Dear all,

Thanks for all the concerned messages - My Wordpress.com blog has indeed been deleted as I have now migrated to my very own space at Wordpress.org. So I'm completely self-hosted now!

You'll still be able to catch our capers at http://ickleoriental.net. No more moving for me no more so don't worry!

See you there! You should check out Roscocam :)

Sincerely,
Janice

Hi all,

I've migrated this site to Wordpress.

J x

PS: LJ friends, I'm still reading and commenting! Please don't remove me from your lists!

You’d think having done quite a few long distances before, one would be mentally ready for a 21km run. But you know what? It's not the case at all. I realized yesterday that it’s really no mean feat. That’s why I was so proud of BCT** yesterday and the strength that was demonstrated during the race.

Getting ready in the morning and having my breakfast, I thought to myself several times: Why on earth are you doing this, Janice? You’ve done like three or four 6km in the last few months and one 13km run with BCT and you’re so not ready to go the distance. But BCT powered me on. There’s a certain inspiration in seeing your peers fired up about something, and being part of it feels like an honour.

I must say I feel terrible to have pulled an Andrew and forgot to bring my race tag. When I was almost not allowed into the participant area, my heart sank. I really didn’t want to ruin the race for my teammates – But thank goodness we were able to pull a few distractions and get the show on the road. Now that’s called teamwork J

So anyway, the run…. How did the run go and how did I feel about it?

The first part of the run was well paced, I thought. Despite the three of us weaving in and out of the crowd, we held up strong and it was funny how the music spurred us all on at different points, making us pick up the pace individually. And it was funny how one of us would always mouth ‘slow down, we’re going too fast’. I felt good the first 10km: Steady. Strong. Everything was holding up and my spirits were up. Somewhere along the 12km mark, things started to feel a bit delicate. The aches and pains set in, not in my knees surprisingly but in my lower back. (It’s something that’s been niggling for the past few months and I’ve been meaning to see Dr Low about it.)

But I looked at BCT and Saf had this big smile on her face; her pacing looked strong and she showed no sign of fading on her face. Marcus looked like he was in his element next to Martin, and I had to tell him not to get carried away picking up the pace. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t getting worried about the rest of the race at this point. Only past the halfway point and I felt like I was starting to struggle – Never mind, keep going. Think about it later.

14km, we were still going steady. Martin said we were probably doing an average of 6.40min/km. But uh oh, backache is turning into pain. Never mind, stop and stretch – catch up with them again. Ultra mara Martin is a sweetheart and slows up to make sure I don’t get dropped. I quickly do the usual things to ease the strain and start up again. Once the 15km mark hit, I started doing this more frequently and suddenly I felt like I was stopping more than I was running. Pain was sharp and shooting down my left leg. Dammit, groove has been broken. But look at BCT! Still going very, very strong!

So I decided to be realistic about things and concede defeat first: See you guys at the finish line, I’ll be right behind you. They trotted off in synchronized motion and I watched wistfully as they moved away, both doing funky moves to Pitbull and unknowingly making me laugh as they did so.

Mr adizero man stayed with me. Yes, Martin may have had just two hours kip after Butter Factory but he looked fresh as a daisy. He had probably run to the race site from Newton and he was probably going to run home again after, and he was going at what must have been snail’s pace to him. He also stopped to walk when I had to recover, which must have been frustrating, but it inspired me to think that I must try my best no matter what I was feeling. Sometimes when it got hard and the pain was too sharp, I tried to speedwalk, hoping that this would let Martin jog at least. But Martin being so tall and me being so short, my fast run-walk was his normal walk anyway. Lose. Oh well, we had a good chat and got to know each other a bit better at least J WeeLee tried to zoom in front of us like a madman at one point, and it was nice to see another fellow teammate on the course.

I was so happy when I saw we had only 3km left! Run Janice, run! Come on! OWW…. Dammit. When we pulled into the Padang I thought, I must run lah. So lousy to speed-walk past the finish line. Thankfully, a platoon of army dudes passed and started chanting as they went by. So I followed the rhythm of their team chant in and tried to get my brain to numb the pain. Success! We came into the finish line hand-in-hand and saw BCT waiting for us! They had come in 2hrs35mins, a fantastic first effort for the both of them! I was a full nine or ten minutes behind and slightly gutted not to have shared the moment with them, but I was happy anyway to have made it with my knees intact.

Guys, I am so proud of you for finishing your first race and not even looking like you were tired! Nice one! Thanks for a great first 15km and sorry I wasn’t able to be at the end. But if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have even gotten as far as I did!BCT Rawks!

Special thanks to Martin for spurring me on :)



**Brand Comms Team

We went to visit Sally today!

She's still a week too young to separate from her mother, but Hubba and I were dying to see her so we gave her parents' owners a call and they were incredibly welcoming! Rosco and her parents got along really well and he gave Sally a few licks on her cheek. But Rosco was a little too busy accepting treats from Frances and Thomas (the owners) so we didn't really see much interaction today. Didn't help that she is still such a baby and keeps crying. She is just too cute for words!

I think I have a good feeling about this!



When Rosco met Sally...

This Christmas, the husband and I got each other (and Rosco) a very special present.

Presenting....


We've been thinking about it for ages and after a couple of months of research and window shopping, as well as lots of doggy socialising and speaking to friends with two and not one, we decided it would just be too cool if Rosco had a friend. He does pretty well on his own but he just loves playing, especially with other dogs. He followed Lola everywhere during Christmas Eve dinner and has formed a special bond with Uncle Moochi and best friend Saskia too. He is such a sweetheart and has been such a gift from God to us, so I guess we wanted to bless him with a baby sister.

Sally is five weeks old so we've not picked her up yet but my instincts tell me she's going to make a great companion for Rosco. She's very sweet and although it's probably too early to tell, she looks like she'll have the type of temperament that Rosco might need to keep him in check (if that makes any sense at all)! We met her parents and they are gorgeous looking dogs with great temperaments. And her parent's owners want to keep in touch with us so she'll always be able to visit her Mum and Dad. So cool!


check out her brown pigtails!

We put a deposit down for her two weekends ago and the anticipation is killing me!! Can't wait till January when we can take her home!

click for more

Slow and steady may not win the race... But it'll get you to the finish line.

At least this is what kept me going at the Penang Jamboree this weekend!

It was a grueling 36km ride, not just on the body but on the mind. With the various forms of endurance training undertaken throughout the year, I figured somehow it would carry me through. But another factor very nearly kept me from crossing the finish line.

F E A R

This time it really wasn't about keeping going - in fact, I hardly wanted to stop. Every time I hit a feed station, I topped up on fluid and left right away. Compared to the second half of the ride, the first four checkpoints seemed almost easy to clear.


the ride profile

The last 6km was what very nearly brought me to my knees. I felt like I was at the mercy of the downhill Gods. Tried as best I could to ride what I could, but all I can say is I've never had to carry my bike so far downhill in my life.

At one point, this dude overtook me and I muttered something like 'how on earth do you ride this'. I must have sounded pretty desperate, coz he turned around and said: 'You have to be strong in the head. Just don't think about it and RIDE.'

So I did. I braced myself and tackled some of the gnarly rock sections. I mean it sure beat portaging my bike all over the place! At one point, I nearly lost momentum and found myself teetering beside a ravine. I was saved by the strength of my left calf, which held my foot on tippy toe at the very edge. Prayed very hard for my calf NOT to cramp up and then pulled myself in towards the safer side of the single track. Another point, I nearly ate it going down a rutty section when a big leaf smacked me in the face. Reached out just in the nick of time to hug a big rock on my left. Saved by the boulder - Literally!

It was honestly the most traumatic downhill ride I've ever done in my life and I am still reeling from the experience. The strange thing is I felt absolutely fine physically - Mentally, especially 1km from the finish line, I was absolutely drained. No more drop offs, please, I thought.

Thankfully, I emerged from the ride fine but there were honestly a few hairy moments where things could have gone seriously wrong. Crazy Hubba rode it all and made it back to finish without so much as a scratch. Nutter. Everyone else rode at their own pace and we all straggled in at different times. I made it in sometime after Angela, who made it in sometime after Ling, who'd come in just after hardcore riders Linda and the winner. The boys all made it in with smiles on their faces and like every ride, every rider had a story or two to tell about how things could have gone horribly wrong! Good times - Haha!

Meanwhile, we ate like absolute kings in Penang. I don't think I've been to Penang since I was a kid with the fogies but all I can say is the food could easily keep me there another few days if I could spare them! Hardcore biking and hardcore eating. Woah!

Thanks to the Warriors for such a great ride! Apparently, this was the last Penang Jamboree and the toughest to date. All I can say is, I'm glad I missed this year's run for the ride and that I got to experience it. I need to work on the whole fear factor thing though!


Courtesy of Mingloid

More pix here

I made it! Yay!

Everybody said a 10km race would be easy compared to the half ironman, but I was just as nervous about this morning's race as 70.3. Short races are not my forte - Running is not my forte. I've never been much of a speedster on the run. The last time I'd done a 10km race was nearly a whole year before. Might have been battling with ITB problems at the time but I also remember having a TV camera following me half the year last year. So that made me run faster! Still, the lame 1hr3mins I took seemed pretty good... to me anyway.

The burning question in my head was whether I'd be able to beat that time. Not having run a 10km race in a long while... Having walked half the way during the half ironman and not doing much run training, would I be able to make it in an hour?

The husband was quick to point out that I'd been lazy in working on my run... So he reckoned I could make an hour if I did my best.

That was the aim.

Set off tailing Lin and Chingx and kissed their asses goodbye very soon after. There was no way I was going to be able to hang on to those two. Brought the ipod along but realised it was doing me more harm than good, so got rid of the earphones without getting through a song. Three quarters of the way to turnaround, I saw the two leaders heading back towards the finish. They were pacing each other neck to neck and it was inspiring to watch. Cool moments also include (1) waving/cheering as Ching passed (2) getting a high five from Lin (3) hearing warm cheers from Angela & Melody and later Greg (4) seeing blissfultyrant on the run and getting a cheer from someone who had a huge smile on her face. Oh yes, and someone called out 'nice one!' when I picked up the pace -- which just made me think, 'damn, I can't slow up now'. Heh!

Probably should have worn my Supernovas though as my foot now hurts a little. Kind of wished I had pushed it a little harder now. As soon as I knew I was going to break the hour, I slowed down. Thought I'd keep it relatively slow and steady so as not to lose steam but in hindsight, I wish I'd gone all out.

Ah well, no point regretting now. I should glad about the PB!

Run: 10km
Time: 58mins

Time to get serious about running and channel Desiree! *Grunt*

My First Ironman 70.3 Experience
By Janice Lee Fang

Yesterday was a really emotional one for me.

I finished my first ever Ironman 70.3 – Never knew what that really meant but now I do. It refers to the distance we had to cover in miles as race participants. 1.9km in the water, 90.1km on the bike and 21.1km on the run. I’d made the commitment to go the distance before Christmas last year, and my three goals for the race were (1) to finish (2) to finish in one piece and uninjured and (3) to make the cut off and not get stopped on the run.

Well, I made it.


( Read more here. )

Thanks to Jem, Paul, Michel and Andrea for the cheering and photo-taking. More pictures to come later.

I can't sleep. But I can't get out of bed either. I'm so tired and I'm starving. Oof.

Rosco

Welcome, our little Rosco.

You're only 3 months and already a terror. We took ages deciding on whether ot not to take that leap and get you. And after hours of deliberating, we realised it'd take ages to find a pup as perfect as you are to us.

You're smart, you're adorable. And already I know my life is going to change because of you. But I love that you've come into our lives.... Even if you did keep us up all night.


I hope you settle in alright, li'l fella.

Ps: Your itchy backside aunt, who just can't get over her 'clever' nickname for you, has already made you a video.

More pix here.

It was the ride where every single thing went wrong, but we came out of it having had a blast anyway.

( the ride. )

So in summary:
- Took spill on rock
- Broke camera LCD screen
- Nerves rattled
- Freaked out on section
- Made myself complete section
- Lost camera
- Found camera but peed on shorts by accident
- Blistering cold winds + long climbs
- Longgass descent (8km)

Video later. Gotta get the Haggis on the hob...

'It is singletrack from the car park, curling steeply up through the forest to leave a (pleasant?) burning sensation in the legs as you hit wider bridle paths – some of them shared with other users – over more level ground in the forest. Bits are very dark, and very gnarly with lots of exposed roots and rocks and steep drops.'

Read more about Innerleithen here.