Tiong Bahru, Vivocity - Historical Run on Singapore Government Housing

Along Cantonment Road just outside Outram Park MRT station

How many times have we planned our runs at Labrador Park, I have lost count. Thanks to the overwhelming votes by the unfit runners living in the west, my Saturday mornings have been "Journey to the West" recently. After much discussion over the net, we decided to try out our first "One Way Run" from Vivocity to Tiong Bahru Market (Where we will have our breakfast). However, for the drivers, it is a logistic nightmare as we have to decide whether to park at the finishing point or the starting point.

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Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), Malaysia - A Pain in the Neck!

Early Morning at KLCC Park.

I was invited to for a conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I managed to get a nice apartment near to the KLCC area. After checking with my Malaysian friends and the internet, it seems like the most breath taking run at the city center is around the KLCC Park. So as usual, I strapped on my running attire and set off from my apartment at Parkview Residence.

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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.

RIP....

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.

Sennheiser OCX 685i SPORTS

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!

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