Friday, November 25, 2016

I AM SPARTAN~!!!

It's been over a week since my Spartan Beast @ Bintan on 19 Nov! while my body sores were gone after 2 days (thanks to my Dearest's massage), the rope burns are still recovering slowly... But I did it! I completed my first Spartan Trifecta! yeah~!

I'm sure there are a lot of other Spartan racers who have completed their first Spartan Trifecta with the completion of Spartan Beast @ Bintan. And I'm quite sure, we would definitely do this...

With the powers combined... I AM SPARTAN~!!
The race wasn't easy, and I didn't train enough to be prepared. So coupling these 2 factors together, the result was a 6hrs 48min race for me. Yes, it was a grueling 6 hours and 48 minutes of jogging, obstacles, getting scratched,  nearly cramped, slow jogging, cramped up so bad my toes curled up and I had to remove my shoes, walking, hurting my back from a fall, slow walking, and rope-burning my legs, and then this:

Flying kick to end the race!
This is probably the hardest race that I have ever did. Both longest, and the one with the most injuries. And on top of that, my last meal was at 5am, and I only ate my next meal at 7.45pm. The 1 small packet of energy gel (that costs $4) is of not much use -_-" or perhaps I just need to eat more of it. OR, just run faster.

I still failed at the 2 obstacles that have monkey bars and hanging loops, but I felt like I have improved from the previous time. And then, there was this obstacle which I have to hang by the rope to touch the bell...

They called it, the Tyrolean Traverse
I had to put my whole body weight on a single rope across my chest and groin area, and then slide to touch the bell. Every pull, I could feel the pain in between my chest, and at my groin. But I was determined to conquer this after my previous failure during Spartan Super, so I persevered. And I did it. Although at the last moment I lost balance and went under the rope, and in a bid to touch the bell, I unconsciously let go of the rope, touched the bell (the most important thing to do ), the landed on my back. Luckily the height wasn't that high, but still my back was hurt.

By the time I have finished and washed up, the main event area was rather empty. Before I went to grab my dinner, I went to the medical area to fix up my rope burns. As I was leaving, I saw a man being pushed out from one of the medical rooms with what it seemed like a mechanical pump on his chest, seemingly in a very critical condition. As I hoped for his safety, unfortunately, he might have been the one on the news whom passed away due to cardiac arrest. RIP.

Throughout the 3 races, what I enjoyed the most was conquering the obstacles (like the whole arena was a huge adult playground for me), and the sense of camaraderie that could be seen throughout the race. There would be people encouraging you when you're trying hard, even though all of us are strangers.
There would be people helping you to overcome those damn walls.
There would be people asking you whether you're alright when you fall, stop, or look like you need help.
And these people, racing alongside of you, suddenly became, comrades.

Aroo.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Moving on to the next phase of life~!

On 11 Nov 2016, I have finally done it!

A nicely executed proposal on the beach, with a lighted pathway to a heart, and a beautiful lady with a definitive answer to end it off =) 

I have been quite busy preparing for this proposal ever since I have ended my project deliverable in Sep. Amidst my preparations for my Vietnam and Hong Kong trip in Oct, I managed to squeeze in time to do all the essentials things for this proposal. 

Dearest was pretty much surprised because I threw her off quite a bit on the tentative period that I would propose, and she was felt that the whole plan was executed very well; from the initiation letter by my colleague at my company DnD, to the blindfolding, to the unfolding to the actual venue, to the actual proposal, and the decorations back in the hotel room which I booked as a celebration, and also as a back-up. She also liked the wooden proposal box which I built from raw materials =) worth all the efforts that I have put in. 

As Dearest have put it, we have been promoted to the next level: from a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, to a fiancee-fiance relationship. Yeah to the next phase of life~!

Dearest also told me to take a break and focus on myself after being preoccupied with this for quite a while. I also agree on this. A few days back I was struggling to find a focus in my life after being focused on this one single thing for so long. There seems to be quite a bit of things that I want to do, but I don't know where to start. I want to continue to my learning on app development/Java, I want to focus on exercise (because Spartan is coming up this Sat, siao liao~), I want to eat and sleep heathly, I want to play those games that I haven't touch for the longest time (Skyrim, Witcher 3, Shadow of Mordor...), I want review the savings accounts because of the interest changes, I want ...

It kinda got a bit frustrating, and it took a good 15 minutes of quiet meditation before I could calm my nerves down . 

There are tons of things to do, but I have limited time to execute them. So it's high time for me to read through the book the I bought previously and was reading halfway through before I got so busy.

The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity
The exercises inside book makes me prioritize on what aspects of life that are important to me, and that I need to proactively plan my schedule around them. I would probably blog out the exercises here in order to document it somewhere.

Life just flows away when you're not paying attention to it.
I recall a phrase from a chinese song that I like which aptly describes this:

当你发现时间是贼了,他已偷光你的选择 - 李宗盛, 给自己的歌
[English translation: When you realized that time is a thief, it has already robbed you of your choices] 

I don't like the feeling of being robbed.
So I would rather go 'rob' time.