C2

As C2 becomes more and more "independent" he's been roaming around the house. He emulates whatever his brother does and he's no pushover when it comes to getting the thing he wants. We supervise him but even so there's no guarantee of him not hurting himself. One such incident took place last Saturday. I was pooped after the then longest run since KLIM and after the house chores and ironing I was upstairs trying to nap. My wife was downstairs with C1 who was also napping and my Mom out with my brother. 

C2 after waking up, apparently in his jaunt around the house (BTW he doesn't walk, he usually runs) slipped and fell on his face. Struggling to fall asleep, I heard that his cry wasn't the usual "category" if you can call it such. I rushed downstairs and my wife was already cradling him and to our horror, his entire mouth including his upper lip and cheeks were covered in blood. I was shocked and rushed to get a wet hanky to clean it up as I needed to know where he hurt himself. Was praying that it wasn't his tongue and indeed it turned out to be his upper lip instead that was bitten when he fell down. 

Got him some ice water to drink to soothe the pain and he quietened down quickly, to our surprise. His upper lip is already fully healed and bear no marks of the injury - kids really heal fast.

It was one hell of a scare. 

More Photos From Carbokid 2's 1st Birthday

Carbokid 2 Turns 1!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARBOKID 2!!! If you possess the same level of energy as you have today 15 years from now, you're in for loads of PR!

A Typical Marathon Cycle

The start of Marathon training - typical enthusiasm




The drudge of training and waking up early on weekends




Hitting The Wall




The triumphant crossing of the finish line, hopefully with a PR




Post-Marathon Blues & Recovery. Whole body soreness, general sense of lethargy, etc...

Carbokid 2 Turns 9 Months

The little fella turned 2 yesterday. Here are some shots of him - this fella is a real dynamite. Very hyper, fast learner, oodles of energy. Smaller compared to C1 when he was 9 months old, he's definitely not a push-over. Because of that I'm getting a free workout for my arms (it's buffing up nicely!)



Check the video out and see how cheeky he is. Somehow, he picked up this "skill" of creating and blowing bubbles. Nobody taught him that and we're really scratching our heads how he figured that out.

Mixed Bag Of Feelings

Today's been rather a roller coaster ride. To put things simply I'm gonna blog in point form.

1. Woke up to the news that Man Utd lost in extra-time (Lousy)
2. Finished a banana and a cereal bar en route to arriving Bukit Aman (Good)
3. Stomach churning. No problems at home and cleared bowels 3 times the whole of yesterday. Could it be the overconsumption of bananas? Desperately cracking my head on where to find open toilets at this insane hour (Lousy)
4. Walked over to the Police HQ cop on duty (who was busy SMSing) to ask him on where is the nearest shit-hole. Was directed to the nearby Tanglin Foodcourt (Good)
5. Hopped onto Geraldine's ride to the Foodcourt and quickly got the act over with (Good). Flush didn't work, water from tap trickling (Lousy).
6. Back to the car park and already wasted 15 minutes. Quickly changed and started off (Good).
7. Felt out of sorts the first 7K (Lousy). Thing came together only after that point (Good)
8. Despite this we reached the station in 56:18 (even faster than the previous 2 long runs. What the heck?!). Took the loop in 5:08 (Good)
9. Beginning to feel real good. On the way to the IRB office, a medium size pebble somehow got into my right shoe. Continued to cast aside the irritating distraction (Lousy)
10. Reached Petronas in 47:01 which I think was fast. Had a great time chatting with Geraldine over a wide variety of topics (Good). Right arm tingling (Lousy) perhaps from carrying the 21kg Carbokid 1 up the stairs last night. Carbokid 2 has also been putting on his fair share of weight too. Shook out the tightness periodically.
11. Took the loop for the second time in 5:12 (Good)
12. Felt we had been running a bit too fast and slowed down a tad on the return to Bukit Aman (Good). Met up with some of the 15K runners who were undertaking their 2nd loop. Saw Haza among others. Quite a few were walking but they were all amazing with their never-give-up attitude (Good). The course is not an easy one.
13. Time was running out for me as I've an appointment at 9:15am with the tenant and contractor back at my leased out apartment regarding the broken bathroom tiles. I won't have enough time to complete the extra 5K (Lousy). Decided to wait for Geraldine a bit to tell her that I won't be running the Carcosa loop. It was to be a play-by-the watch thing.
14. At this point the feet felt a bit sore (Lousy), though the calves and upper legs were fine (Good). Somehow the lower back felt tight with a little dull pain (Lousy). I don't know if this was because of carrying C1 but it had never happened before. I think it ought to be a one-off discomfort but I will monitor it tomorrow.
15. Both feet weren't feeling that good (Lousy). Back still hurt and losing my running form but I needed to stay on my feet past 3 hours (Lousy). The longest I'd been on my feet was 2:40+ done the week before (Good). Decided to cut it short and run/walk up the slope leading back up to the car park (Lousy).
16. Met Krishnan adidas and chatted for awhile - the King Of The Road 21K is on! Forms out end of this month. Tried on the new Supernova with Formotion - fabulous feeling. It's a fight between the Triumph (lighter) and the Supernova (more solid) (Good).
17. Surprised to see Lonerunner Martin (Good). Chatted for awhile and then realised that I was going to be seriously late for the appointment!
18. Noticed that my back and feet were totally fine. What gives?! (Lousy)
19. Drained my water bottle and downed another banana en route. Completed the meeting and headed home. After doing some laundry and showering, replenished with Endurox and a bowl of beef noodles (Good).
20. Played with kids and C2 enjoyed his ride on my tummy. He's so cute nowadays. He's teething now and is pretty playful. I was surprised to find myself totally fresh unlike just a few hours ago. I didn't feel wipe out post long runs as previous weeks (Good). It's all very strange and I put it down to body conditioning. On one hand the body has grown accustomed to the long runs but it's just started to get acquainted with 3 hour runs. As it was I've exceeded the longest time spent by about 13 minutes, though I didn't meet my targeted distance.
21. Snacked throughout the day, re-watched T3 for some mindless action (and Kristina Loken!) and napped for 10 minutes in the afternoon (Good).

So where do I go from here? I've to keep my optimism up. There are just a few more weeks to go and all of them are critical. Achieving my medium goal of a sub-4 is going to be very tough but I have to believe that I can do it, perhaps just a little teensy weensy chance. Else what's the point of continuing all the hard work right? The next 2 Sunday long runs may be lost to travelling which means that I will need to do a 23K for the next 2 Saturdays to complement the 2 shorter Sunday runs. Then the final Sunday will be a 3.5-hour run regardless of distance. Of course, this is also the time to make sure the week's mileage are consistently high.

Carbokid 2 Turns 4 Months

Milestones: Able to turn on his own, starting to show signs of teething, responding to play

C2's 3 Months Old Today

Had a good day today. After the 6am run with DK, Captain Lee and Wong (the pace was easy but I wasn't really awake until the 3rd K), I conducted the Beginner's Group with Wan. I'm proud to say that the we now see consistently over 10 participants, sometimes 20 (most are regulars) for the Saturday's Beginners Group. May of these runners have begun actively participating in local races as well. We have 5 who ran the KLIM 10K, 6 who did the 21K. I expect the numbers to rise and we hope this program gets larger as word spreads. Another good thing is that through our contacts with shoe dealers, the newbies are also wearing the correct footwear procured with good discounts of course. We are getting many of the runners to participate in May's Kiwanis Charity Fun Run in support of its Downs Syndrome Center. The technical T-Shirt that comes with the RM30 donation looks good and I urge you to support by buying one even if you're going to be running the NB 15K on that same morning.

After the morning run, I had a quick shower and zoomed home to pick the family up to go to the pediatrician for C2's scheduled jab and checkup. The doctor's happy with his development progress and the next visit will be in June. C2 surprisingly didn't bawl when the needle penetrated his butt cheek. We then dropped by the adjacent Sunway Pyramid mall for a walkabout. The mall is currently undergoing a massive renovation and it's not a nice place to visit while all the work is going on. It's difficult to find parking due to closed sections and it's not baby and stroller friendly at this moment.

We left the place at 2pm for Marco's Pizza for a late lunch. It was excellent and I wolfed down a delicious pasta meal, 4 slices of pane, 2 slices of pizza all washed down with ice mocha. Late afternoon was spent in front of the TV, a rare thing these days for me. Watched Blood Diamond on DVD, which was excellent. I'd been a fan of Ed Zwick's movies and this one is well balanced. Leo DiCaprio put in a good performance too.

It's coming to 10pm and I should be knocking off soon. My eyelids are getting darn heavy. Gotta get a good rest for tomorrow's challenge and marketing and to clear some household chores.

G'nite!

Continuing The Base Building Phase

For the elites, the base building phase can take up for 6 months. And that's before they embark on a 4-month marathon specific training. For me 4 months will have to do. Next week will mark the end of 1 month's return to training and the entry into the serious stuff where emphasis are placed on the long runs of up to 25K, tempos, hills and threshold runs. BUT before that begins, I still have to wrap this week up with a longer run tomorrow and to complete next week in a flourish. Here was what I did this week.

Thursday
Carbokid 2 had his second injection today. As expected the poor fella bawled but not for long. He has been very colicky of late and it can tax even the most patient caregivers. There's no way out except to comfort him the best we can and hope this phase passes quickly. C2 is definitely different from C1. C1 is darn tough even when he was small - so tough that the doctor was surprised that he (C1) didn't cry at each of his innoculation. Then C1 wasn't colicky at all and was quite problem free in his baby days.

Running was again around my housing area. TOF was 52 minutes and change, close to the timing and pacing of Monday's workout. I noticed that of late, I'm running at a faster pace, something I need to correct quickly as I look to extend my runs beyond 1 hour.

Friday
It's back to work! The 50 of us from the Tech Group went for a "hoi kong" lunch at the Minmax Restaurant. It was the 2nd 8-course meal I've had this Chinese New Year. I know, this is nothing compared to what some of you had had but I guess it's OK. Next Friday is when the real action will be - a Japanese Buffet dinner at Jagoya at the Starhill Centre. I believe it costs RM100+ per pax. They serve some very expensive stuff there, so my workouts next week will be geared in such a way that I can indulge in this dinner. Next Saturday's is our departmental Teambuilding with planned activities such as paintball and a spa session at one of the more expensive spas in PJ (can't remember the name). I've opted for a facial, body scrub and Japanese massage package. I will be sure to run hard the whole week and really enjoy the spa! On the work front, I counted 200+ emails waiting for me at the office which will definitely add to my list of outstanding items.

I ran with Newton (it was really some time since he ran) in the evening. Planned was 6 laps but we managed just 5 as he needed to return back to the office to clear more work. TOF for me was exactly 45 minutes.

Saturday
An early date with Geraldine, Fook and Grace. It was nice to see Grace again and she seemed to have recovered from the knee injuries. As they proceeded to Hartamas, I did my usual 30 minutes out and 30 back routine and found that I completed the same distance 6 minutes faster. A "warmdown" jog with the Beginners around the lake completed my morning workout. The evening program will be some grocery shopping at Tesco, followed by an outing with a close friend to catch the Liverpool-Man United match. Once again MU didn't play with the kind of incisiveness during their charge to the title. But then, in the many seasons when they won the title, many games were decided in the final few minutes, with a bit of luck as well as some individual brilliance. And all that came together in the Anfield game. Liverpool will have felt hard done by but that's the nature of the game. The Kopites will have to try again next year. As for United, 2 more wins should more or less wrap things up. Woo hoo! Now to concentrate on the Champions League.



Clips from www.saikaiball.com

Sunday
Wrapped up the week with a LT workout. Total TOF was 40 minutes. There are loads of things to strategize at work tomorrow which will demand quite a bit of thinking but run I shall, in the evening. There will also be some planning required in the training aspect as next week will be the final week of base before the serious stuff come in.

Weekend Run

"I already know how to run slow. I want to know how to run fast"
- Lai Fong Sang. OK, OK, it was Emil Zatopek who muttered those words but it could very well had been Lai.

Saturday
You know how it is. You managed to accummulate 3 days of back-to-backs and then hit with a throat infection. The moment the last antibiotics slipped down the throat, I've already set my alarm to join Choi for the next morning's run. As usual, I will run until somewhere near the Selangor Properties apartment before u-turning back to the car park to start the Beginner's Group. I started off with Geraldine in front but even before Padang Merbok, I was already smoked. Fook was almost thankful that I asked him to run ahead. I'm never in the delusion that I'm fit. With Fook and the rest away, I was relieved to find myself settling down to an even slower pace. I kept checking my rear on another woman who was running quite a way back - just so that she's safe. After struggling like hell up the Central Bank climb, I decided that it's better for me not to run until the intended u-turn point but to just run as far as 25mins will take me. This is so that my return trip will be thereabouts too. Running by time was my best option as I was hurting like mad. I kept thinking "Systematic Stressing" while going up the hills. It was really painful, the lungs, nostrils, legs, shoulders... every part of me were taking a beating. There's a heavy price to be paid after such a long layoff and I know there's no way to circumvent this. So I accepted it. This shocking process to the system needed to be carried out. My mind told me that I must accept this punishment.

On my way back I met "Locomotive" Lai who stormed past me while Kenny and Ronnie were some 70m behind him. Lai has been nicknamed Prefontaine for all his hard running but I think Emil or Zatopek or "The Locomotive" would better suit him. You see, when Lai runs, there's no slow runs, no matter what he said beforehand. And his gait and form is hardly what you'd call elegant. If you've seen how the original Zatopek ran, then you'll know what I mean. Chen is better suited for Prefontaine due to his affinity to the spirits and lifestyle, yet able to hammer the pace. But I digress.

I reached the car park pretty winded but surprisingly not soaked in sweat - the weather was very conducive. I decided to run with Kim (who ran the recent GE 20K in 1:50 something - her debut race!) in the reverse Carcosa Hill route and suffered for it. Kim is a natural talent having taken up running just 5 months ago on her company's fitness programme. Now, running is very much part of her life - she needs to run even if it's just 20mins! You rock, girl!

I was TOTALLY pooped when I got home. In hindsight I felt that I overdid it (total time run was about 1:25) when my longest run the last 3 months was 32mins. My body ache like I just completed a marathon and even after 2 hours of afternoon sleep, there wasn't much change to my body condition. I delayed taking the 2 painkillers until after dinner. As I was dozing off later, I was glad that I suffered this morning. To have suffered and went through the pain can only mean that I'm alive. Running mirrors Life. I slept really well that night I might add.

Sunday
C2 had a day out today. We celebrated his full-moon (1 month) early since today's Sunday. The actual day is next Wed (the 7th). After some marketing, we left the home to pick up some Ayamas packages for delivery to some family members. Before that we dropped by the Kwan Yin Temple along Jalan Ampang to pay our respects and for blessings. Then C1 and I covered the Seputeh, Bangsar and Bandar Utama folks while C2, Carbowoman and my Mom headed back home.

Carbokid 2 Is A Week Old Today

Thought I'd exercise some creativity and put up this video containing some movie clips and stills. There are some background music so if you have the speakers on, it makes a better viewing.

Carbokid 2 Makes His Debut

...at 5:52am Jan 7th 2007. In the red corner of Manchester, weighing 3.5Kg and 15cm tall, heeeeerre's Carbokid 2!

More photos at the Photo Album - more will be added over the next few days.




Warning from the Surgeon General: Viewing too many baby photos may wake up the paternal/maternal instincts in you!