Its only Tuesday...

It felt like a whole week has passed ...

In times like these, I look for inspiration from photos I have taken, but not too many recently. Theme for the day is ... Symmetry

Thought of the day : Symmetry completes the picture. Find your other half and let him / her complete the picture.

Solutions for a Small Planet

The processor took a break this weekend. I had a big workshop on Friday which was just completed and it drained every ounce of energy I had left. In the end, I hardly turned on my computer over the weekend, which turned out to be a good rest for me.

The phrase "Solutions for a Small Planet" I believe comes from IBM. I believe a long time ago, this was the catch phrase for the eCommerce revolution. If it is not the right party I am acknowledging, I apologise.

This phrase was in my head over and over again on Friday during the whole day workshop for my client. Everything we spoke about was to enable our client to develop a solution for the market and customer. The beauty about the telecommunications and IT industry is that both are areas where solutions developed are such an integral part of our lives now.

Wouldn't it be fun to develop solutions that are cheap and available to the public and benefit everyone?

+ Always on phones for the young child to mum and dad - press of a button to talk
+ Affordable computers to the entire nation, similar to the cheap computers in Africa
+ Broadband to everyone, mobility and broadband to every person, every where
+ Abolishing international phone rates which are ridiculously expensive
+ Abolishing roaming rates which are ridiculously expensive
+ Mobile TV for those who do not have time
+ No fixed line phones at home
+ Call conferencing for the family and friends
+ Two of you everywhere, anywhere, your virtual self

Solutions for a small planet.

Note : These were not the solutions we discussed in the workshop

Mind Over Matter

A colleague of mine was expecting her first child due on April 12. She wanted to take leave only from this week onwards, ie. 1.5 weeks before her due date. She had a relatively comfortable pregnancy and we had planned for her transition and she also managed her workload well, and even up to last Friday, she was working late for a few nights to clear off her backlog. She was very relieved on Friday, and we commended her for meeting her KPI on target for the delivery. When I mentioned she will be so relieved off the load of expectations that she may give birth over the weekend. To that she mentioned, "...hope not on April Fool's day...".

She gave birth on April Fool's day. And still had the energy to SMS us all and responded to our messages! Congratulations!

My Rome trip has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. I am actually more relieved than annoyed with the cancellation and suddenly the whole of next week seems relatively free. As I said, it had to do with having the peace of mind to go.

It seems the mind does controls the outcome.

Deconstructing The Glass Ceiling

The article below is excerpt from the edge about the same time I was reminded of the glass ceiling...


26 Mar 2007: Manager@Work: Deconstructing the glass ceiling
By Joyce Au-Yong Email us your feedback at fd@bizedge.com

Despite all the advances women have made in the workplace, a new study by Accenture titled The Anatomy of the Glass Ceiling: Barriers to Women's Professional Advancement provides evidence that there is a glass ceiling out there.

"In the survey, globally, women make up 45% to 50% of the workforce, but women at senior management levels make up only about 15%," Accenture's executive partner, Joan Hoi Lai Ping, told Manager@Work at a recent event held by the consulting firm to mark International Women's Day.

"That tells you that statistically, there is a glass ceiling." Just what constitutes this glass ceiling or invisible barrier that prevents women from getting ahead in business?

Accenture's study looked at three dimensions that would affect a woman's ability to move up the corporate ladder — individual (which includes career planning, assertiveness and ambition), society (equal rights, promotion programme, government support of parental leave), and company (having a fluid hierarchy, a supportive supervisor and transparent promotion processes).

A total of 1,200 male and female executives from eight countries in North America, Europe and Asia were asked to score these factors in terms of their importance in career success. The differences between the male and female scores were used to calculate the thickness of the glass ceiling — the higher the score, the thicker it is.

Three key trends emerged from the survey. First, 31% of females said internal support mechanisms such as mentoring and coaching within their organisations play a vital role in female advancement.

"A woman who joins the firm in her 20s is different from those in their 30s, 40s and 50s. In their 20s, they're just starting out, but in their 30s, motherhood affects the way they work," says Hoi.

"They have different requirements and commitments, and an organisation needs to be supportive of that." Supportive companies should allow mothers the flexibility to work from home, and to take time off from their career to be with their family, she adds. However, 60% of the female executives surveyed believe that companies are doing a better job than society in general to promote equality as a core value.

"Organisations, as they mature and become more competitive globally, will realise that retention of talent is important — including their women talent," says Hoi.

"Market forces will make it imperative for corporations to have diversity and inclusiveness." Surprisingly, gender is no longer seen as a career-limiting factor. Only 20% of men and women surveyed said gender limited their career advancement, while 35% of female respondents said gender had no effect on their career opportunities.

Interestingly, women in Australia and the Philippines were more likely than those in other countries to see their gender as a career advantage. The survey did not cover Malaysia or Singapore. Australia and the Philippines were the only two Asia-Pacific countries surveyed.

What advice does Hoi have for women to crack the glass ceiling? "... not to lose the support structure and your own determination to want to do something. There is a glass ceiling, statistically, and it's not easy for a woman to progress," she says. "But we should not take no for an answer — the glass ceiling is a minor inconvenience for us!"

Heading for Rome - Can I find my peace of mind?

Two and a half years ago, I was here, on this corridor leading to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome. This was one of the most breathtaking corridors leading to the famous holy chambers.

In that business trip, my first and one of the far more stressful site visits for a client, I threw a coin over my shoulder at the Trevi Fountain, and my wish was to come back to the fountain with someone special.

Fast forward, this is where I will be heading to in the next one week - albeit different not too different circumstances, and definitely not a personal trip to the fountain with someone special.

This job has taken me to many places for both business and pleasure, and I have cleverly managed to mixed both together. Whilst many fancy such seemingly fancy lifestyle, let me inform those I know that every job carries it stress limits and responsibilities. Where I once looked forward to these "rewards" of the job, I now dread these trips as I find myself more and more unable to have the peace of mind to enjoy.

I am headed for Rome, but I am not sure if I can find my peace of mind.

A long forgotten friend in US pinged me a couple of days ago, and I am reminded of his words once, "this too shall pass".... what next then?

The Glass Ceiling Is Raised

I have always believed the glass ceiling is there. In the land of the rising sun where I was last week for two days for a regional meeting, I found out what I suspected - I walked into the meeting room of 40-50 executives attending the meeting (about 20 of them were local Japanese) and found myself to be the only female.

I felt immediately awkward but no one seemed to notice the same.

For the communications sector executives across Asia Pacific, numbering between 50+, I am the only female. I feel honored, challenged, ignored, young, alone, excited and tired of the battle, all at once.

I have never written about the glass ceiling. At work dealing amongst equals, I never feel the challenge of the glass ceiling, but when networking for business reasons, dealing with older executives, in the "man's" world, I sometimes feel overwhelmed, that I have to do more, that what I understand always seems not widely applicable enough, that I worry and work too much with the details, that I don't go to wine and dine with senior C Level folks enough.... then I realise I go back to the basics - there is a path and way for everyone, as long as I feel I am of service to my client, how I do it is my choice, how I get it done is my choice, and how I communicate I cannot change as it is me. And be contented I need to be.

The wrestle with the personal challenge of being a woman in a man's world is at times internally overwhelming, and at times, when we fit in with the rest, it almsot makes us aggresively not feminine. I acknowledge the balance to fit the inner self, the family, the work environment is indeed challenging.

As a closing to this deep thought, I found out that Japanese women hardly work after they are married, and that the % of women to men in my office in Japan is 10% and that there was only one female executive in Japan, maybe out of 80+. Live is more challenging in some countries. The glass ceiling is lower and cannot be raised.

The glass ceiling for me is raised, but it has always been there, it always has been and it always will. Sometimes one can raise it by defying the odds, but the most sensible thing is to just not worry too much about it I guess - worrying cannot make it go away and neither will fighting it.

One Night in Tokyo

I was in Tokyo for two days on a regional business meeting last Thursday and Friday. This was my first trip to Tokyo and work aside, it was a fascinating country - it was unfortunate I was not able to stay longer as I thought I had initial difficulties in hotel accomodation. Anyway, the pictures below speaks for itself why I think Tokyo is the city which never sleeps (from my short trip here) :

Pic 1 - 12+ midnight - This picture was taken at 12+ midnight at Shibuya, at the busiest intersection in Tokyo - these people were actually crossing the road at 12-1 midnight - it felt like NY times square at peak hours!

Pic 2 - 1+ midnight - We were visiting around the city which never sleeps - curiously checking out Love Hotel rates and quality - these establishments were actually cheaper than a room! These hotels were very discreet, hardly anyone manning the desk and choices of rooms were lighted up for those which were available... don't worry, we were not up to anything scandalous ...


Pic 3 - 4+ am - Cannot believe we stayed up the whole night from Ginza to Shibuya to Roppongi and finally to this famous Tsukiji fish market at 4+ am in the morning ! Watching fish auction and having a bit of sushi...

Pic 4 - 1+am - The busiest intersection in Shibuya. Crossing the intersection was actually quite scary when you can see the amount of people on the other side who is swarming over...

Pic 5 - 6+ pm - City of vending machines... This one with so many choices of noodles to order then pop inside to collect... apparently a friend tells me food is not the only stuff on a vending machine...

Beauty in Photos @ KLIM 2007

Pic 1 : One of my colleagues crossing the finishing line at slightly past 2hrs 16 mins...

This photo credit should go to the best photographer I "conned" to come to take photos for me in the KLIM 2007 race. Uniquely composed photos, if only this was a close up aka Lance Armstrong. He must have gotten inspired. All credit and I should not take away his masterpiece but I presume he prefers to remain anonymous...

Pic 2 : Lance Armstrong at his debut marathon (unfortunately that highlights how atheletic he is... the time difference I mean - it is comparing marathon to half marathon in case you did not notice !)

KLIM 2007 - 21km Race Report

This year's KLIM 2007 race is my first half marathon for this year and also my 2nd attempt at a half-marathon, the first attempt at last year's KLIM 2006, which I fared terribly despite qualifying under the 3 hrs time, I was severely dehydrated due to the water stations runnning out for I think 2-3 of the stations in the middle sector. This year, the best bonus was that this mistake was not repeated by the sponsors and there was ample water (and even 100plus!) at all refreshment stations as well as even sponging stations.

At the starting line...
We arrived at the venue around 5:30am. Along the way, it was sad to hear one of our friends had forgotten to collect her chip and number on Saturday due to a very stressful day at work, and her attempt to plead with the organisers by going early was to no avail, so she left disappointed. She had been one of our stronger runners, one of the few girls who had trained for the race and a marathoner.

At the starting line, I realised that there were lots of people in the orange we were wearing, but as it turns out, it was easy to spot us once you see a bunch of at least 5 orange clad folks! (See earlier posting on pics). I had asked one of my colleagues to be the photographer of the day and he obliged by coming at 530am! What a sport for a debut photographer...!

Clock strikes 6...
... And we were away ...! And so it was a pretty quiet and lonely track in the dark, up to almost Sg Besi near 10km when there was a bit more light in the sky. In fact, I was told that some people had mistaken the flag off time to be 630am (boo-boo from organisers - 630 was written on the reporting card, but there was announcement on website on the changed times).

A fun race at a steady pace
It was really a more fun race this year for me - I started the race at an easy pace and almost ran 100% of the first 10km then slowed down my pace and ran about 90% of the second 11km remaining. Taking in fluids and slowing down to enjoy the refreshments at the drinks station was a good approach to manage the previous feelings of dehydration and drained of energy.

My 1000+50 approach also helped. I would run 1000 steps and walk 50 steps. Except that when I managed to reach 1000 steps at one point, I was almost 100m away from a refreshment station, so the 50 did not matter! On another occasion, I kept losing track of the counting before I reached 500 and almost restarted a few times!

Finishing in pride
Yes, I could indeed claim that I finished with pride - this time, I managed my pace, my hydration and also timing to not hit the "drained" state before the end. So much that I could even afford to sprint the last 50m to the finishing line. Timing was not great, but maybe just slightly better than last year.

Post Mortem - have I sustained an injury?
During the race, for the first time, I felt a creaking sound on my right leg. Initially for a good 2km I thought it was the guy in front of me, until when he ran off and I heard it from my own leg. I have still no idea what it is, but I took this almost throughout the race. I feel it is related to the ligament and joints of the sole to the lower parts - I may need to check up to find out what it is. Luckily there is no pain. Hopefully it is just an anomaly.

KLIM 2007 - My first half marathon for the year

Pic 1 - Before the 21km starting - all in sync in orange

Pic 2 - In orange and fooling around before the clock strikes 6am starting.


Pic 3 - Trying to look cool at finishing for the camera






Pic 4 - Group photo with a bouncy camel

Congratulations to an old friend

My oldest friend from college got married last weekend. He was indeed the oldest friend I know, I have known him since we were 19 years old in college. He was my benchmark and epitome of extreme hard-work and stress - this was one guy who at college copied my Physics paper, but later throughout university we corresponded closely - he went to UK Birmingham and I went to Australia. Throughout the years after we graduated, I joined an IT consulting firm, and he worked for his sponsors, a family business in Ipoh.

Initially we still met every Chinese New Year on and off, and then I went for overseas assignments, and he continued to work at a remarkable pace, and slowly we did not touch base anymore. One day a few years later, I bumped into my old friend in Mid-Valley - it was timely and we resumed being good friends.

Fast forwarding, he was a guy whom I once fancied but then later considered my "oldest" trusted friend. I could never call him my best friend because he was so busy he could only appear once in 3 months or so, and only after being reminded a few times. He used to not be able to answer the phone then learnt to answer and speak only two sentences.

TK Lim found himself a beautiful wife, Joan, and they were married last Saturday. I am very happy for him, but sad too that even as a friend, I missed the most important part of his life, the times when things did not work out in some of his work areas, and when he found his other half. Perhaps I missed or I was never allowed to see these parts. Whichever, it has passed, and life goes on, no regrets.

Congratulations for finding yourself a wonderful partner in life. I hope you treat her more important than work, and I know you will. Your oldest friend here does not want you to feel sorry for not keeping me in the loop, I know why you did so.

Don't be a stranger.

10.4 and almost ready

Pic - At starting line of last year's KLIM.

One week before KLIM 2007 on March 18th. Last year, I pushed hard for my first half marathon for the KLIM - in the prep race on Pacesetters 20/30km race in January I achieved good timing and rhythm and had that gave me confidence I could finish the race for the KLIM half marathon 2006. Unfortunately the weeks leading up the race I had been very busy, and with Chinese New Year and the long hours at work, it ruined the pre-race preparation and caused me to be poorly prepared for the race - the result was a not so good timing and a long race distance without water which completely blew whatever mental prep I had left.

This year, I am more moderated in my pre-race preparation - with age and wiser (!), the past few weeks have been building up to the next week, today, we ran 8 laps at KLCC (1.3 per lap), thereby making 10.4km, half the race distance. It was quite a good race and we definitely did not regret not doing the SMART tunnel race because another friend who did the race and stopped for breakfast told us about the poor ventilation inside the tunnel thereby completely throwing some people off the pace.

We have gotten our "Saucony" vests - and it fits well!! It is very comfortable and great to race with, and the color is very obvious.... you cannot miss it.

See you on March 18th.

KLIM Circuit Run 3 - Lake Gardens 4 March 2007

Photo courtesy of tey

I tried a new technique last weekend in participating in the circuit run at Lake Gardens organised by Ambank in preparation for the KLIM. It was quite a fun event :

1) It had a slow slacker attitude to starting times (it started around 715am instead of 7am)

2) There was a leisure approach in signing up on the spot, and for FREE too

3) Unlike warning from a friend that previous circuit run in Taman Titiwangsa was crowded and disorgnised, this was fairly crowd free - I guess there must have been two reasons - it was Cap Goh Mei (15th day of Chinese New Year), and also it was a longer run - it was 2hrs for half-marathoners and 3hrs for full marathoners. Apparently this was more than the race distance for some of the folks!

Whilst the course was scenic, the slippery tracks left a little to be desired. We ran slowly the first round and came immediately upon a casualty who had tripped and hit the rocky pavement near the children's playground. Apparently later read that this turned out to be one of KC's friend. Hope he is ok - it is indeed unfortunate that some of the folks really race each other, the slippery track on downhill parts and also the criss-crossing through various areas can be really treacherous.

I employed a new technique in this "training" run - chit-chatting with others. For the first two rounds it was with my fellow colleagues, then we tried to pose for photos during strategic spots for photographers, and then I slowed down and an retiree came ambling by with steady pace - and I ended up chatting with two different persons on two rounds - taking away some of the boredom of just plodding along!

The other technique which is more fun during races is to focus on reading people's shirt backs - some of the newer vests have no logo or slogans at the back, but the traditional t-shirt fellas always have some cool phrase -

"Smell Victory" - Mr Yellow Shirt plodded coolly by, and I was thinking, smell sweat ....

"If you can hear voices at the back, this means you are not last" - My colleagues' baby blue Nike teased us, and made us quiet when we were following her ....

"Ngombe" - Mr Kenya number 1 - who swept past us 2 rounds = my 1 round - everytime he swept past, there followed a Japanese and a couple more guys further back, only in the 2:20 mins + do I see he was slightly out of breath but the legs were still steady like a rock

Then there were the characters -

"Mr Heavy Footsteps" - Stomping through steadily was a man with very heavy footsteps but steady and fast - it sure is killing his knee, I was thinking

"Mr Photographer" - Whom I learnt later is Tey, who gamely took photos of nearly everyone he knew and did not know

"Mr Sponge Squeezer" - The guy handing out sponge squeezes every round (hopefully they were clean) - he did not have much business however... these participants must be really kiasu to not slow down!

The post-mortem of this really fun outing to exercise was unfortunately a robber broke into my friend's car during the run and stole one of the guy's bag - causing a big havoc to the owner having to report losses, all over a good morning's run. What a spoiler....

In Bed With...

To be honest, this is where I have been spending most of my time for the last one week of Gong Xi Fa Cai "on and off" vacation....



Stop! Before you go delusional about who I've been in bed with, this is really a "fun" posting about two totally unrelated matters....



This Chinese New Year has been kind to me, I've managed to spend time to eat moderately, start back on my pacing runs (on new year's eve!!!) and also rest, ie. really spend time in bed.


On the second matter is this picture which was taken in a bar called Bed in Heritage Row. It was a pretty interesting name - imagine the commotion it caused when people heard...

"Come, lets go to bed together"

"I am going to bed with Ms X and Mr Y" (three-some!)

"Join me in bed?"

"Are you coming to bed or not?"

"But the night is just young, I thought we were going to bed together?"

... many more hilarious ones!

My verdict was that bars and pubs are really imaginative nowadays, thinking of interesting and catchy themes to attract crowds.

Just the week before the night we spent in "Bed", I was at a company organised "pub-crawl" (by great persuasion...) and the third and final bars we visited were called "My Home" and "Apartment 101" in Sri Hartamas. You can imagine the ruckus when people started asking, are we going to My Home now? And whose apartment are we going to next? It turned out Apartment 101 got a shock when as many as 100-150 people turned up in full force cramped in a small 2nd floor shoplot which is a bar pretending to be a "village" looking apartment. Seats looked like a vietnamese bedroom!

Now, I got to go back to bed, I am getting up late tomorrow :-)

KLIM here we come...

As part of the ongoing running SIG we just recently formed at the office, Kell Jay (our coordinator) and I have succesfully convinced the company marketing team to sponsor our vests for the KLIM - this year we are both racing in the half marathon category - it is ok for me and I need to improve on my timing but a waste for Kell Jay who had in the last year posted great timings for the marathon but this year is also lamenting a lack of practice!

Nevertheless, it is with great pleasure for us to have successfully convinced 42 runners from our company to participate in the various categories in KLIM 2007 - 10km, 21km and 42km. Together with one resident photographer - we will attempt to storm the race in our bright orange vests - I have told some of the younger guys that if they do not meet the qualifying time, to please take off the vest before the finishing line!!!

It would be a good race to watch, as some of my colleagues have never raced before - but because of the ideal kiasu-ness and this "I can do anything" type of attitude, most of them have gamely signed-up.

To my colleagues - welcome to the racing world! But, please respect the distance.

See you at the starting line on 18th March 2007. (I have been starting my runs back during mxchinese new year, hurrah!)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Picture of "Loh Sang" last friday as part of end of year closing meal, at a very nice price of RM 788 per course of 10...! Even food is getting expensive nowadays!

I believe my K800 camera is fogged up, but suffice to say that the food was quite nice, and it was a good closure to the year and we welcome the year of the fire pig with much more gutso!

Lessons from The Amazing Race Asia

I am a great fan of The Amazing Race Asia. I was definitely delighted when the two young Malaysian girls won the first of the TARA series.

I thought the following were great short lessons to be learnt from the race :

1. Perseverence - the girls worked really hard all the way just to keep from elimination, and when it came to three, they got one better position than their usual second last!

2. Kiasu - be thorough and use money to pay for guidance - the taxi driver guidance was a brilliant masterpiece - there is only that much of intelligence, brawn or speed - sometimes being thoroughly smartly kiasu wins!

3. Don't be overconfident - finishing the race first a few times does not necessarily mean you will have a higher confidence to win. Again, this showed in the other Malaysian-Korean team I was originally predicting to win.

4. Luck - no matter how hard you persevere or work on the physical challenges - you need luck to win.

5. Its all for fun - the girls had fun - they deserved to win!

In the race of life, it is not the fittest who wins, but the one who tries the hardest and with the right element of luck and opportunity.

I look forward to TARA2.

Valentine's Day His / Hers Gadget Gift Ideas

Taken from Yahoo - his and hers gift ideas for Valentine's Day... Guess which is his and which is hers?


The photo keychain (the last photo here) is perhaps the most interesting gadget - it can store up to 56 pictures - it is definitely a cool gift!


Trust Yahoo and the Americans to mix romance with "gadgets" hmmm....

Forming a Running SIG

Pic 1 - The race that started the Running SIG idea

Pic 2 - Our GE race after picture

Pic 3 - Lance Armstrong, my inspiration

Our office running SIG is officially almost 1 month old. We have organised 5 runs, the first three in KLCC park, and the next two in Kiara hills. The running SIG was born during last year end party when after many many months of convincing my colleague and fellow Pacesetter runner and racing comrade Kell Jay to spearhead this challenge, we decided to take on the SIG for 2007. Thus the running SIG was formed...!

The first run was held at KLCC park on Jan 7th. After rounding up almost 30+ people in a mailing list, Kell Jay informed whether I was able to "lead" the inaugural practice session at KLCC park. I agreed but underestimated my own procrastination skills. Once again, it was difficult for me to get up after a long series of late nights at work rushing out something, thus I was not able to get up on the 7th morning!! I SMS'ed two comrades - but rest assured it was a pretty disjointed session and only a handful turned up.

The second practice run we were more organised. Both Kell Jay and myself went, and we picked up another young colleague, so collectively we were 3 even before we started. As it turned out, about 7-8 people turned up, so we had a good second chance to start the SIG afresh. We took on the KLCC park 1.3km - which was a good track for people at different levels as you could do more or less according to your own pace. Kell Jay did 10 laps, and I struggled with 8 - this was our one and only warm up for the year for the GE 20/30km race which we did the 20km option.

For the third practice run, I heard a larger group turned up at KLCC park whilst myself and 3 others went for the GE race nearby. It was quite a good start to the year, pumping up with 20km of practice run.

Therefore, as you would have guessed, by the fourth practice run, I skipped it to sleep in!

For the fifth practice run, we were determined to keep the pace going and we turned up (some from far) at the Kiara hills last week - if you heard someone muttering past it must be me, I was cursing the young fella who suggested such a knee-wrecking route! Still, Kiara hills possesses the spirit of hill climbing and hill running.... but suffice to say, it was difficult for me.

Happy 1 month birthday running SIG!

We have almost 50 people signed up for the KLIM in various categories. We are very excited that this will be the event of the year for the running SIG - a special commemorative vest will be designed for us to show off our achievement during the run! Also, thanks to Kell Jay who managed to get Saucony samples which will be the brand of our new running SIG.

The beauty of forming a running SIG was really simple - we were going to motivate each other to run socially and competitively - we were also able to seek companions to run together and challenge each other to achieve their firsts this year.

We are planning to move our venue for next "training" session to Bukit Aman.

See you around in the next race.

Great Eastern Pacesetters 20/30km Race 21 Jan 2007

Photo courtesy of KC

I enjoyed the race last week. Though as I crossed the line, I asked myself why do I do this to myself each time - challenge myself to do this when I am not fit?

And always the answers comes back that it is most enjoyable to feel fit - running keeps me excited to being healthy and alive!

(We decided to sign up for KLIM half marathon even whilst resting after the race... barely 10 minutes after I felt almost ready to fall over the finishing line)

New Beginnings
The GE 20km race was my first race of the year. I knew I could finish the race, but I did not have confidence it would be in good timing due to long period of lack of regular exercise and running.

The last run I did was the previous Sunday - KLCC park for 8 rounds, making it 10.4km - I enjoyed that due to the camaraderie of the new running SIG we had formed in the company providing a mixture of people and different running levels to go with.

New Company
This time for the GE 20km race, it was not just myself as I did last year, whilst Kell Jay ran the 30km. Due to similar reasons of level of fitness, Kell Jay ran the 20km together with us, the others being debutants to 20km - Kok Meng and Joyce. We all ran our own race, and it was a good debut for both of them.

New Strategy
Due to my own concerns of my fitness level, I took a new strategy to this run - I took a more balanced meal before the race, and actually ate TWO bananas in addition to a good dose of coffee and a light breakfast. My concern was actually the withdrawal of energy which I had felt in some of the races, the most memorable one was the KLIM 2006 when the "feeling faint" spells happened almost at the end especially when I pushed myself and suddenly slowed down.

New Resolution
How did I do? Not good, it was way off the mark I first set in my first GE race last year. The flaw was my own fitness level, and the lack of practice also nearly paid the price when I felt the "fainting spell" almost in the last 2 km when I slowed down in the flatter stretch, after I pushed the entire downhill stretch of the coming back route.

My new resolution for the year was to resumed practice for the next race - KLIM 2007 - and my calendar for this year will be all the longer races and a handful of 10km races.

A few areas to improve upon, is obvious - going back to the gym regularly 3 times a week, running a few 10kms in practice regularly at least oncce a week, losing some weight and improving my fitness level.

See you at the next race.