Hash Result

This is it! I laid my First Hash.



I got very busy last week and didn't find time to upload a post about my first hash. Numerous rekkis finally paid off and it was a great night (lots of people gave complements!)

Unfortunately it started to rain when the run started (I was at my place preparing the food for the on-on) so we were little bit nervous - maybe people get injured or the rain washes our paper away etc etc.



Oliver's Koinobori looking sad in the pouring rain...

Finally after one hour and 20min or so the front runner came back to our simpang! We were so glad they could run though without getting lost (even though they told me there was a wee confusion at the end).
We served a very nice welcome back drink that Boel made (super yummy!).





Nicole and Boel in our Japanese outfit

I was very excited to serve all the different Japanese food. And to my surprise all the food was gone!!! Must have been good ha!?



Curry, Gyoza, Edamame, Sushi and even Hello Kitty shortbread

It was very hard to organise but it was well worth it, I really enjoyed it!
(You can view more photos on Boel's blog)

Goodies from the race

An official T-shirt



And a winning (?) Medal

Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010

Well this was it! - My second 10k race!!

It felt like a big storm was coming just before we left the hotel but it turned out to be such a beautiful night - perfect weather for this event. We left the hotel in our sporty gear and got in the taxi, we almost ended up missing the race as the taxi driver took us to a totally different venue :( but in the end we got to the Singapore Exhibition Center near Changi Airport well ahead of time. We picked up our race pack and got ready for the race.



Nicole helping me to tie the chip

Here are some photos of before and after the race.



Before (very relaxed and excited!!)



After (we got medals !!)

I ran a 10k race in Auckland in March so I kind of knew what to expect but it was very difficult to compare the two events as one was in the morning running into the sun plus lots of ups and downs, and the other was on after sunset with a very flat route.

The result ? - not much difference time wise. I was 425th (out of 5000 registered not sure how many actually ran) with 1hour 09min. But I found it a bit difficult to run in the dark and with the noise from the planes taking off. I really should have taken my i-shuffle with me to entertain myself while I was running, especially the last 3km. It got very dark and all I could hear was people's foot steps. At the finish line I felt a bit lonely since none of my family members were there to cheer me as they were in Auckland.

In the end none of us got injured and we all completed the race. Well done us!!

Warming up for the race

We managed to get to Singapore on Friday night but we had no hotel room reserved (initially we were supposed to leave on Saturday morning). Boel's friends The Fox family kindly let us stay for a night. I have never been in a house in Singapore (only been in condos and hotels), I was very very impressed, nice family, nice surroundings, nice interior & exterior - A fantastic house!
In the morning I got to play with their 3 year old son (he is also half Japanese) - I thoroughly enjoyed it!



After a nice relaxing morning coffee and breakfast we were dropped off at IKEA! - our main stop of the trip!



Boel happily shopping : )

I managed to get most of the stuff I was going to buy (plus things that weren't on the list) except for Oliver's little table and chair set but in the end I was lucky not to get them as my luggage coming back to Brunei weighed 28kgs!



This is how well we shopped - almost bought the whole shop!!

We even had lunch at IKEA...



My full Swedish lunch - yuuummmyyy

We must have walked more than 10k in IKEA. A great way to warm up for the race! (or not?!)

Off to Singapore!

Tomorrow night we will be running the 10k Sundown race in Singapore. Boel, Nicole and I are hopefully getting on the plane tonight! (yeah! extra shopping time added onto our trip!)

I will miss Oliver and Matthew but it will be a great girls weekend! (I heard the Sale is on in Singapore - how lucky or unlucky are we!?)

I hope I can say I ran the race instead of I walked the race, Wish us luck!

Hash Rekki - Take 5

Nicole, Boel and I are laying the hash next Tuesday. This is my first time to lay one. We decided since we all live in the same simpang we should lay it just across the road from our house. Our first rekki attempt (Take 1) was 10 days ago. You can see how we did from Boel's blog . On that day basically we didn't come out of the jungle how we wanted - we could not find a way out so we had to turn around and walk out the way we came in.

So we asked our neighbour to come and show us the way out few days later (Take 2) - we thought we were doing so well until we came to the last part of the run - water reservoir, this was supposed to be mostly dried out so that we can walk getting only knee high wet. Let me tell you what happened - We had to swim!!! Ben, Claire and Simba went first. They were walking confidently (even though they were in the water up to their waist (Simba the doggy was already swimming at this point) and suddenly they went down in the water. It got deeper and they couldn't touch the bottom!! We were all soaked (as you would when you swim in the lake!).

We weren't sure about this deep part of the reservoir so we went out for a rekki again (Take 3) this time in the pouring rain / storm. Please don't ask us why... As you can guess we didn't get too far on that day. But we now know for sure the reservoir will be too deep to walk across and looking too dangerous since it has been very stormy and rainy recently.

So somehow we have to find a way to come out of the jungle bypaassing it. Hence Take 4. This morning Boel and Nicole went in again to find a way out. (I had to go to Geckos so I didn't go) Since the men had their hash at the same site on Wednesday we thought it will be easier to follow their paper to find the trail leading to our pass. It wasn't that simple - They lost the paper half way through and didn't get anywhere.

We had a little meeting this morning and decided by looking at the map Boel's Garmin watch shows us, to do another rekki this evening. So off we went AGAIN. This time we were quite confident that we will find our way out easily. Should be right? This is our 5th attempt!!



Very nice and jungly



We stopped for a gummy break.
Boel and Nicole

Now all we have to do is go in again (this will be Take 6!!) on Tuesday afternoon to lay it with proper paper. We are sure all this hard work will pay off. It will be a fantastic run! and on on /shout out will be at my place - What sort of food do you think we are preparing - very hard to guess ha??

I am very excited now! It is going to be a great hash!!

Back on track

Back in March Boel, Nicole, and I decided to participate in the Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 /10K run in Singapore.

We used to run together regularly and we really enjoyed running together. But for the last two months or so we haven't exercised much - Boel injured her leg when she ran the Hong Kong marathon and she had trouble even walking for a long time. She is still not 100%. Nicole has been busy with her work and I myself lost enthusiasim for running after my Auckland run in March. I think it was partly because I didn't enjoy the race as much as I thought I would because of all the different conditions on the race day plus I took Oliver to Japan for two weeks and didn't really exercise while I was there (you know it is very difficult to get back into the routine).

Luckily I got text messages - we should start running again from tonight. So off we went. It was a little bit hotter than we felt comfortable and we were so annoyed by the people flying kites. While we had a break from running our excersise spot down the road turned into a kite park - so many people with kites and of course their kites crash and we get caught on the loose strings. We completed 5ks in the end. I felt quite positive about it.



Yeah we are back running!!

We have (only) 16 days to train for the race - maybe a wee bit late to train for it but I am sure whatever happens on the race day we will have a fantastic girls trip to Singapore!! (I wonder how many km we will cover when we shop before the race!)

Bring it on!

ANZAC day Hash

I have been away for the last 4 weeks and I missed hashing... Tonight one was a special ANZAC run. It was held a few simpangs down from ours so Boel and I walked over. It was a lovely night with a bit of a cool breeze plus the run was laid just at the back of our section (we knew exactly where we were going).

As usual the on-on was great with yummy Kiwi & Aussie food (they even had a very nice pavlova!) I ate far too much though...



And we got given this cool T-shirt!



I have done 17 runs so far. Hopefully not too long before I make my 50 runs.

Run Auckland - Race 1

Today was the day, our first 10K Run. We got up a bit later than we planned but managed to feed Oliver and got ready for our run. Lucky the Run was held just across the road from M&D's place, starting in Waiatarua Reserve. M&D kindly offered to look after Oliver while we run, thank you very much! (or we dumped him so they had no choice??) Over 1100 people participated in the even in total.



Start line

Well how did it go...?? Not too good for me. I was already so behind at the start line and didn't get to run until 3 or 5 min into the race (just too many people and the road was very narrow) plus for some strange reason my legs were already very heavy and sore after 500m or so.



Misuzu 5k point - another 5k to go!

I found it difficult to run on different surfaces. On the road, on the grass and on the gabble, especially on the gravel I kept slipping.

The best part of the race? The finish line where Matthew, Oliver, Merryn & Dennis, Richard & Caroline were cheering for me and it was the end of my painful run.



Yeah finish line!!





The sporty Roses

Matthew on the other hand didn't do too badly. When we were training together he was struggling a lot but on the actual race day he really enjoyed running and went very strong.

Even though I didn't have a great run I still enjoyed participating in the event. We will be back again next year!

Anyone want to join us???

A celebration run

It is Tuesday and is another hash night. Tonight's one was a bit different because the run was for one of the hashers who has completed 1000 runs!! YES ONE THOUSAND!! This lady has been hashing since 1966! Way before I was born. I've only done 16 runs so far (my current aim is to complete 50 runs).

It was in the jungle not far from our house. As Nicole didn't come along tonight and Boel is still suffering from her injury, I ran by myself today. It was the first time I went without my hashing buddies. Not much chit chatting, just followed the crowd and kept going. Actually I planned to run with the front runners but when we went into the jungle I was already way behind them and didn't get to catch up with them. But I still came out fairly fast. I enjoyed tonight's run very much as it had ups and downs with lots of parts where I could actually run through.

The on on was at the lady's house. She prepared fabulous food for us all. Everything was just so delicious.

I wasn't sure a year ago if I would like the idea of running in the jungle but now I am very happy that I got involved in it and am enjoying the run (thank you Boel for encouraging me). Especially now I am training for my 10k run, hashing became my cross training day :) Run! Misuzu Run!

4 weeks left - start to get serious

It's the 1st day of March already. Time flies. Now we have only 4 weeks until we go back to Auckland and run our first race - Run Auckland. I am following a program Matthew has found for me. Since I am confident in running 5km now I am training for 10km. Following the training plan,I only ran 3km. Matthew and Oliver came along. Matthew pushed Oliver in the stroller (running of course! our baby loves going very fast in the stroller!!) until I finished my 3km then I took over Oliver and walked until Matthew finished his. It is a very nice feeling to be able to do some exercise as a family. Also you get lots of hi! cute baby! when you have a baby in the stroller. People are so friendly here.

I thought 3km was a good distance for me today as I have not slept well for the last few days. We all felt great after the exercise and enjoyed the sunset at the end.



Oliver looking very refreshed after running(?)



Nice sunset

When I got home I remembered to post my exercise on dailymile where I can keep track of my exercise. Everything is just so high tech now!! This is how it looks.
(Note; I don't have a flash watch like Matthew so only occasionally I log in my time).



(✈ Off)

Afternoon at Pantai Muara

Yesterday we drove to Pantai Muara. It is a very nice beach with a recreational park. The first time we went there they were still working on finishing up the gardening, putting in the BBQ pits and cleaning the whole area. Now it's all done and available to everyone. It is very popular for Bruneian families especially on the weekends, so we expected to see some crowds but we were surprised to see the car park sooooo full!! (It was like being in the city center after pay day!).

Matthew went in his running gear and ran about 7km (there is a running path and a biking path) while I put Oliver in the pushchair and walked around the park.



There is also a very nice play area for kids. I wanted Oliver to try one of the swings but unfortunately all of them were taken... maybe next time.




It has been so super hot during the day so it was just fantastic to be in the trees and feel the sea breeze. You can see Oliver loved it too from this photo!
(his hair got messed up a bit by the breeze...).



(✈ Off)

Practice run 1

Yesterday Matthew and I followed the exact route for the Run Auckland race we are intending to participate in March. The route started off in the reserve and took us onto the road. After 10min or so we were on a very nice quite street, BUT it was very very steep hill!!! I really need to learn how to run up and down the hills without making too much change to my heart rate.

This is what we covered. Hopefully we can do a few more runs on this route before we head back to Brunei.

Feeling good

This evening Matthew and I went out for a run with our brand new sports gear. There is a very nice nature reserve with running/walking track called Waiatarua Reserve across the road from Merryn and Dennis's place. So off we went. With the help of Matthew's Garmin I run for 35 min and completed almost 5.3km !!! Feeling Good !!

Hash night

Tonight was my hash night (Matthew hashes when he can on Wednesdays but not often. He gets lots of Tuesday evenings off instead of Wednesdays Lucky me!) and it was my first beach hash. The site was at Pantai Tungku (M&D it is the beach we went to see the sunset near the Empire). We normally run in the jungle so it was rather nice to feel the nice sea breeze and enjoy the view.





It was the Australia Day run but to be honest with you I didn't know what it was about until I looked up in Wikipedia .

I love running around in Brunei jungle but I have to say tonight was one of my favourite runs.

Happy Australia Day!

(✈ Brunei - Bangkok - Brunei)

New discovery

This evening I decided to go for run following my 5km run training. But when I got to the track I discovered that I didn't bring my watch... silly me (no no this is not my new discovery!)

According to the training program Matthew found for me, today I was supposed to run for 15min, walk for 2min, run for another 15 min. But because I couldn't time myself I decided to run for 5km (thanks to Matthew's GPS watch I know how many km if I run one lap of the track).

I was lucky as it was already quite cool when I started running. While I was running I enjoyed the great sunset too. I am not sure how long my run was but I did run 5km without stopping!!! Yeah!!! I discovered something new about me today. I am a good runner :) I am very looking forward to running in New Zealand, trying out the Run Auckland race route next week.

(✈ Off)

Sporty Roses

Three of us Roses went for a run yesterday. There is a big empty section 2 min drive away from our house which is very lovely for bike riding and running.
As a part of my Auckland Run training, we did 2 min running, 2 min walking for over 30min. Even though it was a short program we enjoyed running with Oliver. He really enjoyed the bumps and nice breeze.





(✈ standby no flights for Matthew today)

It's time to get running!

While Matthew is getting fit biking with his mates, I decided to get fit by running.
I have been running women's hash with my neighbor Boel and Nicole on Tuesday nights when possible since November. (I tried twice before I was pregnant with Oliver now I'm back!)
Running in jungle with friends are fun but I thought I need something to train myself for.

So I searched on the internet while Matthew was out flying the other day and found this wonderful event.



2010 RUN Auckland Series

RUN Auckland Series is a 6 race FUN RUN & WALK series at a variety of scenic and exciting locations throughout Auckland.
The distances for each race will be 5km & 10km except for the last race which also includes a half marathon (21km).

Location and Dates

Race 1 28th March 2010 Waiatarua Reserve, Grand Drive, Remuera
Race 2 18th April 2010 Harbourview Peoples Park,Te Atatu Peninsula
Race 3 9th May 2010 Bucklands Beach, Pakuranga
Race 4 30th May 2010 Milford Reserve, Craig Road, Milford
Race 5 20th June 2010 Western Springs Park, Stadium Road, Western Springs
Race 6 11th July 2010 Takapuna Beach, The Strand, Takapuna

We are going to participate in the first run which will be held in Remuera Grand Drive area. I am still training for 5km so not sure if I can do 10km by the end of March but Matthew will be running 10km. We are looking forward to do our check run when we visit Auckland next month and hoping to drive around other run locations to see if we want to come back for more running later in the year!

Anyone wants to join us!?
Caroline? Richard?