Marathon Virgin

Now , now, don't let that title get your knickers in a knot !!! This blog is dedicated to a certain Marathon Virgin in my life !
So whats this all about ??? The first long distance race for the year – the Standard Chartered KL Marathon ½ distance (that’s 21km in case you didn’t know it).Sunday morning saw us up at the crack of dawn; 4am to be exact to get to Dataran Merdeka, park and race at 6.15am.

My race tag for the this year ! Can’t buy 4D – boo hoo hooo !

Morning of the race, the reality of whats up ahead not quite hit yet. The only relief was the rain that morning cooled down the weather significantly which made running that route bearable.

At the start point – with my best friend Hammy 1 ! We always have done this thing where we end up dressing alike – unplanned; which has led to the unfortunate distinction of people at the gym thinking we were lesbian partners ! Yes – much to BOTH our dismay.

The crazy bunch post-race ! We have decided there is a very fine line between psycho and sheer stupidity !

Now to the fun part – the title of this blog must be explained ! When we were walking to the start point that morning, saw this banner “Marathon Virgins join us”. That got me thinking - how apt! It was the man’s Virgin 21k run – and this blog is dedicated to him!
The following montage describes perfectly his experience for the day.

Raring to go, little aware of what was to come.

Just finished – “WHY THE HELL DID I DO THAT?????”

Later that day – knocked out !!!!!

I am so proud of him for pushing through and finishing the race, given the preparation or lack of thereof leading up to this race. His work schedules were so crazy, that the most he did was 10k the week before. His time was really awesome for a first 21k! Post race was most interesting, The Man’s current recovery pill of choice – Makcik Nasi Lemak with chicken and a cold coke ! I kid you not folks ! That’s what we were eating in a little warung at the Bukit Aman carpark at 10.30 in the morning after the race. Must say though that nasi lemak and the lontong I had did the job beautifully, cause we managed to make it home without keeling over!

I must also admit – I was a bit of a witch over the weekend, not the best running buddy to have around. For that I apologize and realize that I could have and should have been so much more supportive given that it was his first 21K, and some “RAH RAH” would have been much appreciated. No excuses on that front !

So here is to my Virgin 21K runner! Way to go!!
Up next is the Newton 25k and Penang Bridge Full Marathon ! Don’t ask why – all I can say is that is the plan!

Post Script : Conversation with the man in the car on the way home ; Anu : “Hey that wasn’t so bad ! What you think we try full marathon distance next year in KL”
The Man : “Hmmm!!! 42K in KL…. maybe ok .. we see”.
Now folks beyond crazy I dunno what else to call it!

A long Hiatus

Its been quite a long while away from the blog. So much has happened. As per normal work and the travelling it entailed kinda got outta hand!
I also took the blog down for about 3 weeks, due to personal reasons. That actually upset me more, as I felt that my personal space, decisions and choices were being infringed upon due to someone else's reactions.
Unspoken though, I think the Man also felt I was doing the wrong thing by reacting and taking the blog down. To quote him "Fight la"!
So much has happened in the last month - so many ideas, thoughts, emotions in my head that I just need to get out. So here we go again.. hopefully second time round will be lucky!
Overview of some of the big stuff that happened in the last month :

• The blog has been discovered by 2 of my friends who also blog (as I had linked it to theirs). Unexpected but exciting turn of affairs as I now have an audience !
• Travelling like non-stop.
• The man is now officially on the little fruit bandwagon. Due to buttons falling off his phone, he is now the proud owner of an IPhone 3GS! Kinda the plan topsy turvy as I was to get one first, test test then he get one. All i can say though is that I am hooked. Soon to upgrade!
• Stuffed up the registration for Singapore marathon ! Places were all snapped up by the end of the early bird registration period ! I swear half of that little island is going to be out running an December 5th. So its back to the drawing board for year end race. That said - I think my stars are not aligned to running a full marathon in Singapore. Will try one last time next year - otherwise its going to be 3 strikes out for Singapore marathon ! 
• Training for KL Marathon and the Challenge are not completely on track. But we will persevere!
• The Man has suggested something new for us to do together - DIVING ! Something I have always wanted to do, and am completely psyched! Only thing now - want to make sure I look smoking hot in a bikini in time to hit the water!

One last thing - this one for HRH The Nut! According to him you need a passport to get to where I live. However given his proclivity for Starbucks and by own humble estimation; I think when one of these come to a location near you (with drive thru to boot) I think you have made it on the map !

Racing Weekend

The week flew past in a blur. For me it started with taking Monday off, going to Sabak Bernam for work and back-to-back meetings on Friday. Amazingly managed to finish reading 'Commited - A skeptic makes peace with marriage',  Elizabeth Gilbert's new book (but that is another post waiting to happen!). The Man also had a crazy busy week from what I gather. So before you know it we were suddenly facing Race No 2 for the year - Pacesetters New Balance 15k on Sunday morning.
However the Friday and Saturday leading into the race were far from relaxed ! Friday night saw me having drinks and dinner with some old mates whose friendship I'd been sorely neglecting. Came back home to the Man (bliss)! Saturday saw me running errands, going for a business meeting, dealing with some family drama, which lead to the below drama on Saturday around 11pm.

Trying to desperately book flight tickets for work trip to Singapore on Tuesday morning only to discover I had not paid for mobile broadband services !!!!!!!!!! Thankfully i was saved by the Man and his ingenious idea.  Man also had some drama to deal with which saw him doing a wee bit of drinking and thinking till late into Saturday night.
Anyway come Sunday morning - off we went to race !

All things said - it was an ok race. My time was 1hr 53mins - off target by about 10 mins, so am not particularly happy about that. The Man came in in 2hr 6 mins, which is decent but he was hoping to come in under 2 hours.
The Man completely shacked out post-race!!!!!!!!

Anyways we spent rest of Sunday doing what has become a speciality of ours - "3 in a row movie marathon", albeit a strange combination of movies.
Started with ....

Lite-easy watching after the run.

Moved on to ....

Something that I have been meaning to watch forever! Intense and completely compelling to watch. Understandable why Forrest Whittaker won the Oscar for this !

And finally ......

Highlights the issues in a very sensitive way I think. No American soldier guts and glory here !

Monday morning post-script to the weekend : The Man's bib number was 1 digit off the weekend 4D draw! hmmmmmm - am wondering if there is a message in there for us ??!?!?!

Running in Cars and on Legs!

The last one week and this coming week and the next are crazy crazy crazy. Will be on the road for work - this time am going to rural to run workshops for the State Education Department. Had an interesting drive to Kuala Langat last week, preparing for Sabak Bernam this week and off to Myanmar next friday. In the midst of all this am still trying to keep up with the workouts, the challenge and train for upcoming race.

The Man and I have signed up for the New Balance 15K run on May 16th. Route below.

We tried out the route on Sunday morning! Our time just over 2 hours (courtesy of Endomondo). If we push my target is for us to try to get in under 2 hours. The 15K killed me though, knees hurt like mad. I am blaming it on the wedges that I used for the workshop on Saturday.

The Man post run - according to him " First time ever i am completely drenched!". Honey wait till we start training for the 20's and 40's.

Post race we chilled at home, or like crashed after an easy lunch.

Think May is going to be a real challenge - on the work-front, race-front, Challenge-front and personal-front. Lots to juggle ...

THE CHALLENGE

May 1st arrived and The Challenge is on ! Below is THE PLAN. We will update and modify as we get through the next 3 months.

3 Month Challenge  : 1 May 2010 – 1 August 2010

Aim : Lifestyle Makeover
o Loose Weight
o Healthy Eating
o Fit Racing
o Mind- Body Wellness

Anushia Goal : 54 kg (11kg), BMI 21.1
Bhaskaran Goal : 70kg (11kg), BMI 23.9

One thing I just realized - there has been no discussion about what the celebration will be once we get to the end line !!! Hmmmm .....

Learning ...

This something dropped into my Inbox this morning. Call it karmic destiny, the universe sending a message, very appropriate learning for me - given the weekend I had, and ensuing discussion with the man this morning.

Life Lesson 101 for Anushia !

Have I driven a wedge in the beautiful connection I was building with the man? Is this a lesson - for me to learn to behave with respect to the one that I love and have opened my heard to ? All I can say right now is that life is a journey and there is a lesson for you in every moment. The fundamental question - are you willing to learn from the lesson and accept the consequences or are you going to continue being a stubborn old mule ?

Lists, Plans and The Challenge !

It’s been a bit of a crazy week at work, and Ms. Control Freak in me has been trying to well gain control through her infamous TO DO Lists. In the process of trying to organize my Google Calendar and sync it with my phone, I had the funniest discussion with the man on Tuesday. Seems he is getting the hang of this PLANNING concept, and seems to be nudging me out of the control seat. Though he has a very interesting definition of planning – with something called a ‘PLAN’ and ‘REAL PLAN’.

Anyway, the zeal for running has morphed him into this unknown being – who is now planning our race calendar for 2011. YES – 2011, and we are only approaching the month of MAY 2010. His philosophy for 2011, long races outside Malaysia; short, short preparatory races close to home.
So RACE CALENDAR 2011 looks something like this :
o January 2011 – New Balance 30k
o February 2011 – Koh Samui Marathon
(This is where I got in the fray and took things one step further)
o July 2011 – Gold Coast Marathon
o December 2011 – Singapore Marathon
In between we may squeeze in KL Marathon, Penang Bridge Run and maybe the Angkor Run ! Haven’t decided the distances on these though.

Then came trying to get organize my work travel schedule and the numerous meetings with government agencies that miraculously get postponed 2 hours before we leave the office. We have figured best to try work out short breaks around my travel plans; so HOLIDAY PLANNER is now :
o Singapore May 29th – 31st : To coincide with the long Wesak weekend and a meeting I have in Singapore on the 31st.
o Ho Chi Minh City August 6th – 9th : We were planning to go away for my birthday, and looks like I have to conduct a workshop in Saigon on the 7th, so…..

And as we were doing our daily on messenger, the man threw open the gauntlet with THE CHALLENGE !
In the quest for that hot, hot body (which I think he already has) he suggested that starting May 1st, we go on a sugar-free, white-free, processed-food-free diet. His idea was to start shifting some of those pounds. I (as usual) took it one step further and suggested, why not look at it as a wholistic lifestyle plan – to get ourselves fit, healthy, hot, etc etc. To think of it as a lifestyle tune-up, wellness improvement programme.
Result : The man promptly took it up as a Challenge !
Goal 1 : To loose 10kg within the next 3 months. (The August deadline coinciding with my 35th – and the whole point of this blog!)
Goal 2 : To develop healthy eating habits for life.
Goal 3 : To maintain this weight and lifestyle for life.
Goal 4 : To get fit so we can race more effectively.

Given my issues with sugar – he had now been deputized as official Food Enforcer. I am in charge of designing this PLAN – given my love of lists and SOPS, as well as being the official Exercise Enforcer.

GAME ON !!!(Not to worry will do regular status updates on the Plan and Progress !)