A little history of me.

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

I was so stoked to go for my morning jog yesterday night after a short 5km jog, credits to the high carb low fat raw vegan lifestyle (a.k.a. fruitarian lifestyle) that I am following.

This feeling of being so excited and happy was something unfamiliar to me years ago when I was having one gigantic meal a day in school and have nothing else afterwards. If you were following my previous blog long enough, you might have known that I was sick all the time. I had to whine to my then-boyfriend every single second because I was so sick.

If I was that sick, why would I want to eat one meal a day? You guessed it. I wanted to lose weight. If you have followed me long enough, you would know that I held very low self-esteem with me. It was hard for me to be confident when I was not looking and feeling my best.

I remember when I was 13, I participated in my school’s 20th anniversary musical. I was acting in the musical, and I had a few solo lines. When it was my turn to speak in the musical, someone shouted “FAT!” across the theatre filled with 300 silent guests.

I became anorexic when I was 14. Restricting my calories to a big fat zero, besides the litre of milk I forced myself to drink every single torturing day. When I started eating again, I began binge-eating, and ballooned.

Fruitarian for weight loss

That’s me on the extreme left in blue.

Fruitarian for weight loss

The date on the photo is wrong. It should be 2010.

Had I not deleted my old photos due to being ashamed of myself, I would have showed you more. These are photos taken off from my friends’ Facebook, which I conveniently untagged myself in all of them because I was too ashamed of my body and looks.

Despite being sick, I still ran everyday. A mere 2km was so draining that I had to drag my feet to finish it. I was dangerously under-carbed.

Out of desperation, I became a vegetarian because all my vegetarian friends were skinny and healthy looking. I began researching deeply on vegetarianism and found out about veganism and fruitarianism. I came across videos of The Fruitarian, and was inspired to start my fruitarian journey right away (April 2011).

And the rest is history.

Now, I am loving life more than ever. Getting excited to run every single day. Waking up feeling refreshed and happy. Lost weight and get a flat stomach I always wanted. I am running so much farther than before, participated in many races (and excelling in them hehe), and participating in my first marathon this coming June. My life has changed so much because of fruits.


Yes, I need to kick that bad habit of landing on my toes.

Posted in 80/10/10, Daily Run | Leave a comment

10 bowls of rice per day, and now 30 bananas a day!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by

I know fruitarianism will bring my running to another level. I’ll be an even more joyful runner :)

 

Posted in 80/10/10 | Leave a comment

The Naughty Desire.

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

I had long forgotten how physically tired I really was two days ago when I blogged about how much I needed rest. My coach would have smiled if he saw that post, I remembered how he reminded me time after time that what my body needed was rest. I replied him positive, but in our hearts we knew I was lying.

It is as if my body is called to run. After experiencing an extremely sedentary Sunday, feeding myself with four bowls of sweet potato soup, vegetables and rice, before finally ending the day with some durians, I felt the need to run. Not to run the food off, but I felt like I have rested way too long.

This is the thing about runners — we refuse to rest. We decide for ourselves that taking a day off from running is more than enough. Even on our rest days, we train. Only adding another word before it: we cross-train. Even on our cross-training days, we swim at least 2000m in the pool. We ride at least a marathon on the bike. “Rest day” to us actually means “I’m-not-running-but-I’m-still-working-day”.

I felt really uneasy during my rest. My attention span on anything was no more than four seconds. I felt like I needed something to do to work my body. Lying on the bed, changing positions time after time, watching Bruce Willis in the screen the entire day… sounds good to me. But I just could not focus on slacking, I felt like I had to run, I had to write, I had to read, and I had to pillow fight Ethan. My excitement level was way beyond the scale, and lying down on the bed pissed me off. I was a like a shark, I needed to move.

The energy I put into staying still could have lasted me throughout a marathon.

I just love running. And when it comes to love, I can be a little possessive. I am meeting my love at the track this evening. My heart is screaming of excitement!

Posted in When I am not running | Leave a comment

Rest?

Posted on April 20, 2013 by

My tired level must have gone beyond the tired-o-meter. As soon as I hit the pillow last night, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. I woke up this morning with my glasses still sitting on my nose, and I was hugging Ethan’s most precious bolster so tightly like it was my baby. No doubt he woke up groggy and looked ill-rested.

I think I must have pushed myself too hard for the past few weeks. (Really?!) After a month of many sleepless nights to go through the woe of completing school projects, exams preparations, race preparations, as well as work, the Korea trip to me meant rest.

If only I really rested, that is.

image

Prettier than Lee Young-ae, aren’t we?

Should I feel guilty if I said I was jumping around like an animal let loose from the zoo? I was so glad that it was finally end of exams and stress (for a moment before graduation project officially starts). Having to be able to perspire even under the cold temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, you could have guessed how active and crazy I had been. I enjoyed every bit of it though, I really did. Especially with the company I had — Estella sis.

It only occurred to me now that I had been so ill-rested for a month, surviving on an average of 4 hours of sleep per night, with mediocre quality at its best. Only right now when my eyes are on the verge of closing as I am sitting down in MBS TCC, typing away at my Samsung Galaxy S III. It’s been such a long time since I last met with the fever monster, and now when I’m finally resting, it is coming to visit me with its syndromes. After a month of pushing, I have come to be enlightened that health should be put #1 with no compromise. I hate the virus, how could I have forgotten that it exists?

I was going to write about 5 tips to proper resting, but it they won’t be credible now, will they? Perhaps I should wait until I am properly rested before I post it up. So in the meantime, this joyful runner will rest (for a day or two haha) before running with joy again :)

Posted in Sometimes not very joyful after all | 1 Comment

A long run before I woke up.

Posted on April 19, 2013 by

“I think I am going home right after work so I can sleep at 7pm lol”, said me to my best friend yesterday through MSN. The reason behind the crazy decision was because I intended to wake up at 4am the next morning to run for a good 20km. Determination level was at its peak.

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna do that too.”

Little did we expect to meet up for dinner at the hawker centre opposite our house and the rest is history. We ended up going home at 9pm before I retired to bed.

In the end I failed to wake up for the run… — GOTCHA! You must have expected me to say that, didn’t you? I told you, my determination level was at its peak. I woke up at 4am to prepare for the run!

One of the worst dilemma a runner can face is the weather. Whether to run when it looks like it is going to rain or whether to stay in the bed and snore in this weather (HAHA sorry). I felt positive and geared up to run, and guess what… Determination was at its peak!

Running with Joy

Long run in the morning before the sun came out.

It was a good run, I really enjoyed every inch of it. When I stopped, I felt like I had just conquered the world. The joy was so immense that I felt warm tears swimming at the edge of my eyes. It was the definite #achievementunlocked moment, because I have never woken up so early in the morning to run a half marathon (almost). Joy and thrill consumed me from the inside out!

(Which clearly explains my bright and cheerful face in the photo below):

Running with Joy

:)

A lot of people have been asking why my complexion is so clear (besides the chaffing scars I have below the collar bone). I give the credit to running. Running makes me perspire, so my pores will open. When these pores open, all the toxins and impurities in my body have the chance to run away from my body. You do know that blocked pores and toxins cause pimples, right?

Another reason is because of my dietary choice. I don’t take meat, or a microscopic amount if I really had to (which seldom happens anyway). I put my faith in fruits and vegetables when it comes to food. I love them just like I love running. Fruits and vegetables are rich in the essential vitamins (A, C, E) for eliminating blotches and blemishes.

I drink at least 2L of water a day, and I don’t drink sodas. Never liked them anyway. Your body is an ocean, 70% of it is actually water! Drinking water makes you pee. When you do, you flush out the toxins from your body to make sure a smoother and clearer skin. This is besides the good skin point, but drinking water also aids in losing weight :)

My diet make up a big part of my life. I eat for performance. I eat for my conscience. I eat to make myself happy. When I am happy, I am sure that I am a joyful runner. So you gotta eat your veggies and drink your water!

Posted in Daily Run | Leave a comment

Speedwork is fun work.

Posted on April 18, 2013 by
Running with Joy

I’ve got a big head and small body

I watched Haile Gebrselassie on YouTube, and an invisible wave of excitement swept through me. He is such an inspiration, especially how he so beautifully demonstrated his determination and hard work for this sport. He is still racing even at the age of 49, and still kicks ass with his incredible speed. His passion and love for running is unquestionable. I want to be like him.

I went for my speedwork training after work yesterday. I was slow to prepare for the run, and when I finally got to the track, I only had less than 45 minutes to train. Was I disappointed? Goodness, no! I have come to cognizance that it is not the volume of training that counts, it never is. What makes training a good one is the quality. I could run for three hours at a 10:00 min/mile pace all the way, or I could do 400m repeats in under an hour. The long run is good, so is the speedwork. But what really counts is the quality – what I have learned from the run to help me improve as a better runner.

Running with Joy

I love speedwork. I love the track!

It could be the heat in Singapore, it could be my tired speedwork training. Regardless, I was soaked in my own perspiration. Liberated is what I would use to describe my feelings after the run. I love to push myself to the next level, the level after that, so on and so forth. Somehow it makes me feel like I am growing wings behind me. Each time I push myself harder, the wings grow larger. When I reach the peak of my workout, I am already soaring in the sky.

How can I stop telling people about my love for running? Running has become an addiction for me. I think about it day and night, it is as if I am living for the sport. I breathe the track, I eat like a marathoner, the videos I watch on YouTube are running-related, the websites I frequent are RunSociety and RunnersWorld, I dream about races, I visualize day and night about races, I source online for races overseas. I love running so much. I love it so so much.

I love running so much that I find pure joy in my running workouts. When this happens, I become the joyful runner. I live to run.

Posted in Daily Run | Leave a comment

Hear one thunder, and be enlightened.

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

“To keep yourself from being discouraged, you need to have a purpose bigger than yourself.” – Chris McCormack, two-time winner of Ironman World Championship

This was what went through my ill-rested mind at 5 a.m. this morning.

Water bottle? Checked.

Running singlet and sports bra? Checked.

Nike+ Sportsband? Checked.

Running shoes? Checked.

I was well-prepared. I made sure I ate right yesterday to prevent gagging all over like I used to. I made sure I was well hydrated since yesterday so I would not have to stop for water. I became excited for the real deal, to start an easy 6-mile jog before finally waking up and start the day. I wanted to do this in memory of the 8-year-old girl who died in the Boston Marathon bomb explosions. I felt like I had to.

I jogged through the first hundred metres slowly. Then the next hundred. I felt this invisible wall right in front of me that if I were to go further, I would hit the wall. Yeah right, hit the wall at mile 0.125. But crazy as it sounds, there was this strange force that held my legs still. I stopped at 200m. I looked down at my legs, there was nothing holding them. I tried jogging a little more, but the legs still stopped as if they had a mind of their own. What was happening?

Running with Joy

200m jog

Then came to what was literally a turning point. I turned and took a 200m stroll back home. The only thing that I was sure of was: I don’t know why I am walking back! My legs might really have a mind of their own! Unsure of how to feel, I try to tell myself that at least now I know how robots feel when they are being controlled – if they do have feelings at all, that is.

Why, why, why did it happen? It was not like I lacked the energy or giving myself excuse not to run? It was not like I was tired and unmotivated? It was not like my menstrual cramp came to a point that I could not move? Why did it happened? Why did I stop?

As I was making my way back home, the questions poured like flood irritatingly in my head over and over again. Just as I closed my bedroom door and flopped onto my bed, I saw a bright light flash into my room. A few seconds later, I heard a soft slow growl — almost like a hungry tiger fixing its eyes on its prey. Now I know. It was God protecting me from the ruthless thunderstorm.

I could not imagine what would happen had I continued running. I might be caught in the heavy rain for the next two hours and be extremely late for work, who knows? I might be able to run back home in the lethal thunderstorm in time and still be alive, but I might actually drop dead, who actually knows? I think there is no one else but God. The same God who brought my legs to a halt, turned me around and made sure I was home safe and sound.

That moment when I heard the thunder I thanked God for saving my life. He allowed me to realize that life can be so fragile. Like the young girl who died in the Boston Marathon bomb explosions, the man who died running a marathon, the dead victims of the Ferrari car accident. Their lives vanished without warning just like that.

I think this is also why life is so precious to us. All of us only get to live once, some luckier ones live longer, while other folks hit the bucket earlier. When we only have one life that is so fragile, it becomes so precious to us. We go to the doctors when they are sick. We buy vitamin supplements to make sure we are well nutritioned. Some fellows even eat animals and their by-products because they believe that by eating them, they can live longer. I choose a plant-based diet because I want to rid my body of wastes so I can live longer. We run because we want to be fit, rid diseases, and yes… We all want to be healthy so we can live a tad longer.

Still, at the end of the day, we are not the ones who decide when we should die. We will never know until that fateful moment. If so, how can we live our life to the fullest and leave with no regrets? Does going around bombing another nation help? Or does giving selflessly like Mother Theresa did help? Does spending 70% of our time in front of the PC playing Facebook games help? Does reading up on helpful subjects help?

I think for me it is loving and giving to the people around me. It is to keep running and pushing myself every single day to see results. It is to keep writing and inspiring others who are a little down. It is to keep encouraging people with my joyful smile. Yours?

Posted in Daily Run | Leave a comment