Night Time Mumbling

Last year when I was still working in JB, I was targeting to participate in many running and triathlon races, with an ultimate dream of finishing an Ironman triathlon one day. My typical weekly schedule was roughly like this:

Monday: Gym session + Swim
Tuesday: Run + Swim
Wednesday: Bike + Run
Thursday: Run
Friday to Sunday: Switch to my ‘weekend husband/daddy’ role in KL, while squeezing at least one long run (LSD) during the weekend. Or perhaps a back-to-back session if I feel a little bit desperate to ‘up’ my fitness level.

Starting this year when I switched my career and return to KL where my family is, my weekly schedule turned out awesomely not-as-what-I-wish kind of thing:

Monday: Lucky enough if I can run in the evening. Or else I’ll be stuck in the office doing some paper work when a submission is about to due.
Tuesday: I might need to go home early to pick up my kids, it depends.
Wednesday: I may set this day as my ‘off day’ without being obliged to justify any reason for it.
Thursday: High possibility for a round of 9 holes golf session with a client.
Friday: Again, high chance that what happened on Thursday might be repeated, although with another group of clients.
Saturday: A very ‘tough’ 10km run, which feels more like a 25km. (“tough” here doesn’t mean the running route is difficult. It simply means I FEEL IT IS DIFFICULT to finish this distance)
Sunday: It is the only day when I turn into an iron man (unless if one day I decided to start seeking some help from a third party, also famously known as ‘The Laundry Shop’.)

Tak dapat jadi Ironman triathlete, dapat jadi iron-man kat rumah pun jadi lah...

So you can see now why I haven’t done any single race this year, despite of already being in KL where races are abundant and just a few minutes driving away from home.

Am I whining?

Am I blaming?

Am I being hard to myself?

The answer to these are a strict and clear-cut NO.

No, no and no.

So, why do I bring up this issue?

It’s is to show how important someone has to prepare before attempting such an enormous endurance event in the like of marathon or triathlon. The higher the mileage of the race events, or the better Speedy Gonzales you are trying to be, the bottom line depends almost entirely on how much you prepare for it.

It is also to show that if you see your friends crossed the finishing line of a triathlon or climbathon or swimathon or marathon or makanthon or whatever which you thought you could never ever ever ever do the same, then you should think again.

It is really not a matter of who you are or how your body size is. Sports background or not, fat or not, busy or not. It is a matter of whether you set your mind to do it or not. What should appropriately come next to that is your proper preparation for it. Follow that through with smart execution, and put gazillions of patience while doing it. Never rush for a result.

At the end of the day, you’ll be crossing the same finishing line as your friends did.

Amboi amboi, pandainya aku ceramah. Macamla aku ni terer sangat.

Ngeh ngeh ngeh…

But the real fact is... I miss racing...

Pantun Side Stitch

Di pagi Jumaat nan indah berseri,
Cuaca mendung nyaman terasa,
Hormon pantunku tetiba tinggi,
Mari tengok apa hasilnya.

Anak haruan anak keli,
Berenang bersama bersuka ria,
Akibat dah lama sangat tak lari,
Maka side stitch datang menjelma.

Nasi lemak ayam berempah,
Dimakan bersama sambal berlada,
Pabila side stitch dah makin parah,
Mula lah gelabah tak tentu hala.

Mata terpejam mulut ternganga,
Melayan cerita movie yang horror,
Stretching dah buat tak hilang juga,
Nampak sangat aku tak terer.

Poco-poco ramai yang tengok,
Di KLCC Park they “move-it move-it”,
Bila dah side stitch lari pun tak syok,
Muka pun kelat menahan sakit.

Selalu bersukan banyak faedahnya,
Badan pun sihat otak pun cerdas,
Nak hilangkan side stitch senang caranya,
Traininglah selalu janganlah malas (macam saya!).

Ikan siakap goreng bercili,
Tomyam udang ‘terbaek’ juga,
Cukuplah dulu sampai di sini,
Hormon dah turun ke paras biasa.

Dengan kata lain… dah takde idea nak pantun la ni.

Have a nice weekend y’all!!

It Is Now Four

Today, four years ago was the first day EnAikAY blogspot came as part of my life. It started of when I was in the States having my job training, and I had plenty of spare times to blog about my sports activities.

And that's how I started doing endurance sports, in conjunction with blogging.

I did the runs, the swims, the cyclings, the races... partly because I want to have something to blog about. And I think that's pretty much what I always blog about, which unfortunately makes some people feel fed up. Well, as a matter of fact I cannot please everybody. Heck, I can't even please my own self all the times.

So, coming to the beginning of 2011 when I moved back to KL for a job change, a lot of things have changed. And with the appearance of my second child, that too has shifted my focus in life, for the time being at least.

Combination of both, I know I had to re-balance my focus and I made the decision to keep it low and slow this year.

I'm taking this opportunity to celebrate my fourth year of blogging by re-starting my writings. I hope it continues for a much longer period. It's been a fun journey and though I sometimes fall into trouble when some of the readers get the wrong perception or understanding of what is being posted here, I guess that's part of the package. I'll take it as positively as possible for what I believe, nobody is perfect. Myself included.

So with that, happy fourth year birthday to my blog!

May EnAikAY keeps moving forward.
"To be, or not to be."