Bunga Raya Course @ Saujana GCC

I achieved another notable first today, I played a round of golf (note, I am still on leave ok...) at the Saujana Bunga Raya Course with my friend TAL.

The first time I've been to Saujana GCC was to view the Malaysian Open Golf tournament. I cannot remember when it was, maybe 2004 or 2005? I walked and followed Thongchai Jaidee on the Sunday final round, it was quite interesting to be a spectator of an open golf tournament.

This time, was the first time I've ever played at the Bunga Raya course at Saujana - they have 3 courses - Palm, Bunga Raya and championship Cobra course.

It was a refreshing experience because the course was pleasant, well maintained and the entire course was covered with greens and trees between holes which made it feel like a fresh lush forest - the smell of fresh greens and trees filled the air, and the relative slowness of pace refreshed me. The regulars were walking the course, and we took our time in casualness, even had a short 5 mins break between the two 9 holes and still ended up only taking about 3 hours 45 mins!

Green invigorates. This was the difference and this was why I did not like the urban jungle of singapore. It felt congested and lack of space for the individual in the urban concrete jungle, but just 15 mins from home, I could enjoy the greens of a lush course which was both challenging and relaxing.

I may seriously consider buying the membership if my golfing buddies does the same.

Atmah Treasure Hunt 2007 - Novice Champions

The sacrifice of not racing in Subang Jaya 10km was well worth it, we emerged first in novice category in the Atmah Treasure Hunt held on 25/26 Aug weekend. It was a hunt from KL to PD, organised by Pava - our first time to encounter the "anagram king"...!

Small victories goes a long way, though we were champions 1st of 6 cars in novice category, but when viewed in the broader scope of things, we can be proud of ourselves - best of the rest (in the open category, we would've been better than 7th position, and then after that there is the gap to the masters of a whopping 16 points).

The first prize was plane tickets for 4 worth RM10k, to India, with a tour package! The second prize was return tickets to Bangkok - both these were good sponsor prizes.

Overall the hunt was quite fun, we have each found our niche areas and a decent team, at least maintaining 3 of the team members all the time should get us decent positions in future, I think we're definitely more organised and structured - a long way from our first big treasure hunt together - Mensa Treasure hunt last year end of year.

The prize giving dinner session was also very fun, I had "wholesome" entertainment, and the quizzes held showed us that we were severely lacking in general knowledge!

Lesson learnt in this hunt :
1) - Be humble, there are always those better than you, otherwise it is no fun.
2) - Age and profession is not a barrier to general knowledge know-how, we still have a lot to learn
3) - It is always more fun when you laugh at your own mistakes!

Pic 1 - Prize giving - this pic is good to spur us further, one day, top 3 will be ours, heheh
Pic 2 - My team-mates, one guy and three little ladies, ah, all it took was a little bit more of the female balance in the car, heheh (no offence CG)


Well, see the folks smiling here, they will be part of the future champions team!

Footnote - okay, just one - we were stuck on question 1 as usual - we never started well. Just trivia for the general readers :

Dive more than once to reveal a trap
Answer : Devi's Corner

Carbo Loading

Doing some serious carbo loading in Singapore. Can't believe I eat so much during a couple of off days :-)

I love stupid photos for some reason. It must be because of the work stress that I actually find it easy to laugh at myself for these silly photos.

I'm sure there's enough banana's here to last a few marathons...

Fish Reflexology

I did not know I had yummy feet... I thought all those running would have been detrimental to any footsie I could have tried with anything (anybody?!) but fishes...

Believe it or not, this is an actual scene with me taking a photo of my ugly feet being tickled by hundreds of opportunistic African fish, who chewed on my dead skin?!?

This is supposedly the new form of reflexology I found during my short break at Sentosa Island, Singapore.

Just don't think about it. It actually exfoliates quite well.

Aftermath of a race

Sundays after learning how to run road races has never been the same for me again.

It is always Saturday to anticipate, and trying to sleep early, and always failing to do so, and then waking up in an ungodly hour on Sunday to go for the race. Normally, after the race we would always go for breakfast or I will go home for breakfast, and then followed by my "recovery nap". My recovery nap is usually 2-3 hrs in the afternoon, and I only need this if I have to catch up with work later at night to keep myself fresh.

When I ran my first 10km race many many years ago, my whole day was white-washed as I was so tired, and I needed to hydrate ever so often even after the race. Then when my body got used to it, it was gradually reduced to a day to recover for a half marathon, and then later, I even went shopping or the whole day out after a half marathon. I reckon it is the body which needs to adjust, and I also believe that walking after a race keeps the blood flowing and an easier recovery for the muscles the next day.

I have once tried a foot massage after a race - it was SO painful - some believe this will help ease the muscle recovery, if you ask me, I would say, don't do it!!!!

And during the day when I am not out, I will always be surfing for the next race!!!

PJ Half Marathon

My target of 5 half marathons this year is almost achieved! However, my running performance has not improved!

This was my first PJ Half Marathon. When I started competitive running almost two years ago from today (scroll back in blog, too lazy to link..) I did the 10km at the PJ Half after the Rat Race. It was a great run - I remembered I was placed 55th and I recorded I think 1hr+ - it was one of the fastest race I ever ran (heheh, got worse since then with more runs!) !!!

It was indeed a good 2 years "on occasion" celebration - this race was not difficult, but middle of the years always caught me as being terribly unfit! We lamented whether with our jobs we could ever run a marathon, however, I wish to announce, my target is KLIM 2008. I will make it!

Every run, we always question ourselves why we do it. In fact, my other friend, Ai Leen who ran her first 10km today with another friend Suzannah asked me the other day - have you always loved running? And my response was - no ... but the feeling when you finish the race is so good you would want to do it again!

I did not have good sleep the night before. This is almost getting to be quite a regular thing - I almost cannot sleep well before a run. This time, I had the pleasure again of our regular co-workers - Kell Jay, Lian Tiong, Tee Yau, and new comer Su Ann, who is running her first 21km. We were slightly late, and rushed to the starting line. We saw Keat Seong at the starting line - he was also one of our colleagues and an amazing back to back 21km from Adidas KOTR and Rat Race in between. In between the race, I met another lady whom I met in the KLIM - she apparently was also one of my colleagues - she was pushing me along at around the 10km mark, but I was a bit flat by then.

The turnout was quite poor this year. There seems to be a shortage of runners for this race. I had a general good pace all the way up to the 4km first drinks station mark, I was not sure whether I was running too fast, but I felt a bit keen to slow down from then up the bridge and over the other side of the Federal Highway. Before the 4km mark, my watch marked 16-17mins, and I saw one Kenyan pass me for the 10km race... oh gosh, this was going to be a long race, I thought.

Over the other side, the race was a long and lonely stretch all the way up the flyover and then straight all to Subang airport! Yes, I ran to Subang Airport - and I mean at Terminal 2 carpark and then back...

Along the way, I lacked the focus and stamina to do a good continuous run. There seemed to be a lack of people pacing along around the same pace. The one guy I was trying to followed actually slowed down and walk! And I said I will follow you (Digi style, he was wearing yellow!!) and he said, I pancit!!! So I had some good stretches and some lousy walking stretches between 12-16km. Then I think I walked almost 50% of the last 5 km.

My most amusing moment was that when I was bored running alone especially last 5km, I created my own diversions because I was afraid I may not make it if I drained myself out. One incident, the ambulance travelled for about 50 meters by my side whilst I shuffled, and the lady looked at me concerned (the ambulance door was open). I asked her to go ahead, and when it went ahead slightly I paced up and "pretended" to chase after it with my hand stretched out - there were a couple of cops there at that intersection - they laughed at me!!! The ambulance stopped about 100m in front later, the guys took a smoke break, and when I passed them, I told them "Merokok merbahayakan kesihatan!" and they laughed at me and asked me whether I wanted to have a seat and rest since the vehicle has stopped!!!!

Other than that, it was also good to see people on the other side of the road, it gives each a bit of motivation to go on, and also to wave to those you know.

I finished around my KLIM time, around 2:51 - its a terrible time, but not bad for someone who walked almost half the second half of the race. My best time was still Penang Bridge Half Marathon, which I did slightly less than that for 1.5km more. I did not have enough training, and I did not want to feel the drained feeling again - that feeling comes from pushing yourself and suddenly slowing down.

What was disappointing was that despite finishing within 3hrs (which was my target), the entire stadium was almost half empty, they were giving away prices, no more finishers lane, and worse - no more Milo or 100plus!!! This is such an anticlimax - this was why I felt this years PJ Half was not well organised.

Anyhow, I will rest, for Subang Jaya run, I've signed up but will likely pass it up for another different challenge - a treasure hunt. The body is bashed up, but the mind needs some exercise now.

My target 5 half marathons this year :
-Pacesetters GE20km Race
-KLIM Half Marathon
-Penang Bridge Run Half Marathon
-PJ Half Marathon
-Singapore Half Marathon

The Edge Bursa KL Rat Race 2007

Pic - Start of CEO race, flag off by Dato Dr Ng Yen Yen

http://picasaweb.google.com/ngmayching/EdgeBursaKLRatRace2007

My first time as a photographer to a racing event turned out to be interesting but disastrous for the running photos.

1. Photographers get the privilege of the best view... through the lens and directly at the subject
2. It is hard work, crouching down, protecting the asset in the rain...
3. You do not get a second chance... the opportunity for sports photography only comes once!
4. Once captured, emotions tell it all... it is satisfying to capture a good shot!

I learned something - it was not easy. There are other people who work harder than me in something I thought was easier!

Adidas King of The Road

I have to say, my most excited moment of this race was standing 5 feet away from Samy Vellu and my colleagues leaning on his Mercedes Benz. Or at least we believe it was his Mercedes.

It had a label Jabatan Kerjaraya and who else in Jabatan Kerjaraya owns a Mercedes?

These runs are a great way to relax. People may think I am mad when I refer to running as relaxing, but serious runners or even regular casual runners understand what I mean.

I opted for 10km this time. I am incredibly unfit, I have only had one or two runs post Penang Half, and one week before when I woke up for KLCC training on Sunday, I gladly slept back as it was raining and I was exhausted from the long hours and stress at office.

We got in around 625am, earlier as we were worried about parking. It was however relatively easy to find parking opposite Sunway Pyramid car park - RM 2 entrance fee. We quickly went over to the other side of the road for the flag off of the 21km participants. It was a bit weird to flag off the 21km at 645am (a bit late), just 15 mins from the 10km participants. I was really glad I did not do the 21km as I was seriously unfit, and also the sun was blazing hot even halfway for the 10km participants!

Whilst wasting some time, we noticed Samy Vellu got on the rostrum for the flag off of the 21km and thought about richochet of the gun if he shot on the bridge. I was seriously contemplating on moving out of the way in case it did, when we noticed he was about to flag off using a microphone .... 3,2,1 (and before the go, everyone was off!!!)... A point to note was the minister was wearing Nike shoes whilst the race was Adidas organised... I guess the Adidas organisers did not do the necessary homework :-)

Running on a deserted highway is quite boring. I guess I have signed up for another highway run next week with the PJ Half Marathon. I hope to be able to get myself rested and up to speed for that better than this week.

Anyway, all in, I did 1:13 mins, and position 126 - I practically walked the last 2 km and the sun was really killing me-- I really regretted not donning my usual running cap and not training enough for the race day. However, I was really glad I received a medal for this slow run. The response to the race was very good, with lots of people participating and an equally

And best of all, my ipod nike+ function was not working, aiyoh, so all the sweat was not recorded how I ran the race... too bad.

I am back in action...!

The runner with no heart

My best friend said to me, you have a talent in writing, you should do something about it...

I am extremely pensive this week - this is indeed a rough year for me.

On Wednesday this week, I went for what I proudly told everyone as my grand slam - I visited 4 different clients in one day, and talked about probably half a dozen things. By the time I was done, I was really exhausted.

But, what really scared me was that in the morning, I felt a very uneasy feeling. It was not a pre-heart attack feeling, but I was unable to even sit properly in the car driving to work, took two wrong turnings. I did not manage to settle this feeling until the client secretary brought me a cup of coffee. And yet my heart was beating normally.

And when I rushed back to take a call, that was when my heart was beating fast.

Running is a good distraction for me, and it helps me focus also, but now I wonder whether it in facts exerts more strain on my own body.

I think I am putting a lot of strain mentally on myself and the toll it is taking on my body is not obvious but there is a toll. I told my secretary - I can't be having a heart attack because I have no heart.

You can tell from my tone I am miserable. And pensive.

It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be

I read this book in less than an hour, on my Saturday off day.

This is a pretty good book, from advertising guru Paul Arden, who used to work for Saatchi and Saatchi in London.

I picked up the book because it was a catchy phrase, and when I browsed through it, it had big fonts (!) and also a broader business slang on it.

Normally not to do book reviews, but in my current state of the work I am buried under, I found this book to be inspirational. There were a few key things in it which struck me pretty much.

Idea#1 - Do not seek praise, seek criticism - there is always a deisrable need for each of us to seek approval in our work, and suggested instead we should seek criticism - asking "what is wrong with it?" or "how can I make it better" is more likely to get a more frank and critical answer which we can use to improve, and we are still able to reject the criticism if required.

Idea#2 - Don't be afraid to work with the best - the best can be intimidating but if approached with the right attitude, they will respond positively. Though the chances of gaining the respect of the best may not be easy, it was definitely better than working for the average guy.

Idea#3 - Don't look for the next opportunity - the one you have in hand is the opportunity - we always seem to be waiting for the next big thing to happen - but we should focus on the one at hand - do the best you can with the one at hand.

Idea#4 - It's not what you know, it's who you know - the illustration was the guy who works hard and heads down vs the new executive who goes to talk to people and hands out his cards with a good name for himself. The who you know eventually helps to overcome what you don't know. But what you know if not popularised to who you know is not useful.

Idea#5 - If you can't solve a problem, it is because you are playing by the rules - My favorite as it stands.

Buy the book and internalise it your own way.

Hooking it right

If you do it, do it well. That is me, Hooker's Cup queen! I always believe to do it well, I need to be really interested in the game.

Again, a very philosophical thought, but doing it well means enjoying the game, enjoying the company and also enjoying the fun it brings, regardless of whether one wins or not!!

My drive of 4 hours to Rompin last weekend was well rewarded as for the Hooker's Cup golf tournament was held at the same time during the company outing, we had a good time at a quiet Lanjut Golf resort in Rompin at Pahang/Johor east coast border.

The game was fun because of the camaraderie from colleagues, the newcomers, and friends from the fellow lady golfers who took on the course fearlessly despite being new in the game, and above all, the lovely little cup the organiser has been kind enough to buy for the "ladies champion"!!!

I did not play well, but I had a pretty easy game, it was my 4th game of this year, as pathetic as this seems, it is the truth. But nevertheless, I have comeback to enjoy the game.

Golf is a game which is really about challenging yourself, and each stroke is like an action you take, if you hit it well, it influences a good outcome, if you hit it badly, you have to salvage your own actions.

Thank you

I would like to just take the two minutes to thank those my colleagues who reads this or even virtually express my thanks to those who don't for their kind comments on influence survey in the Global Employee Survey for my company. I had a lot of positive and honest and touching feedback from all of you - it keeps me going when I have my doubts about my actions or about doing the right thing at work. Normally I prefer not to blog about work or identify to my day job in this forum, but there are some days when all things cross our paths that we need the stress relief of blogging.

I had a tough day at work today.

I was at my fiery best, in my most passionate moment about a matter I care about a lot.

I had also overstep my boundary of being emotionally disappointed at the interim outcome. Regardless, I felt I lost the game at the end.

I did two things today, I went to do my hair at 6pm at KLCC. It took me almost 3 hours. During that three hours I cooled down. And I got home and after dinner, when I sat down again to take on this thinking challenge back, I read those comments again.

Thank you, it made my day yesterday, and it made my day today. I know I have my weaknesses, but I also know my diligence, drive and energy and not giving up easily is something you appreciate.

Above all, I am not willing to give anything short of the best because this is what my team expects from me.

I'm a hooker queen

I'm a rather stressed hooker queen... No, do not think the negative stance, I only mean, I have retained my cup - the Hooker's Cup golf tournament for the 4th year in a row!

This year, I have been presented with a lovely little cup for the Ladies Champion. I will insert the photos here the next time.

Viva Hookers

Zipangu vs No Dinner

Down-trodden.

I passed a dinner at Zipangu for working throughout without dinner.

Small victories mean nothing when it is not celebrated with those who worked for it. I tell myself this everyday because I have always been wrong to push people to their limits - and then I am not there to savor the moment with them.

Defeats must be faced with courage. Real heroes are those who acknowledge defeat and know when to walk away, for they must fight another day.

The sweetest victory is those we enjoy as a team, because we have stared defeat in the face, walked away, and come back to claim the biggest victory.

Processor on philosophical drive.

Lesen saya mungkin digantung

Blogging in Bahasa! Well I could try.

Lesen sudah "luput" - this was what my colleague told me another of our colleague had been told before her license was suspended for 3 months as she produced an expired license after being involved in an accident.

I cannot imagine what I will do if I cannot drive for 3 months. Where am I going to find a driver?

I am getting desperate and worried. Maybe I will take half a day off next week to "appeal".

I also cannot imagine appearing in Slim River and appealing in Bahasa Malaysia.

Alcoholic Anonymous

I have a secret.

I have a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label whiskey stashed under my desk for those long late nights where I have to slog through the barrage of terrible nonsense called work.

:-)

In case you thought I was serious... I am not an alcoholic. Last Friday I was amused with my own actions, I had the previous night spoken to my other colleague about our upcoming company trip where some of the more senior staff had to sponsor drinks as we did not have budget. I was definitely against open drinking as it just did not sit well with our Malaysian Malays (yes I am patriotic and nationalistic, if there's such a word).

What I did was even more funnier : I asked one of my vendors, as he was coming in for a presentation, to buy me a bottle at the airport where it was tax free.

My SMS - "If you are still at imigration, can you please buy me a bottle of black label. It is for personal use and I will reimburse you when I see you. Thanks".

Its funny, the person I sent to was the CTO of a product company. He came by my office for the preparation to presentation, and handed me the whiskey and said, "May Ching, please dont drink it all up now before the presentation!"

So, the latest is that I got it stashed up at my office, until the party weekend... the last few days has been stretching my limits, I wonder if it can last.... :-)

Suey comes in twos

Suey is the chinese word for bad luck. I had two unfortunate events over the weekend. Firstly was my trip to Ipoh and my encounter with the police. Secondly was my car being hit from the back by a Lexus.

Suey#1
Cannot believe I got up at 5:30am to go for a golf game. Truthfully, I was almost ambitious enough to go for both the game and the Ipoh International Run the next day, luckily my more sensible side got the better. In any case, at around almost 1.5 hours, I think around just past Tapah, I was stopped by the traffic cop who had probably placed a "gunner" about 5 km upfront because we saw lots of cars flashing on opposite side of the road and had slowed down for at least 2-3 km. How fast was I travelling - probably at most 120km/h at a 110km/h max stretch. I guess the cops were really shooting.

Thereafter comes the interesting part - my license has expired!! And expired 3 months!! Even I was surprised, because I thought I had renewed recently. The fact is that my memory of the renewal was 5 years back!! (In this case, my processor has too much memory!).

So, got off the car, let my friend drive and gracefully feigned ignorance and also quite truthfully so, and got a schedule letter from the cop.

This morning I found out I could not pay the compound - I had to appear in COURT!!! AT SLIM RIVER, PERAK!!! Where? Uh, where? Sigh, time to get my horses in action to sniff out the best way to get out of this. Otherwise the courts will be crowded if everyone really has to appear for "not bringing driving license" offence. Please let me know if you know how to do this the "pay the fine" way.

Suey#2
As though that was not bad enough, the next day, whilst I was on my way to the Curve, stationary waiting for a jam to move on, the car at the back HIT me! It was a Lexus, and the gentleman was slightly apologetic. And I confirm it was not to pick me up, because the guy was late 40s, has a wife in the car, and is a Malay. Hopefully he will be ok to pick up the tab. 8233 (I call my car by its number plate), is now "scratched" officially. Sigh....

Please let me know if you know of a good car docter for "scratches". Ok, it was not so bad, but I felt very low chi after that incident.


Suey comes in twos, hopefully three's a crowd ...

Hookers and Rats

Pic - Hooker's Cup team 2006

No, there is no correlation of these two terms. They are perhaps a "side" distraction to me in the forthcoming weeks. That is if I decide to go ahead and participate in the two events.

The first is Hooker's Cup. This year, it will be held together with a company wide gathering in Rompin next week. My lady colleague referred it wrongly as Hooker's Club, and my response was, no, I do not belong to a hooker's club, do you? :-)

Well, Hooker's Cup is the annual internal company golf tourament - it is a friendly tournament and over the last three years, I have taken the ladies champion trophy. Let me first explain a few key points for inference of my skills :

1) The first year there was only one lady participant - that was the first time I had played in a tournament, it was almost like 1 year after I picked up golf and my score was a bit pathetic

2) The second year there were three lady participant and one of them was the ex-champion. I beat the ex-champion!!!!

3) Last year, there was only one lady participant again and I won a Michelle Wie book - haha!

Why Hookers? Well, in golf, you either hook or slice and since golf is such a man's game and the people in my company are so creative with names the hooker's name was coined many years back when the tournament started, and it stuck! Except that it does not sound good for females to be in this tournament....

Pic - Rat Race Team 2006 - will I be doing 2007? Can you see we were so game for the fun we did the t-shirts and poses during one of the "practice runs"

Rats is for the Edge Bursa KL Rat Race 2007, to be held on August 7th this year. This is my most enjoyable race (Read September posting last year) - I have taken part in the Rat Race for nearly 3 years in a row. This year, since KC (RHB, the champ!) is injured and won't be taking part, there is hardly anyone I know who runs and enjoys this race as much as I do, so maybe I will give up the slot for other colleagues.

Except that no one really pushes the race preparation and marketing like I do!!! The team needs my goading...!!! So far I've been successful to persuade my MD to go for the CEO race.... Sigh, where are all the young enthusiastic exuberant people who pushes the extreme in ridicule and props carrying when I need them.....

Luck... or lack of luck?

This was my race bib on Sunday for the Penang Bridge half marathon. When I got back on Sunday late afternoon (around 5pm+), one of my family members went to buy this number - okay, it goes like this.

How did you do in your race?"

"What was your race number?"

and suddenly, a pen flashes out, jots down the number and in a moment later, a car goes out to buy the 4D!!!

Guess what??? The number hit 4D consolation prize (see below the right most column, 4 rows down 5689!!!)

Guess what??? We did not buy 4D, bought another company's draw!!!!

Sigh... I guess all my life, despite at whatever position I work, the life marker is always "work like a cow or a horse for your money" (err, translate in chinese and it makes sense)....!

21km vs 22.3km

According to my Nike+ running connector who took the trip to the bridge with me on sunday, I only ran 21km approximately.

I had set the "online" device to 22km for this "workout" and it was annoying to hear the machine count 1-11km (halfway point) and then reverse count-down the remaining. I guess it is not inspiring in a race to be reminded every km how much more you have to go!! I wrote some notes on the screen capture of the race as an analysis of the pace I took for this half-marathon.

Yes, I am looking for a new stop-watch too ....