My first night trial - 12 km May 4, 2011

My first night trial - 12 km

A rundown of the night event

7.30 to 8 pm - gathered at the starting line, did some warming up . There are claps of thunder and the smell of rain is in the air

8pm – the gun was fired

1-3 km - it’s a easy jog, some gradual slopes but not so bad

3-5km – it’s getting tougher, the slopes are steeper and to my horror , I felt sleepy at this stretch , It’s all dark , with other runners and I wanted to give up and go to bed but I’m in the middle of nowhere , so I have to press on

6km -- mud slope, we have to climb up the slope using the ropes to pull us up

7-8 km – I’m the only runner in a 200 m stretch, the other runners are either in front or behind me. The volunteers are nowhere to be seen . It’s me and my headlamp and my nano.
I removed my earpiece and hear – puff puff ( me puffing) , crack crack ( my feet against the pebbles and rocks) , croak croak ( insects and frogs and toads and other animals !)

8 km – I see a FINNISH banner but where are the lights, where is everybody ? – oops , I think it’s a finishing line for another category - finished long ago . False hope L

8-12km – did some slow climb and slow jogs at this point. But slopes , slopes,, and the final 11 km , the steepest slope .

 

12 km--- FINISH !!!!!!! I made it, 1 hour 53 min

My next goal – 21km , Sundown run , 28 May . ( Hope to finish before sunrise)

My Northface Pants WOMEN'S PARAMOUNT VALLEY CONVERTIBLE PANT

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There's little telling what the next 40 years hold for us. However, there is one bedrock certainty: The North Face will maintain an unwavering commitment to pushing the limits of design, so that you can push your limits outdoors. Never Stop Exploring.

It is with this in mind i bought a pair of Northface pants -- it's a convertible pants, where i can unzip at the mid leg and convert it into a pair of shorts. It costed me SGD 100+ mind you. Winnie told me that i sounded so thrill after i bought this pair of pants, for my trip to Bhutan

Tiger's Nest Monastry-- a holy place .It's a climb of 20 000 steps up and down in the altitude of 3210 m . During the climb, i understood what devotion is. We wondered why there isn't a road leading to Tiger's nest but Tienzien explained that the climb is for the regilious , to be able to feel with the nature and surroundings and a pilgrimage for the devoted

Half way through the steep climb in the high altitude, i decided to apply my heating ointment for relieve of my leg muslces.I had to take care of my legs as i have a half marathon 2 days later, when i land in Singapore. i unzipped the pants at the mid leg, applied lotion , zipped back the pants
On the way down the awesome scenic place, Jamie shouted "Hey there is a hole in your pants " OMG , what happened !!??? it turned out that the zip at the mid leg was detached from the the head of the zip and it's stretched to 3/4 of the round of the pants and was hanging on by the other zipper head ! As this was a steep and narrow path, i couldn't stop to do anything. Throughout the mext 20 minutes , all the tourist who walked by me called out to me, one fella called out to me hey,"new fashion", Winnie called back, hey it's Amercian product. I added NORTH FACE ! Of course, Jamie didn't stop snapping photos and even video recorded the whole incident.

We reached our resting spot some 20 minutes later and Winnie helped me to fix the zipper. According to her, the catch of the zip is too shallow such that is not easily aligned. It is also very difficult to zip back – took her sometime to put them in place
I have already sent a feedback to Northface and am waiting for their response, let you guys know what's next.

For sure, Jamie and Winnie aint'going to buy Northface products in the near future. It's a embarssing moment, but being a good natured person, i took it all in good stride and it became a funny situation instead

 

with the zips opened up

 

Tiger's nest

 

Demise and Eulogy of my socks Part 2

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I have plenty of socks. Most of them are for practical reasons for my jogs ( Nike dry fits), cheap ones ( $2 from Daiso), wool socks ( my overseas travel), gifts etc.

I do not think much of them, except that they are worned for these reasons above, however i have some good experience with them and i ""killed"4 of them and in the process provided good memories of my travels
i just came back from a nice trip from Bhutan. The weather was nice, people are frieindly, eager to please, religious and they are quite simple, naive, in my opinion . Some hotels are practical for tourists , some are rustic, with traditional facilities like a fireplace ( they called it Bacurry in Bhutan, not sure if i spelt correctly). Overall it was a nice experience there ..( more of trip later).

Anyways, we took a long car ride to Bumthang on the 3rd day . This place has a traditional Bacurry in all rooms. We need to put logs to the stove regularly to ensure we are kept warm throughout the night. Being a true bred Singapore city girl i have no experience with a fireplace . There is no need for a fireplace in Singapore anyways.

The staff showed me how to place the logs in the stove, explained to me that the stones on the stove is to regulate the heat of the stove , etc etc . In the middle of the night, i found my room too cold and knocked on Winnie and Jamie's room, asking for help. My dear jamie kindheartly went over to my room and helped me restart fire. ( note, another story coming up to this restarting of fire) She also explained that i can put my socks on top of the stones so they can dry quickly.. .. Time passed and too bad we failed to really start a good fire on the first night. Jamie spent a night in my room helping to strove the fire and to turn the socks regularly.

On the 2nd night, my room was too HOT !!!!! I had asked the staff to clean up the stove that morning, they had done a too good job :) Timidly, i knocked on Winnie and Jamie's room again and informed them my room is too hot ! Gamely Jamie went over to the room to check out the temperature, told me to open the bathroom door so the heat can spread to a bigger area.

I told her proudly that i too dried my socks on the stones and showed her ... Bloody hell, there is a hole in the sock (1) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! speechless !! I later heard from Jamie that when she told Winnie, Winnie laughed until she fell onto her bed.

I found another BBQ sock ( 1 a different socks) a couple of days later when i tried to wear them..

We told Tienzie our tour guide, i can see that he was trying to contain his giggles and he told us that this was the first time in his 5 years tour experience he came across BBQ socks. I will email to him the photos of the BBQ socks for his sourvenior, from Janice.

Lesson learnt... never bring a pair of expensive socks for travelling , you will never know what happens . After my April trip last year, i had taken to buying cheaper socks,, just in case.

Thanks for the good memories, socks.

Story of my Northface pants coming soon to facebook near you.

Demise and eulogy of my socks Part 1

 

I have plenty of socks.  Most of them are for practical reasons for my jogs ( Nike dry fits), cheap ones ( $2 from Daiso), wool socks ( my overseas travel), gifts etc.

I do not think much of them, except that they are worned for these reasons above, however i have some good experience with them and i ""killed"4 of them and in the process provided good memories of my travels.
One of the most memorable business trip i went to was in April 2010. I went to Germany for 2 weeks for some system testings , with the intention to extend to UK on a personal trip.  In middle March/April, there was this volanic eruption from Iceland, with the “ashes” spreading to most parts of Europe since . As a result , most of the flights were cancelled and i had to cancel my trip to UK too, changing my airticket to fly back to Singapore instead. However, on the day of flying back to Singapore, my flight was cancelled as well. SAP has been trying to find alternative ways for my colleagues and i to fly back to Singapore but it didn't look hopeful.  At 5pm that day, I decided to soak my soaks  and made a shopping trip to town.  i received a call from the tour agent that there is some flights back to Singapore that night and if i wanted to take it. OF COURSE !!!!!!!!!!

Took a cab, sped through the traffic, rushed up the hotel room, dumped my clothes to the luggage and WHAT AM DO with my soaked socks that's still wet ????????  frantically, i did the first thing that came to my mind. Dumped them to the dustbin.  ( have you seen amazing race ? it's just like that )

It's a pair of Nike Dry Fit and a normal black one.... Good bye to you. I have worn the Nike Dry Fit on all my jogs, marathons. You have served me well, my friends