Renew

Perhaps it's time to try again. Differently. Not that the previous did not succeed, but for the present to reteach.

Yonder

With time.

Departures

"Departures are painful. They always seem like losses. Especially when so many depart. But let's remember things from different perspectives. All of us are bound to gain insights and experiences in these episodes. We're reminded of every individual's significance and this only helps us treasure them more in every instance that we get to interact with them. Departures - save the physical distancing - only serve to bring people closer, to heart."

The Colour Run 2013

18 August 2013.

The Colour Run 2013 was certainly a unique experience. Pictures speak for themselves:)

Before.

After?

Race Against Cancer 2013

21072013

Insight.

To be cont'd.

I barely managed to participate in RAC 2013 actually. It was only till the final day of registration that I did so because I was nursing my sprained ankle. However, I decided to do so not because I wanted to run a good time, but because there was a cause that people were jointly participating for.

Grace passed away in May. I never knew her well personally, yet from the testimonies of others I knew that she was faithful, determined and full of potential. For cancer to have taken her life at her tender age, it's certainly reminded us of the fragility of our lives.

I don't wish to elaborate on the race itself because this race wasn't run with the intent of a time, but instead, for a cause. Zhiting and I just paced and we finished in about 1:40. Though this was a far-cry from my timing of 1:14 last year, it didn't matter. Below are some photos.

I'm sure Grace is really proud of you:)

For more than ourselves. For G(RAC)E

Alter

"Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules and build a life you're proud to live."

Anne Sweeney

Embrace

"The truth is, Mack, the real reason you did not tell Nan was not because you were trying to save her from pain. The real reason was that you were afraid of having to deal with the emotions you might have encountered, both from her and in yourself. Emotions scare you, Mack. You lied to protect yourself, not her!"

Papa, The Shack

Lines

"Boundaries don't keep other people out, they fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made. So you can waste your life drawing lines, or you can live your life crossing them."

Meredith, Grey's Anatomy

Life To The Full

No regrets:)

In transit

Certainly an eye-opening 2-odd months in Delta

Smoke Chamber Exercise

We're Men of Steel

Section 2

Platoon 2

OCS Anniversary

Essence

"you don't have to find out you're dying, to start living"

Zach Sobiech

Centipede

My first, last and longest ever exercise

For whom

"Some had families waiting. For others, their only family would be the men they bled beside. There were no bands, no flags, no honor guards to welcome them home. They went to war because their country ordered them to. But in the end they fought not for their country or their flag. They fought for each other."

We Were Soldiers

Cycles

One Day More

to develop myself

to touch others' lives

to be proud of my efforts and the outcomes

Esteemed

Hi SGT Rashid,

As I've gone through BMT I've learnt to respect all my commanders because of rank, but there are few which I'll claim to admire. Perhaps it may be argued that different commanders have different personalities, some being more likeable than others. Nonetheless, I would like to thank you for how you've led us in the short course of 2 months because your leadership has certainly influenced my perspective of NS and if I become a commander, how I would lead my men in future. Happy ORD! 

  

Hi Moses, thank you for those kind words. I'm happy to know that I've made an impact on my recruits' life as a start in your NS journey. Many you'll meet along the way that will continue to inspire and push you on. I wouldn't want recruits to think back and regret and curse their experiences in an important milestone like BMT. Nevertheless, training must still be achieving standards as it should have been, but the approach is always flexible as to how they want it to be. I have high hopes on you since you got enlisted, and you sure didn't disappoint us. I wish you all the best as you continue your journey, and strive for nothing but the best. May God bless you too with abundance of happiness. :)

Anticipation

It's the last week of BMT and I can't deny the bittersweet feeling. As much as it marks the closure of my first phase of NS, many changes come along with it.

The friendships I've developed over the previous 2 months have been immensely valuable to me as I spent my days in Tekong. Though I won't say I've gotten really close to anyone, I know I've made exciting friendships there and this has been paramount in helping me get through the hours, days and weeks.

There is much uncertainty that lies ahead. First, my NUS interview/test awaits on the day after my POP on 13th April. Furthermore, I'll have my NS posting and NTU interview on the 19th. 

Though it is true uncertainty frightens, it is undeniable that uncertainty brightens my life.

Discipline

Nothing has guaranteed my contentment more effectively than discipline – be it in thoughts or actions. It is my platform to fulfill my dreams; and though it doesn’t promise success, the outcome always leaves me satisfied.

Hockey training in 2012 was definitely exhausting from all fronts. After tasting success during the National ‘A’ Division Championships in 2011, we were pressured to perform – particularly because 2012 was the graduating year for the entire team. While our coach perfected our strategies and technicalities, I bore the responsibility of organising fitness trainings. In spite of months of preparation, our season ended abruptly. After some reflection, I found contentment, recognising that I had been disciplined with my time, trainings and thoughts. I did however, decide to pursue another sporting field – distance running.

Discipline was imperative to distance running. I was driven to perform well in what I had committed to – even if it meant juggling my relationships and the academic commitments of my final year. Every week, I dedicated four to seven sessions to train. My schedule was simple, but arduous. Weekends were reserved for service in church, family bonding and training; weekdays were focused on friendships, academics and training. The four months of commitment to running, amidst academic preparations, climaxed in the November of 2012, when I sat for my IB examinations while tapering for the Standard Chartered Marathon in December.

I remain proud of my efforts, though humble of my achievements. Both running and academic outcomes surpassed my expectations. I placed 2^nd in my division and obtained 45 Points for my IB Diploma. Though I do credit these successes to my ability, it is not physical or intellectual ability I acknowledge, but the ability to remain disciplined in my endeavours. As Jim Rohn accurately identified, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.”

Outfield

As much as I intend to keep posts on this blog relevant to running, I'd like to share some instances of my field camp/SIT test from 4-9th March.

I heard stories of field camp prior to my field camp and most seemed unnerving. Yet when I had the chance to get down to the site and experience it personally, it certainly was manageable. Hygiene was understandably poor, food wasn't as palatable. However, other aspects appealed to me - the community spirit, the willingness to help one another, performances our CSM tasked us to do and of course, the breathtaking night sky.

The night sky would be one I would always remember. I'd recall the night of 8th March, when my section mates and I stargazed in the brief moments before lights-out, when they got me to look up before singing "Happy Birthday". 

I remember the tunnel ride home, when the tunnel started singing "Happy Birthday"(even though it was already 9th March). 

I remember the combat movement we did, the firing of blanks, the many mistakes I made(I somehow don't quite remember anything that involves my rifle - other than making sure it's with me at all times). 

I remember the day I was the Platoon IC and accidentally called my coy's OC "Sergeant", getting 70 push-ups for that.

I remember the perfect weather. I'm estimating we had about 60 seconds of rain - spread over a few instances, over our entire outfield training.

Oh, I remember the sights and smells of the latrine at our field camp site. Breath-taking indeed.

Most of all, I remember how God was present through it all.

Discover

I'm serving NS at present, entering my 3rd week of BMT. 

On the physical side, we've done our first IPPT. We've also learnt a variety of strange exercises and warm ups/cool downs. Our first AGR was miserably slow despite the group being the fastest 25% of people. Hopefully they will commence the "progressive" part of the training quickly. Overall PT is quite comfortable, but in my opinion, too comfortable for me to see any improvement in my running.

The other side that many of us had to adapt to is our physical capabilities when we're handling our combat equipment cos' it's shockingly bulky and heavy at first. Being on the lighter end of the weighing scale, these equipment constitute a larger percentage of my body mass hence I'm assuming it's relatively more uncomfortable for me.

Apart from the physical side, NS has been an awesome experience though I started to feel the accumulated fatigue of our 2 weeks of confinement after the 10th day. New friendships, many restrictions - yet all these helped me find God.

I've realised that a key for feeling great about NS was to embrace every day in its entirety and to view every episode as an experience for growth.

Field camp week ahead ~

One Day More

Tomorrow we'll discover

What our God in heaven has in store

Amelioration

A casual 20min tempo run at the gym turned out to become my 10k PR. 

What began at tempo pace(or so I thought) progressed into a run longer than expected.

Previously while training for the SCMS 2012, the fastest extended pace I held was an 8km run totalling 35:50 which left me fatigued. I have no idea how my existing fitness managed my pace today.

A month ago, I was struggling to handle a 13.2km/h average for 4km. 2 weeks ago, I could barely hold a 13.3km/h average for 20mins. If you check my running log, you'll have realised I clocked in only 16km of running in the past 2 weeks. What could possibly explain the significant increase in performance?

If you actually did check my log, you'd have realised that I engaged in some other forms of physical activity ~ I simply refuse to credit this improvement to "just feeling good today" and instead suspect that out of the other activities(strength/core work, cycling, swimming, soccer etc), some had significant impacts on my improvement. After all, I'm very much a person who believes that results have to be earned. A quick consideration led me to the following inferences, bearing in mind the aerobic base that was built in the latter half of 2012.

1) Core work increased stability which helped breathing and form significantly. 

2) Strength work, along with an interval I attempted(4x3:05 at +4% incline, 14km/h, 1:55 rest) helped leg power and cadence.

3) Swimming improved my aerobic threshold, functioning as cross training.

4) The single instance of cycling probably had no impact(yet).

5) Unfortunately, I don't think hockey or soccer led to much improvement. Nonetheless, this is based on my fallible logic.

These supplemented my basic running fitness, thereby leading to a satisfying improvement(which of course, did not just happen after 2 weeks). The result was a 43:38 10k with 22:18/21:20 5k splits, averaging 13.75km/h(I do all my paced runs at +1%). 

The danger of improvement is, however, the fear of failure during subsequent attempts. How best can one avoid failure? By not trying.

If you don’t know what you’re capable of, then take a risk and find out — and by that I mean a risk for you, not for your peers.  Let the world tell you when you've gone too far.  Let it knock you down and say, “This is as far as I’m willing to let you go.”  Make sure the walls you hit are made of reinforced concrete and not of your imaginary self-doubt.  Don’t be such a wuss when it comes to risk-taking.  My standard for risk-taking is, “If it won’t land me in a prison or a coffin, it’s worth doing.”

Steve Pavlina

Try

I'm wondering what it'll be like to do a triathlon :D

Cherish

"It's gonna be bittersweet because, you know, this is it. It's almost like in life they say, well, you know, like they said, in life, you get excited about something you know. Once it's over it's over and it's never gonna come again. So you gotta live in the moment and that's, that's what I'll be doing."

Jon Blais 

Quench

Much delayed

Pursuit

"Once you have been there and done that, you feel happy for a while but the joy fades with time and you realise it is empty"

"Many have asked why I want to share the secrets of my success. Now I may not be able to take anything with me but I can still leave something behind for my children and students as real joy comes from giving and sharing"

Edwin Lim

The Straits Times, Home, 19 Jan 2013

Twenty Twelve

I feel it's necessary to blog about 2012 as a whole (kinda), despite how I have been limiting blog posts on this site to running-related posts only. Yet I'll keep them brief and vague, you'll have to ask me specifically if you'd like details.

2012 was a year of many new experiences, just as most years have been, due to my very tender age. I developed and directed relationships, encountered a few setbacks and enjoyed many blessings. The culmination of the various aspects definitely grew me to fit in my own skin.

A few weeks ago, the phrase "unprecedented favour" popped into my mind. I am certain I've experienced it - credit going to God - and I am grateful. Grateful for the people he has placed in my lives, grateful for the blessings he has showered upon me, grateful for the setbacks that I've experienced.

I note these, bearing in mind that He can give and take away - and let's not realise it only when it's too late.