Singapore Marathon , a painful experience

this is the day of the year I will always remember.. my last race of the year had to end up in disappointment....

Early in the Sunday morning.. I woke up at 3 am to do my stretching... then proceeded with having a slice of raisin bread and a banana...went to Alvin's house to catch a ride to the race starting point...

At the race starting point, I started to fear... I started to ask myself. Can i really finish this race alone.. all alone.. without training... I only knew that I have not been really training for this race... Mr Guy was expecting me to finish this race in 3:48hours or slower.. because my weekly mileage was only maximum of 25km.. I had been focussing on training my speed... yup... but worries are worries. At the starting line, I have to focus. So i took off my steps as the race started!

down 10km into the race.. I saw a familiar face.. i remembered him as one of the fastest marathon runner in Singapore ... 4-5 years back.. Ernest... I used to see him training at Tampines stadium when I was training with my first coach then... Ernest came up to me and said that he did not train for this marathon. He did not plan to go fast.. then he said .. "ok let's run together...!" haah i smiled and then just ran along... he paced me for the next 20km... he was keeping track of the timing.. he told me that we were working on a 3:4o hour pace.. I was glad though... but i knew that I had to slow down after the 15km mark... my legs were aching.. i could feel my thigh muscles moving and on the verge of cramping... I made it a point to run lightly and slowly... This slowed down my momentum. In my mind, i thought to myself... It must be due to the lack of training.. But my determination never fails me.. I always had a way to finsih the race even when My body dun allow me to do so... I pushed on... and ran... down into east coast park.. I was running relatively ok... and I saw my teammates... Mr Guy's students..they were cheering for me at the 20km mark.... and i was obviously happy.... then at the U-turn point, I told myself, I can finish this. I dun wanan walk, I dun wanna crawl back, I wanna run back. Even if i collapse, i will want to collapse after the race. Giving up any time now means giving up my myself. I told myself there are people waiting for me at the end point.. Of course..predicted that Jd would be there right after he completed his 21 km race...

and at the 32 km mark.. I was super surprised.. I saw coach.. Mr Guy.. he stood right at the 32km mark to cheer me on. I remember him saying this "ok sumiko, you have 10km more to go.. start now.." i nodded and sped off.. I felt that my legs could no longer listen to the pain but listened to my mind instead... my mind has instructed my legs to move on, dun stop... and i did... moving on.. Ernest was lagging behind because he asid he could not keep up.. I then sped off.. ironically, everytime i run a marathon... I would be speeding up only after the 30-32km mark.. funny... but maybe i need a long time for my body to warm up ahah...! yup!... I ran and ran.. and i met a caucasian who said to me "the race begins now..." ahah i laughed and replied "yeah.. the race begins right after the 32 km mark"...

at the ending point, i saw the big timer at the top... 3:44hours... i was glad.. i made it within coach's expectation ... I realised that my legs were not listening to me anymore.. it was painful and sore... really painful... I had to limp... but nevertheless i was happy enough i had finish the race...

then the unexpected happened... my friends were telling me i came in top 1o and so we waited for the results...

the board at the padang had only posted out the overall results.. which meant the women's category had only the top 20 names... and that includes all the elites... they did not post up a list of the local winners... the local winners were under the closed / singapore category...and we waited very long for the results...

after waiting long enough, i approached the information counter to check why it took them so long.. then the lady who attended to me told me they had no intention of postning the local results. then i questioned her back... "if you do not post the local results, how are the winners supposed to know whether they have won. Even the top 3 people would not have known they ae supposed to go up onto the stage to collect their prizes. AS for the 4th to 10th placing, non of the winners would have known they have gotten the prize. and you do have a notice to inform the 4th to 10th placing winners to proceed to the hotel to collect the prize from the time allocated. And what was the time? " I was super mad... Standing there not to gather info abt my results, but also was helping my other club members to gather their results. Then she said she will call up the command post to check.. she did and i say i will be back in1.5 hours after lunch...

after lunch, JD accompanied me back there.. it was already 1:30pm... and guess what. The lady who attended to me said the results were not ready.. it was already 8 hours after the race had started and the results are not ready! and she called up again to check and then the command post said they would print out soon... she asked how soon.. they did not give an answer.. by that time, the padang was almost empty.. the early finishers had gone home.. after waiting so long for the results... and because I am the assistant competition chairman of Mr 25 , i had the responsibility to wait for my team's results.. and i knew that because there was an appeal in the team event results, i had to wait... but seriously after waiting for so long, i decided to make my way home. I asked her what time is it appropriate to collect the prize at the hotel. SHE SAID 4 to 6pm.. JD heard it also...and i said ok...

i went to the hotel at 5:20pm.. only to see one friend... Lai Chee.. she went there to collect her prize money.. she was also told to collect at 4-6pm but then the officials had all went back!we called up and they said collection time was from 3-5pm.. we were shocked. And i said its ok, but I need to see the results so i can arrange the time to collect the prize money.. and guess what My name was not listed in the top 10, not to even say the top 20. I realised that the timing of the 9th and 10th position of the ladies local event was slower than mine.. and i could not even find my name listed on the top 20. Then i thought, haiz.. must be some errors.. Disappointment ran through my mind. I was not angry, but rather i felt kinda cheated.

First the person said results will be posted, it did not happen
Second, there was no way for me to check whether the results was wrong. Appeals to amend the results had to be sent in1/2 hour after results were posted. BUT BECAUSE NO RESULTS WERE POSTED<>
third, the lady asked us to be there at 4-6pm when it was actually 3-5pm.. wasted trip down by cab.
fourth, to date, after emailing the in-charge on Sunday night about this issue, I have not gotten any response or reply.

The prize money of 100 dollars imay not be as important as the timing. I need to timing to qualify for my next marathon and to get sponsorship.

To some people, winning 100 bucks is a small thing. To some people, 100 dollars is nothing. But to me its everything. It allows my sister to had her 3 meals taken care of. I cherish money very much.. to some people 10 cents seems a small amount, but to me.. it means more than everything. Because after losing someting, you learn to cherish something even more...

prize giving ceremony...

ok.. lets take a break from the races... my teachers' day performance with my students... I actually chereo this dance for Teachers' day... and after the performance, the teachers wanted me to include this dance for the end of year prize-giving ceremony... and so i added more students in for the dance.. not bad though... and the students enjoyed it a lot!

they were paired up .. one boy to one girl.. and i had to pretend as a boy! they performed so well that all the guests clapped and cheered for them.. they are only P2 students ... let see...

jaeden carrying Haniz...
the three naughty students of my class...
Gerald and me... a comedian for the future...
and the boy who looks like my bf... always trying not to take photo...
siti and me...
carrying her was an easy task... they are just so light...
Rayson and me.. his mum was a great volunteer!

forcing that bot above to take a nice picture.. he is the strongest boy in my class though! haha...

army half marathon and open water swim

army half marathon... I think that was the most unconfident race of the year... I raced without any training.. the longest distance i trained for this race was 5km.. can u believe it... ran a 5 km to get prepared to run a 21km.. maybe i was just too busy.. but busy cannot be a reason, its a excuse.. sometimes after work I will go home to rest and will just fall asleep.. I dun have the motivation to run ! its irritating though... though my weight kept dropping, but i just felt sticky and unfit for the period... but i managed to complete it and got top 10 positions... lucky i think... but then there was a big comotion at the prize collection area... the announcer asked all the 4th to 10th winners to go to the counter to collect the prize.. after we went there, they say cannot issue us the prizes.. then we waited for almost 45 mins... then after that they said they can only issue us after the top 3 has collected the prize... we were like???... then people started to complain, some shouted at the organisers... then people got fed up... after about 1.5 hours, they finally started to issue us the prizes.. and they had only one counter to issue the prize! they refuse to listen to our suggestions on opening up 1 or 2 more counters... they had only 1 person checking the ID, the same person packing the stuff, and the same person issuing the prizes... then when we gave her our suggestions, she just glared at us.. can u imagine all the categorys people are there to collect their prizes... and only 1 person to serve almost 60 over people... the situation was so ... haiz.. messy and noisy....

anyway that was army half marathon on the 26th August 2007... next coming up is OPEn water swim...on the 7th October 2007... I was lucky enough to get a sponsor for this event.. however although I wanted to swim the whole 5km... i was not allowed! heavy down pour again! ahhhrrrgggg.... we were swimming and finishing our second lap... 2km completing when there was lightning, thunder, huge waves and aiyoh... dark sky... I was out in the sea.. cant see people around me.. actually i was pretty afraid though... like trapped in the open sea without any one in sight... I just kept swimming then i met a lifeguard on duty on a canoe.. he was supposed to accompany me back to the shore while i swim.. and then the head lifeguard came... then he asked me to hold onto his canoe... I refused initially.. i said "i want to swim back"... and he shouted at me "JUST HOLD ON TO MY CANOE... ! SAFETY FIRST"... then I obeyed and went held onto the canoe...haah do i have a choice? actually it was really not safe.. people on the shore could not even see the swimmers out in the sea... the rain and wind blew almost all the tentages up and the make shift gates down... people ran out of the water to shore for their lives... haha i was lucky... while the lifeguard paddelled to my safety, the jetski came.. and i hopped onto the jetski back to shore.. free ride!

the event went well.. only the 5 km event did not complete...well never mind.. its ok! next year...

photos of me completing my first km and going for my second km...

Singapore biathlon and OSIM tri

Updates on the races I have completed so far.. and those that I can remember with pictures.. Singapore Biathlon - 17th March 2007.. it was Saturday, with lots of people at East Coast... yup I went there with Darling.. i remembered seeing friends whom i Have not seen for ages.. like R4, Sandy, Willie and gang.. and R4 said "eh blackie not so black already. nicer leh"... ahha that guy ah...anyway i was frustrated after the event... The results was announced and put up... I had completed the event in the 3rd position... and just seconds before I went up to stage to collect my 700 bucks for 3rd position, there came a bad news... the organiser forgot to input the names of those in the corporate category.. they also qualify for the open category... this is the first year they are implementing that.. and the worst thing..i was pushed to the 4th place instead.. and what happened... I got 50 bucks instead... was so sad and irritated.. give me high hopes then crashed it down... yup.. after receiving the prize, I flew home, just to get change and hop onto the coach bus to go down to KL... reached KL at night.. just to rest and compete in the marathon the next day... this was the most tiring journey for me.. I hope I never had to do that again... 2 long distance races back to back... but still KL marathon was a cruz for me.. did it comfortably without much pressure... managed to emerge as top 20 i think.. cant really remember the position.. but the money I won there definitely covered my expenses for the trip up...

anyway photos of me racing during Singapore Biathlon...17th March 2007...

and darling was there too.. our first Biathlon raced together...

then after that I took a long break from competitive racing and the next race i went was OSIM triathlon... can u imagine me ...haven trained for running.. basically just swimming only.. however the race was a disaster... heavy downpour.. I remember I came out of the water 2nd or 3rd position.. after swimming a 1.5km... then we headed off the to bike... a section which I am obviously weakest in!... We were supposed to ride for 40km.. but as we were out on our 2nd lap... the wind became stronger.. i felt myself riding against the wind, like the bike never really travelled far.. then came the heavy downpour... super duper heavy... and the event had to stop after we completed 20km... when the rain stopped, the organisers decided to restart the event. But this time round, it was different. We were asked to run 400m on the sand, pick up our bike to ride a 20km then run a 5km instead of a 10km... as expected, i cam in only 6th position.. because i basically is stronger on the swim and the run.. the 5km run was too short for me to catch up with opponents.. never mind, went home empty handed... with a super duper dirty bike... had to spend almost 1.5 hours cleaning up the bike... !

Photos of me racing on the 29th July 2007...

and this is when the wind came in.. you cant feel the wind here but u can see the look on my face.. and before i finished the race.. people were saying i was getting paler...

back after 6 months

i Have been off from blogging for 6 months... lots of friends ask me why I haven been blogging.. Thank you all for all your concerns.. Let me give you a brief update on my life in these 6 months..

In MAY / JUNE i graduated from National Institute of Education as a Physical Education teacher cum maths teacher..Was posted to Keming Primary school. When I entered the school, I was asked to teach English, Maths and PE.. and even other NON-core subjects. That was a difficult task for me... but I pulled through...I took over as form teacher for one of the most active P2 class... things were going on well.. though I faced many obstacles... I could not adapt quickly to the life initially because I had only 3 PE lessons per week... I felt restricted... but as time went by, I focussed more on teaching academic subects and doing admin work... that was in term ... in term 4, I took over another form teacher of another p2 class... this time, it was a quieter and more well-behaved class. Students are bright and hardworking. I had more PE lessons but taught English and Maths too. Though I was not trained in English, I tried my best to learn as I teach. The learning process was enriching and definitely something to remember. I dealed with difficult parents, demanding requests and sensitive students. This helped me to grow a lot. I learnt that not everything is as smooth sailing and not everyone's situations are similar though they may seem to come from the same background...
these 6 months I have spent time working and most importantly making time for myself. I have stepped back on training because I wanted to focus on my work. Training time was insufficient for me... but I still raced in competitions. However, my focussed this season was not to win, but to complete the race in the best effort that I can... at the best comfort that I could.

ALl this while, I must thank all those who stayed by my side, who never once left me even when I was on the verge of breaking down. Most importantly, JD who stood by me even though I had many times complained to him about my work. My sister Junko who always stood by me and listen to my numeous complaints and even lame jokes about my working life...
Now that I have stepped into another phase of my life, I hope to achieve more than what I can previously. When I look back, i realise that I have actually done many things which I should not have. But it is all past and I am moving on...I remember that I hated my life as a student in NIE. I did not have any friends.. probably just a handful to count .. because of incidents that happened in NIE... though this had affected my grades in NIE but I just take it as a lesson learnt. You cannot please everyone, please yourself and you will be happy.. whatever that has past, I would like to remember it at the back of my head...

I am thankful to coach Guy Oden for taking me up as his only female student.. his trust and hopes in me has brought me confidence in doing many things. And definitely not forgetting my new cycling coach Chung... his peserverence has always move me on.. thanks for all the hard work you put me... I know next year is not going to be easy when training is coming into place.. but i am ready for the torture...

IF YOU WANT THE RAINBOW, YOU MUST FIRST STAND THE RAIN... no pain no gain.. just do it...

Nan Hua Primary School.. memories

and lets see some photos of my students! hha... this was the day I left Nan Hua ... and my favourite students took pictures with me.. first up is P 5E... they gave me a pleasanmt surprise... i walked into the class for the last Maths lesson.. and they planned a surprise with Balloons... drew on the board... filled the whole board and wordings on the balloon also... and then tied them onto the projector screen... then wrote things like "Thank you Miss Tan".."i miss u miss tan" and even "sorry for not doing homework".. my gosh... haha...ook Class 5 E

and more... and then i punished 2 boys.. Ryan and Zen Young by making them squat on their tables and pull their noses...actually not punishment... its just like a game for them! haha... they enjoyed it so much, all the boys wanted to do the same thing! my gosh... oh no...all elephants in my class
and then 5 E boys with me...
and this is what they wrote on the board...
and then me and P 4B Girls.. PE class

and then the 4B boys...

this is quite a blurr photo though.. but it looks kinda natural~

wow.. finally i am back... its so boring these days... everyday I am in NTu.. having some talks.. then the only thing i am looking forward to is training at the end of the day.

Hoping that this week can end soon so that I can start my 2 times training everyday! I have already planned out my training programme for next week onwards... morning training programme i plan, then evening training programme is planned by coach.

Its so tiring on saturdays... I have commenced on my training programme with my 2 adventure racing partners.. last Sat we cycled from Jurng East to Lim Chu Kang, then to kranji, then to Mandai, then to NTU and loop around ntu and then to Upper thomson then loop around bishan, then all the way to Pasir Ris.. almost clocked 100km.. then once we reached Pasir Ris, we wenty for a 2.5 hr kayak training... at the end of the training, my butt hurt so much that I took cab home instead of riding back from Pasir Ris..

It has been months since i last cycled... and it was a horrible training for me.. but then this made me wanna train harder.. there are so many upcoming races.. such as Golden mile, marathons, half marathons coming up. I guess all the night runs i have with JD helped me a lot! woohoo!

and just 2 weeks ago, i went out with Helen, Mao, Paul, Sam and his gf.. lets see some photos.. we went to a posh restaurant.. jap food.... nice nice but super ex... Paul's fault.. wanna give helen a pleasant surprise...

helen and paul...

and I took a few pictures with Mao.. been very long ever since we took pictures...

and this is Helen and me!
and then Xian and Paul..

and then me and mao again!

and then more pictures... ahah since JC years.. we have yet to take more photos.. till now.. thanks Mao for always being there for me... from J2 till now.. we know that no matter what happens.. we will always be the best of friends...
and finally Samuel with his gf...

ok done! we had an enjoyable time.. but i felt that I have lesser and lesser topics to talk with them.. i keep quite quiet throughout the dinner and felt really tired after that. Lucky Moa sent me back home with his car... really appreciate it. ... SOmetimes i feel that I have gone out of the circle which my ex classmates are still in. even Mao says that I have become a "no nonsense" type of girl ... someone who is serious.. probably its the earlier plunging into the working society that made me realise I have to be more alert and more serious in some manners..

finally... I am down with 1 more week to go before my practicum ends on 11th May... haahaa... and next week I practically have no lessons because my students are having their SA1...
and I am so happy for Lao Da, ZY and Xy... they finished their exams le! but so sad.. yesterdaY i went back to NTU to train... ran to Hall 3 to look for them... but seems that they all left hall and went out... aiyoh... they are idiots... especially Lao Da.. still leave his room lights and fan on for what... of did I happened to not see him because he is playing poker or mahjong at Tai Pan area again?

hhaa once again... I am so happy for Lao Da because he has found his love one... but then he will love me lesser now! oh no... haah Lao Da, will you still love your ah neh as much! haha aiyoh.. I think I am going mad...

haha today ZI had my last lesson observation.. the lesson went well.. but during discussion with my CT, I cried.... I felt as though I did not do a good job... as though I am a lousy teacher.. and then he mentioned that I seemed to put more effort in my maths lesson as compared to my PE lesson.. i felt kinda insulted... but then he explained his view too and i explained mine... though i got a B for that lesson... (most people get C or B).. and had improved in a lot of ways.. but then i felt that I am a perfectionalist... which my CT also felt.. he say that i should not put so much pressure on myself... everyone has a flaw... and he says he understand because of my competitive nature in sports that i demand a lot from myself... haha.. think I got to learn to take things a little lightly though...

yesterday I walked out of a class.. my only maths class 5 E... they were well behaved all along... just that yesterday we went through exam papers for the first time...and they were floating people ... talking people.... chit chatting and everything else.. and i allowed 5 students to sit on the floor to copy the answers because they claimed that they could not see from their seats.. they took advantage of that and began talking... the whole class was in a mess.. and i had a supervisor coming in to observe my lesson... even I was shocked at their behaviour.
after the supervisor left, I gave them a lashing lesson.. I was so angry with them! I perpetually called all of them to return to their seats...then one by one scold them... asked those who never bring files, wb, tb to stand up... and them gave my piece of mind... and lucky I had already covered what i need to cover during that lesson...and after scolding them, i say "i dun wish to stay in this class even a second longer, i cannot tolerate your nonsense anymore. " and i walked out... and then when i came into class today, there was total silence, then on the board was written" sorry, Miss Tan!" ... i felt like laughing... but then i controlled... ahahah... i am just a hard hearted outlook but soft hearted teacher... perhaps I should have been more stricter...

haha.... and today I am going to work from 2-5 pm! with my darling ZY.. earn some extra cash... yup... be facilitators to some china students...

see ya in a while...! i am going back to NIE for talks soon!

oh ok.... this is how my sister Junko look like during her race.. haha both our hair were messy...! dun care take photos can le! do we look alike! after her race.. i am so proud of her.. people always say she is the Mini sumiko... haha and me in Ryan's car... Faizal's is the driver... he just gotten his license yesterday! haha and he was driving at 70kmph... for the first time ! he was super happy and excited!just look at how tensed he is... the owner of the car, Ryan was sitting beside him and guiding him... all of us were super quiet and serious in the car! haha and finally , I cut my hair... this week only... me in the staff room...the room behind me is where i work... and presenting to u my hair.. cut already but haven dyed black...

and an artiste picture of my pile of worksheets i am marking... looking at how black my hair is now too.. a bit not used to it too.. but my colleagues say i look so much more decent and more like a teacher now without the brown hair...and me on my sofa at home... trying to act as a super fierce girl...

on Saturday, i had an interschool biathlon... I met Sunny at Clementi INterchange and he biked me down... wah he really controlled his speed of biking... reduced a lot already... i guess Angela must have taught him road safety! haha anyway both Sunny and me were not planning to push a lot for this race.. we just wanted to finish it cool and easy... and yeah he finished 1st for his category, and me too 1st for my category... guess sometimes when u have lesser pressure, u can perform better.. and i realised something, I can no longer fall in the tertiary category... must always go under open and corporate category now... think tat made me realise that I really am NO LONGER a STUDENT...and after the race Sunny biked me back to clementi..., we were carrying a lot of barang barang.. the prizes for the day... oh man.. the bike was so heavy I wonder how he every biked plus with this heavy weight me on top! skillful biker....

after that, I went to meet Junko and her friend Rachel at orchard... i introduced them this part time job, give out balloons and sell some promotion for some bottles of milk.. 7 bucks per hour.. they had to wear white hot shorts and t shirt... it was quite nice seeing them working for the first time ... yeah...and we went for our facial treatment which i had won at Tiong Bahru plaza...was painful but then the lady refused to remove my oil glands on my face.. so angry with her.. think this is some type of sales strategy, so that u will come back and buy the package again...and in the room, i took some photos...

and after that on Sunday i went to Mount Faber to support my MR25 members for their their 10km race... finally i am at a race but not racing.. shocked a lot of runners.. but i guess i have followed the instructions of my coach quite well... keep away from excesive races so that i will not be injured so easily...when I reached there, my club's president saw me... and asked me to do the tabulation of results.. and so yeah... i became the marshall as well as the tabulator... ahah it was fun and enriching! nice man... and yeah i tabulated the results out very quickly with no frills at all.. it was nice working with all the uncles there... now the photos of my club members doing their warm down...

oh and after that I went to clementi swimming pool to do my usual swim... 100 laps.. and i ended up suntanning there.. and i became red and dark ... haah and After that I went home to do some marking and then head out with mum and grandma to meet Yuko, Junko and Bro at where Yuko worked... at raffles place... she works at New balance at raffles place... we were out to celebrate bro's 24th bdae...and we ended up eating at a Jap restaurant just behind New Balance... my mum treated us! haha...Yuko and me!

my grandma and me...

and my mum and bro...

and Junko wanted this photo taken...

and i took another picture with Yuko again...and she ate my share of noodles.. i ended up eating only a small bowl of Unagi rice...

and then we went home not long after dinner...i am so tired... i went to bed!

and good night friends!