A father's chronicle (Drawings)

Gracia has been drawing quite a lot these days. Most of them have a common theme - family. They depict her happy childhood and fun time with family. Here is one of her sample:

No prize for identifying where is she standing. It is interesting to note that she is drawing herself besides Theophilus. She used to draw herself between Yan and the brother (the place that I am standing now). I guess she has finally found confidence in our love for her and no longer feel a need to be near Yan.

Yan has done a great job in bringing them up.

Why do we pay to "abuse" our bodies?

It is an inevitable question. I knew it will be coming. It is really silly. Yan read it in one of the magazine. The editor who used to run in marathon actually commented that people who do the full marathon run is: crazy!

So while having a farewell lunch today for a college, who incidentally going for the full marathon this Sunday like me, a friend commented: Why people pay money to torture themselves like that? 

Well, I can't say it better than what I found in the "The Mystique of The Marathon" which appears in Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. You can read it here.

Overall, it is the enjoyment of knowing myself through the training. There are fears to overcome. I must admit that there was an occasion in my training, I actually gave up in one of my long runs. It took me a week to overcome that fear and prepare myself adequately for an even longer run (just to prove to myself that I can do it, and it was just due to fatigue or inadequate rest in the night before).

A father's chronicle (ASHR 2009)

By now, not only does Theophilus gets enrolled into Kumons. Gracia is also enrolled into Kumons for Maths.

Today marks a new chapter for both of them again. Gracia's first bronze medal for Maths and Theophilus' first silver for Chinese.

Gracia was the first one to collect her medal.

She is too excited, and could not sit still.

Kudos to Mr. Yang (Chief Instructor). He spoke little, but what he spoke about makes good sense to me. We gathered to show to our kids that their achievement meant something big to us. Something important. Something worth celebrating about. By the way, very seldom do we see him in tie. He really dressed up for the kids. That is such a nice gesture.

Ah, that's my girl!

The signature smile and "V"

And now Theophilus' turn....

Well, done my boy! Well done.

 

Taking some shots just outside of the auditorium.

Brother and sister celebrating today

 

Gracia would not take her medal off... she is dozing off soon...

As for Theophilus? Well, it is his first silver. He has gold before, so this is unique to him.

Overall, it was a wonderful time celebrating their success. Theophilus wants to go for the gold medal next year. It will be a lot of hard work. Lots of hard work.

A christian father's chronicle (Worrying reports)

It has been with me for a week. A conversation with a fellow parent. A parent of my son's friend. She has brought me a  report about an unexplainable exodus of preachers at Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School. I sat there motionless and speechless.

I queried anxiously of the reason behind their departure. Theophilus came home one evening, I recalled, and mentioned that one of the preacher is leaving. I didn't realized that that was the second one to go, and the last one leaves when the school terms ended.

Needless to say, I am concerned. The primary reason why we have chosen this school is because of its rich christian influence. Chapel sessions. Verses on walls. Last year, I wrote on this.

I am left wondering whether are there other parents who might have similar concerns. What is the reason behind their departure? Why all of them are leaving? I am a little upset that the leadership of the school (including the board) did not address this area through writing to the parents.

I hope they address the root cause of this exodus soon, else we (as parents) will need to do something about it.

One more week to go...

After preparing since August, it is only left with seven more days to the actual run.

Ten days ago, I received a pleasant surprise - I won the chance to collect my race pack one week earlier! So, this morning after sending Gracia to church camp, Yan and I drove down to Marina Bay to collect my race pack.

Here is my race bib

Yan will be pinning this on my top later, how wonderful!

Preparing for marathon

OK, many things happened between the last blog and today. Gracia's birthday, we went for a break overseas, work went crazy once again, etc.

Now, with only 45 days to the marathon, I have been preparing for it regularly. I must admit that it is a wonderful learning experience of my body and mind. I have been gradually increasing my distance and time on the road. And, yes, I did get my black toenails. For those who are worried a little about black toenail after your runs, you might want to take some comfort from a fellow runner (including myself).

Today, Gary showed me a cool application which can be downloaded to a Nokia phone. It is the Sports Tracker. It is a wonderful thing. I wished I have one to run with as I clocked my timing and distance.... but this is a luxury, since I use google maps to plot my route and measure the distance of my route. Anyhow, I must admit that it is very wonderful piece of application. Well, at least it is better than the Polar sport watch. You can't speak to a watch yet unless your are wearing one of those James Bond stuff, right?

Right now, I am only doing two half-marathon runs per week. I doubt I can complete my full training prior to the actual run itself. I might be able to do a trail run just a week away from the actual, but I will see how it goes. I just have to leave the rest of the training to the actual day as part of my endurance bit. I should be upping my distance soon (while cutting down on my timing). I did manage to shave off 10 mins from my last half-marathon attempt. I hope to shave off some more minutes tomorrow. Changing my shoe lacing too to get a better foot secure to the shoe.

Looking forward for a gentle ramp down of my training after next week to a few 10 km runs with good timing targets.

Yan has been supportive of my runs. We bought a new pair of running shoes for me. We have been strategizing on how I should attack the full 42.1 km. I gotten a Northface hydration pack. Hydration is one of the important factor for sustain performance for long distance. It is really water discipline. The hydration control is really something that each runner will have to learn about his own body, I guess. And this is one of those part that I enjoy about my runs. I get to learn how much water I need at a particular distance, and when will the hunger comes in.

That's all for now, I hope I will enjoy the run tomorrow.

Let me go home

It has been a very busy period of six months. If you notice, I left off my blogs since middle of January. That was the time my team back in office starts to restructure and I am still at the tail end of this restructuring. It has taken a lot of my energy and time - not to forget adding on more thinking and worries.

I hope to get back to my blogs. And perhaps, back date some of my post. Along the way, many things happened. I made friendship. We celebrated National Day as a family. I bought a camera - something that I wanted for a long time.

I am back after a long trip out to Oakland, California. My wish is to come home. To be home.

Home to those who I love. Friends, family members. I miss them all. Not to mention the food in Singapore!

Ah, I have signed up for the year's end marathon. Looking forward to it and trying to squeeze in time in between my current schedule for the training of this event.

A Christian father's chronicles (What I like about his school)

I am back from work.

Yan brought to my attention an interesting card she gotten from Theophilus. They are giving such cards out to the students. Here is a sample of it:



I am really amazed at it. Theophilus likes this card. We like it too. It contains a cartoon with a little prayer. A prayer. A prayer which he can follow with all his heart. In honesty. The words expressed his desire.

I am so happy that we have opted for this school. If you have read my previous blog, you will know the reason we choose this school. Now, I am just beginning to realize the fruits of our decision and thankful to God for supply him the opportunity to study in such an environment.

Bless those who prepare this. It ended in the hands of a child. It ended in the heart of a child. A seed sowed.

A father's chronicles (Gracia's drawings)

Thought her drawings were really great, and she was having so much fun drawing me and her brother Theophilus....



Errr... I could not fit the full drawing into my scanner... so the lower right portion got a bit of "un-scanned". Oh, yes, she draw everything ... including the words.

And here is his mental picture of her brother...



Again, the top part of it could not fit into my scanner... apologies.

She was having so much fun with Yan. We "pin" it up on our walls. They are her latest master pieces.