Friends of old...

Badminton revisited

I got word last week that our division's long postponed badminton tournament will be continued next week. When I was in MOF, I played badminton regularly with my colleagues & the Treasury complex had excellent facilities..with rubber courts & adequate lighting. We also had regular tournaments & also friendly matches between sections & divisions. I'd even went for selection trials for the Treasury team, in which of course I wasn't selected. There was just too many good players around. I played in the doubles & I had a couple of very good regular partners. 

So I decided to call up my old friends from MOF, asking if I could join them for some warm up games. Although it's just a very low-key tournament, as usual I take my sports very seriously & becoz the last game of badminton I played was in March I think, I need to at least play some pick up games. They  didn't have any problems with my joining them, so I went to buy some shuttlecocks. I had 3 racquets, but only a couple was in good shape, including my favorite, the Wilson K-power, strung with Yonex BG66 (what else?) at 26 lbs tension. I had some good games, so I guess I'm prepared for the 24th. Not just that, I met my old friends & although it took me a couple of games to reboot my skills, it was all good. Good game. 

Alternative fuel

Since I started running half marathons, I've been using energy gels as my main source of energy during training runs & of course racing. My favorite brand is GU gels, their chocolate-flavored gels tastes like real chocolates. In contrast, Powerbars' chocolate gels tastes like medicine. In choosing flavors & brands of fuel for your workout, it's absolutely important that you choose flavors that's palatable, so that you'll eat it. After 2 hours of running, you'll need something tasty at least. When I was cycling, I had no money to buy those gels, & my main fuel was a chocolate bar called Cloud 9. At 50 sen for the large bar, it was good enuff for me on long rides. Although I'd prefer bananas, chocolate bars are cheaper & lasts longer. 

Alternative fuel

This morning on my last LSD before Newton 25K next Sunday, I decided to fuel my run with another of my favorite chocolate, Choki-choki. Actually, I had 3 GU gels in my fridge, but I wanna use it for the race. So the only other alternative was Choki-choki. It's in gel form, but a lot smaller than those energy gels & I wasn't really sure about its nutrition content. But I had used Choki-choki to fuel my trekking expedition years back, where we trekked for almost 8 hours & I survived on those Choki-choki. 

So off I went, & those Choki-choki worked, at least to some extend. If I had to take one energy gel every hour, with Choki-choki I had to take one every 45 mins. & I had to use a lot of water to chase it down, becoz it was thicker than the normal gels. But the cost, RM2.00 for 5 sticks of Choki-choki which can fuel me for 2 hours, compared to RM8 for one GU gel. I guess I'll be using Choki-choki mostly for my training runs...not races la. 

Old friend

During my LSD run this morning, there was a cycling event going on, the Putrajaya Fun ride which happens monthly. During my 2nd lap, as I approached Palace of Justice, I saw a familiar face sitting on the kerb, in full cycling gear. & that familiar face was Suhaimi Keton, one of the country's top road cyclists from the 90s. He was really happy to see me, & me likewise. The last time I saw him was during last year's Asian Cycling Championships (ACC) which was held in Putrajaya...or was it in 2011? Of course I had to stop & talk to him, a lot of catching up to do. He now has a bike shop in Langat & he's coaching the local guys there. I told him how much I missed cycling, but becoz I had no bike, I just had to keep it to myself. He told me he'd met some of my old teammates from Selangor in a race last week.. I haven't met them for quite a while. He gave me his number, so that we can meet up later, maybe I can visit his shop one time. 

Meeting old friends like him, talking about our common interests brings back old memories about cycling. How different it was then. I had a less than RM5000 bike & that bike brought me all over the country with the Selangor team, getting me into 2 SUKMAs & the SUKOM 98 & the Gemilang 2001 projects. These days RM5000 will only get you an entry level bike with aluminium frame & 105 groupset. My bike had a carbon main triangle with aluminium stays, aluminium forks & a mixed Shimano componentry from almost all groups. It's becoz it took me 4-5 years to built that bike, which started with a replica Colnago steel frame. Ask the kids from the current crop of cyclists about toeclips & straps pedals & they will probably scratch their heads, becoz these days the pedals are all clipless. Which makes me wanna laugh when my friends told me they had to practice using clipless pedals... these days pedals with toeclips & straps belong in the velodrome only. How things have changed. 

Livestrong. 

2013 - the year in review

It's been more than a couple of years since my last post. Part of it has been due to laziness.. part of it was due to busyness.. A lot of things has happened since then...a lot..

Imran Haris

My son is now 30 months old & how time has passed... he's grown into a very curious, active & somewhat stubborn child..but I guess that is to be expected. Sometimes it's easy to forget he's still a very young child bcoz his actions, words, his behavior belies the fact that he's not even 3 yet. He's very tall & stocky for a kid his age..almost as tall as one of his niece who is 6 months older. He can't seem to stop moving..although my wife & I have tried as much as we can to child-proof our home, nothing can seem to stop the all-conquering Imran Haris from getting & doing whatever he wants. Indeed he's been the light of my family..our life would've been awfully bored if there were just the 2 of us.. His behavior sometimes made us treat him like he's a much older kid & there's been too many occasions where I've lost my patience. I really regret my actions... I forgot that I haven't spent that much time with him & teach him the proper ways of life... I'm working very hard to become a better father.. & I've never stopped thanking Allah SWT for his very presence in my life. Syukur alhamdulillah for this blessing...

2013 - my year as KPSU in review

This is the biggest news of 2012 it seems..at least for me. Alhamdulillah, I've been promoted along with 170+ of my friends after the JPA saw us fit to fill the higher posts in the government. But with this blessing came the sad news. I had to leave my office of 6 years, my friends, colleagues, the place where I had spent 6 years of my life. I was transferred to Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan which was later known as Kementerian Komunikasi & Multimedia. Although it was still in Putrajaya, it was a pretty sad moment for me. It's never easy to move away from Ur comfort zone...although I've been waiting for the last couple of years for it to happen..when the time came I was really sad ... Actually PSM have tried to keep me in MOF, but when the response came from JPA, I wasn't even considered. It came as a shock to me. My earlier plan was to spend another year in MOF, proly try to do my masters degree in MOF, then after the masters I can leave in peace. But it wasn't meant to be. So I had to take it positively & accepted the decision. Fitting in a new place is never easy. What's more to fit in a place where someone there have had complete control over proceedings in the past 6 years. But again I take it as a challenge & I was grateful that I have such a strong team in place. All I've gotta do now is to coordinate things & dun let things go beyond my control. I was lucky that someone familiar is in my team. My EO was from MOF & I knew her, although not that well. Also, I knew quite a number of ppl here, so it was all good. Apparently the SUB wanted me in BPSM to have a male officer in the lineup, the others was all lady bosses. But this was easier said than done. I've always been independent.. in each & every aspect of my life in fact. In my personal life.. in my training..in my job.. when I was in MOF my bosses would outline my tasks & leave me to do it & they very rarely interfere in whatever I was doing..as long as it's within my responsibility. But it turned out to be, I can't have my own ways in my new office. The structure doesn't allow me to... the environment doesn't allow me to & the culture definitely is not on my side. For that I've been in trouble a couple of times..more often that I'd like to mention here. The biggest problem is that nobody seemed to be able to tell me what's wrong to my face..I mean straight to me. Especially from my superiors. In meetings & whenever I meet some of them personally everything was fine & dandy & whenever I'm not in the office that's when everything is wrong. I'm trying to hang on for as long as I can. I'm considering my options & my way outs. There are a few reasons why I'd like to stay. Let's just hope those reasons or the people, would be strong enough a reason for me to stay. I've always been able to adapt..but this is just not my turf.

Very moderate year in racing

I started the year with a PB in 10K road race in Klang where I clocked 49:33. I'd later repeat that performance in TM Fan Run in Putrajaya in December with a 49:55. But overall it's been a very moderate year. I only did 4 HMs (Seremban, Putrajaya, KL & Penang). & I had to run in someone else's bib a couple of times. I almost did another sub-2hr HM in Penang & I was able to go below 2:10 in all but in Seremban. I've had to train in touch & go mode throughout the year due to my travelling. So I had to pick my races. Alhamdulillah I was able to stay pretty much injury free except for in Seremban. I hope I'd do better next year. & I've also decided to step it up a notch next year...I've been doing this for 5 years now, it's time to go for podium places in my races. I'd stand a better chance once I compete in Junior Veteran in 2 years time.. but I'd like to get some top placings in the open category. My best result this year was in TM Fan run where I placed 40th overall. I've got one more race, the Newton 25K in the final week of this year.

It's been a pretty much mixed year for me in 2013. I've never gone on a holiday for the 1st 6 years of my service, but I felt like I had to take a couple of days off before the year ends.. just to clear my head in preparation for next year. Although there are more reasons for me to stay in the office now but I need some rest. I hope I can write another entry before the year's out. Until then, livestrong.