Wet Mornings

It has been a wet and rainy past couple of mornings over here. It's a good thing that I'm on a short rehab from running for the moment or it would have definitely disrupted my running plans. Not have a race to train for also makes me kinda lazy to wake up and lace up.

The plus side of the morning rains is the yearly haze hasn't been showing itself and I'm hoping it stays that way. The skies have been nice and clear after the morning rains unlike the past few years where there would be a blanket of haze enveloping the country. 

The only downside to this rainy and cold weather is I'm feeling absolutely lazy at work and having to look through this br12 flyer project is taking loads of effort. Maybe I'll go grab lunch and some ideas will come up then.

The Longing ...

It's already been slightly over two weeks since the Gold Coast Airport Marathon and I'm still missing the place. This has been my third year there and I just can't get enough of it. I'm already planning for next year's edition! That's how much I'm missing the place.

Besides, I really do have some unfinished business with the marathon which I intend to finish once and for all. The 7 days there wasn't nearly enough. I didn't even have enough time to look into the stick bag at wwbws.

Oh well, it's only 11 and a half months to GCAM17.

Dreaming ...

I know the year isn't over yet but my mind is already set of planning a trip to Japan again next year. I'm practically in love with the place. Besides I need to avenge the disappointment of Kyoto earlier this year.

But one thing I'm pretty sure is I won't be going during the winter season. I love the cold but winter may just be a little too much for me. I remember how cold it was in Kyoto when I was there. I was practically running in heated shops just to keep warm.

I'm definitely going to go thru some Cozy Winters Reviews to make sure I find places to visit during the off winter season next year.

Damned If I Do. Damned If I Don't

Time really flies. My trip to the Gold Coast Airport Marathon is only slightly more than 4 weeks away and I'm nowhere near ready for it. Embarking on a marathon training plan after a two month plus layoff due to an injury is not at all easy.

As it is, I'm struggling to get into gear at the moment. I have be careful of not inciting the injury again yet I need to be more focused on training. Quite a difficult situation really. Train too hard, chance of getting injured again is high. Train too little and chances of a good showing is improbable.

Maybe I'll just take out my les paul guitars and strum a few tunes to soothe my confused mind!

A weekend Away For Work

The weekend has been a hectic one. I had my first out station Start/Finish gantry setup in Penang and boy, was I worried. This was the first time I've undertaken a race setup so far away from my comfort zone. While I've no issues setting up closer to home with the bulk of my team and equipment to back me up, setting up somewhere as far away as Penang was a huge undertaking for me.

The entrance to the Men's Health Women's Health Race Village

I had to make sure everything was perfect before loading up and sending the team down to Penang. The week leading up to this was pretty stressful what with the designs and artwork only being approved at the eleventh hour. I couldn't afford any screw ups with the time frame given simply because there really was no time to reprint the artwork if anything went wrong. Thankfully the printing went just fine with no hiccups.

The Men's Health Women's Health Race Village all lighted up

Next came to worrying about my carpenter who was working on the structure, That one I had no control over since I was working with a third party supplier. Even though I've worked with him countless times, I was still worried. I'm a person who wants everything to be perfect, no screw ups which is why I like handling things direct from my office. I have complete control. Third party suppliers can be unreliable at times.

Took the team practically 7 hours to get this Finish gantry set up

Next on my list of worries was arranging even more third party supplier up in Penang itself to save a huge chunk of costs. Times are bad, you save where you can. Having to coordinate suppliers from 400km away to sync with the ones I have going up for the setup was pretty dicey.

A slightly different Start gantry than the norm that I do

The last few nights leading up to the actual setup had me having sleepless nights. Did I get everything right? Are the prints correct? Are the material for the setup enough? Is the equipment I'm bring up complete? Were the steve clayton picks packed? These were going over in my mind nonstop.

The 5km participants all riled up for race start

But I had to trust in my capabilities. I had to trust that the years I've been doing this will see me through without mistakes. And with that in mind, I boarded the plane and headed up to Penang to meet up with my crew who were driving up to Penang.

Some of the food stall at the race village

Thankfully everything fell into place with some small minor issues that was easily rectifiable. Things went without too much of a  hitch and according to the schedule and time frame I planned. All that said and done though, I'll think real hard before I accept another job that requires me to leave my comfort zone. I could do with less stress! At least I did get to squeeze in a nice, short run along the banks of the Queensbay Mall. Now that was a huge stress buster!

Nothing like a good run along the banks of Penang for some stress busting