Marina Bay - 3rd Month of Rest with Knee Injury
Run report: 3 months after injury
Location: marina bay
1.3km - small ache
1.5km - can feel the ache more consciously
1.9km - time to call it a day :(
December 28, 2013
December 15, 2013
Tanjong Pagar Run - Short Run to Test Recovery of Knee
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| Staycation at Amara Hotel |
December 5, 2013
Stanchart Half-Marathon: Short Interruption to my Running Career
The last few weeks, have been quite a depressing affair for my running career. First, I injured my knee during one of my routine Sat run during the end of Sept. I thought resting for a 2 weeks before my Europe trip will give it time for my knee to recover. I tried a short run just before my Europe trip but my knee starting throbbing after 1km. Than I forced a run at Amsterdam doing about 2km. Knee hurts but not that bad. During the next run at Dusseldorf Germany, I forced an even further run of 5km. My knee gave way at 3km. I hobbled my way from Hamburg to Berlin to Paris for the rest of the trip, cursing at every European staircase that confronted me.
After I got back from my Europe trip at the end of Oct, I thought that a good one month rest should be enough for my knee to recovery for the Stanchart Half Marathon. A week before the race, I strapped on my shoes and tried to run. My knee started to throb after hitting the 1km mark. I started to feel pain after 1.5km. I have little choice but to abandon the Standchart Half Marathon.
This is depressing. I wonder when my knee will heal...
A few days after the Stanchart Half Marathon, I came upon this piece of news whereby an unknown Singaporean runner who won the local title for Stanchart, was disqualified. He ran for 6km, felt a pain in the knee, probably went somewhere to drink some coffee before walking back to the finish point and "accidently" clinched the first place. He also revealed that he cheated not only once, but thrice, just because he wanted the finisher T-shirt and the medal.
After I got back from my Europe trip at the end of Oct, I thought that a good one month rest should be enough for my knee to recovery for the Stanchart Half Marathon. A week before the race, I strapped on my shoes and tried to run. My knee started to throb after hitting the 1km mark. I started to feel pain after 1.5km. I have little choice but to abandon the Standchart Half Marathon.
This is depressing. I wonder when my knee will heal...
A few days after the Stanchart Half Marathon, I came upon this piece of news whereby an unknown Singaporean runner who won the local title for Stanchart, was disqualified. He ran for 6km, felt a pain in the knee, probably went somewhere to drink some coffee before walking back to the finish point and "accidently" clinched the first place. He also revealed that he cheated not only once, but thrice, just because he wanted the finisher T-shirt and the medal.
October 21, 2013
Berlin, Germany - Guest Appearance by Big Boned Guy (BBG)
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| The early morning view from our apartment |
Everyday, I cursed my stupid decision to push my injured so hard during my run in Dusseldorf. The pain doesn't seem to go away and I spent my days hobbling along with the old people in Germany, thinking whether to buy a German made walking stick to go along with the appearances.
October 16, 2013
Dusseldorf, Germany - Across the River Rhine and Back Again
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| The River Promenade at Dusseldorf |
October 14, 2013
Canals of Amsterdam, Netherlands - Of Canals & Gay Kinos
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| The canals of Amsterdam |
It has been raining non-stop since Day 1 when we arrived at Europe 4 days ago. Sometimes it pours, sometimes it drizzles and sometimes, it is a mix of everything. Throw in a below 10 degrees temperature and cold bitter winds, it made walking along the beautiful streets and canals of Amsterdam a dreary affair.
October 13, 2013
Amsterdam - Raining non stop....
Woke up at 6am every morning, wanting to run around the canals of Amsterdam. It just rains and rains and rains....
September 28, 2013
Tiong Bahru, Vivocity - Historical Run on Singapore Government Housing
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| Along Cantonment Road just outside Outram Park MRT station |
September 22, 2013
Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), Malaysia - A Pain in the Neck!
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| Early Morning at KLCC Park. |
September 4, 2013
R.I.P Philips Sports Earphone
I remembered when I first started my running hobby, I was using Apple's generic ear piece that came along with my iPhone 4. However, after a few runs, I realize that my pure white colored Apple ear piece is getting black and grimy and given how anal Apple Care is with water getting into any of their Apple products, I decided to get a sporty water resistant ear piece to prevent shortening the life span of my Apple ear piece.
There are of course many different types of sports ear piece out that in the market. There are blue tooth ones, over the ear hook, inner ear hook, around the neck band etc etc and the variety of brands are simply astounding. After doing some research, I decided to go for a mid end sports ear piece by Philips and since the back band ear piece is the most expensive of all the categories, that should be the best right? So one fine day in 2012, I fought my way through an IT fair and managed to get my Philips Sports Earphone at a good price of $38.
After a few months of usage, I realized its shortfalls...
First, the supporting band is... bouncy when you trot down the running track. The balancing of the earpiece is a bit off with the band heavier than the support and you have the band slapping against your neck as your head wobbles up and down.
Secondly, the band is a nuisance when it comes to packing it for an overseas trip. Although it is pretty light, the rigid band makes the overall space consumption pretty big and space is a precious commodity when it comes to traveling.
Lastly, the design flaw that killed my earpiece. an upturned wire connector that defies gravity. As we run, the wires for our earpiece tend to bounce around and over time, creates a load on the connection between the ear piece and the wire. Philips earpiece made it worse by making the wire dangle from a sharp ^. Needless to say, one year after heavy usage, the connection wire started to break free from the headband and the earpiece spluttered and died.
After learning what works and what doesn't work in a sports ear piece, I decided to upgrade to a Sennheiser Over the ear sports ear piece. Sennheiser is considered one of the top brand for sports earpiece and I got a pretty good deal from a good friend. So far, the earpiece has been a joy. Other than the problem of bouncing wires affecting the quality of sound, I have no complains about it. It also works flawlessly with my Nike iPhone App allowing it to pause and resume the recording at will.
Looks like the saying "You pay for what you get" seems to ring true in the world of sports ear pieces!
There are of course many different types of sports ear piece out that in the market. There are blue tooth ones, over the ear hook, inner ear hook, around the neck band etc etc and the variety of brands are simply astounding. After doing some research, I decided to go for a mid end sports ear piece by Philips and since the back band ear piece is the most expensive of all the categories, that should be the best right? So one fine day in 2012, I fought my way through an IT fair and managed to get my Philips Sports Earphone at a good price of $38.
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| RIP.... |
First, the supporting band is... bouncy when you trot down the running track. The balancing of the earpiece is a bit off with the band heavier than the support and you have the band slapping against your neck as your head wobbles up and down.
Secondly, the band is a nuisance when it comes to packing it for an overseas trip. Although it is pretty light, the rigid band makes the overall space consumption pretty big and space is a precious commodity when it comes to traveling.
Lastly, the design flaw that killed my earpiece. an upturned wire connector that defies gravity. As we run, the wires for our earpiece tend to bounce around and over time, creates a load on the connection between the ear piece and the wire. Philips earpiece made it worse by making the wire dangle from a sharp ^. Needless to say, one year after heavy usage, the connection wire started to break free from the headband and the earpiece spluttered and died.
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Sennheiser OCX 685i SPORTS |
Looks like the saying "You pay for what you get" seems to ring true in the world of sports ear pieces!
August 25, 2013
GuangZhou, China - Beautiful Run Along The Pearl Delta River
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| The monument outside of Guangzhou Hotel |
August 17, 2013
Punggol Park Sengkang PCN Run
One of my favorite regular running spots. However, there are no cute girls doing their workout in the morning, unlike some of the evening runs that I have done in this area. Guess the ladies need their beauty sleep ^_^. Here are some nice pictures that I have taken along with the run route and distance.
August 3, 2013
Orchard Road - A Run Along the Iconic Shopping District
We ran out of ideas where to run this week. We ended up testing out the Singapore Orchard Road Run and visit the shopping malls along Orchard Road early in the morning. As most of the Singaporeans will be very very familiar with this stretch of road, I will keep my report short.
Started the run at City Hall and we made our way up North, along one of the most famous shopping route in Singapore. We kind of expected tons of road crossings and traffic lights and off we went! Interestingly, the roads were deserted and traffic is relatively light. Other than stopping to wait for the green light at major road junction, we simply just dash across at the small junctions along the way.
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| Taking off from City Hall |
July 27, 2013
Holland Village to Dempsey Hill - Exploring the Ex Military Base ofSingapore
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| Early Morning at Holland Village |
As usual, the group brainstormed over where new locations can we run this week. The parameters are as follow:
1) Not at the extreme ends of Singapore - This rules out Changi, Pasir Ris, Sengkang, Woodlands, Chua Chu Kang and Jurong.
2) Easily accessible by the ladies/mummies of the group - They need to wake up earlier as their preparation time is longer. So anywhere too far will lead to protests of unearthly waking hours.
3) Must have good breakfast spots at the end point - A good breakfast after a run is very important!
July 6, 2013
Hwa Chong Institution Run - Construction, Security and Expensive Cars!
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| Hwa Chong Institution. The famous clock tower can barely be seen, blocked by MRT construction |
"Lets revisit our old school, Hwa Chong Institution and rekindle our memories of our high school days!"
It was such a good idea that everyone agreed immediately!
June 29, 2013
Post Haze Run. Stadium to Bay East
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| The Marketing Poster for G-Dragon |
June 25, 2013
Haze Alert! No Run for the Week.
21st June 2013.
Friday noon.
Singapore Central Business District.
Abnormality Report:
No Hordes of Hungry Office Workers Looking For Lunch.
Streets Quiet. Air Bad.
Recommendation:
No Running for the Week. Air is so bad that it can deter Lunch Zombie Hordes. Not Safe....
Friday noon.
Singapore Central Business District.
Abnormality Report:
No Hordes of Hungry Office Workers Looking For Lunch.
Streets Quiet. Air Bad.
Recommendation:
No Running for the Week. Air is so bad that it can deter Lunch Zombie Hordes. Not Safe....
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| Scene from WWZ???!? |
June 16, 2013
Pocari Sweat 10KM Run. 2013
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| Marina Bay... Before the Haze! |
June 13, 2013
Bangkok Thailand - Lumpini Park
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| Everyone loves Platinum Mall. The ultimate ASEAN hub for wholesale clothes. Who doesn't love a bargain! |
June 8, 2013
Bishan Park - Revisiting the "Most" Central Park in Singapore (3KM)
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| A very Big Sign just in case you didn't realize that it is a park |
This week, we returned to bishan park, the running playground of big bone guy. To add to the prestige of this event, alcoholic came to join us!! He has been missing in action for the past few months because he claims that he can't wake up so early on a sat morning and is more of a night bird than morning bird. He dropped by this morning because the park is near enough to his home that he was able to just roll off his bed, and stroll over to the park.
June 2, 2013
New Food Center at Gardens by the Bay
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| The New food center at Gardens by the Bay |
May 26, 2013
National University of Singapore - The Killer Slopes of NUS
Two days before the normal Saturday Run....
Me, "So where are we running this week?"
Others, " Kent Ridge? Labrador? Marina Bay?"
Me, "We have been going to these places almost every week! Why not try someplace new! NUS?"
The West Ladies, "Okie!"
Me, "What about Bedok Reservoir Park?"
(Silence on Whatsapp group.....)
*Note, most of the ladies stay in the West....
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| The Sports Complex at NUS using my new iPhone 5 Paranorma function |
Woke up to rain and thunder at 6am at my place on the East Side. However, the Western Ladies claims that there is absolutely no drop of rain in their corner of Singapore. Strange Strange weather. My mum looked at me strangely, when I told her I going off for a run, in the middle of a thunderstorm. Shortly after driving pass VIVOcity, the rain stopped... Real Weird...
April 20, 2013
From Chinatown to Tanjong Pagar | From 3rd World to 1st
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| Sights Along China Town |
March 30, 2013
Kallang Waterfront - 5 Reasons Why Every Runners Should Pay Kallang a Visit
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| Kallang Waterfront with the Sun peeking past the horizon |
March 23, 2013
Mount Faber - Slope Training in the Heart of City
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| Glorious Sunrise from Mt Faber |
Seah Im Market car park => Mount Faber => Henderson Wave => Hort park => breakfast at Seah Im market.
We managed to trick the ladies into thinking that it will be an "easy" run.
We managed to trick the ladies into thinking that it will be an "easy" run.
The run began with a long flight of steps to the top of Mount Faber.
Than a hilly run along the edge of Mount Faber, with the sun rising
lazily over the mega structures of the Central Business District.
March 3, 2013
Singapore City Race 2013 - Beer Drinking During A Run is Bad for Health!
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| The Start Point of the Singapore City Race |
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