It’s offical, Chunnie is home. She’s back with a little less Singapore inside but also a lot more New Yorker in it’s place.
Just in case it’s not obvious, let me say, I AM SO HAPPY! This means she’s around to do all the wedding prep like sending invites, food tasting…
“Home sweet hot and humid home”
- Chunnie on her first day back
Chunnie’s booked her ticket to come home next month and its seemed like a long time since she left yet at the same time the months have flown by. I think it will have been 17 months by the time she gets back and going back over the blog during those months you can see how much has happened. Before she left, I had never done a triathlon but in the time since then – probably because she’s been gone i’ve really dived head-long into the triathlon scene! Its definitely my favorite “hobby”. I’ve also taken up wakeboarding (on the cable) as a kind of secondary hobby as well, perhaps the only thing that hasn’t changed around here is what i do in between weekends 
I think Chunnie’s changed a lot too… First time she’s lived by herself and with that came a new skill! She can COOK! Who knew?! She only once sent herself to the hospital because of her cooking, but i think the blame for that is really with the scallops and not the chef. Soon I’ll get to sample her cuisine on a regular basis.
The blog has evolved from being about our dates to races and triathlon to wedding preparation and soon to married life. Too bad there isn’t a log of where Chunnie and I started back in school worrying about homework and tests… that was a LONG time ago now!
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| From OSIM Triathlon 2009 – Day 2 |
It was more than a month ago that I took part in my 2nd Olympic Distance (OD) triathlon and it was the exact same event as the first time. This time it was different because I was there thanks to my sponsors (L’Oreal Men Expert and New Balance)!! Not to mention this time I had a non-Hall teammate with me too.
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| From OSIM Triathlon 2009 – Day 2 |
Marisa was competing this time as well and since she had done Bintan earlier in the year this was ALSO her second OD. Although my race didn’t start till about noon, I went down earlier on to cheer Marisa on, “Go Team Hall!” But unfortunately that meant I had to wait around for my race to start for something like 3 hours. Speaking of waiting around, I had been down to the race site the day before to watch Danny, Revant and a bunch of other Breakfast Clubbers take part in the shorter distance races. I tried not to walk around too much but by the time i left in the afternoon I seemed pretty tired. Luckily, by the next morning I don’t think i felt it in my legs anymore. So anyway… getting back to my race, I spent some time waiting around…
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| From OSIM Triathlon 2009 – Day 2 |
But before I knew it… It was time to start. The swim was relatively uneventful, I felt strong through but that’s probably because of all my SeaMonsta training. In fact I had done a 4K swim during the class and so I was confident that the 1.5K swim would go fine. It did indeed go fine and I even managed to find some feet draft for a lot of the way. In hindsight however, I think i took it a bit too easy on the swim and should’ve pulled ahead of the person I was drafting. I had been aiming for a 33min swim but alas, it wasn’t to be. Although my time was almost 7min faster than last year!
Swim Time: 35:00
Place (age-group): 25/103
This was Bennie’s first race… and I was expecting great things from him! I was happily zooming by people throughout the entire bike leg. Because so few people passed me, I actually counted them – five. Five people passed me and I think 3 of them were actually in the relay category so they don’t count (the hadn’t swam before the bike). But speaking of the relay category, there was a guy wearing the OCBC Cycling Jersey who went by me so fast that it was like I was standing still! He had on the full aero-helmet and disc wheel going but i seriously doubt that it was the equipment that helped him go so fast.
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| From OSIM Triathlon 2009 – Day 2 |
Towards the end of the bike leg, I took off my shoes and did a “running dismount” of the bike… As I was running along, I found it impossibly to wheel the bike, the wheel just wouldn’t turn. I was forced to carry it something like 100m which luckily wasn’t THAT tiring but definitely more tiring than wheeling it. I would later find out that the chain had fallen off after my dismount and gotten tangled in the spokes of the rear wheel! After the race, it was insane trying to get the chain untangled but luckily I managed to get the help of some other participants. Thanks guys!!
My time for the bike was 1min faster than last year which in itself is a bit disappointing given that I had Bennie and also had been training on the bike quite a bit more. But I think it could hopefully be attributed to the fact the course was now a 6-lapper instead of a 4-lapper meaning more sharp turns and slowing down.
Bike Time: 1:15:49
Place (age-group): 6/103
The run this year, was in the blazing sun. I didn’t get the benefit of a nice rain-shower and also I hadn’t been running too much since recovering from an ankle injury. So I was expecting this run to be slower than usual. I felt relatively good throughout but definitely not as amazing as last year. I really felt exceptional last year. I pulled through the run in a time almost 3 minutes slower than last year. Along the way, i did see my ex-housemate from Cornell… Hi Mao!!
Run Time: 50:32
Place (age-group): 7/103
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| From OSIM Triathlon 2009 – Day 2 |
It was a really good race but one area for improvement is definitely the run! In fact, I had originally thought that my total time was under 2:40 but alas, I missed that slightly and will definitely be gunning to go under that time when I do the TriFactor OD this coming weekend!
Oh yes… and did i mention i finished SEVENTH in my age-group!!!?? I was HAPPY! 
Total Time: 2:41:20
Place (age-group): 7/103
Oh yeah… Marisa finished 5th… *grumble grumble… sister stealing my thunder*… GOOD JOB SISTER!
YAY! Can’t wait. 
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| From Our Wedding |
Around the world and back it seems.
Yes, I was back in Singapore and it was a busy busy trip, but in short:
*I landed back in Singapore on the morning of Ian’s birthday bearing Magnolia Bakery cupcakes!
*We celebrated Ian’s birthday with his mommy and sister over yummy choco-lava cake.
*I joined Ian on his weekly Breakfast Club ride – was embarrassingly slow and bad at it, and was absolutely terrified by the experience
*I worked a week at the Singapore office, caught up with ma old peeps, felt strange in the different office
*Brother took the family out for crabs to celebrate mommy’s birthday – and Ian was such a good SILTB, he remembered to call my mommy to wish her happy birthday!
*We checked out Suburbia, the first time seeing our solemnization venue for me.. and I like it!! 28 Nov. 12pm. Suburbia. Done.
*We celebrated daddy’s 60th birthday with a nice big dinner at Hua Ting.
*We had dinner with Ian’s ACN peeps. I met up with my girlies. And of course we met often for our toast and teh-C breakfasts.
And now I’m back in New York, with a short stopover in London. Oh and yes I flew the A380, not a biggie I thought, like any other plane.
So as of my recent photoshoot, I am now a model/consultant.
I had a sponsorship obligation to take part in a photoshoot and boy was it an interesting experience! First off they told us to get extra sleep the night before so that we wouldn’t have eye bags, which I ignored. I stayed up late and I also woke up early to go cycling heh heh…
When i arrived at the studio there was somebody sitting there who asked “are you the talent?” I was a bit shocked and was like “i’m here for the l’oreal shoot.” He just pointed around the corner. I walked around and was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of guys hanging out playing PS2 on a nice big flat screen tv, oh and there was a photoshoot going on behind them. There was free food and drinks lying at the side. Over at the photoshoot there was another big apple LCD was there with two people reviewing the shots, one person shooting and another minion running back and forth to adjust the model. WOW!
Anyway… First thing I had to do was to throw on a brand new tracksuit that was going to be used for the shoot and then sit down in the MAKEUP ARTISTS CHAIR!! OMG… MAKEUP! And now I know why it takes so long for girls to get ready… It sure took forever for him to hide the ugly spots on my face, but luckily for him i’m daaaaaamn sexy and there are very few. But still, I think my skin looked better than it has ever looked. I then made a mental note at what a deadly weapon makeup could be… Think of all those girls that only look “okay” WITH makeup… oh dear.
And then it was my turn to “just stand on the x on the floor” I was up in front of the lights with EVERYBODY staring at me. For some reason I didn’t feel that nervous… Maybe it was the knowledge that hey… i’m doing this “because I’m worth it.” It was funny because initially i just grinned goofily and the photographer was like, “smile a bit less.” She would ask things like, “can you tilt your chin in another direction?”, “look here”, “look there”. But one of my favorite exchanges was just after I did a few shots with my BLUE STEEL (ie. no smile) look. She then went, “smile a bit”… “a bit more”… “TOO MUCH!” I think i laughed at that point.
After everybody had done their individual shots we had a big group shot. The incredible planning they put into the shoot was there for show because there was a drawing showing how each and every person should stand including orientation of legs and arms! For some reason i was chosen to wear a singlet, goggles and a swim cap… can you say TOTAL DORK?! I did however get the number 1 painted on my arm, so i suppose that makes it marginally less dorky. The sad part about the group shot is that while they were adjusting people the minion rushed forward to me and threw a sandbag on the floor and told me to stand on it. Apparently i was too short! Then after a while somebody said, “Ian, can you breathe in?” I was too fat! I made a mental note to do a few more crunches and extra Ks running the next week.
I don’t actually have any pictures to show for the day and I’m actually not sure what they will be using the pictures for. But i would definitely say the day was an interesting experience!!
In a continuing series about my sponsorship from L’Oreal Men Expert and New Balance, I just headed down to the New Balance concept store at Raffles City to collect my new shoes! I have been wearing Asics Gel Kayano’s ever since I started running seriously back in 2007, mainly because a doctor had recommended them. But now, I’m finally giving New Balance a try.
I have to say that this was quite possibly the best shoe “buying” experience I’ve had. I don’t think it was due to the fact that I didn’t have to pay for the shoes but really the person that helped me seemed very knowledgeable and friendly. I told him I was wearing Gel Kayano’s and he immediately knew what type of shoe that was and which was the New Balance equivalent. He also then measured my feet individually and told me that actually my left foot was half a size bigger than my right foot. Whaaaaat?? I’m 27 (almost 28) years old and I’m only finding this out now??? oh geez. that means whenever I tried on shoes only on my right foot they would’ve been too small! Shocking.
Another interesting thing is that (according to what the New Balance rep told us) only they carry multiple widths of shoes in Singapore. I experienced this when trying the shoes as well since the first pair i tried were a little too wide and the guy helping me noticed it as well and quickly got me another pair. I was quickly kitted up with the correctly fitting shoes and some fancy socks, both of which feel great. I shall let you know how they perform real soon!
Aren’t my blue 769s nice?
Iαη Hαll says (11:20 PM):hey schnookums
Which rhymes with Skookum.
I’M SPONSORED!!!
I believe I have reached the pinnacle of my sporting career! Who knew that it would have nothing to do with a race!? L’Oreal Paris (together with New Balance) is going to be sponsoring me for the next year!
I’m going to have my own sponsored attire to wear to races that I don’t have to pay for myself! Oh JOY!!!
Unfortunately they aren’t sponsoring me due to my triathlete awesomeness (although we all know I am), they are sponsoring me because I happen to have the right connections and they were looking for active men to act as ambassadors for their Men Expert line of products. In fact, I just recently went for the first meetup and the gave us samples of the products which is apparently 6 months supply. I say “apparently” because I believe its more than i’ve bought in my entire life combined! You be the judge…
I did learn about the new skincare regime I should have which honestly, I was previously lucky to get the first step in. Just for reference, the steps are:
Step 1: Cleanse
Step 2: Tone
Step 3: Moisturize
When you live in Singapore and cycle, it doesn’t take long for you to get just a little bored of the roads. Its a tiny little island and you can easily travel all the way across it and back in half a day. So, The Breakfast Club planned a trip to Desaru in Malaysia to enjoy some new scenery. Technically I don’t think its actually Desaru since that’s a city but rather its the state of Johor.
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
We started off at something like 5.30am so that we could ride up to Changi Point Ferry Terminal and jump on a bum boat across to Malaysia. It was pretty interesting wheeling your bicycle through the terminal especially since everybody was used to it and didn’t even bat an eyelid. We went through customs and then packed all the bikes (there were 15 of us) into the boat. The boat was so full (with bikes) that there was no space for everybody to sit down and some ended up standing outside for the 40min ride.
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
Once we got to Desaru it was a wonderful wonderful ride. There were looong straight roads with great scenery, no traffic lights and surprisingly polite drivers. The drivers in Singapore always honk angrily at you but the drivers in Desaru would happily go around us and give us lots of space too! It felt like a “real” ride since we could actually get moving and not have to stop for ages. Not like Singapore where the longest stretch is like 5km.
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
Along the way, Akshay decided it would be a good idea to rest his wrists on the handlebars as we rode along. The cycling gods disagreed and he lost control of the bike and went flying off the bike. Luckily though he landed on the grass to the side of the road and besides a bruised knee was not too badly hurt. Thankfully because it was only an hour into the ride and it would’ve been quite sad to have to turn back then. Also, we would later see somebody that had a far worse experience with their bike crash. A cyclist from another group we saw had bandages over his face and a snapped handlebar. Scary stuff.
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
We rode about 50km in one direction right up until we were about to actually reach Desaru the town/city and then of course, had to stop for breakfast! That IS what the club is called.
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
We turned around and headed right back. By the last 10km everybody was pretty quiet since everybody was tired and we also had to go back up and down hills that weren’t so bad the first time around. It was especially bad since singapore is basically pancake flat. After 6 hours in the saddle my ass hurt as well… I mean the distance wasn’t that much but the time was!
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| From Desaru Cycling – 16.05.09 |
After we got back to Singapore, it was already lunchtime so we ate at Changi Village before heading home. All in all it was a 140km ride… My longest ever!!
