Running is a sport, it is not something I would like to force anyone to take up, but unlike excessively playing video games and sleeping and wasting time on the couch too much, running should be one of the easiest sport to pick up. All one need is a jogging shoe and one can start running.

Well, so says me. Of course anyone can beg to differ but when was the last time you thought of running and when was the last time you thought you were fit? Years back during school days? Is one too old to pick this sport up? Giving excuses because you think you are busy doing other things?

Okay, back to my report. This is finally my third time in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 and running the half marathon on the 26th June 2011. It was worth it but with a bad timing compared to my previous records. Here are the timing and updates.

Judging from the above time, it is definitely worse than my previous timing of 2:48:43. What seems to be the problem?

Of course if it is based upon the Cardiotrainer application, I ran about 2:54:10 but let us see the current one that is recorded on the KL Marathon website. It is 2:50:31, roughly about 2 minutes slower than my run a year back.

What more can I say? This is due to lack of practice and sleep. Sleep plays an important part.

Here is how the medal looks like.

Of course, after that, I took my next course of action, which is to practice a little for the BHP Orange Run 2011 held on the 24th July 2011.

BHP Orange Run 2011

It was different this year with more food for the people. Of course, here is my report on what happened to me during that day. I woke up at 7:30am and left straight to the starting point at The Curve. To our bewilderment (yes.. it’s me, Mouse and Oon once again) the race has already begun like 10 minutes ago. We were there 10 minutes late which was 7:10am. So off we go to chase the pack (or rather part of the slow ones). Since we were running to chase up, I have pretty much used up a lot of energy in this run.

Why? Previous day, I had a team building event for the department in the company I am working with.

Of course, not wanting to skipped the whole running and to use this as an excuse, I went ahead with it. Lo and behold, maybe I have too much confidence in myself which has caused my downfall in the Orange Run this year.

I ran like nearly 20 minutes slower than usual. A run which typically I could aim to get around 1 hour has become a run which ended at about 1 hour 20 minutes give and take.

Nevertheless, the Weird One had fun, and it was mistakingly a good one. Along the run, I had like lots of rest by walking compared to the previous runs and cheering other runners and competing with some kid going ahead and he going ahead of me. Of course seeing my friends running ahead of me has somehow slowly demotivated me as it looked like they have beaten me in a run where I used to excel.

Off the record, after the run, it was time for some memories of the run.

It was worth it. So what were my split times based on the application?

My Split Time 6:12 | 6:27 | 6:05 | 6:58 | 7:13 | 8:24 | 7:26 | 7:37 | 8:00 | 7:30

What can be deduced? I grew complacent towards the end. It looks like my stamina has dropped and it is good to keep track of your split times to know which area to improve. More training for me for my next upcoming run which is Shape and Men’s Health Run 2011.

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Alright, I am on my way to pluck coconuts. Ahemz… it’s not those other “coconuts” you were thinking but authentic coconuts that grew right from the garden. How is this possible?

It is possible because I was using a ladder and my perfect balance skills. Alright the tree was only about 3 or 4 meters tall. So how do I pluck the coconuts, you do the twist and turn method. Coconuts? They are Pandan coconuts and during the time when everyone was so buzz up with the Bersih rally in Kuala Lumpur main town on Saturday, the Weird One was at home doing house chores and this was one of them.

Of course, plucking coconuts also has it’s own danger. As flowers bloom on top the tree, you will occasionally see wasps and bees around and they were very close. Well, not that I bother about it anyway.

Using my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, I decided to get upclose and personal with the flying buggers and wasted a few shots on them. This was the only clear shot with both of them around each other.

Of course, do not try this at home, or you may be stung by them. All one need is to have patience, while balancing their foothold on the ladder near the top of the coconut tree. Somehow I relish those times when I was a young boy climbing up trees.

Why the sudden update on me being the coconut man? Well, first and foremost, I am finally updating. Also there would be a revamp on what this site would be called in the future. You will see the great revamp after I am back from a trip. You will know where I go, all you need is to follow my twitter at http://twitter.com/danielctw or wait for an upcoming post by my guest blogger. Until then, got to go.

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Now that I think about it, I have been spending too much on my life with lots of unwanted spendings.

PS: Below is more of a serious note from the blogger. Proceed if you want to read about his serious personal life.

Well, not to say that I should not pamper myself at times to get stuffs that are interesting and fun to get but I think it is time to get into some serious planning into my daily finance and budget.

Those days I have been eating out and spending because of colleagues going out to eat at some fancy restaurant.

Ever since I came into a new environment I have now learned how to go back to how I used to when I was in college, I saved. So here is my long term plan.

Lunch RM3

Now imagine having RM3 lunch for 5 days per week, that would be RM15 and RM45 per month.

Now setting aside that, let’s say I do drive, RM200 – RM300 per month since now I take LRT to work.

New updates – Monthly Budget

Item	Value (RM)
Lunch	45
LRT	100
Petrol	300
Other Commitments	1600
Other Expenses and Extras	500
Total	2545

Amazingly, counting the cost, that is how much I use in a month. All due to the commitments costing a bomb. I think maybe it is time for me to look at some of the commitments and try to device a plan to help myself to save more money in the coming future.

Some people said, you do not know the future, so why bother saving for something uncertain. Well, enjoy while you can but also learn to be a person.

Learning to be a person does not meant that you have to enjoy, feelings but there is also the practical aspect in all that. I shall try to minimize spending on stuffs that does not really benefit me much, for example my games on Magic the Gathering cards, mamak sessions (along with the MTG sessions) and also maybe some other things like having McDonald’s/KFC because your colleague wanted to go there.

Call me kiamsiap but I am not like those who earn big bucks. I shall also cut on my travel plans already. The travel is what took most of my revenue and cash I owned previous years.

I shall be on the reserved end. Sorry guys if I have to decline any invites from this day forward. I need to plan for my future.

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Being in Seoul during Spring is superb. The flowers are starting to bloom and there are lots of pink and white flowers all around. Well, anyway let’s get back to GyeongBokGung (경복궁).

A touch of white and pink flowers. This sets the mood of how the place was. Definitely worth it.

The group of them heading towards the GyeongBokGung palace and me lingering at the back to capture this shot. It was a cloudless day but it’s still okay. Oh yeah, the entrance fee was only ₩3000 which is roughly RM9. Well, at least it’s cheaper than going to Zoo Negara.

See their enthusiasm going into the palace. They are so into history okay…. while I am interested in photography. waahahaha..

In case you’re wondering, look at the photo of the guys there.

We are all in red. Splendid right, almost the same like the Korean football team. So gay, against the flowers as background.

Anyway moving forward, I was taken aback and amazed at the Palace Court. Lucky with the power of DSLR, I was able to take the photo inside the palace court. Using flash would spoil the whole image, but using high ISO and low shutter definitely makes it.

Tourists and people are not allowed here, we can only look from outside the barrier. Ahhhh.. though it looks almost like the Chinese style of architecture. We also found a Korean sitting around the palace. TADA…..

Cute leh…. and against the palace walls. It’s dear dear Yen by the way.

There is also a place for the palace mid wifes and concubines and basically all the females rest in this place (if I am not mistaken). Well, as usual we were not allowed to go into and there’s a barrier which explains why the floor is so clean.

See… isn’t it clean? Such a big place. If it was only my house, but then, I might need to hire a maid.

Okay, enough of architecture, let’s look outside instead. Of course, every posts would not be complete without a certain someone. That is……..

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I was thinking where to go after that in the big compound of the palace. Then an unknown person pointed me to a place. Strange isn’t it? I do not even know who that person was.

Though maybe she was pointing at something else. What could it be?

They do say there is always a beautiful flower amongst the rest of the flowers.I believe that’s true.

These are but a few of the scenery at 경복궁 (GyeongBokGung), okay it was the perfect one.

The sky was getting dark, I had to take this photo hand held as I forgotten to bring my tripod. What a bummer but at least it shot what it was supposed to take.

Alas walked into the building and guessed what it was? It was actually a Cultural Museum and outside the museum, there was a Korean Folk Dance going on.

People were crowding around the dance that I never actually got a decent shot.

Oh wait, forgotten to mention. There was this ‘Super Holy Tree‘, well I think it is. It was the only unique one in 경복궁 since it was the only tree which requires metallic support. Look at the 3 metals supporting it. Don’t be fooled, the tree is very big.

See, you can just look at the humans at the background to gauge how big this tree was. People have heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, this is the Leaning Tree of 경복궁.

If you are observant enough you would know that there are Cherry Blossom trees at the background. It was cherry blossom season, so definitely there would be loads of them all around.

A very random photo of the folk dancer while spinning.

Finally it was time to go to our next destination and more photos upcoming, but before we depart, there is something we should do in order to leave our mark in 경복궁. Since the wall now stands surrounding the whole Joseon palace, it is definitely wise to have a photo with it.

In case you’re wondering, how did we get a shot like that? It’s magic… I tell you.

After the whole time at 경복궁, we felt it’s time to move to another place. What better place will there be? Stay tune.

Time for some Yeouido 여의도역 fun.

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In this time and space, before then, there was bicycle, then the car / automobile came about which gave convenience to many people. It was easy to travel from a location to another location unlike when those days, people used to walk from one place to another. Guess what?

Daniel chose to WALK instead of to drive.

Yes… I walked from one end to another end which takes about 30 minutes from one place to another place. Walking back and forth will require at least 50 to 70 minutes depending on how fast one walks. No it is not for some walkathon training or keep fit schedule. It is all due to because of a valid reason which I will tell you towards the end.

But why walk in the hot sun?

For a reason known to me, walking is good for health. It was lunch time and I have decided to walk from Asia Jaya LRT station towards Diver’s Den at Jalan Universiti (Unitversity Road). That is like 2.1km which, according to Google Map would take about 30 minutes from one end to another.

Diver’s Den? Why do I go there?

Reason is simple. I want to go enquire about the dive package and the free and easy package directly from the center instead of making a call.

Then, Why Not Drive?

Good question. This is the part where people will start judging oneself. If I tell you that I used to walk from KLCC towards Lot 10. Then from there I walked towards Central Market (Pasar Seni), what would your responses be? CRAZY!!!! How can one walk so far? Bus charges only 80 cents and why did I not take the bus? It is simply because I prefer walking and wanted to save. I did not have a car back then.

Though this time I have a car parked here in Asia Jaya LRT and I still walk towards my destination. Why did I do that? It is not that I wanted to save on fuel or tire wear. I wanted to save on my free parking space.

If I were to drive out, when I come back, my free parking space would be taken over by some other kiamsiap guy/girl. So I walk as long I think that it is not far and I have the time for it. WAHAHAHAHAHA!!

How crazy can one get?

Captured Using HTC Hero in Bali

*BANGS WALL* LONG PIAK

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