My Wish...

..to all of my readers and friends for the new year... :)

Taken from imgfave.com

Selamat Tahun Baru / Happy New Year to all of you!

Here's to new resolutions, new PBs, new friends, new adventures, new tears, new trainings, new laughs and new challenges... Just no new heartaches please... ;) 

And may God be with you with His blessings throughout every step that you do... 

2011 is definitely going to be MY year insyaAllah...  :) 

Have a fabulous year ahead everyone! xx

PS: Be safe tonight yeah, wherever you are..

2010 - A Running Year :)

Indeed it was....

One 12km run, two 15km runs, 6 half marathons, one 25km run, one 30km run and 2 full marathons for the year... Phewwwwww....

My Babies for 2010 :D :D :D


....



Wearing all of my babies... Only because someone suggested it :P

This is such a super achievement for me considering that I ran at only 3 events last year and I was still recovering from the back condition (Spondylosis L5)...  *Pat on the back banyak kali* 

Alhamdulillah for this and I thank Allah everyday for giving me the chance to breathe healthily everyday and the strengths that He has given me to go through all of the runs/marathons...

And for the fact that I've met all of you amazing running peeps along the way... You know who you are... :) Thank you for the inspirations and supports, via my blog, Facebook, and/or in person... And kudos to all of you for your achievements this year... *Salute* 

I can't wait for what's in store for me come next year... I will probably cut down on the running events next year since my parents are making a lot of noise on my 'running away' commitments... Hehe...  I have signed up for a couple of runs next year... Will definitely do one full marathon here di tanah tumpahnya darahku :)

But I do wanna run at new places... Must plan really soon! 

But for now, I seriously need to plan a getaway by the beach as I think that I do deserve one to pamper myself... :)

Change...

Taken from the notebook doodles

I love googling for quotes! :)

This year was definitely one of the difficult ones that I've to go through in my life... 

And yes, sometimes you have to realise that there are things that are just beyond your control and that things might not turn out the way you wanted them to be...

Though I am still crawling, I am grateful that I have the never-ending support from my beloved family and friends whenever I needed the shoulder to cry on or to stay positive... :)

Change is inevitable... I hope I will be able to see that this change actually did save my life one day insyaAllah...

Just gotta have hope, faith and believe right? :)

Well, here's to change (good and/or bad) for 2011! 

Amin... :) 

Our Angel...

Today was supposed to by my baby sister's birthday...

She would've been 24 years old and probably be the most gorgeous one among us the sisters in the family... :)

Happy birthday to you, my angel Ireina... :)

The infamous picture that's in our home, our kampung in Melaka and our late grandparents' house in Kg Tunku...

This was taken right after she 'fed' me her bottle of Ribena and pretended to be 'mommy' and I was the baby of course... :)

We still miss you terribly... You'll always be in our hearts...

Al-Fatihah...

A Pixie One...

I am pretty much open-minded when it comes to trying out new hairstyle...

Since I don't dye or perm my hair, I'm just left with the styles... Hehe...

I've gone from super-long...

Back in October at Melbourne Marathon...

To bangs...

With my bestie back in January this year...

To a bob...

With my penyeris back in 2007...

To a short do...

With 2 of my closest Indonesian friends back in 2002...

But I've always wanted to try out a pixie hairdo... Just like these celebrities below...

OR

Since my hair is quite short now, I thought I might as well go all the way and just snip it since I don't have anything to lose right? ;)

What do you think? :) 

Complete :)

Have been clocking in ZERO mileage for the past 2 weeks... Not good at all!!!

I have been in a pretty super slumber relationship with my bed since my marathon in Singapore... The bed seems to win over my running shoes... And I have to say that the recovery period this time around is much longer than the one in Melbourne... Maybe there are too many external factors that are influencing the recovery process... :(

I have to get my running modjo back... :S Motivate me pleaseeeeeeeee...

Since it's the Christmas weekend, I would like to take the opportunity to wish all of my Christian readers and runners a very Happy and Merry Christmas!!! Hope you'll have a splendid one with your family and loved ones :)

And I am truly happy that my look-alike brother will be coming back tomorrow to spend his 2-week break from work with us :)

 

Us in Brisbane last year...

The familia will be complete again! :)

Have a magical weekend everyone! :)

Happy Thoughts :)

Just had another cerekarama episode with myself yesterday... and had to vent it out somewhere ;)

This is going to take a while... So please bear with me... :)

I literally had a 'hangover' on Monday from the hecticness over the last weekend... That I called in sick and slept for 17 hours!!! Haven't done that for years!!! Hehehe...

Last Friday was my first bestie's akad nikah (solemnisation) ceremony... And I was one of the dulang girls... It was a short and simple but a beautiful ceremony...

It was good to be reunited with friends that I haven't met for such a long time....

With the gorgeous bride :) 

The bride with her girls :)

Bestie with her 'Hon' ;) 

Alhamdulillah... :) 

Saturday was all about babies day! :) Had brunch with one of my friends from Melbourne to finally pass the super overdue birthday present to her precious son....

With handsome Eusoff aka Shoff :) 

Then, went to my gorgeous friend Hani's cutey daughter's 1st birthday party... And the theme was Elmo from the Sesame Street :)

With the super cute birthday girl who's much fairer than me now... 

Oh running... Hehe...

I woke up super-early on Sunday morning as it was one of my running friends Nawal's son's birthday party and I came early to help out with the rest to make sure everything's in order before the party starts at 8am... 

And the theme was bootcamp style and an introductory session as well to the Seal Pups program by the Chief's Original Bootcamp @ Bandar Utama and USJ1 ;)

The fitness program is dedicated to kids during after-school or even during school holidays... You can read more about it by clicking here...

And I am more than happy and excited to announce that I will be trained and be a part of the instructor group for this lovely program together with one of my running partners, Rosey and another new-but-kiasu runner Ody... Wooohoooo!!! :) 

Couple of pics of me in action:

Pic creidts to mummy PooiChing from Chief's OBC BU :)

With the birthday boy, Aaraf ;)

Pics credits to Armin :)

I had such a blast at this party... Food was super yummy as we had nasi dagang Kelantanese style... And I had to quickly change and rushed myself to Grand Dorsett At Subang Jaya for my bestie's wedding rehearsal as I was one of the bridemaids for the reception do...

The super duper cantik pelamin...

The bride and groom...

All of us were donned in this kind of tee and mine was written 'Bridesmaid' of course...

After the rehearsal, had to quickly rush myself to the airport in Subang to pick up my parents as they were coming back from a wedding in Langkawi... How nice... Had a 30-min nap back at home and had to go back to the hotel to prep myself up for the do a become a full-time bridesmaid for the night with 6 other girls...

Transformed for the night :P

Seriously, it was really hard for to stay calm and composed the whole since I was pumped with adrenaline from the morning's party... I kept being told by others to 'maintain' myself and 'keep cool' for the entire night... :P 

Alhamdulillah, the event went very smoothly and I had fun snapping pics with friends from Assunta, Sri Aman and Melbourne... :)

Assuntarians rule over Sri Amanians ;)

Yes the supertall girl next to me is none other than the talented actress, Dynas Mokhtar...

We used to be cheerleaders but in different houses ;)

With Rosey, who was on duty as well...

We were like zombies by this time since we've been seeing each other since 7am on that day.. :P

Taking blessings from the newlyweds so that I'll find my own happiness insyaAllah  ;)

My fav pic with my gorgeous bestie :)

Congrats again to them!

And yes, I couldn't squeeze any running activity last weekend... 

So, I am definitely hitting the happymill this evening!!! ;P

Blank Space...

Amidst all of the weddings, birthdays and the happy celebrations, the song below best describes me at the moment...



You can YouTube the videoclip since I can't embed the clip into this entry...

I wish I can move away from here for a lil' while...

To cure this emptiness and all these crazy sad feelings that I have been experiencing for months now and be the happy and cheerful person that I used to be... again...

Maybe it's time that I ask my parents to take me away then... ;)

Guys, You Have Been Warned ;)

Since Christmas is around the corner, please be thoughtful AND considerate when it comes to buying gifts, especially for your girlfriend or wife :P

This was a clever viral marketing campaign done by Satchi and Satchi New York in collaboration with a superb interactive agency, Razorfish for JCPenney back in 2008...

Thanks to my good friend's sister Danielle for sharing the video on Facebook...



Oh, and this applies to birthdays and anniversaries too yeah guys ;P

It will be another hectic weekend with weddings and birthday parties... And one of my 4 besties is going to get hitched tonight... The first from the group :)

Besties for 9 years already :D

So happy that you've finally found your Mr Right :) Now you've to find one for me k :P
♥♥♥

And I am definitely going to give my legs a try over a run at the park this weekend... It's been too too long!!!

Have a good weekend everyone! :)

Life Lessons #1

Just something that I have to share with all of you today :)

Image taken from imgfave at Tumblr 

Life is just too short... So go out and there and live your life to its fullest!!!

Even when life gives you lemonades... You just gotta ask for oranges and apples to spice things up right? :P 

Have a wonderful Wednesday! :)

A Tribute...

On a serious note, my family was devastated to know the passing of one of our closest family members, Uncle Daud yesterday morning... It was a sudden and tragic news for all of us to end the weekend....

I am not sure if any of you athletes especially the cyclists out there would recognise him, but he was deputy president of KLCA (Kuala Lumpur Cycling Association)... He has contributed a lot to the cycling world in this country to be where it is now... 

Uncle Daud's first daughter got married to my first cousin.... And he was definitely one of the greatest and kindest men that I've ever known.. For his passion in his family and sports.... And always his generosity towards people around him... He was always interactive whenever we meet during our family gatherings...

Thank you uncle for everything... You will definitely be missed by all of us... Especially your 4 darling angels... 

Managed to find this write-up by NST this morning... Kindly read on below...

Semoga roh arwah dicucuri rahmat-Nya dan diletakkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman dan soleh... Amin... 

Al-Fatihah... 

KLCA loses one of its stalwarts

Daud died of a heart attack.

LONG-SERVING Kuala Lumpur Cycling Association (KLCA) deputy president Daud Abu Kassim died from a heart attack at 4am yesterday. He was 62.

Daud is survived by his wife Normah Mohamed and daughters Noreen, 31, Nordiana, 28, and Norsyeena, 26.

Daud was a founding member of the KLCA and was also among those involved in the revival of the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) when it was de-registered in 1980.

Kuala Lumpur-born and bred, Daud will also be remembered as one of Malaysian cycling's most influential, yet volatile critics.

His daughters rushed him to the Assunta Hospital in Petaling Jaya yesterday morning after he had fallen unconscious at home but died on the way. His remains were laid to rest at the Kampung Baru Muslim Cemetary, near the home of his late mother.

KLCA secretary Firdaus Arshad described Daud as a strong leader who had always put the association and welfare of his riders as priorities.

"This is the biggest loss the KLCA has suffered. Daud was a pillar of the association and responsible for its well being all these years," said Firdaus.

MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad, who is a distant relative of the late Daud, was informed of the news while on transit in Madrid, Spain yesterday, en route to Cali, Colombia, where the national track team are due to compete in Round Two of the UCI World Cup this weekend.

"Malaysian cycling has lost its biggest, staunchest critic. Many times along the years he had kept us all in check. For better or for worse, he was the man in KLCA and we will all miss his undying enthusiasm for the sport," said Naim, via a text message. -- ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL

What a Weekend! :)

Hey guys and girlies... How was was your weekend? :)

Mine was a jam-packed one and it's going to be that for the next 2 weekends until the year's end... Thank God for supplements to keep me going!!! ;)

I decided to have a ME time over the weekend pamper at Dewi Ayu Spa at Plaza Damas on Saturday and did the very nice Javanese Golden Lulur treatment... A very much needed treat for my body :)

Oh, and I rewarded myself with these impulsive buys at Pavilion as well for completing my second marathon :)

Nike Free in my favourite colour!!! :D

My 3rd running shoes...

Fitflops for my aching legs at the moment!

My right foot is still in pain after Singapore... I am feeling restless already since I didn't run at all and pretty much fatten myself up for the entire week... Sigh... I hope this pain will go away soon... :(

I need to go for an island getaway to even out my super uneven tan lines on my body from running... I pretty much have a 4-toned skin now and I look like a freaking tom cat with all the lines at the moment... :P

But the weather has been pretty unpredictable to be going to islands... I guess I might have to wait til' March or April next year...

Where should I go? Hmmm....

Tears of Joy and Pain @ Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore...

It was a short and super rushy trip this time around...

But I was happy that I've made friends and managed to meet up with runners from Malaysia and Singapore... Gotta expand the network eyy? ;)

My flight was super early in the morning on Saturday... And I attended the monthly graduation party by Original Bootcamp and post-drinks session after that the night before...

I was thankful that my fellow Wildcats' captain and virgin marathoner no more, Selly, was kind enough to let me bunk at her place for the night...

Collected the race packs around 11am and it was like a mini reunion with the runners at the Expo :)

With Cynthia, Carrie, Dannie, Irwan, Shanaz, Selly and Yim...

Pic credits to Yim (nice to have finally met you!)

Finally met Shanaz after our brief encounter at Ipoh International Run :)

With Shanaz and Selly... We became The Gediks :P

Had to say that the so-called 'expo' for the overseas runners was a major letdown... Nothing much...

We had lunch at this kopitiam place in Esplanade... and of course, Max Brenner for desserts with Shanaz and another virgin marathoner no more, KD ;)

Super yummy + sinful banana and hazelnut crepes

Shanaz, Selly and I went back to Selly's place after our sinful session to have a rest and watched Run Fatboy Run before our carboloading dinner with the Singaporean and fellow Dailymilers... I pretty much slept on the couch when these ladies were watching the movie since I only had about 2 hours of sleep the night before... :P

Shanaz and I decided to check out the adidas store at Cathay Cineleisure before our early dinner to buy some goodies... ;)

We walked to Plaza Singapura and met with the usual and new suspects at Swensens to have our pastas...

Malaysia + Singapore runners!

Pic credits to Asree

We decided to call it a night and my friend Baba was finally dropped off at Selly's place by my penyeri, Nyna since they drove from KL... Baba was doing her second half marathon at SCMS... :)

It was so cute to see Selly making all of these funny 'giving birth' noises in the apartment as she was nervous for her first full marathon... :P

Selly's apartment was located about 2km away from the starting point at Orchard Road... So we woke up at 3am to get ready and walked to the starting point..

On the way.. Pretty Christmas lights! 

Met up with Selly's friends and runners from Dailymile in front of Ion and and pre-race camwhore session ;)

With our Malaysian stickers! Woot woot! ;)

With Agus and Marshal from Dailymile...

They were attempting their first full marathon as well! :)

With Fiki and Selly...

The Gediks... Represent! ;)

I was placed in the orange coloured pen... And we started about 5 mins after 5am I think... The first 10km was pretty much a breeze for me as it was still windy and dark at that time... 

By the time we got into East Coast Park (between km13 - km 30), I decided to learn the art of 'letting go' while running since I didn't want to lose any precious time... And it worked! :P I was happy that I managed to overtake the 5:15 and 5:30 pacers here... Of course that didn't last very long... Hehe... Bumped into Razif and Irwan at other side before making the u-turn at the 21km marker... 

It was a dread running along the MCE Service Road after that as the scorching sun was up and that there was no water station between km29 - km32... Boo!!! Managed to bump into Fiki along this route as well... And this was where my legs started to hurt... And this is when the pacers overtook me... And that's when I knew that my dream to complete this marathon in less than 5 hours was over... Hehe... 

Decided to do the walk-run-walk-jog from km34 onwards and super runner Shanaz overtook me just before we climbed up the dreaded bridge at East Coast Parkway (ECP) at km37... It was pretty crowded for us as this is the meeting point for the marathoners, half marathoners and 10km runners to run toward the finish line at the Padang... We had to zig-zagged our way through them at the bridge as there was only 2 small lanes for us and there were massive traffic jam happening next to us... Poor Shanaz fell when she was trying to overtake runners here...

Decided to walk and run at my last 4km as my right foot was feeling insanely painful at this time... But decided to run with all I've got at my last 2km and managed to stop for paparazzi shots as there were a lot of photographers waiting to snap us runners... Here are my favs from the Marathon-Photos team:

At Esplanade Drive.. Going nuts with the heat!

Happy that the finish line's just around the corner! :)

(So getting this pic!)



Run happy, even when your heart is broken :)

Since our favourite photographer, Mr Tey announced on Facebook a couple of days ago that he will be waiting to snap our pretty pictures just before the finish line... I was so ecstatic when I spotted him and you can tell it from the pics below ;)

 

 Oh, my lioness hair :P

I completed my second marathon in 5 hours and 21 mins (official time) :) :) :)

It was an overwhelming day for me as for the first time, I teared up seconds after crossing the finish line... Too much of thinking and reflecting during the run I guess...

Yes...broken-hearted Malaysian girl boleh! ;)

Congratulations to all runners for completing a tough + super hot weather marathon... :) 

And MAJOR congratulations to my running friends that are no longer virgins in the marathon world... Welcome to the club: Razif, Selly, Agus, Marshal, KD, Izat, Cynthia and Fiki... You guys are truly awesome and I'm so proud of you!!! :) 

 

With 6 new marathoners :)

And I would like to thank all of you peeps out there for your never-ending supports... I am truly blessed and grateful for having such amazing running friends :)