1.02.33

If you are wondering how I went with my 10km run during the Melbourne Marathon earlier this month, the answer is that I did really well! I was very happy with my time. This has got to be one of my favourite running photos of me taken by Grumpy.

As mentioned in the previous post, I was nervous the entire week. We are usually out on Friday and Saturday nights, wining and dining. But during that weekend, I stayed home both nights, went to bed early. Most marathon runners eat heaps of pasta the night before the run, to load up on carbs. I decided on pizza and garlic bread instead. Greasy and cheesy.. hehe it was so yummy, but it got my spirits up as I was determined to burn all the calories away the next morning.

Finally the Sunday morning came. I woke up at 4am, only to discover Grumpy still awake, watching Foxtel. Oh my.. I sent him off to bed, for at least a 2 hour sleep. I needed him to drive me to the run, and to cheer for me at the finish line! It was pouring rain, NOT A GOOD SIGN. But it was still early in the morning... I had two slices of toast with peanut butter, a cup of tea, and then drank plenty of H2O. After breakfast, I took a hot shower, got changed.. and then pretty much just waited til 6.30am. In the mean time, I started doing yoga, to relax myself and stretch my muscles. Even the dog chose to stay in bed and sleep in the entire time.

By 6.30am, I was able to get Grumpy up and ready, we headed out to my old boss' apartment in the city. Belgian Chocolates. The rain stopped by 7am.. but even Belgian Chocolates complained it was cold. I reminded him that he was European (i.e. should be able to tolerate extremely cold weather). Belgian Chocolates and I started to walk towards the MCG. Grumpy decided to get the car washed instead and assured me he will be waiting for me at the finish line. The run starts at 7.30am. 

Grumpy asked "So what time do you think you will finish?" I said.. "Hmm... 8.30am?" 

He went "Are you sure?!? How about I meet you at 8.45am?". Clearly, he did not think I could finish the 10kms in an hour :(

FINE, 8.45am it is!!!

The full marathon runners started at 7am. The 10km runners at 7.30am, and the half marathon runners at 8am. There were tens of thousands of runners. When the 10km race started, I was running at a very fast pace, just going along with the rest of the crowd. By the 2nd and 3rd km, I was struggling. But I did not stop. Belgian Chocolates fed me some energy tablets, in between... we hardly even stopped at the water kiosks, we just kept going. I was better by the 5km mark, slowing down a little bit, but still at a pace faster than my usual speed. At the 8th or 9th km, there was a bit of an incline, and I struggled even more. Still did not stop, just kept going. And finally, light at the end of the tunnel, I see the finish line! This photo here, is Belgian Chocolates yelling at me to run even faster, we were nearly done! I increased my speed, sprinted all the way to the end of the line, with the little energy left in me.

I could see the clock. '1.02.33'. 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds! Even though the goal was to do it in an hour, I went 2 minutes over, but I am not going to give myself shit for the extra 2 minutes. Hehe This is my best time ever for the 10kms. 

When Belgian Chocolates started training with a friend/mentor for the marathon a few years ago, at the finish line during his first marathon, his friend/mentor gave him the opportunity to finish first at the finish line. And so, as he was training me this time round, he did the same for me. He made sure that I went across the finish line before he did. I told Grumpy that his goal was not to beat me, but to make sure I finished the run in a decent time. Belgian Chocolates could easily do a 10km run in 50 minutes or less on any normal day, but since he was running with me, he ran at my pace. 

After I crossed the finish line, I was looking out for Grumpy. I could not see him. I was worried that he was still out somewhere, missing all the action. DAMNIT, he would have missed taking my photos too :( 

But little did I know, he did wait for me at the finish line. He was early. He took some awesome photos for me. Yay! Even he was happy that I finished it in an hour! And two minutes....

Training for the 10km run

Two years ago I took part in the Melbourne marathon, running the 5kms. It was really good fun, a bunch of us at work did it together, so there was a social aspect to the run. This year, I decided it was time to take it one step up, so I signed up for the 10km run for the Melbourne marathon. A friend who agreed to do the run with me this year pulled out just three days after signing up, citing the advice of her podiatrist. Instead, I found another running partner. Belgian Chocolates. Yes, my ex-boss. He has four full marathons under his belt, but because of an injury, he is unable to run the marathon this year. He will run the 10kms with me. In a decent time. The goal is to do it in less than an hour.

My usual running routine on any normal week is on a treadmill at the gym, 5kms, while watching the news, Two and A Half Men or listening to my iPod. Meanwhile, Belgian Chocolates made an executive decision (without my approval) to be my personal trainer for this 10km journey. The first change he decided for me, was to stop running on a treadmill, opting to run outside in a park. We both agreed to train together on Fridays after work at the Tan.

However, to ensure I did not disappoint him on Fridays, I started heading out to the Tan after work by myself, running, sometimes stopping.. so walking, then back running again. I did this on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Then came Fridays, which was with Belgian Chocolates.

The first Friday that we ran together was not too bad. He pushed me to run 8kms, without stopping, and even running the incline. Previously, when on my own, I normally walked the incline as it was just too hard. But he pushed me, and so I ran the incline, very slowly. It was a bit of an achievement for me, my first attempt running the incline! HAPPY!

The following week, I ran on Monday, Wednesday (in the friggin' rain) and Thursday alone... 8kms each time, up the incline as well, but I found myself struggling, stopping often, and walking back to the office most of the time. It seemed that the more I trained, the worse I became. The weather did not help, it was freezing cold, it rained, it was busy at work.. I was a wreck. The second Friday came, with Belgian Chocolates, and my legs failed me. I could not run at all. I swear, I nearly broke down in tears at the Tan, while running behind him, trying to keep up. I was able to hold my tears back, to avoid embarrassment. I just did not have the strength at all. It was such a bad week. Reading this article yesterday made me realise that I was not alone. Even Heather wanted to cry in front her personal trainer! I nearly did, too. Oh well, I was crying on the inside.

After that bad week, which was last week, I had a chat about it with Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot. She reminded me that I am in this to enjoy myself, enjoy the run.. being part of a big event. She told me not to stress myself out.. and so I took it easy this time, allowed my legs to recover. I went back to running on the treadmill, which is now much easier for me. I also realised that maybe I should try running outside with some music, since I have always done this on the treadmill. I dug out an ancient iPod Shuffle, and thank god, it still works. I wonder if they still sell this stuff. Haha.

Last Sunday, I told myself, since it was not a working day, I wasn't tired (like how I would feel after work)... I put some new songs on the iPod Shuffle, and I started running outside to my local park. I did 10 laps around the oval, and back. I ran at a very slow pace, but guess what? I was able to keep running without stopping at all. And this was over an hour. My legs felt okay, tired but at least still going. On my way home, Grumpy even drove past me, offering me a lift home in the car. Which I kindly declined! Hehehe. I was proud of myself. Maybe the music does help.

This week is the last week before the event. The run is on Sunday. My (current) boss was saying how empty the Tan was this week (it is normally packed with runners after work). This is because all the runners are resting, conserving energy. I only did one run this week, on Wednesday, alone, with music, 8kms at the Tan, no stopping, and even up two inclines. I really felt good after that. I am in better spirits this week!

I am now ready to take on this 10km challenge on Sunday. I feel like a Rabbid!! Watch this! IT IS SO CUTE!

Wish me luck!!

Nobu

I recently started watching Gossip Girl. I know, I know... I am the only person left in this world, that have not watched this popular and highly addictive TV show yet. Everyone started watching this about 4 or 5 years ago, and here I am.. at the 3rd quarter of 2011, only starting Season 1. I find myself having difficulties discussing this show with anyone at the moment, only because everyone else is now going on to Season 5 and they cannot remember the details of Season 1! Haha. Anyways, the good news is that I finally finished Season 2 today, and the finale was so good! I was nearly in tears when Chuck finally told Blair he loved her! They are by far, my two favourite characters. I texted my friends to say how happy I was by the end of Season 2, and.. my weekend is now complete! Oh god I am a hopeless romantic.

As promised, I wanted to share with you some pictures of when my BFF was here.

At Mamasita's. Straight from the airport.

This is us at Nobu in Crown casino. It was our first time there, and I had pretty high expectations of the place. Again, we are probably 4 years late in trying out this place.. hehe everyone raved about it back then when it first opened. We always found an excuse not to go, but finally when Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot came to visit, I thought 'hmm.. would be good to try Nobu'. 

I don't know, after this Nobu experience, Grumpy and I have come to this conclusion: most of the restaurants in Crown are completely overpriced, overrated and overcrowded. Yup, we are so OVER the restaurants in Crown. The Nobu signature black miso cod was good, but the rest of it was pretty average to me. 

Also, with the last picture, haha.. I must tell you how obsessed I am with miso soup since returning from Japan. I love love love miso soup. I have tried them in many places, and some restaurants do whip them up differently. The most expensive miso soup I had, was at Izakaya Den for $10. It was delisshh, a seafood broth miso, with clams. So when I opened up the menu at Nobu and saw a miso soup for $7.50, I said out loud "I must try the miso soup here!" Much to my disappointed, it was a very ordinary miso soup from a pre-made paste, with two tiny pieces of tofu, and that was IT! Even the complimentary miso soup from my regular sushi place (Sushi Monger) makes better miso soup than this. There goes my $7.50 that I will never get back! 

Okay, apart from the bad miso soup experience, it was still a good night, hanging out with two of my most favourite people. 

Low

Just a quick post to say that I have been caught up with various things, from painting my bedroom to catching up with close friends, to training for the 10km run next month at the Melbourne Marathon. Grumpy informed me about some news over the weekend, and it just annoys and frustrates me when he agrees or commits to things without checking with me first. He has a weakness of not having the ability to say No. I don't know. We have our highs and lows, and lately it has been a lot of lows. Yes its true, I am feeling low. Maybe I should make a trip to the Buddhist monastery this weekend.

On the flip side, I had BFF Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot visit two weekends ago, followed by Little-Miss-Bargain-Hunter here last weekend. Both weekends were awesome and so much fun!

Here is a sneak peek of Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot and myself at Mamasita. We snacked on their popular chargrilled corns and sipped on margaritas. More photos to come...

Good night...! Tuesday-itis tomorrow!

Hello 29!

I finally celebrated my 29th birthday last Saturday. Unfortunately I had a fight with Grumpy, and so instead of being really happy about my special day, I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. Grumpy is pure genius at ruining important milestones. Despite all that, I still thank my lucky stars because I have family and friends wishing me well from everywhere and I know I am still loved... by someone out there. 

Fast forward all the sad stuff, I got some lovely gifts. Grumpy surprised me with an iPad 2. I kind of knew he was going to get me one, and when he handed me a box for my birthday present, and I opened it, it turned out to be a brown box?! I was worried for a minute there that it was not an iPad. But after the brown box, came the Apple box.... So that worked out fine, I guess. My friends the wombats gave me a gift voucher for Endota Spa, which is my all time favourite spa. My brother and his better half surprised me with this Yves Saint Laurent arty oval ring, which I absolutely love! 

                                         

When Grumpy and I were in Japan, I was hunting for a YSL boutique so that I could get one of their arty rings. It was quite a difficult search, because the address was in Japanese, we could hardly figure out where it was, and we were going round in circles. Finally on our last day in Japan, when we were not looking, we actually found a YSL store in Kobe by chance. I was so happy, and they sold the arty rings too! Unfortunately, after the FX conversion, the ring worked out to be really expensive. I did not end up buying the ring, much to Grumpy's annoyance. He insisted I get the ring, as we had travelled all the way to Japan and spent all that time searching for a YSL store, but no, I decided against it. Hey, I was disappointed at that time too. Hehe So when I opened up the little gift box last Saturday, I was very happy indeed!

My old boss Belgian Chocolates surprised me with a copy of my favourite Vogue magazine from France, the special edition for AW11. I also got a nice Helly Hansen polar fleece jumper, which is so nice and soft from Mr Happy. And some other friends gave me a David Jones gift voucher. 

Back to my iPad 2, Grumpy and I got a Telstra mobile broadband SIM card for the iPad so that I can use it in the train or when I travel, which is great! Today he got me this cover which looks kind of dull... but I am thinking this is just temporary, while I look for a nicer more girlie one. 

And tomorrow, I call it my belated birthday present, hehe my darling BFF Little Miss-Drink-A-Lot is coming to Melbourne for 2 nights and we are going to spend some quality time catching up! We have heaps of stuff planned, which includes Mamasita (LOVE!), running at the Tan, facial and massage at Endota Spa and dinner at Nobu. I am so excited!!

A Day In The Life Of Me

Last week, my office started a program called 'Lunch And Learn'. This is where you bring your own lunch, into the sessions, and you listen in to people from different areas of the business talk about their jobs and how exciting it is, and then after, it makes you feel like 'Crap, I've got the most boring job in the world'. We had the same program at my old work, but I never attended any. And so when they launched it last week at my current workplace, I did not attend any because (a) can't be fucked (haha), and (b) I already have lunch plans with my friends. Until...... my boss sent me an email with only one sentence saying "I need to talk to you about this". I thought to myself, Oh man... I had better attend at least one session to pretend I am interested.

I was wrong.

Instead of just attending the session, she wanted me to present on behalf of my team and talk about 'A Day in the Life of a ___ (my job)'. She might call it 'professional development' for me, but I call it 'classic example of hand-balling'. Management probably requested for her to do it, instead she decides it should be me to present. Great, just great. I had to prepare one slide myself about A Day in the Life of me! I had no idea. My day is really not that interesting at all. I googled it.. I asked my friends..

This is what Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch wrote back to me in an email:

My name is Mrs _ Ng. My husband's name is M_ but he has a dual identity...... some call him K_. I have a dog named E_. I wake up at 2am because "the stupid dog" wakes me up so he can sit in the garden in the middle of the night. When I finally go back to sleep, it isn't long before my alarm goes off and I have to get up. While I get ready, I pump up the latest song of the day/week/month (which my friend 'Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch' had no idea about until I tell her) on my BOSE speakers while my husband is snoring away. I leave my home in Oakleigh and head for Oakleigh station to begin my commute into work. Upon arrival at Parliament station, I immediately proceed to Engels where I must check in (because I want to keep my status as the mayor). No coffee for me because it makes me feel weird. Chai latte is my favourite beverage at this time of the morning. I quickly walk down 1 and 1/2 blocks to 101 Collins Street and be at my desk by around 8:30am, ready for my meeting which is soon after. During the meeting, I tell everyone on the scale of 1 to 10 how happy I am (I always say I'm good.....as if I'd ever say I'm a panda), if I achieved yesterday's goals and what my goals are for the day. By the time I get to my desk, I usually have an email waiting for me asking me what my lunch plans are for the day. After a few emails, lunch is set and I just have to do my regular work until lunchtime comes. At around 12pm, I lock my PC and head towards the next lunch menu which was decided at 9:30am. During the day I work hard and make conversations with my colleagues around me. We talk about lots of things such as their kid's school trips to Europe, cross-bred (or not cross-bred) dogs......sometimes I get the odd cup cake here and there for no apparent reason. I get asked if my husband got a text message from a colleague for his birthday and I feel like telling him "its been 3 months, get over it!". I HATE being called Juju at work...... When it's time to go home at 5pm, I sometimes go past Fitness First but I'm frustrated because I think I have gained weight but no idea where or how! Finally, I go home and wait for my husband to cook dinner. Afterwards, its time to watch the Kardashians which I recorded on my Foxtel IQ but sometimes the husband and the "stupid dog" annoy me because they can't give me 20 mins of peace once a week to watch my favourite TV show! Bed time.....sleeping in my nice Peter Alexander pajamas. And then its 2am and it starts all over again......

She describes A Day in the Life of me... most accurately. She is absolutely spot on! Haha I swear I nearly fell of my chair laughing when her email came through.

Anyway, I was able to come up with some real work on a slide for my preso, and I even got Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot to help make it look pretty. Lifesaver!

Finally yesterday, I stood behind one of those formal brown stands where they lay the laptop and the microphone, next to a projector screen, in front of more than 50 people.... and I spoke about my team, what we do.. who we are made of.. yada yada yada. It was certainly most nerve wrecking and I did not even recognise my own voice. I spoke reallyreallyfast. OMG I have done this before!! Many times!! In my old job (in three different countries, in fact, even to the CEO from Canada)!! But I guess being in a new environment, in a new business, and being relatively new to the role.. I could not hide the nerves.

At the end of the presentation, I was so relieved. Many people came up to me telling me I did really well, which I sort of have my doubts, because it feels like they were trying to reassure me or something like that, especially after seeing me so nervous in front of my audience. My boss said she got terrific feedback, which I mutter under my breath 'Yeah right'. That might be the end of my presenting career perhaps? Just glad that its over!

Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye

This video is very cool! I love this song, it is constantly on repeat on me iPod. Love the body art!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!