Monday, September 6, 2010

Be Prepared For Raya

One of my favorite. The pineapple tarts.
My wife's family makes this every year.

Raya is coming soon. It is just around the corner. During the whole fasting month, we’ve faced lots of challenges. With the always changing rain-then-hot-then-rain-again weather, the flu outbreaks (at some places), never ending work at the office, this and that. So, it is just normal for us to celebrate the Raya to the fullest, with the long holidays that come together with it (which also leaves you with lesser annual leave in stock, if you are somebody like me).

And for some of those who have to miss few hardcore fitness training sessions because they can’t afford to do them during fasting (if you are people who are good at giving lame excuses, like me!), Raya is the time to put in some revenge and reset our body for more training sessions. Many big races are also in few weeks time after Raya.

Be careful though. Raya celebration/holiday may not mingle well with your fitness training. The loads of special delicacies served, the new dresses, the relatives and friends, the travelling and the atmosphere itself, may wrongly tune your brain away from what you used to have before.

LSD may bring a meaning of Lemang, Satay, and Damn-there’s-more-to-eat! So, don’t be surprised if you can do five or seven LSD sessions per day and still not feeling tired yet.

TOF which originally means Time-On-Foot training, might be misunderstood as Time-On-FOOD. Yes, this is very normal.

For all you know, there might be a kuih raya named Fartlek, among others like Almond London or Famous Amos. So, you can put a FB status update such as “I just finished five Fartleks this afternoon”, and your running friends will be in jaw-dropping-awe mode thinking that you've done the interval-like training under the hot sun.

This is not kuih Fartlek. You have to work on your own imagination for it.

When you put a status update on your FB like “25K done!”, your friends may be thinking that you just had 25 ketul ketupat. Or, maybe they’ll think that you just drove your car 25km away to meet your relatives. Do you really think they will fall to believe that you’ve ran that long during Raya? Oh come on, keep dreaming!

If you DNF (Did Not Finish) all the satay at the third house you visit during first day of Raya, it’s ok. Don’t be sad. Leave some of the satay for others too ok.

And if you think you DNS (Did Not Start) eating the third plate of rendang and lemang at your favorite uncle’s house, you are loosing a big time man. Raya only comes once a year which means your auntie only cook that special rendang during Raya, if you forget that fact. Dua pinggan mana cukup!

Please, please, please. Do not expect there will be Gatorade or cold 100Plus at the houses you visit. The most you’ll get might be F&N Mirinda strawberry flavor that will leave your tongue red, and makes you burp every 45 seconds. And if you fancy something weirder than that, try those carbonated grape drinks and you’ll end up with purple tongue.

Or if you dare, carry along your Fuel Belt or Camelbak over your Baju Melayu or Baju Kurung. Then you can have your endurance drink with you wherever you go. In case you suddenly lost the endurance to visit the 15th house of the day.

Oh ya, kids won’t be impressed if you wear your triathlon or marathon finishers’ tee shirts. For all you need to know, kids will only like you if you give them RM10, and they might fall in love with you if you can give them RM20. If you really, really want to impress the kids, put RM50 in the ang-pows (money envelopes). The kids will instantly be jumping in joy and not long after, you'll notice somebody come over and ask you, "Are you crying?"

Three more days for me to spend this week before I can finally put up the Out-Of-Office autoreply message on my work email. My body may still be here physically in the office, but I’m sure my brain is already at my hometown, since last Friday.. hehehe.

Another long driving journey awaits...

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahaha! How could you mess up running jargons with unhealthy bingeing!

Eh, my uncles never fail to serve the LongChan drinks, you know those golden oldies that come in brown bottles?

Diket said...

Bro, I really like your usual posing maut depan camera. Don't forget to wear those 2XU compression calves for your long drive. Safe journey bro.

Salam aidil fitri & maaf zahir batin ye.

Kam Kasturie said...

Good mess up jargons actually hehehe
I'm so going to do SBR this raya holidays... no no no not Swim Bike Run but Satiate Biskut Raya!

Julin Julai said...

We'll all have fart-leks after all that lemang n carbonated water.
Poot!
Eh, I can't figure out what's the white2 thing kat shoulder you too? Langsir ke langsiaq?

EnAikAY said...

Haza,
What mess up? hihihiii.
That brown bottle drinks are lagendary stuffs lah. How can we ever miss them? :)

Shakhir,
Thanks for the reminder.
And don't forget to bring your running shoes. I've put some CCTV at some 'specific' locations to check on your secret Raya training.. ahahhaha.

Kam,
ahahaha.. bro, u made me laugh hard.. good one!

Julin,
Does fart-leks means, "Fart first, releks later"? hihihi.
That white thing is air terjun daa.
(i'll bang my head on the wall if you buy that) hehehehe.

IJAM said...

sejauh mana kampung kau tapi mesti tak boleh celen aku punya jarak kampung iaitu di pantai dalam..
muka dah mcm boring drive tu, punggung pun rasa mcm dah leper gila duduk, kesian...
Selamat Hari raya bro...berhati2 memandu...
mengikut statistik, kemalangan paling banyak bukan berlaku di highway...di jalan persekututan (whatever that means), aku rasa jln biasa ni la...
so, gunalah landasan keretapi...

kookykash said...

That is why I like to balik KL cepat2, so I can escape all the open houses in SG. Maklum, I dont know a lot of people here and I dont get invited to any, and not that I want to anyway.

Selamat Hari raya, nik. Mohon ampun dan maaf!

Gerb said...

Fart flex?Apakah?

Tu gambar last tu same la muke saya time jam di Karak highway. Ada 1 lagi ..rupa muka masa menyanyi dengan penuh emosi sorang2 dalam kereta sampai boleh hilang suara.

June Malik said...

alhamdulillah since we raya-ing almost on our own in JB, my LSD load will be kurang dari tahun-tahun sebelumnya haha .. safe driving, selamat hari raya, maaf dipinta sekira ada yang tersilap kata, terkasar bahasa :)

RaYzeef said...

wah nasib baek gambar last tu tak tido, kalu tidak MARABAHAYA

jika dilihat gambar itu, akan menimbulkan tanda tanya, tangan kiri yg diletak dimuka sengaja dibuat bagi menambah kesan ..woo siapakah yg ambik gambar ni? passenger depan lah jawapan nya..betul tak nik?

p.s. earphone tu dengar lagu ke atau dengar perbualan tow truck?

EnAikAY said...

Ijam,
Jgn lupa bawak sunblock banyak2 time raya. Beraya kat pantai tu bahaya bro.. nanti kena sunburn.
P/s: Guna landasan kapal terbang lagi besar bro.. confirm tak langgar pokok punya.

Kash,
U r the third person i know who wants to return back to KL the soonest. For whatever reasons u wanna give, we all know u want to start training immediately, right? hihihi.
Selamat hari raya to u n family too. Kirim salam kat brader Rais ye. Senyap je dia lately..

Meeza,
Adegan nyanyi penuh emosi tu saya takleh buat.. nnti anak dan isteri terkejut dari lamunan.
Lebih parah.. hujan lebat turun serta merta.

EnAikAY said...

June,
Raya is sebulan.. no worries. Plenty of LSD and biskut Fartlek in Klang when u return.
Enjoy your raya in JB!

Ray,
Saya memang kaki drama. So, gambar pun mesti ada nilai2 estetika berunsur drama jugak.
This is a self captured photo with self timer lah bro. My passengers have long fallen asleep while i "enjoy" the traffic jam sambil layan lagu Siti Nurhaliza.. nyeh nyeh nyeh...

ziff71 said...

Tahun ni kita buat challenge berapa balang tart nenas kita boleh hayun hehehehe.

Selamat Hari Raya to You and your family and have a safe journey to your kg

Yimster said...

MP3-ing and driving? Tak betul tuh. Dont plug and drive!!! :)

Salam Aidilfitri to you and your family. Safe journey home always.

EnAikAY said...

Ziff,
Kalau lu boroi lepas raya.. don't blame me ok! hehehehe.
Thanks bro. Same to u too.
Pandulah dengan selamat, ingat basikal tersayang... :)

EnAikAY said...

Yim,
Thanks bro.
If u have nothing much to do, buat open house la time Raya nanti. Boleh kitorang datang pegi pilih baju2 running yg u nak jual bundle tu... hihi.

Unknown said...

Slamat hari raya bro... LSD banyak2 ye during raya...

EnAikAY said...

Baik tuan Zack!

Sorong papan tarik papan,
Buah keranji dalam perahu,
Suruh makan saya makan,
Suruh lari saya tamaaauuuuu....!!!

Justiffa said...

Ekekekeh the hubby is very much into the fart-lek thingy (ur new definition la lol).

Selamat menyambut aidil fitri kpd nik & famili, maaf zahir batin. and pls, do take care on the roads.

(akak pun mcm JJ jenuh duk pikir apa bende la that white thingy)

EnAikAY said...

Mdm Tiffa,
Membaca buku terbelek-belek,
Mencari fakta yang jarang ada,
Lepas fart memang kena releks,
Menikmati "aroma" di ruang udara.

Salam Aidilfitri saya ucapkan,
Zahir dan batin maaf dipinta,
Lepas raya janganlah lupa,
Training untuk marathon pula!

Justiffa said...

Adeh, tercekek air liur akak baca psl 'aroma' tu lol. and nik, xyah la ber-mdm2... makcik tipah pun bole ;p

(too ngantuk to balas ur pantun, sori. report akak ni pun duk swimming before my eyes haish).

tsar said...

selamat hari raya.

nanti raya amik le gambar time LSD 25K tau

Deo said...

Cool laa bro!
Tak sabar ni nak LSD, memang betul pun time raya boleh LSD banyak kali sehari, interval with sleeping. Hehehehe

Slmt hari raya bro, maaf zahir batin. Jumpa lagi lepas raya!

Rai said...

Salam Nik,

Maklum insan biasa, penuh silap...

jikalau lafasan mulut, juga di hati,..
gerakkan tangan, juga di kaki...
menyinggung hati - tersepak kaki - tingkah buruk melebihi...
harap Nik maafkan, beri keampunan, kepada Rais dan Kooky.

Selamat Hari Raya, Idul Fitri Nik... Agar berberkat, lagi meriah, menyambut bersama keluarga yang tersayang.

Ü

EnAikAY said...

Zarin,
Time raya my camera rehat. Dia apply cuti raya seminggu, balik Bangladesh.. hihi.

Deo,
Hati2 masa buat LSD tu.. jgn sampai terpaksa buat speedwork pegi toilet pulak.

Rais,
U r back!!!!
(where's the LIKE button.. where's the LIKE button!!?? I want to clik.)
Same to u too bro. Salam Lebaran Idul Fitri ku terbangkan ke bumi Singapura utk kalian sekeluarga!

P/s: kalau zaman chatting dulu2.. RA15 would bring the meaning that you are 15 years old... hehe.

rusfarizal rusli said...

selamat hari raya nik,berhati2 dijalanraya.Aku raye nie belasah jer makanan kat atas meja,lepas raya lain cerita...hhehehe

EnAikAY said...

Rizal,
Anda mmg menunjukkan contoh pemuda alaf baru yg pandai meraikan hari raya.

"Kuih raya diutamakan,
Perut boroi belakang kira.."

iamsyah said...

eh aku echo semua semua yang di atas lah...

Selamat Beraya beb... jangan lupa masuk beskal dlm bonet sekali

EnAikAY said...

Syah,
Jaga2 sikit.. kat negeri2 belah utara tu, diorang ada running mileage limit. takleh lari more than 100km per week, nanti kena saman.
Diorang kat utara lebih suka kayuh beskal.. *wink, wink*.

Che said...

Selamat hari raya bro,

moga selamat pergi dan balik,
pas raya kita training balik,
harap2 lah takde yg bg alasan pelik2,
moga training akan normal balik.

Have a nice raya! Safe journey back to kampung.

EnAikAY said...

Daud,
Hormon pantunku tiba2 jatuh merudum.. takde idea nak karang pantun.

Selamat hari raya kepada anda jua!

SuN said...

Pecah kaca
Pecah tin
Selamat hari raya
Maap zahir batin :P

Anonymous said...

Salam Aidilfitri Nik!

Ambil gambar suasana kampung banyak2 yer.

:)

Jaja Shah said...

selamat hari raya nik!

nak beraya, kenalah happy2

c u in desaru :D

EnAikAY said...

SuN,
Ahah.. my pantun hormon has been transfered to your body nampaknya.

Faisal,
Salam Aidilfitri to you too bro!
InsyaAllah one day i'll post my kampung run photos.

Jaja,
Selamat hari raya!
Nice to meet u yesterday.
Sy sgt jeles dgn tan line di tangan anda!