Nike+ Human Race 10K

Saw this interesting race from my nus email lately.

The race looks interesting.
I've got this interest in joining it.
Not because of the satisfaction of completing 10km.
But I think it's because of the t-shirt.
lol
It has been a long time since I last ran (the last time was in JC?).
And I don't like running cause I always get pain in my calf muscles after running a short distance (by short, I really mean short like 400m).
A simple google on it shows that I've got tight calf muscles and here's what the website says:

Why do they tighten up?
You might have a compartment syndrome.
You might have a bio mechanical problem in your running style and need orthotics. See a sports injury specialist or podiatrist that can do bio mechanical analysis.
Your muscles have gradually tightened up over a period of months through poor stretching.
Tiny micro tears in the muscles cause them to go into spasm. When they are in spasm or contracted then blood cannot easily get into them. The muscles have squeezed the blood out like a sponge. If the muscles do not get enough blood then they will not get enough nutrients and so will tighten up to protect themselves and weaken and so on.

The longest distance I've survived running without stopping was like 800m?
That's only 8% of the 10km race.
lol
The rest of the 92%?
Walk lor.
Or jog when my legs are not hurting.
The race route is closed to traffice only for 2 hours.
That means if I decided to walk all the way, I must complete 10km in less than 2 hours (have to minus time for the huge crowd to pass the starting mark).
What to do?
I don't have to stamina to run that long.

To join or not to join?
Peiyan

First...

I went to the clinic in sch today since I was on way to collect my graduation gown.
Just in time to make it for the morning clinic before it closes for lunch break.
Since tuesday, I've been getting short cough and breathing with tightness in the chest.
Any yesterday, I had headaches on and off (most probably due to heatiness in my body).
The clinic system register me as a graduate.
Wow, NUS system is fast.
Anyway, I still got my free consultation.

The doctor diagnosed that I have a mild asthma and she asked me of any family member with history of asthma.
Only my sister has it but she recovered when she was young.
Then the doctor told me that she will prescribe the inhaler and cough syrup.

hahaha...
It's my first time using the inhaler

The inhaler.

Mouthpiece cap on.

Mouthpiece cap off.

I'm not sure what's the cause of the slight asthma. Inside the inhaler is medication which will tigger the airway to open up and increase the air intake. This will allow me to breathe better. There's a bit of after taste when you "swallow" the medication.

Puff away,
Peiyan

Graduation Gown 101

Hello...
Welcome to Graduation Gown 101.
I'm the host for today.

Hahaha...
this is not a new tv show.
it just collected my graduation gown and commencement card this afternoon.
the payment counter was rather slow cause they have to check your name in their system, make the payment and get the invoice printed.

Then it's off to Station 1.
It's quite confusing cause they did not tell us that we need to pick the gown and the motarboard ourselves.
Luckily, I've already decided my gown and motarboard size so just need to pick the good gown (cause I noticed that some gowns are made from different type cloth) and ensure that the motarboard fits (actually, the M size feels slightly bigger than the one I tried at co-op when I went to check out the gown).

Anyway, I had some fun at home with the gown and took pictures of the hanging gown.

Hood. Gold is for Science fac.

The front of the gown (pardon for the bad take).

Back of the gown.

Finally, the motarboard.

Not to worry, they have provided us with he gown bag with hanger to ease the trouble in carrying the gown around. Placing the gown in the gown bag will also prevent the gown from being creased.

The nice gown bag.

Alternatively, you can get the big NUSS yellow bag and keep the gown and gown bag inside if you find carrying 2 bags troublesome.

Tada, the NUSS bag (I use this to keep the rest of the gifts).

On top of that all graduates are given a AlumNUS card, to signify that we are alumni of NUS. Guess what, the card has discounts at Cathay Cineplex. Movie tickets are priced at $6 instead of $7 from Monday to Thursday, excluding public holidays and eves. There are also discounts at other shops.

The AlumNUS card with the case.

The card is customised with your matric number, name and faculty.

The hood doesn't stay in that position all the time. I kept it in place in the shoot using safty pins. Actually there is a button hook to hook the hood onto the button of your shirt to prevent the hood from sliding backwards. The back of the hood is much heavier than the front so if the hood is not secured, it will keep sliding back.
I'm quite blur cause I'm not sure how much of the Gold should be showing on the hood. The thickness in the photo by what I received so I suppose this is the thickeness?
Anyway, the whole gown looks crumpled. Gotta iron it before my commencement.

Graduating soon,
Peiyan

Grinder-Man, Mustang Singapore (15 - 22 June 2008)

So fast...
The 1 week of rehearsals and performance with Grinder-Man went past with a blink.
No more walk, run, stop, pose, fall, getting up.
No more looking straight.
No more acting as audience.
No more box grabbing.
No more Mustang dance.
aw....
I miss the black box.
I miss the people in Grinder-Man.
I miss the fun I had with the Singapore participants.
I miss the times the girls spent at the changing room.
There are so many things I miss.
All these post-performance feelings,
So sad...

On friday and saturday I brought my camera and tripod along.
The original aim on friday was to take a group photo cause the Singapore participants wanted to present something to the Japanese people. (actually the idea of the group photo was mine.)
But the photo wasn't taken until saturday's second pre-show briefing.
Making request doesn't help, my friend and I decided that I should just setup and get the group photo over with once the briefing ended.

With simple editing and design, I managed to get the photos printed in S8R and 4R sizes.
The S8R was for framing with the Singapore participants signing around it.
(unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the final product. so smart of me.)
That was presented to the leader of the Grinder-Man, Hitoshi.
The 4R photos were given to each of the 11 members of Grinder-Man.

Here's the photo.

The Tokyo members consist of:
Hitoshi (leader)
Maki (choreographer)
Yumi
Ekko
Norihiro
Jin
Tomohiko (aka Prince)
Age

and the crew:
Nobuaki (stage manager)
Iori (sound guy)
Mayumi

I'm still waiting for photos from the rest of the participants.

G!
Peiyan

Grinder-Man, Mustang Singpaore (The final 2 shows)

Sunday!!!!
The last day of our performance.
Feeling a bit sad now.
Cause it's the last 2 shows from all the effort we have put in for the past 6 days.

Reporting time was later than usual cause the rehearsal studio was only available at 4.30pm.
Though the girls have arranged to come earlier to do what we wanted to do,
time past so quickly to make any good progress.

Warm ups was pair stretching followed by the 5 actions practice:
walk
run
stop
fall
getting up (fast/slow)

Then we practiced the one line formation which we need to do during the show.
At that point a small accident happened.
We had to wait for the music to stop and fall down.
While falling down, someone hit my nose and I felt liquid flowing.
I covered with my left hand.
The left side of my nose was bleeding.
I sat out for the rest of the warm up and decided to give the 6.30pm show a miss to let my nose heal first.

I get to be a real audience for once and watch the whole performance.
Was back in for the final show at 8.15pm.
Last show...
Everyone put in 200% effort for the last show.
Applause and cheering from the Esplanade staff.
We were cheering when we returned to backstage.
Everyone was so high.

Washed up and join the Grinder-Man for supper at Makansutra.
Going around for signatures.
On behalf of all the Singapore participants, I presented the gift which we made to Hitoshi, the leader of Grinder-Man.
Talked, eat and laugh till past midnight and accompanied them back to their hotel in Bugis before heading home.

I'm high,
Peiyan

p.s. I'm still waiting for photos.