09/03/2014 marks my first Half Marathon after 2 years I started running.
This was also my most excruciating event; period.
At the start of the run, I started slow at 9:05/km pace to preserve my energy for the hilly route.
It was pretty straight forward route for the first half of the route but my stomach muscle cramped as usual in the first few KM. However, it does not stop me from continue and I picked up my pace to 8:30/km till 10th KM.
That's where the hilly route start and how I got my calves muscle cramped along with my knee pain.
At first, I thought the knee pain has been fully healed but I guess I'm wrong on this.
As I proceed further, the calves doesn't do any good on my timing thus causes me to walk for the rest of the route.
The walking made me to be with the last pack of the runners.
When I reached the finishing line, my final timing is 3:32 hours and this is the time that I will beat in my next HM which is in PBIM 2014.
Me and my running partner, Andy. Without him, I could never finish the run.
Mid Valley City Charity Run or MVCCR is a charity run organized by Mid Valley and The Gardens to raise fund for St. John Ambulance.
As I mentioned before, my knee was stressed too much on previous event so I take this easy as my recovery run. Hey, it's a non-competitive run :)
As the race started, I kept my pace at a constant timing of 7:30/km and as soon as the road ahead getting lesser and lesser runners, I picked up my pace to 7:00/km. The knee was starting to feel very tight during the uphill and I started to worry that the injured is not fully recovered.
As I reaches the finishing point, my final timing is 30:15 minutes for 4.3km run with a pace of 6:55/km. Hopefully that I can maintain this timing in the next event which is my virgin Half Marathon.
I was quite nervous of running again due to I was inactive for almost 2 months but I was confident of finishing it.
On the first 4km, I was running at a faster pace of 6'40"/km. Everything looks good till the 5th km where I stopped and takes a breather. My knee starting to feel some pain and it gets worsen at hill route.
Nevertheless, I ignore the pain and kept on running until 8th km then proceeded to walk run walk run.
Knowing that the finishing line is near about 500m left, it was time to make a final sprint to cross the line.
At the end, managed to clocked in my PB of 1 hour 15 minutes and 26 seconds beating my previous time of 1 hour 20 minutes.
Overall, satisfaction > pain. Like they said, no pain no gain.
Almost 1 year I bought my Mazda 3, now they come up with the new design called "Kodo" design.
According to Mazda, the reason behind of the name is "it captures the very instant energy becomes motion. It’s the muscular beauty you see when an animal pounces, or when a human leaps into action. Everywhere you look, this dynamic poise is enhanced by elegant detail. The five-point grille, defining body lines and powerful stance all show our design philosophy in action".
New Mazda 3 2014 Soul Red
Malaysia has received its amount of CBU units to be sold to customers, however there are mixed reviews from the users.
To prove them wrong, I decided to personally take a look of the car and test drive it and boy, it caught me by surprise totally. So here's my small review of this new Zoom-Zoom
1) The pick up acceleration is exceptionally good considering this is a NA car. For a short 500m run, I managed to clocked 140km/h while cutting cars left & right to test on the steering.
2) The steering is pure feather light due to it is electric power steering.
3) Air-conditioning is rather cold but not as cold as Proton.
4) The command center is a lovely add-on to replace conventional buttons. It will take some time to get used to it but it definitely looks cool!
5) Sound system is crisp clear with 6 speakers. Much better than previous version.
6) CBU units produced extra horsepower compared to the CKD units.
7) Cool looking DRL which I feel it is similar to Range Rover Evoque.
There are drawbacks as well.
1) The price for this unit is a little bit steep for most consumers in C-Segment. With Rm139,000, there are more choices to choose from unless they decided to go for CKD units.
2) 18" rims which lead to expensive tires when replacement time comes.
3) Lack of additional features such as auto-wiper, auto-headlight, dual climate control, leather seat, cruise control, power folding mirror & etc. But I believe it will be added in the CKD units. So I can say consumers need to give & take.
Conclusion:
If consumers have extra moolah and fascinated with the exterior, this new Mazda 3 is worth considering.
If consumers need more features, he/she should consider other options such as Kia Cerato or K5.
Paper is a new app developed by Facebook, Inc and released on 3rd February 2014.
It's almost similar to Flipboard except that Flipboard covers more stuffs such as Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. I've been using it for the past 2 weeks and it's actually pretty neat compared to the original Facebook whereby it is buggy and with the latest update of auto-play video, the app is very annoying.
Two features that I liked about Paper:
1) The tilting to view the high-resolution picture instead of moving it with our thumb.
2) Flip up to view stories and flip down to close it. It is very convenient.
Conclusion: For those users that are very annoyed with Facebook app, give this app a try and give me your thoughts. Plus it is FREE!
Now it's time to say good bye to Ms. November and what's best to meet Ms. December in style?
DJ Avicii of course!!
Yes, he's coming down to Malaysia for a ONE night event on 30th November 2013 which is Saturday night where we can party til' late night at Sepang International Circuit.
Now, DJ Avicii will not be the only one performing during that night. We have talented young DJ such as Martin Garrix, Italian DJ maestro 'Congorock' and DJ duo sensation 'Bassjack' that will be performing on that night as well.
Not to forget we have local favourite DJ such as 'Jakeman & Skeletor' from Hitz.fm which will definitely entertain us with their music that night.
It's a definitely must not miss event of the year where we will party rockin' all night long.
I will be one of the chosen one to be partying with Nuffnang at the event simply because:
1) I myself is a fan of Avicii. 'Levels' was one of his first few songs that captured my attention and it even included in my running playlist. His songs is pure awesome that can make someone shake.
2) Everyone loves to party regardless at outdoor or indoor. By listening to the live music, it can bring the party feeling to a whole new level and I would love to be part of the party group.
3) Event like this does not happen every year thus this is a very special event for me to end Year 2013 in style. This event will definitely stamp its memories inside me everlast hence proving that it is a must go event.
4) Myself and my friends loves to party and with Nuffnang along, it is gonna be packed of pure entertainment and we gonna have a helluva night on that day itself.
6.5 years ago, I got my first car, Perodua Kelisa 1.0
It was fun driving it because of the small size and fast acceleration. However, the car is getting older year by year and the need of long distance travel is killing me.
With the increasingly number of accidents everyday, the lack of safety features in Kelisa is starting to give the cold chill. Especially whenever a big transportation passed by.
I did had a dilemma what car to choose.
Between Volkswagen Polo, Honda City and Proton Inspira at first.
Dad wasn't convinced enough on Volkswagen as their parts are expensive and after warranty maintenance will cost a bomb.
As for Honda, I was more interested in Civic but the price exceed the budget hence the choice is City. The car was slightly under powered when I test drove it and the seat doesn't makes me feel like home. Plus the audio player does not have numbering. How can I pay so much and get no numbering player!
Inspira? Needless for me to say more about it. The word "Proton" says it all.
In the end, I gotten Mazda 3 1.6 Sedan instead.
It has 5 years warranty + 5 years free maintenance *excluding brake pads, battery*
How cool is that when I just walk in and walk out without any payment :)
Zoom Zoom
After few weeks running this Zoom Zoom, here's my opinions on the car:
Exterior - Looks "ganas" at the front and big at the rear. Trunk was spacious to fit a lot of things though I'm yet to utilize it.
Performance - Slightly slower due to its 1.6 engine stored in a C Segment car chassis and part of it is 4 speed. However, once you reach 80-90km/h, you will feel the power is there. The suspension make the car do cornering easily but I can still feel the stiffness at the rear.
Features - 1.6 does not comes with full features such as auto-rain sensor, more information in MID or cruise control. The addition of reverse camera, multi-touch display, statistics calculation add some value onto the car.
Price - Couldn't complain much since I bought a C Segment car for less than 100k along with the promotion. Still how I wish that I could get the 2.0 version.
