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After months and days of counting down, I am finally going to leave home tomorrow morning for Big Apple...

I would like to thank all of my friends and my readers here for supporting me throughout my training with your encouragements and positive words... Allah knows how deeply grateful I am to have all of you in my life... Alhamdulillah and may God bless you always....

My parents are definitely my backbone... I wake up every morning and thank Allah for blessing me with loving and understanding parents... Not easy to let them see their first daughter 'running' away to the other side of the world... ;)



Superexcited from the inspirational video... Can't believe that I'm this superclose to running my dream marathon... I hope that I'll do well... Amin... :)

I will be away for awhile... Taking a break after the marathon... Maybe you'll hear from me when I'm there insyaAllah...

Pray for my Gs (Shanaz and Selly) and I to have a safe journey and an awesome trip... :)

T-8: I'm going to be a part of it, New York New York!!! :D :D :D

Tribute #1

"Most of us get high aiming for a faster marathon while gunning for that top level spot in our corporate day job. For some of us, we move along at our own pace and sometimes still struggling to find relevance in what we do. There is a place for everyone in Paradise as someone commented on my Facebook status. But more importantly - you have to strive to sleep enough, eat well, workout more, work smart and Godwilling you'll be healthier and happier. And that is not an overrated phrase either."

- The late Kharis Idris @ TSB -

Taken from his blog here... 

Thought of sharing excerpts from his blog before it gets lost or disappeared... He used to excitedly tell me his latest post before it gets published and shared to everyone...  

The All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup yesterday... He must be smiling :) 

Ladies - This One's For You ;)

Haven't shared an ad for quite sometime now...

Came across this TVC that was shared by a friend on Facebook...

And I thought that it'll be such a clever and motivating way to encourage us ladies to exercise ;)

I wouldn't mind staying on the bike for hours... Haha! 

Have a good weekend everyone! :) 

New Balance Real Run Singapore

With only less than 3 hours of sleep and still feeling supertired from TNF50km, the Gs and I contemplated whether to run our 10km recovery run or not... But since it was just a few days after Azu aka Apprentice's birthday, we thought of dedicating and also run with her since it was going to be her first Singapore run... So thoughtful kan Apprentice even though you're like you-know-what... :P

And it was also my first time running a back-to-back races on a weekend! ;)

We woke up at 430am (yawn), got ready and left to the Changi Exhibition Centre... Mind you, this was the same venue for the infamous Sundown Marathon that I ran my first 10km event 3 years ago...

The Gs and I in polka dotty running skirts ;)

Pic credits to Selly

We were flagged off at 7am... I wanted to take it easy for this run since I was feeling pretty sleepy and tired... But at the same time I just couldn't wait to cross the line (again!)... Oh, the drama I have with myself :P

They didn't call it Real Run for nothing alright! Served me right for not checking out the website on the course.. It was actually a 2km run on the trail, 1.5km run on the sand, and 6.5km run on the road!!! As if running through the woods the previous day was not enough! :P

I was happy that I hit the 5km in 30 mins and managed to catch up with Izuan before entering the beach... I'd say that this was the hardest part of the run... I pretty much had to zig-zag myself at this point as I wanted leave the beach! :P

 

Another roasting session... 

Look how I was frowning while running... Haha

Pic credits to Runevent Shots

By the time we left the beach it was really hot and I just sped my way to the finish line because I couldn't stand the heat and was stoked to have completed my recovery run in 1 hr 56 secs :D :D :D (Official PB since my first and only 10km event was 1 hr 21 mins)

With the other recovery runners... 

Superb la you guys and my Gs!!! :D :D :D



Captain completed in sub 1 hour, Apprentice in 1 hr 5 mins and Senorita in 1 hr 15 mins!
My G girls are just on fire! ;)
Pic credits to Selly

My sweet medals from SG this year... 

It was a superhectic day for both Captain and I as we had to rush straight from LCCT immediately after touching down from SG to Shangri-La to attend our running friend's wedding reception...

Both of us changed into our outfits in the carpark within 5 mins! 

Not bad right? Hehe
Hope there wasn't any CCTV nearby!!! :P  

So, there you have it!!! My last race before my dream marathon for the year, the NYC Marathon :)

Will be leaving in 10 days time with Captain G... Oh emmm geeee!!! *Superanxious but excited* Need to start packing soon!!!

Next: ING New York City Marathon :D :D :D

The Merciless Sun @ The North Face 100 Singapore

After hearing good reviews about the event last year from my running friends, I decided to take part in the 50km mixed duo... I had troubles at first looking for a partner for this event, but thank God for my fellow Glory-glory G aka Idola, Izuan as he decided to be my partner...

Basically, as a team, each of us would have to complete the 25km trail course that has been set from the MacRitchie Resevoir Park...

You can click here for a bigger view of the map

With my still-in-a-daze condition, the will and heart to run for the event was just not there... But I knew that he would've wanted me to complete this run since I've talked to him about it previously... And that it would be one of my last events before flying off to the NYC :) So mileage was needed for the week...

Thanks to my Senorita G aka Selly, the Gs and I bunked over at her place for the weekend... 

I am not sure on who's idea to start this category at 10am, but when we got to the park around 9am, it was blazing hot already... And all of us knew that it was going to be a long and 'roasting' session under the sun...

Team InYourFace reporting for TNF 50km duo duty! ;)

Team InYourFace, Thundercatz and Crazy Scorpios!

Pic credits to Izuan

See how bright and sunny the day was!!!

We were flagged off about 10 mins after we weigh in our hydration bags respectively... I was running with Izuan at an easy pace for the first 7km of the route... But somehow my partner looked not-so-good at our first water station... So decided to pace with him until we bumped into Selly and Agus (Team Crazy Scorpios) again before reaching to the second water station at km15...

Still looking sane here at the first water station... 

Pic credits to Sidyz See

At this point, we've been running for almost 3 hours and we were really shocked by the fact that this particular station ran out of friggin' WATER!!! You could have imagined our and other participants' frustrations here... The most essential thing needed in a race (especially a trail run) was finished!!! We found out afterwards that it was long gone even when Shanaz and Irwan (Team Thurdercatz) arrived at the water station much earlier on! Not good at all, organisers considering the amount of fees that we had to fork out for this race!!! Thank God for the water tap that was available at the toilet just after the station... 

At this point, Team Crazy Scorpios and Team InYourFace decided to swap partners and I ran with Agus for the last 10km of the route, while Selly (God bless you babe!) stayed back and pace with Izuan who wasn't looking good at all... Thanks to Agus, we managed to head back and complete the race in less than 4 hrs 30mins!!!

Wanted to cross the line badly...

Sorry Agus for leaving you (well not that far :P) behind!

Pic credits to Shanaz

See my reaction?!! ;)

Pic credits to Shanaz

Team Thundercats: Captain completed the race in 3 hrs 41 mins while Herr completed the race in 4 hrs 6 mins! Awesome team! :)

Pic credits to Shanaz

My partner Izuan and Selly completed the race in 4 hrs 36 mins! 

Look at their faces :) 

Pic credits to Shanaz

With Azu aka Apprentice, our cheerleader and photographer for the day :) 

Besides the water issue, confusing signage along the route and the hot scorching sun, I was happy to see all kinds of food that the organisers prepared for us after crossing the line... The tummy was happy :)

Also, BIG Congratulations to the 100km Duo teams: Dzul and Cynthia, Yim and Karen (they both went back to KL and ran the Putrajaya Night Marathon on the same day!!! Major salute!!!) Deo and Ray, Ijam and Ian, Kash and Syah, Frank and Jeff, & Izat and partner!!! You guys are so much nuttier than us!!! ;P

The trails were beautiful... I had so much fun running, walking and hiking through it... Maybe FRIM isn't that bad afterall then, even though my skin was 'boiled' and 'deep fried' on that day and that I think my big toes are suffering or 'dying' slowly at the moment :P

The hard earned medal... 

This one's for you TSB... Thank you for the inspirations.. You were definitely in my thoughts throughout the run... 

Would I do this event again? Heck yeah!!! Maybe I will upgrade myself to the 100km duo instead for the next year's one... Partner me anyone? ;)

Next: Recovery Run @ The New Balance Real Run Singapore

Overwhelmed

In the past 4 days, I have been feeling:

.Sad about the loss of a great friend.

.Exhausted from the back-to-back runs in Singapore (which I will blog next!) over the weekend.

.Happy for a running friend on his wedding day (Congrats Hafeez & Shereen!). 

.Grateful for my supportive friends and also the lovely company that I've had in Singapore to distract my mind (Thank you for the laughs and smiles Gs). 

.Tired from the lack of sleep.

My body is screaming for a decent body massage now...

I really can't wait for the next 2 weeks to go by quickly... It's just too much for me at the moment...

T-20 days!!! 

Farewell Mr Bolehman...

"Surely we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return." (Sura Al-Baqara)

Yesterday, the running/triathlon/social media/PR/advertising/blogging community here was shocked to have lost a friend by the name of Tuan Senang Besar @ TSB...

I lost a truly great friend by the name of Kharis Idris...

You have touched so many lives and hearts and I am grateful to be one of them...

Thank you for being an incredible friend and for being one of the best men that I've known in my life... 

May Allah bless your soul always and ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman insyaAllah...

You will be greatly missed... 

Al - Fatihah...