The Meet-Up

It was great to meet up with Carol over the weekend. She loves the outdoors and returned this time to participate in the Ironman70.3 Race. She amazes me with her stamina and strong passion for the outdoors.

There are 3 legs to the Aviva Half Ironman race: the swim (1.9km), bike (90.1km) and run (21.1km). The race started at the East Coast Lagoon with the swimming leg, followed by bike race through the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and 4 laps from Raffles Avenue through the Marina Bay area, back to ECP and Nicoll Highway. For the final leg, the athletes have to run 2 laps from the floating platform at Esplanade to the Padang and round to end of Beach Road (Kallang Basin) and return. In other words, it is a long tiring race which took Carol about 6 hours to complete coming in mid pack.

There was certainly a lot of training and preparation work she had to do to get ready for the race. She exercises daily (swim, jog, bike), watches her diet and acclimatises her body to the heat and perspiration. It really takes a lot of discipline to prepare for such a sport. Apart from Triathlon, she also does Backcountry Skiing, Snowshoeing, Mountaineering, and whatever outdoor adventure you can imagine. Oh, and did I mention that she shaved her head for Canadian Cancer Foundation?! Way to go, Carol!

We had a great time catching up over slice fish bee hoon soup in Chinatown, and drove around to Far East Sq, Dempsey Hill and Clark Quay. And of course, we had to stop for our afternoon tea at Dempsey's PS Cafe (I should get a discount card for being a regular patron!)

Strangely indeed, even though we have been apart for so many years and perhaps not there for the ups and downs of life, we could very comfortably catch up from where we left off. And what's more strange is that I hardly meet up with friends who reside in SG but am more in touch with the those in foreign soil... technology has certainly helped to bridge the gap.

As for those outdoor sports, I don't think I will ever be drawn to take part in them other then golfing, swimming and the occasional hiking, snorkelling and skiing. The thought of running brought back memories of those school days when we had to run marathons and the 2.4 km. Most of those times I had to drag my feet through the race, and was always panting for breath. Getting into these sports would mean being discipline, watching my food intake and regular exercises. I would be contented to start with a simple step just to keep fit :p