Real Run Club Terrain Race on 28 April 2007

Today was the Real Run Club Terrain Race at Bedok Reservoir. I had looked forward to it all week. My club members were also joining the race. When I woke up early this morning, it was raining very heavily and i felt very cold. Fortunately by 6.30 am the rain became lesser. Finally the race started at 7.45 am, 15 minutes later than scheduled. Luckily the rain had stopped but the ground was very slippery and there were many puddles.

According to uncle yeow seng there were more than 600 runners. There were 450 male runner and more than 200 female runners. There were only two categories, men's open and women's open.

Most of my regular team was there - Aunty Roda, Aunty Josie, Aunty Moy Hong, Aunty Cindy, Uncle Kalai, Uncle Jo, Uncle Chua, Uncle Hafiz... I was very happy to see them...

When i started, most of them were by my side and when we were flagged off, we started ruunning together. Then slowly we got separated as Uncle Kalai pulled ahead. Then Aunty Roda. Many of the others also fell behind.


When I reached the finish line, which was two rounds around the reservoir, i was happy to find out that i had made it to the top 50 men.I felt good when Mr Malek, Mr Arul, Dr Bala and the others congratulated me. I was the third fastest runner from my club after Uncle Kalai and Aunty Roda.

Uncle Kalai came in 13th but the disappointment of tehe day was Aunty Roda. She came in just twenty seconds behind the first woman winner. I felt very sorry for her... Aunty Josie was 5th.

The good news was that only two women was ahead of me. When i neared the finish line , i saw Mr Yon. He and a group of NIE trainees had come to help in the race. He also congratulated me when I finished the race.




When will the next race be?I am looking forward to it...

Mizuno Mount Faber 10km Run on Sunday

Early this morning i went to Henderson CC. Not to run but to cheer the team members of my running club on. Every week I enjoy meeting and running with them. But today i did not run the Mizuno Mount Faber 10km run.

Uncle Kalai was there. He ran a good race and was the first member of the club to finish the race. However, he was not the top 10. Aunty Roda was next and she came in 7th in the women's open. I was so happy for her.

So many members came today... Mr Chua, Aunty josie, Uncle Jo and his wife, Uncle Darryl, Mr Tan, Uncle Hafiz, Aunty Cindy ... I really wished that I was running too. There were i think more than 1000 runners both male and female.

Oh well. Anyway there is another competition next saturday. The New Balance Terrain Race at Bedok Reservoir. I want to run... I can't wait for it...

National Interschool Cross Country video

I created a video of Team HI at the National Interschool Cross Country Championships on wednesday 18 April 2007. Enjoy!

Contemplative on Friday

At 6 p.m. I went running at Bedok Stadium. Tampines stadium was having a soccer match and the tracks were closed so that no one could run. It felt so good to run again... I ran eleven rounds on the track. I was so afriad that i could not do it... I was not tired when I came back. In fact I felt much better and started doing my homework... I have a lot of homework to do...

I know that i will never give up running... My mother again said that i could not run 10km this sunday... But I could run 8km next saturday at the New Balance terrain race... i had to recover fully first... Sometimes I think my mother is too scared.. Anyway Mr Tong said the same thing to me on thursday... He was concerned about me and my health. So was Miss Tan... At least the school cared about me. This is so different from last year...

I feel much better now. Things are not so bad as they seem. I want to study hard too... My school work has been affected by my running...

Thank god it's friday

Today is friday. Finally i have some time to myself. This whole week has been a disaster. I have been sick for more than two weeks... School is so stressful... And the exams are just around the corner...

What has happened this last week?

I had training on monday at turf city but i did not run as I had just recovered. On tuesday there was a geography field trip after school. Wednesday was the national interschool cross country finals but I never completed it as i felt heart pain and gave up halfway. Yesterday i had make up chinese tuition. I just feel so tired... I have to make up tests as i missed two days of school last week and the results are so poor...

The sunday is the mizuno mount faber 10km run. Many of my friends from the running club will be there. I was looking forward to seeing Uncle Kalai, Auntie Roda, Uncle Jo and his wife, Mr Chua and the lorry gang... But my mother said no running. I was so looking forward to it...

What is life without running? Now i just feel the urge to put on my running shoes... Who cares about school work and exams??

Our School Cross Country 2007

Thank you to the school and Mrs Wong and Mr Tong without whom I would not have been able to produce this photo slide show.

No. 16 is No.1 on friday the 13

There was an event which happened in school yesterday evening after 5 pm. Something really and truly exciting… How could I miss it?

When I arrived in school , I saw a team of men wearing orange colour jerseys Another team of men in blue colour jerseys. I also saw some boys from Bukit Merah Secondary. I saw a team of our school boys too. Guess what they were all together for?

I was looking out for my teachers. Every teacher wore blue except the one who wore orange colour jersey… He was the only teacher wearing orange but he later put on the blue jersey to play on the teachers side. The no. on his orange colour jersey was 16…



To me no. 16 can play quite well. He was adapt at tackling and kicking the ball…Maybe PE lessons are not the best judge…


Wow! Quite a few games were being played . And they all looked very exciting… I really enjoy watching… Maybe it is because it is people you know that is playing, so you hope that they will win instead of the opponent. Also, game was played in school and a few of my cross country teammates was there. I think the atmosphere is somehow different. Almost like family or home. I noticed a few women who came and sat together in a corner. I guess they must be the wives of the men of the orange colour jersey. Also they were a few children below 10 running about and kicking the soccer balls too… It felt so good just to watch the game that I forgot that I had just been sick. I felt so much better too…

Mr Ong was also playing I was surprised that Mr Yon did not come. Of course the usual teachers who played soccer were also there.


When the boys from our school played against bukit merah sec boys, the visitors won, even after our school boys had a disagreement with the referee.Score was 0-1. Teachers team against the orange colour jersey team. Teachers lost 1-2 even though player no 16 switched sides,put on blue jersey no. 1 and play ed on the teachers team.

I am sure you all know who player no. 16 is. No need to introduce… :)

Here are video highlights of the soccer games for my die-hard soccer fan readers. Enjoy!

American River College Cross Country Video 3

This is the last in series of cross country videos of American River College, California, in USA. It shows an actual californian cross country running competition held last year.

When I view the video i can actually imagine myselfrunning too...

I wish I was well enough to put on my running shoes and just run...I really enjoy the adrenalin rush...

I know that if we persevere one day we will be able to create a team that can win - just like american river college...

These 3 videos have really inspired me to create a team like that in my school. I know it can be done... and i believe i can do it ...

American River College Cross Country Video 2

I watched the movie Chariots of Fire last year and I really liked the theme song... The music was written by Vangelis who won the Oscar for best original music in 1981.

The movie is based on the true story of British athletes preparing for and competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The music in this video is this theme song from Chariots of Fire. The music is hauntingly beautiful. I can imagine myself running over the bridge too.
It really feels so good to run...

American River College Cross Country Video 1

This is a very cool cross country video. It was produced in Director. After watching it i feel very inspired to run...I have a dream that one day we will have a school team that can run like that too. That would be just great...

Even the quotes are so inspirational...

Homework on sunday

Today when I woke up i still felt unwell. My sore throat had become worse and i still had a running nose.

I wanted so badly to run today. It was the National Juniors and my school had sent me to particpate in the 800m. I had been looking looking forward to it all week...

Last week li ming was down from flu. He had a temperature of 40 C on wed. Too bad i sat beside him. I think i must have caught it from him. He has beenabsent since. Besides me Joel was also sick. I think a few of my other classmates are also sick. For the saturday morning remedial class, six of them did not come. I know a few of them sat behind him that day.

Anyway what is the use of moping now? At lunch time my father talked to me quite long. He advised me that it was not worth it to run since i was feeling so uncomfortable...

I spent the day on my tuition and homework...What to do? Exams are coming up too as my father reminds me. There was english, geog, e maths and chinese homework to do... I also had to write my bio journal... School sure is tough...

Team HIHS Athletics 2007 video

Yesterday I spent some time creating a video of our school cross country team. I hope you enjoy watching the video as much as I have enjoyed creating it.

Friday - feeling unwell

Today was a public holiday but i was up early. I was looking forward to going running with uncle kalai. At 6.45 i was out of the house even though i had a slight cought. I enjoyed the jog with him. Uncle Kalai is a marathon runner.The most recent marathon he ran was the KL Marathon last month during march holidays. I wanted to go too if not for school...


Anyway i will be running competition with him and all my friends later this month. I really look forward to that...Even if it is only 10k...
I have never really thought if i want to run the marathon one day but who knows?

When I came back i had a sore throat so i took some medicine and went to sleep. It was good not having to go to school. Hope i will be better tomorrow as there is a competition on sunday...

Softball and service learning

What has service learning got to do with softball? Well nothing really just that I got to do both today. Or rather I was able to watch a softball match...

Today school finished at 2 pm. There was service learning after school today. Mr Sim came with us to Pertapis and he brought along a digital camera ro take photos of what we were doing.

We had buddy reading and we played games with the inmates.

But the highlight of the day was the softball match played in the school field at my sister's school. It looked like the visitors were winning. My sister said the man wearing a t- shirt with the words Mr Ben at the back of the t-shirt was the teacher in charge. He looked a bit sombre as his girls were losing. The visitors had a very good pitcher and almost every bat was a strike out. Both sides the coaches came and both wore a t-shrt which said coach behind.

For those who do not know, girls play softball and boys play baseball. They also wear t-shirts with numbers and their names on it...Will the cross country team ever get a T-shirt with their names on it??

Monday is journal writing day

There was physics spa today for index no. 23 to 43. All of us skipped english to finish it. I heard there was english journal to write but i have not done it. The topic scares me. It is how to ace the g.c.e. 'o' level english. Well i really want to ace it but i dont know how...My english is poor.Maybe by writing on this blog i can improve it.Also i dont know much words and spelling...I could ask my sister to help me... Will she?

Well i have no choice but to write it but I wish topic could have been more interesting like what I like to do in my spare time - running and i.t.

next time i will suggesr it to my teacher :)

There was training today in school and it started at 3.45 p.m. Mr Yon conducted it and he made me work. It was tough as i had stitiches having lunch late. We went to the gym later. Actually i find that Mr Yon can really teach... he explains what we did or did not do in the debrief. Ms Tan also came today to talk to us.

Sunday Run

This morning I woke up early as I wanted to go running with my friends. There is a competition coming up on 28 April -just two rounds around Bedok Reservoir. My target is 40m at most. I hope to do better than that.

We came at 7.25am. Mr Ow was there waiting. Mr Chua and the some of the others started running earlier. We ran together the two roounds in 55m. I missed Uncle Kalai and Auntie Roda. Later I heard they had gone to run at Mt Faber.Uncle Jo and his wife also came. They gave all of us us hersheys kissables.

Today we hads o many adults running together. After the run Mr Malek invited all of us to his condo for breakfast and a dip in the pool.

I love swimming. Even before I was in primary one, I already have the bronze award. Swimming 20 or 30 laps is no problem. But now with school work, tuition and running I have no time for it...

Too bad it rained and I was forced to get of the pool. The best part was the jackuzzi... The water was really warm...

I really like this club. As all of them are adults, they realy take care of me and look out for me. They run with me, pace me and help me correct all my running mistakes.They also motivate me to do better. Most of these runners are my parents' age. At first my father was shy to join them but the slower runners encouraged him to join and now mt father runs with them. Then the aunties help my mother and encourage my mother. Now she can run too...But so slow... My sister runs so much faster and better.

I am so happy my mother runs. One day I hope that all of us can take part in a competition together.When I started running she nver ran. But these people are so good to us. They encourage my mother ro run and I am so happy that she can run today. Keep it up Mummy! One day I hope you will be able to run by my side...

I know that I will never leave this group. Maybe it is because i am the only child there so they all sayang me... Or maybe they all take the trouble to make me belong and be a part of them...