Inspiration

Hmm..so what have i been up to lately..

Well one week ago i was at a race…in genting….
The race involves running through jungle..

What? at genting? in a jungle? Genting got jungle mer?

Haha..that was exactly the response i got from many people. Well to be frank the race was at Awana resort which was at the foothills of genting…and yes there was a jungle. The event was called Genting Trailblazer www.genting.com.my/trailblazer and it involved running through trails in the jungle. It wasn’t a race to run up genting mind you…but a race through the virgin forests that surrounds genting.

next question i hear from you…kelvin runs in races?

The answer is…no. I can’t run…i am not a runner…i am a sailor, a kayaker but definitely not a runner…

so how did i get myself into this mess?
hahaha it was all thanks to some pals i met at OBS…another CA by the name of Karen…she needed a partner having won the 3rd place in the mixed mild category last year…and somehow due to unknown reasons, i agreed. but before that i had to make it  very clearly that i’m not a runner. Another interesting fact is that Karen has been competing in many races thoughout the year, be it triathlon, duathlon, 10km, 15 km, 21 km etc. So what do you do when you team up with such a strong partner? hehe set down a contractual agreement on the expectations…for me it was simple..i just wanted to finish the race alive..and hopefully within 2 hours.

well to be honest, the whole race was quite enjoyable…running up and down hills in the jungle…it din’t help that the day before it rained..cuasing the trails to be much muddier. unfortunately, i cherished my camera too much to carry it along with me on the race so not much picture of me in action…throughout the race, we had to run through rivers, streams and even mud banks….plus the ups and downs of the race…what was a constant throughout the race was also me staring at karen’s (my partner’s) back as she was constantly ahead of me throughout…i kinda pitied her cause she had to wait for me on many occasions…and i probably dragged her down somewhat.

at the end of the race course, we had to go through a series of obstacles which includes 1.2m deep trenches and 6 foot hills….not to mention ponds that were up to your waste. these ponds had freakin cold water in it….imagine the cool climate of awana…and then you had to jump into ponds which had stagnant water that had cooled throughout the week…brrrrrrr….hehe…i din dare imagine what else might have been in the water but i guess that at any rate the water would have been too cold (around 15 degrees i think) to have any living creature in it.

we finished a commendable 10th placing out of 57 teams…tho far from the 3rd place finish that karen and her team mate obtained last year, i was quite happy with the position. the total time we had for the 8km run was 1 hr 30 minutes.. and truly at theend of it i felt it was quite fun…muddy but fun….


i’ve offered to join karen again next year but by then her teammate will be back from australia…so anybody out there game for a challenge? haha i’m in it only for fun :p

here are some pcitures for evidence. yes kelvin did run in a race and he managed tocomplete it. many thanks are due for the encourage from karen and the other races throughout the course.

The view i’ve had throughout the race…that of my team mate’s posterior…haha i’m always lagging behind..but i’m thankful that she was patient with me and encouraging too…thanks karen!

Participants running through the jungle…

So..anybody keen to join me next year? 8km of pure mudness !!

for karen’s blog, visit http://galnexdor.blogspot.com for her views on the race

Hmm…somehow it seems to be a trend to put up birthday posts.

So today’s my birthday…
I was born 22 years ago this day…at some location roughly 30km from where i am now.

Was quite surprised actually..got my first present yesterday…and up to now have gotten a few messages and wishes.

What i really want to do now…is go back to the beach…to lie by the sea…and listen..

listen as the waves washes up the beach….listen…as the sea breeze dangles in the nostrils…
listen…with someone by my side….just listen….and be swallowed by the night.

i’ve always had an affinity to water…

somehow, now looking back..i seem to be able to remember my past birthdays….well not too long ago..perhaps starting from 10 years ago..

when i was 12…
had my 3rd birthday party i think….planned it to happen after upsr..
invited quite a number of friends but only half turned up…can’t quite blame them cause i lived quite far away….but it was quite a bummer…and i remembered the piano shaped cake din have any black keys on them.

when i was 16
spent my birthday travelling on a bus from kl to sitiawan..a bus that was late by 2 hours…causing me to spend my birthday on the bus..

when i was 17
had a pre spm celebration i think…i remember having a bbq…having lotsafriends…and having lanterns! (i’ve liked lanterns for a certain reason…lanterns and water)…that was quite fun..

when i was 18..
celebrated my birthday in a pub..with 3 others…was in uk at that time…felt somewhat homesick..
in the mean time, a card arrived at my home in sitiawan….my one and only birthday card from a secret admirer..and it was authentic!

when i was 20..
first year in uni…was depressed that no one came to celebrate with me..or rather no one knew of my bday..when suddenly at 1am, 4 ppl came to my room…there wasn’t a cake..but there was some cookies,…and we ate and chatted till 4am…tho we wanted to last till the morning..

when i was 21…
had quite a surprise…quite a big group came to celebrate my bday in hall…felt that i truly belonged…there wasn’t 1 but 2 cakes…..the next day, i managed to drag my brother to the blood donation centre to donate blood..

now that i’m 22..
surprised by my first gift on friday.. thanks cheng wei…getting messages from ppl that i’d least expect to hear from…but it’s gonna be a quiet day ahead..

to everyone..have a great day…and let us remember those who passed on on sept 11…and in that learn that the price for hatred is high…may we have peace throughout and goodwill to all men.