Can Swim Straight?: Port Dickson Open Water Swim and other happenings

Whoa my last post was nearly three weeks ago! It’s been BUSY! I was going to get busy again today with a trail run in FRIM then it started chucking down rain, so I thought I’d dash off a short note here. But first, here's a route map of the PD Open Water Swim that I yak about at the end of the post:

Errr.... I can explain this (see end of post)

Thanks Agnes for the awesome Timex GPS Globaltrainer - it's a chunky wrist adornment that I'm quickly falling in love with!

I was pretty sick the first week of Oct, but recovered enough to attempt the 10 km run at Putrajaya Night Marathon 15 Oct, and finished! More importantly, I finished without making myself sick and had a wonderful outing. Big thank you to Dogpapi who kept me company all the way … Ma for accompanying me and finishing her 5K in a superfast 40 min … and all my friends (old and newly begotten) for making this a run that I will remember for the rest of my life. Congrats Jiana Jimain for winning the ‘Make That Change Reality Show’ for your friend with DLBCL Lymphoma! Jiana’s votes surged in the final two days, winning with a slim margin over Karen & Yim’s Orang Asli Cause. My submission was third, so didn’t win, but was very glad to have helped raise awareness of SLE Lupus.

Ma & I posing hee hee

The second week of Oct was ridiculous thanks to a Groupon deal I got where I had to redeem 10 classes at Chi Fitness before the end of the week.  Not their fault as they gave a month to redeem, but my long leave only started this week! The facilities were fabulous, and the six classes I took were fun: TRX, Body Pump, Body Combat, RPM, PowerDance, Jukari Fit to Flex. It was also quite funny trying to get out of bed the day after the TRX class because my ab muscles had died and gone to heaven. The main problem was the 1 hr spent sitting in Kepong-Damansara traffic getting to the classes…

Chi Fitness even has a lap pool!

Kilian Jornet Frenzy fell on 24 Oct – starting with a sit-down event at World of Sports E-Curve where I snagged a Killian signature on my Salomon bag. Followed by a run clinic and 5 km trail run at Kiara Hills where Aleximon somehow convinced The Kilian to come over and give me a hug! Kilian is just a really sweet young chap who was incredibly gracious to his Malaysian fans (we tried our best not to mob him!) despite looking obviously worn out from his stupendous win over Marco de Gasperi at the Sabah Climbathon Skyrunners Cup 2011 the day before.

Attention folks: I am taking bids for a Killian autographed Salomon bag :p

Photo by Moey WS

The past week has been a somewhat nerve-wracking week as I came down with strep throat, which in the past has almost always caused a relapse of my autoimmune condition Henoch Schonlein Purpura. This time I took quick action and went to see the doctor for antibiotics (you know how I hate taking meds!). I also took a break from strenuous exercise and just rested at home. Day 5, my throat is nearly better, and NO RELAPSE! Just couldn’t risk it cuz Spencer is coming in like… FIVE days!  

Oh ya, had a great Open Water Swim Clinic with Coach Hafiz Salleh from Advanced Aquatics/Total Immersion Malaysia yesterday. Seven attendees, including myself. We learnt dolphin water entry, drafting, turning around buoys, sighting, breathing and all that good stuff. Only RM10 per person! We covered 2.5 km in total, and most of it was tracking a moving target (the kayak)  - Coach Hafiz wanted to hone our sighting skills! 

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xo Gracie

Photo by Fendy Mohd Nor Photography

Helped kayak safety escort for a bit. Photo by Fendy Mohd Nor Photography