3 generations

My favourite ladies. Me with my mum and nanny. Nanny came all the way from london so this pic is precious.

Spaghetti.... Every strand counts.... Mama-Mia!

Triladies - What a bummer....

Ruth just sent me this candid pic of myself looking really bummed out about the race being cancelled.... haha.... I know I said that I really enjoyed the day all the same, but this picture just tells you exactly how disappointed I was.... boohoo!!!

School Fun Fair! @ Pre-School By-The-Park

Sorry, I was so consumed by my Triladies that I forgot to post a pretty significant event that happened this weekend! The kids had their school fun fair!!!

Emma got to decorate her own little muffin with all the sweets and goodies that she loves. Let's see, what did she have on there....

• * M&Ms
• * Sparkle sprinkle
• * Stars
• * Gummy sweets (sugar coated no doubt)
• * Marshmellows

.... Any little girl's dream muffin!

Emma had lots of fun playing the games too.....

As for Cate,.... she enjoyed herself with her 2 favourite things.... Biscuits and Balloons... Seriously!

Well, nobody leaves a funfair without marking their body in some way to remember the fun day!!!

Some Henna for Emma and Body Tattoo for Cate
(It says "Pretty Girl" in Chinese for you guys who failed Chinese in school!)

TRILADIES - I did it!..... Well, most of it anyway...

I was a little apprehensive about my 2nd sprint tri. I have to admit that without Paul doing it as well (obviously), I didn't really have a whole lot of motivation (no training partner etc). I had the feeling of going for an exam without having studied. When I told Paul that, he wasn't very understanding. His response was, "This is more like going for an exam that you have already taken before! " (i.e. the OSIM sprint which I did together with Paul in July)

Paul told me that my goal was to equal or better my previous time at OSIM. Fine... sounds easy but is it?...

The morning started out lovely. It was a cloudy cool day. Emma was very excited to be cheering her mummy on at the tri. There was no problem getting her out of bed at 6:30am. Nothing like the usual school day. My own little Cheerleader....

When we arrived at East Coast, everything was PINK! I think altogether there were about 360 partcipants so it was really cosy. The transition area was also really good cos the grass was covered with floor mats. (Definitely much better than OSIM's muddy setup!) I proceeded to setup my area...

Ruth and I having a pre-race chit chat at the transition area....

Mel and I (pre-race). Her super-duper triathlete boyfriend, Shem, was stressing her out by barking at her from outside the transition area telling her that her stuff was not organised to its most optimal.... Just kidding... he was just givin' good advice... ;)

But... yikes! Stressful! Prompted me to go back to check on my transition area layout anyway!

Ok, I think it looks ok....

Mel, Siangling and I just before the start of our wave... What a bunch of condom heads.... Certainly not my best look.

Emma was such a sweetheart, she was standing right at the front where the swim start was, watching intently. Waving at me everytime she caught my eye.

It was so nice to have her there cheering me on...

**RACE STARTS!**

I found the swim pretty difficult. Kept getting waves of salty (and dirty no doubt) water into my mouth. I was also stuck between someone and the rope while swimming out which was really tiring to get out of. Towards the end (phew...) I noticed someone in green stripey shorts swimming next to me! Hey, it's Mel! Sorry Mel if I was swimming into you but for some reason my navigation today was especially rubbish! I was either swimming into ppl or swimming into the rope! Zig-zagging all over the shop!

Mel and I coming out of the sea together! Yay! Salty dirty part over and done with!...

Our swim was ~ 17min, which is an improvement from my 19min time in OSIM. 1st goal accomplished!....

Bike Transition... - I think it was pretty smooth. Feet were a bit wet and difficult to get socks and shoes on, but ok. I think the transition took me just under 3 min.

Halfway through the bike ride, it started raining quite heavily and alas, the race was stopped just when I finished my bike leg. :( It was such a bummer since by the time they stopped the race, the rain had actually stopped too!

Man,... I have a horrendous cycling posture. Should sort it out!

I took about 43 min on the bike. However, I checked my odometer and it was only just under 19km. Anyway it was still an improvement. 2nd goal accomplished!

Pat, Elvia , Mel, Ching & I after the race.

Ems aspiring to do her first tri. First, try on mummies race bib! MMmmmm... PINK.....nice..... :D

With a little guidance from Aunty Janice (Ironman 70.3 Finsher), I think there shouldn't be a problem!!!

Go Ems!

I think short of the race being called off 2/3s of the way through, I would say that it was very enjoyable. The fact that it was a small scale race made it very nice (approx 360 participants for all categories). I also now understand why the organisers may have had to charge a little more than say OSIM as they would not have had the mass to cover the costs.

Thanks again to:

• My husband Paul for his support and also taking all the pictures. As usual since he was the photographer there are no pics of him. Will see if I can get some off some of the other guys.
• AAA for all their cheers and encouragement + some of the training sessions leading up to the tri that they allowed me to join in.
• Junior AAA (actually it is just Ems ;)) for waking up extra early and still being cheerful all day.
• AAA Doggies - Grumpy and Rosco for also coming to cheer us on!

You all made a real difference...

Will I do the Triladies next year?.... Possibly.

Girls in Pink

Girl bonding.... found Emma in a corner with her 2 girlfriends Jen & Claire. Jen (middle) was reading to them. So clever!

Triladies Goodie Bag

Here is me sporting the Triladies finisher tee with the contents of the Triladies Goodie Bag. Was initially a little skeptical that the registration fees was more than the OSIM, but I now think the slight difference is ok since the goodie bag is much better. ;)

• Shocking pink Triladies finisher t-shirt - much nicer than other freebie tees. I might actually wear this.
• Sports Water Bottle - It goes with my bike, so I like it :D
• TYR Goggles - white, so I like this too....
• Tube of Transdermal Glucosamine Cream - I think it is about $30 in shops. Don't really use it but will try it out!
• Tube of T-MAX Pain & Itch Relieving Cream
• Shisheido UV White samples - I have lots of samples of comsmetics already,... unlikely to try them out although it is a nice ladies touch
• LARABAR Ginger Snap Bar - quite a nothing part of the goodie bag, Gu Gel may have been more appreciated
• SHAPE Magazine - Great except that it was the Aug 2007 issue! I already have the Sept issue on my desk!
• ORCA Race Belt - Nice! ...except for the fact that I literally have 4 race belts at home.
• Various other discount vouchers to places like Browhause, TYR, MASK, QiMantra, SpaEsprit, Strip - Unlikely to use them.

I think all in all, the goodie bag was pretty good! My registration fee for the sprint distance was $90. Looking purely at the goodie bag, I might be more likely to join the Triladies rather than the OSIM next year since it is the exact same route anyway.

I am however a little disappointed that the race fromat/route is exactly the same as th OSIM. Especially the transition area in the grass area which got really muddy from rain. It was such a huge mess during the OSIM. I think that they should have learnt from the recent AVIVA 70.3 where the transition area was in the carpark instead.

Will tell you more about the race after next Sunday! Wish me luck! :D

Terry Fox - Run For Hope 2007

This morning, Paul and I together Sheng, Tim and Mum (yes!) went for the Terry Fox Run for Hope @ Sentosa.

The day was initially a little dampened with the dreary weather and jam to get into Sentosa but soon looked up as the drizzle stopped providing the perfect cooling weather for a run.

Paul completed the 8km run in ~42 min, I did it in ~45min, Sheng did it in ~48 min. Tim finished at an impressive 35min (he is planning to do the StandChart Marathon, so he is definitely heading in the right direction!)

I am most impressed with Mummy who power-walked the 4km. What a fit mum I have! Well done!

I hope that next time my sis, bro and sis-in-law will join us too and we can make a family affair out of this! All for a good cause....

Big fat swollen knee

This is what happened to me as i tried to learn how to use clips on my bike. The bike mechanic got a shock when i showed him my bruise and lent me a pair of knee pads. I will not give up! Although likely not using them for the tri next weekend though. That may prove too hazardess to everyone else!

Adorable

Quick pic while shopping. Just can't get over how cute they are. Yes, i'm one of those terrible mums. At least I'm not blind to their terror behaviour though!

Queen of the World!

Ems painstakingly built her castle of wooden blocks. It's beautiful emma!

Cucumber Eye Mask

Here's my little Emsky getting her cucumber eye mask.

The best part is that the next morning, I will call her school teachers to tell them in advance to exclaim when they see Emma
"Oh my Emma! What special thing have you done to your eyes!!! They look extra bright and pretty today!!!" .... and Emma would be so amazed and pleased that her cucumber eye mask has such dramatic results. Her teachers are really great, they really play along and it is so fun. haha...

I have pulled this trick about 2-3 times now, and I think Emma is now firm believer of this cucumber eye mask!!! Don't you love their innocent little minds....

Happy Birthday Paul @ Oso Restaurant

Ok, this post came a little late, but we did infact have a nice birthday dinner. Picture on left was taken by Emma hence the shaky hands and angle from down below... :)


It was cute, Paul and I felt like teenagers being sent off for our prom date while Emma said good bye to us at the door.

We went to Oso which is an Italian restaurant in Tanjong Pagar. The food was pretty good and service was excellent.

They gave Paul a little Tiramisu birthday cake [on the house ;)] and the waiter sang him a solo birthday song. Haha.... The ang mo on the left was just some guy from the next table who joined in. Sweet!

AVIVA 70.3 - Inspired!!!

On Sunday we made a family outing of supporting some friends (and family) from AAA who took part the 1st Half Iron Man race in Singapore! (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21km run)

Check out Emma and Cate looking out for Uncle Collin and Aunty Lin.... They were so cute!

Look at how Collin and Lin were literally BEAMING away in the middle of the race. This was just at the end of their 90km bike leg BEFORE a half marathon! How they could be beaming from ear to ear is beyond me.

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to meet everyone at the finishing line cos we had Paul's birthday lunch (yay!), but we did manage to catch most of them swimming, cycling and at least the 1st half of their run. Well done Team AAA for not only completing the race but also doing superbly!!!

Snip snip snip...

Here is Emma sitting quietly behind me in my study while I was working,.... She was cutting those cut out doll dresses. Am sure fellow girls will know what I am talking about....Snip snip snip....


snip snip snip........


snip snip snip........


snip snip snip........(she just couldn't stop!)



SNIP SNIP sniiiiiiiiippp!!!!.....






Ahhh,... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!....
Honestly, this is not just a proud mum talking but cutting out those dresses was no easy task!

JOB WELL DONE EMMA!