I Did It!

So last Sunday was the day of my marathon and I did it! I finished running 10km in 1 hour and 26 minutes. Yeehaa!! That's quite an achievement considering that I only started running a couple of months ago and have never ran 10km till last Sunday *grinning like a Cheshire cat*

DH and I left KL on Saturday along with Mom and Dad and big sis and her family. We reached Penang at noon and decided to have lunch in town first before checking in at the hotel. The check in time was at 3 p.m anyway. And then we had cendol at Penang Road. The cendol was excellent. My only grouse is that there were a lot of people there and there was nowhere to sit, so we had to finish our cendol really quickly. And then we stopped by Queensbay Mall to meet up my BFF who was running with me on Sunday to pick up our race kit.

Hello Penang!

Us at the collection counter. Half marathon next year? :P

We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel, which I absolutely love. It's such a fun hotel and has its own private beach. Not that I care about the beach since I'm allergic to sea water LOL. I would highly recommend this hotel if you guys are planning to have a holiday in Penang. DH and I wanted to check out Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday but were too tired from the drive up from KL. I wanted to sleep early anyway to prepare myself for the marathon the next day, so we decided to check the cafe out on Sunday. It was pure bad luck that the cafe was booked for a private function on Sunday :(

The view from our room

Essential items for the marathon. Vest, running bib, salonpas and make up. Gotta look pretty while running :P

Early on Sunday morning I woke up at 4.30 a.m to get ready. BFF and I thought of taking the cab, but DH volunteered to drive us to the start point, bless his heart. I have a suspicion that he was afraid to leave us in the hands of a cab driver at 4.30 in the morning. We were lucky that we left the hotel at 5 a.m. coz we got lost trying to get to the start point since some roads in town were closed for the marathon. We arrived at the start point at 6 a.m. just in time to warm up and get ready for the marathon to start at 6.30 a.m.

Cheerful faces at 4.30 a.m. We weren't so cheerful 3 hours later LOL

Fellow marathoners walking towards the start point at 6 a.m.

At 6.30 a.m. sharp a gun was shot signalling the start of the marathon. OMG there were so many runners! I had to slip past some of them at the starting point to get ahead. I was running steadily for about 2 km (my BFF and I were separated already at this point). 3km in and I started cursing my BFF under my breath for talking me into running the marathon with her LOL. By the time I reached 4km I was already looking out for the water station. According to the runners guide, the water stations were placed every 3km. Liars!!! The first station was at the 5km mark! As soon as I saw the water station I felt like lugging the whole carton of mineral water bottles with me LOL. I took a few chugs, careful not to finish the whole bottle at one go coz I didn't want to make myself sick. By the time I reached the 7km mark I was alternating between running and walking towards the finish line. 

And guess what? I finished the race in 1 hour and 26 minutes! Hoooray!!! The furthest I had run before this was 7.2km in 1 hour and 9 minutes, so I was pretty excited to finish in under 1 hour and 30 minutes. Plus I got a medal to show for it! It was by far the craziest thing I had ever done in my entire life and I was glad I did it. I had so much fun! Sure I was exhausted but I really enjoyed it. And to do it with my BFF was another plus point for me.

Tadaaaaa!!

Us with our finishers medal :)

Indeed!

Stopped by a massage parlour after dinner to give my feet some well deserved TLC. The owner's adorable son had a go at massaging my feet LOL

Me and DH before we checked out of the hotel

So there you have it. My first marathon experience. I have another marathon this weekend which I will be running with my buttcheek. I'm crazy, I know :P

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Yesterday I received a note from my babycenter friend asking me for my address coz she wanted to send me something in the mail. I don't know what it is but she said that she got it from her friend and it helped a lot when she was TTC. I swear I stared at the note for a good few minutes. Here was a girl whom I've never met and had only communicated via babycenter and she was sending me something in the mail to help me through my TTC journey. It was such a nice gesture that I felt like crying. Thank you so much Melissa. Though we have never met (I hope one day we have a chance to meet), you and all the girls in our group have a special place in my heart.

Much love,

Farewell My Friend

So my BFF just told me some bad (or wonderful, depending on how you look at it) news this afternoon. She's being transferred to Jakarta! Sure, it's not like she's being transferred to US or UK or somewhere where it takes more than 12 hours to get to. But Jakarta!! It's not like we see each other every day (she currently works in Singapore) but this means we'll see each other even less than we already do. Who's gonna cheer me on when I start IVF #3? Ok I'm being melodramatic. I still have my buttcheeks and my BBC ladies to cheer me on, but this BFF is a big part of my life. She's like a sister to me. She's the one I IM with every single day of the week. And I mean every single day. She's one of my friends whom I can talk to about almost everything without judgment.

Sigh...I'm really happy for her coz this means she's being promoted. Being a career minded girl myself, I did tell her to accept the transfer. It's a great opportunity for her. I mean, if I weren't married and the opportunity presented itself, I'd take it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm gonna miss  her. She'll leave for Jakarta in January (that's too soon!) and I'm really glad that she's coming along for our holiday in Penang tomorrow and running with me in the marathon on Sunday, so at least we'll have fun before she leaves.

Farewell my friend. Jakarta's really lucky to have you. Spread your wings in Indonesian sky and soar, like I know you will.

I Think I Need a Holiday

So I've been feeling a little down these past couple of weeks. Nothing major to worry about. I think I'm just exhausted with work. For some reason the end of the year means an onslaught of requests for contracts to be drafted/reviewed. It's probably got something to do with utilizing the company's budget for the year. Anyway, it's taking a toll on me. I know my last vacation was just two months ago but I need another one pronto!

Luckily for me, hubs and I will be going to Penang next weekend for my marathon across the Penang Bridge. The initial plan was for us to go with my friend and her sister, but it turns out that my whole family decided to tag along. On one hand I was a bit disappointed coz I was really looking forward to spending the holiday with hubs and my friends without feeling obligated to go wherever my family wants to go around Penang, but on the other hand the cheeky monkeys are gonna be there so that ought to be fun.

We'll be staying at Hard Rock Hotel Penang yay!! I've stayed at the hotel a couple of years ago during one of my buttcheeks roadtrip, and I must say the hotel is gorgeous! Here's a sneak peek

I'll see you soon Paul, John, George and Ringo!

Isn't the pool are gorgeous?

My boss still has not approved my application for leave, but no matter, even if he doesn't approve it by next weekend, I think I'll just take off LOL. 4.10 p.m: Boss approved my leave request yeehaa!!!

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There comes a time in one's professional life when you start to think about switching jobs/career/workplace. And right now I'm thinking it. Granted, I think about it not just once, but a couple of times a year. I think this feeling relates to my exhaustion. But surely there must be a fun job for me out there? One that doesn't require reviewing endless pages of agreements and giving advice to my business users on how best to do the business and minimizing legal risks at the same time. Something that relates to books and my love for reading? Maybe I should be a librarian LOL. Bottom line is, I'm stressed and tired and feeling depressed. And I hear a change is gonna come at the office but since it's not confirmed yet, I can't share it, but that's kinda stressing me out too. Plus if DH and I are planning to do our IVF in January, I really need to complete my projects at least by early January 2013, and I've got quite a few projects under my belt. 

So yeah, I'm stressed. Boo...

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I watched this with DH last weekend...

And I loved it! It's definitely one of the best Bond films I've watched so far. Every actor in this movie carried out their roles perfectly. There were some surprises in the plot (I will not reveal them here) so if you wanna know what they are, go watch it! And Adele singing the theme song, oh my. They really hit the jackpot with that one. By the time the movie was over, I had the song on repeat in my head. Watch it watch it watch it!