Keep up

The problem of the Saturday tragedy could be because of not keeping up from the start. After the gun fire, I was trailing behind the leading back. After 5 mins, I was still trailing. My race was sort of over.

So the issue here is to keep up, no matter what. No matter what the stakes are. Because that has become some sort of a fundamental tactic.

So step number one is to keep up. And after keeping up is the work of surviving. Which has become the most current agenda now.

Jack of all trade and none

I realised tt being able to secure a good job in the future depends on an important factor: being unique. The more unique a job is, the greater the pay it commands. If you have a skill many others have, your pay will be moderate or even low.

There are many kinds of skills available. Linguistic skill, mathematical skill, organizational skill, social skill, leadership skill, persuasive skill and many many others.

It is a paradox that to survive in this new world, you need to be a Jack of all trades and not one too. Because it is an advantage that you have a wide spectrum of skills and at the same time specialises in a few.

Cross- country nationals 2009

Many times we think we've realized our mistakes, we thought we've got certain formulae and ways right and we hoped to get just better only to face the harsh reality which sends us back to square one. I got that last Saturday, the cross- country nationals of 2009.

It was one of the most fantastic competition fields i have ever encountered. Sunny, Mok, Feroz, Dave, Darsha, Kannan, Madan, Marc, Rui Yong and the Gurkhas. It was like almost all the entire superstars were on show. I said almost cos Kien Mau was loitering easy beside the podium.

The start was a crazy- speed bottleneck frenzy. It was like a stampede. It was a rush. It's survival. Of the fittest, strongest, fastest.

The drawback of the competition is how it lived up to its name. I prefer cross- country to be in the pristine evergreen forests, not on acrid, barren Bedok Reservoir.

Thinking of you

There are many reasons that keep you in the game. Reasons that keep you going on. Factors which make you still wanna train hard.

One good reason is to stay in the game. To be ahead. To be relevant. Even though you trailed last season, you still wanna make it next season. There is enough energy, both in mental and physical terms. You do not wanna be in the game over zone.

If you take a look around there's still a lot of work to be done unless you are the best.

And the road to being the best is special.

Reality & movies

I love stories which are real. Or at least virtually realistic. Close to reality. Very close. If we are an audience and we hear a good story, a story which is real or almost real, we can easily relate to it and say, "Gosh this can happen man. It is possible." Then we can go like, "Wow." "Yeah tt's something serious to consider man." The impact is there.

That's why I hate The Day The Earth Stood Still. Once the part when the alien landed came, I knew I'm not gonna enjoy the movie. I'm not some 8-year-old kid fascinated by aliens. Even if they wanna talk about aliens, it should be shown in a realistic way. Maybe I dun buy the alien idea anymore. The last time extra- terrestial matters really mattered to me was Sightings which was in 1995? God that's like been a decade.

Body Of Lies is good. It's realistic. Terrorism and unexpected explosions here and there. The thing that it is unexpected sounds scary. The fact that it is real really scares. Now that is a good movie.

Race experience

Jo called. There's an MR25 time- trial tomorrow. But Marcus initially wanted a long run and swim at East Coast. I too thought that the long run is appropriate. But then I gave a second thought. The time- trial will give me good experience. Good race experience.

So I said yes to the time- trial and my mind started to prepare for it. Who will be running? What mental strategy to use? Will it kill me?

This is the thing about race experience. The more you race, the more you know. Your knowledge base about racing somehow grows. A specific kind of knowledge base. I raced in the Standard Chartered 10k 2008. Will the formulae and mental strategies work again tomorrow?

It pays to push

Many times in races we will realize what could have happened, what we should've done. Or if it was a success, we would be satisfied without a doubt. So i guess it's worth suffering like hell before the result- and after the result it's heaven.