, navy commando.... from Sarawak!

Abdul Rahman Hasan (021), navy commando.... bloody powerful! Azwar watch out hahaha you cannot cari makan.....

Quick update

2007-12-21T20:04:00.000+08:00

New kid on the block during his 1st biathlon: Zul
Pciture thanks to Tey

Just a short update, a few pics from Chin Woo Biathlon. I didn't take part. The previous week I had a fall during the bike-ride with Juli (talking toooo much...). Of course being an experienced nurse we make a point of telling others what to do and not following those guidelines when it comes to our own health. So I ignored my shoulder, didn't hurt much. But at the end of the week I made one wrong move while trying to grab something, and the next day coulnd hardly lift my right arm. So I sat out Chin Woo, got rashes on my arm from the sweaty armsling (I've dumped the sling), still had fun chitchatting to friends. My shoulder is a bit better but still difficult to raise the arm above my head. Anyway, doc says can do exercise as long as it doesn't hurt, so cycling and running okay. Probably need to do MRI but my medical allowance for this year habis, so I'll do the MRI in january if my shoulder not okay by then.
Me and my sling Pic thanks to Tey

Wah, Eugene dah pakai medal, Kalam baru nak lari.
Pic thanks to Tey

Star quality; See I can finish without training!!!??!!!

Like fathers, like sons

Winner of the women-category: NURINA
Ahum, mix-up, so I just give my first place away
(frus - i'll never get a change like that again)

Another tri-brit on the scene; Olli (Oliver) in third place

Eugene is in a class of his own!!!!

Danial, Eugene, Mej K and Amir@Hannah

Nice colour shirt-lah

Macam kenal race-official ni

The real winner from the women's category: Salman

(hihi, he took my place and we did inform the race-officials before the race, but things got a bit mixed up)

Chin woo biotlon

2007-12-16T14:46:00.000+08:00

Hai everyone,this is my first time i use this blog have any comment about it please write.My first topic is about the chin woo biotlon 16 dec sunday.

The first problem is i woke up late then when the register and problem searching for my lane which surporse to be lane 6 but turn to 7 because no room.

Early morning swim around 7:30 am .

Then when started another problem i can`t breathe easily im not sure why i can`t breathe .

Then the run 2 km. Then my friend kim joon in front of me very far.

Then when i started the first lap then i almost finish the lap i saw a fimiliar face coming towards me.Then i realise it was kim joon.Then i told him he was going the wrong way.

So me and kim joon run to the finish line together.At the end of the race ran to get the higher place.

Kim joon got nombor 16 and i got nombor 17.

This is the picture of the finisher medal so who wants a medal like this next year join chin woo baithlon.

Women talk too much

2007-12-11T21:12:00.000+08:00

Had a lovely weekend;
on saturday went for a long swim 2.5km. Two new guys (at least I can't remember seeing them before) showed up in the pool while I was finishing the first 500m. They started to swim alongside (breaststroke as well). One started lagging behind after the first lap. The other kept at my pace. We swam nearly 2km up n down till the second guy gave up. Of course I had to finish a few more laps to establish dominance.... hehehe it's not every that I get a change to do this, so I enjoy the occasion -nothin wrong with that-

Sunday morning cycling with Juli. Kalam and Danial came along. Not the easiest job in the world the wake those two up on a sunday morning. But many years of practice makes perfect and we met up with Juli in Hulu Langat just after 7am. On the way a familiar car passed us by -must be Shazly waving at us-, another Naza Ria with Powerman Stickers.
We drove to the parkinglot at Gunung Nuang and started cycling from there. Lovely fresh morning air -only Danial felt """fffrrreezzzing ccccollddd"""- orang Mesia lah anak ni.
Juli and me in front chatting as ladies do...
Unfortunately chatting doesn't improve your concentration on the road. So after just 5km Juli and I crashed into each other. Both falling on top of each other in the middle of the road. But for a few scratches and bruises we were fine, and so where our bikes. We continued a bit more carefull, total quiet cannot-lah have to simbang2 sikit2
We cycled to Sg Tekala. Several stops for pictures, sip of water. But really enjoying the route and the landscape. Shazly was allready on the way back with Dicky. At the rest-area met with several familiar and also some unfamiliar faces, nasi lemak fuel-up.
Slowly cycled back. Felt good till the last few km -suddenly energy gone- not used to cycle more than 20-30km. And the last little bit was a steep hill, hehe next time tipu aje -park the car at the bottom of the hill.
Total distance ~65km, nothing compared to what most of the mutants are cycling every week but good enough for a sedate middle-age lady.
But definitely worth repeating some day soon. Coming sunday our family is joining ChinWoo biathlon and Juli is running a relay-race in Kuantan, maybe week after that. Next time maybe invite a few more cyclist -we only made arrangements late saturday nite-, ladies welcome -can chitchat sikit2....

Hahha, I just finished cleaning my bike and chain. Darimi kept me company and washed Kalams car. Now Kalam's car is shiny untill 75cm, to clean the top part need to wait a few years till he grows bigger.

Just got news today, the land were buying in Hulu Langat has been approved for building (was agricultural land before). So who knows, hopefully in a few years time we can start cycling from 'Mej K's and Nurina's JungleHse'.

PROMOTION

2007-12-11T20:51:00.000+08:00

Dayan earned himself a digital camera for passing his UPSR exams. And following this;
He has been promoted to Family Photographer with immediate effect
We hope to see the results of this promotion soon on this blog!!!

Lifesavers at last

2007-12-06T15:40:00.000+08:00

It's been a week of bits and pieces.
On saturday Kalam joined some of the cadets on a bicycle-ride to Putrajaya. Of course no off-saturdays in private healthcare so I had to work (anyway that group is way too fast for me). Never mind, on sunday afternoon I went for a bicycle-ride with Juli. We started from Putrajaya infocentrum.
I've hardly cycled since Powerman. The roads inside the camp are in a bad condition and I don't feel confident to cycle out of the camp -lots of very busy roads surround SG Besi Camp. The lack of training was obvious, even though Juli slowed to a snails pace I could only just hold on and when there was a strong wind while going up a long hill I didn't manage to reach the top ( and that's a hill I've conquered before). All in all we cycled probably around 30km, and Juli is lovely company. Hope we can try again soon.

This morning both Danial and I completed the four-day 'International Life-Savers course in UPNM. In an earlier post I was lamenting about my boss refusing to sign my leave-application for this course. What I did was file for the leave again but this time put under 'reason for leave' school holiday. And this time he signed without further questions -motto; treat stupidity with stupidity. So coincidently while on school holiday I've managed to complete the ILS course.
It was fun taking this course together with the cadets, Danial and a few staff members. Apparently we all passed (guess the coaches just turned a blind eye here and there - I'm quite sure I didn't pass the 50m below 50sec test). The coach teaching the CPR part was quite lost, I doubt any of the participants will be able to perform CPR properly -just hope they'll never need to.
Danial did the same course last year with Kalam but was too young to get a certificate (minimum age >14yr). Now 3 members of our family are certified lifesavers - BAYWATCH HERE WE COME -need to buy some sexy red swim wear hahahii

Kalam just returned from LIMA, apparently met a few IM's while running around in Langkawi.

It's been raining the whole day, trying to decide between a run in the rain or going to the gym afterwards.

RED ARROWS PT 2

2007-11-30T00:43:00.000+08:00

Red 9 - Squadron Leader Martin Higgins (Squadron Leader = Major)

Squadron Leader Martin Higgins (35) is in his third year on the Red Arrows. Higgy was born in Bristol and educated at Colston School, Stapleton where he was a member of the Combined Cadet Force. Higgy studied Aeronautics and Astronautics at Southampton University, before joining the Royal Air Force at the age of 21.
After completing initial flying training, Higgy undertook a Qualified Flying Instructor tour at Royal Air Force Valley on the Hawk aircraft. He was then was selected to fly the Tornado F3 aircraft, a two-seat supersonic fighter used by the Royal Air Force in an air defence role. During his time flying the Tornado F3, Higgy served on No. 43 (Fighter) Squadron and No. 56 (Reserve) Squadron at Royal Air Force Leuchars, and amassed 800 hours on this aircraft type. He flew in exercises in the USA, Canada and Belgium, and operationally in Iraq.
Higgy is married to Shazia, also an officer in the Royal Air Force. When he can find the time, Higgy enjoys surfing and scuba diving and hopes to complete an Ironman Triathlon in the near future.
“Flying as a member of the Red Arrows is still as challenging as my first training sortie with the Team.”

Inspirational! Thats the word to explain these 9 daredevil pilots whom had travelled everywhere in the world to show their skills. Probably meet him in Langkawi next week and start talking about his Ironman craze! So next photo probably a short Major and tall Squadron Leader who wish to complete their Ironman race.

RED ARROWS

2007-11-28T21:38:00.000+08:00

Tmorrow 29 November at 3pm:
Airshow by 'Red Arrows' at Subang Airforce base.
free entrance
If you've never seen this aerobatic jetfighter team before pls go and see. The split second precision these pilots show flying their jets is hair raising!!!
(Kalam will go with the kids, Mum is stuck at work GRR//##@!!)

Hopeless

2007-11-21T21:26:00.000+08:00

I've spend exactly 45 minutes training in the past 6 days!!! Surely my times will be improving soon...(only in my dreams).
In the weekend I attended a conference in Penang together with 2 college's. I've been living in M'sia since 1992 and this was the first time I visited Penang. My friends took me around, theresults are imaginable, a marathon of sorts (SHOPPING AND FOOD). Had the best laksa I've ever tasted, we did a bit of sightseeing and mostly shopping. With my male-dominated family shopping is no fun. After a few minutes they will start sighing deeply and checking their watches super obviously. 'What are you looking for actually?', 'How much longer is this gonna take?', 'Is that all or do you need to buy anything else?' etc etc NO FUN AT ALL
The three of us spend hours checking out all kinds of little shops, earrrings, accesories, shoes, clothes, souvenirs and other cutesy stuff. We only arrived back in the hotel at 10pm when the shops closed!!! Crazily we hardly bought anything, just had fun looking....

Today is Danial's birthday, just a small celebration with a home-made chocolate cake.

Janie gave birth again, this time 4 cute white kittens. Love those little balls of fluff. She gave birth while we were in Lumut for Powerman, we were really worried when we came back and couldn't find her. She showed up the next evening and the next day she took us to her kittens (she gave birth in a empty house down the road)

Tomorrow I'm gonna start training seriously (ahum)

I eat my words

2007-11-12T19:33:00.000+08:00

Race report time; Powerman Malaysia

Unfortunately no pictures, it's time we start thinking about buying our own camera!

This picture has been pinjammed from Jaja

Our tri-family during Powerman briefing

Pre-training was minimal! Half hours in the afternoon a few times a week was all I've managed to do since fasting month. Kalam's training hasn't been much more either. Danial and Dayan spend lots of time in front of their playstation and hardly any time training; of course we can all take part in Powerman, yeah right....

We arrived in Manjung lunchtime saturday, met lots of friends walking around. The pro's were staying in the same hotel, saw some really beautiful bikes.

Last minute repairs for Danial and Dayan's bikes. Danial had a flat tire once again (I don't know how he does it, but tires on his bike rarely last more than a week!!!). Dayan's bike had problem with one of the pedals coming off.

Race registration and briefing. But even more, catch up with so many friends: ladies 1st -Jaja, Aini, Robika, Susi, Hiroko, Faiza (coming to watch), May Senn, Fong, Karen, May Ang,Kim...gents - Mac, Shazly, Zebets, Wong, Shahrom, Azmar, Jamil, Zabil, Krishna, Guna, Adrian, Ihsal, Nik Ariff etc etc
Only a small number of UPNM's cadets were able to join Powerman, most were in the middle of exams. Navy's gang was around of course (being near to Lumut-navy base) but only a few joined the race, others like Joyo and Ramunjan claimed lack of training...
Arman, Sanggup and Jasmi joined UPNM's team.
Lots of stories about the 3rd bridge on the bikeroute having a real nasty hill- yikes I hate hills!
Sudden panic; Kalam left his race numbers in KL. (Luckily he got a replacement number from the management).Phew

On sunday morning the usual nerves after a fretfull sleep (why should I be nervous beats me, it's not as if our family is gonna set any world records). Managed to swallow half a powerbar.
The four of us cycled to the race site half a kilometer away.

Individual racers flagged off at 7.30 followed by the relayers(somehow this word sounds funny). Lastly it was our turn, Dayan looked extremely nervous and asked me to stay with him during the race, but he's old enough to start taking part on his own. Salman discovered last minute he didn't have a timing-chip but the management efficiently got him a chip just a few minutes before the start.

The pro's were allready into their second loop when they flagged us off. Immediately i was at the back of the pack together with Dayan who started to walk soon. For a change I managed to run and keep running and in the end overtook several others. Ok ok, my running is a snail's pace but it's a huge difference for me. Finished the first run in 40 minutes or so and felt really good. Quick sip and unto the bike....
Disaster struck -front tire nearly flat. Some of the bystanders helped to pump the tire but it immediately went flat again, ahyo . Then I had a 'What Would Terry Fox Do Now? moment' . I remembered spotting a bicycle-shop opposite our hotel the day before. So I ran there with my bike. Of course the shop was closed -8.30 on sunday morning what was I expecting-. But lady luck smiled on me (or Terry fox or whoever) and the owners son was watching the cyclists. I got him to call his dad and he agreed to change the tire for me (wonder what he thought of this crazy matsalleh woman bugging him on his off-day). While the tire was being checked and changed I ran to the hotel to get some money to pay for the new tire.
Bike okay again I finally took off on the bike-leg. (Offical rules don't allow outside help during the race but being at the end of the pack rules can be twisted a bit). By now I was truly the last one (if you talk all the time about being the last you'll get what you deserve- EAT YOUR WORDS).
Pro's were allready passing by on their second loop of the bike. Half a kilometer later I came across Dayan sitting at the roadside with tears in his eyes and the peddle of the bike in his hands. I stopped for awhile to console him. Promised him a better bike. No use sending him to the bicycle-shop as his bike would need a whole new set.

Finally on my way out of town I felt good, just enjoy the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. Better than sitting at home watching the world go by. Of course one after another cyclist overtook me. But lots of them had words of encouragement.
I reached the dreaded hill at the 3rd bridge but it wasn't nearly as nasty as I feared. I've come across lots of nastier hills in the past year -this one is more or less like the hill before UPNM.
On the way back I spotted a yellow number in the distance and my first thought "Yeah, if I can overtake that one I won't be last anymore". Slowly i neared the cyclist (later i found out his name is Md Isa - a stroke-survivor), when i was about to overtake him suddenly 'PSSHHT' and his tire went flat. As I don't carry any tires or pump I couldn't help him. Any way now I was last again.
By now the lack of training started taking effect, feeling tired and cramps in my legs but just continued to cycle. Transition 2 a quick powergel in the hope the cramps would settle but this didn't work. Couldn't run, but being a long-distance WALKER I know I can easily finish 5km. so I walked. Nearly at the end I spotted another yellow number, also walking, but a bit slower than me. I caught up with her, a new duathlete named Sandy. Together we walked/ran to the finishline and crossed together.
In the final results it turns out I was 2 seconds faster than her (haha would need a photo-finish), Md Isa also finished the race (kudos to you Sir, proud to shake your hand!). Final results; I'm number 110 out of 112.......yieehaah

Me and Sandy running to the finish-line

Picture thanks to Tey

Mumma's or Papa's son?

Picture thanks to Tey

Danial did well and finished without much problems, Gosh if that boy started training a bit he could really improve.
Kalam finished 10 minutes before cut-off time (4 minutes faster than his previous Powerman).
But he was struggling during the second run, maybe now he realises that attempting an Ironman while training just a few half hours a week is NOT a brilliant idea.
Darimi's favorite abang, Salman finished 5th in the sprint.
Jeffri, Sanggup and Jasmi did well...
Robika due to injury, was unable to take part in the long distance, but she finished second in the sprint (women). She's a real supermom (which makes Jeffri a superdad o'course)

Kalam struggling during the run

Ironman 2008 here he comes

picture thanks to Tey

Trying to advertise for powergels

Picture thanks to Tey

Some afterthoughts.
Powerman Malaysia is not very sprint-friendly. No medal, no wet towel at the finish, no t-shirt and according to the website not even a certificate. All we got was a bottle of water.... Ah well, like Kalam says 'Sprint untuk kanak-kanak aje'
Otherwise the event was organised very well.

I'm quite happy just because I managed to run nearly 5 km. I now realise that it has a lot to do with what I wear. Being 'top-heavy' makes running difficult, but with a exercise-top and a sports-bra I can run without having to press my arms to my chest for support.

If there was a prize for 'Most disorganised family' we'd have good chances to win 1st prize;

* Kalam left his race numbers in KL

* i lost my new sunglasses during the race, put them down somewhere during the hassle wiuth my bike- no clue where

* Danial left his complete bag behind. We're not sure whether the bag was accidently left behind in the lobby of the hotel or it got mixed up with the bags of other athletes checking out at the same time. If anyone has found an unidentified black bag with a few sets of clothes in it, likely it belongs to my son... (drop me a mail if found pls)

Congrats to all who finished the race....,
try again next time for those who didn't....

Good times, bad times

2007-11-06T19:39:00.000+08:00

It has been a week of ups and downs. On sunday the 28th Oct. I attended to a symposium together with a collegea. The talks were given by various cardiologist and cardiacthoracic surgeons from Gleneagles. Especially the talk by dato' Nik Zainal was very good. The next day he died in a traffic accident.

On friday morning I woke up with a sore neck and stiff shoulder. Ahja, usual lah, use computer too much. Go for a good swim in the afternoon to loosen up. The next day the pain was worse and some fingers in my hand were cold and numb. Better check this out. Got my X-rays back today; extensive sclerosis and cervical spondylosis. I'm not really surprised by the findings, the symptoms were there for quite a long time. Now learning how to live with this, weeh can't use computer for long periods -have to restrict my blogging.....

Sunday morning we took the whole family to FRIM for the 'Brooks fun run'. Quite a good turnout for a first time non-competitive event; more than 600 participants. Darimi was proud and excited to have a number pinned unto his shirt.

Dr. Chua joined the run with his son and also some of the OT-nurses. Dr Chin C.H. was supposed to join but didn't show up.

Our little athletes complained a bit halfway the walk/run but managed to finish the run without much problem.

All four kids had a nice time playing in the stream afterwards...

Fun run pictures by Chan Wing Kai from the pacesetters website

Back to work on monday, first news of the week; Dr. Chin CH's wife died of cancer the previous day.

Rest of the week; work, half hours of training in the afternoons. I really wished I could cycle to work. It wouldn't take me any longer, unfortunately cycling on MRR2 and Jln Ampang is for kamikazies only.

GERAM; i applied for leave the 1st week of december so I would be able to join 'International Life Saver' course in UPNM. Can become a lifeguard (but no garantuees you're looks will become like David Hasselhof or Pamela Anderson). BUT:

My .....boss doesn't want to approve my leave. Work would be interrupted too long if I take off for 5 days!!!! Yet he can tell me if i want to go for cuti he can approve (don't ask me to explain the workings of a brain like his). I've only rejoined Gleneagles half a year ago and thought I would be happy staying for years, instead find myself restless again. Job-opportunities abound - just a matter of choosing the right one....

Looking forward to Powerman this weekend, see all the gang after a long break. I really missed not seeing all our frens.... The friendships are as important as the sport itself.

Oops, Mrs Senile posted the wrong map on this blog: this one is Ipoh-run

thousand apologies

Race route Powerman

Look on this map coming sunday and you will be able to see a chubby cyclist followed by a motorcyclist holding a red flag: THAT"S ME

Ultraman-boy (alias brooks run finisher) had quite a fall yesterday.

Trying to show off to guests how fast he runs, he slipped and fell flat on his face; swollen lip but luckily no need for a trip to the emergency ward

About young triathletes and religious fanatics

2007-10-31T20:10:00.000+08:00

Pic of a lovely evening with friends (thanks Juli for the pic)

Life is back to normal. Rahmah is back and the household runs smoothly under her excellent care.
Kids are back in school, exams are finished.All eagerly waiting for the long holidays to start.
Kalam is the only lucky one, he took a few weeks leave (he's got soooo much leave >40days a year I think). He will only start work on monday.He finally managed to snap out of the zombie-state that caught hold of him in fasting month. Normally an active person, however for 6 weeks he was just vegetating either in bed or in front of the TV. But he's back to normal, running, cycling (n a bit of swimming). GGRRR, even after 6 weeks of complete standstill his runs still looks smooth and I'm struggling to run 500m as usual.

Sunday the 2nd the whole family is going to take part in Brooks' fun run (5km). Darimi is really looking forward to it, he finally will have a number on his shirt!!! He is still very motivated to become a triathlete. He's training with me or Kalam, a few rounds on his bike.... His biggest idols in life are; 1. Abang Salman (or 'Salaman' as he pronounces it)
2. Abang Lidum (but Lidum has graduted from UPNM and has moved on the Alor Setar)
3. Abang Dino
I have to try and snap a pic of him on his bike training alongside Kalam, sooo cccuuuttee (Darimi I mean, not Kalam).
Apart from becoming a triathlete Darimi is suddenly very religious. In kindergarten he's learned all the doa's and we get frequent spot checks now. "Mum did you read doa before you started eating"oops, "Papa, did you read doa before you entered the toilet", oops. "Abang did you read doa before going out of the house", oops. So far he's not checking on visitors yet, but anyone coming for a Raya visit better brush up on those doa's!!!

I've started training bits in the afternoon but it is slow going, all fitness level has gone down the drain. My weight is up, my body feels like flubber and I'm slower than ever, sigh....

that's life

2007-10-17T23:19:00.000+08:00

Raya is over and I can't say I mind. It has never been my favorite festival, going from one house to another and stuffing yourself. Boring programs on tv, one exception - we just watched "Mukhsin", I can understand why this movie has won several international awards, suc a lovely enchanting story.
What is it with Malaysians and food anyway? Yesterday the minister was talking live to Malaysia's first astronaut and guess what the first question was about? (No prizes for for correct answer). Similarly a lot of the newspaper reports have been focussing on the food that he took along (rendang in space, tiada benda lain yang penting ke?)

On saturday night I felt a lot of sympathy with stuffed christmas turkeys. I know exactly how they must feel.
We visited Jasmi's and family who has been posted to Gemas Army camp one month ago. Nice to see him and hisa family but also a twinge of sadness. he should have been in Kona for the Ironman Worldchampion after finishing as Malaysia's no1 in Langkawi last februari. He's qualified for Kona 3 or 4 times allready but hasn't been able to find a sponsor yet.
We're back in town since monday, and tomorrow it's back to the office for me. Danial decided he wants to fast the 6 extra days in Syawal, Kalam joined him and after one day Dayan did as well, so now the 3 of them are fasting till saturday. Not for me, I missed the swimming pool way too much. Had a nice 2km swim yesterday, my face is sunburnt and I feel sooo much better. Indeed triathlon is addictive.
Otherwise not much news. We haven't seen our cat 'Squeekie' since we've returned. But even before we left she wasn't around much, too busy with her boyfriends....
My sister in law asked for a few cats, her cats are all elderly. Thinking of which ones to give her.
Kalam's mum is staying with us for a few days till the weekend - in the weekend we have to go and pick up Ati (she with her auntie in kampung)-.
Rahma returns from Indonesia next week, till then I have to be a housewife, yikes -never liked housework. And Kalam isn't exactly an enthusiastic help in the household putting it mildly). So even with a few days off didn't get a change to relax or train much, that's life...

Increasing waist bands

2007-10-10T16:16:00.000+08:00

I've noticed a big difference this year while doing my Raya shopping. It used to be near-impossible for me to buy a ready-made Baju Kurung in my size. This year no problem at all; lots of L, XL, XXL etc available, got a Raya dress in just 15 minutes shopping-best!

I guess waist sizes in Malysia have been steadily increasing. But now I had another problem. Kalam uses a size S (unbelievable, he's still the same size as he was 15 yrs ago, talk about life not being fair!!!). There used to be lots of choice for him, Baju Melayu in all colors of the rainbow. But that's a thing of the past. I haven't been able to find a S-sizes in any of the 5 shops I've looked. Only M size, and nowadays M-size is really M-size, Kalam might drown in that size.
Desperate I came across a teenage Baju Melayu for a 13-14 yr old, it looked quite right to me. When I arrived home both Dayan and Darimi said 'That's for Papa?, but that baju is soo big'.
Let's see what happens when he tries it on. Of course I won't tell him it's a kids size (unless he reads this blog - do men read what their wives write I wonder, they don't listen when we nag so why should they read our blogs?)
Next year better not delay my Raya-shopping till last moment, those S-sizes a rare nowadays.

Last few days of fasting, this morning send our maid on a well deserved holiday. So now Mum has to do the cooking, cleaning and washing,pff. Got lots of chores lined up for our kids, spoiled brats, hardly ever washed a dish in their lives.

Still looking for someone to feed our cats while we go 'balik kampong' for a few days. All neighbours also balik kampong.
Talking about cats:
Last week Ati told us a big male cat was after Squeekie, he was even biting her! But she defended the our poor cat and chased the bugger away...., sure both cats frustrated!
Okay Mum gotta go and start cooking for Buka puasa; lambchops with black pepper sauce, yum

Have to grade my students exams, no energy this month...

ANIMAL KINGDOM PT 2

2007-10-09T12:40:00.000+08:00

Hakuna matata.... we are ANIMALS yeahhhh!! Join us...

These are fishes... in aquarium. Count it! Go to next photo if you got it correct.

These are fishes too but glamour one. They are both employed by Hollywood people. See the different between these two 'aquariums'! Rich fishes, poor fishes...

Hello, my name is Kura Kura. Sounds like Japanese name, but I am not a Japanese tortoise. I live for a while with this crazy tryathletes family, lucky I managed to escape before I end up in their plate! No celebrities associated to me neither... am not Hollywood star.

If you are reading this, means I am dead! I took a wrong step into tryathletes house, I heard about the danger before but I was too late. With my last breath, I want to tell you my short story. I got a role in Bug's Life, so I was going to book my flight. I thought I could use their computer but I was wrong. I am a centipede damn it! Guess who took over my role in Bug's Life??? Just because he had many legs like me, that doesnt

mean they can send sumo wrestler to do Ironman! I wonder which is more painful, dead or my role taken over by this fat ugly caterpillar.....

Near standstill

2007-10-08T20:23:00.000+08:00

A miniature orchid, the flowers are so small, only

few people would recognize it as an orchid. Something like 'orchid anonymous'

Coelogyne Mayeriana (at least I think so)

Tiger orchid

Bulbophyllum pileatum

These are all native orchids, the tiger orchid is wellknown and frequently grown in gardens, some of the others are rare. Some orchids might have been lost allreadydue to logging before anyone had a change to 'discover' them.

These orchids flowered in the last two weeks.

Aini, just come and visit and I can give you shoots, silly Kalam want to sell chaep (he's just joking, Kalam loves teasing)

Last saturday had a lovely 'buka Puasa' at Shazly's house. Nice to see 'the gang'. In Desaru I thought I probably wouldn't see anyone of the gang untill Powerman Lumut. Luckily I was wrong...

Training is at a complete standstill. Next week after Raya I need to get my butt of the chair. Kalam just registered himself, me and Danial and Dayan for Powerman.

Pff, feel all puffed up, no training, despite the fasting it feels as if I've gained some weight (scared to check)

Gotta go, last batch of Raya-cookies need the finishing touch.

Selamat HARI RAYA to all our friends and 'MAAF ZAHIR BATIN'

Flora

2007-10-03T20:40:00.000+08:00

A rare native orchid, not even sure of the name. It was about to open its flowers a few days ago but some nasty bug ate the flowerstem overnite. If I can get my hands on the bug, he's dead meat. The picture is from last year, that time also had flowers during fasting month.

A sunny hybrid orchid

Oncidium species. This plant took 2 years or so before the first flowers appeared. Since it has flowered every other month or so. I've slit the original plant into several pots. It is one of the few orchids with a smell, especially in the morning it has a soft vanilla like smell.

Besides the fauna our garden also contains flora. Here are some orchids which are which are floweriung this ramadan month:

Wah, one month with practically no training...., I miss swimming badly.
Work is busy, preparing exams for my ICU girls.

Rahmah is going back to Indonesia for a 2 weeks leave coming wednesday. I will take a few days off balik kampung sekejap...

20 DAYS FASTING - ANIMALS KINGDOM

2007-10-02T12:29:00.000+08:00

So scary, dinosaur in my garden.... luckily my boys are brutal enuff to catch them!

Caterpilar eat my lemon tree arrgghh...

Caterpillar eating my ferns...

Mr Window cleaner

Ikan sembilang

Ikan kaloi

Aiyooo Su 3o going even faster! It is already 20 days fasting. I just got back the computer after repair. Reasons for repair? CLASSIFIED. Only CIA knows ahahaha... well apart from that life is normal. Work as usual, am actually lazy to write anything in here. Thinking of putting a lot of photos instead. Much better huh? I think I'll put animals photos. These are the pets and animals around the house.

PUASA 10 DAYS

2007-09-22T12:39:00.000+08:00

Time flies..... faster than Su 30! Last nite missus went cycle at Putrajaya, papa n kids just marshall from the car with Dino. Should try it myself but need to buy blinking lights. Hmmm what else to talk about? Look at this beauty from Russia! This one serve India Air Force. Catch it live at LIMA 2007 from 4-8 Dec 07. See how our boys push 'Ms Sharapova' to the limit! Interesting huh?

2 RACES 1 REPORT

2007-09-14T01:29:00.000+08:00

Finally, just a short notes on my 50km Ultramarathon and Mizuno 10K. Two different races, diferent places, different faces but fun as usual. It was the 1st time I ever run further than 21km, and those 80 plus runners who took part are seasoned or veterans runners! Been all over the country running marathon. Started at 3am, thru the kampungs in the dark was a great experience. Completed my 42.5 at 8.06am, still 7.5km to go. Walk most of the way until finish. Total time 6hrs 10mins. The driver picked me up and got on the bus on time to go back to KL. Have Mess Nite to catch up at 2000H, next day relax. Then Sunday 9th Sep, 10k Mizuno Wave Run! Wooohooo my feet must be cursing at my brain which always say GO! Feel a bit heavy, anyway finish together with Doc Hisyam, again nice long chat during the run. Well, thats it 50K and 10K within 22 hours. Powerman is next, to improve last year's time.....

lightning speed.

2007-09-13T21:08:00.000+08:00

Lightning likes our house, or more correctly the modems in our house. Within the timespan of one year we've managed to send 5 modems to the graveyard. Luckily we're renting the things from streamyx. If tm company could find a clause to end our contract they would surely cut us out with lightning speed. They just had to replace the fifth modem this year (Dayan forgot to switch it off during a storm). Anyway we are back on the net.
Kalam ran a 50km ultra marathon in Kedah and the mizuno wave run 10km a few days later.
Phew
Dayan finished his UPSR, results.... lets wait and see.....
Ati and Darimi are fasting half days (and are very proud of their achievement). Hihi, reminds me of the times when Danial and Dayan started fasting. For 11 months of the year they had to be reminded to have a shower, only during fasting month they would have a shower every hour!!!

Today is the first day of the fasting month: SELAMAT BERPUASA to all muslims

Clueless

2007-09-03T18:37:00.000+08:00

Dayan is sitting for his UPSR exams this week. What I often hear from other parents is "Oh that week cannot-lah, anak got exam so I have no time'. This makes me wonder, how come got no time? What am i supposed to do? Give tuiton and revision to him night and day? Sit anxiously home all day and wait for him to come back? Haven't figured this one out yet. To me either he knows the stuff by now or he's doomed to fail. Don't see much sense in forcing him to study every minute, do kids really need that much pressure? This is still primary school....., guess I'm still clueless, don't have the 'kiasu' spirit yet.

We had a quiet weekend. Kalam was still tired from all the travelling previous weeks. So we didn't join Shah Alam run, or UM run or anything. I went for a 3km swim on sunday morning, Kalam joined me halfway. YEAH bought new tires for my bike; bright yellow and black. Fits with the frame colours. Looks like a hornet (haha but no sting with me as the cyclist).

Fasting month is just around the corner, last year hardly trained during Ramadan. This year got Powerman Lumut in november, better stay in shape.

PERHENTIAN ISLAND CHALLENGE 2007

2007-08-31T21:33:00.000+08:00

Call it race... holiday... 'balik kampung' ... thats how I feel everytime I am going to Perhentian. Almost know the islands inside out, watch it changing over the years, climate does change!! Fishes ae getting less anyway I feel good to represent UPNM and D'Lagoon at the same time. Check out the result at www.perhentianislandchallenge.com and see my partner NO 19 at the front page!

RAMBO IS BACK

2007-08-25T21:42:00.000+08:00

I just got news from Perhentian Island: Kalam together with 'Sulong' (an old friend of ours, he's been working on the island for many years) won the 8th place in Perhentian Challenge (no 20 overall). Apparently quite a lot teams DNF, got lost trail running in the jungle...
Razani, Kohing, Joyo, navyteam all DNF
Adventure-racing can be quite a surprise, I wouldn't have tipped Sulong (a verified chain smoker) as one of the winners. Wining team also from the island, Dino and Eugene second.

Jungle is no problem to Kalam, in the old days his friends used to call him 'Rambo'. He won 'best kadet' during survival training. Knowing the island well probably helped as well.

RAMBO in the old days

Perhentian island, in the early days of our relationship. Guess I fell in love with this piratemaster/rambo-guy. The rest is history....

While searching for this pictures I came across many lovely memories, just want to share a few

Darimi's cheeks were A-ADORABLE ______Silly Mum, Silly kid

Our McGiver kids : _____Danial___ &__________ Dayan

Adventure kids:_______________________ Darimi: "What are u lookin at?"
Doing 'the spider', Danial (up) & Dayan (down)

Darimi feeding Janie //-----------//We all love swimming; Mum with 3D's
pool UPNM

Single lady

2007-08-24T19:27:00.000+08:00

Yesterday Kalam left for Perhentian Island with all 4 kids in tow....
He will take part in the 'Perhentian Challenge' tomorrow. Mum couldn't get leave, so now she's alone at home (with Rahma).
So very very quiet.... Been using computer for quite a while and nobody bugged me. No 'Mum, when can I use the computer?', 'Mum were out of bread', 'Mum I can't find my school tie', Mum, Danial won't let me use the playstation', 'Mum, can I please stay home from tuiton?', 'Mum I want icewater', 'Mum I need extra money for school', 'Mum the new alarmclock just fell down by itself', 'Mum Dayan made a mess in our room and he's refusing to clean it up', 'Mum I'm not feeling well after drinking 5 glasses of cold milo', 'Mum my bicycle tires are punctured again', 'Mum, Darimi and Ati are soo noisy', 'Mum Dayan just pinched me', 'Mum I'm still hungry', 'Mum you have to fill out these forms, need to give to teacher tomorrow', 'Mum when can I get a handphone?etc etc etc etc etc etc

My bike has a flat tire (luckily not during Desaru but the day after). No time to repair yet. Raining often in the afternoon. So what's left;
Even with the little bit of running I've been doing I can allready feel shin-splints in my Rt-leg. So instead I've been doing 'stairs' training. (Those old 'OP's will know which stairs I'm talking about.) So I've been doing circles, up the stairs, run down the hill etc..
Figure I need to improve my cardio-vascular condition. I rarely challenge myself, i only do easy bike rides and slow swims....

Jealous a bit I can't join Perhentian. Danial was grumbling bcos his age is not allowed to join 'perhentian challenge'.
The island has a lot of special memories -it's where Kalam and myself met some 15 yrs ago

Still quiet, anyway I'll be happy to see the whole gang again on sunday, maybe it's too quiet....

Souvenirs from Desaru

2007-08-21T21:19:00.000+08:00

Arundina also called 'bamboo orchid', a beautifull delicate flower, yet a very sturdy plant, thrives on poor soil in full sunlight

Spathoglottis
Nowadays extensively cultivated in many colours and planted in flower beds around town

Both are native orchids. Both can be found growing in abundance at the roadside along the bike route in Desaru...

HALF IRONMAN OLEDI!

2007-08-21T11:03:00.000+08:00

As usual, hero goes to the battle without proper training as compared to all the 'mutants' triathletes. Pj Half 21K, 2 hrs 13 mins was 6 days before Desaru. Swim? Total of 1.5km play-play type during that week. Cycling? Hampeh... while waiting for Mr Naza Ria, I cycle to office so total distance was about 500m X 2 X 5 days. Missus were not that impress with this Ironman wannabe hahaha gonna waste money for not finishing! But deep inside my soldier's heart, a battle must be fought before we know whether we win or loose. Hahaha talk cock huh?
Ok la, the trip was great with Mr Naza 'Black Ma' Ria behaving nicely. Except the noise and complaint from the back! Never happy these kids. As expected, sea was like last year. Yoo hoo last year I was only cycling. Ok some mental calculations before going to the battle. Swim 2k - estimated at 1hr 15 min (based on accidently 2km swim at Bukit Merah hahaha padan muka). Cycling last year I did 3hrs 50 mins (heavy metal bike Apache) so this year target at 4hrs (after swim but considering lighter bike). Run, based on Pj Half, target at 2hrs 45mins (after swim and run, giler babun weh). Altogether 8hrs! Start at 10, finish at 6! Considered ok to me, still daylight and Lan will say I am damn slow or whatever but then You are Finisher! Hahaha thats what I want to hear.
So came morning 18 Aug 2007, the moment of truth! Swim was hell. against the waves! From 1st bouy to 2nd bouy felt faster. Then coming in to the beach was endless!!! Current under was pulling my body away, waves pushing to the beach. So mathematically, +5cm -5cm you got zero movement! So Mr Breaststoker-all-the-way have to push harder to get moving. Then this Pete Jacobs I guess, overtook me like a jet ski riding a wave! Mutants! He completed 2km oledi??? 2nd loop was worse! Arrive at 1st bouy, I felt dizzy and stop for a while. Saw missus slowly coming in, heehhee I left her when she arrived at 1st bouy (and dizzy gone). 2nd bouy oso dizzy again, stop for a chit chat with the lifeguard. Hahaha they thought I couldnt make it probably. And final push, yessss kacang (peanut) only! Stick it in my head. Finally arrived with missus 1 min behind. We were kind of together gether during the 2nd loop! Honeymoon lah!
Then run for the water, yuck, so much sea water in my belly! My tongue felt numb.
T1, put everything on and go! This one I can do lah hehehe! Not much problem, make sure I beat 4hrs so speed must be above 25km/h! Passed familiar mutants, Stupe, Shazly, Azmar, Saiful (mutants from Pluto, hybrid with human sub species whatever) Thats why these bugger so strong! Hahaha kutuk kutuk.... The rain and storm came, felt like Powerman 2006 minus the hills. I love the rain, maintain 25-26km/h average and cool. Cant remember much, but keep on passing elite like Awea, Ah Wong, Randy, etc dont know how many times they overtook me. Doc Hisyam was infront of me all the time, have to catch up with him! So after the cycling, I gave him a chase! Yeah feet feel good, non stop only at water station for 'mandi'!!! And bananas! Starving like hell. Finally a few km a way, I saw Doc Hisyam slowly run n stop n run n stop. With a bit more power, I chased him and finally we run together gether to the finish line! Lan announce our names hehehe and I realized that the time was not 8 hrs! Only 7hrs 5 mins yesss... !!! Giler gorilla nih, the next day I felt my leg a bit heavy hehehe pity them. Well... thats about it! Ironman Langkawi ...... target at 16hrs 50mins still Ironman maaa..... training????? Ooopssss good question................... I'll keep in touch with those who train ya? Give me some mental training....................... hahahahahahhaha I just want to spend times more with my family lah. Its more funner than anything else, believe me.....

SEASON FINALE

2007-08-20T20:14:00.000+08:00

First the bad news; camera kaput so no pics from Desaru.

On friday afternoon the family packed up and we left for Desaru IN STYLE. Yeah, our new car a Naza Ria arrived two days earlier. No more complaints from the 'kids' about being cramped in the back, unfortunately they were still just as noisy. (Next car needs to have a divider between front and backseats like in limo's).

By the time we arrived in Desaru it was nearly 8pm, we stopped by Golden Beach Hotel but registration was closed till next morning. Had a chat with Samantha, she told me about her father's plans for kids triathlon, -I didn't pay attention to the little ears standing nearby-.

Next morning got up early (usual "what are we idiots doing, why not sleep in like civilised people on a day off" feeling).

Met with Fong (Neeza's friend) and in convo proceded to racesite. Things were allready buzzing, a kick to meet up with so many friends.

Danial and myself only needed our swimsuits. The 3 younger family members dissapeared, had to track them back from the beach, remind them to stay close! (having adventurous kids has serious disadvantages -haha my mother will laugh very hard reading this).

Kalam got bike and kit ready for the big day, previous year we relayed together.

At the beach the waves looked a not nearly as big as the surfer waves from the year before. I was hoping on a below 1 hour time (last year 1.03hr).

The flag-off caught many by surprise, all busy chitchatting like a market place full of women. No public tribute to Zubir but I dedicated this race to him.

The swim was a lot tougher than I expected, waves not too bad, lots of sealice (since Kapas-Marang I know I'm not allergic to them, so just ignore the stings). Swimming back in was hard, current was strong, kept pushing you back. Swam parallel with Bacin and Karoline in the first round, lost them on the beach as they ran ahead. Second round I saw a familiar figure taking a brief rest at the 1st buoy, swam just behind and caught up with my hubby at he 2nd buoy. Arrived at the beach together much to the delight of Mr. Chan "You two always together' he laughed.

Danial finished the swim ahead of us as expected, two swimmers from the other UPNM-relayteams were still in sea (not bad for an old lady can still beat this young guys). Bacin and Karoline suddenly showed up behind us, much to my surprise. At least the swim was a good challenge, quite a few swimmers complained having difficulty seeing the buoys, but it was no problem for me(experience does play an important role). My time was 14min slower than last year, yikes!!!

Salman was changing the tire from his bike for the 2nd time.
Kalam took off on the bike and the family collected at the back of the Naza to watch the race. Desaru is nice to watch as you see all the athletes going back and forth, lots of people to cheer for. After a heavy rainshower it kept drizzling for hours, making conditions easier for the athletes. Kalam did well on the bike and proceded to the run smoothly. (I have no idea how he does it with as little training as he does -just pure 'degil' I think). Kalam finished in 7.06 hrs, more determined than ever to do IM 2008.

Highlights of the day;

* lotta aspiring IM's finished the race (Stupe, Shazly, Bacin, Saiful. Nik etc etc)

* Karoline ran the 21km with her father as a celebration for their birthdays on that day. CONGRATS TO BOTH

* Joyo was struggling on the run but of course still finished strong

* Dr. Fiona DNF due to tire puncture, Doc Hisham finished together with Kalam

* li'le Chan finished in the fastest time for the UPNM-team in 5.45 hr (Khairul holds the IM-record for UPNM but maybe not for much longer)

* The other UPNM-athletes finished together in a 5man group in 7.01hrs, looked kinda cosy (guess Salman gave up to aim for a good time after the 2nd puncture)

* May Senn, May Ang and Vicky looked great at the finishline, BRAVO ladies!!!!

* Fong drove back to KL shortly after finishing the race, phew I was happy to get a sms from her later that night, knowing she arrived home safely. (she's a good tri-athlete, jealous aku)

* Zar's group from JB would have easily won first place for raudiest cheerleading at the roadside (no such price yet, keep on trying though)

* First prices of course by all the pro's, at least some of them stayed to cheer the other athletes on -that's the spirit!

* Several newbies in the UPNM relay-teams, don't know all their names yet. Total of 20 UPNM kadets took part (no ladies, whoi kenapa perempuan UPNM lembut, orang tua gemuk pun boleh buat)

* Stupe crossed the finish line with his babyson, Shazly with his daughter, Eugene with his mum
------------------

Afterwards took Kalam for carbo-afterloading.

That evening overheard Kalam on the phone to a friend; 'Belum habis, esok ada lagi, untuk kanak-kanak aje' (not yet finished, tomorrow got another event for kids only)
GRR///##$**[[A]R!}}!????GStt<<>

Anyway we ignored the pro's words and next morning Danial and me got ready for the sprint distance. Kalam in charge of the kids...

Razani pulled out last minute after testing the water, didn't like another dose of sea-lice bites.

Juli arrived with Dino, Dino cheerleading only, Juli taking part. Met up with 'Crab' (Tye Yin Pheow) another triathlon-mum.

Some people just can't get enuf, Team 'Neverending Energy' Steve and Karoline lined up at the starting line.

Zabil racing alongside Aiman (this girl has arms like matchsticks but she's a real toughie) and several other 'orang putih' raced with their kids.

Richard racing his first triathlon, upgraded from relay runner.

Swim -less waves but more jellyfish and sealice. Cycling was smooth, few hills but nothing too impressive. Unfortunately one of my legs stated cramping during the cycling. When starting the run I just couldn't get my rhythm, so walk-run-walk-run 3km. Quite a few people overtook me on this part. Finished in 1.17hrs, Danial ahead of me in 1.11hr. Anyway it was a fun event, I really enjoyed myself.

A big surprise during the lunch, we got mentioned as the 'triathlon-family' (if anyone would've told me two years ago this I wouldn't have believed it). Even got a hamper, wow like real stars.

End of the triathlon-season for this year;

plans for next year;

* aim to improve my times

* Kalam wants to become IronMan in february 08

* Danial likes taking part and looks forward to improve further

* Dayan arm is okay now and can start exercising again

* Darimi's little ears overheard Samantha talking about plans for a kids-triathlon and he's all fired up, can't wait to take part. Even went for a run with Salman today....

UNBELIEVABLE; gained nearly 2kg this weekend!!!

Mother's heart

2007-08-16T22:23:00.000+08:00

It's been a busy week at work, home late every evening, didn't get any training done for several days.

Today managed to reach home just after 6pm, on the way to our house met Kalam on his way to the pool. Arriving home however I was besieged by two little people demanding to go to the pool 'Papa dah janji, suruh Mama bawah kami ke kolam (Papa already told us to tell mama to take us to the pool) GGGRRRR......

Knowing how persistent and stubborn Darimi is I knew I didn't stand much of a change... I muttered something about mama finally getting a change to train but no-one bothered to listen. Darimi fast as lightning changed into his new 'arena' swim shorts and while I was still changing into mine he just went ahead on his bike. Only just before the pool I caught up with him.... just imagine;

A six year old dressed only in his swim shorts, racing to the pool on his bike (he's still using training wheels), towel trailing from the little basket, a scene a la Denis the Menace

How could a mother's heart not melt.............

So we had a relaxed swim, Darimi cycled back with Papa, another triathlete is on the way (boy oh boy did this little fellow feel proud of himself)

In the end what does the half hour training matter, I'm not going to break any records in Desaru.

Darimi likes animals, this is not Shawie (Shawie is too agressive, doesn't like being handled)

Our new car arrived, the boys are delighted, no more complaints about being cramped in the back of the car... Tomorrow we take off to Desaru .....to be continued.

WHAT TO WRITE? HMMM...

2007-08-13T16:12:00.000+08:00

Aiyoo so lazy to write, but many things to let you all know. PJ Half Marathon was fun, I got medal maaa! Number 182! Starting at 6.30am, the rest of the family were doing fun run. I just follow n follow until almost at the 'Penang Bridge', the Kenyans were on the other side plus Richard at 5th place. (I can still count at this stage hahaha). Steph pat me on the back, I saw no numbers. Illegal runner hehehe. Then I U turn and bumped into Edwin the Ironman, looks like he had a big party the nite before!! He try to 'racun' me to run slowly but lucky I managed to escape. Then took my 1st gel, arrived at the R3, the Kenyans are already there doing their last km. Almost terminal 3, say hi to jamil on the other side. Reached terminal 3, u turn n continue. Then I saw Abu n Saiful calling me! I took my last gel to make sure they wont get me hahahhaa! Yesss... powerbar has to sponsor me next year! Its a good race, manage to improve my half marathon time. Its revenge after DNS at adidas KOTR. Arrived safely, mama n the boys offer me 3 cans of malta! Then wait for lucky draw, no luck! Drive back and bought carbo loading breakfast (nasi lemak rendang) then sleep........

FINALLY

2007-08-11T19:53:00.000+08:00

FINALLY; after waiting for several years these orchids bloom in our garden !!!

(top brassavola nodosa -a hibrid, lower two pics a native orchid, not sure of the name -the plant has been with us for 6 yrs, grown quite big before it finally flowered)

UM-duathlon

FINALLY; got the pictures from UM duathlon, Bkt Merah, Kenyir and some family pics. Photo's from Miri and Port Dickson still missing. Kalam is using a camera that belongs to UPNM, so pics get downloaded into his office computer and then it's difficult to find them back among thousands of other pictures.

FINALLY: a few of the female kadets from UPNM show some 'Umph' and take part in this duathlon (ahem, they all finished before me, but then I'm twice their age, good excuse isn't it....?)

Ladies talk; May Senn and myself

take-off time

Dino is back where he belongs; in front of the pack

Hairless chest for better airodynamics (alias Mej K.)

Our litlle boy has grown bigger than his parents allready.....

No comment

Go Danial go

Tak mungkin girlfren laju pada aku....

Li'le Chan (previously MTD, now joined UPNM)

Yours truly, macam betul betul

Danial finishing the bikeleg

Firdaus starting the second run

Ironman Adib and Mej K togedder at the finishline (either Adib is gettin old, or that knee-injury is really bothering him)

Not fair, perempuan slow aje tapi senang dimenangi duit!

'I'll bash ure head in if U dare to finish before me'

Toast for UPNM, sorry dunno names yet, except 'abang Salaman' in the middle (one of Darimi's favorite abangs)

Robika style full and fast in purple

Forgot her name but this 16yr old girl didn't give up and finished the race; CONGRATS

man down: Doc Hisham to the rescue...

Two people who can talk a lot.....

'Nko kejar siapa tadi?',
Khairul :'tak kejar siapa pun hari ni'

Highest bidder for a scrap of paper, and the winner is.....

DINO of course

And also Randy botak

and also ME ME ME

UPNM won big; one bookmarker each......

The original triathlon family...

Dividing the loot...

FINALLY; managed to finish this post, due to computer trouble took me nearly one week

FINALLY; managed to run 3km last sunday, I know it's not worldnews but it feels real good to me...

FINALLY; got my backdated pay and overtime claims, megasale in ON, bought ---what else --- sportswear and shoes....

What's left; hope I'll finally get rid of this cought and cold that's been bugging me for nearly 2 months, now on the second course of antibiotics....

De-regulated weekend

2007-08-07T21:07:00.000+08:00

Our 5 little kittens are soooo cute...., even the ears are cute

Taking a moment to reflect before getting down from the dinner table.

We all had lots of plans for the weekend. Danial and me were to walk up the 'Iron hill' (Bukit Besi) on saturday afternoon.
We were supposed to take off at five but a visitor dropped by making us 20 min late. By that time the 3 younger ones had caught our intention and were determined to join in the fun. No matter how Danial and me warned them that the whole walk of more than 12km with a very steep hill was too much for them....it only made them more determined. They kept trudging behind us for several kilometers. In the end Danial and me gave in, we couldn't just leave them behind, forging ahead also not a good idea. So we all just had a good walk and turned around, bought an icecream and returned home, we walked 5-6 km not bad for those little legs....

On saturday mornings Mum is the only getting up early and going to work, all the others have their day off and sleep in. So this sunday Mum had a chance to sleep in...., all family members were warned that waking Mum up early was punishable by the most severe measures imaginable.
Mej K. and Danial had big plans to run in the 'adidas King of the Road'. Dad planning to run a half marathon 21 km (after all he's planning to do Ironman in a few months time) and Danial was to run 7 km. They got all their racekit ready the evening before, shoes/shorts/powergel/racenumbers etc.

Alas, fate intervened......
The alarmclock didn't go off and Mej K only woke at 7am, the run was to be flagged off at 7.30am. So everyone went back to sleep and silly mum promised to wake everyone up next time (gila tak? my rare chance to sleep in).

Ati had her birthday on the 31st of may, Darimi on the 11th of July and Dayan on the 18th of July. Lack of finances and time made us postpone their birthday celebration (we only treated them with a trip to the cinema earlier). So we went shopping for presents, bought a big cake with candles and had our little celebration. Shopping with Kalam is quite funny, he'll put on his best martyr face, stoically enduring the torture of shopping that his cruel wife puts him through. (Except of course when we visit the sport-section).
I think it's the first time Ati has ever celebrated her birthday, she whispered shyly to me "Bila saya kena tiup lilin?("When should I blow the candles?").
Still a far cry from life in Europe, birthday just don't carry the same importance here. I'm getting worse and worse, often forget my families birthdays.... forget Kalam's b'day as well. Gettin old and senile I guess...

Our 3 birthday kids and their cake and their near-senile Mum

After shopping we went for a walk up Ironhill. This time Kalam,Danial, Dayan and me drove to the foot of the hill. Well I can confirm everyone's reports .... it's one piece of a nasty steep hill.
All in all, ate too much, exercised too litle, probably gained a few pounds......

Work is very busy but rewarding, conducting a training program for newly qualified nurses joining ICU ward.
Good news my leave for Desaru has been approved, we'll leave on friday the 17th after lunch....
Last place in the sprint is booked....

TIME TO "MERAPU"

2007-08-02T00:46:00.000+08:00

Hehehe midnite is just the right time to 'merapu'. Dont know what I've been doing these few days, but for sure Dato' sign my annual leave!!! Yesss... adidas run on sunday, pj half on next sunday and Desaru the following week. Book the chalet already, car loan approved already and here it comes Naza Ria! Enuff to fit in 4 bikes at the back plus the whole battalion. Life's been good in the Armed Forces, I can go to race and get a claim afterwards! Thank you to all of you triathletes and duathletes out there for making our life much more meaningful... and most importantly positive attitude!!!

Lobsided

2007-07-31T20:13:00.000+08:00

UM Duathlon; Pictures pinjam from Stupe's blog, sorry didn't bring camera

Do I look lobsided???

At work today the tailor came to take measurements for my new uniform.

She told me "Madam, you are lobsided. Ure right shoulder is 1 inch higher than ure left'

Never noticed anything amiss untill now