yet another year came to an end. and we hav ushered a new year few hours ago. 2009 was incredible! whn best returned as a student in feb after hiatus for 2years odd. some bright and dark moments through the uni year. bright? would say i've done well for the year and am looking forward to achieve better results for my final semester & graduate on a high note. dark? particularly disappointed with 'someone' who caused soo much damage within a short span of period. at times i wish i wouldnt hav anything to do with you. but what's been done or said has already caused sooo much hurt & disappointment.

emotions aside. on a happy note. raced a total of 150km running events for 2009. with fubon taipei half-marathon marks my first overseas run 2weeks ago. furthermore. managed to beat my long-awaited half-marathon personal best & improved my record for full-marathon at sundown marathon. where i'll be taking a 'bye' in full-marathon distance this year.

resolutions for this year hav been drafted. besides the usual running activities to be achieved this year. my 'top of the list' resolution gonna be to graduate with distinctions! and of course land on a prospective job & work for the $money$! haas. on the last note. hope all put unhappiness & sadness from 2009 behind & move towards a fabulous 2010 ahead. cheers.ciaoz

Labels: best from me

Labels: best from me

given that taipei has similar mrt system as to spore. we travelled largely on their 捷運 and navigated around each area by foot. did nothing much on our first day. since we arrived & check in our hotel only in the late afternoon. as we had to transit at kuala lumpur international airport. dump our stuff & off we head to the famous shihlin night market for early dinner & shopping with the night falls as early as 5pm due to the winter season.


visited some places of interest like taipei 101 & sun yat-sen memorial hall as well as 'window shop' almost all departmental malls around zhongxiao area on our second day. afterwhich settled our dinner at this highly recommended 'ma la' buffet steamboat near gong guan station.

scrumptious soup base. fresh dishes. free flow of beer & haagan dazs ice cream & desserts. with air temperature of 10-13degree celcius outside. simply a life that can never be experienced in spore! haas.


spent most of our thrid day morning and afternoon travellin to and fro jiou fen. took an hr-plus "tu-tu" train ride before transferring to a public bus which brought us up to this scenic & cultural place close to the outskirts of taipei. where lottas taiwanese snacks & sourvenirs can be found there.

evening was spent @ the "much-talk-about" & "must-go" wu fen pu fashion district. din managed to cover the whole place as the area is like the fashion version of chatuchak! moreover it is not really advisable to buy their wears unless you are buying in bulks as prices can be rather steep. had our dinner at another famous night market in taipei. similar to shihlin night market it serves wide variety of local delicacies. one craze am missing right now! haas.

travelled up to another altitude to yangmingshan on our fourth day. due to the freezing weather. we did not travel up to the peak but visited the visitor centre instead. haas. afterwhich travelled back down to taipei's "orchard road" - ximending. once again. did mostly 'window shopping' (hate it!) except patronizing the modern toilet concept restaurant.


visited the national chiang kai-shek memorial hall & returned back to shihlin night market for dinner & last min shopping on our last evening in taipei. simply love their 豪大大雞排!

this hardship trip came just right before getting ready to 'chiong' my final sem this coming jan. at the same time. planning for next trip in 2010 shuld be along the way. and will be keeping a lookout for at least 1 overseas race this coming new year :)

more photos from taipei can be viewed from my facebook.

Labels: best from me

Labels: best from me

finally did it after 2years!! completed last sun's standchart half marathon in 2hrs 9mins 35secs. thou' its only a mere 40secs improvement from my 2007 results. but still. glad that i beat my personal best just before i put my 2009 running events to a closing chapter.

as usual. flagged off at esplanade bridge and the first 4km of the race route brought us through along shenton way and into marina south. started off slightly below 6min/km until i almost hit the wall as we made our way up the slope of benjamin sheares bridge. haas. damn! i wasnt expecting the upslope and indeed it reduced my pace alot.

fortunately. i returned my pace back to 6mins/km as soon as i reached suntec and throughout the rest of the race route. and my split timing for this race is 1hr 13mins at 12.5km and 1hr 25mins at the 13.9km mark. it was until the last 1km i experienced extreme fatigue and heat (thou' weather was good) that i slowed down significantly. to a point that i actually walked quite abit before picking my pace at anderson bridge and slow-jog towards the finishing line.

definitely. it wasnt my best finishing as i was expecting better results than this. given the fact ive been training for the past weeks and full of confidence before the race. looking at a brighter side. i slashed off my 'worst' half marathon ever at this aug's ahm by 27mins!! haas.

was planning to do some recovery runs this week but i doubt being able to do soo as am on medication for the past 2days. still. would like to do some 10km recovery runs by end of week or early next week in preparation for next sun's fubon taipei half-marathon. will not be gunning for pb next week as i would like to take the opportunity to enjoy the race route in a foreign country. indeed cant wait for the trip and run. as well as more 'surprises' coming up for next couple of days. woosh.

cheers.ciaoz

Labels: best from me, running

am left with about 24hrs to 'race' my 3rd standchart half-marathon. and i cant wait to pound the streets that is rated as 'one of the greatest race on earth'. hav been training 'actively' aft my exams 3weeks ago. thou' its not progressive and am risking fatigues i faced over each week. i can say am totally geared up for sun's race! doubt i can make it under 2hrs but will certainly push 101% close to the 2hrs mark.

registration for sundown marathon 2010 has opened! due to "foreseeable" tight schedule first half of the year. ive decided not to take up the full marathon but still planning to participate in their team event with the guys. good news? the organisers include another new cat - half-marathon into their race next yr. on top of ultra-marathon, full-marathon & 10km women's & team event. bad news? registration fees are unbelievably expensive!

doesnt appeal to me whn the fee cost $200 for the 4-members 10km team event. prob the most expensive 10km race here. haas. this is why the team (consists of jaz.john.jason.best) is contemplating to sign up for this race. should we fail to sign up. guess i wont be participating this 3rd edition of sundown marathon :(

another sweet achievement this sem! improved my results to 2 high distinctions 2 distinctions which concludes my 1 year uni journey on a high note. hd came from macroeconomicsII & business finance whereas am 2marks away from getting hd for price theory! *if only i complete my last qns* arghh! and am managed to secure successfully distinction for the "much-talk-about" risk mgt paper! haas.

put in lottas effort this sem and indeed hours of intensive mugging really paid off. thou' i keep complaining insufficient of time. haas. snap of fingers. this coming jan will be my final sem in sim. and this time. will be gunning for full hd and graduate with distinctions! no doubt it will be extremely tough and stressful but guess it is achievable?

before getting back to school. i jus wanna enjoy hard this hols & work hard for the money! woohoo.

cheers.ciaoz

Labels: best from me, running

Labels: running

Labels: best from me

damn. did not hav a good run earlier. suppose to pound 15km but u-turn half-way thru at xtreme skate park aft starting off at ford road. in the end. total mileage clocked this evening was approx. 12km @ 1hr 20mins. wasnt really in good shape this evening as am still feeling some stiffness on my quards and calfs aft last fri's run. nevertheless was trying my best to keep up with 6min/km pace throughout the run earlier. looking at the brighter side. am getting back my momentum slowly and hopefully can plan some lsd runs by next week.

cheers.ciaoz

Labels: running

Labels: running