Two of my extracurricular activities during PLC - Lindy hopping and Marathon training... Don't think I set out specifically to do them. They just came on a whim, after some people asked me whether I was interested.
Lindy hop was originally an afterthought. I would have continued with salsa intermediate stage, but I thought, what the heck, let's give lindy hop a chance. While it's not as scintillating as salsa - no suggestive hip thrusting or inappropriate hand grazing - it's actually more fun! I like the speed, the quick rhythms and the fast twirls. And all that bobbing to the music. It's exhilarating. It's a fantastic workout, although, inappropriate hand grazing may occur by accident occasionally still.. haha(BUT the people here are very unassuming... no posers as far as I can tell!) I think I'll try to take up intermediate lindy hop when this beginner's class is over. It's addictive. Now that we are learning more steps, it's getting more and more fun. The guys don't get it good, because they have to lead, but I realise that it's difficult to respond to the guy's leading too because you have to interpret what they are trying to do. Very often I catch myself doing a wrong twirl when the guy's intention is to do a Charleston... Also, the force that the guy exerts in pushing and twirling you vary from person to person, but it's the ones with more expertise that push you with more gumption, that create that momentum and rush.
Marathon training, what can I say. I always start off the runs by carbo-loading. And my runs are getting earlier and earlier, because I'm trying to increase the distance. Thankfully today's run went really well, although my stomach was churning badly for some reason. I decided to continue running as long as possible without stopping, becuase stopping would make my stomach churn even more obviously. Thank God then, because my timing today was great! I ran from home all the way to the Amber Road entrance to ECP(which I calculated to be 7km on streetdirectory.com). Then I ran to Fort Road along the ECP, and then I did an about turn and jogged to the Safra Resort at Tanah Merah and back. It was about 27km in all and I did it in 3.5hrs. What spurred me on was a fellow marathoner, whom I met as I passed the golf course. I'm so glad to have met him, because he made me realise how much more I have to improve before the big day!!! And because he paced me, I ran more consistently and quickly. And at least there was a source of distraction, away from thoughts of giving up.. haha.
This guy is really inspiring. He's probably about 50 something and he's already done 37 marathons, the last of which was the one in Paris in April! I mean, this guy really goes around the world participating in these races. He is American-Chinese, runs about 3 times a week, and he's got NO FAT on his body at all. I want to look like that when I'm 50!!! Charles, as he introduced himself, gave me valuable pointers on how to go about my training. The next time round, I shall try to do multiple sprints instead and see how that affects my timing. He's right that it probably boils down to the last 10km. It's the last 10 that freaks me out, because I'm usually so tired by the time I finish my twenty something runs. Today, at the end, I was already cramping up.
On a side note, I went to Little India for French food at the French Stall... The food was only so-so, but afterwards, David and I headed down to the Deepavali Bazaar to check it out. We bought sparklers to relive our childhood memories... Hahahaha. Then we went to some grassy patch at a void deck to play with them. We constructed some little nice bonfires full of sparklers! That was really really fun. Such spontaneous moments don't always come around, but it's because they are rare that they become so memorable.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment