Japan Trip 2013 Pt1: Land of The Rising Sun

Assalamualaikum.

Its been very very while since my last post here. Now that everything began to turn back to normal, the 8 month internship is over and now without noticing, its already near the end of the year 2013. To sum up one of the greatest experience i had, visiting the country of rising sun ive been meaning to post an entry for it. But since im a little occupied with so-called working life, and followed up by crappy internet line back in Kerteh, i decided not to waste my energy and wait for the right time to write one. So here we are, the Japan trip part one!

PART 1: JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.


Last September, AirAsia X did a competition on their facebook for a chance to win a full expense trip to Japan with AirAsiaX to go and watch the MotoGP Japan in which, Air asia is the largest sposor for this race. Everything from accommodation, ticket flight, and food is sponsored. Having to know about the competition and considering a high chances of winning,(since there are less than 20 entry until the end of the competition) me and couple of my clique join the competition with little to no hope of winning. In our mind, if we are lucky enough we'll win. Although, at the back of my mind, i really do hope to win.

Then when the result came out, i was such a suprise that we have won the grand prize of a full expense trip to Japan to see the Grand Prix. We here refer to Syamat and I. The entry and picture is uploaded using his Facebook account and i was responsible to post the best slogan for the picture. With little of hope and ass kissing element in my slogan, we managed to get the ticket. Thank you AirAsiaX! And it was right on time that PETRONAS scholar money were bank in to our account. So without thinking much, approval from supervisor granted and off to Japan we go!

Excited like hell first timer

Since my passport from last year Race of Champion, Thailand was still valid so there was no problem for me logistic wise other than to assist Syamat to get his first passport. Besides, this is his first flight overseas. And since starting early 2013, Japan government has allowed visitor from Malaysia and some other country to travel to Japan without Visa. That pretty much smoothed our journey and saving us time to apply for Visa. Our flight was on the afternoon of  24th October using Air Asia X(obviously), where all of the winner from other countries such as Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore will depart together in a one way flight from LCCT to Haneda Airport, Japan.

To be frank, it was a dream come true for me, as a person who think and respect highly of the Japanese Culture and their Anime and Manga culture, to finally able to step on the ground of Japan, Its just magical. And Im really grateful to Allah the Almighty for giving me the chance, for giving me the opportunity to open my eyes, to see first hand, how is the Japanese culture and the country itself. And Insyaallah if given the chances i would like to come back here to continue discovering the things i missed out in this short journey.

Can't wait to aboard the famous Japan train

It took about 7 long hour to reach Haneda Airport. The flight was tiring, but because its Japan where we are heading, it doesn't felt that intimidating. During the time of arrival, the Typhoon Haiyan is on its way to the Philliphines, and Japan was a little affected by it. During our stay in Japan, the weathers for the first two days are very much raining, and with the temperature of minus 10 degree Celsius, it wasn't that helping in keeping our shoes and cloth dry.

The Oyama Grand Hotel

Upon arrival to Japan, we straight away took a bus(together with the sponsor and the stewardess ;p) to our hotel in the province of Oyama, where our hotel for the first two day is located. The Grand Oyama Hotel is quite a good hotel to stay in, with staff having a basic english proficiency which will making communication a little easier. Mind you, most of the Japanese have difficult time conversing in English. Even in Tokyo itself, it is hard to find a person with good english skills. Even with my malayish english, i still felt superior. LOL.

The total 10 hours journey from the plane ride to the bus ride and finally to the hotel room sure make us pretty much beat up. Nevertheless, having finally reach one of my top list of destination to go in the World, really,has made my day.

Next up. Part 2: Japanese food, Twin Ring Motegi, Night stroll around Oyama

Windows of update

Salam and good evening.

Yes. yes. Im finally back from the land of the internet-less. Well not really! Its just that i just found a place where i can use the internet freely without paying a cent. And the source is coming just besides my rental room. In my landlord house! aha!

A lot of things has occured these past few month since i last wrote. Lots of things happen. Lots of distance and new experience to share.  Doing my first 16K run, riding a BMW5 series at the racetrack, meeting homeboy racer at the land of sunrise and many more! I promise, once i get back to Subang after this internship ends, i'll try my best to wrote all of it here again. Im also thinking of redesigning the whole blog, to make it last even longer.

Just watch this space. I'll be back!

Larian Jambatan Sultan Mahmud 10K

 Whew.

Another 10k down the belt, Alhamdulillah. So last week, on the 28th of September, me and few of my clique whom were doing our internship in Kerteh drove all the way to Kuala Terengganu to join a 10k race. Since it's been quite a boring weekend here in kerteh, i think its a good idea to hang out at another place, far, but not that far that will cost lot of money to go to.

 My first official run in Terengganu.

Although at first i was a little bit not in the mood for running, but my friends convince me to sign up for the race. Although it seems that near the race day, im the one that overly excited to do the race. They were few categories offered, being 42km the furthest, followed up with 21km, 10km, 7km and 3km. Since IPT(Institute of Higher Education) has its own categories, we decided to tackle the categories, which sets on 10km of distance around Batu Burok Beach and the great city of Kuala Terengganu.

We arrived a day earlier to collect the race pack as well to get in our homestay. For just rm200 a night, we have a 3 bedroom with the capacity to put about 9 people in each room, 1 inside toilet and 2 outside toilet. Not to mention you get a lobby to watch TV and a very large kitchen. Just in case you want to stay long and cook.

One great thing about this race is the fee itself. For a runner-T, a RFID bip, certificate and finisher medal, i say, rm5 is more than worth it.

Raceday comes and i was the first to get up and refuel. 2 buns of chocholate bread, a bottle of lime Gatorade and  a Banana flavoured Powerbar is all that i took that morning. Gulping the gatorade first thing in the morning turn out to be a wrong move because i have been visiting the toilet, right until they flag off the 10k race. When they flag off about 6.45 a.m, i was still in the toilet, answering to nature call.

Because of that, i started late. But since we are using a RFID tag to measure our time, im not so concern in starting at flagoff. Not till the end of the race of course. The race begin and end at Batu Burok Recreational beach, make its way to the Sultan Mahmud bridge, halfway through the bridge only though for 10k, and back to the beach.

Although the race was commercialize as 10km, my Garmin Forerunner 10 seems to disagree. At the end of the race, it shows the whole track was 2 km longer than stated. So for a total distance of 12.2km, my time was 1.11.58 Since it was my first time doing 12k, it is indeed a new PR for me, but for 10k, ive managed to complete it in 58min. 2 min short of my PR recorded during Brooks 10k.

 My split timing for 1km.  Elevation wasn't that bad. Not as tiring as Melawati 10k hills.

Map layout with the rest of the data.

Crossing the finish line never felt better. Since im running with bunch of friends, it is exciting to go and welcome you friend who still haven't cross the finish. And since this is the first running event for most of them, it's good to see the reaction they have at the finishing line. Some were excited to finish the race, some, just felt tired as hell.

Felt good running in a large group.

Nonetheless we have fun, the course was great with little of hills, but the road was not properly close so it is a little bit dangerous from time to time. Although the race organizer promise of an individual time for everyone(since they are using RFID) up until today, there are still no news about it. I heard that they cant give the official timing unless you call them personally, which i'm not going to do.

p/s: my review on the Garmin FR10 will be up soon. probably after Adidas KOTR malaysia ends.

ghost town, Yes. Dead? Probably not yet.

Salam and good evening i bid to all of you the remaining readers of the blog world.

I know it has been quite a while since my last post.

Indeed, many things have occurred during these times.

For instance, im currently reside at Kerteh for total of 8 month until this end of year to undergone my Industrial training.

Egypt is in a brink of war, so does Syria and USA.

and it's still in the month of Syawal, which means to the rest of the malaysian, we are still in a mood for Raya celebration.

In the other hand, in an hour time, we will be put another mile stone in our history for the 56th year of independence of Malaysia. 56 and more years counting for this irreplaceable independence that we have. May we all be independent in our mind and soul.

Amin.


p/s: its time of the year again.

2013 Brooks 10k race

Alhamdulillah. 

My 2nd race of the year has been completed successfully with me creating my personal best for 10km race. Although i finished the last 10k race, the Melawati10k in just 48min, the route was only for a good 8k. (so its kinda cheated to say its 10k) But this time, with a help of gps sports app software, the distance was about right. This time i managed to finished in 56 min and 41 seconds. My personal best ever. Because i did not run with my phone, so i can't really tell my fastest pace through out the race. but for avg pace, it is 5.40 min/km. An average of 20 seconds faster than my normal 6 min pace for training. It's probably because of the adrenaline and the 'motivation' that are there during the race. hehe. But considering the fact that i do sprint my way in my first 2km, i believe that i did faster, im thinking like 3min/km pace for the first 2km. and that covers back my slow pace at the end of the race(about 7min/km).

Overall, i was satisfied with my result. Sooo happy with it ^^ Although i did not train properly prior to the race, i managed to did well with the timing. I guess now i have a benchmark, something to beat for the next races. Probably trying to do less than 50min? with enough training, insyaallah.

So whats next? To be frank, I'm not even sure it myself. If my internship period was non-hectic and i can have all the time in the weekends and weekday evening, i guess i could do a couple more 10k. probably a 21km in the end of the year? Its possible.hehehe

post-race. felt so sexy running in vest for the first time. but what the hell. just go with it!

Whats up bugs bunny?

Hello, Assalamualaikum the people of the internet. How are you?

I've been super! Although this past week been a very busy week for me.  Ever since my last update (which is about 1 month ago), thing have been moving rather quickly all around me. Event. assignment, projects, test, more test. and in between those, are the training for my races.

first thing first,

Brooks HM 10K race.

Being the second race of my 2013 racing list, to be frank, i did not have much time to train for this race. I do train regularly, but the weather in UTP is a little unpredicted. The morning is all hot and sunny, the evening is all moody, cold and rainy. And being a student, the only time i have to train is at the evening. So the constantly raining weather do affect my training. Just look at the data from my Endomondo. last month i did 30km less than on January. Just how much time i wasted. and oh yea, i forgot to tell the race is tomorrow.

Motorcycle License.

Alhamdulillah. After my second try on the B-full license, i've finally managed to hit it. Last week, i've been transporting to and fro UTP-KL a few times(4 times to be exact) for the sake of attending my 2nd time JPJ test. I've fail my first test(the bridge test) which i suppose to go over 8s but i did it in 7s. This time, i managed to do it in 9.87s after some nerve wrecking  moment. I mean really, getting on a big bike after a month of non- motorcycle riding can be very intimidating. Especially to a skinny guy like me. But after i finally cleared all the courses, all those tiring moment seems weightless, seems like nothing compare to the feeling of achieving something like this.

LIMA'13

Yes. This time im stuck again in the same event that i've joined 2 years back. Although this time i'm not being a part of the staff, but rather this time i have the chance to work under 'volunteer' department, but while sticking with my previous job. This year event will be bigger, hopefully more merrier with more new volunteer that i can't wait to get know of. (I like to make contact from events like this btw.) And this year addition will be more entertaining event overall with more exhibition and airshows. Definitely will be this year highlighted events.

So Whats Next??

Well, my semester will ends anytime soon, in about 3 more month.(its already mid semester now) What awaits me is employment! ERK! kidding. Employment will be another one year, after i graduate on Sept 2014. After this semester ends, internship or industrial training will follows. and like the rest of my friends with pointer less than number 3, we still haven't receive any offer letter from any company :( But from the senior experience, its about after mid semester break that they all started to receive offers from company. So, finger crossed!

But time will tells. Let's just hope for the best. InsyaAllah.

Until then.

First 10k. Officially.

Alhmadulillah.

Today, i did my first ever official 10k race. Despite the race called 10k, it was more or less about 8k, due to some technical matter from the organizer. Something about not getting the permit for the initial road which suppose to be, as it called, 10k.

Regardless about it being 8k or 10k, i had a great run this morning. Great that it went smoothly, great that i've finished with no major injury.

Melawati 10k.

Having this race to be my debut race for official race event, i've no idea at all about how it all start. Since i've already got my bib and shirt a day before the race, i believe what left is for me to get there and wait at the starting line. and i was quite amazed by the type of people, not so of the number of the people. all people from different background, wearing different attire, different shoes(yeah, i was lurking around if there is someone with the same shoes as mine. like kids, i know.)

and when the race started, like always it takes some time to spread the crowd. about 3 min into the race(approx.) the crowd started to disperse, and i'm able to find a comfortable pace to begin. a good no brainer strategy is to run in your comfortable pace, then after a while, find someone with the same pace, and stick to that guy. at first i follow some guy with LYN runner shirt, after a while i left him because i felt like were not in the same pace. then i follow another guy with yellow shirt. but at that time, it started to get hilly and i kinda lost some pace and ran comfortably on my own.

the route were very challenging i would say! usually i would run on place where the elevation wont be much felt to my body, but here, the elevation really, will break your determination! like really! hills after hills. then comes the last, longest hill. It's a blessing in disguise though. as i found that these are the places that i can take advantage and take over some people. but you need to have a great determination though! Just look on the tarmac and maintain that poise.

there were 2 water station, but i stop at the 2nd one since the first one was to crowded. and i have to say, running for 6k or so over hills, after a short drink of isotonic drink, it felt like the energy came rushing. although not much, but good enough to make you feel better, physically.

and at the last 200m, i was pushing hard. i felt like i can run more. and there's this guy screaming inspiring words. and then before i know, the finishing line.

it doesn't felt anything really, until i managed to stop the timer on my watch. Clocking a 48min59s for about 8k. Not bad. Not bad at all. considering the hilly terrain, considering this was my first time here(at Tmn Melawati), i think it's a great run. in an average i was doing 6min/km. My target pace for this kind of race(10K). The rest was history. gulping down 4 cups of 100plus, 2 cups of milo, then felt slightly weird. haha. Get on hold my medal and cert, and some photos as a souvenir.



and btw its a drug. Running like this is addicting.
because of that, just now i registered for another 10k race on April. hahaha.

Next stop: Brooks 10k, Bukit Jalil.

my 2013 resolution might not be 1920x1080 but...

Though its already been 5 day since the first of January, the first day of the year, until now, i haven't done my official 2013 resolution yet. 2012 resolution can go into the dustbin because well, i kinda lost the notebook where i jot down those resolution. hahaha. Despite that, i still remember some of it and some i did managed to achieve last year.

Nevertheless, this is 2013. and here is my 2013 resolution. Drum roll pliz.

*Badum tss*

1. Be a better muslim. and this will be in my resolution each and every year. because i admit it, sometimes i am a bad muslim, and this thing we need to improve all the time, until the end of our time.

2. Try not to forget anyone birthday. Hopefully facebook will remind me few days earlier. hahaha. just kidding. i do jot down birthdays on my calendar.

3. Finish up, atleast five 10k races this year. and by the end of 2013, im expecting 5 finisher medals hanging at my wall, proudly!

4. Get my B license! and btw, Just now i had my first lesson and as expected, i fall down the bike. and yes. i do look stoopid. but that's part of the learning process!

5. Score a great company for internship. Yes. i'll be having my internship or latihan perindustrian or praktikal or what ever you call it next June i suppose. So yeah. Hoping for a great company where i can expand my interest in automotive/ motorsport industry.

6. Backpacking oversea! haha. hopefully. this is indeed, the last year to enjoy before entering working phase.



To me, these resolution are achievable, but only with a clear set on the target, willing power but more importantly, with the help of Allah. InsyaAllah, when this year end, ill look back and smile with what i have achieved.

Now, back to Bangkok 2012 story shall we? hehe