Sunday

i was supposed to pick up Sunday Friday,
but Ben said to me , " Fi, the vet hasn't come to see Sunday yet, so do you mind coming to get Sunday Monday?"
And so i did.... but " Ben.....i am travelling to Australia thursday night..." said I.
" that's ok Fi. drop Sunday at my place Thursday before you leave."
"Thanks alot Ben. I will be back friday next, so I will pick up Sunday Saturday."

Phoooaaa....that conversation got me a little dizzy there!

You have probably gathered by now Sunday is the name of my new puppy.
I called him Sunday because that's my favourite day of the week!
Sunday is a golden retriever ( the cream coloured type, unlike Cameron who is beige brown).
His registered name is Niklaus Chase... very posh!

My first meeting with Sunday.

Bonding with Cameron.

thank you to Priscilla who gave Sunday a nice doggie bowl.
His diet is fresh milk with dog biscuits 3 times a day until 2 months old.
thereafter, i will switch to dry food.
Sunday gave me a lovely present as soon as we got home : his pooh pooh.

No reason

i love running because..... i just do.
no particular reason :)

this is a club i belong to since i was 6 yrs old.
i like the place because it has a lovely surrounding to run,
and it's homey...a home away from home... in the sense that most of the staff have worked there for almost as long as i can remember!
so i know some of them for maybe 25 yrs at least!

it's a little distant from where i live, but i visit the club every thursday to do a longish run.
time just whizzes pass and usually before i know it, the hour's up and i am all soaked up in sweat and dreaming up an ice cold recovery drink n feeling hungry of course!

i pop my head into the club cafeteria, and the waiter says ," Biasa kah, Fiona?"
with a grin n a nod, I say,"Yes, terima kasih!"
so the "Usual " would be 2 eggs half cooked, 2 toasts with honey n some butter, and a teh tarik kurang manis.
10 minutes later and back from the shower, the breakkie awaits me at " my table " i always sit at.
whilst i chow down the food, and speed read the daily newspapers, the clock chimes 8.
shikes! have to rush to work.

back home for lunch, Cameron flies into the kitchen.
How does he know i m back?
i sometimes try to be as quiet as possible to test Cameron, but he can smell me from a mile away.
super dog....he's probably done a great workout running around in the garden.
so time for his lunch too.
today , he had Pedigree's chicken n rice flavour.

Busy but fruitful weekend

Weekends i like to catch up on my sleep, go for a relaxing shiatsu massage, get my pedicures done or simply do nothing.
In between , i like to run along the beach , ride my bike on a crisp Sunday morning n an easy swim at the pool.
this weekend i managed to fit in all of the above!
and may i add, i conducted another running clinic for the Borneo marathon Saturday afternoon.
another good tunrnout as the weather was nice. we did a portion of the race course for practice.
everyone had a great time chitchatting n making new running friends.

saw some cute puppies at the pet house. looking for a kind soul to bring them home.unfortunately , we have too many dogs at home so i am not what they are looking for.

nice bike!.... i am getting comfortable with my new ride. which is a good sign.

tonite is the mooncake festival celebration. My sister Pris , James n I celebrated at an Indian Restaurant Kahinoor....very chinese!!!
i ordered my favourite Paleek Paneer ( spinach with goat cheese) n Garlic naan....and James ordered 1 full tandoori chicken, 1 rogan josh, mixed raita, chicken tikka masala n bryani rice. everything we downed in 15minutes. we were very cultured... we ate with our fingers...funny food always tastes better eaten that way. Priscilla had the nerves to show me the food n sauces stuck underneathe her long nails. yucks!! i was a bit more civilised , i licked my plates clean. Cameron my doggie would have been very proud of me.

eat to train or train to eat?

dinner at sutera marina after swim practice. seafood carbonara.

at a dim sum restaurant .vegetable dumplings.

made this myself for dinner . potato ,cauliflower n prawn salad with chives.

recent dive pictures

hump heads.

beautiful turtle gliding in the water.

a school of jacks.

cycling on the spot !

i have to admit i tend to do alot of cycling indoors! not by choice but it's rainy season in sabah at the moment...somedays it just rains nonstop ....all through the afternoon, nightfall n into daybreak.

fortunately i have a nice trainer Tacx which i use whenever i am short of time to train or whenever the weather is too foul to cycle outside.

i keep my trainer in the small balcony at my flat. oops ! my plants need some water to drink !!.......hehehe!

this is what i stare at for the whole hour ! but with ESPN or some music blasting in the background of course.
my neighbours are kind of nosy.... they always walk slowly past their verendahs along the corridors just they can snoop on me.
"what's that crazy girl doing?" they must be thinking !

well , i am a big fan of fruit smoothies ! i stock up on lots of local fruits n put them up in the freezer.
it's an excellent recovery aid...full of antioxidants...and very delicious.

Entertainer

We seldom have a quiet moment when Ying2 is around!

Riding to the Pool

i enjoy riding my "vintage " cruiser bike to the club pool. the pool is about 10 minutes' ride on my racer.....but double time on the cruiser because it's super heavy ! i have gotten so used to the light weight Trek racer ( about 7.8kg) that whenever i go on the cruiser ,it's still a WORKOUT for me cos it takes quite some strength n power to get it moving.....most noticeable when i go up a little hill....it makes the little "hump" look like the Alps !

i always get funny stares when i ride this bike.
most of the time, people are amused.
today, when i stopped at the traffic light , a school bus load of young kids smacked their faces on the side screen windows n stared n giggled at me.
the best thing of riding a cruiser is that i feel so relaxed......and i like to dress down , as in board shorts n t shirts with a sunny and teamed up with a pair of sunday loafers.

how do you like the hibiscus decal i stuck on the front n rear fencer? a bit of patriotism as it was national day few days ago!

Eating well, looking good n feeling great!

An athlete was once asked , " why do you like to excercise and eat clean?"
he answered simply, " because i want to look good naked!"
wow....what a statement!!

2 weeks ago when i conducted a running clinic at likas complex, a first timer for the upcoming Borneo marathon asked me for a few suggestions as to what to eat for his pre race breakfast.

since the race starts very early 5am, i suggested to him to have his dinner the night before at 4-5pm to allow time for digestion.
then wake up early about 3am for his breakfast.
yes ...it's abit early but he probably is not able to sleep much anyway because he's anxious about the race.

i suggested to him having good sleeps few nights before the race is important. the last night before race will not make alot of difference if the body is well rested beforehand.
also ,most people tend to eat too much( caroboload) the night before.not a very good idea.
what will be better is to up the carbo 2-3 days before then eat more or less normal the day before..concentrating on easily digested food n avoid fibre food such as beans, veges n meat.

the breakfast i like to eat befor a longish workout is
a) power oatmeal : 4-5 tablespoons oatmeal in hot water (you can substitute milk or soya or rice milk for a creamier taste), some raisins, 1
chopped up banana, some nuts, a sprinkle of cinnamon n some honey.
( this sits very well in the stomach n i find it gives sustained energy )
b)2 bananas with some Nutella spread or peanut butter.( absolutely heavenly!) with 2 hard boiled eggs.
c)a bowl of white rice with 2 eggs n some light soya sauce.
d) peanut butter jam sandwich, honey and almond butter sandwich, eggs sandwich.

there are other choices of course but i find this works best for me.
hope this helps you prepare for you pre race meal.

Nature at its best

it's fortunate that the Tunku Abdul Rahman islands in Sabah are only about 15-20 minutes by boat from the jetty.
the Merdeka Day Sunday , i took a short day trip to Sapi on a friend's boat...for a little swim n a trail run.
the trail run takes about 30 minutes to cover...and it basically emcompasses pretty much the whole island.
then we island hopped to Manukan island as shown in the picture above.

a star fish smiling at me.